<ul><li>The monsoon session of the <keyword id="145182" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Parliament">Indian parliament</keyword> began on July 19 and is almost half way through.</li><li>Several pressing matters have been raised during this session regarding the COVID-19 situation, farmers' protest and more.</li><li>However, when faced with questions, the government has cited lack of data on at least four issues listed below.</li><li>The session is scheduled to close on August 13 and several other matters like Pegasus spyware are yet to be discussed.</li></ul>It has already been more than 10 days since the Indian parliament kicked off its monsoon session on July 19, 2021. Lot of important questions have been raised over several long hours of discussions and brawl, however, not all have been answered. From death due to oxygen shortage during the pandemic to cryptocurrency investments, these are the pressing issues for which the <keyword id="44734" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Government">Indian government</keyword> has simply slid past saying it has no data in hand. ‘No one died due to oxygen shortage’ If the first wave of COVID-19 brought Indian healthcare system to its knees, the second one was a blade on the neck. The South Asian country witnessed the worst healthcare crisis in its history, with people looking for hospital beds, oxygen cylinders and concentrators, COVID-19 medicines and other necessary equipment over Twitter. Many lost their lives in this struggle. However, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Bharati Pravin Pawar in the Rajya Sabha, a day after the monsoon session began,<a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/parliament-proceedings-no-deaths-reported-due-to-lack-of-oxygen-health-ministry-tells-rajya-sabha/article35428791.ece"> said</a>, “no deaths due to lack of oxygen have been specifically reported by states/union territories’ during the second wave of COVID-19. This led to a nationwide outrage. ‘Farmers death, what?’ The farmers of <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="India">India</keyword> took to streets in September 2020, after the government passed three farm acts. On 30 November 2020, an estimated crowd of 200,000 to 300,000 farmers were walking to the national capital of Delhi to make their voices heard. The protest went on for close to ten months, however the government has no data on how many people have lost their lives during this course. As per a press release issued by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (Joint Farmers’ Force), a coalition of over 40 farmers’ unions, 537 farmers have died in the agitation till date. SKM has also updated the<a href="https://humancostoffarmersprotest.blogspot.com/2020/12/list-of-deaths-in-farmers-protest-at.html"> list of farmers</a> who have died during the protest since November 24 last year. However, the Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar, in the parliament, said that the government has no record of farmers having died or fallen ill during the protests. ‘Black money is white money painted in a different colour’ Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech of 8 November 2016, while announcing the demonetisation of some currency notes, was a historical moment against black money in India. <div type="ExtQuote" text="“To break the grip of corruption and black money, we have decided that the five hundred rupee and thousand rupee currency notes presently in use will no longer be legal tender from midnight tonight, that is 8th November 2016. This means that these notes will not be acceptable for transactions from midnight onwards. The five hundred and thousand rupee notes hoarded by anti-national and anti-social elements will become just worthless pieces of paper.”" auname="— Narendra Modi, demonetisation speech of 2016."></div> He also highlighted the government passed a law 'The Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015', soon after taking over the office, for disclosure of foreign black money. The country had signed agreements with many countries, including the USA, to add provision for sharing banking information. Cut to 2021, there is no data available. The Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, has informed that there is <a href="https://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-no-official-estimate-of-black-money-stashed-in-swiss-banks-centre-tells-parliament-2902569">no official </a>estimate of the amount of black money deposited in Swiss banks in the decade. According to data shared by Switzerland's central bank, Indian individuals and firms have deposited over CHF 2,554.7 million or<a href="https://scroll.in/latest/997838/indian-deposits-in-swiss-banks-rise-to-over-rs-20700-crore-highest-in-13-years"> ₹20,700 crore</a> in Swiss Banks in 2020. All of this may not be black money, but it’s a good data point to begin with. The Indian government, in 2019, said that it has an information sharing agreement with the Swiss authorities. Yet they have no data to show in 2021. ‘Cryptocurrency