Month: July 2022

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is in hot water over her husband’s multi-million dollar stock trade. Recently, Paul Pelosi — a heavyweight in the venture capitalist industry who last month crashed his car and was charged with DUI — bought between $1 and $5 million worth of stock in Nvidia, a tech company that manufactures computer chips, on June 17th. That purchase came right before a Senate meeting scheduled for later this week where a bipartisan bill to support semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S. is on the table. The bill would offer incentives like tax credits and grants for companies creating these chips using U.S. labor. The deal has proven to be extremely lucrative for the Pelosis.

When questioned today on whether her husband had any inside information on the bill that led to his stock purchase, Pelosi simply brushed the accusation off.

The stock grab has put a sour taste in voters’ mouths, especially since this isn’t the first time Pelosi’s investment portfolio has seemed a bit sketchy — there’s even a Twitter account dedicated to tracking her trades. Last year, Jacobin named Nancy Pelosi their “Wall Street Trader of the Year” noting how the Congresswoman’s wealth had grown by an estimated $16.7 million during the pandemic. At a time when people were struggling to survive, Pelosi’s portfolio was thriving and though dozens of members on Capitol Hill were being investigated for potentially violating federal law with their own suspicious trades, Pelosi seemed to shoot down any notion of a bill banning representatives from investing while in office. Additionally, she’s been dodging questions about her and her husband’s stock trades for years, as evidenced in this old 60 Minutes clip.

“We are a free-market economy,” Pelosi told reporters last year when asked about the ethics of people in Congress investing in the stock market. “They should be able to participate in that.”

Everyone from Sen. Jon Ossoff to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have come out to support a stock trading ban, even getting Republicans to endorse certain measures, but no bill has yet to make it to the floor. And now, people are beginning to wonder if Pelosi’s own investments in the stock market are to blame.

“The people who control the calendar don’t want to bring it to the floor,” Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger said. “The people who control committees of jurisdiction don’t want to bring it to the floor.”

That all said, Pelosi’s shady stock trading seem to be one of the few things these days that is uniting people on both the left and the right.

(Via Yahoo! News)

Former prosecutor Mark Pomerantz is speaking out after quitting an investigation into Donald Trump earlier in the year once it became clear that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was moving towards not prosecuting the former president. In his most in-depth comments yet, Pomerantz told the legal podcast, The Cutting Edge, that biggest stumbling block to indicting Trump were concerns that the prosecution might lose.

While Pomerantz ultimately disagrees with that concern, he did walk the podcast through why Bragg had reservations about taking over an elaborate case from his predecessor Cy Vance. Via The Daily Beast:

“It’s very hard to take somebody who has not been exposed to those facts on a trip through the capillaries of the financial statements in a meeting or even a meeting or two,” he said on the podcast. “The devil was really in the details, and the details couldn’t be explained in kind of short form… ultimately, the DA—the incoming D.A.—and the team were not comfortable going forward. So did we do a bad job of laying out the facts? Did they not hear what we were saying? Were the facts too complicated to explain in the format that we were using?”

As Pomerantz explained, there was “complicated and far-reaching” evidence indicating that Trump had provided false financial information to banks to obtain loans. According to Pomerantz, if the person involved was anyone but the former president, the prosecution would not have had cold feet. He also argued that even if the prosecution did lose the case against Trump it was still the right thing to do because, in Pomerantz’s opinion, there was a preponderance of evidence he committed financial fraud.

“My view is that it is toxic to have people believe that the criminal justice system is unable to hold people accountable if those people have huge financial and political influence,” Pomerantz said. “The rule of law is supposed to extend to the rich and poor alike, to the vulnerable, to the powerful. And I was utterly convinced that if the defendant had not been Donald Trump or the putative defendant, if it had been Joe Blow from Kokomo, we would have indicted without a big debate.”

(Via The Daily Beast)

Kodak Black won’t be going anywhere for a while after being arrested in Florida on drug possession and trafficking charges last week. XXL reports that the “Super Gremlin” rapper’s supervised release was revoked on Wednesday, July 20, and he’s been put on house arrest, where he’ll be electronically monitored and must undergo drug testing. He’ll also have to check in with a probation officer if/when he needs to perform and will have to petition the court to visit the studio (hopefully, he’s got a setup at home, or that could get tricky for him).

