MSNBC host Rachel Maddow hasn’t appeared much on air the last few weeks, and now we know why: her partner, Susan, contracted COVID-19, and there was significant concern she would die from the disease that’s killed more than a quarter million Americans in 2020. The news came on Thursday night, as Maddow appeared on MSNBC and issued an impassioned plea for people to cancel plans and try to stay safe this holiday season.
Maddow appeared in a nearly 7-minute video on Thursday, explaining her absence and how two weeks ago, her partner, Susan Mikula, tested positive and was separated from the network host to fight COVID-19.
“My relationship with Susan at the end of the day is the only thing I would kill or die for without hesitation. And Susan has been sick with COVID these past couple of weeks,” she said. “And at one point we really thought that there was a possibility that it might kill her. And that’s why I’ve been away.”
Maddow said she’s getting better, and the host has managed not to test positive for herself. But it’s been a scary few weeks, a period of time that’s made her reflect on the way people in America need to “recalibrate” their understanding of the risks they take with contracting the virus as they head into the holiday season.
“I don’t know you at home, but just believe me: whatever you have calculated into your life as acceptable risk. As inevitable risk. Something that you’re willing to go through in terms of this virus because statistically, hey probably will be fine for you and your loved ones,” Maddow said. “I’m just here to tell you to recalibrate that. Frankly, the country needs you to recalibrate that because, broadly speaking, there’s no room for you in the hospital anymore.”
Maddow referenced the fact that hospitalizations have increased in America by 50 percent in the two weeks since Susan’s illness, and there “isn’t room” for anyone new to add to that list as deaths, cases and hospitalizations keep rising.
“The only way to ensure that is to ensure that you do not get infected. But please also know that whatever you think of your own life and however much his you’re willing to take on for yourself, that’s not how this works. What you need to know is that whoever is the most important person in your life, whoever you most love and most care for and most cherish in the world, that’s the person who you may lose,” she said. “Or who you may spend weeks up all night freaking out about and calling doctors over and over again trying to figure out how to keep that person breathing and out of the hospital.”
It’s an emotional plea from someone who has seen the impact COVID-19 can have on someone close to them, and it ended with a dire warning to do whatever you can to stay away from other people and stay safe.
“Don’t get this thing. Do whatever you can to keep from getting it,” Maddow said. “For Thanksgiving next week, you really are going to have to have it at home. Without people coming over. And yeah, that’s going to suck. But that is going to suck so much less than you or somebody in your family getting this and getting sick. Trust me.”
As the Toronto Blue Jays showed during the 2020 Major League Baseball season, the Canadian government has some pretty understandable reservations about professional sports teams bouncing back and forth between the United States and their country. The Blue Jays played in Buffalo in response to this issue, and as we learned on Friday afternoon, the Raptors will head a little farther south when the 2020-21 NBA season tips off.
The Raptors announced that their search for a new temporary home will lead them to Tampa. It’s unclear if this will be the arrangement for the entire campaign, but as team president Masai Ujiri mentioned in a statement, this decision was made after consultation with public health officials about the feasibility of playing in Toronto.
Ujiri had previously mentioned that the team was going to try and exhaust all of its options before looking elsewhere next season, writing an open letter to Raptors fans that said Toronto is “where we want to be.” It’s unclear if any other places, like Seattle or Louisville, were viewed as potential homes for the team for the time being, but Tampa does have a basketball-ready facility in the Yuengling Center, where the University of South Florida plays its basketball games.
The entire idea behind The Process was for the Philadelphia 76ers to acquire stars in any number of ways. They got a pair in the NBA Draft that worked out in Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, and while they were unable to go three-for-three in this endeavor, this was the logic behind trading up to select Markelle Fultz.
Even when that third move didn’t pan out for a myriad of reasons, Philly still had a pair of tentpoles in their two young All-Stars. Despite the fact that they’re getting closer and closer to their primes — Embiid turns 27 next season, Simmons just turned 24 — the Sixers still have a window to win a ton of basketball games and compete for a title solely because the two of them are around, which makes the last few years of relatively weird roster management so strange.
As I’ve written in the past, Philly has never been wrong to prioritize having stars on its roster. The weird thing they’ve done in recent years that has been a flaw in this plan is to get stars who do not necessarily fit next to their two youngsters. Jimmy Butler was quite good for the Sixers, but he ended up being a year-long rental. Tobias Harris theoretically fits well next to the two, but he is not a star, even if he is compensated like one. Al Horford’s signing was curious (at best) at the time and quickly evolved into baffling.
