Why Kelly Clarkson chooses a 'safe' interviewing approach. Her talk show kicks off its sixth season | Canada News Media
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Why Kelly Clarkson chooses a ‘safe’ interviewing approach. Her talk show kicks off its sixth season

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NEW YORK (AP) — Kelly Clarkson says she’s learned a thing or two about interviewing after being in the spotlight as a recording artist since 2002. So, she’s created a safe space for guests on season six of her talk show which launches Monday. Burned by media stories in the past, the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter says she takes a different approach with guests on her daytime show.

Fans of the show — based in New York for its second year — can expect more celebrity interviews, human interest stories, and Clarkson’s signature “Kellyoke” musical performances. Clarkson says she likes to make guests feel comfortable, often playing games and infusing humor into her segments.

Clarkson is also an executive producer on the show, which has won 22 Daytime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Daytime Host and Talk Show last year. She spoke to The Associated Press recently about how she approaches interviews, covering new artists and staying incognito on the subway. Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.

AP: What are you most excited about in the new season?

CLARKSON: By season six, people kind of trust our show more. I think a lot of times some actors or artists — especially in the limelight — they get a little nervous about going on shows because they’re like, “Are they going to try and angle something? Or get some sort of soundbite or clickbait?” That’s not what I’m about. I’ve obviously had that happen to me in my career, so I don’t want to do that to anyone. I think people by now feel safe there, and they’re willing to like, you know, play a dumb game that’s just fun or they’re willing to talk about things that maybe they don’t normally talk about.

AP: What have you learned from being on the other side of interviews?

CLARKSON: I know what the receiving end feels like. You just want to promote something that you’re proud of, and then having to shadowbox your way through an interview so somebody is not trying to make their career off something they try and get you to say — it’s just gross and it’s hurtful. There’s been certain things, like where I help navigate the interview in a way that I’m comfortable. I never ask someone something that I wouldn’t mind answering. I definitely have been on the receiving end of that in a positive way and in a very negative way. I just want people to feel safe and comfortable because it’s supposed to be a good time, you know?

AP: Who are your dream guests?

CLARKSON: Everything is a cherry on top at this point. I’ve had the most amazing bookers for my show. I hung out with Dolly Parton and Cher and Heart and Alanis Morissette and Babyface and like all these artists that I love musically. And then I got to hang out with Josh Brolin, who was like in “The Goonies” and he’s Thanos, and it’s like, so cool! Meeting people that you love in their movies or for their work and then, you know, getting to see a sneak peek of who they are as a human is very fun. I always say Meryl Streep — she is one of my favorites in the industry, whether it’s singing or acting or whatever.

AP: Your “Kellyoke” segment is a fan-favorite, and you cover many popular songs. Which new artists are you listening to now?

CLARKSON: I’m a big fan of Chappell (Roan.) I’m actually covering her quite a bit this season. I love Fletcher. I’ve always been covering this generation, like Billie (Eilish) or Olivia Rodrigo, there’s a lot of them. There’s a lot of talent — Sabrina Carpenter I’m a big fan of. I’m like 42, but I love it. Music is music. That’s the cool thing about it. There is no specific culture, specific age, specific, whatever you have to be — it’s for everyone. I cover 180 songs a season, which is awesome. It’s just a lot of work, so to be able to sing songs and be so excited about like these new up-and-coming artists. It’s exciting covering these songs and then challenging you a bit but I love this. It’s a great generation of artists right now.

AP: Is it true you ride the New York City subway? Don’t you get recognized?

CLARKSON: Not at all! Girl, I don’t look like this — (motions to made-up face) — this is not how I woke up! (laughs) I usually am in a mom bun, or a hat and I get away with it. It’s only when I speak — as soon as I open my mouth to speak is when people will go, ‘what?’ And then that’s what gives me away. I have a very talented (hair and makeup) team named Harry and Potter — that’s what I call them (laughs) — and I’m very lucky. I realize that. On “The Voice,” like I remember, any time I’d ever go out with Blake (Shelton) anywhere or John (Legend) they just look like them all the time. They can’t get away with it and they can’t go anywhere. I’m very blessed. I get away with leading a pretty normal average life, and I don’t think a lot of people in the limelight get that. But yeah, the subway’s just faster! So, we’re on it all the time.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Dutch prosecutors say man arrested after fatal stabbing is suspected of a terrorist motive

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A 22-year-old man arrested after a fatal stabbing in Rotterdam that left one person dead and another seriously wounded is suspected of murder and attempted murder with terrorist intent, prosecutors said Friday.

