Month: August 2022

When the summer of 2022 began, prices at the gas pump were pretty dire. Hitting a record nationwide average of $5.02 per gallon on June 14, gasoline became a bigger chunk of every family’s budget and was particularly painful for people who had planned summer road trips to save over flying.

But since that peak, prices have steadily dropped to an average of $3.89 per gallon as of August 23. In fact, the price of gas has fallen every day for 70 days straight, which is the longest consecutive downward streak since January of 2015, according to Bloomberg. Prices vary by location, of course, but that prolonged drop is great news for our pocketbooks.

u201cBREAKING: Gas prices have FALLEN for 70 straight days u2014 according to AAA, the national average is now $3.89/gal.u26fdufe0fu201d

— Jon Cooper (@Jon Cooper)
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Why are prices dropping, though? It depends on who you ask.

The Biden administration has touted the president’s policies for the price decline, but the reality is a lot more complicated. Every president is quick to take credit for lowering gas prices and every political opponent is quick to blame them for rising gas prices. Unfortunately, our penchant for partisan side-taking tends to push us to follow suit.

But presidents actually have very little control over gas prices or the factors that influence them. Global crude oil prices, which have the greatest influence on prices at the pump, are mostly out of a president’s control.

“No administration really has a lot of sway over gas prices,” Andrew Gross, a spokesman for the AAA, told Factcheck.org. Severin Borenstein, faculty director of the Energy Institute at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, told Politifact, “By far the biggest driver is the price of crude oil, which is driven by supply and demand factors. A strong global economy, which presidents can influence slightly, is likely to increase demand and drive up prices.”

The global economy and crude oil prices have been affected by all kinds of things, from the COVID-19 pandemic driving down demand in 2020 to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, causing instability in the global energy market. President Biden has also released record amounts of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to try to mitigate the price spike, but gas prices have been up all over the world, and even with our prices remaining higher than average, our gas prices are still lower than most of the world.

The truth is complex. Lower gas prices are certainly good for our individual, immediate bottom line, of course, but focusing solely on our own savings ignores a host of other implications. For instance, higher gas prices can cause people to drive less, which is actually a positive for the environment. On the other hand, people who can’t afford those higher prices but who have no choice but to buy gas suffer disproportionately from higher prices, making price fluctuations an equity issue as well. Sometimes low gas prices can be a bad sign, as was the case during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

And despite the long streak of falling prices, industry experts and former government officials say that prices could go back up again. So for now, let’s just say yay that prices have been falling for a while, celebrate saving some money and keep working on ways to lessen our dependence on oil and gas so these prices aren’t as big a factor in our lives.

Elephants are truly fascinating creatures. They have the largest brain of any land animal and almost three times as many neurons as a human. They use tools, have extraordinary memories and are empathetic.

Elephants are even known to mourn their dead in a manner similar to humans. Or, just maybe, we mourn the dead just like elephants?

A new video taken at the Shendiao Wild Animal Nature Reserve in China shows a 25-year-old male elephant named Shan Mai proving that elephants are not only smart but can be courteous, too.

In the video, which has been seen more than 2 million times on Twitter alone, Shan Mai finds a shoe that was dropped by a child. He then locates the kid outside of his enclosure and returns the footwear. After giving the shoe back he waits for a beat anticipating the tip of a small handful of hay. It’s like they made a trade.

u201cThis elephant was up to the… tusk ud83dudc18 The animal returned a childu2019s shoe after it fell into its zoo enclosure in eastern Chinau201d

— NowThis (@NowThis)
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Many people replied to the tweet by praising the elephant’s intelligence and compassion. While others made the point that something so magnificent shouldn’t be behind bars in a zoo. “Aww the poor thing. Wish he was in the wild though,” daffodil wrote.

The video serves as a reminder of how incredible these animals are and why humans must work to protect them. According to the WWF the number of wild elephants on the planet has been cut in half over the last three generations and only 40,000 to 50,000 currently live in the wild.

Since the 1933 original film, King Kong has been both a menace and a secret sweetheart — a giant ape who has repeatedly terrorized New York City and even messed up some dinos and other freaky fare. He’s too big for the small screen, especially the latest iteration, who had to be made even larger so he could believably give Godzilla a what-fer. And yet one streamer is now looking to bring the hairy titan to the small screen.

