Last week, billionaire Richard Branson was in the hot seat following his controversial space flight, and now, it’s Amazon founder Jeff Bezos‘ turn to defend his upcoming space mission. While appearing with his crew for an interview with CNN New Day‘s Rachel Crane, Bezos echoed Branson’s words by touting the scientific importance of these flights, which technically bump the edge of space, but still produce valuable data, and more importantly, “get really good at operational space travel.”
“If we can do that, then we’ll be building a road to space for the next generations to do amazing things there. And those amazing things will solve problems here on Earth,” Bezos said.
Blue Origin’s trip to space is about getting “really good at operational space travel,” Jeff Bezos says. “If we can do that, then we’ll be building a road to space for the next generations to do amazing things there. And those amazing things will solve problems here on Earth.” pic.twitter.com/dU6qAR2ZJB
However, Bezos was aware of the criticisms of his highly expensive flight, and he actually agreed with his detractors. When Crane asked the former Amazon CEO to respond to accusations that these missions are “joyrides for the wealthy,” and billionaires like Bezos and Branson should “should be spending your time and your money and energy trying to solve problems here on Earth,” Bezos didn’t put up a fight. Via Mediaite:
“Well, I say they’re largely right. We have to do both,” Bezos answered. “We have lots of problems here and now on Earth and we need to work on those, and we always need to look to the future. We’ve always done that as a species, as a civilization. We have to do both.”
Over the weekend, Gaetz (R-FL), who is currently under investigation for alleged sex trafficking, and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) were in California for their “America First” rally when they stopped by a beachgoer for what appears to be a photo op or meet-and-greet with their far-right supporters. One admirer was particularly happy to see them.
“Oh my god, I’m so excited! I’m so excited!” the man, dressed in red, white, and blue bucket hat, shirt, and shorts, told the politicians. He then looked at Taylor Greene and said, “Everyone thinks you’re crazy, I don’t think you’re crazy,” before turning towards Gaetz and adding, “People think you’re a pedophile, I don’t think you’re a pedophile at all. I don’t think he’s a pedophile at all. The charges against him are totally false.”
It turns out, the supporter was actually comedian Walter Masteron pranking Gaetz and Taylor Greene. “I called @mattgaetz a pedophile to his face today. Actually I screamed ‘I don’t think you’re a pedophile at all’ to which Gaetz responded ‘Yes TF I am!’ and had security toss me,” he tweeted before uploading the video, which you can watch below.
I called @mattgaetz a pedophile to his face today. Actually I screamed “I don’t think you’re a pedophile at all” to which Gaetz responded “Yes TF I am!” and had security toss me.
You can see the exact moment that Gaetz realizes he’s getting pranked. Play it in slow motion. Anyway, it’s a good bit, but people on Twitter are mainly focused on one thing:
there’s something off about her left foot, can anybody else (who didn’t just smoke from a gravity bong) see it & explain the nubby weirdness pic.twitter.com/Zn1ZBcSh2W
He’s finishing up a full day of virtual interviews, getting ready to reward himself with a pint or two for a hard day’s work of hyping fans up for the second season of Apple TV+’s award-winning sports comedy series, Ted Lasso. And he did it all without slipping up and mentioning a plot point on the fairly lengthy spoiler list the show sent out with its screener package.
Of course, spoiling anything about a show as genuinely funny and endearingly nice as Ted Lasso feels a bit blasphemous anyway, so we’re not laying any verbal traps. Instead, we cover the bizarre experience of virtual writer’s rooms – Goldstein pens episodes of the show while also starring as the temperamental, aging footballer Roy Kent – his character’s growing fandom, and the struggle he’s faced trying to teach Jason Sudeikis, Brendan Hunt, and the rest of the Yanks in the cast how to brew a proper cup of tea.
So, if you came here hoping to figure out whether Roy Kent is still on the pitch — as he would say, “Fuck off.” But, if you’d like to know why Goldstein calls season two the show’s Empire Strikes Back installment and who he credits for those classic Ted Lasso metaphors, well then …
A Peabody Award or an official Roy Kent Richmond AFC jersey. Which is more exciting for you?
[laughs] That’s such a terrible question to ask me because obviously, it’s the Roy Kent jersey. But the Peabody thing, that’s really meaningful, et cetera.
It’s every Englishman’s dream to be a footballer, though.
Yeah, it’s not only my dream. It’s my dad’s dream. I think the fact that there’s a Roy Kent jersey means more to my dad than the Peabody Award. I think my dad is much more proud of that.
