Month: September 2021

This article originally appeared on 11.10.15

As a world-famous scientist, Neil deGrasse Tyson is known for his dispassionate embrace of cold, hard facts…

And the occasional beach ball game with a late-night comedian. Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images.

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…which makes him the right person to address a controversial topic: the abnormally high number of Americans who die from gun violence.

Umpqua Community College in Oregon, the site of a mass shooting earlier this year. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images.

In November 2015, he composed three tweets where he laid out the numbers.

And they’re sobering.

According to PolitiFact, this actually slightly understates the case (American war deaths were closer to 1.2 million as of 2013).

This, sadly, is also true.

Estimates vary — and Tyson’s is on the high end — but 2015 is expected to see approximately 33,000 total gun deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is nearly 3,200 every five weeks (comparable to the nearly 3,400 Americans who have died in terrorist attacks since 2001).

Tyson’s tweets are a stark reminder that we have a problem. And it isn’t going to go away on its own.

The father of a Sandy Hook shooting victim holds his son’s picture. Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images.

The uncomfortable statistics don’t end there. For every time a household gun is used legally in self-defense, there are four unintentional shootings, seven assaults or murders, and 11 attempted or completed suicides-by-firearm.

Yes, people do occasionally use other weapons to kill people (though firearms are far and away the most popular). Yes, people do attempt suicide by other means (though when they do, they’re far less likely to succeed). Yes, car deaths are comparable (not nearly enough attention is paid to figuring out how to reduce automobile deaths, and, as with firearm deaths, it’s ridiculous that we accept the amount we do).

But none of that is a reason to sit back and do nothing.

A gun safe. Photo by BrokenSphere/Wikimedia Commons.

On a personal level, that means making sure that, if you do own guns, they stay locked up and unloaded when they’re in storage to help prevent accidents.

On a political level, that means supporting laws that keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people and opposing laws that make it easier for them to access guns and carry them around wherever they please.

It’s true: We have a problem.

But it’s only by admitting it that we can hope to find a solution.

This article originally appeared on 03.26.15

Bathrobe. Socks. Insurance card. Snacks.

Sound at all familiar? Maybe, maybe not. These items would commonly be found on a checklist of things that expecting parents should bring to the hospital with them — in the U.S., anyway.

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But what is that list like in other parts of the world?

For Doris, that list included water.

Doris, who lives Morogoro, Tanzania, had to bring her own water to the health center where she was giving birth in 2014. The water she brought was used to clean the nurse’s hands, clean the delivery area, and wash the babies (she had twins!). Unfortunately, the water Doris brought ran out before she was able to wash herself or her clothes, so she had to wait 24 hours before cleaning herself.

I’ll let Doris tell the story herself:

Lack of access to clean water in Tanzania is a very big deal.

Everything turned out alright for Doris and her babies, but thousands of other women aren’t as lucky. But there are ways to help: Organizations and individuals are pitching in to help build water taps, rainwater tanks, and latrines in Tanzanian hospitals, and they’re making a huge difference.

“I want to express my gratitude to the health workers … because they have a great sense of humor with the patients. But the problem is the availability of enough water.” — Doris Alikado

Hand Habits, aka the project of Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Meg Duffy, will soon release a new album, Fun House, out October 22 via Saddle Creek. In advance, they’ve shared songs “Aquamarine” and “No Difference.” Now, they have a delicate new offering, “Graves,” which features Duffy’s gentle acoustic guitar-work and layered alto.

“This song is a secret message to myself, a reminder, a conversation with grief and remembrance,” Duffy said of “Graves” in a statement. “A questioning of my own memory and it’s proximity to understanding closure.”

Produced by Sasami Ashworth (known mononymously Sasami) and engineered by King Tuff’s Kyle Thomas, Fun House follows Hand Habits’ 2019 album Placeholder and this year’s Dirt EP. “I think Fun House is about figuring out how to even talk about identity,” they recently told Paste. “And I didn’t have to leave my house to make the record I wanted to make. That was also really grounding for me, being home.”

“In this period of trying to make sense of my life, I was turning over these boxes of memories that I had never really allowed myself to think about,” Duffy continued. “Specifically about my mother passing away when I was young, it’s made its way into my songs before, but not in such a palpable way… I allowed myself to say things that I think, in the past, I would have been too afraid to even think about.”

Listen to “Graves” above.

Fun House is out on 10/22 via Saddle Creek. Pre-order it here.