bill on the way, but no data yet’ Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed the Rajya Sabha (Upper House) on July 27 that the government does not collect any information on the number of cryptocurrency exchanges and investors in India. It does sound fair, but not when the government of India has been pushing to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/cryptocurrency/news/indias-crypto-bill-is-unlikely-to-be-up-for-discussion-this-month-and-it-may-be-a-while-before-we-see-it-in-parliament/articleshow/84401863.cms">regulate cryptocurrency</a> in India since 2019. As per the <a href="https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/economy/no-information-collected-on-number-of-crypto-exchanges-and-investors-in-india-finance-minister-nirmala-sitharaman-7232611.html">data </a>shared by crypto exchanges, there are about 15 million Indian cryptocurrency investors, with holdings worth ₹15,000 crore ($2 billion) cumulatively. There are 350 startups that operate in the blockchain and crypto space, as per the crypto currency exchanges. Besides this, Sitharaman also mentioned that the government of India has no information on drug trafficking and money laundering that is being carried out through crypto exchanges. ‘No one dies due to manual scavenging’ No deaths have been reported due to manual scavenging in India over the last five years, the minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale said in the Rajya Sabha on <a href="https://thewire.in/government/centre-says-no-death-reported-due-to-manual-scavenging-activists-decry-govt-response">July 29</a>. If only, the ministry had thought of going through this year’s budget session thoroughly. Athawale, during his own speech during the budget session, highlighted<a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/340-sewer-cleaning-deaths-in-past-5-years-government/article33732992.ece"> 340 people </a>died while cleaning sewers and septic tanks in the last five years till December 31, 2020. He also noted that 66,692 manual scavengers have been identified across the country. ‘Information on witnesses killed, turned hostile not maintained centrally’ The Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai, has informed the parliament that the government has no data of the cases where key witnesses were killed or turned hostile. “The Witness Protection Scheme, 2018 provides that the witness protection measures ordered shall be proportionate to the threat and shall be for a specific duration not exceeding three months at a time," Rai added. However, these cases are fairly common in India. In March 2021, the family and lawyers of the 19-year-old Dalit girl who was allegedly gang raped and murdered in Hathras in 2020, were <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/allahabad-high-court-on-threats-to-hathras-family-will-consider-shifting-trial-2395571#:~:text=The%20affidavit%20said%20that%20the,stated%20that%20it%20was%20%22evident">threatened </a>before the special court where the case was pending. ‘Hospital beds data not available’ The Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar, informed that the government of India does not centrally maintain the data of hospital beds. This is majorly because health is a state subject, meaning it's up to the governments in states and union territories (UT) to increase the bed strength in their hospital. Despite this, Pawar shared that India has an isolation and ICU bed capacity of 18.21 lakh and 1.22 lakh, respectively. If the government had data on isolation and ICU beds, then the question remains why doesn’t it have information on hospital beds. ‘No data available for MSMEs that went under’ When the member of parliaments (MPs) asked the government for details on the number of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which shut down during the pandemic. Instead of the data, the government listed the steps taken by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for extension and restructuring of credit. It even cited two surveys, which stated 88% of MSMEs were affected by the pandemic. ‘No data on deaths due to air pollution’ Minister of State for Environment, Forest And Climate Change Ashwini Kumar Choubey informed the parliament that they do not have any conclusive data to establish a direct correlation of death/disease exclusively due to air pollution. According to ‘States of India: The Global Burden of Disease Study 2019’ <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/17-million-deaths-in-india-were-attributable-to-air-pollution-in-2019-says-study/article33394600.ece">report</a>, nearly 1.7 million deaths in India were attributed to air pollution in 2019. This was 18% of the total deaths in the country. ‘No updates on how many lost jobs during second wave of COVID-19’ A few MPs asked the government for details on the number of casual or contractual employees who lost their jobs during the second wave of COVID-19. However, the government did not share any such details. Instead, it listed out several initiatives undertaken by the government to boost hiring. [This