Melania Trump Reads Dr. Seuss to Children in First Solo Outing as First Lady

Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss Read Aloud
Photo Melania Trump, the first lady, at the Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington last month. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times

WASHINGTON Melania Trump made her first solo foray in public as first lady on Thursday, visiting a hospital pediatric wing to read to sick children.

Mrs. Trump, who has been reluctant to embrace the high-profile and ill-defined role of presidential spouse, began with a brief and simple outing: an afternoon reading of a Dr. Seuss book in honor of the authors birthday and National Read Across America Day.

So you know what is today? she asked the children, who wore hospital gowns and gathered in a playroom in the pediatric wing of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan to see Mrs. Trump. Its a reading day. So I came to encourage you to read, and to think about what you want to achieve in life.

Mrs. Trump, whose aides had arranged for a small pool of reporters and photographers to cover the visit, then proceeded to read Oh, the Places Youll Go!, a dr. seuss classic with an inspirational message that she said was a favorite of hers.

Youll be as famous as famous can be, Mrs. Trump read from the book. With the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Mrs. Trump has stayed mostly out of the spotlight since President Trump took office. She has appeared at her husbands side for a handful of official events, most recently accompanying him to the Capitol on Tuesday for his address to a joint session of Congress. But she has avoided the press and done nothing in public to carve out her own priorities or initiatives as first lady.

Michelle Obama made outings with young people a staple of her time as first lady, often making unscheduled stops to spend time with them. On Tuesday, the former first lady was back at it, surprising students in a vocational program at a Washington public school, where she spent more than an hour discussing the importance of pursuing higher education. Mrs. Obama posted a photograph of her visit on Twitter.

A photograph of Mrs. Trumps hospital story time appeared in her Twitter feed on Thursday.

Mrs. Trump has said she is interested in working to combat cyberbullying, but has yet to start such a program. And while she has named a chief of staff and a social secretary, the White House has not announced the hiring of other key players in the East Wing, such as a communications director, a press secretary or other senior staff members. Mrs. Trump has made it known she does not intend to be much of a presence in Washington at least in the short term; she has opted to reside in New York while the couples 10-year-old son, Barron, finishes his school year.

On Thursday, she donned large black sunglasses and stepped into a car that was part of a small motorcade waiting outside Trump Tower to take her to the hospital about a mile and a half away.

I hope youre all feeling well, Mrs. Trump told the assembled children. After she finished reading the book, Mrs. Trump gave it to a young girl who had been listening, saying, I encourage you all to read a lot to get educated.

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Love "Shack": McGraw, Spencer discuss faith-based film

The Shack (2017 Movie) Official TV Spot – ‘Audience Reactions’

Hollywood is hoping that a movie focusing on restoring faith will make big bucks at the box office this weekend when the adaptation of the best-selling New York Times best-selling novel The Shack opens countrywide. Starring Octavia Spencer, Sam Worthington and country singer Tim McGraw, The Shack shows a father (Mr. Worthington) on a spiritual journey after suffering an immense family tragedy.

The Christian novel by Canadian author William P. Young has seen its share of controversy as well as fostered discussion about the nature of what part G*d may play in lifes tragedies. Furthermore, the film casts African-American actress and Oscar-winner Miss Spencer as G*d, Jesus is portrayed by Israeli actor Avraham Aviv Alush Also, and the Holy Spirit called Sarayu in the film is portrayed by Asian actress Sumire Matsubara.

Miss Spencer and Mr. McGraw who also recorded a song with his wife, Faith Hill, for the movie called Keep Your Eyes On Me discussed the faith-based film bowing this weekend in the District.

Question: Are you drawn to roles that have a spiritual angle?

Octavia Spencer: This is actually my first one. It has to resonate with me on some level.

I love the message [of The Shack], I loved the fact that [William] Paul wrote this book where a regular man has a conversation with G*d and asks him some very hard-hitting questions. I like the way G*d answered them.

I thought it was a unique way to look at religion and for regular people to look at their role and how they influence their [own] environment.

Q: Had you read the book?

Tim McGraw: When I read the script, I hadnt read the book. My wife actually had the book on her nightstand, and we had heard about it and knew what the story was.

About a week later I got the phone call that they were sending me a script to read. I was completely [in] emotional meltdown after reading it. I told Faith about it, and we had a lot of conversations about whether I had time to be involved as they were shooting in Vancouver.

