Month: June 2022

Posse cuts tend to come few and far between these days, but when they do, they’re always refreshing. Something about a simple drum pattern, vocal sample, and unbridled spitting just does the beloved Hip-Hop genre justice. Today, Black Thought and Danger Mouse unleashed their latest single “Because” featuring Joey Badass, Russ, and Dylan Cartlidge. Each rapper takes turns doing what they do best, seemingly unphased by the fact they are part of the single that is shorter than a typical song. Who could complain about more bars?

“Because” is the second release from Black Thought and Danger Mouse’s upcoming collaborative project Cheat Codes, a major moment for Danger Mouse who hasn’t maintained much of a presence in the rap space since his Dangerdoom project The Mouse & The Mask with the late MF DOOM from 2006. Mouse hasn’t completely been away from music though, joining up with Karen O for 2019’s Lux Prima. For Black Thought, this follows his Streams Of Thought trilogy which concluded in 2020.

Danger Mouse and Black Thought released their lead single “No Gold Teeth” back in May, kicking off the Cheat Codes rollout which is set to also feature Raekwon, Conway The Machine, A$AP Rocky, Run The Jewels, and more.

Listen to “Because” above.

Cheat Codes is out 08/12 via BMG. Pre-order it here.

If there’s one thing Britney Spears loves, it’s sharing videos of herself dancing on Instagram. Her latest one arrived last night, set to Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber’s hit 2019 single “I Don’t Care.” In the post’s caption, Spears took the opportunity to praise Bieber and reminisce about the first time she met him.

Spears wrote, “@justinbieber I remember when you visited me in my dressing room on tour and your beautiful little mamma walked in and said ‘do you know where a tanning bed is?’ You were 15 and you were adorable! Thank you for your music … you’re a little devil now [smiling devil emojis] I know because I have boys … but you’re a timeless genius and I will always dance to your music !!!”

Spears previously told a more in-depth version of this story, although some details are inconsistent between the two tellings. In a BBC Radio 1 interview from 2016, Spears said, “I met him. It’s weird. Probably three years ago on Femme Fatale. He walks into my hotel room and he was like a kid! Literally, he looked like he was 13 years old, but he was 16. And I was like ‘Who is this kid in my hotel? Like, what is going on?’ And his mom is like, ‘Is there a tanning bed located in here?!’ […] And I’m like, ‘Who are these people?’ And my assistant was like, ‘This is Justin Bieber and his mother.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God! I cannot believe this.’ He’s very unassuming. He’s a very nice, kind boy. He’s obviously way older now. He was extremely kind.”

Bieber previously showed love for Spears when wife Hailey Bieber re-created Spears’ iconic “…Baby One More Time” video look for Halloween last year. Bieber shared a photo of the costume and wrote, “Baby you killed this. @britneyspears we love you.”

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

Value in bourbon is a fickle beast. Not that long ago, it’d be easy to say “get this $20 bottle and you’re set!” Those days are pretty much gone. The best value-per-dollar bottles of bourbon whiskey reach much further than the simple “cheap but solid.” In 2022, a 10-year-old bottle of bourbon could cost anywhere from $50 to $500 (or more). That makes “value-per-dollar” a big question without a clear answer. Or maybe more succinctly, a lot of questions with a lot of answers.

As Obi-Wan Kenobi says, “From a certain point of view…a lot of things can be true…”

To try and answer what is the best value-per-dollar bourbon whiskey on the shelf today, I’m blind tasting a group from my personal stores. I’m not looking for a “this or that” comparison. My palate is way too advanced to not know the difference between cheap and expensive bottles. These are bottles I can tell you without hesitation are great values right now. No question. Each one falls in the prime $20 to $60 range.

But which one actually tastes the best when tasted blind? That is what I want to find out.

Our lineup today is:

• Knob Creek 12
• George Dickel Bottled-In-Bond
• Nelson Brothers Reserve Bourbon
• Jack Daniel’s Bonded
• Eagle Rare 10
• Jim Beam Black
• Evan Williams Single Barrel
• Wild Turkey Rare Breed
• Michter’s US*1 Small Batch Bourbon
• Four Roses Small Batch Select

Let’s dive in!

Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months

• The 50 Best Bourbon Whiskeys Of 2021, Ranked
• Every Winning Bourbon From Our 2021 Taste Tests, Blind Tasted And Re-Ranked
• The 100 Best Whiskeys Our Head Drinks Writer Tasted In 2021
• We Blind Tasted A Whole Bunch Of $30-60 Bourbons To See If Any Could Beat Weller
• The Best Ten-Year-Old Bourbon Whiskeys, Tasted Blind And Ranked

Part 1: The Taste

Taste 1

Tasting Notes:

The nose has notes of dark cherries in creamy dark chocolate with a hint of sourdough cinnamon rolls and soft menthol. The palate is all about the dark berry crumble with plenty of dark spice, brown sugar, and butter next to a fleeting hint of dry chili flake, salted caramel, and more of that dark chocolate. The mid-palate stays creamy and sweet until green wicker comes into play with more of those dark cherries in chocolate and a final hint of maple-soaked pecans on the very end.

This is a pretty good place to start, and clearly Knob Creek. While I didn’t pour these, this is an excellent control whiskey for this experiment as this is one of the best value-per-dollar 12-year bourbons on the market. Let’s see if it can be beaten!

Taste 2

Tasting Notes:

This is fairly mild with dashes of woody maple syrup next to pecans, Hostess Apple Pies, old boot leather, and a hint of cherry protein powder. The palate has a rich and lush vanilla pudding vibe that leads to a marrying of that pecan and apple pie before dry cherry arrives with hints of dark cacao powder and black licorice Necco Wafers create a counterbalance. The finish gets creamy with a line of browned butter and baked vanilla pudding drizzled with brandied cherry sauce and dusted with that dark cacao powder before a final hint of dry yet soft and sweet cedar comes in on the very end.

Well, that certainly works. This has to be the Dickel BiB, it’s too good to not be.

Taste 3

Tasting Notes:

This is a departure with soft notes of vanilla wafers with nougat next to hints of Christmas cake with candied fruits and citrus next to a spicy yet tart apple pie filling. The palate has a hint of almost smoky grilled pineapple next to a dark chocolate sauce with a flake of salt that leads to a mix of zucchini bread with pecans and an echo of Key lime pie. The finish has a hint of white pepper that leads to a soft green tea and menthol tobacco end.

Interesting, not sure what this is but it’s pretty okay.

Taste 4

Tasting Notes:

Yellow sheet cake with vanilla frosting leads the way on the nose with dry cherry candy, new leather jackets, sweet fir bark, and a hint of orange tobacco. The palate is full of still-warm apple fritters with plenty of winter spice and a sugar glaze that hits a moment of nutmeg-rich creamy eggnog. The mid-palate veers away from all of that with a sweet white grits vibe with brown sugar and butter that’s topped with stewed cinnamon apples and a raisin or two. The finish mellows toward a Cherry Hostess Pie stored in a cedar box with a leaf or two of sticky pipe tobacco.

This is pretty damn good. I’m guessing this is Jack. I’m also guessing this going to be hard AF to place in a ranking.

Taste 5

Tasting Notes:

Old leather boots, burnt orange rinds, oily sage, old oak staves, and buttery toffee round out the nose. Marzipan covered in dark chocolate opens the palate as floral honey and ripe cherry lead to a winter cake vibe full of raisins, dark spices, and toffee sauce. The end has a balance of all things winter treats as the marzipan returns and the winter spice amp up alongside a hint of spicy cherry tobacco and old cedar.

The is simple but f*cking delicious.

Taste 6

Tasting Notes:

A soft sense of vanilla, caramel, and corn mingle with apple and cherry trees and a hint of “wood.” Hello, Jim Beam. The palate follows the nose but dials in the vanilla to a creamy pudding while the corn takes on an earthy masa vibe, the cherry gets a little tart, and the wood takes on an old stave feel. The finish is a lot more vanilla and cherry with a hint of sourdough pancake batter and tart apple pie filling with an echo of toasted oak rounding things out.

