Month: December 2021

Seven-time All-Star Joe Johnson hasn’t played in a regular season NBA game since the 2017-18 season when he was traded from the Jazz to the Rockets before the deadline and played in 55 games combined. Since then, he’s popped up in Pistons camp but mostly been spending his time dominating the Big 3, where he is the reigning, two-time MVP.

However, as the NBA has faced a player shortage this season due to more than 100 players entering COVID-19 protocols, Johnson has gotten a chance to return to the Association, inking a 10-day with the Celtics on Wednesday and immediately suiting up that night against the likewise shorthanded Cavs.

The Celtics, spurred on by 34 points from Jaylen Brown, were cruising in the closing minutes and with the game in hand, they put Johnson in the game to the delight of the crowd, as he returned to the court he started his career on in Boston.

Almost immediately, Iso-Joe went to work with a bucket that looked like thousands we’ve seen before from Johnson, as he worked his way to the midrange, got his defender on his back, and sidestepped into a fadeaway that found nothing but net.

It’s vintage Iso-Joe and, if there is any silver lining to the absences this season, it’s that we’ve gotten to see some new faces get NBA minutes and some old friends get one more crack at playing on an NBA floor.

The LOX had one of the more memorable moments of 2021 thanks to their Verzuz against Dipset. Led by Jadakiss, the group put on an absolute show in front of thousands at Madison Square Garden this past summer. It turned out to be one of the best Verzuz matchups in the series’ history, and it was the start of many big moments for them. Others inclkude an appearance on Ye’s Donda album and receiving the key to their hometown of Yonkers. For their latest act, they returned to Madison Square Garden for a fiery freestyle.

The LOX’s Jadakiss, Sheek Louch, and Styles stood tall in the New York Knicks’ home arena to show off their bars. The performance came after a partnership with high-end clothing brand Kith and its founder and designer Ronnie Fieg, which resulted in the trio delivering their raps while wearing clothes from the unreleased collection “Kith x Nike x New York Knicks.”

For the freestyle, Jadakiss led the way with lines like “Coming from where we from, the triple threat is all we know / Shoot the jumper, you pass it, or you take it to the hole.” Sheek Louch soon joined him to supply some additional energy to the freestyle. “New York, New York, what’s bigger than this / The home of Jay-Z and Nas, matter of fact, the home of Biggie and Kiss / Donnie and P L-O-X way before Cube we were the big three,” he rapped. Finally, Styles P stepped into the spotlight to close things out, rapping, “Dark on the streets, Clarks on the feets/ even when I’m solo, I’m deep / I ain’t coming to sleep, but you could go to sleep, yeah I’m headed to the Mecca roll a leaf.”

This comes almost a year after Kith partnered with Dipset for a similarly-styled freestyled.

The 2024 election is still a ways away, and right now there are two big uncertainties: Will Donald Trump, the twice-impeached, one-term former president, run again? And will current president Joe Biden, who turned 79 only last month, be game for round two? Trump, of course, keeps teasing another run but hasn’t officially committed. (Possibly because he could be in a lot of legal and financial trouble.) Biden, meanwhile, has reportedly been telling people he’s up for it, despite talk that he step aside for the next generation of Democrats.

But in a new interview with ABC News’ David Muir, Biden seemed a lot more confident about what he’ll be up to in a couple more years. Muir asked him, point blank, if he was up for 2024.

“Yes,” he said outright, then reined his answer in a smidgeon. “I’m a great respecter of fate. Fate has intervened in my life many, many times. If I’m in the health I’m in now, in good health, then in fact I would run again.”

Muir reminded Biden that he may once again square off against an opponent who, among other things, threatened to skip the debates entirely and spent one of them actively preying upon his stutter, successfully getting him to snap. But Biden seemed the opposite of scared.

“You’re trying to tempt me now,” Biden replied. “Why wouldn’t I run against Donald Trump as the nominee? That would increase the prospect of running.”