Q: What did you take away from the book when you read it?

OS: My friend gave me a copy and told me it had forensic thriller aspects to it with a big surprise. I thought I was going to be reading something very different than the life lesson I was bound to get. I was deeply moved because it felt organic.

The questions asked of G*d somehow felt like every mans journey, including my own. I have experienced loss in my life, but the thing that brings you back is your faith, so I understood Macks journey in a lot of ways.

Q: What about the representation of the divine in the story?

OS: What I like about this presentation is that it dispenses with the conventional images of G*d and what we have in our minds as G*d. It also represents this time in Macks life where the only person that showed him any kindness was a woman like myself. She is pure love and wisdom, and she is trying to impart that in him while hes trying to reconcile all his grief, his anger and all the losses in his life.

Its only when he walks back and asks those questions and confronts all those issues in the shack that hes able to find redemption and fill that hole that loss has created within him.

For me, when you have to prepare to play G*d, and then walking away from that, you realize just how tough Gods job is. I dont want that job.

Q: It seems like you have done many family and faith-based films. What kinds of movies do you like to make?

TM: Even in my music, I am always searching for big, universal things ways that you can sort of reach outside the norm of what you are doing.

I have always been very family-oriented. I came from a dysfunctional, broken family growing up, and its probably instilled in me the need and the want to have a strong family and a great foundation. So I think that is something that I naturally gravitate toward.

Q: What drew you to Shack specifically?

TM: I was looking for a great story that moves and inspires [people]. Music, movies, books when you see [or] read through it, you want to be literally moved.

I do everything in a way that I want to be impacted viscerally.

Q: What lessons have you learned?

TM: The older you get, you always learn more. Sometimes its a process of learning about yourself and what your journey is. Sometimes the process moves forward at a rapid pace in a short amount of time or moves backwards. And youre like, Man, I thought I had made so much progress, and now all of a sudden, Im 10 steps further behind than when I started.

I dont think you learn as much about yourself when you are moving forwards as when you have fallen backwards. Thats when you really learn who you are. And reach for the things that have propelled you forward and made you a better person.

Q: What do you hope audiences will take away from the film?

TM: The universal themes of love, compassion, forgiveness, constantly searching for the next level of your spirituality, the next consciousness of who you are as a human being, what you contribute to society and what G*d means to you. I think its always a search that everyone goes on.

What I think this movie does regardless of what your belief system is is offer a view and a perspective that can open the door a little bit to think about what in your life has broken you, propels you forward and what allows you to forgive other people and accept forgiveness.

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Source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/mar/2/tim-mcgraw-octavia-spencer-discuss-faith-based-fil/

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Elgin, Sterling, Fletcher celebrate spirit of Dr. Seuss

Dr. Seuss On The Loose (complete - HQ)

ELGIN Rural Comanche County elementary students can moo! Can you?

Friends of Elgin Library offer youngsters books

Around 260 first grade students at Elgin, Sterling and Fletcher were given copies of Dr. Seuss" famous book of onomatopoeias, "Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?" as part of an outreach program Thursday by the Friends of the Elgin Community Library. Debbie Thomason, group member, said this is the second year they have donated dr. seuss books to children on the famous author"s birthday.

"We always want to do something to help out in the community," she said. "It worked so well last year that we decided to do it again this year."

Thomason and several other volunteers visited the three schools in their own Dr. Seuss outfits to bring the books to all of the wonderful children. There were no Grinches in the crowd, but plenty of cats in hats and Hortons and Whos. Thursday was Dr. Seuss day and that meant plenty of fun for first graders happy to partake in the fun festivities.

"I had a shirt with colored fish from his stories and I fit right in with a sea of Dr. Seuss stuff," Thomason said. "There were plenty of hats on a lot of the little ones. I blended in well today."

Source: http://www.swoknews.com/area/elgin-sterling-fletcher-celebrate-spirit-dr-seuss

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"Pirates Of The Caribbean 5: Dead Men Tell No Tales" Trailer Teases A New Trilogy

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 5 Trailer + Super Bowl Spot (2017) Dead Men Tell No Tales, Disney Movie HD

The full length trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean 5: Dead Men Tell No Tales" dropped yesterday, promising a thoroughly swashbuckling adventure on the high seas. But as this movie sets sail for cinemas, is this just the beginning of another #PiratesoftheCaribbean trilogy?