Their attempts to acquire stars has, basically, been “let’s get big names and hope they figure things out.” Maybe they would have won a championship in 2019 if not for an historically great shot by Kawhi Leonard, but last season showed that this plan has limits. It’s part of why the team replaced Brett Brown with Doc Rivers, brought in Daryl Morey, and did some tweaking to the front office in the aftermath. Regardless, the Sixers roster has not always had the sort of cohesiveness that you need to win, oftentimes lacking something — consistent shooting, a playmaker, a big man who could take minutes when Embiid sat, etc. — that ended up being crippling.
It took Morey, Elton Brand, and the rest of the front office about six hours to take positive steps towards fixing this. The big move was getting out from under Horford’s contract, a potential millstone around the franchise’s neck that cost a 2025 first-round pick and a second-round selection on Wednesday night, but managed to net them a useful player in Danny Green, who should provide floor spacing and perimeter defending if he’s healthy (a big if, especially with the Sixers, which seem preordained to always be Extremely Injured to one extent or another), and a bouncy young wing in Terrance Ferguson whose shooting has run hot and cold.
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The Draft rolled around and Philly managed to nab three players — Tyrese Maxey, Isaiah Joe, Paul Reed — who have skills that help. Maxey gives them a guard who fits snug onto their roster in a number of ways, Joe brings potentially elite shooting, and Reed is a funky but sound defender in the frontcourt. They also flipped Josh Richardson, a good player who struggled during his one year in Philadelphia with a constantly-changing role, for Seth Curry, another backcourt player who provides elite shooting.
None of these players are the kind of superstars that could bring a team to new heights, nor do are any of them a silver bullet that will resolve every single issue on this team. But as Morey said in his press conference on Thursday afternoon, all of them complement Embiid and Simmons in such a way that you have to wonder why this hasn’t been the objective in Philadelphia prior to this offseason.
“We have two young superstars in their prime and you want to put around them guys they can build with.” –@dmoreypic.twitter.com/xfIk20uIk8
There were eight teams in the NBA last season — Boston, Houston, Miami, Milwaukee, Philly, Utah, and the Los Angeles squads — that had two players participate in the 2020 All-Star Game. Inarguably, none of them did a worse job building a team that brings out the best in those two players than Philadelphia did. Embiid and Simmons need shooting, playmaking, and perimeter defending around them, and while there were players who were able to provide this from time to time on the Sixers last season, few could consistently. Add in that the general thesis of that team was “we are going to be so good defensively that we’ll survive some hiccups on offense,” and that they ended up being eighth in defensive rating, and the entire thing fell apart, especially once Simmons got injured in the NBA’s Orlando Bubble.
Now, Philly is starting to realize that having two of those sorts of players is something you should lean all the way into. The amount of space that both Embiid and Simmons will have to work should be increased by having shooters around them (although it must be said that the two of them plus Harris is a frontcourt that doesn’t fit perfectly, especially if the latter’s shot isn’t falling), while guards like Maxey and Curry should be much better at getting them the ball than the various guys they tried at that position last year. Defensive drop offs probably won’t be too terribly stark, because Embiid and Simmons can still be the lynchpins of any NBA defense.
It has been maddening watching the Sixers in recent years, as their priority have seemed to be things other than “we have Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, which needs to inform all of our other decisions.” The last day or so is one heck of a start to doing this for the first time since Embiid and Simmons ascended to stardom.
Johnnie Walker is one of the best-selling whiskies in the world. And it’s the best-selling scotch whisky by a pretty big margin. Meaning there are a lot of loyalists to Johnnie Walker’s blended scotches out there. The whisky shingle doesn’t leave its fans starving for options either, with seven core bottles in the U.S. line up and 16 active limited editions (although several of those are variations on the spendy Johnnie Walker Blue, which itself has five limited-edition expressions).
We’re not here to discuss hard-to-track-down limited edition scotches today. The drams we’re tasting are all available at your local liquor store or, at the very least, online (check by clicking the price). They’re also relativelyaffordable when compared to the limited-run expressions.
As for the science behind this ranking, we only considered two elements. The first and most heavily weighted aspect was taste. The second was cost. Johnnie Walker’s price can jump drastically between expressions, so we had to weigh whether the more expensive bottles were really that much better than the cheaper stuff.
With that all in mind, here’s a definitive ranking of Johnnie Walker’s core line of scotch whiskies.
Johnnie Walker’s entry point expression is also the best-selling scotch expression on the planet. The juice is a blend from Diageo’s deep stable of distilleries around Scotland that’s specifically designed to be mixed and not taken straight.