Kodak was pulled over for illegal tints in Fort Lauderdale on July 15, and officers found 31 Oxycodone pills in his truck — without a prescription. He was booked for possession of a controlled substance without a prescription and traffick in Oxycodone 14 less than 25 grams and paid $75,000 bond the following day. Kodak’s attorney later said that the rapper was prescribed the Oxy pills when he was shot in Los Angeles earlier this year and for the pain from injuries he allegedly received from prison guards during his stint in Big Sandy, Kentucky on gun possession charges.

Kodak had been released early thanks to outgoing Oval Office occupant Donald Trump in a last-ditch bid to court a favorable vote from a voting bloc he’d spent most of his administration doing his best to completely alienate, but if a judge decides that he’s violated his probation, he could end up back inside for far longer — this time, without the benefit of a mercenary politician looking to curry favor with “the Blacks.”

Charity Ekezie, a journalist from Nigeria, is doing a fantastic job of changing perceptions about Africa because she understands something very important: You can change a lot of people’s minds by making them laugh.

Earlier this year, according to a report by France 24, Ekezie and her friends realized that a lot of commenters on TikTok, especially those in Europe and the United States, have a lot of incorrect perceptions of Africa, and many of them are racist.

Ekezie says that a lot of people see the continent as a prehistoric place that lacks running water, internet access and refrigeration.

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“So I got upset because I thought these were things that people should actually know and I decided to do something about it,” she told TRT World.

“One day I was with my cousins at my house in the village. And I was like, ‘Let’s make a TikTok. Let’s do something sarcastic. Let’s dress up like maidens and go to our village river and make a video,’” she told France 24.

The video has been viewed more than 22 million times since its January posting.

@charityekezie

We don’t have Water, pls send us some 😪😭 with my sisters @oge_smallie and @nameisbeee #charityekezie #kissmyacegoodbye #african

Since then, Ekezie has gone on to produce dozens of hilarious videos where she sarcastically explains how Africans get around without cars, drink without water and stay cool on a continent that lacks air conditioning.

In most videos, she stands right next to something that people think African people don’t have.

Here are some typical questions and her most popular video responses:

How can y’all have a country inside a country?

Fact: Africa is a continent with 54 countries fully recognized by the U.N.

@charityekezie

@bebostunna With these few points of mine, I hope I was able to convince and not confuse you, that South Africa 🇿🇦 isn’t a Scam.👉🏽👈🏽 #sacarsm #charityekezie #africa #southafrica

Why doesn’t it ever rain in Africa?

Fact: Although Africa is one of the more arid parts of the world, an average of 1,000 millimeters of rain falls per year across most of the continent.

@charityekezie

Sometimes the gods also cry cos of our suffering in Africa, and their tears drop heavily from the sky so we use it as water, cos it’s blessed. #sacarsm #charityekezie #africa with @jgolby on Instagram.

Do you have air conditioners in Africa?

Fact: Yes, people in Africa do have air conditioners. More than 3.4 million were sold on the continent in 2021.

@charityekezie

Reply to @maylan_r The African Elephant is not just an animal but a source of fresh air. btw what’s an Air conditioner?🤔 #sacarsm #africa #charityekezie

Do you have stuffed animals in Africa?

Fact: Yes, they do. Watch the video.

@charityekezie

Reply to @m4dh4tter12 Real animals are the real deal. #sacarsm #africa #charityekezie

How do you charge your phone?

Fact: About half of the people who live in Africa have access to electricity.

@charityekezie

Reply to @lazyleopard_sh Now you know how.🥰 The African Hippo is powerful 🦛 #sacarsm #knowafrica #charityekezie

Is there makeup in Africa?

Fact: Yes, Africa is where people started wearing makeup.

@charityekezie

Reply to @shinobi_2202 What is a makeup please? #sacarsm #charityekezie #africa #makeup

Do you have electricity in Africa?

Fact: Yes, we already answered that question.

@charityekezie

Reply to @adeb451 What is an electricity?😩 I only know of lightning from the god of thunder, Amadioha 🥺 #sacarsm #charityekezie #africa

If Ekezie’s goal is reaching people, she’s doing a great job. Her videos already have more than 27 million likes and she’s just getting started.

Her idea of changing people’s minds through humor is a brilliant way to get her point across. According to Stanford University, humor is a great way to change people’s minds. It allows you to “connect with your audience, diffuse tension, elevate status, foster trust, and compel others to your point of view.”

“So I do hope my videos going to help demystify every single misconception and stereotype about Africa,” she told TRT World. “And I hope that video reaches a lot more people so that they’ll get to understand that Africa is actually really nicer than what they think it is.”

Humans may not always recognize greatness right away, but sometimes it’s so clear it simply can’t be denied.

