Month: May 2021

For those who thought the Queen of rap was in retirement, think again. Last night Nicki Minaj returned in full force, with her new single “Fractions,” (which is drawing ample criticism for the way it references her husband’s accuser), and the re-release of her 2009 mixtape Beam Me Up Scotty on streaming services for the first time to celebrate its tenth anniversary. The re-release also came with another new track “Seeing Green” that includes appearances from her most trusted Young Money collaborators Drake and Lil Wayne.

To help all this sink in for fans, Nicki also made a surprise appearance on the audio streaming app Clubhouse today, visiting the National Barb Association room to speak directly to some of her biggest fans. One of the takeaways from this visit from Nicki is that she still has a hip-hop legend dream collaborator that she hasn’t worked with yet. It’s true, one of rap’s number one purveyors of getting artists to guest feature still hasn’t hit the top spot on her list. She revealed that the person she still most wants to work with is Lauryn Hill, which does make sense if you’ve paid attention to the way Nicki has continued to praise her as an influence over the years.

So, hey, someone hit up Lauryn’s camp right? Let’s make this happen.

As millions of Americans have raced to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, millions of others have held back. Vaccine hesitancy is nothing new, of course, especially with new vaccines, but the information people use to weigh their decisions matters greatly. When choices based on flat-out wrong information can literally kill people, it’s vital that we fight disinformation every which way we can.

Researchers at the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a not-for-profit non-governmental organization dedicated to disrupting online hate and misinformation, and the group Anti-Vax Watch performed an analysis of social media posts that included false claims about the COVID-19 vaccines between February 1 and March 16, 2021. Of the disinformation content posted or shared more than 800,000 times, nearly two-thirds could be traced back to just 12 individuals. On Facebook alone, 73% of the false vaccine claims originated from those 12 people.

Dubbed the “Disinformation Dozen,” these 12 anti-vaxxers have an outsized influence on social media. According to the CCDH, anti-vaccine accounts have a reach of more than 59 million people. And most of them have been spreading disinformation with impunity.

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“Despite repeatedly violating Facebook, Instagram and Twitter’s terms of service agreements, nine of the Disinformation Dozen remain on all three platforms, while just three have been comprehensively removed from just one platform,” the report states. It also says platforms fail to act on 95% of the COVID and vaccine misinformation that is reported to them.

NPR has reported that Facebook has taken down more of the accounts following the publishing of its article on the CCDH analysis.

Despite many people’s understandable resistance to censorship, health disinformation carries a great deal of weight—and consequence. As the CCDH writes, “The public cannot make informed decisions about their health when they are constantly inundated by disinformation and false content. By removing the source of disinformation, social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter can enable individuals to make a truly informed choice about vaccines.”

So who are these 12 individuals? The report names them and provides some basic info about them starting on page 12 of the report (which you can read here). They are:

1. Joseph Mercola

2. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

3. Ty and Charlene Bollinger

4. Sherri Tenpenny

5. Rizza Islam

6. Rashid Buttar

7. Erin Elizabeth

8. Sayer Ji

9. Kelly Brogan

10. Christiane Northrup

11. Ben Tapper

12. Kevin Jenkins

Several of these folks are physicians, which ups their credibility in the eyes of their followers. But as vaccine skeptics themselves say, “Follow the money.” These anti-vaxxer influencers rake in the dough by preying on people’s paranoia with monetized websites and social media posts, as well as by selling books and supplements.

Some of them may be “true believer” conspiracy theorists and some of them may be opportunistic grifters, but they all benefit from misinformation mongering.

In addition to these individuals, the report names organizations linked to them, including:

– Children’s Health Defense (Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.)

– Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) (Del Bigtree)

– National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) (Barbara Loe Fisher, Joseph Mercola)

– Organic Consumers Association (OCA) (Joseph Mercola)

– Millions Against Medical Mandates

Don’t the names chosen for these organizations sound like things many people would support? Who isn’t in favor of defending children’s health or informed consent? The “National Vaccine Information Center” sounds downright official, right? Organic consumers? That’s me. How would people know whether or not these organizations were trustworthy sources of information, especially if people they know and love are sharing posts from them?