Season one came at the perfect time when we really needed something good. The downside to that was season two, you guys are writing and filming during a pandemic. Was it hard to channel that Ted Lasso optimism?
I cannot tell you how lucky I feel to be in the show, to be part of this show, and then to be able to be writing it during the pandemic. I’d have gone mad without it. I was in my attic writing it on Zoom with the people in LA at night. I was working from 5 p.m. till midnight here, but it was the best part of my day. I love those writers so much. We hadn’t seen each other for a few months and even though it was mad and you’re just looking at 12 boxes, it was … I genuinely have nothing but respect for everyone surviving that lockdown because if I hadn’t had that work to do and been connected with these people, I’d definitely have gone fucking mad.
Were you worried about trying to recreate the magic of season one this time around?
We started writing [season two] before season one came out, so we were quite far into it by the time season one came out. I think Jason said this and I agree with him, I think we’re very proud that we didn’t change anything based on audience reaction. We stuck to the plan because I think it’s very tempting to go, ‘But everyone really loves this thing and we’re about to do this thing.’ Part of sticking to your guns is [realizing] one of the things people like about Ted Lasso is it surprised them. So we have to keep surprising them. We can’t just do the same thing again. Jason has half-jokingly said this season is the Empire Strikes Back. But there’s truth in that. I think it’s deeper and darker and more real and more human and there’s some tricky stuff in there and there’s some sexy stuff in there. But I also think it’s funnier. I think it’s funnier than season one. I think there are more laughs in it per episode.
What is it about Roy Kent that people seem to love?
I think the difference between me and Roy is … we’re actually very, very similar, but I am cursed with a gene that means I’m slightly worried about wanting people to like me. But if I could remove that gene, I would just be Roy Kent all day. And I think perhaps that’s relatable to people. I think he gets to say what a lot of people are thinking and just doesn’t give a shit and that’s very appealing because we all get caught up in caring what other people think.
He does struggle with expressing his emotions, especially in season two. Is that a male thing, a British thing, or a bit of both?
I mean, look, I wouldn’t want to generalize completely because obviously women and Americans also can have these problems. But culturally, I do think Ted Lasso is exploring toxic masculinity in some way. When I was doing research for it, speaking to old football captains, it’s like part of your job is to intimidate people and to not show any fucking vulnerability, to be scary. And if you’re doing that all the time, God forbid you let out any feelings. And then also being British it’s, yeah, it’s very hard to express anything being British.
Ted Lasso loves folksy metaphors. It’s something the character has become kind of known for. You’re in the writer’s room. Who comes up with those?
I reckon it’s probably 90% Jason. Ted’s best stuff, I can’t think any of us can really take credit for. Often, we’ll write a version and then he’ll make it better when he does it on the day. He’ll do a different version based on yours, but it’s much better.
Last Week Tonight‘s on hiatus (he’s presumably resting up, spending time with his mega-wife, and all that good stuff), but John Oliver couldn’t resist dropping another web exclusive to tide over the HBO audience. “I just can’t seem to stop posting sh*t on the internet,” he declared, and thank goodness.
This week, Oliver raves about his newest obsession (now that he finally put that octopus issue to rest) by introducing his audience to a Danish children’s show called John Dillermand. The title character happens to possess a prehensile penis and uses his gift for good (performing charitable acts for people). Yes, this is as strange as you think it is, and Oliver points out that the character’s name “would actually be a great nickname for my own penis if I hadn’t already nicknamed it ‘Hugh Grant’ because it’s British, aging, and I’ve been told it can be unpleasant to work with.”
Well, he’s now the Emmy-nominated Hugh Grant, so there’s multiple distinctions that the “unpleasant” actor is rocking these days. From there, the short-ish segment (compared to the show’s deep dives”) reveals how TV’s talking heads can’t handle the show and freaked out while interviewing the minds behind the production. They knew what they were doing, given that (as Oliver points out) “The ‘Diller’ in ‘Dillermand’ is Danish slang for ‘penis,’ meaning that his name in English is basically ‘John Penisman,’ which is a perfect name for a man with a magical dong.”
Then Oliver got super (not-real) by confessing that he identifies with Mr. John Dillerman.
HBO
“The reason John Dillermand resonated so much with me isn’t that I found it interesting, charming, or funny.” Oliver declared. “It’s that I, too, have a 20-foot long, animated hose dong.” Oh boy.