During the rest of the interview, as per Deadline, Biden was a bit more modest, admitting failure and promising to do better, especially with the pandemic. On Tuesday, he vowed to send 500 million rapid tests out to American citizens in early January, but he admitted that he “wish[ed] he had thought about ordering sooner.” He also said “nothing’s been good enough,” though he pointed out that things are dramatically different from this time last year, when vaccines were still barely available to the general public and many families spent the holidays apart.

Or, you know, maybe Biden will go up against Ted Cruz.

(Via Deadline and ABC News)

It’s a dancer’s worst nightmare. You’re in the middle of a performance you’ve rehearsed over and over when all of a sudden you forget what you’re doing. Everyone else is in sync, and you’re hopelessly out of step, trying desperately to not make it obvious that you’re completely lost.

That’s sort of what happened to Utah Jazz dancer Danielle Bush earlier this week during a basketball half-time performance. Bush didn’t forget the routine, though—it just suddenly changed on her in the middle of it. The song, the routine, all of it. To her credit, Bush rallied, smiled, and did her best to improvise, but it was clear she was lost. For a torturous 20 seconds, she tried to keep up—and then she figured out what was really going on.

What started out as a nightmare turned into a heartwarming surprise that the rest of her fellow dancers were in on.

Watch:

Utah Jazz dancer realizes the routine is different than what she practiced, soon finds out the reason:pic.twitter.com/6meKzkONU0

— Rob Perez (@Rob Perez)
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How can a video be so painful to watch and yet end up with such a happy ending? The poor girl was so confused until she actually heard what the song had been changed to—Bruno Mars’ “Marry You“—and realized it had to have been changed for her.

According to KSL News, the proposal had been planned in secret since earlier in the month. Bush’s boyfriend (now fiance) Brandon had asked Jazz Dancers director Ashley Kelson if it were possible to pop the question on the court.

“I wanted to make it big and special for her for sure,” Kelson told the outlet. “Making it a part of the routine was so much fun.”

Kelson scheduled Bush to be at a community event during a rehearsal where the other dancers learned the alternate routine. The team only had one practice to rehearse the proposal, and they pulled it off beautifully.

“It was an honor to plan with Brandon and be a part of their special moment and just proud of my team for keeping it a surprise,” Kelson said. “It definitely was a team effort.”

And it was definitely a proposal to remember. Congratulations, Danielle and Brandon!

When Kelly Dowling of Glastonbury, Connecticut put her 9-month-old daughter to bed on Monday night the baby was dealing with a cold and wasn’t feeling well. Kelly became angry after her 8-year-old Boston terrier, Henry, kept banging his head on the nursery’s door and running in and out of the room to sniff at her.

“He was not acting like himself, he kept going back in,” Kelly said. “It seemed very belligerent and unusual for him,” she told NBC Connecticut. Kelly said she was “getting so fed up with him,” because he was waking her sick, sleeping, child.

After scolding the dog, he didn’t run and hide beneath the bed like he normally does. He kept running back into the nursery.

“And every time I shooed him away, he would go back in every time my back was turned,” she told Good Morning America.

Hero dog to the rescue! This Boston Terrier helped save a baby’s life. https://gma.abc/3F1LwrTu00a0pic.twitter.com/p1aF7HImZU

— Good Morning America (@Good Morning America)
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The dog’s constant running in and out of the room alerted Kelly to the fact that her daughter had stopped breathing. “She wasn’t clearing her airway. She started to go blue and turn rigid, and she just really couldn’t get air [and] couldn’t get any oxygen,” she said.

Dowling and her husband Jeff rushed their daughter to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center where doctors were able to clear the build-up in the baby’s throat so she could breathe.

