Month: June 2022

As Rudy Giuliani‘s reputation continues to take a nosedive thanks to him attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election for Donald Trump, five universities still have not rescinded honorary degrees bestowed on “America’s Mayor.” However, the situation is reaching a boiling point as alumni and faculty have begun to speak out about the shame that Giuliani now brings to their colleges.

“It’s the epitome of academic cowardice,” said James Bowers, a legal studies professor at St. John Fisher College where Giuliani has an honorary doctorate. Via Insider:

Trump’s one-time personal lawyer “clearly no longer represents the values that the Board of Trustees and our president professes that they believe in.

“The board cannot in good faith claim that it teaches goodness, discipline and values when it maintains an award to an individual who has basically backed an insurrection against American democracy,” Bowers said.

The four other universities are Syracuse University, Loyola University Maryland, The Citadel in South Carolina, and Georgetown University. Many of the students and alumni that are calling out their alma maters work in the legal profession where Giuliani used to be a respected figure until his work with Trump became a national disgrace.

“It is difficult to look at an institution that is supposed to be justice oriented and truth seeking to be ok with Giuliani holding this honorary degree from our university,” Sydney Brook, president of Loyola’s pre-law society told Insider. “And I certainly think that it would be a missed opportunity if Loyola continues to fail to reassess this honorary degree.”

However, some at the holdout schools are blasting the call to rescind Giuliani’s honorary degrees. “This whole thing strikes me as political correctness run amok,” Gregory Germain, a law professor at Syracuse, said.

(Via Insider)

Machine Gun Kelly’s new Hulu documentary Life In Pink came out yesterday, which tells the story of his pivot to pop punk. Possibly the most interesting part of the whole thing is his recollection of collaborating with Lil Wayne for “Drug Dealer,” and the way the iconic rapper smoked 15 blunts.

“I pressed play on the song, he’s like, ‘Is that what we’re doing?’” MGK recalled. “‘Yeah.’ He’s like, ‘Alright. You guys got time?’ ‘Yeah, for sure.’ He goes in the courtyard, smokes 15 blunts. He just takes each, his eyes are closed just playing the track over and over again. He comes back in the studio and we can see him in the courtyard. We’re just kind of sitting there amazed, like that’s the GOAT forming his thoughts around a track that we made.”

He continued, “He comes back in at 5:30 in the morning. He’s like, ‘Y’all ready?’ He goes in the booth and he lays his sh*t like, one time. It’s just like, one time.”

Kelly previously told a similar story about working with Wayne, minus the details about blunts.

Apparently MGK’s flirtation with pop punk is coming to an end for now, because a couple of months ago he said he’ll be returning to rap music. “I’m going to make a rap album for myself, for no other reason, no point to prove, no chip on my shoulder,” he said in an interview.

On Sunday afternoon, headlines began blaring that Rudy Giuliani had been “attacked” and “assaulted” while stumping for his son, New York gubernatorial candidate Andrew Giuliani, at a ShopRite on Staten Island. To hear Rudy tell the tale made the incident sound like something akin to the D-Day scene from Saving Private Ryan. Then the grocery store released the video and this vicious assault that had Giuliani claiming he could’ve “died” had he been a “weaker 78-year-old” turned out to be little more than a slightly aggressive pat on the back.

On Monday night, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes went full Zapruder on the footage with a slow-motion replay of the incident (if it can even be called that). Hayes—who has been known to totally lose his composure while reporting on the stupidity of dumb Republicans—played the segment out for maximum comedy in the totally straight-faced way that he does by building up the weekend’s events. Describing Rudy as a former lawyer for Donald Trump “who had his law license suspended for trying to steal the election, so he has plenty of time on his hands these days to help his kid run for office.” Which is exactly what Rudy was doing when “to hear him tell it, he was viciously attacked by a grocery store worker,” Hayes said.

Among the various ways Giuliani the Elder has himself described the events of that day include it feeling “like somebody shot me,” being “as if a boulder hit me,” and noting that “it hurt tremendously.” The former New York City mayor told The New York Times that he sustained “red marks” on his back from the incident, but was fortunately not bleeding. (Also fortunate: That he spared us any photographic proof of his naked back.) He also bitched about Fox News not giving his “assault” any coverage.

Then Hayes played the footage of the incident, which show a man patting Rudy on the back—presumably to get his attention—so that he could call him a “scumbag” in response to Roe v. Wade being overturned. Hayes’ reaction to the video? “What… Wait, that’s it?! THAT’S what felt like a boulder or gunshot?!” Just to make sure he wasn’t missing anything, Hayes replayed the moment in slow motion and indeed confirmed that, nope, it was just a tap on the back.