Last Week Tonight returns with full episodes on July 25.
The cover stars for this year’s Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue were unveiled today, and among them is a familiar face to music fans: Megan Thee Stallion, as she, tennis star Naomi Osaka, and actress/model Leyna Bloom all got their own covers.
Sharing the cover on Instagram, Megan wrote, “REAL SPORTS ILLUSTRATED SWIMSUIT EDITION COVER MODEL SH*T!!! Thee first female rapper on the cover of @si_swimsuit [crying emojis] I want to thank all the strong women in my life who inspired me to love my body and live my best hot girl life. It means the world to me to be on this cover DREAM COME TRUE!!”
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit editor-in-chief MJ Day said of Meg, “Megan Thee Stallion doesn’t stay in one lane. In fact, she encourages everyone to be in multiple, and this is what we love about her. She captured the world’s attention with her music and style, but what caught our attention was her unfiltered approach to the way she makes you think. She uses her platform to push boundaries, dissect societal norms, and encourage humans to think about the backward way our society continues to operate. Megan is a vessel for change, and we are honored to have her on our 2021 cover.”
Kevin Smith’s enthusiasm for all things geek is something that he displays proudly. He has the Infinity Stones practically tattooed on his soul, and one doesn’t have to travel all the way to the MCU’s Vormir to find evidence of his fandom. He hurls it all out there, weeping openly over the WandaVision finale while understanding that childhood memories are something that, if at all possible, must be treated with care. That earnestness, right there, is one reason why Netflix and Mattel entrusted Smith with showrunning a Masters of the Universe sequel series because, to be perfectly blunt, the dude has the Power of Grayskull running through his veins. When I hopped on a Zoom call with him ahead of the Fourth of July weekend, Smith made it known that he’s perfectly aware that he’s been entrusted with precious IP, and after I watched the batch of five episodes that will arrive on July 23, I can say that he’s taken that responsibility seriously.
It’s a rather dazzling turn of events to see Smith harnessing his fandom in such a way, after decades of largely doing his own indie thing (we’ll forget about Cop-Out if you don’t mind) and also being the guy who publicly told Harvey Weinstein to shut the hell up. And Smith revels in placing nods to comic books everywhere in his movies. He did, after all, sneak an exchange (between Jason Mewes’ Jay character and Stan Lee) about The Thing’s “orange rock” anatomy into Mallrats. That’s one of the most fondly regarded (and banal) nerd moments in Smith’s body of work, and it’s only the tip of the geeky iceberg. It’s also completely unrelated to a question about Chris Rock falling naked from the sky in Dogma that I didn’t have time to work into the discussion. Yes, I’ll kick myself forever for that omission, but Kevin Smith and I did still have a fine conversation.
Naturally, we discussed Masters of the Universe: Revelation (and there will be a second part to this interview following the premiere), which brings back all of the O.G. characters that you remember and love. So there’s Adam/He-Man and Teela, along with Skeletor (Mark Hamill, having the time of his life) and Orko and Tri-Clops and Cringer and Evil-Lyn, and you get the picture. This is like the original show on steroids and will largely appeal to grown-ups who do want to relive their childhood again with more mature action and themes. Yes, the franchise is still holding onto that silly “secret” about Adam’s identity, and where that all goes is pivotal. Smith knows exactly how to pull nostalgic strings in the most effective way because he’s feeling those feelings, too. He was also cool enough to not shut down my question about his most infamous tweet of all time.
Hey, Kevin. Didn’t realize we’d be on camera today, but there’s your famous purple jacket, sooo that’s my cue?
You don’t have to. It’s dealer’s choice… hey, look at you!
Warning: I am in vacation mode, popped off a flight, ate my weight in brunch, and I might be in a food coma over here. So, not totally professional.
Oh, you’re f*cking lucky. I’m in the middle of a fast… day three of a fast over here.
I’ve been a big Runyon Canyon hiker over here for a while, but lately, it’s been more consistent that it’s happened, so I think today is day twelve straight of hiking Runyon.
You’ve got far more discipline than I do with the fasting thing.
It is an exercise in discipline. I do it because when I eat, I overeat. Like, I show no discipline whatsoever, and so, with my life in general, I asked, “Why do I do this?” And I have to be able to prove to myself that I’m not an animal. Because some days, when I’m sitting around on my bed, I’ll watch a two-hour movie, and I will be eating right through to the credits, and that’s not normal. People don’t eat for two hours straight, so for me, going on the fast is like, I can control this. I need to control this.