Tasting Notes:
The nose reminds you more of a sweet and citrusy Speyside or Highland whisky. The palate holds onto those notes while adding a peppery spice and a hint of orchard fruits. The end shifts towards Islay with a wisp of smoke as the sip fades quickly away while warming you with alcohol heat.
Bottom Line:
I feel bad putting this whisky in the last spot. It does exactly what it says and that means something. It’s also very affordable. This is a very solid base for a highball, especially for anyone looking to get into a mild blended scotch that brings all of Scotland into the glass.
Still, this is the broadest of all the sips on the list and really only works as a mixer at the end of the day.
This is basically Johnnie Black, a slightly peaty blend, that’s been casked again in deeply charred oak. The idea is to maximize that peat and amp up the Islay and Island smokiness of the final dram.
Tasting Notes:
Clove-forward spice and billows of softwood smoke — think cherry — greet you on the nose. The palate has a vanilla creaminess that’s punctuated by bright apple, dried fruit, and more peat. The spice kicks back in late, warming things up as the smoke carries through the end with a nice dose of oakiness.
Bottom Line:
This was a struggle to place. While it’s not that much more expensive than standard Johnnie Black, we can’t say it’s that much better, either. It feels like they took Johnnie Black and just added more smoke for the sake of more smoke. If that’s your jam, wonderful — this is the whisky for you.
For us, it always feels a bit like a nice hat on an already nice hat.
This is Johnnie’s signature blend that’s dialed in to be a sipper with a few rocks thrown in. The blend leans into the peaty seaside distilleries with 30 plus whiskies from powerhouses like Lagavulin, Talisker, and Cardhu.
Tasting Notes:
Mild notes of spice mingle with bright and sweet fruits and a hint of vanilla. The taste allows the malt to shine as the vanilla, spice, and fruit counter a distant wisp of smoke. That smoke warms as the sip fades out, leaving you with a final note of sweet wood.
Bottom Line:
This is a very quaffable whisky that works wonders on the rocks. It’s also affordable, for what it is. We’d argue that this is a good place to start if you want to dip your toes into mildly smoky whiskies without diving headfirst into a Lagavulin or Ardbeg.
This no-age statement blend leans into that signature Walker marriage of Highland and Speyside whiskies with a small dose of Western Scottish juice for good measure. The lion’s share of the whisky involved in this gilded bottle is Clynelish, a Highland whisky that adds a modicum of peat to the mix.
Tasting Notes:
Honey and oak greet you with a distant fruity nature and a little warmth. The fruit kicks up on the palate and becomes slightly tropical as a counterpoint of rich vanilla creaminess arrives. The end is subtle and long with the fruit and honey standing tall against a very distant echo of earthy peat.
Bottom Line:
This is tasty, refined, and fairly affordable. It used to be one of those bottles you could only get at duty-free but became widely available a few years ago. At the end of the day, this is a perfectly decent bottle of whisky that will not disappoint.
This is the mountaintop of Johnnie Walker’s whiskies. The blend is a marriage of ultra-rare stock from extinct Diageo distilleries around Scotland. That’s just … cool. This expression is all about barrel selection and the mastery of a great noser and blender working together to create something special.
Tasting Notes:
Dried fruit with a plummy sweetness mingles with a very soft and almost dry pall of smoke. The palate then veers in a completely different direction — folding in orange oils, marzipan, rose water, honeycombs, and a dusting of bitter cacao once water is added. The end is slow, smoky, and full of dry fruits, nuts, and a malty nature.
Bottom Line:
This does taste really f*cking good. It’s hard to get past the price though. We get why it’s priced this high — the extinct distilleries and all that jazz — but still…
Anyway, if this bottle was in the $100 range, we’d probably never shut up about it.
This blend used to be called Johnnie Walker Platinum, which was aged for 18 years. You might still see some of those bottles on shelves where scotch sells slowly. This is the same juice, which is comprised of 18 whiskies all of which are a minimum of 18 years old. The primary distilleries in the bottle are Blair Athol, Cardhu, Glen Elgin, and Auchroisk.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a rich and buttery toffee that’s counterpointed by a bowl of ripe and sweet fruit that really draws you in. The caramel malts mix with marzipan, creamy vanilla pudding, and a nice rush of juicy winter tangerines that have just been peeled. Adding a little water, those orange oils marry to a deeply dark chocolate nature, which leads towards a velvety and ever-so-lightly smoky end.