is a developing story. The article will be updated as the government shares more details about the lack of data in their repository.] SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/droom-automobile-marketplace-raises-200-million-in-a-pre-ipo-round-at-unicorn-valuation/articleshow/84818567.cms">Automobile marketplace Droom is raising $200 million in a pre-IPO round at unicorn valuation</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/the-whole-truth-a-healthy-packaged-food-brand-raises-6-million-from-sequoia-capital/articleshow/84815594.cms">The Whole Truth, a ‘healthy’ packaged food brand, raises $6 million to enter new categories</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/rolex-rings-ipo-opens-on-july-28-and-closes-on-july-30-with-a-price-band-of-880-900/articleshow/84813639.cms">Rolex Rings IPO opens today with a price band of ₹880-900</a>

There are at least 10 hot issues in India that the government has no data for

Today, "<keyword id="12151275" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="men-in-black" source="Orion">Men in Black</keyword>" is considered a landmark action-comedy that cemented Will Smith as a global-box-office draw and showcased how computer graphics would elevate Hollywood blockbusters for decades to come.But 25 years ago, the movie was hardly a sure thing. Based on a little-known comic-book series from Marvel, Sony had no idea what it had its hands on when it began developing the project about a pair of agents (Tommy Lee Jones and Smith) from a secret organization that watches over aliens living on Earth. There were also a few hiccups at the start: the two leads were neither of the producers' first picks, and director Barry Sonnenfeld had left the project twice before shooting began.But by the time the movie was in the can, things were looking promising. Steven Spielberg came on as an executive producer and Smith had become a huge star thanks to "Independence Day," which became a gigantic hit right around the time "Men in Black" wrapped production.The movie ended up becoming a box-office sensation, and even still gets regular play on cable networks like TNT. From Jones and Smith's funny banter to the alien characters created by creature-effects legend Rick Baker (who won the best makeup Oscar for his efforts), the movie, which spawned two sequels also directed by Sonnenfeld, remains an extremely enjoyable watch all these years later.For the movie's 25th anniversary, Insider spoke to Sonnenfeld over the phone from his home in British Columbia.The director recalled never-before-told insights like the famous line that Smith came up with on the spot, what he had to do to get a Michael Jackson cameo in the sequel, and why he thinks the franchise reboot attempt with 2019's "Men in Black: International" starring Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth didn't work.<div type="image" title="Will Smith in a black suit and black sun glasses" height="4197" width="2782" msid="92600526" hostid="261"></div><h2>Sonnenfeld purposely undersold Chris O'Donnell on the movie so he could cast Will Smith instead</h2>Previous to making 1995's "Get Shorty," you were developing "Men in Black" but couldn't see eye-to-eye with producers Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald. So you left the film. What led to you finally signing back on to direct?I was developing "Men in Black" for a very long time and finally, after six years of trying, I was able to get "Get Shorty" made so I left "Men in Black" to do "Get Shorty." But I had heard they hadn't gotten a director they were sticking with.I was in L.A. having breakfast with my wife at The Ivy and at the next table was Barry Josephson, who was head of production at Sony at that time. I said, "Listen, if you're willing to wait until I'm done with 'Get Shorty' I would love to come back on 'Men in Black.'"So it was kind of kismet that I ran into Josephson. Otherwise, it's possible I never would have gotten involved again. Legend has it that the producers wanted Clint Eastwood and Chris O'Donnell to play the leads. When you returned to "Men in Black," was that still the case?When we started up again, those were the two names in the mix. I had suggested Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith. Will was actually my wife's idea. They went out to Tommy Lee Jones and he said he would consider it if there was a rewrite of the script.Then during that rewrite, Tommy got director approval so because of that I was off the movie again. This was for about four or five months. The irony is that Tommy was my idea to be in the movie in the first place. So how did you get back on the film?I had a meal with Tommy in Santa Monica about five months later after he said the latest rewrite was good enough for him to sign on. I had dinner with him and it worked out. <div type="image" title="Chris O'Donnell in a tuxedo" height="3000" width="1954" msid="92600528" hostid="261"></div>Then it was Walter, Laurie, and Spielberg who felt Chris O'Donnell would be good. I think he's a good actor, but I had really been thinking about