The trailer certainly seems to suggest this:

"The final adventure... begins."

If you were watching closely, you"ll have noticed this cheeky teaser flash up on the screen. It seems that Dead Men Tell No Tales does indeed mark the end of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise but if this is only the beginning of the end, then it seems likely that the course is laid for a new trilogy.

This doesn"t really come as a surprise for anyone who has been following the #PiratesoftheCaribbean5 news from the start, as rumblings of a soft reboot in the form of another trilogy first came to us (via IGN) from Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) himself.

"Basically they want to reboot the whole franchise, I think, and do something with me and my relationship with my son."

Henry is almost definitely the son of Will Turner. [Credit: Disney]

After the first trailer dropped, many fans suspected that new character Henry is indeed the son of Will and Elizabeth, and although #Disney haven"t officially confirmed this it seems more and more likely that this is the case. So if that"s true, then Bloom"s "reboot" comment is probably also true, hinting that Disney are intending Dead Men Tell No Tales to be the start of a new adventure.

Kaya Scoledario who plays Carina in the new movie made a similar comment to DigitalSpy in 2015.

"[The producers] want to take it back to the beginning again. They wanted it to have this epic journey, and for it to make sense, and for it to tie things up, and also lead to new storylines."

Carina and Henry join Jack Sparrow for a new adventure. [Credit: Disney]

This is all the information we can scrape together, but all signs seem to be pointing to a new trilogy. If there are two more movies after Dead Men Tell No Tales, this would also explain Will"s role in the story while the previous trailers teased his entrance, the son of Bootstrap Bill was notably absent from this new trailer. And then of course there"s Elizabeth Swann"s rumored appearance in a post credits scene that may set up the rest of the trilogy.

So keep a weather eye on the horizon there be more Pirates movies coming our way soon!

Do you think "Pirates 5" should start a new trilogy?

(Source: IGN, DigitalSpy)

[Poll image credit: Disney]

Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&ct2=us&usg=AFQjCNG3YInVhEkBOZOP4WvRdjv85TsIgA&clid=c3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331&cid=52779403619498&ei=j6q5WODFCNG53gGVl4agCg&url=https://moviepilot.com/p/pirates-of-the-caribbean-5-start-a-new-trilogy/4218294

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First Gigi Hadid, Now Jennifer Lopez Is Lacing Up in the Corset Trouser Trend

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Years of federal scrutiny lead to Caterpillar HQ raid

Law enforcement searches Caterpillar facilities in Illinois

Years of federal scrutiny over Caterpillar"s overseas business practices and tax strategies came to a head Thursday with a raid on the heavy machine maker"s Peoria headquarters.

Authorities from three agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, arrived before 11 a.m. at the headquarters and two nearby facilities. Initially only confirming the raid, Caterpillar later in the day acknowledged it was tied to the same issue that has dogged the company for eight years: its use of a parts subsidiary based in Switzerland and tax-saving practices that sparked a Senate investigation, shareholder lawsuits and a $1 billion penalty.

The raid is the latest shock to a city still adjusting to Caterpillar"s January announcement that it would relocate its headquarters from Peoria to the Chicago area.

Long a global and domestic powerhouse in the world of mining and construction equipment, Caterpillar has been under investigation by federal authorities for years.

In 2014, a Senate investigation found the company had used its Swiss affiliate to take advantage of a corporate tax rate it negotiated and avoided paying at least $2.4 billion in U.S. taxes. Soon after, shareholders filed lawsuits against the company and its accounting firm, PwC, alleging breach of fiduciary duties. That matter is ongoing.

A technical change Caterpillar made in 1999 shifted most of the profits from replacement parts sold outside the U.S. to the Swiss subsidiary, Caterpillar SARL, or CSARL, but "did not ... otherwise change how Caterpillar"s replacement parts business functioned on the ground," according to a Senate report.

The Senate investigation grew out of a whistleblower suit filed in 2009 by then-Caterpillar employee Daniel Schlicksup, alleging the company shifted profits to avoid taxes.

In 2015, the company said the IRS had proposed tax increases and penalties of about $1 billion after examining returns from 2007 to 2009. It also wanted to tax profits from the Switzerland-based affiliate, but the company maintained that it paid all the taxes it owed.

In its most recent annual report, filed last month, the company noted that it received a grand jury subpoena in January 2015 requesting financial documents and information dealing with its U.S. and foreign subsidiaries, including the Swiss affiliate.