Well, you look great, skin glowing and all that good stuff, too.
It’s honestly the only area of my life where I’ve felt out of control. Once I turn on the “well, I’m going to start eating,” I’ll just f*cking go. And I’ll grow the stomach and distend it. So, of the course of the last year, I’ve been f*cking around with intermittent fasting. Generally, it’s a 20-4 schedule, so I’ll be without food for 20 hours, and I’ll have a 4-hour eating limit. Sometimes, I’ll just drop the food and have an all-liquid and water diet. Right now, I’m about to hit 72 hours. The longest one I ever did was 123 and sh*t like that. And I’m like, “You don’t get it.” Fit people tell me I’m nuts, but I’m like, “You cats don’t have anything to lose.” I’m literally carrying around stored energy that’s just waiting to be f*cking eaten. So if I don’t eat, I still eat, you know what I’m saying?
Yeah, so are your emotions all wrapped up in the food stuff? You do not hide emotions at all, you really put it all out there.
Yeah, you gotta. I’ve learned at a certain point to just go with “heart on the sleeve” about everything, career and life in general. But with that, when you talk about weight, it’s such a personal issue. A lot of people know about this issue and know these feelings, so [with] getting it out there, you find support. It’s the internet, so you get some people being like, “Lose weight, you fat f*ck,” but there’s a lot of people who are like, “I’ve been there. Tomorrow’s another day.” Stuff like that, it’s incredible support. People have been joining Weight Watchers and other groups for years for that kind of support, and you get it for free on social media if you’re just honest with them. And yes, the tiny price is that it’s ammunition for anyone to attack you, but to be honest, you get attacked on the internet whether you do anything or not.
All you really gotta do is exist to be a target. Some people are waiting to pounce and knock everyone down a few pegs.
And doing a thing, even if someone’s making fun of you like, “Oh, you’re hiking, you jerk.” It’s like, yeah. I’m the jerk, fair enough, and if you don’t hike, you’re attacked as a jerk, so at a certain point, you might as well do the healthy thing. The weird thing is watching people be like, “Man, you used to look so good, you should stop losing weight.” That is a mindf*ck, where you’re like, “Wait a second.” Like, not only do I know that I didn’t look good, but I was f*cking unhealthy, and I almost died. And you’re telling me to go back to that? They’re like, “Yeah, you look unhealthy at this point.” And no, I’m 100 pounds thinner, but it is a real emotional thing. Alcoholism, drugs, parental abuse, priest abuse? Like, I have a very uncontroversial childhood and adulthood, and f*cking overeating food. In my TV movie, that’s the f*cking pivot upon which everything rests.
On the subject of emotions, I gotta admit enjoying when you post videos of yourself watching Marvel trailers and just let it all out. You must have grown emotional while watching these He-Man episodes, too. How do you hope people will feel when they watch?
Honestly, we’ve been making this for two years, and for the last year of the pandemic, particularly, that’s when I started seeing the first of the animatics, a black-and-white version of the show, a real sketch version of the show, that I thought was brilliant enough to run. I was like, “Let’s just air this, this looks fantastic.” And Pat [Stannard] and Adam [Conarroe], our directors, were like, “Shh, shh. Let us do our jobs, bro.” So I got to watch, during the grimmest time in human history, every week, cuts of the show would come in. And I’m an early riser and a wake-and-baker. If I don’t have a script to work on or something to do, then it’s like, “Okay, what will entertain me?” Generally, I watch a lot of late-night programming in the morning and stuff like that, but what I did during the pandemic was wake up, roll a joint, and just rewatch.
That’s a great way to spend a pandemic, if we all have to endure one.
And it’s not narcissistic because I didn’t write every episode. I was involved with it, and it’s my story and sh*t, but other people brought wonderful things to it that make me appreciate it more… So I was in this weird position of like, I could see this thing that others couldn’t and watch it develop, and it was so joyous to watch come together: visually, aurally, with the sound and whatnot, the special effects. Pat and Adam, I saw the first color vision they did and was like, “This is f*cking stunning,” and they’re like, “We’re only 50 percent done”… so when they got to their final, they were so right to keep me patient. So I would get emotional. I would sit and watch in the morning and cry. Like, you’ve seen the episode, and you know who dies and sh*t like that. Each time, and I wrote it for heaven’s sake, and every time I watched it, [redacted]’s performance is so incredibly moving that he takes me to that place. Pat and Adam’s direction of that scene, Bear McCreary’s score that we’re not even worthy to have took me to that place to reenjoy. So, my dream is that everyone loves it as much as me. However, I’ve been in this world long enough to know that’s never gonna be the case. That being said, I also dreamed that about the Jay and Silent Bob stuff, but with Masters of the Universe, they’re letting me play with someone else’s toys.
