Month: February 2021

Kourtney Kardashian has made her relationship with Travis Barker official in a new post on Instagram. The eldest daughter of the celebrity family shared the news with an image that shows her holding the Blink-182 drummer’s hand. The photo was posted on Instagram without a caption, but Travis’ black heart emoji comment on the post is additional evidence of the newly-confirmed relationship. The news comes after the two reportedly spent Valentine’s Day together. A report from US Weekly collected images from both Kourtney and Travis’ Instagram stories that seem to show a few moments from their holiday.

The two have reportedly been good friends for years according to Consequence Of Sound and even live in the same gated Calabasas community. Rumors about their relationship began to swirl when observers noticed they both shared pictures from Kris Jenner’s Palm Springs vacation home in late January. A source from People added, “They’ve been dating for about a month or two.” Another source from E! also reports that the Blink-182 drummer has been welcomed with open arms by the Kardashian family. “Kourtney’s entire family already loves Travis. They have been neighbors and great friends for years, and it just recently turned romantic,” they said.

You can check out the post from Kourtney above.

On Tuesday we heard the most we’ve heard from Donald Trump in over a month, and it wasn’t pretty. Barred from most of social media, the former president was reduced to making public a lengthy, rambling, blog-worthy statement, in which he mostly railed against Mitch McConnell, aka the main reason he was acquitted during the Senate impeachment hearing. It’s a reminder of how for four years, plus his lengthy presidential run, we heard from him just about 24/7. And one person who’s definitely tired of talking about him is his successor.

Joe Biden appeared on a CNN town hall — his first trip since assuming office nearly a month ago — where he touched on a wide array of important issues, from the vaccine (he expects everyone will get it by end of July) to Democrat lawmakers’ call for $50,000 in student loan forgiveness (don’t count on it, but maybe $10,000?). He was inevitably asked about the 45th president, and he was as weary to bring him back into the spotlight as just about everyone else.

“I’m tired of talking about Donald Trump. I don’t want to talk about him anymore,” Biden said after an avalanche of sighs. He later added, “For four years, all that’s been in the news is Trump. For the next four years, I want to make sure the news is the American people.” As for Trump’s legal woes, he wants nothing to do with it. “Their prosecutorial decisions will be left to the Justice Department, not me.”

Republicans clearly feel otherwise, and Lindsey Graham — one of Trump’s most prominent lapdogs — has been adamant that the guy even Mitch McConnell admitted incited a near-insurrection, who’s banned from most of social media, and who likely cost the GOP the House and the Senate is the future of the Republican Party.

Meanwhile, Biden was busy cleaning up Trump’s mess, talking about things like the proposed $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill. And the few other times he references his predecessor, he simply referred to him as “the former guy.”

(Via CNBC)

Lauryn Hill’s critically acclaimed debut album The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill arrived two decades ago, but it’s still waves. Back in the day it gifted her a No. 1 single with “Doo Wop (That Thing).” It also took home the Grammy Award for Album Of The Year, making it the first hip-hop album to do so. In 2015, it was inducted into the National Registry by the Library Of Congress, which deemed it “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Now it’s become the first album by a female rapper to earn a Diamond certification.

The Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA) shared the news in a tweet on Tuesday that welcomed the singer to the “Diamond Club,” meaning that Hill’s debut album has officially sold 10 million or more copies. The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill began its chart journey in the summer of 1998, selling 432,000 units right off the bat — a number that at the time broke the record for first-week sales by a female artist.

But it’s not been without controversy. Earlier this year, Hill spoke about the lack of credit she receives for the album in an email submitted for Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums podcast on Amazon Music. “I was called crazy,” she said. “Now, over a decade later, we hear this as part of the mainstream chorus. Ok, so chalk some of it up to leadership and how that works. I was clearly ahead, but you also have to acknowledge the blatant denial that went down with that. The public abuse and ostracizing while suppressing and copying what I had done, with still no real acknowledgment that all of that even happened, is a lot.”

Texas and neighboring states are in a rough patch right now, with a freak winter storm leaving millions without power, freezing in a part of the nation that hasn’t had weather this cold in decades, if not longer. One of Texas’ senators, Ted Cruz, has rightly called for disaster relief, and hopefully they get it quick. Two things, though: Not only was Cruz among a number of Republicans who made jokes last year when California suffered their own energy crisis, he was also one of the lawmakers who voted against the federal assistance after Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

Cruz along with fellow Texan senator John Cornyn joined forces to request federal assistance after learning that state and local government were unable to battle the severity of the storm on their own. They wrote:

“Prolonged sub-freezing temperatures, strained energy capacity, and treacherous roadways are just a few of the current dangers faced by all Texans. In the last three days, there have been 11 crash-related fatalities as road conditions deteriorate. More than 23,000 Texans have lost power, and frozen pipes have impacted water distribution across the state.”