Will since my wife made the suggestion.I met with Chris and he had concerns about the script and had another movie offer. So I told him, "Yeah, we might never fix this script and I don't think I know how to direct this movie." So he passed on the movie the next day. I used to live in the Hamptons and Steven Spielberg used to summer there so I was able to arrange for Will to come up from Philly — he was at a wedding — to come and meet Steven and myself and Walter and Laurie. And that's how Will got the part. Is it true David Schwimmer was in the running for the J role at one time?Um, yes, that rings a bell. But I always thought about Will for the role. So let's be clear, you kind of undersold it big time to Chris O'Donnell. Well, you know what, you always want to underpromise and overdeliver.<div type="image" title="Will Smith holding a baby alien" height="1515" width="2310" msid="92600530" hostid="261"></div><h2>An early showing of the movie to friends and family was a disaster</h2>You started principal photography around March 1996. By that July, Will Smith is a global star due to "Independence Day." Did the success of that movie change at all how Will's J character evolved during shooting or just how you would use Will in the marketing of the movie?No, it didn't. I think "Independence Day" came out in the last two weeks of our principal photography and Will was already a bigger-than-life presence in the room so it was great that we didn't have to film through months of box-office records, it was just the opening weekend. Going into post-production, did you feel you were playing with house money because now you had hitmaker Will Smith?No, because you never know that. If you start thinking that way, it's bad news.In fact, we had a family and friends screening near the end of the editing where we didn't have the visual effects in and it was a disaster. People who were at the screening — my agent, my lawyer, Ethan Coen — after the movie was released and was a hit they all said, "We lied to you when we said it's going to be good after the friends-and-family showing. We didn't think it would be."And what about Will Smith doing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiBLgEx6svA">the "Men in Black" song</a>? Did the idea come before "Independent Day" was released?That was in post-production when we asked Will to do the song. But truthfully, we would have done that regardless of how "Independent Day" did just because of his hip-hop career.And we did a big-budget music video for the song — that was really less about "Independence Day" and more because Sony had seen the movie and felt it was going to be a big hit. But it sure didn't hurt that "Independence Day" was such a big movie. <div type="image" title="Tommy Lee Jones in a black suit" height="4192" width="2774" msid="92600532" hostid="261"></div><h2>It took a long time for Tommy Lee Jones to accept being the straight man to Will Smith</h2>Was there a moment on set when you could tell Tommy and Will were clicking?It's funny, they really clicked both on- and off-camera. They really enjoyed each other. They both thought each other was funny. For me, personally, the very first time we shot with both of them together is that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FkVXCCfg2A">pawn-shop scene with Jack Jeebs</a> (played by Tony Shalhoub) and they both were perfect.Will ad-libbed that last line of, "Yeah, I'm gonna come back about those Rolexes." Right away I knew they would work out well. Through doing the rewrites and going into shooting, was Tommy on board with being <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StraightMan">the straight man</a> in essentially this comedy duo with Will?It took a long time for him to feel comfortable with it. I don't think he ever did. I don't think he understood that comedy. In fact, I really sat on his performance. I never wanted him to acknowledge anything Will said was funny or was a joke.I got a call from Tommy's agent about two weeks into the movie and he said, "I don't want Tommy to be funny, I only want Will to be funny." And I promised him that when Tommy sees this movie, Tommy will realize he's as funny as Will Smith is. Every comedy team needs a straight man.<div type="image" title="Vincent D'Onofrio dressed in overalls as &quot;Men in Black&quot; villain Bug" height="688" width="1264" msid="92600534" hostid="261"></div>But I would imagine the biggest wild card, in regards to characters, was the Edgar/Bug character that Vincent D'Onofrio plays. He could have gone so many different ways with that role. Is it true you didn't hear what voice he was going to do until the first day of shooting him?Yes. And I was 100% on board. The other thing he did that was fantastic is his voice changes over the course of his time on Earth because he becomes more and more bug-like. In fact, near the end of the movie when he comes into the morgue to find the cat and where he kills the character played by David Cross, he's almost impersonating John Huston from "Chinatown."He was great to work with and understood you can be funny