And there are a lot of people out there prepared to claim destroyed childhoods, no matter what happens on the show.
There is a lot of affection and love for this, long before I got here and long after I leave, so in many ways, this will probably be the thing that I’ve worked on that is seen by the most people. Even right now as we speak, the teaser’s been viewed over 10 million times. No trailer I’ve ever made has been viewed 10 million times. No movie I’ve made has been viewed over 10 million times. So, you get to realize what it’s like when J.J. [Abrams] gets to make a Star Wars, or when the Russo Brothers get to make an Avengers thing. You’re being handed prized possessions that don’t just mean a lot to a corporation, although they do mean a lot to Mattel, but they mean something deep to people you’ve never met before. People you stand beside in life. Poets will come out of the woodwork, man, if you say something that means something to them. And I have met every Masters of the Universe poet online since we dropped that teaser. Like, it’s not just a show they watch, it’s the era they watched it. That part of their life, the friends that they had. It’s everything, so when you’re working with the very rich IP of Masters of the Universe, you’re working with the even richer memories and nostalgia that everybody has. It’s a wicked, heady brew. All you have to do is not f*ck it up. Don’t p*ss in the brew, and we knew how to do that because Marvel showed us the way.
The method to the madness, your true inspiration, now comes to light.
For ten years, I’ve been studying Kevin Feige as a f*ckin’ fan. How the f*ck do you do this? How the f*ck do you give me my childhood back and make me love it even more than I loved it the first time? You make me feel young watching this sh*t, man. So, I said to the writers’ room, “We’re just gonna model this. We’re gonna do the Marvel method, not like they did in the comic books, where you write the dialogue later. We’re gonna do the Marvel Cinematic Universe method, which is that we’re gonna give them their exact childhood back and accentuate it. We’re gonna do it better than the show that they saw and reach into their f*ckin’ memories and show them their memories of this thing.” Because if people watched the teaser and are like, “Oh my god, there’s so much action, it’s just like my childhood.” I urge them to go back and watch the show that we’re sequelizing. There was no action. They couldn’t.
Exactly. There was no swordplay in the old show, and no real followthrough on peril, and no actual deaths.
Yeah! Right? Nobody got to stab or anything like that, so what we’re showing them is a heightened version of their memories. There are all the characters as you remember them. They’re all designed the same, and their relationships are all the same, but we can actually have them hit each other and stab each other. People could die, and there are real consequences and stakes for that sort of thing. So, the idea in the writers’ room was, “Look, we have to have it ready for the audience, so when they watch it, they’re like, ‘Holy sh*t, my toys are exactly where I left them. Let me have fun again.’” And you know, they’re adults, so they can deal with a more grown-up story, so to speak. And I hope everyone loves it as much as I do, I know that won’t be the case, but I know they’ll love this more than anything else I’ve ever done, as a whole.
So, when the teaser came out, a false rumor spread that there wasn’t much He-Man in this show. How did you deal with shutting down talk that this was The Teela Show?
It’s been hard. I couldn’t say certain things, and in the absence, people filled in their own details. There was a post that somebody made on Twitter. They were like, “I heard from an inside source that says this is The Teela Show. Teela proves that she’s a better He-Man than He-Man. She gets the sword, and she’s got a girlfriend.” I was like, “Look, I wish you were there with us in the writers’ room. That would have been fun, but I can honestly tell you that is not the f*cking show. You were lied to.” Then they saw the teaser and were like, “Teela’s all over it!” And I was like, “Yes, but if you are familiar with the show and are as big of a fan as you say you were, then you’ll remember that in every single episode of Masters of the Universe, Teela was right there, fighting for Adam, protecting him, or fighting side-by-side with He-Man.” The same thing with Evil-Lyn and Skeletor. People are like, “Is this woke?” And if this is woke, then they were woke in 19f*cking83. Because we’re literally doing the same sh*t.
Alright, my final question is something off-topic. You have a tweet. It’s a very notorious tweet, one for which you celebrate the anniversary.
