*With $8 Billion Deal on Health Bill, House G.O.P. Leader Says ‘We Have Enough Votes

House Republican leaders planned to hold a showdown vote Thursday on their bill to repeal and replace large portions of the Affordable Care Act after adding $8 billion to the measure to help cover insurance costs for people with pre-existing conditions. “We have enough votes,” Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the House majority leader, said Wednesday night. “It’ll pass.” A breakthrough came earlier Wednesday thanks to an amendment proposed by Representative Fred Upton of Michigan, with the support of Representative Billy Long of Missouri, to add the money to the bill. The two Republican lawmakers had come out against the health care legislation, warning that it did not do enough to protect the sick, but they threw their support behind it on Wednesday. President Trump blessed Mr. Upton’s proposal at a White House meeting with the two lawmakers as he pressed hard for a vote that could at least ensure House approval of the bill, which embodies one of his central campaign promises. The vote Thursday will carry enormous potential consequences — for millions of patients, for Mr. Trump’s legislative agenda and for Speaker Paul D. Ryan, who has failed twice in recent weeks to bring the bill to the House floor.

*Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski Are Engaged

Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, cohosts of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, are engaged. The network confirmed the engagement on Thursday. The couple went on a romantic vacation to the south of France over the weekend to celebrate Brzezinski’s 50th birthday and, while overseas, agreed to tie the knot. The 54-year-old Scarborough proposed on one knee at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes with an oval diamond ring. The couple has already released engagement photos with the ring, via Vanity Fair. After the ring was placed on her finger, “It looked like it was meant to be there,” Scarborough said. The couple had not ever formally confirmed their relationship in public before the engagement, but both of them chatted with the magazine about the big step. President Trump offered to let them conduct the ceremony at the White House or Mar-A-Lago, according to the magazine. The couple is still working through how to blend their homes, and where they will find space for their “combined three dogs, three cats, two rabbits, and chickens.”

*Tillerson: It’s Time to Restore ‘Balance’ With Other Countries:

In his first address laying out his vision as secretary of state, Rex W. Tillerson said Wednesday that the United States had been far too accommodating to emerging nations and longtime allies and that “things have gotten out of balance.” Righting those imbalances, he said, will be the mission of the State Department as it fulfills President Trump’s promise to put “America first.” “We were promoting relations. We were promoting economic activity. We were promoting trade with a lot of these emerging economies, and we just kind of lost track of how we were doing,” Mr. Tillerson said. “And as a result, things got a little bit out of balance.”

*San Bernardino Families Say Facebook, Twitter, and Google Aided Terrorism

Families of the victims of the 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, have filed a federal lawsuit against tech giants Twitter, Facebook, and Google. The relatives say the companies knowingly supported the Islamic State terror group and its agenda by allowing its followers to use their platforms.Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 people and injured 22 others during the attack on Dec. 2, 2015, at the Inland Regional Center. Among the dead were Sierra Clayborn, Tin Nguyen, and Nicholas Thalasinos, whose family members filed the suit. “Even if Farook and Malik had never been directly in contact with ISIS, ISIS’ use of social media directly influenced their actions on the day of the San Bernardino massacre,” the lawsuit states. “Without defendants Twitter, Facebook, and Google [YouTube], the explosive growth of ISIS over the last few years into the most feared terrorist group in the world would not have been possible.”

*THINK FREELY – READ LBN:

*Obama Backs French Candidate Emmanuel Macron

Former U.S. President Barack Obama has endorsed the progressive Emmanuel Macron in French’s presidential election run-off. “I have admired the campaign that Emmanuel Macron has run. He has stood up for liberal values,” Obama said in a video posted by the Macron campaign on Twitter. In a jab at Macron’s far-right opponent, Marine Le Pen, Obama said Macron “appeals to people’s hopes, and not their fears.” The former president added that he does not plan on taking a side in foreign elections, but said the French campaign was “very important to the future of France and the values that we care so much about.”