without trying to be funny. I love that he's so annoyed because he's in this human suit, which was brilliantly conceived by Rick Baker. Is it true Linda Fiorentino got the role of Dr. Laurel Weaver because she played against you in a poker game?That's her legend. She claimed that she won the part in the poker game, but that's not true. Someone invited me to a poker game and Linda happened to be at my table. So when it came time to cast for that role, she was someone I immediately thought about because I had just played poker with her. <div type="image" title="Michael Jackson in &quot;Men in Black&quot; suit with penguins behind him" height="562" width="1000" msid="92600535" hostid="261"></div><h2>Michael Jackson refused to play an alien in "Men in Black II"</h2>A great moment in the movie is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbxA9p_nCGc">the observation board scene</a> that shows all the aliens living among us on Earth: Al Roker, Sylvester Stallone, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Danny DeVito. Yeah. I wanted to have people up there that made you go, "Yeah, he could be an alien."Now in "Men in Black II" you show off the board in a different way, it's where you have <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_F4BkPGSRA">the Michael Jackson cameo</a>. How did you get him to do that?He approached us.Really? Did he just want to be in the movie?Well, I was going to make him an alien and he said, "No, I want to wear the 'Men in Black' suit." So we figured out how to do that and it worked out. He was lovely. <div type="image" title="Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith standing across from Linda Fiorentino" height="1497" width="2297" msid="92600537" hostid="261"></div><h2>Initially, Sonnenfeld didn't like Danny Elfman's score and he had to go to the composer's 'scary' house to tell him</h2>The secret sauce to the whole franchise, but particularly this movie, is Danny Elfman's score. You know the movie is going to be a fun time just from the music. How did he come up with the score?I went to Marc Shaiman first because he had done my movies "The Addams Family" and "Addams Family Values," but he wasn't available. I went to Danny and he agreed to do it. I really admired Danny's work.Early on, we gave Danny some scenes to write music for, just so I could see if we were on the same page. And he had a place in Malibu that was so dark and so scary. I go into this bunker that he had on this Malibu property, it's pitch black outside, he's got skeletons, taxidermy. I'm pretty freaked out. And the initial stuff Danny played for me was totally wrong.I started to sweat because I was about to tell Danny Elfman, who I truly admire from the Tim Burton stuff, that he needed to go in a totally different direction tonally. I didn't know how he was going to take that. I basically told him that he was hitting the jokes and helping me with the comedy but I didn't want any help with the comedy. I wanted the audience to decide what was funny and what wasn't on their own. I didn't want an actor to wink at the camera or the music to do that. I told him where I needed help, was the music needed gravitas and emotion. And he totally got it.About a week later, I drove back to that horrible place of his again and what he played for me was fantastic. <div type="image" title="Tommy Lee Jones in black suit talking to aliens at coffee counter" height="1542" width="2348" msid="92600540" hostid="261"></div><h2>The aliens who talk to Tommy Lee Jones were pullets, not CGI</h2>The fascinating thing about watching the movie now is that, while you were making it, a major shift to CGI is happening in Hollywood. Yes, you have Rick Baker but "Jurassic Park" has been out for a few years and all the blockbusters are going heavy on CG. How did you balance the two on this movie?I was really lucky that I had Rick because not only did he design all the makeup but he designed all the aliens. And early on, he said, "Whenever you can don't use CGI, use puppets." Because puppeteers are members of SAG, meaning they are actors and will work off and ad-lib with the on-screen actors. A perfect example is <a href="https://youtu.be/WS93LMcRGRk?t=72">the aliens in the break room</a> where Tommy's character stops to get coffee. Those are all rod puppets. We shot it in a flat-to-the-wall way so the puppeteers are behind that wall. We didn't even have to digitally remove any rods.When Tommy says, "That's not decaf is it?" that was ad-libbed on the day in real-time. I told Tommy to say that. Then I told the puppeteer to answer in the alien voice: "Viennese Cinnamon."Now when we see those aliens again, they are walking away with all the duty-free stuff, that's a wide shot so the only way to do that was CGI. It's funny you bring up Tommy talking to the aliens because I remember when the movie came out, stories used that scene as an example of how amazing the CGI is in the movie.Yeah! They were puppets.