[Laughs] Yeahhh.
Ten years in and we bone like we’re cheating on each other WITH each other. A decade-plus and her clit/brown/taint-area still pOwns my dick.
Have you ever thought of, I don’t know, scrubbing that tweet from existence, or is it really important to you, and it’s gonna stick around forever?
Oh, it’s not important to me, although if you know the back story of that tweet…
Yes, you lost a bet with your wife, so she got to post whatever she wanted to your account.
First off, I’m not allowed to take it down, but more importantly, like, kids, it’s the internet. Even if I take it down, it exists. And if I take it down, it just looks worse, like I’m trying to hide it. And so in a world like… I remember when the #MeToo thing happened, there were people who pointed to that tweet and were like, “That’s very #MeToo.” And I’m like, “She’s my wife. I’m literally talking about how I would like to cheat on my wife with my wife.” It couldn’t be less like #MeToo or something like that. So to me, it was more damaging to take it down than to leave it up because everyone knew about it. Or they found out about it later one. But I remember when that thing went up, a few people were like, “Oh, that’s funny” and sh*t. I remember saying to Jennifer, “Your plan backfired.”
Oh no, it did not backfire.
I had no idea that she was playing the long con because that f*ckin’ tweet came back to haunt me. For years! And now still exists, and I’ve had a very complicated relationship with that tweet because I’m not the author of it. At the same time, I’m like, “A deal’s a deal, I should leave it up and sh*t.” So, it’s one of those weird things where periodically on the internet, I have to eat sh*t from total strangers over something that really wasn’t mine. And my wife… I’ve stopped complaining about it because when I complain about it, she’s like, “Good, that will teach you.” It was all meant to be a lesson in why I shouldn’t tweet about our sex life. I have learned my lesson. Try to find a f*cking tweet about our sex life in the last ten years. It doesn’t exist.
Thank you for indulging me on that question. The tweet shall haunt us all forever.
[Takes a swig of water and chuckles.] I love that tweet.
Netflix’s ‘Masters of the Universe: Revelation’ streams on July 23.
While Britney Spears’ conservatorship has been a popular topic of conversation for years now, it’s come to a head in recent weeks as Spears herself has been more open about the situation than she ever has. Spears’ peers in music have also shared their thoughts about what’s going on, and now that includes somebody else who has experience with being a young pop star: Billie Eilish.
Eilish is the subject of a new Vogue Australia profile, and in it, she discusses the conservatorship while noting how grateful she is that she has been able to avoid people trying to take advantage of her and her success:
“It’s really, really horrible what a lot of young women have gone through — I mean, to this day. I didn’t have a team that wanted to f*ck me over — which is really kind of rare, which [itself] is pretty f*cked up. All I have to be is just grateful that I happened to have a good group of people around me that […] didn’t want to just take advantage of me and do what people have done in the past.”
She also spoke about some strange aspects of being famous, saying, “It’s really weird how the world can see every aspect of your life and reminisce about [it]. It’s so weird. The internet brings up things from everybody’s past and I’m like: ‘Don’t you guys understand that everybody is incredibly embarrassed and ashamed about their past? Like, do you not think about the fact that maybe you’re embarrassed of your past, so maybe everybody else is embarrassed, too?’”
Things did not get off to a good start for either the men or women when USA Basketball camp began, as both teams lost their first two games in Las Vegas as they tuned up for the Tokyo Olympics. The women dropped games to the WNBA All-Stars and Australia, but righted the ship with a dominant win against Nigeria on Sunday.
The men lost to Nigeria and Australia, while also dealing with COVID issues with Bradley Beal having to be replaced and their second game with the Aussies being cancelled for precautions. After replacing Beal (and Kevin Love who withdrew with lingering calf issues) with Keldon Johnson and JaVale McGee, the USA men arrived to Sunday’s game with Spain with plenty of questions and a stern test in their final exhibition game.
Early on, it looked as though some of the same issues would cause problems for the Americans again, as Spain punished their lack of size inside and on the glass and the USA offense struggled as they stagnated far too often, trailing 18-14 after one period of play. However, as the game wore on they started to find their rhythm and, late in the third quarter, the floodgates opened as they darted ahead to take a comfortable lead they would never give back.
The catalyst for the USA run in the third was Keldon Johnson, who had 10 of his 15 points in the third, showing his value to an American side loaded with creators as a terrific cutter and mover off the ball.