They wouldn’t. That’s the entire problem.

The report offers suggestions for how to handle misinformation pushers, starting with deplatforming.

“The most effective and efficient way to stop the dissemination of harmful information is to deplatform the most highly visible repeat offenders, who we term the Disinformation Dozen. This should also include the organisations these individuals control or fund, as well as any backup accounts they have established to evade removal.”

The CCDH also recommends platforms “establish a clear threshold for enforcement action” that serve as a warning before removing someone and present warning screens and effective correction to users when a link they attempt to click leads to a source known to promote anti-vaccine misinformation. In addition, the report recommends that Facebook not allow private and secret anti-vaccine Groups “where dangerous anti-vaccine disinformation can be spread with impunity.”

Finally, the CCDH recommends instituting an Accountability API “to allow experts on sensitive and high-importance topics to perform the human analysis that will ultimately make Facebook’s AI more effective.”

The information age is also the misinformation and disinformation age, unfortunately. When it’s people pushing that the moon landing was a hoax, it’s annoying, but when it’s people pushing falsehoods about a deadly pandemic and the life-saving vaccines that can end it, we can’t just brush it off with an eye roll. Disinformation is dangerous, figuring out how to stop it is tricky, but at least knowing where most of it comes from might give us a chance to limit its spread.

An encouraging study published by Trillion Trees shows that nearly 59 million hectares of forests — an area larger than mainland France — have regrown since 2000.

Trillion Trees is a joint venture between World Wildlife Fund (WWF), BirdLife International, and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

This newly-regenerated forest has the ability to store 5.9 gigatons of CO2, roughly the same amount of emissions generated by the U.S. every year.

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Forests are a vital part of the fight against climate change. Trees work to lower the Earth’s temperature through a process known as photosynthesis. A 2017 study found that forests and other ecosystems could provide over one-third of the reductions needed to keep global warming below 2 °C through to 2030.

The green areas show the areas of dramatic regrowth.via Trillion Trees

One of the biggest success stories in forest regeneration is the Atlantic Forest in Brazil. An area roughly the size of the Netherlands has grown since the start of the new millennium. This was done through a wide variety of initiatives from planned projects to responsible industry practices.

Other places that have seen dramatic change are the boreal forests of northern Mongolia, central Africa, and the boreal forests of Canada.

“Deforestation is at the center of our climate crisis, and we must do everything we can to halt it,” said Josefina Braña Varela, vice president and deputy lead for forests at WWF. “In addition, the restoration of our natural forests will play an essential role in preserving these critical ecosystems. The analysis provides a positive outlook for natural regeneration—but this growth doesn’t happen without careful planning, increased investment, and strong policies in place that lead to an increase in forest cover.”

The study also provides a road map for future reforestation projects which are sorely in need as the Earth’s temperature rapidly rises.

“This map will be a valuable tool for conservationists, policymakers, and funders to better understand the multiple ways we can work to increase forest cover for the good of the planet,” said John Lotspeich, executive director of Trillion Trees.

Lotspeich believes that we have little time to waste if we want to reach the goals set forth by the Paris Agreement.

“The data show the enormous potential of natural habitats to recover when given the chance to do so. But it isn’t an excuse for any of us to wait around for it to happen,” he said.

via Dr. Alexey Yakovlev / Flickr

The news is definitely positive but there is still much work to do. Even though there has been substantial reforestation in some parts of the globe, the Earth is still losing an area about the size of the UK every year, largely due to the timber industry and agriculture.

“Deforestation still claims millions of hectares every year, vastly more than is regenerated,” William Baldwin-Cantello of WWF said in a statement.

“To realize the potential of forests as a climate solution, we need support for regeneration in climate delivery plans and must tackle the drivers of deforestation, which in the UK means strong domestic laws to prevent our food causing deforestation overseas,” he continued.

The good news is the study proves that reforestation can happen at a pretty rapid pace if we just leave mother nature alone and let her do her thing. If only we learned that lesson earlier.

It has been a whirlwind week for Aaron Wylie, he’s been overwhelmed by sadness, desperation, and finally, gratitude. Wylie is a bus driver for Halifax Transit in Nova Scotia.