This is very Jim Beam. It’s also really basic. The nose is kind of generic but leads to a solid(ish) palate.

Taste 7

Tasting Notes:

There’s that word again “generic” on the nose with notes of leather, apple, caramel, and vanilla. Again, this kicks up on the palate with an orange candy sweetness that leans into floral honey, vanilla cream, and a touch of old oak. The finish is soft and inviting with the orange taking a back seat to a stewed apple candy with dark spices, a hint of almond, and sweet caramel.

Evan Williams, is that you?

Taste 8

Tasting Notes:

This opens like a dessert table during the holidays with crème brûlée next to a big sticky toffee pudding with orange zest sprinkled over the top next to a bushel of fresh mint. The palate hits an early note of pine resin as the orange kicks up towards a bold wintry spice, soft vanilla cream, and a hint of honeyed cherry tobacco. The end keeps the winter spices front and center as a lush pound cake feeling leads to soft notes of cherry-spiced tobacco leaves folded into an old cedar box with a whisper of old vanilla pods lurking in the background.

This is Rare Breed and I’m flummoxed. I’d have wagered this would have been number one instantly but I kind of don’t know where to put it. It’s classic and soft and delicious. But is it the best on this list? I don’t know.

Taste 9

Tasting Notes:

This has a strong nose with salted caramel ice cream scoops sitting on sourdough sugar doughnuts chased with a good cherry cream soda and a hint of singed marshmallow. The palate is super creamy with a hint of ripe peach and vanilla leading to sharp winter spices and freshly cracked black pepper. The finish leans into cinnamon and clove (maybe some anise too) with a good dollop of maple syrup tobacco wrapped around old cedar planks with a bit of char on them.

That singed marshmallow gives this away as Michter’s right away. This was good but I’m not sure it stands up to that Knob Creek or Dickel right now.

Taste 10

Tasting Notes:

Dark berries and yeasty doughnuts? Four Roses. Anyway, the nose rounds out by filling those doughnuts with a dark berry compote and hitting them with plenty of powdered sugar before layering in notes of black soil and green leaves. The taste is soft and lush with a blackberry pie vibe next to wintry spices with a touch of heat, mincemeat pies, and almond shells. The finish is very creamy with a vanilla pudding feel next to wet cedar, more blackberry pie, and a good dose of eggnog to smooth everything out.

I don’t know where this goes, but I’ll have to figure it out.

Part 2: The Ranking

9. Jim Beam Black — Taste 6

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $22

The Whiskey:

This expression replaced the old Black Label 8 Year. The juice in this bottle is aged longer than your average four-year-old Beam, but there is no age statement on exactly how long. The best way to think of it is that it’s aged for as long as it needs to be, according to the distilling team.

Bottom Line:

Look, this is fine. It was also very clearly the cheapest of the batch. That said, this rules on the rocks or in a highball, and it’s $20. That’s the ultimate in value even if it doesn’t stand up to some of the killers on this list.

8. Evan Williams Single Barrel — Taste 7

ABV: 43.3%

Average Price: $28

The Whiskey:

This is Heaven Hill’s hand-selected single barrel Evan Williams expression. The juice is from a single barrel, labeled with its distillation year, proofed just above 43 proof, and bottled as is.

Bottom Line:

Again, this was perfectly good. The only reason it’s lower on this list is that it felt a little generic and “cheaper,” which it is. That said, this is a single barrel for under $30. You really cannot complain about that these days (though Heaven Hill has pulled this from shelves, so it won’t be that cheap much longer).

7. Nelson Brothers Whiskey Reserve Bourbon — Taste 3

ABV: 46.65%

Average Price: $64

The Whiskey:

This new release from Nelson’s Green Brier is a big evolution for the brand. This high-rye bourbon is aged for four years before it’s masterfully blended into his expression. It’s then bottled without any fussing or meddling.