After serving up her While We Wait album in 2019 and It Was Good Until It Wasn’t LP in 2020, Kehlani is gearing up for yet another release in 2021. The Bay Area singer returned this week to tease her upcoming Blue Water Road release, which she has now previewed with the new love struck single “Altar.”

Directed by Kid Studio, the opulent video leans into the recently popularized cottagecore aesthetic, filled with flowing outfits, colorful flowers, and rustic decor. Kehlani and her crush delicately dance around the small house until nightfall and the room is filled with the warm glow of candlelight.

Speaking about the new single and video in a statement, Kehlai said it’s dedicated to the ones she’s loved loved and lost. “To all those i have lost, all the angels i have gained, all those that walk with me with hands cracking my chest open, this is for you. i love you,” she wrote.

Ahead of the “Altar” visual’s release, Kehlani announced her Blue Water Road album with an eerie trailer. It opened with the singer stranded on a deserted dirt road with an injured leg. A dragonfly lands on her hand and instantly burst into flames. So far, Kehlani hasn’t shared a solid release date for the upcoming album, but she did note that it’s slated for a winter release.

Watch Kehlani’s “Altar” video above.

Kehlani is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Toronto natives Belly and Nav link up in the video for “Requiem” from Belly’s new album See You Next Wednesday, which dropped in August on Roc Nation and XO. The song is a mellow Trap&B ballad that references the film Requiem For A Dream as the two rappers boast their lavish lifestyles, inviting women to participate therein. While guest rapper Nav takes the back end, bragging about his rapidly filling passport and treating his lady to the finer things, Belly celebrates his sobriety while noting “I made addiction look elegant.”

See You Next Wednesday constitutes something of a comeback for Belly, who spent the years since dropping his last album Immigrant in 2018 operating behind the scenes, helping pen hits for his XO boss The Weeknd and pursuing a lawsuit against Goldenvoice and Coachella for assaulting him after his 2018 performance. He re-emerged this spring with the first two singles from the new album, releasing a smooth cadence of singles throughout the summer including “Zero Love” with Moneybagg Yo, “Better Believe” with The Weeknd and Young Thug, and “Die For It” with Nas and The Weeknd. The rollout culminated in a No. 27 debut on Billboard‘s US Independent Albums chart.

Watch Belly’s “Requiem” video featuring Nav above.

See You Next Wednesday is out now via XO/Roc Nation Records. Get it here.

Melania Trump has never seemed interested in… well, much of anything. She didn’t seem to care about the plight of children being kept in cages at the border; she didn’t give a sh*t when MAGA diehards violently stormed the Capitol; she reportedly has no desire to see her husband run for president again in 2024; and really wasn’t interested in being First Lady. And according to a new book from Stephanie Grisham, Melania’s former chief of staff, the former FLOTUS was so blasé toward her husband’s 2020 reelection bid that she ended up sleeping through most of Election Night.

As noted by Business Insider, Grisham’s book, I’ll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw at the Trump White House, Melania—who at one point is compared to a “doomed French queen”—snoozed away the bulk of Election Night 2020. As BI writes:

“According to CNN’s Brianna Keilar, who reviewed Grisham’s book, Mrs. Trump had to be awakened ahead of her husband’s late-night, non-concession speech, in which he falsely claimed to have won the election before many states had finished counting votes.”

Amidst various media outlets reporting on the details emerging from Grisham’s book, Melania’s office released an official statement to Politico, dismissing the book as a hatchet job full of lies:

“The intent behind this book is obvious. It is an attempt [by Grisham] to redeem herself after a poor performance as press secretary, failed personal relationships, and unprofessional behavior in the White House. Through mistruth and betrayal, she seeks to gain relevance and money at the expense of Mrs. Trump.”

I’ll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw at the Trump White House is scheduled to be released on October 5, 2021.

(Via Business Insider)

Is Piers Morgan still rabidly obsessed with Meghan Markle? You bet. After Markle and Prince Harry made the cover of Time‘s Most 100 Influential People issue, Morgan couldn’t resist taking a shot at the couple through an overuse of emoji.

While revealing the cover on Wednesday morning, TIME tweeted a quote from Chef Jose Andres who praised the Sussexes for their compassion:

“In a world where everyone has an opinion about people they don’t know, the duke and duchess have compassion for the people they don’t know. They don’t just opine. They run toward the struggle.”