You don’t have to be a dancer yourself to see when someone’s got moves, and a viral video from choreographer Phil Wright spotlights a kid who’s got moves. Like, wow.

Mariandrea Villegas may be tiny, but she packs a mighty amount of energy, skill, coordination and x-factor into her dancing. Oh and joy. Did I mention joy?

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Villegas, 13, danced alongside choreographer Phil Wright at The Dance Awards and holy moly. She snatched the stage right out from under him.

“I think I got smoked,” he wrote when he shared the video on his Instagram page. “I need to stop dancing with these kids. 😂 They’re low-key superheroes.”

If Villegas is any evidence, he’s right. Watch:

See on Instagram

Upworthy shared the video on Instagram as well, and people loved it.

“When you find your passion at a young age, it’s a beautiful thing to see,” wrote one commenter.

“And all with a smile on her face,” wrote another.

“This kid is an absolute star 🙌” shared another, echoing the sentiment of the copious fire emojis in the comments.

Keep on dancing with joy and passion, Mariandrea! We can’t wait to see more from you. (You can follow her on Instagram if you want to see what she’s done up to now. It’s impressive.)

Billie Eilish, along with her brother Finneas, has written some of the most beloved songs of the past few years. However, if you ask her, as Apple Music’s Zane Lowe just did in a new interview today, songwriting really isn’t her strongest skill, at least not as strong as her abilities as a performer.

The conversation spawned from Eilish praising Finneas’ writing skill/habits and comparing them to her own, saying:

“Dude, Finneas is so annoying. Finneas can make… Finneas can work anytime. The dude doesn’t get a break, like, within himself. He doesn’t need it. For me, I kind of go through phases of feeling really creative and actually getting stuff done, and then go through phases of absolutely nothing at all, musically. The creativity works in other ways, but musically, Finneas is just… the guy can write so fast and so well and so often and constant. It’s his way of expressing himself and it’s really kind of his only way, and so I think that’s a big part of it. For me, I have a lot of ways of expressing myself that I find myself good at, and maybe better at, and feel really confident at. And for Finneas, songwriting is just, like, his tool.”

Lowe then asked if Eilish feels she’s better at expressing herself through means other than songwriting and she replied, “Yes [laughs]. Absolutely!” Lowe asked for an example and Eilish responded, “I feel like I’m a better performer than a writer. I feel like maybe singing is more my… like I feel more… I don’t know.”

After Lowe pushed back on Eilish perhaps selling her songwriting abilities short, Eilish continued, “I go through these many, many months where I’m like, ‘I don’t write songs, I haven’t written songs in a long time.’ And then I’ll sit down and I’ll write.”

Check out the full interview above.

If there is one thing Dakota Johnson is known for, it is unleashing absolute chaos everywhere she goes, including The Ellen DeGeneres Show and her own kitchen which at one point contained a bowl of limes, which she later revealed she is allergic to. So it makes sense that Netflix’s adaptation of the beloved Jane Austen novel Persuasion is the most chaotic Jane Austen adaptation ever made, which includes Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Wishbone the dog as Mr. Darcy on Wishbone, and a 2003 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice set in the modern-day Mormon community.

In Netflix’s Persuasion, directed by Carrie Cracknell with a screenplay by Ron Bass and Alice Victoria Winslow, Dakota Johnson at her absolute most Dakota Johnson plays Anne Elliot, a woman who is reunited with her former fiance, Captain Wentworth, after eight years. Anne was in love and wanted to marry Captain Wentworth but was encouraged by her family to end the engagement because he was poor. The film is a beautiful nightmare, a period piece that looks pleasant but sounds like nails on a chalkboard with dialogue that sounds like it was created by a Twitter meme generator. It feels more inspired by Jane Austen TikTok than Jane Austen. It’s bad but ultimately an entertaining if occasionally cringe-worthy piece of cinema that showcases the best of what Johnson has to offer.

Here’s why you should watch Dakota Johnson in Persuasion on Netflix. You’ve been warned: pretty much every reason is Dakota Jonhson.

Dakota Johnson is ready for the year 2022

In Persuasion, Johnson has side swept, perfectly conditioned bangs and a British accent inspired by watching Love, Actually once every holiday season. She looks like she just got her makeup done at a Brooklyn Sephora, with freshly manicured eyebrows at a Benefit brow studio. This is, of course, a movie, and movie stars have, from the very early days of Hollywood, been done up in a way that is most appealing to them and modern beauty standards, but the lengths Persuasion goes to not make Johnson and other characters feel of the period is so absurd that it almost feels like a troll.