Bottom Line:

This was perfectly fine but didn’t wow me when tasted next to these bottles. I would go back to this but maybe more for cocktails than neat pours.

6. Jack Daniel’s Bonded — Taste 4

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $35

The Whiskey:

This whiskey is from Jack’s bonded warehouse. The mash of 80 percent corn, 12 percent barley, and eight percent rye is twice distilled before it’s run through Jack’s very long Lincoln County process of sugar maple charcoal filtration. The spirit then goes into the barrel for at least four years — per bonded law — before it’s batched, cut down with that Jack Daniel’s limestone cave water, and bottled as-is.

Bottom Line:

It’s crazy that this ended up in sixth place. I nearly made this a three-way tie with the next two but that seemed a little too much. Anyway, this is a really, really solid whiskey for this price point and could easily cost twice as much and no one would have blinked an eye.

5 (tie). Wild Turkey Rare Breed — Taste 8

ABV: 58.4%

Average Price: $52

The Whiskey:

This is the mountaintop of what Wild Turkey can achieve. This is a blend of the best barrels that are married and bottled untouched. That means no filtering and no cutting with water. This is a classic bourbon with nowhere to hide.

Bottom Line:

Honestly, I didn’t know where to put this, so it’s going to be tied in the middle. I know, that’s a bit cheap. But it does really hit a lot of the same notes as the Michter’s it’s tied with so it makes a certain sort of sense.

5 (tie). Michter’s US*1 Small Batch Bourbon — Taste 9

ABV: 45.7%

Average Price: $50

The Whiskey:

Michter’s really means the phrase “small batch” here. The tank they use to marry their hand-selected eight-year-old bourbons can only hold 20 barrels, so that’s how many go into each small-batch bottling. The blended juice is then proofed with Kentucky’s famously soft limestone water and bottled.

Bottom Line:

If I had a choice between this and Rare Breed, I’d just buy both.

4. Eagle Rare 10 — Taste 5

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $45

The Whiskey:

This might be one of the most beloved (and still accessible) bottles from Buffalo Trace. This juice is made from their very low rye mash bill. The whiskey is then matured for at least ten years in various parts of the warehouse. The final mix comes down to barrels that hit just the right notes to make them “Eagle Rare.” Finally, this one is proofed down to a fairly low 90 proof.

Bottom Line:

This is another 10-year-old bourbon that costs around $50. That’s value, especially for a Buffalo Trace release. It’s also just really good. It’s so good that if you don’t like then you just might not like bourbon.

3. Four Roses Small Batch Select — Taste 10

ABV: 52%

Average Price: $50

The Whiskey:

This expression uses six of Four Rose’s 10 whiskeys in their small-batching process. The idea is to blend both high and low-rye bourbons with yeast strains that highlight “delicate fruit,” “slight spice,” and “herbal notes.” The whiskeys tend to spend at least six years in the barrel before blending and proofing with just a touch of Kentucky’s soft limestone water.

Bottom Line:

This always surprises me. This used to be a bottle that sat on my shelf. Now, I can’t keep it on there. It’s just really tasty and unique. It’s a clear winner though a little less deeply hewn than the next two.

2. Knob Creek 12 — Taste 1

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $66

The Whiskey:

This is the classic Beam whiskey. The juice is left alone in the Beam warehouses in Clermont, Kentucky, for 12 long years. The barrels are chosen according to a specific taste and mingled to create this aged expression with a drop or two of that soft Kentucky limestone water.

Bottom Line:

This was the bottle to beat and it was, but just barely. This is classic through and through. No notes. If you don’t like the tasting notes on the Dickel, get this. It’s as simple as that.

1. George Dickel Bottled-In-Bond Spring 2007 — Taste 2

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $40

The Whiskey:

Nicole Austin has been killing it with these bottled-in-bond releases from George Dickel. This year’s release is a whiskey that was warehoused in spring 2007. 13 years later, this juice was bottled at 100 proof (as per the law) and sent out to the wide world where it received much adoration.