This is all very noble! But where was this Cruz in 2012, when parts of New York and New Jersey were under water from a freak hurricane? And why did he think power outages in California last summer was a time to attack AOC and ilk? (On a related note, parts of the GOP, including Rep. Lauren Boebert, have blamed their ills on the Green New Deal, which hasn’t even been voted on, let alone enacted.)

And so, much like that time he tried to reach out to AOC only to be reminded that he helped nearly get her and many others killed by MAGA rioters, Cruz’s attempt at do-goodery only reminded many that he’s a jerk.

So just to recap: Both Ted Cruz and John Cornyn voted against Hurricane Sandy relief. Now their state needs financial assistance. It should get it, and it shouldn’t be thanks to them.

Jpegmafia dropped his latest project EP2! a couple day ago and now he has a new video for the track “Panic Room!” It finds the rapper standing in complete darkness, apart from a solitary beam of light pointed on him, moving from room to room as he carries a blurred-out object that appears to be a gun or weapon of some sort.

EP2! boasts seven new tracks, and unlike its predecessor, it’s an entirely solo effort. Prior to dropping EP2!, the rapper shared a mellow video for “Fix Urself,” which captures him and his girlfriend on a road trip and a nighttime walk.

Back in 2020, the rapper delivered additional videos for “Last Dance!” and “Living Single,” with the latter appearing on his previous record EP! He also sent off some final disses Donald Trump’s way on his track “Super Tuesday” after joining Lil Yachty and Trippie Redd to compete on “Rapper Warrior Ninja” for The Eric Andre Show.

Last year also saw Jpeg do collaborations with other artists, like Gorillaz for their track “MLS,” and Denzel Curry for a remix of “Bald.”

You can watch the video for “Panic Room!” above.

EP2! is out now via EQT/Republic. Get it here.

LeBron James is perhaps the most remarkable basketball player of all time. This isn’t trying to opine on the greatest/best conversation or whatever, but he is currently 36 years old and in his 18th season in the league, and despite that, he is right there at the top of the MVP race as the leader of the Los Angeles Lakers.

But even a player as good as LeBron James is capable of doing things that lead to them looking silly from time to time. An example of this came on Tuesday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves, when James tried to beat the third quarter clock by taking one step across the midcourt line and pulling up.

Two issues popped up, though. The first, James airballed. The second, the airball happened with 1.5 seconds left on the clock, giving the Timberwolves the ball and one more chance to score.

James surely could have taken another dribble or two and gotten a better look, but fortunately for him, the Timberwolves ended up just inbounding the ball and taking it to the fourth. Hopefully he tweets about this after the game, because it usually is pretty funny when James decides to laugh at himself after he did something during a game.

As the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, Anthony Edwards faces lofty expectations. The Minnesota Timberwolves rookie has flashed an engaging personality in the early part of his professional career, however, and he seems to be having fun playing the game on a nightly basis. Another example of that arrived on Tuesday evening when the Wolves were facing the Los Angeles Lakers and, early in the third quarter, Edwards rose up for a three-pointer to give Minnesota the lead.

Adding some importance to the proceedings was the fact that he was guarded by LeBron James and, when the shot fell through the net, Edwards couldn’t contain his glee.

Above all else, this is a cool moment. Yes, it is only one play of many and Edwards is now competing directly with James in the same league. Still, it goes without saying that a young player like Edwards likely looked up to James prior to arriving in the NBA, and you can see it here that there is a genuine “well, that was wild” expression on his face.

Edwards is enjoying something of a breakout in the recent past, averaging 17.2 points per game in the last 13 contests for the Wolves. He has a long way to go, as most rookies do, but he flashed some of his intrigue and enjoyed a moment in the process.

Former president Donald J. Trump seems to be trying to inch his way back into the public eye. After being acquitted by the Senate for inciting the failed MAGA coup, he turned around and released a wild statement in which he blasted the person he helped save him from conviction — Mitch McConnell — whom he called an “unsmiling hack.” It was a classic Trump move. But the truth is his legal and economic futures are in danger, and on Tuesday he was hit with another headache: The NAACP is suing him and Rudy Giuliani for violating a law dubbed “The Ku Klux Klan Act.”

According to The New York Times, Trump and his personal attorney are accused of violating what’s officially known as the Enforcement Act of 1871, which includes “protections against violent conspiracies that interfered with Congress’s constitutional duties.” The lawsuit, which was filed by the NAACP, accuses not only Trump and Giuliani but also the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, a militia group, of inciting the violent riot at the Capitol, with the intention of stopping Congress from certifying the 2020 election.

