Month: January 2022

After President Joe Biden addressed the nation on the one-year anniversary of the January 6 attack, Donald Trump didn’t waste any time firing back at the speech that clearly put the blame for the attempted coup on his shoulders for refusing to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election. In fact, Trump proved Biden’s point by once again trotting out “The Big Lie” that the election was stolen from him, which is a heck of a thing to do on the anniversary of an insurrectionist attack based entirely on that false premise.

In Biden’s speech, he ripped Trump for calling his supporters true patriots. “Is that what you thought when you looked at the mob ransacking the Capitol, destroying property, literally defecating in the hallways?” Biden said in the fiery address, in which he also called Trump “a defeated former president.”

Considering Trump canceled his Jan. 6 press conference and is still banned from Twitter, the former president was forced to respond to Biden via an email to his MAGA enthusiasts. Via Mediaite:

This political theater is all just a distraction for the fact Biden has completely and totally failed. Our Country no longer has Borders, has totally and completely lost control of Covid (record numbers!), is no longer Energy Independent, Inflation is rampant, our Military is in chaos, and our exit, or surrender, from Afghanistan was perhaps the most embarrassing day in the long and distinguished history of the United States—and so much more. Why is it that the Unselect Committee of totally partisan political hacks, whose judgment has long ago been made, not discussing the rigged Presidential Election of 2020? It’s because they don’t have the answers or justifications for what happened. They got away with something, and it is leading to our Country’s destruction.

Trump ended his rant by saying the Democrats now “own” January 6. “I say, let them have it because America sees through theirs lies and polarizations.” Again, another weird thing to say concerning the riot literally happened during Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally after he told the crowd to “fight like hell.” There wouldn’t even be a January 6 without him, but sure, the Democrats own it now.

You can see excerpts of Biden calling out Trump below:

(Via Mediaite & The Recount)

Richard Grenell served in the Trump administration as acting Director of National Intelligence and the United States Ambassador to Germany. He still has his former-boss’ back, even though he no longer has to study the complete discography of Rammstein, or whatever the United States Ambassador to Germany does.

Grenell appeared on Newsmax on Thursday to discuss the events of January 6, 2020 (you can watch the video here). “These democrats and their media allies see something. They’re dramatizing this whole January 6th, because they want to seize elections forever,” he said to three other stern-faced men before grumbling about mail-in ballots.

Later, Grenell returned to the attack on the Capitol Building one year ago today, but rather than call it what it was (a failed coup, an insurrection, a day dark in American history, etc.), he complained about Trump getting booted off Twitter. “Let me finish with this, January 6th was a terrible day because it’s the day Big Tech and the media kicked President Trump off Twitter and silenced his voice,” he said to approving nods. “That was the day that was an attack on our democracy.”

Grenell conveniently left out the part where Trump wasn’t “silenced” on the 6th. He didn’t get locked out of his Twitter account until the next day, followed by a permanent suspension on the 8th “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”

At least Grenell didn’t get tricked into thanking a war criminal… again.

(Via Mediaite)

We have about a month and a half until the basketball world heads to Cleveland for the 2022 NBA All-Star Game. On Thursday afternoon, we got our first glimpse of which players the fans want to participate in the game, with a pair of former teammates leading the vote getting in the respective conferences.

The NBA announced that four players — Giannis Antetokounmpo, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and LeBron James — have each eclipsed the two million vote mark. Of that quartet, Durant sits atop the Eastern Conference with more than 2.3 million votes, while Curry has more votes than anyone else in the league, as the Golden State Warriors guard has just a hair below 2.6 million.

Both Curry and Durant have been captains in the All-Star Game in the past, but the former teammates have never gone head-to-head as captains — should these results hold, it would mark the first time since the NBA adopted its current All-Star format that James is not representing one of the conferences as a captain.

In total, 12 players from each conference will earn the distinction of being an All-Star. The honor is not just determined by fan vote, as current players and members of the media both get a say in who makes it. Fan voting makes up 50 percent of the vote, while players and the media each get 25 percent.

Glenn Consor, the Washington Wizards broadcaster who made a comment on Wednesday night about Houston Rockets guard Kevin Porter Jr. that drew the ire of basketball fans, has issued up an apology. Porter hit a jumper in the waning moments of the game to secure a 114-111 win for the Rockets, which led to Consor saying that he “pulled that trigger right at the right time” like his father.