The Rotterdam Public Prosecution Service said in a statement that investigations into the suspect, whose identity has not been released, uncovered “indications that the suspect may be ideologically driven. For example, the suspect shouted Allahu akbar a number of times during the commission of the crimes.”

The stabbing Thursday night in central Rotterdam left a 32-year-old man from Rotterdam dead and a 33-year-old man from Switzerland wounded. Prosecutors say the Swiss man has left hospital after treatment. They did not elaborate on his injuries.

The suspect has previous convictions for violent crimes, prosecutors said in a statement. He will be arraigned on Monday at a court in The Hague.

They stressed that their investigation is “still in full swing and that other motives are also explicitly not ruled out.”

The Dutch government’s terror threat level is currently set at four out of a possible five, meaning that “there is a realistic possibility that an attack will take place in the Netherlands,” the national counterterrorism coordinator said in a statement in early August.

The attack in Rotterdam comes weeks after a fatal terror attack in neighboring Germany.

Late last month a knife attack at a festival in the German city of Solingen left three dead and eight wounded. Police detained a Syrian man on suspicion of murder and membership of a terrorist organization. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in Germany, without providing evidence.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Hungary’s National Day: A National Show of a Nation Moving to the Right

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I Became a citizen of Hungary this year. My parents came from there in 1956 after the Soviet re-annexation of this nation back into the Iron Axis once the popular Hungarian Revolution was crushed by Soviet Tanks. Animosity no, but reality set upon a nation whose history has been filled with foreign intrigue, invasions, empires of others and dictatorships plenty.

Why would I place a beat upon this nation then? As a Canadian, I have no connection to Hungary except through my parents and their friends and family. Well, for one thing, I have visited this nation several times as a child and youth, found it to be mysterious, naturally beautiful and most of its people simply marvellous. The past and present ideologies of some people frighten me, however. Hungarians supported the Axis Powers during the second world war, and I have heard many discussing just how right the Germans were with their treatment of Gypsies, Jews and those damn Communists. The Right has had a foothold here for well over a hundred years and the popularity of extreme right-wing groups continues to grow even as the Hungarian economy grows. There is a hidden privilege many Hungarians seem to feel, that they are better than others. A superiority that the rightwing continues to promote socio-politically. Extremist allies like Russia, Serbia and other right-wing folk continue to feed the nation’s appetite for something better, be it empire, wealth or prestige. They are a clannish group, not easily moved from the shadows of self-interest and nationalistic pride.

So why join such a club you may ask? Well, why did the international brigades of the 1930-1940 filled with international citizens choose to fight a dictator like General Franco, an ally of Fascist Italy and the Nazis.? Because of the fight to come, a second world war had to begin somewhere, and the goose-stepping soldiers of hate had to be stopped somewhere too. Whether the ideology is right or left, religious or secular such isms breed in nations that have lost, been conquered and their precious resources stolen from underneath them by purveyors of mistrust, hate and misdirected nationalistic pride.

I want to fight this lot, these destroyers of civilization. Hungary is full of creative, imaginative and freedom-loving citizens. Their roots in the process of struggle to achieve their freedom can carry them forward against the rising tides of historic evil. Europe stands alone with tens of millions of illegal and unwanted Africans, Middle Eastern refugees and economic stragglers looking for a better life. The walls of separation continue to be built by both their religious and political organizations and those of the national authorities that have hosted them. Can the difference between cultures and races withstand the up-and-coming chaos the extremists will unleash soon enough? There are 3-5 million members of nationalistic and extreme organizations in Europe. Many millions of Militia’s well armed and trained, ready to take out the outsiders. You know who they are right? What has happened in America has flowed to the European Sector, where those ignored, living in poverty and low income, and looked upon with disdain have organized and are ready for action.

Hungary is such a nation where divisions within its society have been percolating for decades. When you feel alone, isolated from the world, taken advantage of and have a hunger for self-interest-nationalistic betterment what do you do?
The only way democracy can grow and prosper in such nations is if democrats from our neck of the woods take the bad boys on and prepare to fight the good fight, just like pre-WW2. Are you up for the fight? Eventually, your kids may be brought into it. Wars are still fought with ground troops so future generations are in peril of facing what previous brave generations have faced, a fight to end totalitarianism.