Bottom Line:
This is some refined goddamn whisky. This is one of those whiskies that’s really hard to put down. Full disclosure: For us, this and the expression above are basically a tie when it comes to how tasty they are. The only reason this one’s technically “second” and not “third” is that it’s a lot less expensive.
If you do snag a bottle, make sure to add some water or a rock and really let the scotch bloom in the glass.
This whisky was actually taken off the market in 2012 and people lost their shit. Diageo came to its senses and brought it back by 2016. The juice is a blend of single malts only, making it a “pure malt” and not a “blended scotch whisky” (that blends malt and grain whiskies). The juice primarily comes from Speyside, Highland, Lowland, and Island malts with a focus on a minimum of 15-year-old Talisker, Caol Ila, Cragganmore, and Linkwood.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a woodiness that’s softly cedary with notes of bright, sweet fruit, spicy black pepper, oily vanilla pods, and fresh-cut grass on the nose. The taste really delivers on the softness of the cedar while adding more tropical fruitiness and a subtle edge of dried roses. The end is deliberate with the cedar, spice, and fruit giving way to a measured wisp of earthy smoke and a splash of sea brine to finish off the sip.
Bottom Line:
1) This is just a great whisky, period.
2) this is only $65 (depending on local taxes) and that’s crazy cheap for a whisky this good.
This expression really is Scotland’s best whisky flavors all in one single dram with none of them overpowering or diminishing the others. Add a little water to let it bloom and take your time with it. You can also whip up a hell of a cocktail with it at this price. Even if this bottle was twice its going rate, we’d still be raving about it.
There’s still no release date for Saweetie’s long-anticipated Pretty Bitch Music album but in the meantime, the Santa Clara, California-born star has been spreading her influence across as many forms of media as she can. Her near-ubiquity includes appearances on Hot Ones, The Eric Andre Show, and her own Icy Life YouTube series, but that doesn’t mean she’s neglecting the music at all. After months of teasing, Saweetie released her dreamy “Back To The Streets” video with Jhene Aiko today, giving fans another tease of what’s to come.
The video opens with a flashback to Saweetie’s childhood in California’s Central Valley, with Saweetie getting her hair done as her tween crush knocks on the door. She’s advised to let him go because he’s “from the streets” before the video begins in earnest, with a grownup Saweetie riding a custom lowrider beach cruiser through the streets with her friends. They float off into the pink clouds, E.T.-style, and Saweetie performs in various fantasy locales, including a glammed-up beauty supply shop. Jhene joins her in a flowery fairyland and the video closes with a not-so-subtle nod to the song’s TikTok popularity.
Saweetie’s social media popularity is no fluke; from her inspired Beyonce-themed Halloween costumes to her deft reversal of every Twitter controversy, she’s shown the has what it takes to not just survive but thrive in the cutthroat music business. Pretty Bitch Music isn’t due until sometime in 2021, but until it drops, you can be sure she’ll keep hip-hop fans riveted to her every move.
Zion Williamson may have been the most anticipated rookie in a generation, but it was another incoming player who stole the show among his draft class this season. Grizzlies rookie Ja Morant was absolutely sensational throughout the entirety of his first season in Memphis, which earned him a near-unanimous vote for Rookie of the Year.
The award voters were told to only consider each players’ performances until the shutdown in March, but that certainly didn’t stop Morant from continuing his stellar play in the Bubble in Orlando, where he helped lead the Grizzlies all the way to a gutsy play-in game against the Blazers, where they eventually fell.
Nonetheless, the many achievements in his young career deserve to be celebrated, and what better way to do that than to have an adorable baby animal named after you? That’s what the Memphis Zoo decided to do this week when they named their newest giraffe calf after Morant, with the perfectly fitting “Ja Raffe.” See for yourself.
Ja and the rest of the Grizz will look to build on a promising season when the new campaign kicks off next month, and depending on how the rest of the roster plays, perhaps the Memphis Zoo can start a trend and start naming other new arrivals after guys on the roster. Until then, we’ll be keeping close tabs on both Ja’s and their progress in the coming season.
Big Sean continues to roll out videos for his acclaimed comeback album Detroit 2. The latest is the eerie, psychedelic “Wolves” featuring Post Malone, which finds the two stars contemplating the circumstances that left them with a predator’s instincts for survival. Much of the video is shot on a massive soundstage, where the two perform and actors channel spooky characters reflecting Sean’s sometimes dangerous upbringing.