Morgan retweeted the quote with not one, but eight “rolling on the floor laughing” emoji, which sparked a wave of replies dunking on the former Good Morning Britain host for still being mad about the time Markle ghosted him.

Following their groundbreaking interview with Oprah Winfrey where they detailed the racism they experienced from the royal family, Morgan became one of the couple’s fiercest critic, which ultimately resulted in him exiting his job at Good Morning Britain after he stormed off set when a colleague pushed back on his criticism.

Since then, Morgan has been routinely called out for his “obsession” with Markle who reportedly never called him back after one date. The TV personality has been writing salty columns about the Duchess for the Daily Mail, and this latest jab at her Time magazine cover is just more evidence that he’s not done frothing at the mouth over their Oprah interview. Although, he did find time to engage in a war of words with Nicki Minaj over her cousin’s friend’s allegedly inflated testicles.

(Via Piers Morgan on Twitter)

Soon after releasing their critically acclaimed new album, Screen Violence, which leans into a slasher motif, Chvrches are back with a chilling cover of Gerard McMann’s “Cry Little Sister,” which helps soundtrack Netflix’s new horror-fantasy film Nightbooks. McMann’s original, of course, famously soundtracked the 1987 film The Lost Boys.

“We were so excited to work on this project as we are big fans of everyone involved,” the band shared of making their cover. “Cinema — horror in particular — has always been a big part of Chvrches behind the scenes. We have talked about covering ‘Cry Little Sister’ for years and this seemed like the perfect moment to do it.”

The band also recently opened up to Uproxx about how the horror genre factors into their latest album. “Screen Violence was actually a proposed band name that we didn’t end up using,” Lauren Mayberry said about the album’s title. “So, we were thinking in summer 2019 of what we wanted to do and then that list of names resurface and that phrase just really jumped out of the page. ‘Cause we all love that, filmmaking and making a David Cronenberg-y take on it and the questions that he was posing. And even sonically, a lot of the instruments that we use and the composers and writers that we admire were working on those films. And then after writing a few songs, I think for me, it was partly talking about violence through screens and by screens. But also thinking about… It was not a concept record as far as it’s not about those things.”

Check out Chvrches’ cover of “Cry Little Sister” above.

Within about 10 seconds of USC’s decision to fire head football coach Clay Helton, Urban Meyer’s name seemed to shoot to the top of the list of potential candidates among college football fans who recall past rumors that linked him to the job. Meyer was given the chance to respond to those rumblings on Wednesday afternoon, and as he told the assembled media in Jacksonville, he has zero intention of leaving Florida for California.

“There’s no chance,” Meyer said about leaving for the Trojans. “I’m here, committed to trying and build the organization.”

The job opened up following the Jaguars’ 37-21 shellacking at the hands of the Houston Texans in Meyer’s debut as an NFL head coach. One of the most successful head coaches in the history of college football, Meyer opted to take on a new challenge this past offseason, but almost right away, reports have indicated some bumps in the road about his ability to lead an NFL franchise.

It would make plenty of sense why USC would want Meyer, who went 187-32 during his time as the college football coach with three national championships. And if he were to ever want to return to the college game, USC would give Meyer the sort of football-crazed university and talent base in recruiting that would let him thrive. But for now, it doesn’t seem like he has any interest in making that happen.

A few weeks out from releasing their much-anticipated album I Don’t Live Here Anymore, The War On Drugs have shared an exciting new video for the title track. Featuring back-up vocals from Lucius singers Holly Laessig and Jess Wolf, who also star in the video, “I Don’t Live Here Anymore” is a glittering, full-bodied track that drives forward with echoing drums and gorgeous synth-lines.

The video, meanwhile, is directed by Emmett Malloy and finds the band in travel mode. After some shots of leader Adam Granduciel riding a train and strumming for an audience of chickens, it escalates to The War On Drugs playing on a scenic rooftop with Lucius by their side. Check it out above.

Earlier in July, the Philly dream-rock outfit announced the follow-up to 2017’s A Deeper Understanding. I Don’t Live Here Anymore was recorded in seven different studios, including New York’s Electric Lady and Los Angeles’ Sound City, and, according to the band’s website, is an “uncommon rock album about one of our most common but daunting processes — resilience in the face of despair.”

I Don’t Live Here Anymore is out 10/29 via Atlantic Records. Pre-order it here.

The War On Drugs is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.