On Tuesday afternoon he learned his mother has terminal liver disease and just two to four months to live.

He was desperate to go see his mother in Saint John, New Brunswick but knew that he faced a few roadblocks that seemed insurmountable.

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Currently, in Canada people are not allowed to travel from Nova Scotia to New Brunswick unless they isolate for 14 days. Wylie had already used up all of his vacation days and couldn’t afford any more time off.

However, he learned that there was one way he could get across the border to see his mother. In Canada, truck drives are classified as essential workers and he happens to have his Class 1 license. All he needed was a trucking job that crossed the border into New Brunswick.

via Kijiji

So he went on Kijiji, an online classified forum, and put some feelers out for jobs that would allow him to drive to New Brunswick. “I know this is a bit of an odd request but I’m looking for a class 1 position. I have Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday off, I work full time at Halifax Transit,” he wrote. “I am looking for a route that will run Halifax to Saint John.… I am willing to drive for free!”

“My mother was diagnosed with terminal liver failure and was given two months to live today, May 11, and I have no way to cross NS border,” he added, signing off with his phone and email address.

Wylie didn’t expect much of a response. “I didn’t really think I’d get much of a reaction,” he said. Boy was he wrong.

Almost immediately, Wylie’s phone wouldn’t stop ringing. Someone on Kijiji put his ad on Facebook where it was shared over 5,000 times.

Countless people offered him jobs that went to New Brunswick. Another offered their liver for a transplant. Others said they’d send money to help the family.

“I was just blown away,” Wylie told the CBC while choking up. “These are people I don’t even know.”

Desperate to see his dying mom, a bus driver put out a plea. The response bowled him over: https://t.co/zSOIMIkeAp https://t.co/raHsYs3ueI

— CBC New Brunswick (@CBCNB)
1620990525.0

Wylie accepted two of the trucking offers but now has to figure out how to see his mother after crossing the border. New Brunswick has a mandate that all drivers from outside the province must limit their activities to only those that are work-related.

Given the fact that rules are constantly shifting due to a recent decline in COVID-19 cases and the steady increase in vaccinations, Wylie is hopeful he’ll be able to see his mother soon.

But his spirits have been uplifted due to the overwhelming number of strangers who stepped up to help him.

“It’s been an overwhelming response and an emotional one,” Wylie said. “I hope I can get there, but whether I do or not, it’s [heartwarming] to know that that support was there.”

Chris Meloni’s Law & Order: Organized Crime returned this week after a few weeks away, and it’s about damn time we got some more dragging of Elliot Stabler. Not to get too spoilery, but we also learned who’s responsible for the “big hit” that launched the season, and now, some good news has arrived: a Season 2 renewal. Not that this is a huge surprise, given that the SVU spinoff is in Season 22 at this point, and people really wanted more Stabler, but hey, it is a welcome bit of information, and we’ll take it.

You do know what this also means, right? Potential for more hot octopus drama.

Alright, so I concede that there’s no certainty that Dylan McDermott’s mafia-brat villain, Wheatley, will whip out the octopus again in the future, but I can hold out hope. In addition, I’m looking forward to seeing Stabler make further amends with his hot-headed past actions as the spinoff deals with his checkered past. There’s also been a lot more Olivia Benson crossover than expected, and no one can complain about extra doses of Mariska Hargitay. Via Deadline, here are the scheduling details:

Law & Order: Organized Crime will air on all Law & Order Thursday night in the fall, with the newest Dick Wolf spinoff For The Defense kicking off the night 8 PM, followed by mothership series Law & Order: SVU, and Season 2 of Law & Order: Organized Crime at 10 PM.

As for whether Dylan McDermott’s gonna stick around, Meloni recently stated, of Stabler’s interaction with Wheatley, “There’s going to be a continuing saga, I believe.” Thank goodness, now bring on the octopus.

(Via Deadline)

Pride (Friday, FX 8:30 p.m.) — You’ve probably heard of the Red Scare led by Senator Joseph McCarthy, who led a fear-mongering set of 1950s probes into alleged Communism within the federal government and the U.S. Armed Forces. This series will shine the light on McCarthy-instigated Lavender Scare to reveal even more government-sanctioned persecution, specifically of gay men and lesbians who worked for the feds, at a time when McCarthy hysterically branded them a threat to national security. This limited series will sprint through the decades, including the “Culture Wars” of the 1990s and the continued battles for trans rights that persist today.