As per Deadline, Disney Branded Content is in the early stages of developing King Kong (sure to be retitled later), a Disney+ series that will explore the big guy’s origin story. It’s being developed by James Wan’s Atomic Monster, with Paper Girls’ Stephany Folsom writing the scripts. Deadline says it both “brings the classic monster story into the modern age” while also exploring the “mythology of King Kong’s origin story and the supernatural mysteries of his home,” which is a little confusing, since origins stories tend to be set in the past.

This won’t be the first time Kong has made it to the small screen, though previous efforts have been animated. This will be live-action, and it will presumably feature the current version of the character, who debuted in 2017’s Kong: Skull Island, which was made in part so he could be absorbed into Legendary Pictures’ MonsterVerse and duke it out with Godzilla.

This new show will presumably answer some burning questions, like: How did he get so big? Are there other apes of such magnitude? If not, did they die? And why does he have a thing for tiny human women? Whatever the case, let’s hope it’s a mite better than this instantly forgotten straight-to-VHS cartoon movie released the same year as the 1998 remake of the Kong sorta-knock-off Mighty Joe Young.

(Via Deadline)

Lil Tjay has had a tough year so far. In the early morning of June 22, the rapper was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery after being shot multiple times. He regained consciousness and doctors removed his breathing tube a week after the surgery. Now, a mere two months later, he’s already emerging back into the rap world.

A new billboard in the Bronx today was spotted on Tuesday that reads: “I’M BACK. — Lil Tjay.” That’s all it says, but it’s an exciting message, especially coming from someone who nearly died not so long ago.

Lil Tjay’s shooting caused a stir in the hip hop world. For one, it sparked a controversial reaction from Tekashi 69, the troll-ish Brooklyn rapper who went from dominating the city’s brash street scene to being branded a snitch after testifying against some of his gangbanging cronies. He responded in the comments of an Instagram post about the shooting with a pair of crying emojis — one laughing, one sobbing. 6ix9ine, though, has always been known for mocking other rappers’ misfortunes, including taunting King Von’s friends after the Chicago rapper’s death and trolling Young Thug after his recent racketeering arrest — the same charges Tekashi himself narrowly dodged having to testify about.

John Boyega has been very vocal about his, shall we say, not-always-pleasant experiences in the Star Wars-verse. For one, he was hurt to find his role, as reformed Storm Trooper Finn, wound up not being as big as he hoped after The Force Awakens. For another, he — along with Kelly Marie Tran — became targets of racist attacks from the worst realms of Star Wars fandom. Still, he was heartened earlier this year when Disney finally learned their lesson.

When the spin-off Obi-Wan Kenobi bowed earlier this summer, one of its supporting players, Moses Ingram, became the latest non-white Star Wars actor to suffer racist attacks. This time, though, the Star Wars team was ready. Lucasfilm passionately defended Ingram, with star Ewan McGregor going so far as to say those who attack Ingram are “no Star Wars fan in my mind.” That meant a lot to Boyega.

“That’s the peace that I felt,” Boyega said on a recent appearance on Sirius XM’s Tell Me Everything With John Fugelsang. “Moses Ingram being protected makes me feel protected. Do you understand what I’m saying? It makes me feel like, ‘Okay, cool. I am not the elephant in the room.’ Because when I started, it wasn’t really a conversation you could bring up. You know how they went through it. It was kind of like, ‘Let’s just be silent.’ It wasn’t a conversation you could bring up. But now to see how blatant it is, to see Ewan McGregor come and support…It, for me, fulfills my time where I didn’t get the support.”

When asked if he was bitter that the company didn’t roll out the big guns for him, Boyega replied, “It doesn’t make me feel bitter at all. It makes me feel like sometimes you are that guy. And my dad taught me that. Sometimes you’re not the guy to get the blessing and sometimes you are Moses, you know, you lead the people to the mountain, but you see the destination. You don’t get to go in, you get others to go in. And that’s where you get your happiness from.”

In other words, Boyega’s happy that the company evolved since his Star Wars stint: “And for me to see other people accepted, and then at the same time to see that the studios now are like, ‘Okay, cool. This is not an elephant in the room conversation. We need to support our Black client.’ It’s fantastic.”