Besides the company"s downtown Peoria headquarters, federal authorities executed search warrants at company locations in East Peoria and Morton, said Sharon Paul, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney"s office for the Central District of Illinois.

The Morton facility is responsible for shipping and receiving replacement parts to dealers and parts facilities around the world, according to Caterpillar"s website.

Agencies involved in Thursday"s searches included the Internal Revenue Service"s Criminal Investigation Division; the Office of Export Enforcement at the U.S. Department of Commerce"s Bureau of Industry and Security; and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp."s Office of Inspector General, Paul said. She declined additional comment.

Caterpillar said in a statement that it is cooperating with law enforcement.

"While the warrant is broadly drafted, we believe the execution of this search warrant is regarding, among other things, export filings that relate to the CSARL matter first disclosed in Caterpillar"s Form 10-K filed on February 17, 2015, and updated in Caterpillar"s most recent Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 15, 2017," the company said in a statement.

Also mentioned in the company"s most recent annual report is a subpoena issued in September 2014 from the Securities and Exchange Commission for information concerning Caterpillar"s 2011 acquisition of mining equipment manufacturer Bucyrus International.

The company also responded to concerns from the SEC on possible business operations in other far-flung locales that are subject to U.S. sanctions. The SEC asked Caterpillar in 2014 for further explanation of operations in Syria and Sudan and to explain a news article that mentioned delivery of Caterpillar products from a Ukrainian tractor plant to Cuba. The three countries were designated by the State Department as state sponsors of terrorism, and subject to export controls, according to the SEC filings.

Caterpillar responded to the concerns, pointing out that sales in Syria and Sudan were a small fraction of its total revenues and that some of the subsidiaries have since stopped "accepting orders" in those countries. The company"s subsidiaries in Sudan were dealing with products such as service parts, engines and generators, according to SEC documents. Caterpillar denied doing any business in or with Cuba, noting that a news article the SEC cited was unrelated to the company.

The maker of mining and construction equipment announced in January its plans to move to the Chicago area, though it has yet to name a location. While most of Caterpillar"s 12,000 jobs will remain in the Peoria area, the announcement of the move was a blow to the town, which is entwined economically with the company.

On Thursday in Peoria, the lunch crowd at Adams Street Cafe, which is kitty-corner from Caterpillar"s headquarters, was unusually light, owner Joe Slyman said. Only about one-third of the typical 100-plus diners showed up, and that crowd is usually more than half Caterpillar employees, he said.

A line of more than a dozen official-looking vehicles filled the block outside the restaurant, Slyman said. Most were unmarked SUVs and vans, led by an Illinois State Police SUV. Slyman said one of his regular customers walked over not long after the vehicles pulled up around 11 a.m., took a selfie and encouraged the agents to stop by for lunch.

Several Illinois state troopers were on scene for security, requested by the Department of Commerce, Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Jason Bradley said.

News of the raid sent down caterpillar"s stock. shares closed at $94.36 Thursday, down 4.28 percent.

Chicago Tribune"s Lauren Zumbach contributed.

amarotti@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @AllyMarotti

Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-law-enforcement-search-caterpillar-0303-biz-20170302-story.html

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James Mangold Is Working on a Black-and-White Version of Logan Because It Is Serious and Important

Logan Official Trailer #1 (2017) Hugh Jackman Wolverine Movie HD

Following in the footsteps of Mad Max: Fury Roads Black & Chrome edition, Logan director James Mangold says hes producing a de-colorized version of the X-Men blockbuster, which hits theaters on Friday.

Mangold, who has also shared several black-and-white photos from the production, evidently has a fondness for the old-fashioned look, and though its set in the future, Logan makes a point of tying its story to the past through repeated, sometimes heavy-handed, evocations of the 1950s Western Shane. But its also of a piece with the movies efforts to set itself apart from the rest of the comic-book movie crowd, with its gory violence and strenuously downbeat outlook. What better way to do that than to leach out its color entirely, reducing comics traditional four-color palette to none? The move would also parallel Quentin Tarantinos Kill Bill, Vol. 1, which shifted from color to black and white in the middle of a supremely b****y fight scene in order to secure its R rating, but since Logan already wears its hard R like a badge of honor, its doubtful Mangold would try to get it knocked down to something more kid-friendly.

Source: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2017/03/02/logan_director_james_mangold_is_working_on_a_black_and_white_version_of.html

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