Hacks (HBO Max series premiere) — Jean Smart’s not-so-quiet domination of recent prestige TV shows (Fargo, Watchmen, Mare of Easttown, Legion) has finally culminated with this leading-lady turn in a role she was arguably meant to play. Hacks hails from executive producer Michael Schur and has three Broad City alums in the writers’ room, so get ready for a (Las Vegas) buffet of complex female characters. Smart portrays a legendary Vegas-rooted comedian who forges a “dark mentorship” to a 20-something newcomer in town. Among other highlights of this trailer, we see Smart shouting, “Eat your heart out Celine!” Don’t even think about missing this one.

Those Who Wish Me Dead (Warner Bros. movie on HBO Max) — Angelina Jolie’s in a straight-to-streaming movie, y’all. She portrays a smoke jumper in Montana who is used to a life full of danger, but soon, she’s dealing with riskier situations than she ever signed up to handle. Part of this has to do with attempting to save the life of a skittish boy, who’s being chased by killers for some reason, and then an inferno goes completely haywire. This is an intense one, and Jon Bernthal and Nicholas Hoult co-star.

The Underground Railroad (Amazon Prime limited series) — Awe-inspiring cinematography aside in this trailer, one of the biggest attractions to this project is Oscar winner Barry Jenkins in the director’s seat while helming a 10-part adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Also, Brad Pitt’s executive producing here through his Plan B production company. The story chronicles the desperate bid for freedom by slave Cora Randall (newcomer Thuso Mbedu), and the ensemble cast includes William Jackson Harper (as Royal, who was born free and helps guide Cora along part of her journey), Lily Rabe, and Damon “Dewey Crowe” Herriman.

SNL (Saturday, NBC 10:30 p.m.) — Keegan-Michael Key hosts with musical guest Olivia Rodrigo by his side.

A Black Lady Sketch Show (Friday, HBO 11:00 p.m.) — The fast-paced, quick-witted narrative series returns with loads of celebrity guests, but of course, the sketches all happen by the grace of the core cast, including Robin Thede, Ashley Nicole Black, and Gabrielle Dennis with Issa Rae executive producing,

Batwoman (Sunday, CW 9:00 p.m.) — Batwoman must deal with Gotham’s ravenous Snakebite addicts as they look for their next fix and even more.

Fear the Walking Dead (Sunday, AMC 9:00 p.m.) — Weeks after the show brilliantly subverted Negan’s storyline, an oncoming threat prompts June to gather intelligence.

Zoe’s Extraordinary Playlist (Sunday, NBC 9:00 p.m.) — Jane Levy’s still marvelous here, and this week, Zoe must say a painful goodbye to somebody.

The Nevers (Sunday, HBO 9:00 p.m.) — This Joss Whedon-created show (with a steampunk elephant in the corner) sees Amalia’s origin story, and the Orphans’ mission is crystallized by a reunion.

City On A Hill (Sunday, Showtime 9:00 p.m.) — Decourcy’s pursuing justice in all aspects of his life while Jackie cannot run from the past, and Boston’s coping with another loss.

Mare Of Easttown (Sunday, HBO 10:00 p.m.) — Kate Winslet returns not only to TV but to HBO as a hard-vaping detective in a small town where she both portrays and elevates the “complicated” cop trope. This week, Mare must go to therapy, and we learn a lot about her family history, as Lori attempts to deal with her son’s emotional issues.

Last Week Tonight (Sunday, HBO 10:00 p.m.) — Please, let John Oliver tackle Ted Cruz again.

Ziwe (Sunday, Showtime 11:00 p.m.) — Ziwe Fumudoh’s former status as a Desus & Mero writer will be no shocker for anyone who catches her new variety series. This week, Ziwe visits with a plastic surgeon and discusses beauty standards with guest Eboni K. Williams.