Bottom Line:

This was that little bit more nuanced and deep. And… really freaking good. I don’t know what’s going on but Nicole Austin has pulled off a minor miracle in how balanced and enticing these releases are.

Part 3: Final Thoughts

This was a tough ranking. I wanted to be as blind as I could in this tasting. But that’s just too hard with whiskeys this distinct and iconic. That said, I fully stand by the top two choices. Knob Creek 12 is a classic bottle that could easily cost twice as much, hell maybe three times as much. And that Dickel Bottled-in-Bond is a modern classic. There’s a reason it wins award after award.

But the true beauty of that bottle is that it’s still around $40. That’s the ultimate in value-per-dollar if you ask me.

A great whiskey and Coke is a fantastic highball. A mediocre whiskey and Coke is just a sugar bomb with some booze thrown in. As with any cocktail, the better your base ingredients, the better your end result. I get it, that sounds kind of dumb at first, especially if you’re burying something in Coca-Cola. But bear with me, if you use a big, bold, and bombastic whisk(e)y, you’ll elevate even the humble whiskey and Coke to new heights.

Enter the Smoky Cokey — a combination of Classic Coca-Cola and Lagavulin 16. This is the best whisk(e)y and Coke there is.

Before you laugh, let me explain. The Smoky Cokey was devised by Diageo’s (Lagavulin’s parent company) global brand ambassadors as an evolution of the simple highball. Their train of thought was “Hey, people have been putting whisky in Coke since Coke started. So why not make it, you know, good?” They hit solid gold.

By adding Lagavulin 16 to a pretty sweet and spicy Coca-Cola, you’re adding a layer of bitter smoke, soft umami, and fruitiness that blends beautifully with the cola to create something more than the individual parts. Look at it this way, both Lagavulin 16 and Coke have very big flavor profiles so you need something that can stand up to each one. And it just so happens that these two ingredients are a perfect dyad.

Let’s get into the recipe!

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Smoky Cokey

Ingredients:

• 2 oz. Lagavulin 16
• 5 oz. Classic Coca-Cola
• Ice
• 1/4 Lemon wheel for garnish

There’s a lot of variation you can play with here once you get a taste for the original Smoky Cokey. I’ve used Ardbeg 10, Talisker 10, and even Lagavulin 8, but none of them quite hit the same perfect balance as Lagavulin 16.

As for the cola, “coke” is in the name so go with that. That said, I’ve made these with Jarritos Mexican Cola and Fever-Tree Madagascan Cola too. The Jarritos is a little too sweet and the Fever-Tree a little vanilla-forward for me, but they totally work too.

What You’ll Need:

• Highball glass
• Stirrer
• Paring Knife
• Jigger

Method:

• Fill the highball glass with ice.
• Add the whisky and top with Coke.
• Cut a lemon wheel into quarters and place one on the ice. Serve.

Bottom Line:

This is a perfect highball. The rich and savory smoke adds this beautiful counterpoint to the sweet and spicy Coke. It flows. It takes you on a journey. It’s delicious. There’s a layer of soft malts that come through under the cola as well with a hint of anise and soft wood.

If you’re still not convinced, I can assure you this isn’t a one-off or an anomaly. These are enjoyed at the Lagavulin Distillery on Islay by the people who make the whisky. If that’s not enough to get you interested, try this: The combination is becoming so popular that some bars have them on tap in Scotland and Ireland. The fact is, no matter how much of an abomination it sounds like to mix a nearly $100 bottle of finely made peated Islay scotch with Coca-Cola, it might just be the best way to drink it.

Samuel L. Jackson technically isn’t the most prolific swearer in movie history (to which he calls “bullsh*t”), but no one can drop a “motherf*cker” like he can. So it’s surprising that the most common line the actor hears from fans in public doesn’t involve a curse.