Last night the dog kept breaking into the nursery and waking the baby. Sheu2019s been sick, and I was getting so fed up with him. nnUntil she stopped breathing. nnWe spent the night in the hospital. I donu2019t know what would have happened if he hadnu2019t woken her. We donu2019t deserve dogs.pic.twitter.com/PBJCJVflgh

— kelly andrew ud83cudf42 (@kelly andrew ud83cudf42)
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After their baby began to feel better, the Dowlings realized that their dog was trying to tell them something when he kept running in and out of the room. Henry had realized that the baby was having trouble breathing and tried to alert them. Who knows what would have happened if he hadn’t woken the baby up?

“I don’t know what would have happened if he hadn’t woken her,” Kelly wrote in a Twitter thread, detailing her ordeal. “We don’t deserve dogs.”

Dogs have an incredible sense of smell. Henry probably smelled the air around the child and noticed that something was different.

The next day, Dowling shared an update on the baby’s health on Twitter saying she “is doing much better today and we are home with Henry, who bravely held the fort all night even though he is scared of the dark.”

Thanks for all the well wishes, everyone. The baby is doing much better today and we are home with Henry, who bravely held the fort all night even though he is scared of the dark. pic.twitter.com/dKem0kXQzs

— kelly andrew 🍂 (@KayAyDrew) December 14, 2021

As for Henry? Well, he’s living the good life after becoming the hero of the family.

“[We’re] definitely spoiling the dog a little bit more,” said Jeff. “He was allowed to sleep in bed with me last night, and he’s got a steak in his future.” He’s also getting double the doggie gifts for Christmas.

“We give him a stocking every year for Christmas and I’m going to have to refill the stocking before Christmas (this year), because he’s gotten all of his toys early,” she said.

The story of Henry’s bravery is a great reminder that dogs have heightened senses and can perceive things that we have no idea are happening. So, if we see a dog acting strangely, it’s best to try and find out what they’re trying to communicate. It could be a matter of life and death.

The New York Knicks, like many teams around the NBA, are shorthanded right now due to a number of players in health and safety protocols (although they just got Obi Toppin cleared and will hopefully get RJ Barrett back before Christmas). Compounding their COVID absences are injuries that have also depleted their backcourt to the point that Kemba Walker started in their last game after being completely removed from the rotation earlier in the month.

That point guard crunch will continue for some time, it appears, as Derrick Rose’s ankle injury required surgery on Wednesday, and the Knicks announced he will be out for at least eight week before he is re-evaluated.

With Rose out, being able to get something out of Walker would be big for the Knicks, because if not it shifts considerable burden on Immanuel Quickley and Alec Burks — along with off-guards like Barrett and Evan Fournier — to carry the creative load for the team. For a team trying to find some semblance of an offensive identity, particularly with Julius Randle mired in a season-long shooting slump, Rose’s absence is big. Until Quickley, who went into protocols on Dec. 18, returns, the Knicks figure to have to give Walker some extended burn to try and prove he can be a positive contributor when they get closer to full strength once guys clear protocols.

It’s been a little over a month since a judge freed Britney Spears from her longtime conservatorship. Since then, the singer has been in a celebratory mood, sharing a bunch of posts that show off her high spirits. Other times, she’s taken aim at those who’ve failed to support her in recent years. A recent example of this came today when Britney, once again, put her family on blast.

“I just realized this today guys … after what my family tried to do to me three years ago,” she wrote on Instagram aside a video of herself singing in front of her mirror. “I needed to be my own cheerleader [shrugging emoji] !!!! God knows they weren’t …so I just read up on my self and this is what I found:⁣” Britney then listed her career accomplishments which include being a multi-platinum and Grammy award-winning singer as well as selling 100 million records sold worldwide and 70 million albums, singles and songs in the United States alone.

“No … I’m not auditioning for anything !!!! I’m reminding myself and the world of who I am,” she added. “I’m not auditioning for anything !!!! I’m reminding myself and the world of who I am !!!! Yes … I will be my own cheerleader.” Britney continued, “Why ???? I’m here to remind my white “classy” family that I haven’t forgotten what they did to me nor will I ever forget !!!!⁣”

She also ended the post with some good news. “Pssss new song in the works … I’m gonna let you know what I mean [winking emoji] !!!!!”