In the fourth quarter, they continued to push the pace and move the ball, something that they are going to have to do given their lack of size and the physicality allowed in the international game, with Zach LaVine and Damian Lillard leading the way down the stretch as Team USA kept Spain at a distance, ultimately getting an 83-76 win to send them off to Tokyo on a positive note.
Zach LaVine attacks and throws down the two-handed jam! #USABMNT
It wasn’t a tremendous offensive performance from Team USA, shooting 43.1 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from three, but the signs of life in the second half were welcome sights after how things started in Las Vegas. Still, the ball moved much better than it had been early on in camp, with Damian Lillard not just leading the team with 19 points, but seemingly taking over the lead distributor role with six assists — Jayson Tatum also had five dimes and Bam Adebayo had four as Team USA appears to be figuring out the team basketball aspect of things as they grow more comfortable together.
Balanced scoring helps lead the #USABMNT past Spain in their final exhibition in preparation for Tokyo!
More impressive was their defensive effort, as they seemed to ratchet things up on that end and embrace the physicality of this game, applying lots of ball pressure and being very active in rotations and jumping passing lanes to force 20 turnovers that allowed them to get out and run. Reinforcements are still to come in the form of Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton, and Devin Booker whenever the Finals end, and they’ll have to figure out how to work those three into the rotation, but for now, the team has to be feeling much better as they get set to fly off to Japan.
If Matt Gaetz has a vibe — apart from “bro who looks like he’s being investigated by the feds for possible ties to a sex trafficking ring” — it’s this: He looks like a straight up “’80s guy.” The slick hair. The vaguely sleazy smirk. The Dick Tracy villain suits. He’s a throwback to the Gordon Gekko era, when his role model, former president Donald J. Trump, made his name. (Or he’s Butt-Head.) So when the turncoat Republicans at the Lincoln Project did a “caption this” of a photo from the impromptu sidewalk rally he and Marjorie Taylor Greene held this weekend, it was only fitting that everyone made ‘80s band jokes.
The worst Huey Lewis & the News cover band to ever play the Holiday Inn lounge. Their rendition of ‘It’s Hip to Be Square’ was particularly atrocious. https://t.co/lRfNx7fp3Z
— Propagandalf observes the herd with trepidation! (@Laughing_Stoic) July 18, 2021
Gaetz spent the weekend trying to salvage his and Greene’s “America First” rally, a partisan affair led by two of the House’s most infamous Republicans, one a conspiracy theorist who can’t stop trivializing the Holocaust, the other possibly jail-bound. Their to-do was cancelled by three separate California venues. They had to settle with standing on a sidewalk, screaming at a relatively modest crowd of sycophants and haters.
To make matters worse, the two were roasted on social media, where their failed rally was a source of merriment and dogpiling. When the Lincoln Project singled out a photo of Gaetz, clad in sunglasses and yelling into a mic with a jacket over a black tee-shirt, asking people, “Who is this? Wrong answers only,” everyone had the same general ‘80s idea.
A lot of people zeroed in on Huey Lewis and the News, one of the era’s most singularly ‘80s chart-toppers.
Lead singer in a discount Z grade Huey Lewis cover band who still can’t nail the bridge on “I Want A New Drug”.
It wasn’t the only Gaetz content to go viral over the weekend. At some point he and Greene took to the beach, where a man, either a prankster or a really big fan who couldn’t control his excitement, made him super uncomfortable by telling him he doesn’t think he’s a “pedophile.”
Matt Gaetz will only take photos with supporters who acknowledge he is a pedophile. pic.twitter.com/mNL3OIq0yz
When the USA Basketball men’s roster arrived in Las Vegas for training camp earlier this month, the hope was that they would be able to quickly come together and build the continuity and collective confidence needed to make a run at a fourth straight gold medal when the Tokyo Olympics begin at the end of the week.
Jerami Grant is expected to be cleared from quarantine and will be available to travel with Team USA to Japan, sources said. Americans have final exhibition against Spain set for 9 p.m. ET.
That’s some good news because it at least keeps Team USA from ending up with half of their roster in Tokyo being guys who haven’t played most of camp together. With Johnson having been with the main roster for the entirety of camp due to the absences of the three Finals players, he at least has built that continuity even if he wasn’t expecting to be on the squad for Tokyo. Still, they will have to integrate four new players into things in short order, as it has been anything but smooth sailing for the gold medal favorites.
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(@Laughing_Stoic) 
Folland (@KatFolland) 