Police did arrest Rudy’s “attacker,” Daniel Gill, and charged him with assault. Gill’s lawyers released a statement noting that: “Our client merely patted Mr. Giuliani, who sustained nothing remotely resembling physical injuries, without malice to simply get his attention, as the video clearly showed. He was then needlessly held by the NYPD in custody for over 24 hours.”

While Hayes asserted that “nobody should lay hands on anyone—not Rudy Giuliani, not anyone, regardless of their intention,” he also noted that the footage of the incident “does make Rudy Giuliani’s description of the assault seem pretty ridiculous. Always a good reminder to take what these guys say with just the largest possible grain of salt on planet Earth.”

On Monday, a judge—presumably after viewing the same footage—downgraded the charges against Gill.

You can watch the full clip above.

Americans everywhere continue to feel apprehension over how 6 out of 9 Supreme Court justices feel that their religion should override a woman’s reproductive rights. Unsurprisingly, Lauren Boebert is on board with this sentiment as the GOP leans further and further into far-right territory. Boebert, who famously did not graduate high school and holds a GED, didn’t do too much brushing up on the U.S. Constitution ahead of (or during) duties as a lawmaker. At this point, she’s repeatedly demonstrated her (willful) lack of understanding about the Bill of Rights and the branches of government (as laid out by the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause ) and why those powers are so important to separate.

Speaking of which, Boebert also doesn’t believe in the separation of church and state as articulated by Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, who sang the praises of the “wall of separation between Church & State,” a principle that’s been referred to time and time again, including by Supreme Court Hugo Black, who stressed (in Everson v. Board of Education) how the “wall must be kept high and impregnable.” Boebert ain’t listening to that, and as the rootin’ tootin’ congresswoman visited Cornerstone Christian Center over the weekend to declare, “The church is supposed to direct the government.”

Yep, she really said that, and as Mediaite notes, it got worse:

“The reason we had so many overreaching regulations in our nation is because the church complied. The church is supposed to direct the government. The government is not supposed to direct the church. That is not how our Founding Fathers intended it. And I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk that’s not in the Constitution. It was in a stinking letter and it means nothing like what they say it does.”

There’s no telling how Boebert seized upon that claim of the “stinking letter,” which apparently refers to Jefferson’s position on the subject within that letter. “I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declares that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” he wrote in 1802. “[T]hus building a wall of separation between Church and State.”

Boebert isn’t even buying the plain language of what Jefferson proclaimed. “The government is here to secure your freedom, not run your life,” she also tweeted.

This is also coming from someone who can’t keep Samuel Adams and John Adams separate in her mind. And guess what? June 28 is Boebert’s primary day, so keep your eyes peeled for drama.

With the rollout of her upcoming single, Cardi B is taking a gradual approach. On June 26, she revealed that the tune is called “Hot Sh*t” and that it’s set to arrive this Friday, July 1. Along with that news, she teased “another surprise for y’all” coming yesterday at 8 p.m. Well, the news arrived, and it’s big: “Hot Sh*t” is a collaboration with Kanye West and Lil Durk.

Durk shared the single art and added, “Friday we shaking the world I promise.”

Meanwhile, in a live broadcast from before this new announcement, Cardi explained of her promotion strategy for the song, “With the promo, I just don’t feel like doing too much this time around, because I’m just exhausted with everybody. I’m so tired of people not doing their f*cking job correctly. I’m so tired of people just doing things their way. Just… I’m just over it, you know what I’m saying? I’m over it. I’m gonna put this record [out], if it do good, it do good. I think it’s gonna do good ’cause at the end of the day, the record is amazing. I love the record. It’s something that I feel like you haven’t heard from me before.”

She also added, “It’s masculine, it’s great for the clubs,” and that there won’t be a video for the song.

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

Following the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, which eliminated the constitutional protection for abortion and allows states to set their own laws regulating the procedure, Howard Stern is considering running for president. Yes, that Howard Stern, the one-time Fartman who called it his “civic duty” to join the 2024 race.

Stern shared an update on his potential candidacy during Monday’s episode of The Howard Stern Show. “I’m actually going to probably have to run for president now,” he said. “I am going to do the very simple thing that’ll set the country straight: one vote, one person. No more Electoral College. I’m getting rid of it.” The problem with most presidents, Stern believes, is “they have too big of an agenda. The only agenda I would have is to make the country fair again.” That has a ring to it: Make America Fair Again.