Boyega also noted that he’s “good” not playing Finn anymore. Besides, he’s found other things to do.

You can watch the actor’s Tell Me Everything With John Fugelsang appearance in the video below.

(Via Deadline)

One half of influential North Carolina hip-hop duo Little Brother, the gregarious Rapper Big Pooh is adding to his prolific solo output. With over a dozen projects under his belt as a solo artist, Pooh has just dropped his latest album, To Dream In Color. It plays out as a visceral and honest portrait of who the hip-hop lifer has become as a man.

“This is my most personal body of work,” Pooh said in a statement. “My hope is that listeners get a better sense of who I am as a person by actually hearing my story. I speak about lacking confidence, stage fright, swallowing pride, my childhood, and so much more.”

The album’s ten tracks feature appearances from J. Smash of The Nukez, Jared Evan, Blakk Soul, BeMyFiasco, and Tre’Mar. His partner in Little Brother, Phonte Coleman, even claims a writing credit on “Mother’s Day,” and the album artwork was done by Justus League’s Joe Scudda.

Check out the To Dream In Color album artwork and tracklist below.

1. “Dreaming In Color” (featuring J. Smash of The Nukez)
2. “Changing Again”
3. “Thoughts & Prayers” (Interlude)
4. “What Else”
5. “God’s Grace” (featuring Jared Evan)
6. “1 Day in NY”
7. “LS400”
8. “Broken Dreams” (featuring Blakk Soul)
9. “Mother’s Day” (featuring BeMyFiasco)
10. “In Surround Sound” (featuring Tre’Mar)

To Dream in Color is out now via Soulspazm Records. Listen/order it here.

There have been countless creative missteps in the congressional campaign of Dr. Mehmet Oz, but one was so bad it hurt him twice: His surreally misguided video about supermarket-shopping for “crudité.” He recorded it in April, and John Oliver was quick to demolish it. It was back in the news four months later as a late summer surprise, embarrassing Oz even more the second time. But it appears the TV star-turned-flailing candidate wants to keep it in the news, while showing what insensitive jerks he and his staff can be.

A week after the crudité video once again humiliated Oz, his campaign belatedly provided a what they appeared to think was a quippy comeback. But it wasn’t funny, not even by the trash-talking standards of a Trump-emulating politico.

“If John Fetterman had ever eaten a vegetable in his life, then maybe he wouldn’t have had a major stroke and wouldn’t be in the position of having to lie about it constantly,” Rachel Tripp, Oz’s senior communications advisor, told Insider in a statement.

It’s a jaw-dropping retort from several angles. For one, does Oz even know the Republican base, let alone scrapple-loving Pennsylvanians? If anyone found it funny, it wasn’t because they thought it was some brutal put-down. Instead, it was widely seen as yet another Clouseau-esque blunder by one of the worst political campaigns in memory.

Some pointed out that a doctor, even one as questionable as Dr. Oz, probably shouldn’t be joking about someone having a stroke.

Others thought it showed he was a bad candidate.

Others argued he was a bad (alleged) Pennsylvanian, who should know better than to insult the heart of the Snack Belt, and who’s already been roasted by one of Philadelphia’s legendary cheesesteak joints. (At least he didn’t insult Primanti Bros.)

Some called Oz and his campaign staff bad people.

There were assorted jokes.

And by the way, Election Day isn’t even until November.

In the meantime, such bizarre antics aren’t going to make the GOP, including its fearless semi-leader, any less mad.

Just a few weeks after it was announced that Capitol Records had signed an artificial intelligence rapper named FN Meka, the label dropped the project after hip-hop fans called out the decision online, according to longtime New York Times music reporter Joe Coscarelli. In a statement, Capitol Music Group wrote, “CMG has severed ties with the FN Meka project, effective immediately.”

The statement came after some critics called out the racist overtones implied by the virtual rapper, who had been depicted in scenes of police brutality on Instagram, and used racial slurs in its lyrics, which were written by an artificial intelligence program but performed by a real human. Capitol addressed these concerns in its statement as well. “We offer our deepest apologies to the Black community for our insensitivity in signing this project without asking enough questions about equity and the creative process behind it,” it reads. “We thank those who have reached out to us with constructive feedback in the past few days — your input was invaluable as we came to the decision to end our association with the project.”