Dakota Johnson in her Jim Halpert era

For better or worse, Persuasion breaks the fourth wall, with Johnson looking at the camera at many moments as if the year is 2006 and this is the set of NBC’s hit workplace comedy The Office and Sakota Johnson is not Anne Elliot, Jane Austen heroine, but Jim Halpert, a paper salesman with a crush on the secretary, a nerdy nemesis, and a tendency to side eye cameras at opportune moments.

The dialogue sounds like it was written by a Twitter meme bot or a TikTok teen (perhaps both)

Did they use the word playlist in the early 19th century? None of us were around then, so who’s to say definitely whether or not a woman in 1800s England would describe a collection of music sheets as a playlist. I don’t recall using the word playlist until the invention of Spotify in 2011, though. Before that, we called them “burned CDs.”

Exes is suddenly a word that exists within the Austen canon

You almost have to respect the shameless audacity of the Persuasion screenplay. Defying its own tone and setting, the screenplay sprinkles (read: pouring) modern language including abbreviations (exes) and meme formats (he’s a 10) into a film that also contains dialogue ripped word for word from Austen’s novel. This film probably would have been better in every way if it was just set in the present day, but they refused.

Behold, more Dakota Johnson staring at the camera

Dakota Johnson has become an icon for many things: her love of limes, her lime allergy, and her bangs. But her most iconic moment as a celebrity unfolded for all the world to see on November 27, 2019, when she appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and called Ellen Degeneres a liar. Johnson did not care about calling out the daytime host, who antaogonized the actor on air for not inviting her to her birthday party even though she was invited. “That’s not the truth, Ellen” made Johnson an instant icon and spawned one of the internet’s only good memes. In Persuasion, Jonhson gives the camera the Ellen death stare energy, in a way that almost redeems the film’s glaring flaws, and suggests that she hates this movie as much as everyone else does.

Dakota Johnson speaking Italian

In a scene that contains the sentence, “how do I prioritize self-care with everyone around me constantly bidding for my attention,” Johnson speaks Italian while rolling her eyes. Acting has never been better than this, folks. I am no expert on Italian accents, but Johnson’s Italian sounds better than her meandering British accent.

Hot and boring men

In Persuasion, protagonist Anne Elliot is faced with the ultimate conundrum: a weird somewhat reluctant love triangle between two hot men! The characters in Austen’s novel are appealing, with many layers that make Anne’s situation compelling and dramatic. But in this film which dumbs down Austen’s darkest novel to fleeting rom-com, Dakota Johnson has to pretend to be torn between two extremely hot men (Henry Golding and Cosmo Jarvis) who also happen to be extremely boring. It’s painful to watch but Johnson, sadly, plays it naturally.

Essentially, you should watch Persuasion because of Dakota Johnson

You are guaranteed to have a bad time watching Persuasion but the film, which is meant to play in the background while you do laundry or reorganize your closet or while you fan yourself during the heat wave we are currently experiencing, is a great showcase for Dakota Johnson, the one true king of not giving a sh*t.

A tried and true way to get people debating sports is to pit old teams against one another. For example: In a recent interview with Complex, Steph Curry laid out his case for why he thinks the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors would beat another legendary NBA team, the 1999-2001 Los Angeles Lakers.

“…if you could match up in some alternate universe, us versus the 2001 Lakers, obviously we feel like we can win,” Curry said in the lead-up to his gig hosting the ESPYs. “I don’t know who would guard Shaq but I don’t know who would guard me and Klay either. We rockin’ with that. And three is better than two.”

On the newest episode of “The Big Podcast with Shaq,” Shaquille O’Neal got the chance to respond to Curry. While he made sure to stress that Curry is his favorite player and the two are close, Shaq laid out the reasons why he thinks saying that is off-base.

“My team that went 15-1, that’s the best team ever created, cause we should’ve went 16-0,” Shaq said.

Shaq then noted that the arguments are basically laid out as follows: The belief of the Lakers is that the Warriors wouldn’t have anyone who could guard himself and Kobe Bryant, while Golden State would respond that Los Angeles wouldn’t have anyone who could guard Curry and Thompson, with the aforementioned line about three being worth more than two as the crux of their argument.

“Here’s my rebuttal: Once they get hot, ‘D-Fish, send ‘em to the hole, Imma lay their ass out, Steph, Klay, and KD’” Shaq said. “Imma touch they ass all the way up, and you know who I would’s gonna have a lot of points? The center, what’s his name?”