He also (again) commented directly on Roe v. Wade being overturned.

Stern slammed Justice Clarence Thomas, who joined the 6-3 majority decision, describing him as “sitting there like Darth Vader, dormant, [and] waiting for other kooks to join the Supreme Court.”

“I’ll give you a couple of examples of why this is so horrible,” Stern said, as he mentioned “everyday women who go to the doctor and they find out that the baby has horrible birth defects.”

Stern, who said we’re “stuck” with Joe Biden, continued, “The other thing is, if I do run for president — and I’m not f*cking around, I’m really thinking about it — because the only other thing I’m going to do is appoint five more Supreme Court justices.” When co-host Robin Quivers asked whether that’s possible, he replied, “I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m doing exactly.” Hey, it worked for the last guy.

Anyway, get ready for DeSantis or Trump v. Stern v. The Rock in 2024. Fun!

(Via The Hill)

The Giving Keys is a jewelry company that’s a bit unconventional, only because they believe that all of their gifts are meant to be regifted. It’s a pay it forward, give on to others type of mentality and it in turn gives their pieces that little bit of extra meaning. Each of their keys comes with a story attached, once you decide exactly what that is…

The Giving Keys believe that every word matters. Their pieces are adorned with powerful inscriptions like: strength, love, faith, believe, dream, hope, or power. And they also offer customizable inscriptions so that you can make each piece your own. The idea is that your key should have a word that you feel you need more of in your life: perhaps you need that extra reminder to create or to believe.

The key then serves as this word incarnate. It’s a tactile reminder to incorporate more this message into your everyday. It becomes your mantra and away for you to grow, heal, and thrive. But the word isn’t yours to keep forever. Once you’ve harnessed the essence of your key it’s time to give it to someone new – hence “the giving keys”.

The concept behind The Giving Keys is that once you’ve incorporated your word into your life, you’ll eventually cross paths with someone who needs that same word in their life. When you feel the time is right, you pass your key on giving this perfect stranger, or long time friend, a little extra strength, love, hope or faith.

Each key helps spread positivity, inspiration and hope as it travels.

The founder of the company, Caitlin Crosby, came up with the concept for The Giving Keys after wearing a hotel key around her neck so she wouldn’t lose it. When she checked out of the hotel she began to miss the statement piece and had a key engraved, and another and another. Caitlin began selling the keys and they were a hit. People who had lost their job or a loved one gravitated towards them. They were the perfect remind for others battling with their health or those that seemed lost in their way. She couldn’t keep up with the demand and she felt so inspired by all the people who’s lives she was touching.

Then one day she saw a houseless couple on the street and invited them both to dinner with her. Eager to hear their story, it just so serendipitously happened that the woman she was at dinner with was a former jewelry designer. They teamed up and The Giving Keys was born.

Since that point the company’s created over 130 jobs for people transitioning out of houselessness. It’s just another way that these necklaces offer new beginnings.

Check out their site and read some real-life stories of giving keys posted by actual customers, just like you. And remember: pay it forward.

Upworthy has earned revenue through a partnership and/or may earn a portion of sales revenue from purchases made through links on our site.

Competitive triathletes, Pam and Connie would chat cookies as a way to make it through their workouts. After all, nothing inspires you to push through the “just two more minutes on the treadmill” threshold, than the promise of a warm cookie coming out of the oven. One day in the midst of their rigorous training regiment Pam and Connie went on a mission to create the ultimate chocolate chip walnut cookie to give them extra motivation…. or something like that. The cookie was irresistible and the two best friends decided that they could probably sell these.

And they were right. In 1993 Pam and Connie started Levain Bakery. Their cookies were baked fresh daily and the left-overs were donated to charity each night – and almost 30 years later these same practices are still proudly in place at the core of Levain bakery. Drooling yet? You will be! Here’s our guide to the best cookies ever. *Warning: do not read on an empty stomach!*

1. The Icon: there’s a reason these chocolate chip walnut cookies initially flew off the shelves! They’re crispy with a thick gooey center. Not too sweet, these delightful bites are a perfectly balanced treat.

2. The Chocolate Lover: dangerously rich, this dark chocolate chip cookie is made with French cocoa and semisweet chocolate chips for extra chocolatey delightfulness. It’s sinfully good.