Detroit 2 is Sean’s first new album since 2018’s I Decided and also features appearances from Anderson .Paak, Dom Kennedy, Jhene Aiko, Lil Wayne, Nipsey Hussle, Travis Scott, Wale, and Young Thug. Before recording, Sean stepped away from the rap game to recover his mental health and in the lead-up to the album’s release was forthcoming in interviews about how depression and anxiety nearly got the better of him despite his cocksure rap persona. When he came back, he did so with a vengeance, not just dropping a swarm of videos from his own project but also popping up on tracks from the likes of Benny The Butcher, Hit-Boy, Freddie Gibbs, and Nas.
Meanwhile, Post Malone has launched his own show on Facebook revolving around one of his favorite pastimes: Beer pong. Uproxx’s Derrick Rossignol interviewed him about it; you can check that out here.
Watch Big Sean’s “Wolves” video featuring Post Malone above.
One of the biggest revelations of this year in the NBA was how Jaylen Brown, the 24-year-old Celtics wing just starting his second contract, took on a more sizable role in the players’ association, as well as a voice of leadership around the league more broadly. It was no surprise then when GQ decided to profile Brown, or that Brown was brutally honest in the interview.
The whole story contains incredible nuggets from Brown and is worth reading, but one part sticks out most if you’re an NBA fan keeping track of Brown from afar. When asked about the social justice initiatives and overall activism from the league in 2020 and beyond, Brown responded that it can’t stop now.
“I think the NBA needs to make that a lifestyle,” he says. “It’s getting harder and harder for us to accept and entertain people who feed into our demise and then go back and look in the face of our communities and not hear their tears. Not see the struggle that they deal with every day and not want to help.”
Brown’s inability to not say what he’s thinking gets revealed a few times during our conversation. He’s not afraid of conflict. At one point, I casually refer to civil rights—a term that Brown evidently objects to, particularly that first part.
“Civility is what we were asking for in the past,” says Brown. “I think civility is settling for less. And I think we need to change that energy.”
Many will remember that Brown was in the streets protesting much of the summer, including driving from Boston down to Atlanta by himself to be part of marches in the southern city. Brown also was and remains among the key voices in the union and, as writer Pina outlines in this story, a leader in the aftermath of Jacob Blake’s shooting as the NBA determined a course forward.
Tony’s got a list and he’s checking it twice, on a very Sopranos Christmas episode.
On this week’s episode of Pod Yourself A Gun, Rachel Fisher, host of the Hollywood Crime Scene podcast, joins Matt and & Vince to talk about The Sopranos season 3 episode 10, “…To Save Us All From Satan’s Power.”
That Jesus guy – he was the real gangster. He had wisemen wandering all across the desert to bring him frankincense, myrrh, and gold, just for being born. Marone! That’s a good earner.
Meanwhile, before the Satriale’s Christmas party, Tony has to schlep all over town finding a new Santa to replace the snitch friend he murdered, taking care of his good-for-nothing sister’s Russian, and transferring some “cannolis.”
In a truly delightful moment on the pod, Rachel explains to Matt and Vince that the cannolis Tony was transferring were not food. We also listen to some voicemails and discuss Jackie Jr’s motorboating technique. It’s a great mother-jumping episode.
Barack Obama stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday night to promote his new memoir, The Promised Land, and while the former president was prepared to talk about his personal life, he clearly wasn’t expecting how personal things would get. In the middle of a conversation on Donald Trump and his crazy conspiracy theories, Kimmel pivoted to a theory of his own about Obama’s love life that came way out of left field. In a nutshell, Kimmel wanted to know (after the 18:00 min mark above) if Obama and his wife Michelle got busy the night that SEAL Team 6 took down Osama bin Laden.
The question understandably caught Obama off guard, who sat there stunned for a moment while Kimmel explained his reasoning. “When I read the book and you were talking about hearing people outside the White House chanting ‘USA, USA, USA,’ I had an image in my head,” Kimmel quipped to Obama who quickly gathered his senses and even leaned into the gag. Via Vulture:
“I suspect that she was asleep because the truth of the matter is, most of the time, by the time I was done working, she’d be snoozing,” Obama laughed. Look, a queen needs her beauty rest! “You don’t have to make excuses, it’s okay,” Kimmel lets him off. “I experience the same thing.” But Obama keeps it real: “It’s not an excuse; it’s a lament.”
Awkward questions about his sex life aside, Obama’s interview included several digs at Trump, including how Navy SEALs might need to drag him out of the White House. This also including the clip below where Kimmel asked if Obama made his memoir 700 pages long so Trump couldn’t read it. Not missing a beat, Obama offered a witty retort on how it wouldn’t even take that much effort.
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