<div type="image" title="Will Smith wearing sunglasses" height="728" width="1440" msid="92600541" hostid="261"></div><h2>Will Smith came up with the famous "I make this look good" line on the day of filming</h2>Will Smith's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AKe70SX8OM">famous line in the movie</a> once he puts on the "Men in Black" suit for the first time: "You know what the difference is between you and me? I make this look good." Is there a story behind that line?Yes. That came on the day during rehearsals. Will was always ad-libbing funny stuff. Some I used and some I didn't. But with that shot, I pushed the camera on him low, that whole delivery, yeah, he came up with that on the day.Also, the line at the end when Will is looking at the mural of the World's Fair and he turns and says to Tommy and <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2019/07/10/old-actor-rip-torn-play-men-black-10146312/">Rip</a>, "Hey, old guys." That was also a Will ad-lib. <div type="image" title="men in black international trailer" height="1126" width="2208" msid="92600543" hostid="261"></div><h2>Sonnenfeld says he's never seen "Men in Black: International," though he's an executive producer on the movie</h2>The movie came out on July 2, 1997, and did amazing business, better than anyone expected. You have not made it a secret that making parts two and three were challenging. When it comes to this franchise, is it simply too many voices in the room — producers, talent, studio — trying to get their way?The issue is the first one came out and it was, at the time, the biggest box-office grosser in Sony's history. So it was a big deal.Then, the studio and the producers decided to hire a writer for "Men in Black II" and never consulted me about the story, anything. So by the time I got the script for the first time I was not only given a script that I didn't think was right tonally but also given a release date for the movie opening. Do you think they were fishing for another director in that time when they were developing the sequel and finally settled on you?I don't know. So you get through the third film. They attempt to reboot the franchise in 2019 with "Men in Black: International," which you were an executive producer on. Were you surprised it didn't do well?I had nothing to do with it. I just got a credit. By the end of the third movie, I knew that Will, Tommy, and I were done with the franchise. The thing that's funny is "Men in Black: International" is directed by F. Gary Gray who also directed "Be Cool," the sequel to "Get Shorty."Anyway, I think the "Men in Black" franchise, at least the first three, has a certain tone: this is all real and the comedy comes out of absurd reality. The laughs didn't come out of jokes or acknowledging that something you did or said is a joke. Also, you need two different kinds of performers. You really do need a straight man and a comedian. You need Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin. Now, I didn't see "Men in Black: International," but I've seen the trailer and I didn't think there was enough difference in attitude between the leads. Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel you don't want two funny people in your movie, ever. <div type="image" title="Will Smith in a white shirt standing next to Barry Sonnenfeld in a hat and dark shirt" height="1336" width="1781" msid="92600544" hostid="261"></div><h2>Sonnenfeld would do another "Men in Black" movie if Will Smith were attached</h2>Have you ever seen the <a href="https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/phil-lord-chris-miller-on-men-in-black-jump-street-crossover">"Men in Black/21 Jumpstreet" crossover script</a>?I've never seen a page of it. I think it seems like an expensive idea with a lot of high-priced producers let alone actors. If Will Smith ever called you and said, "I'm thinking of doing another one," would that sway you to direct another "Men in Black"?Sure. Has that conversation ever happened?Nope. This <keyword id="11905869" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="interview" source="Orion">interview</keyword> has been condensed and edited for clarity.

'Men in Black' at 25: Director Barry Sonnenfeld shares which famous line Will Smith made up on the spot and reveals why Michael Jackson refused to play an alien

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right click-to-enlarge"><div class="image"><a title_source="Screenshot via Crowdtilt/ The Dating Ring" title_caption="Screenshot from The Dating Ring's promotional video." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53889cf469bedd133af715e6-960/datingring.png"></a><a href="https://www.crowdtilt.com/campaigns/working-on-it/description">Screenshot via Crowdtilt/ The Dating Ring</a>Screenshot from The Dating Ring's promotional video.</div></div>Getting shipped across the country to find a millionaire husband and explore a new city may sound like an exciting adventure.
But not every aspect of the trip was as glamorous as it seems.
NYMag writer Maureen O'Connor was among 16 women chosen to participate in "<a href="https://www.crowdtilt.com/campaigns/working-on-it/description">Cross Country Love: Help Fly NYC Women to SF</a>."