*LBN-INTEL FOR INFLUENCERS:

*TSA Report Cautions Against Terrorist Truck Attacks

An unclassified new Transportation Security Administration report is warning U.S. truck owners and rental agencies to be “vigilant” about the increasing threat of attacks from terrorists who aim to use the big vehicles for mass killings. The report, titled “Vehicle Ramming Attacks: Threat Landscape, Indicators, and Countermeasures,” warns in particular for operators to protect vehicles from theft. It was sent out Tuesday to local law-enforcement agencies across the country, in addition to private companies working with the Department of Homeland Security. Over the past three years, more than 170 people have been killed and more than 700 wounded in about 17 ramming attacks around the world, according to the document. “No community, large or small, rural or urban, is immune to attacks of this kind by organized or ‘lone wolf’ terrorists,” the report said, noting that locations are particularly vulnerable when “large numbers of people congregate, including parades and other celebratory gatherings, sporting events, entertainment venues, or shopping center.

*MY REVIEW: “My husband would divorce me if he knew I was sending this photo in but I love LBN. My whole family are ultra-conservative and LBN is the only place I learn the independent story.”—–*(Name withheld by request), an LBN reader from Birmingham, Alabama.

*LBN-MUSIC INSIDER:   ***Miley Cyrus made no secret of her penchant for smoking weed, talking about it and even lighting up at an award show. But as she tells Billboard, those days are behind her. “This is crazy,” she tells the magazine, “but I haven’t smoked weed in three weeks!” Miley’s idea to “quit” smoking stemmed from her desires to change. “I like to surround myself with people that make me want to get better, more evolved, open,” she explains, “and I was noticing, it’s not the people that are stoned. I want to be super clear and sharp, because I know exactly where I want to be.”

*LBN-INVESTIGATES: Makeup and Cosmetics

·  Roman philosopher Plautus once quipped, “A woman without paint is like food without salt.”

·  The word “cosmetic” is from the Greek word kosmos (related to cosmos), meaning to arrange, order, or adorn. The popular magazine Cosmopolitan is also derived from this root.

·  In 1909, Eugène Schueller founded the French Harmless Hair Dye Company, which later became L’Oreal.

·  The rivalry between Elizabeth Arden, who opened a beauty salon in 1910, and Helene Rubinstein, a Polish immigrant, helped move the cosmetic industry into the modern era.

·  In the early 20th century, Elizabeth Arden and Helen Rubinstein along with Max Factor (who produced makeup for actresses) built the foundations of the modern cosmetic advertising industry. They used aggressive advertising tactics, such as celebrity endorsements and magazine advertisements.

·  The global beauty industry is growing at up to 7% a year, more than twice the rate of the developed world’s GDP. The growth is being driven by aging baby boomers and an overall increased discretionary income in the West, as well as a growing middle class in developing countries.

·  The ancient Egyptians regarded beauty as a sign of holiness.

·  In ancient Egypt, cosmetics were an integral part of hygiene, health, and ritual. Pills and creams protected against the sun and dry winds, and oils were used in perfumes in religious rituals.

·  Cosmetic, or plastic, surgery is a booming $20 billion business and continues to grow. The number of plastic surgeries in America has increased by over 220% since 1997.

·  Brazil has more “Avon Ladies” (900,000) than it has men and women in its army and navy.

·  Pantene is the world’s biggest hair care brand, largely in part because of its “pro-vitamin B” ingredient. But a report by Britain’s Which reveals that vitamins need to be ingested to work and that Pantene shampoo is no better than a supermarket brand it tested.

*LBN-BUSINESS INSIDER:   ***As a business, Facebook is more successful than ever. On Wednesday afternoon, it reported another quarter of huge growth, with nearly 2 billion people actively using the service and revenue up 49 percent in the first quarter compared with a year ago. But with the company’s vast reach has come another kind of problem: Facebook is becoming too big for its computer algorithms and relatively small team of employees and contractors to manage the trillions of posts on its social network. Earlier Wednesday, Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s chief executive, acknowledged the problem. In a Facebook post, he said that over the next year, the company would add 3,000 people to the team that polices the site for inappropriate or offensive content, especially in the live videos the company is encouraging users to broadcast. “If we’re going to build a safe community, we need to respond quickly,” he wrote. “We’re working to make these videos easier to report so we can take the right action sooner — whether that’s responding quickly when someone needs help or taking a post down.” He offered no details on what would change.

*LBN-SITE OF THE DAY: “The BioDigital Human is a virtual 3D body that brings to life thousands of medically accurate anatomy objects and health conditions in an interactive Web-based platform. A truly astounding collection of more than 5,000 3D anatomy and health condition models to help you gain a far better understanding of the human body than ever before, all directly from your iPhone and iPad.”