Here are some more fresh streaming picks:

Halston (Netflix limited series) — The newest Ryan Murphy production stars Ewan McGregor as legendary fashion designer Roy Halston Frowick, a.k.a., “Halston,” who volleyed his solo operation into a global fashion empire. In doing so, Halston embodied and defined 1970s and ’80s Manhattan with all of its glitz, sex, and fame accoutrements, along with the trappings and the Andy Warhol-drenched atmosphere. A hostile takeover eventually threatens his control for the Halston name, and expect McGregor to be even flashier and scenery-chewing here than in Birds of Prey. Krysta Rodriguez stars as Liza Minnelli, and she’s a dead ringer, so sit back and enjoy how Halson caused a seismic shift in the fashion industry before his iconic brand lost all of its luster.

The Woman in the Window (Netflix film) — After HBO’s Sharp Objects, no one needs convincing to believe that Amy Adams is quite adept at playing a woman on the verge. Here’s she’s portraying a woman (who is, yes, in the window) who either saw something terrible happen across the street or at least believes as much. She’s agoraphobic, and her neighbor does indeed disappear, so there’s that. Yet since this is a psychological thriller from director Joe Wright, so one can guess that the resolution (which is based upon the best selling novel of the same name) will be anything but straightforward.

From Cradle To Stage (Paramount+ series) — This Dave Grohl-directed series follows Dave and his mom, Virginia, meeting up with Pharrell Williams and his mom. In the process, we learn that both artists are terrified of disappointing their maternal figures and also both started rocking out in their small Virginia hometowns.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch: Episode 3 (Disney+ series) — You might prefer to think of this show as the Star Wars franchise’s version of D.C.’s Suicide Squad, but fear no Leto-Joker intrusion. Instead, this The Clone Wars spinoff focuses on a mercenary squad of sorts that’s made up of (as the title indicates) “the Bad Batch” or Clone Force 99. These elite soldiers stand apart from standard clones due to their unique physical capabilities like super strength, super eyesight, and so on.

Love, Death & Robots: Volume 2 (Netflix series) — Two years ago, Netflix previewed this adult-animated series from co-executive producers David Fincher and Tim Miller, with the “messed up audiences only” label. Comfortingly, it sure looks like not a whole lot has changed for the show’s vibe. As with the Emmy-winning first season of this show, this trailer tells us to expect more existential “robots-gone-wild” but fewer of them (along with “naked giants” and “Christmas demons”), as the series included eighteen short films in the initial round but will crank out eight more for this second batch. All will keep the seemingly infinite number of animation styles going, including a very simple-looking installment that, uh, involves a poop-scooping robot.

Back in May 2019, the Rick and Morty creators made the bold move to offer Kanye West his own episode of the show, and we’re not talking just a guest spot. “I’m giving him an episode, I’m making it official,” co-creator Justin Roilands told The Blast. “We have 70, he can have one. Kanye, you can have an episode. I’m so down. That would be f*ckin’ amazing, actually.”

A few months later, Entertainment Weekly caught up with Roiland and asked him how the Kanye episode was going. Roiland said that they had been in touch with the rapper, but the two sides were having trouble nailing down a schedule. “We need to sit down and chat about it. But it’s a very sincere and legitimate offer when we threw that out,” Roiland said.

After that, talk of the Kanye episode ground to a halt as the Rick and Morty team continued to crank out new episodes for its latest season. However, co-creator Dan Harmon recently sat down with MSNBC and revealed that the elusive meeting with Kanye eventually happened, and things were looking good — until the suits stepped in upon realizing that Kanye was planning to create original music for the collaboration. Via Comic Book:

They were actually breaking an entire episode “within minutes” but were eventually told by executives to reel it back in.

“At that point, that was when seven different corporations — and I don’t fault them for this because this is their job — they have to say, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a minute. Slow down psychos. What are you doing,’” Harmon continued.

As for the chances of the Kanye episode happening down the road, the Rick and Morty co-creator hedged his bets. “Time will tell.”