It has been pointed out that Porter’s late father spent time in jail after pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter before he was born, which led to LeBron James speaking out and saying there’s no place in the NBA for Consor.

As Cavs forward Kevin Love said (still prior to the apology), there was nuance in the discussion.

In his apology, Consor claims this was a misunderstanding on his end. He was not referring to Porter’s father, and instead, Consor claims that he did not do his homework and was of the belief that former NBA guard Kevin Porter was his dad — Porter spent a decade in the league and had a few stints with Washington when the team was known as the Bullets.

Of course, one can argue pretty easily that Consor is not exactly saving face here by admitting he did not do the proper research in the lead-up to the game and assuming that the two NBA players were related. Regardless, we will see if Porter has anything to say about this the next time he speaks to the media.

(SPOILERS for And Just Like That… will be found below.)

HBO Max’s Sex And The City revival, And Just Like That…, hit choppy waters on a few fronts regarding Chris Noth and his character, Mr. Big. On a very serious note, two women came forward to accuse the actor of sexual assault (encounters that he insists were consensual). Following these allegations, Noth lost his agent, got booted from The Equalizer, and lost a multi-million dollar deal for his tequila brand. Collateral damage fell onto a lesser pocket of rough water, the Peloton ad (which also got yanked) that meant to smooth over how Mr. Big bit the dust after a ride.

All of this added up to one, uh, big problem. After stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, and Kristin Davis all expressed sadness over the sexual assault allegations, the revival has reportedly axed a cameo appearance that the late Mr. Big was set to make. TV Line reports that the cameo won’t see the light of day, and here’s what was on tap:

In And Just Like That…’s Feb. 3 season ender (WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD), Carrie ventures to Paris’ Pont des Arts bridge to scatter Big’s ashes into the Seine river. The sequence was slated to include a fantasy element in which Big — who was killed off in And Just Like That…’s premiere episode — appears to Carrie. (As Sex acolytes are well aware, Carrie and Big have a long history with the iconic pedestrian overpass.)

The scene sounds like a direct callback to Big going to “get” Carrie from Paris when she was miserably following Mikhail Baryshnikov’s Russian artist around while wearing ballroom dresses. Alas, the cameo was not meant to be, as the show’s creatives reportedly decided that it was good enough for “Carrie [to be] finding closure via the spreading of Big’s ashes.” It’s an unenviable position for the show, for sure, and hopefully, Carrie can be freed from that reappearing Peloton, too.

(Via TV Line)

For their recent album If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, Halsey reached across genre lines and tapped Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross to help them write song for the album that veered into the alternative music category. But for their next project, Halsey is starting to think about trying out yet another genre of music. They teased the possibility of a joint single with none other than Latin reggaeton star Bad Bunny and fans could not be more excited.

News of the possible collaboration came in the form of a reply to a fan’s tweet, in which a listener begged Halsey (in Spanish) to write a song with Bad Bunny. “honestly? It has been discussed,” they replied.

Does this mean Halsey would sing in Spanish? Possibly. Halsey teased the joint Bad Bunny single right after they flexed their Spanish-speaking skills when talking about which foods they craved while pregnant. They said they once crushed up tortilla chips into tiny pieces, topped it with Tapatío sauce, and ate it “with a spoon out of a bowl like dry spicy cereal.” But Halsey then clarified (in Spanish) that this food combination isn’t the same thing as chilaquiles.

Halsey followed-up by saying they took years of both Spanish and French in school, but their Spanish abilities have improved in the last few years.

This article originally appeared on 10.25.16

Everyone gets antsy about their jobs sometimes.

Maybe you notice you’re less motivated than usual. Maybe you acknowledge that you’re no longer going the extra mile, and you’re not quite sure why. Maybe professionalism is a term you’ve long since forgotten.

For many of us, the struggle can be so, so real. That’s why Willie Muse wrote these all-too-relatable comics for College Humor, illustrated by Karina Farek.

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These six funny comics perfectly illustrate what a typical first day at your job looks like versus the 101st day:

1. Who doesn’t look at at least one viral video a day?

2. You suddenly find the time to fit in a breakfast sandwich.

3. You go from wanting your boss’s approval to hating his or her guts.

4. All the details that were once so important become nuisances.

5. Your (lack of) motivation can take you from hero to zero — quick!

6. And you most certainly DO NOT want to end up like this.

Let’s be real: These comics are funny, but they also aren’t ideal.