The law is also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act because it was originally enacted to combat the KKK and other white nationalist groups, who had targeted black people in the years following the end of the Civil War.

For those keeping track, this is yet another legal hurdle Trump must face as a newly private citizen. New York State is investigating his financial dealings, while the state’s attorney general is looking into whether his company misstated assets to get bank loans and tax benefits. And then there’s Georgia’s D.A., who recently launched a formal investigation into his (and Senator Lindsey Graham’s) alleged election interference there.

The NAACP filed the lawsuit on behalf of Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi representative, who says he spent three hours hiding on the House floor while overhearing “threats of physical violence against any member who attempted to proceed to approve the Electoral College ballot count.” He also says he wouldn’t have brought about the suit had the Senate voted to convict Trump.

(Via NYT)

Max Wade, the kid who stole Guy Fieri’s yellow Lamborghini in 2011, while he was still in high school, just had his prison sentence reduced by 10 years.

Wade had been sentenced to 21 years to life back in 2014. Of course, the lengthy sentence wasn’t on account of stealing Guy Fieri’s car, which Wade pulled off by rappelling into the car dealership and driving off with the banana yellow Gallardo with the “GUYTORO” license plate, which he had parked in a storage locker for more than a year.

Wade was actually caught after a separate 2012 incident in which he pulled his motorcycle alongside a truck with two people inside and fired five shots into it, hitting neither. He was convicted on one count of attempted murder for the incident (this writer was actually in the court the day Guy Fieri testified).

Wade, 17, fired five shots into a pickup truck that was occupied by Landon Wahlstrom of Mill Valley and Eva Dedier of Terra Linda. The teenage couple escaped with minor injuries from flying glass.

Authorities alleged that Wade, who sold fake IDs to Dedier and other teens, was infatuated with Dedier and planned the shooting after learning of her relationship with Wahlstrom. [Marin Independent]

Using surveillance footage from Golden Gate Bridge cameras, police tracked Wade’s motorcycle helmet to the store that had sold it, tracing it back to Wade, and eventually tailing him to his storage unit. Wade tried to pull a loaded handgun from his waistband before he was tackled by police. Inside the storage unit, police found the Lamborghini, along with a replica police uniform, guns, ammunition, and radio signal jammers.

At one point, two of Wade’s associates attempted to bust him out of juvenile hall with a sledgehammer before his 18th birthday. Prosecutors later alleged that Wade had planned a jewelry heist complete with a getaway via helicopter. Grand plans, to be sure, but supposedly he had the specific helicopter picked out.

This week, The Marine Independent Journal reported that a judge had reduced Wade’s prison sentence by 10 years.

The ruling came after Wade’s lawyer, Charles Dresow petitioned the court to reconsider Wade’s sentence under Senate Bill 620, which gives judges discretion on whether to add extra time for gun offenses. Gun penalties, which can increase prison sentences by up to 25 years, were mandatory before SB 620, which took effect in 2018.

Wade’s extra time for the gun offense was reduced from 20 to 10 years, and he’ll now be eligible for parole in 2025. Of course, “eligible” doesn’t mean he’ll actually be getting out, though things seem to have a way of working out for Wade thus far. Sadly, it doesn’t sound like Fieri was present for Wade’s most recent court case, robbing us of the chance for another incredible courtroom sketch like this one. In a case that’s already given us that incredible sketch and this terrible rap song, who knows what the next few years will bring?

Draymond Green made waves on Monday evening, launching into a spirited rant about the “bullsh*t” double standard he believes is in place when evaluating NBA organizations when compared to players. The subject at hand was the treatment of players when they want to be traded when compared to when a team wants to move on from a player, and the discussion arrived on the same day the Cavaliers decided to sideline Andre Drummond and Blake Griffin the Pistons agreed not play to play Blake Griffin until a resolution could be found.

In advance of TNT’s doubleheader on Tuesday, Dwyane Wade shared agreement and support of Green’s statements, saying “I definitely agree” at the outset of a thoughtful, interesting answer.

“What it boils down to me, it’s no communication and there’s no respect,” Wade said. “The organizations are not looking at these players and just having respect for them, for who they are as men, for who they are as players.”

Later in the answer, Wade indicated the simple sentiment to a team to “have the simple conversation with a player” and went on to put things in further context.

“Players get booed when they come back when they leave in free agency, and organizations get celebrated when they give you a video when you come back after they’ve traded you,” Wade said. “I agree with Draymond. It is definitely a double standard.”

It will be interesting to see if anything changes with the standard operating procedure for organizations in these circumstances. Still, Green kickstarting the conversation is ultimately a good thing, even if many don’t agree with him at this point in time.