The Hollywood Reporter recently gathered together Jackson, Oscar Isaac, Tom Hiddleston, Michael Keaton, Brian Cox, and Quincy Isaiah, and asked them, “When a fan comes up to you on the street, what do they typically recognize you from, and what do they usually say?” Cox answered with his Succession catchphrase “f*ck off,” while Jackson said, “These days, ‘What’s in your wallet?’” Not “hold onto your butts” or “does he look like a bitch?” or something about motherf*cking snakes on motherf*cking planes, but his Capital One commercial slogan. We, as a society, can do better.

THR: And how do you respond?

JACKSON “My wife’s hand.”

KEATON What does that mean?

JACKSON My wife’s hand is in my wallet.

Jackson admitted that people do ask him to call them motherf*cker “all the time. Or they’ll ask me to put it on their answering machine. They’ll literally say, ‘Would you do my answering machine?’ ‘This motherf*cker’s not home right now. And the motherf*cker will call you back.’” Cox suggested that he charge them for the request, but Jackson, king among men that he is, said, “I don’t want to gouge the public. I charge them enough to come to my movies.” What’s in your wallet? All the cash that you’ve saved by Samuel L. Jackson not charging $50 to call your mother-in-law a “motherf*cker.”

(Via the Hollywood Reporter)

Last month, a rumor popped up that Drew Brees‘ time with NBC was coming to an end after one season. Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reported that Brees, who the network tabbed as a potential replacement for Cris Collinsworth on its Sunday Night Football broadcasts when he agreed to join at the conclusion of his football career, would not return due to a mutual parting of ways.

Brees took to Twitter in the aftermath of that report and said that he was undecided about what his future would hold. But on Wednesday morning, Joe Reedy of the Associated Press received confirmation from NBC Sports chairman Pete Bevacqua that Brees’ time with the network as an NFL analyst and Notre Dame football color commentator is over.

“The unbelievable busyness of an NFL career and then really not taking a break at all and launching right in with us with both Notre Dame football and the NFL, it was certainly an around-the-clock assignment,” Bevacqua told the AP. “This was definitely a lifestyle choice for him, which is totally understandable.”

Bevacqua told the AP that the network won’t prevent Brees from pursuing another opportunity in broadcasting despite the fact that he is under contract. Despite that, the expectation is that Brees will spend this year at home with his family.

At the close of Beach Bunny’s recent video for “Karaoke,” a commander played by Better Caul Saul‘s Bob Odenkirk — who fancies himself a superfan of the Chicago indie band — delivers a message to the intergalactic pop “Star Team.” As the band floats in a spaceship, Commander Odenkirk begins, “We intercepted intel regarding the whereabouts of Star Agent Zero. It seems an enemy ship is circulating among the star cluster…we need you to find Zero. Time is of the essence. The entire Universe is counting on you.”

Confused? Beach Bunny’s Lili Trifilio has written a three-part space saga of sorts that plays itself out in the next three of videos of songs off of the band’s upcoming album, Emotional Creature, due out on July 22nd. Now we have Part 2 in the “Entropy” clip and the heat is on for the Beach Bunny Star Team.

The song itself sees the band shifting towards a more decidedly pop-punk atmosphere, but that doesn’t make it any less endearing. “Somebody’s gonna figure us out and I hope they do, because Im fallin’ for you-uuu,” Trifilio sings. Will the band rescue Star Agent Zero? Stay tuned, on the next episode of the Beach Bunny: Intergalactic Pop Star Steam.

In the meantime, watch the video for “Entropy” above and check out their current tour dates here.

Emotional Creature is out 7/22 via Mom+Pop Music. Pre-order it here.

It can be a painful realization when someone comes to terms with the fact they are not “the one,” but rather “another one” that fills the void the true “one” left. Wet sings through this reality on their new single “I’m Not Her,” a somber piano ballad confronting the commonality of using someone to get over someone else.

“Guess my place was taken long before / Before I was ever faced with this lonely man I call my baby,” Kelly Zutrau emotes in the chorus. Later on, in her sole verse, she admits to wishing things were different, saying, “Oh, I wish I could convince myself / That I wasn’t born and just here to help you get over someone else / But that wasn’t never me.” The record sits at just two minutes and 14 seconds, but it is enough to trigger the lovelorn threads within all listeners.