Shaq was then told that Draymond Green was listed as the center for that Warriors squad — while Zaza Pachulia normally started games at center, Green was at the heart of the team’s vaunted “Death Lineup.” As such, Shaq said that for Golden State to win, Green would need to reach 30 points.

The big man received some pushback that the Lakers had a “drop-off” after himself and Kobe, but Shaq did not think that would be an issue.

“There’s not a drop-off, cause they’re gonna have to double me,” Shaq said. “If they don’t double me, I’m going for 60 without the free throws.”

There is no way to ever figure out who is correct here, but it appears Shaq, Curry, and the other parties with a stake in this debate are having a good time.

Whether or not you live in Pennsylvania, you should be paying attention to its upcoming senatorial race, and not just because its outcome could help tip the balance of power in Washington, DC. But because it has turned into a social media bloodbath with PA native and all-around badass John Fetterman ferociously trolling former TV quack—and longtime New Jersey resident—Dr. Mehmet Oz at every turn. Imagine another Godzilla match-up movie, but in this case it’s Godzilla vs. a regular-sized moth (that also comes from New Jersey).

Fetterman has been dishing out sick burns for weeks (with beloved Philly institutions like Pat’s King of Steaks jumping on the trend), while Oz’s attempts to play along have ended in abject failure.

Fetterman’s most clever dig, and smartest investment, yet may very well have been paying for Jersey Shore star Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi to record a Cameo for Dr. Oz, letting him know how much Jersey loves him and assuring him that he’ll be back home soon.

Apparently, that tweet really struck a nerve with Oz, and for all the wrong reasons. As Vanity Fair reports, Oz got pretty darn upset that Snooki had helped Fetterman make the doc look a fool—and even went so far as to claim that Fetterman took “advantage of” the MTV reality show star, who once peed on herself on a dancefloor, then proceeded to pass out.

While recently chatting with Philadelphia radio staple Dom Giordano, Oz responded to the Fetterman-fronted, now-viral video of Snooki by complaining that “She’s been on my show. I know all these celebrities. I could actually have celebrities do my campaign for me.”

When asked about Fetterman’s main charge against him—that he’s NOT a Pennsylvanian—Oz claimed it really shouldn’t matter “if I happen to have a house here or there.” Except, yeah, it sort of does matter to the people of a state whether or not their elected representatives actually live there and understand its residents’ unique challenges.

While Oz does indeed now own a home in Pennsylvania, VF notes that it was only purchased this year. And as most people know, he misspelled the name of the town (it’s Huntingdon Valley, not Huntington Valley) on some paperwork.

As Caleb Ecarma wrote for Vanity Fair:

During a Monday Fox News appearance, the former celebrity doctor accused Fetterman of “hiding from voters for the last few months” and using “snarky posts written by consultants,” adding, “That’s why I’ve been asking him to get on the campaign trail, come play.” Fetterman returned to the campaign trail last week and is scheduled to attend his first in-person general election fundraiser on Thursday. He gave his first interview since the stroke to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette this week, where he said he is “feeling really good” and has “no physical limits” other than some continuing struggles with hearing.

Only Dr. Oz could make two words like “come play” sound totally f**king creepy. Unfortunately for him, he’s about to get his wish.

(Via Vanity Fair)

Between seasons three and four of Stranger Things, Hopper went from dad bod to…. Marvel actor bod. Being a prisoner in Russia (and as a result, a prisoner of a boring storyline) turned out pretty well for him physically. Many fans noticed this change, and actor David Harbour, who plays Hopper on the beloved Netflix series, explained his transformation in a lengthy Instagram caption.

“Many of you have asked about Hopper’s physical transformation from season 3 to season 4,” Harbour wrote, adding that he worked with a trainer for eight months who he continued to work with throughout the pandemic to maintain the physique (Stranger Things season four started shooting but pauses production for several months due to the coronavirus pandemic).

“All told it was a difficult and exciting ride, changing diet and exercise plans (or lack thereof),” Harbour wrote. “All told I lost over 75lbs. 265-270 in season 3 and all the way down to 190 when we shot. Recently ballooned up again to play jolly ole st. Nick in a flick I can’t wait for you to see this holiday season, so I am struggling to fight back down towards a good weight for wherever hopper ends up in season 5. All this up and down is not good for the body, and I’ll have to give it up soon, but it is such a fun part of the job to live in a different version of your skin for a while,” he said.

While you wait for Stranger Things season five, you can catch David Harbour as Santa Claus in the action/comedy film Violent Night from Universal Pictures. The film, which follows a group of mercenaries who attack a wealthy family on Christmas Eve, is expected to come out on December 2.