It’s been a big year for Ted Cruz, even considering that he’s Ted Cruz. It began with him almost destroying democracy. Then he was dunked on for days on end after he cravenly abandoned his disaster-plagued constituents so he could go on family vacation in Cancun. He got into multiple failed feuds with Patton Oswalt and learned that the star of his favorite movie hates his guts. And yet he’s been the very model of resilience in the face of adversity, which is to say in the face of everyone thinking he blows. Indeed, he’s ending the year by announcing that he, perhaps the most unliked person on social media or even the planet, could clinch the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

As per Politico, the Texas senator started to wind down a hellish year by sitting down with Brilyn Hollyhand, a 15-year-old who runs the conservative rag The Truth Gazette. Hollyhand, the latest in an endless line of precocious, suited young Republican who almost certainly brings a briefcase to high school. Hollyhand asked him if he planned to run for commander-in-chief again, having gotten crushed by Donald J. Trump in 2016.

“Absolutely. In a heartbeat,” Cruz replied. He then hatched a patently weak theory for why he could nab a nomination hotly pursued by the likes of twice-impeached one-termer Trump and pandemic mishandler Ron DeSantis.

“You know, I ran in 2016. It was the most fun I’ve ever had in my life,” he said of a time when he was relentlessly mocked by the winner, who called his wife ugly and accused his dad of killing JFK. “We had a very crowded field. We had 17 candidates in the race — a very strong field. And I ended up placing second.”

That last part, Cruz argued, is why he could be running against Biden, Kamala Harris, or whoever the Democrats put up in a couple years. “There’s a reason historically that the runner-up is almost always the next nominee,” Cruz told the teen conservative. “And that’s been true going back to Nixon or Reagan or McCain or Romney that has played out repeatedly. You come in with just an enormous base of support.”

On top of Cruz’s many other accomplishments in 2021 is playing a part in the deadly Capitol siege, in which violent Trump supporters tried to overturn the election they favorite president handily lost, and even hang his vice president. Senate Democrats weighed expelling he and Josh Hawley, who also played a part and who then voted against certifying the election anyway, despite the fact that a number of their colleagues and White House staff were nearly killed. In other words, 2024 may finally be his year.

(Via Politico)

Holy moly, Camila Cabello single-handedly evokes the holiday spirit with her rendition of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.”

Cabello was part of a truly star-studded lineup for PBS’s “In Performance at The White House: Spirit of the Season,” joining legends like Norah Jones, Pentatonix, Billy Porter, three Bocellis … it seems the only thing missing from this show was a partridge in a pear tree.

The singer tweeted, “Such an incredible honor to perform again at the white house. Wishing you all a wonderful holiday with your loved ones.”

Watching it (for the fourth time now), it’s hard to not think of Cabello’s performance of the 1940s tune as the epitome of “classic with a twist.”

I mean, the all-red jumpsuit (those gloves especially), the flowing siren hair, the jazzy, chanteuse-y vocals—those alone feel iconic.

Then cue the mariachi band. And it has all the romance of a Spanish ballad. Just … wow. When music becomes a creative vehicle that transports you somewhere else. That’s simply magic.

The song received an overwhelming amount of praise, both from tried-and-true Cabello fans and never-before-listeners:

She was really damn good!
Hadn’t even heard of her. That was really impressive. A beautiful arrangement by the mariachi band too.