“I’m Not Her” follows the release of “Tell Me Why” back in May. The two tracks are set to appear Wet’s upcoming seven-song EP Pink Room, a relatively quick follow-up to their October 2021 album and first independent release Letter Blue.

Listen to “I’m Not Her” above.

Pink Room is out 7/8 via Friends Of Secretly Canadian. Pre-order it here.

If you’re keeping track of the number of times Ted Cruz has embarrassed himself in public, you’ll want to add another notch — if you can find the space. On Tuesday, as Raw Story reports, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the rise of white supremacy and domestic terrorism in America in the wake of the recent mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, which the Justice Department has classified as a hate crime.

But when it came time for Cruz to speak, it was clear the Texas senator didn’t understand the assignment, or just flat-out ignored it. Instead, he used his time at the microphone to tell colleagues on both sides of the aisle that Black people are bad, then rattled off a lot of B.S. that was not germane to the conversation. After complaining about the way that Democrats attempt to “politicize acts of violence” (LOL) and blaming them for the creation of the KKK, Cruz claimed that all this whining about white supremacy was “diminishing anti-Jewish violence, anti-Asian violence, violence directed at white people, [and] violence directed at police.” Trying to take a neutral stand, Cruz stated that “my view is simple: violence is always wrong whatever your ideology, left-wing, right-wing, no wings.” Then he got to his real point: “Black supremacy” is what we should really be talking about.

Cruz went on to cite the Brooklyn subway shooter and the Waukesha Christmas parade attack as two examples of Black nationalists, before adding: “Then, of course, we have the violence of the antifa riots and the Black Lives Matter riots that wracked this country” in the summer of 2020. “Stores were looted, police cars were fire-bombed, people were assaulted, people were murdered,” Cruz said. “My colleagues on the Democratic side of the aisle sought to excuse, sought to apologize, four even went so far as to raise money to bail out of jail the violent rioters committing these acts of violence.”

When Amy Klobuchar, who has butted heads with Cruz before, commanded the floor just a few minutes later, she was quick to give the Texas senator a lesson in stats. She rebutted that “the intelligence community has identified racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists as a category of people most likely to conduct mass casualty attacks… But one thing that wasn’t noted, and this is just one year of statistics, but was not noted by Senator Cruz, and that is that the FBI reported that of the racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists it was investigating in 2020… 87 percent were white supremacists. So I just think it’s very important that the record reflect that.”

Let the record show: Klobuchar: 1; Cruz: 0.

(Via Raw Story)

After giving a small tease back in October, Black Adam (which has been in various development stages for nearly a decade) has finally dropped its first official trailer that essentially sees The Rock‘s anti-hero locking horns with the Justice Society of America, making the film a deep cut into the DC Comics world. While the trailer sets up Black Adam’s as a ruthless deliverer of justice, who’s not afraid to kill to achieve his means, Pierce Brosnan‘s Doctor Fate plays a prominent role.

While plot details are being kept tightly under wraps, it appears that Doctor Fate is behind the unearthing of Black Adam and the plans to unleash him on a not-yet-revealed menace. However, that decision doesn’t seem to mesh well with the other heroes who don’t approve of how easily Black Adam is willing to end the life of his enemies.

Here’s the official synopsis:

From New Line Cinema, Dwayne Johnson stars in the action adventure “Black Adam.” The first-ever feature film to explore the story of the DC Super Hero comes to the big screen under the direction of Jaume Collet-Serra (“Jungle Cruise”). Nearly 5,000 years after he was bestowed with the almighty powers of the ancient gods—and imprisoned just as quickly—Black Adam (Johnson) is freed from his earthly tomb, ready to unleash his unique form of justice on the modern world.

Rounding out the cast is Aldis Hodge as Hawkman, Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher, Sarah Shahi as Adrianna, Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone, as Amon, and of course, Brosnan as Dr. Fate.

Black Adam hits theaters on October 21, 2022.