Steven Kaszab
Bradford, Ontario
skaszab@yahoo.ca

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House unanimously votes to boost Trump security as Congress scrambles to ensure candidate safety

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers are scrambling to ensure that the U.S. Secret Service has enough money and resources to keep the nation’s presidential candidates safe amid repeated threats of violence. It’s unclear, though, how much they can do with only weeks before the election, or if additional dollars would make an immediate difference.

Days after a gunman was arrested on former President Donald Trump’s golf course, the House on Friday overwhelmingly passed bipartisan legislation 405-0 to require the agency use the same standards when assigning agents to major presidential candidates as they do presidents and vice presidents. The agency has told Congress that it has already boosted Trump’s security, but House lawmakers want it put into law.

The efforts come after an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a rally in July, and after Secret Service agents arrested a man with a rifle hiding on the golf course at Trump’s Florida club over the weekend. The suspect in Florida apparently also sought to assassinate the GOP presidential nominee.

“In America, elections are determined at the ballot box, not by an assassin’s bullet,” Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., a chief sponsor of the bill, said in floor debate ahead of the vote. “That these incidents were allowed to occur is a stain on our country.”

With the election rapidly approaching and Congress headed out of town before October, lawmakers are rushing to figure out exactly what might help, hoping to assess the agency’s most pressing needs while ensuring that they are doing everything they can in an era where political violence has become more commonplace and every politician is a target.

“We have a responsibility here in Congress to get down to the bottom of this to figure out why these things are happening and what we can do about it,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Tuesday. “This is not a partisan issue. We have both parties working on it.”

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Thursday that “we’ve got to get the Secret Service into a position where its protectees are shielded in the most maximum way possible.”

Democrats and Republicans have been in talks with the agency this week to find out whether additional resources are needed. Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, the Democratic chairman of the spending subcommittee that oversees the Secret Service, said Congress wants to make sure that if it is spending new dollars, “it’s going to help the situation between now and the inauguration.”

Murphy said new money could go toward technology like drones, partnerships with other agencies that could provide immediate assistance and overtime pay for agents. It would likely be added to a stopgap spending bill that Congress will consider next week to keep the government running, either in the form of allowing the Secret Service to spend money more quickly or providing them with emergency dollars.

“I’m confident we are going to take care of this one way or the other,” Murphy said.

After the July shooting, House Republicans created a bipartisan task force focused on investigating the security failures of that day, and the panel will hold its first hearing next week. The House voted Friday to expand the committee’s mandate to include what happened in Florida, even though the Secret Service successfully apprehended the suspect before anyone was hurt.

In a letter earlier this month, the Secret Service told lawmakers that a funding shortfall was not the reason for lapses in Trump’s security when a gunman climbed onto an unsecured roof on July 13 at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and opened fire. But Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. said this week that the agency had “immediate needs” and that he’s talking to Congress.

Secret Service officials also told lawmakers behind closed doors that they have already increased Trump’s security to the same level as Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden.

“There are a handful of specialized assets only the commander in chief gets, but the rest of his protection is at the same level,” Spencer Love, a Democratic spokesperson for the House task force, said after the agency briefed members on Wednesday.

In the Senate, Florida Sen. Rick Scott has also introduced a bill mandating similar protection for presidential candidates. Both bills would also require regular reports to Congress on the status of the candidates’ protection. Senate leaders have not yet said whether they will consider the legislation.

In a joint statement after the bill’s passage, Lawler and his co-sponsor, Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York, urged the Senate to take up the bill and President Joe Biden to sign it. They thanked Biden for expanding Trump’s security but said that “without the passage and implementation of this legislation, this enhanced protection will not be codified into law and is subject to change with time.”

Republicans have argued that an overhaul of the agency, and potentially reallocating agents, should be a higher priority than funding.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican who was himself shot at a baseball practice in 2017, noted this week that the Secret Service has received regular budget increases in recent years.

“It’s not about the money,” Scalise said, but “what they’re doing with the money.”

Rep. Mike Waltz, a Republican on the task force, said he pushed Secret Service officials Wednesday on what new resources they needed and they said they were still evaluating.

“I think it’s irresponsible to just throw money at it when they’re not even sure what exactly they need and how quickly they can get it,” the Florida lawmaker said, adding that he hopes the agency shifts to a more threat-focused approach to protecting officials and candidates.

It’s unclear, though, if Republicans would fight a funding boost.

“It’s been made implicitly clear that they’re stretched pretty thin,” said Democratic Rep. Glenn Ivey, a member of the task force. “I know that there’s some folks who see a $3 billion budget and think that should be enough. But when you look at where all of the bodies have to go, that’s a problem.”



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