You can watch the full interview with Harmon below or jump ahead to the 15:00 minute mark to see him talk about his Kanye experience:

(Via MSNBC)

For just about as long as DJ Khaled has been one of the foremost figures in hip-hop and pop culture, he’s had his detractors — from critics who wonder what exactly he does to outright haters who don’t believe he actually contributes anything to the ever-expanding discography of high-profile collaborations he’s been curating all along. However, one of his most frequent collaborators, Fat Joe, became a staunch defender during a recent appearance on NORE’s Drink Champs podcast, shutting down who he calls “backseat drivers” and praising his friend with a surprising comparison.

“People take away the greatness from Khaled and they say, ‘Well he just gets a bunch of big-time rappers and puts them on the same song,’” Joe reasoned. “There’s a million DJs and producers that try that, and those ain’t hit records. And it’s been a long time since we heard Nas and Jay-Z on what to me sounds like a smash hit — that can play on the radio, [and is] streaming incredibly. So DJ Khaled really is the Quincy Jones of hip-hop right now.”

Elaborating further in the comments once the episode teaser hit Instagram, Joe addressed those outspoken nitpickers. “All these back seat drivers [and] Monday morning quarterbacks always got an opinion but can’t do it themselves. Sh*t [is] crazy to me. The term ‘Quincy jones of this time’ was used in reference to the work Khaled has put in: Years and years of hits. Obviously, there’s only one Quincy but f*ck it. Tune in tonight EXPLOSIVE lol.” He also posted his own video to Instagram addressing the controversy saying, “There’s a million guys putting a bunch of rappers together… Khaled puts out No. 1 albums, No. 1 hits, the album is incredible for me. Give the man his credit.”

It’s clear that Khaled has a few supporters in his corner ready to defend him, but for now, he’s letting the singles — which include the aforementioned “Sorry Not Sorry,” “Let It Go,” “We Going Crazy,” and more — do the talking, streaming his way to another No.1 debut.

It’s been nearly a decade since The Mars Volta, the band made up of musicians Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala, decided to part ways and focus on different projects. But back in March, the band began teasing something exciting. It turned out that The Mars Volta had been working on reissuing their catalog as a box set. But after quickly selling out of the bundle, The Mars Volta are making sure that dedicated fans everywhere can get their hands on reissues.

After seeing the major success of their 18 LP box set La Realidad De Los Sueños, The Mars Volta announce they are now focusing on reissuing individual albums. They’re making newly-pressed vinyl of each of their six LPs, including their debut EP Tremulant and Landscape Tantrums, the recently discovered eight-song collection of recordings that eventually became their debut studio album De-Loused In The Comatorium.

Mars Volta’s original La Realidad De Los Sueños box set also came with an exclusive photo book. It was limited to only 5,000 copies and gave a behind-the-scenes look at the band’s dynamic. “‘La Realidad De Los Sueños’ is literally ‘the reality of dreams’ for the numerous The Mars Volta fans all around the world,” the band stated at the time of their box set’s announcement.

The entire collection, along with some celebratory merch items can be purchased on their website. Pre-order it here.

The Mars Volta is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

At the BRIT Awards earlier this week, plenty of pop stars got the kind of accolades they wholeheartedly deserve. One such winner was Dua Lipa, who took home awards for best British album, best British single (for “Physical”), and best British female solo artist. Performing a medley of Future Nostalgia hits at the show, Dua gave a nod to another British pop icon through her wardrobe choice. Channeling Ginger Spice’s iconic Union Jack dress from the ’90s, Dua apparently caught Geri’s attention with her homage.

The former Spice Girl took to Twitter to let everyone know that her choice to wear that dress was a moment of following her own instincts in the face of doubts.”Trust [yo]urself.. this dress is a reminder to follow [yo]ur instincts & be [yo]urself,” the Spice Girls icon wrote on Twitter. “24yrs ago I had an idea to wear a Union Jack to celebrate The Brit Awards. Despite doubts, I trusted my instincts & wore it anyway. So special to see it worn by a fellow sister yesterday #girlpower.”

Dua updated the look by swapping the dress for a mini-skirt version, and topping that off with a blazer that she took off fairly early into the show, but posed with in backstage pics. And her made such an impact on Geri that she sent the young star flowers the next day, which Dua thankfully shared on her Insta story. Intergenerational pop star friendships? We love to see it.