— herschel stratego (@straTWEETgo) December 22, 2021

Excellent performance and glad our culture is being brought to the white house. Class all the way❤️👏

— iimasociates (@iimasociates) December 22, 2021

She never disappoints when it comes to live performance. Periodt 👏

— Phanna Duong (Pauna) (@phanna_duong) December 21, 2021

She sounds AMAZING , she looks FLAWLESS , her vocals are ON POINT , her outfit is GORGEOUS 👼❤❤😭 I’m so proud of you Camila , your voice always is like PURE MAGIC ❄🌌💕

— 🌟🇪🇬 (@lovepeace_8) December 21, 2021

I love that she incorporated the mariachi band into this song. Elevates the performance so much. #RepresentationMatters

— Amy (@Amy_inWonder) December 21, 2021

This version is absolutely beautiful and brilliant, couldn’t take my eyes from the gorgeous Camila

— Boleynanne2nd 🦄 & C’s oh na na na 💃 (@boleynanne2nd) December 22, 2021

This was everything!! Camila sounded amazing and the mariachi band accompanying her took this performance to the next level!!

— Milisa (@mili_hearts) December 21, 2021

Cabello had recently performed her mariachi cover as part of “Michael Bublé’s Christmas in the City” for NBC. On Instagram she wrote, “I wanted to pay tribute to my Mexican heritage with this Christmas cover…I wanted to bring it to an audience that normally doesn’t get to hear the beauty of Mariachi music.”

See on Instagram

I’d say she succeeded, because that cover is truly beautiful. Music is an amazing gift, whether giving or receiving it.

The number of average weekly COVID-19 cases in the U.S. has more than doubled since November 28 due to the spread of the new omicron variant. The increase has many worried that it’ll be another deadly winter in the U.S., especially for the unvaccinated.

President Biden had a dire warning for the unvaccinated this week saying they face a winter of “severe illness and death.”

As our exhausted populace prepares to fight through another tough winter, there is good news on the horizon, courtesy of the U.S. Army. Recently published preclinical study results show that a new vaccine, known as the Spike Ferritin Nanoparticle (SpFN) COVID-19 developed by researchers at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, provides “a potent immune response” and “broad protection” against COVID-19 variants and other coronaviruses.

The vaccine was developed as part of a strategy to address the current variants as well as those that could emerge in the future.

“The accelerating emergence of human coronaviruses throughout the past two decades and the rise of SARS-CoV-2 variants, including most recently Omicron, underscore the continued need for next-generation preemptive vaccines that confer broad protection against coronavirus diseases,” Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad, Director of the Emerging Infectious Diseases Branch at WRAIR and co-inventor of the vaccine, told the U.S. Army. “Our strategy has been to develop a ‘pan-coronavirus’ vaccine technology that could potentially offer safe, effective and durable protection against multiple coronavirus strains and species.”

If the vaccine is approved by the FDA, it could act as a one-size-fits-all shot against current and future variants.

The new vaccine will have to undergo Phase 2 and Phase 3 trials before it is approved for public use. The next step for researchers is to see how the new pan-coronavirus vaccine works on those who haven’t been vaccinated nor previously infected with COVID-19.

“We need to evaluate it in the real-world setting and try to understand how does the vaccine perform in much larger numbers of individuals who have already been vaccinated with something else initially…or already been sick,” Modjarrad said.

“It’s very exciting to get to this point for our entire team and I think for the entire Army as well,” Modjarrad told Defense One.

The U.S. has authorized the first pill against COVID-19, a Pfizer drug that Americans can take at home to reduce the risk of hospitalization and death. The announcement comes as the U.S. braces for a wave of new infections from the omicron variant.http://apne.ws/HaWNR5e

— The Associated Press (@The Associated Press)
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News of the Army’s new vaccine comes as the FDA announced on Wednesday that it has approved a new anti-COVID pill by Pfizer. In clinical trials the Paxlovid treatment “reduced risk of hospitalization or death by 89% (within three days of symptom onset) and 88% (within five days of symptom onset) compared to placebo; no deaths compared to placebo in non-hospitalized, high-risk adults with COVID-19.”

The Biden administration has paid Pfizer $5 billion for 10 million courses of the Paxlovid treatment and 65,000 courses of the treatment are expected to be delivered next week. According to The New York Times, Pfizer will be able to supply 200,000 courses of the treatment in January and 150,000 more in February.