3. The One to Envy: … well, your peanut butter cups will certainly be jealous! These dark chocolate peanut butter chip cookies are the perfect indulgence. They also just so happen to be the Levain Bakery staff favorites… and they eat a lot of cookies!

4. The Twist: oatmeal raisin cookies that are extra thick, rich and buttery. With a super gooey inside packed full of naturally sweet and plump raisins, their oatmeal raisin cookies are a new take on an old favorite.

5. The Classic: don’t get us wrong, we’re sure your grandma makes a mean chocolate chip cookie, but these double chocolate chip cookies aren’t your family’s recipe. They are just as perfectly crispy and gooey as the first cookie on this list, but without the nuts. This buttery delight will have you breaking down the Levain door for the recipe. Fortunately, they just do the baking for you – guess it is back to grandma’s if you want to lick the spoon.

6. The Undecided: it’s hard to make it through a list like that and be able to narrow it down to just one cookie! Luckily, Levain bakery has something for everyone – including those who want one of everything. This assorted cookie gift box gives you one of each: a chocolate chip walnut, dark chocolate chip, dark chocolate peanut butter chip and an oatmeal raisin. It’s the perfect thing to try whether it’s your first time trying cookies from Levain or whether it’s just your first time not being able to chose just one!

Check out their site, pour some milk and get ready to indulge in the greatest chocolate chip cookies ever – oops, did we just give away our favorite?

Upworthy has earned revenue through a partnership and/or may earn a portion of sales revenue from purchases made through links on our site.

The opening scene to Dumb & Dumber is timeless low-brow humor. Lloyd Christmas, played by Jim Carrey, lowers the window of the backseat of a limo to grab a lady’s attention. She speaks with an accent and tells him that she’s from Austria. To which Carrey replies, “Well g’day mate! Let’s put another shrimp on the barbie!” (in an Australian accent). The gal, clearly not amused, says, “Let’s not” and turns away. Carrey rolls the window back up, only to slither his way back to the front seat, where he is in fact, just the limo driver.

What happened at KISS’s show in Vienna, Austria last night isn’t too far off from the buffoonery that Carrey displayed in the 1994 film. As the concert at Vienna’s Wiener Stadthalle came to a close, the band flashed a KISS logo on the stage with the note saying, “KISS Loves You Vienna.” Only the flag emblazoned on the KISS logo wasn’t the Austrian flag, it was the flag of Australia instead.

D’oh! This is an unfortunate blunder for the band who is on their End Of The Road Tour, the final KISS tour of all time. Recently, 72-year old lead singer Gene Simmons, said that the full body armor and make-up that he puts on every night on stage, is something that other artists today could not accomplish, not even Beyoncé. Regardless, fans on social meeting are letting the band have it for confusing Austria with Australia.

Republicans aren’t just coming for abortions. They’re also still waging attacks on the LGBTQIA+ community. Some have zeroed in on drag queens, claiming, quite madly, that they should be kept far from children. (Just wait till they learn there’s a fair amount of Looney Tunes shorts where Bugs poses as a lady rabbit.) One of them is Kari Lake, a Trump-endorsed gubernatorial candidate in Arizona…who is alleged to have been longtime friends with a drag queen. But when a Fox News anchor asked her about it, she threw a total hissy fit.

Lake was being interviewed by Bret Baier, one of the more rational-ish Fox News personalities. After she tried to push some 2020 voter fraud lies, Baier tried to change the subject, asking her to simply comment on what Rick Stevens, a Phoenix-based drag queen, claimed, namely that they were friends for 20 years and he even did a show at her home. Stevens even produced pictures of them together, beaming. But instead of providing her side of the story, she blew up on Baier.

“I actually do care to address that,” Lake told him, then proceeded to not do so. “But I’m really shocked. I’m actually appalled that Fox News would take a defamatory story like that — and we are pursuing legal action against this drag queen — I’m appalled that you would bring that up when you have not talked about our stolen election.”

When Baier pointed out that they did just discuss that subject, Lake snapped back, “I’m a little disappointed in Fox. I thought you were a little better than CNN.”

All Lake would say on the matter was that she’d “covered” Stevens (whatever that means) for 20 years, but denied he’d ever been in her home. When Baier asked her to explain the photos of the two of them, she changed the subject to 2,000 Mules, the latest Dinesh D’Souza propaganda doc that’s been so discredited not even Fox News will cover it. She never explained the photos, instead repeating over and over again how “appalled” she was that Fox News would ask her about an issue that might make her look hypocritical.

(Via The Daily Beast)