The five-day trip, which was crowdfunded via Crowdtilt, was thrown by Lauren Kay, the founder of dating startup The Dating Ring. The idea behind it is that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-diversity-numbers-2014-5">Silicon Valley has become so dominated by wealthy men</a> that it has caused a supply-demand imbalance. For some reason, this can only be solved by flying women from New York to San Francisco. Naturally, the concept is not without its flaws.
Nonetheless, women interested in attending the trip had the option of choosing different packages that include an allotted number of dates, admission to a cocktail party, flight and housing. These options range between $500 and $1,250. 
The dating service was initially launched in New York City, but it expanded it San Fransisco after the startup was accepted into Y Combinator. 
O'Connor <a href="http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/05/shipped-to-california.html">detailed her experience</a> in what at first appeared to be a college-style five-day sorority retreat. She described bonding with the other ladies on the trip, attending swanky cocktail parties, making new friends, and meeting interesting men.
But things took a slightly darker turn toward the end of her narrative.
On the third day, O'Connor and the rest of the New York gang headed to a party thrown for the Crowdtilt benefactors. 
"Some of the men at this party are more eccentric than those we received as matches," O'Connor recalls.
One programmer who donated several hundred dollars to the campaign compared the situation to giving money to a homeless person-implying that it was a demeaning act of pity.
He then criticized the online dating scene, saying that he prefers to "use reality" as his platform, and began to touch O'Connor.
Here's how O'Connor described the rest of her experience at the party:
As the party grows, we become inundated with men. We are experiencing gender imbalance in the wild, and it is chaos. Every time I turn, there are men lined up waiting to deliver carefully rehearsed greetings or to initiate repartee.
The next day, O'Connor sought out some weed brownies for her and the rest of the ladies on the trip. By midnight, half of those girls ended up crying in the fetal position, with O'Connor comforting one of them by stroking her hair.
Kay's cross-country matchmaking endeavor had been met with criticism ever since the Crowdtilt campaign launched in March.
Valleywag <a href="http://valleywag.gawker.com/startup-flying-dateable-women-to-san-francisco-like-its-1536122926">likened the idea </a>to the comfort women of "imperial Japan," and commenters under the promotional YouTube video slammed the idea. One commenter even called it "just plain embarrassing and gross."
Here's the promotional video that helped The Dating Ring raise more than $10,000. Check out <a href="http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/05/shipped-to-california.html">O'Connor's detailed account </a>for the full story.

A Bunch Of New York Women Went To Silicon Valley To Find Millionaires And Ended Up In Tears

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>We Build The Wall, a private group that has raised millions on GoFundMe, announced on Monday that it had constructed a small portion of border wall on private land.</li><li>The announcement comes after a federal judge last week blocked the Trump administration from using military-designated funds secured from his national emergency declaration to build sections of the border wall.</li><li>Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and Kansas' former secretary of state Kris Kobach are involved with the group's efforts.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>A group that has so far raised more than $22 million on GoFundMe announced on Monday that it had constructed a small portion of border wall on private land, the latest attempt to build President Donald Trump's highly divisive barrier on the US-Mexico border.We Build The Wall's GoFundMe campaign to privately pay for the wall emerged in the days leading up to last year's 35-day partial <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/government-shutdown-timeline-deadline-trump-democrats-2019-1">government shutdown</a> - the longest in history, and which was spurred by Trump's demand for more than $5 billion from the federal government for the border wall. The president <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-reportedly-believes-the-government-shutdown-was-educational-2019-2">was eventually allotted</a> $1.37 billion for steel fencing along the southern border, much less than the initial sum sought out by the White House.Last Friday, a federal judge <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/judge-block-sections-trump-wall-us-mexico-immigration-2019-5">also blocked Trump</a> from using military-designated funds secured from his national emergency declaration to build sections of the border wall.In last week's temporary injunction to stop construction, US District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr. noted "the position that when Congress declines the Executive's request to appropriate funds, the Executive nonetheless may simply find a way to spend those funds 'without Congress' does not square with fundamental separation of powers principles dating back to the earliest days of our Republic."Trump took to Twitter in response, blasting "another activist Obama appointed judge" who "has just ruled against us on a section of the Southern Wall that is already under construction."