In a perfect world, we’d all have jobs that still look and feel like Day 1 on Day 101. And one of the only ways to get there is to intentionally strive for a life that’s full of work-life balance. We really do have the power to not let things play out like this.

What can we do?

At a most basic level, we can make sure we’re getting enough sleep, eating well, and doing at least a little exercise. We also shouldn’t underestimate the benefits of detaching from computer screens and smartphones every once in a while. Plus, we can also minimize our stress levels by not multitasking and instead concentrating on one task at time.

The most overlooked advice for maintaining a healthy work-life balance is to actually take time off.

Disconnect from your daily work routine. Make a conscious effort to recharge.

Perhaps if we dedicate more time to enjoying life outside of work, there’s more of a chance that we’ll be on Day 1 for months, feeling grateful for our jobs rather than impatiently waiting for the clock to strike 5. Let’s get to it!

As Super Bowl LVI, scheduled to be played February 13, inches nearer, the rise of COVID infections nationwide could endanger the whole event — which is extra bad news for Dr. Dre, who’s billed to play the heavily anticipated halftime show with his buddies Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, and Snoop Dogg. According to TMZ, Dre stands to lose “millions” of dollars if the NFL pulls the plug on the event due to COVID concerns.

Unfortunately, that’s owed to an insurance provision that excludes outbreaks of sickness from policies. The Communicable Disease Exclusion — which dates back to the SARS outbreaks in the early 2000s — exempts insurance from paying out in the event of a cancelation resulting from a similar outbreak of a virus or bacteria. While it looks like the Super Bowl will be played as planned, there is an outside chance that with new variants of COVID circulating, things could go south. For now, the NFL is considering options for alternative venues in the works should the state of California or the city of LA decide to reinstitute lockdowns for safety.

Considering that just a year ago, Dre was hospitalized for a brain aneurysm, the fact that he has a chance to perform at all is miraculous by itself, but I’m sure that he won’t appreciate losing any more money in the wake of his recent contentious divorce.

Last February, a video of country singer Morgan Wallen surfaced which showed him using a racial slur with his friends. The video spurred major controversy and led to him being reprimanded by fellow country artists and banned from a few awards ceremonies. But despite the backlash from him using a racial slur, fans still listened to his sophomore album Dangerous: The Double Album so much that it was the most popular LP of 2021 by far when it comes to streaming.

MRC Data, a company which tracks and compiles music sales in the US, just released their year-end report for 2021. It shows that Wallen’s Dangerous, which was released in early January last year, finished 2021 with 3.226 million equivalent album units. Most of the album’s success was driven by streaming numbers, and seeing the LP boasted 30 songs, there were a lot of tracks available for fans to stream. Dangerous also spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, which was more than any other album from 2021.

Following behind Dangerous was Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour, which earned 2.856 million in 2021. Drake’s Certified Lover Boy came in third place, earning 1.970 million unites. Adele was behind Drake with 1.936 million units for her album 30, and Pop Smoke’s posthumous LP Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon came in at No. 5 with 1.533 million units.

While Dangerous was the most popular album of 2021, Dua Lipa had this year’s most-streamed track. Her song “Levitating,” which was actually released in 2020, earned 804.71 million streams this year alone, making it the most popular song of 2021.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Here’s a terrifying crime statistic: Over half of murder victims know their killer. That horrible fact apparently holds true when it comes to famous entertainers as well; consider that Nipsey Hussle was apparently on speaking terms with the man who allegedly shot him to death in front of this own store in 2019. It also appears to be true of the more recently deceased Young Dolph, who was killed in Memphis in front of a bakery by two men who opened fire from the parking lot.

Now that police have revealed a suspect in the murder, eagle-eyed Young Dolph fans have spotted him in multiple photos of the late rapper, often standing just beside him and in some cases wearing a chain reading “PRE” — the acronym for Dolph’s label, Paper Route Empire — around his waist. The suspect, 23-year-old Justin Johnson, is apparently also a rapper going by the name Straight Dropp; however, he was not listed as a Paper Route artist at the time of Dolph’s death.

The Memphis Police Department issued a warrant for Johnson’s arrest yesterday, while the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has offered a $2,500 reward for information leading to his capture. A total reward of $15,000 has been offered by the MPD, TBI, and US Marshals, who have issued a second warrant for violation of federal supervised release due to a weapons charge. Johnson is wanted for First Degree Murder, Criminal Attempt-First Degree Murder, and Theft of Property $10,000-$60,000.