The Kent State Shootings (1970)
In 1970, the US was in the midst of the Vietnam War, and antiwar demonstrations among students were common. When students at Ohio’s Kent State University decided to protest the incursion of US forces into Cambodia, no one imagined it would end in tragedy. But National Guard troops called in to disperse the crowd opened fire, killing four and wounding nine others. The shooting sparked nationwide outrage and became a rallying point for antiwar activists

*LBN-SPOTLIGHT — Welcome to IRS Problem Solvers —- . Our specialists represent 125+ years of experience & assess each situation & provide the most cost-effective solutions to the most complex situations.

*LBN-SPOTLIGHT: The Inconvenient Truth —- The truth that matters is the inconvenient one. Listen to this video to find out what you are inconveniencing yourself about a road to success. —-  

*LBN-R.I.P.:   ***Col. Leo K. Thorsness, one of the most highly decorated American airmen of the Vietnam War and a belated recipient of the Medal of Honor for his heroism on a mission that took place 11 days before he was shot down and taken prisoner, died Tuesday in Jacksonville, Fla. Colonel Thorsness, who had been brutalized during his six years of captivity at the notorious North Vietnamese prison known as the Hanoi Hilton, where he was a cellmate of John McCain’s,was 85. His death was announced by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, which said he had been treated for cancer. Colonel Thorsness, who lived in St. Augustine, Fla., died at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, WHNT News 19 in Huntsville, Ala., reported. He had been living in Alabama before moving to Florida.

*LBN-SPECIAL READER INVITE

For LBN Readers in New York on May 11th. You and a guest are cordially invited to attend the CD Launch concert for Jazz vocalist Sarah Partridge’s new release, “Bright Lights & Promises: Redefining Janis Ian” at The Bitter End at 7:45 on May 11th. Tickets are complimentary. For details —- .

LBN SPOTLIGHT: Tiananmen West: Why Nixon Ordered the Kent State Massacre is now available on Amazon in both e-book and paperback formats. It is a non-fiction study of theNixon era.   Author, Jenny Deason Copeland, pitched the screenplay for 20 years only to hear Hollywood execs suggest it be a book first. The heroine and villain parts were written withSarandon and Nicholson in mind. Nixon confesses to ordering the massacre in his autobiography RN. After three decades of research using FOIA procedures, the book uncovers the possible motive behind the massacre. The FOIA results are available free at 

*LBN-COMMENTARY by Gabourey Sidibe: I’m currently reading “Difficult Women,” by Roxane Gay, and I’m getting my life from it! From the very first chapter about sisters who survived a kidnapping as children, I was hooked. I always think about what happens to regular people who go through tragic circumstances as children and how it affects their lives as adults. Even when it’s fiction, I believe every word of it. Roxane Gay seems to have a knack for fearlessly telling the truth. Even in her fiction.

*LBN-COMMENTARY by Bret Stephens: I’m not for a second suggesting that we shouldn’t continue to pursue and increase fundamental research and investment in clean tech, at least if we can do it without having the government pick winners and losers. A majority of Americans favor that, on a bipartisan basis. There’s room for agreement, or at least productive disagreement — and compromise. The lessons are legion but, more often than not, unlearned. We need to make policy choices based less on moral self-regard and more on attention to real-world results.

*LBN-COMMENTARY by Thomas B. Edsall: The political success or failure of the Trump administration will be determined in large part by the answer to a simple question. Is Trump’s ability to give voice to the anger and resentment of his constituents adequate to offset his broken promises and what his enemies trumpet as his failure to improve the lives of those who voted for him? No one is more aware of this issue than President Trump himself. His strategy for dealing with it was on full display last week after Congress delayed action on his bill to replace Obamacare — a prime example of legislation that will inflict costs on his own supporters. At an open-air rally in Harrisburg, Pa. on Saturday that was timed as a counterstrike to the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, Trump pounded home his core message — that no matter what he does and no matter what Washington tries to do to him, he and he alone is on the people’s side. “A large group of Hollywood celebrities and Washington media are consoling each other in a hotel ballroom in our nation’s capital right now,” Trump said. Looking out at his audience, with its Make America Great Again caps and its Deplorable Lives Matter T-shirts, Trump made the contrast between his people and Washington’s even more direct.

*LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW:…

*LBN-OVERHEARD:   ***It’s one and done for Eden Sassoonand the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.” On Wednesday, the daughter of legendary hairstylist Vidal Sassoon confirmed she will not be returning to the Bravo reality series after appearing on the show’s most recent season.