&#xa0;Now, private groups are taking action. In a slew of social media posts, We Build The Wall announced that, with the help of its GoFundMe campaign, it had constructed the first section of a wall near the Texas-New Mexico border in just three days. "Buckle up, we're just getting started!" the group wrote on Facebook. "If we can get this much done in three days, imagine what's about to be accomplished!"The group was started by triple-amputee war veteran Brian Kolfage, who claimed in his GoFundMe campaign to build segments of the president's border wall for a fraction of government costs and without "politicians in both parties obstructing President Trump's plan to build a wall on our southern border."Kolfage <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/12/20/triple-amputee-military-vet-raises-million-trumps-border-wall-four-days/?utm_term=.54a5816df4e2">told The Washington Post</a> in December he initially started the campaign because "political games from both parties" were derailing construction efforts. "It's time to stop playing games with voters," he said. On Tuesday, he wrote on Facebook "now let's get wall 2 and 3 built!"Others involved with We Build The Wall include former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and Kansas' former secretary of state Kris Kobach, who said the constructed wall cost around $6 to $8 million to build, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/27/politics/private-border-wall-gofundme/index.html">according to CNN.</a> Bannon chairs We Build The Wall's advisory board. <a href="https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/immigration/2019/05/27/privately-funded-border-wall-goes-up-near-el-paso-gofundme-money/1251156001/"></a>The main contractor working on the project is Fisher Industries, the North Dakota-based company that the president has rallied behind to receive a border wall contract from the Army Corps of Engineers, alarming military commanders and Department of Homeland Security officials, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/he-always-brings-them-up-trump-tries-to-steer-border-wall-deal-to-north-dakota-firm/2019/05/23/92d3858c-7b30-11e9-8bb7-0fc796cf2ec0_story.html?utm_term=.0a226afc3b55">as The Washington Post reported last week.</a><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-border-wall-contract-top-executive-fox-news-donates-gop-2019-5">Trump has pushed for border wall contract for a company whose top executive frequently appears on Fox News and donates to the GOP</a>"This is the first time any private organization has built border wall on private land," Kobach said during a Monday interview on Fox &amp; Friends. "The Army Corps of Engineers said that piece of land is too rugged to build on, you can't build there. Well, we built the wall, Proved them wrong, and the wall has been going up over the weekend."As <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-fundraiser-gofundme-border-donations-2019-1">Business Insider previously reported</a>, the group needs congressional approval if they wanted to build portions of the wall on federal land. But, David Bier, a border-security expert at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, acknowledged that "as long [as] Border Patrol was, you know, okay with it, and the federal government didn't intervene to prevent it from happening, then yeah, they can do whatever they want," on private land.Business Insider reached out to US Customs and Border Patrol for comment. A spokesperson said "this project is not connected to our efforts." We Build The Wall did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tucker-carlson-says-immigrants-have-plundered-the-us-2019-5">Tucker Carlson says immigrants have 'plundered' the US and want to steal Americans' wealth</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gofundme-refunding-donations-build-the-wall-fundraiser-2019-1">GoFundMe is refunding all donations made to the 'Fund the Wall' campaign</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gofundme-campaign-to-pay-for-the-border-wall-has-raised-hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars-2018-12">Donations to the GoFundMe campaign that's raising $1 billion to pay for the wall have slowed down - but the fundraiser is about to hit $20 million</a></li></ul><div></div> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/allison-mack-nxivm-alleged-sex-slave-ring-keith-raniere-seagrams-heiress-2019-4">Nxivm founder Keith Raniere began his trial. Here's what happened inside the alleged sex-slave ring that recruited actresses and two billionaire heiresses.</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

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A Bunch Of New York Women Went To Silicon Valley To Find Millionaires And Ended Up In Tears

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A private group chaired by Steve Bannon has started to build its own border wall after receiving millions from GoFundMe

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'That's Not All!' Kevin Trudeau, The World's Greatest Salesman, Makes One Last Pitch

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