FN Meka, which has 10.3 million followers on TikTok, has suspended its Instagram page as a result of the controversy; however, the team behind the project, “virtual” record label Factory New, has yet to respond. FN Meka is just one of a growing cadre of virtual characters being used to pitch both real and digital goods — such as NFTs — that includes the CGI influencers like Lil Miquela, Shudu, and Blawko. The intersection of AI and hip-hop has so far created a number of curios, like the Travis Scott bot and an Eminem AI deepfake song, which have prompted debate on the value of “real” musicians and art and their place in an increasingly digital landscape. Maybe they should have let Run The Jewels make the soundtrack to Blader Runner 2049, after all, because at this rate, we’ll all be living in a world resembling movies like Blade Runner, Ghost In The Shell, and The Matrix in no time.

Manchester United is coming off a triumphant Premier League win against Liverpool on Monday Night Football this week. The Red Devils (who are not being bought by Elon Musk) claimed goals from Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford, while holding strong following a late goal from Liverpool’s Mo Saleh to win 2-1, and noted Man U supporter, Stormzy, was in attendance. The star British rapper was hanging out on the pitch following the match when the Sky Sports postgame team grabbed his attention, spontaneously put a mic in his hands, and had Stormzy join the broadcast to talk about the win and his thoughts on Cristiano Ronaldo.

“Sorry, I’m a bit flustered right now,” he admitted with a laugh. “We was walking past, we were starstruck and somebody gave me a mic and now I’m here. Like, ‘Mom I made it!’” With his three nephews by his side, the crew asked him how he was feeling about the team’s performance. “That was amazing. That’s the best we’ve been this season….the best we’ve been for a long time,” he said before the subject turned to Cristiano Ronaldo and the hosts asked Stormzy what he thought about him. Considering Stormzy is one of the best in his craft as well, he gave an excellent answer that felt like it was meant to silence critics and pundits: “When you’re that great, you can’t speak on him. You just gotta let the man be great. That’s the GOAT. You gotta let the GOATs be the GOATs, man. You know what I mean?”

Stormzy’s disposition was all class. He was beyond hyped to be on the television broadcast with his nephews, adding, “This is sick though. Mans on telly with the boys! You made my whole year with this.”

Watch Stormzy’s full appearance on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football above.

Piers Morgan’s still perhaps best known stateside for his on-air temper tantrum over Meghan Markle, and he never sure seems to miss an opportunity to bash Prince Harry’s wife. The pro-monarchy braggadochio previously trashed her revelations about racially-charged bad vibes from the Royals, and amid all of his trolling, Piers also mentioned that Meghan was guilty of “ghosting” him after a pub date back in the day. He also lost it over her book, and it’s clear that (as the kids say) she lives in Piers’ head rent free.

People generally laugh at Piers when he rages over Meghan, and he’s living up to his reputation with his response to a very personal and emotional story. On Meghan’s new Spotify podcast (Archetypes), the Duchess of Sussex revealed that, while she and Prince Harry toured South Africa with their son, Archie, the heater in his bedroom sparked a fire. Despite the heaviness of that day and all of the tears that followed, Meghan was still required to make her scheduled royal appearance that evening, and she commented (via Newsweek) upon the whacked-out nature of those priorities:

“Someone happened to just smell smoke down the hallway, went in, fire extinguished. He was supposed to be sleeping in there.

“And we came back. And of course, as a mother, you go, Oh, my God, what? Everyone’s in tears, everyone’s shaken. And what do we have to do? Go out and do another official engagement? I said, ‘This doesn’t make any sense.’

“I was like, ‘Can you just tell people what happened?’ And so much, I think, optically, the focus ends up being on how it looks instead of how it feels.”

Piers saw the story circulating on Twitter, and four minutes after the initial link to an ITV News story, he was already criticizing Meghan. “Can you imagine the Queen whining about having to an an engagement in this circumstance?” Piers wrote. “Markle’s victimhood knows no bounds, nor does her thirst to trash the royals whilst making $$$ from them.” He further branded her “shameless & pathetic.”

As one might expect, people hopped all over Piers for clearly obsessing and thirsting over Meghan to this very day.

And still, Meghan’s still living her best life in Montecito while Piers rages.