Month: September 2022

New York City in 2022 is among the safest it’s ever been. Over the last 30 years, violent crime has plummeted, with murder, robbery, and burglary rates dropping dramatically. That said, compared to last year, most crime is up. Murder is still down, but NYPD figures show shocking rises in grand larceny, auto theft, and robbery. Rape is up 10% from 2021. This has happened under the watch of Mayor Eric Adams, a former NYPD captain who rose to power in part promising to get tough on crime. His pro-cop stance, in a time when police are under extreme scrutiny, has alienated him from some Democratic voters. Now he’s pissed off Fox News, too.

During a segment on The Five, Jeanine Pirro — the shouty judge-turned-far right commentator — went to town on Adams over the rising statistics.

“We weren’t here ten years ago. Why weren’t we here 20 years ago? The reason we weren’t is because we were a nation of law and order and consequence,” Pirro stormed. She then deemed Adams a “failure,” continuing:

Yeah, the guy’s a former police captain. Everybody said, yeah, streets are good, but you’re a failure. You talk the talk. You don’t walk the walk. You don’t call out Hochul. You don’t call out the legislature and say, change the bail laws. They’re coming out. They’re killing us.

Pirro was then challenged by Geraldo Rivera, who’s no stranger to deviating from the party line. “I respect his attempts to reign in violent crime,” he told Pirro.

“What attempt, tell me?” Pirro replied. When Rivera said Adams has reached out to New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Pirro interrupted him, saying, “He’s a pussy.”

As Rivera and other co-hosts chuckled, Pirro continued her war path. “When he came back to talk about that meeting,” she said. “This is what he said. He said, ‘I don’t want to talk to you about this.’ He didn’t want to talk to us about it because he didn’t do anything.”

When the Democratic mayor who’s hated by most Democrats has lost Judge Jeanine…

You can watch the segment in the video above.

(Via Mediaite)

For months, John Fetterman has relentlessly trolled Dr. Oz, his Pennsylvania Senate opponent, on many issues. But he’s frequently dwelled on one idea in particular: The former TV quack was, up until pretty recently, a Jersey boy. Now it turns out he’s not the only Republican candidate who’s spent most of his life voting in the Garden State.

As per New Jersey Globe, Doug Mastriano — the far-right MAGA gubernatorial candidate running against Doug Shapiro — was a registered voter in New Jersey up until (wait for it) July of 2021. That’s around the same time that Oz hightailed it from Jersey to Pennsylvania, then launched a surprising-to-many run as a Trumpian candidate.

Mastriano has been a registered Jersey voter since 1982, when he turned 18, and while he hasn’t voted in a primary election since 1985, he voted in most general elections up till 2010. Then he stopped voting. He was removed as an active voter last year after he sent a sample ballot back to election officials with a handwritten note, reading, “Return to sender. Moved to PA.”

When Mastriano’s voting record was made public, Fetterman had a joke at the ready: a meme photoshopping both Oz and Mastriano in front of the Broadway musical Jersey Boys.

While Oz has his faults (boy, does he), Mastriano is on another level. Mastriano was involved with the Jan. 6 protests, though he claims he did not storm the Capitol. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg. He’s against any form of abortion, including in cases of rape and incest or even to save the life of the mother. He’s suggested that he would only certify Pennsylvania’s presidential election results if a Republican candidate wins. He wants to slash public education, deport illegal immigrants to Wilmington, Delaware, and has ties to far-right extremists and militias. He doesn’t believe in climate change but does believe in pseudoscientific gay conversion therapy. A photo of him wearing a Confederate uniform was recently unearthed, and though he’s lagging in the polls, he could still be the governor of a swing state.

(Via New Jersey Globe)

Back in 2005, the Keanu Reeves vehicle Constantine did alright. A very American take on the very British comic Hellblazer, it made a decent amount of money and got mixed reviews. Then it disappeared. There was no sequel. But over the years it’s gained a reputation, all while Reeves’s star has gotten arguably bigger than ever. Not long ago, HBO Max wanted to revive Constantine as a new show. But now Warner Bros. has decided to make things easy and just bring Reeves back for a sequel.

As per Variety, the studio is getting most of the old gang back together, reuniting Reeves with the original film’s director, Francis Lawrence, who went on to helm I Am Legend, Red Sparrow, and three Hunger Games entries. He’s also directing the prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, so don’t expect Constantine 2 any time soon.

That means the Constantine show — which was to feature a non-white version of John Constantine, the chainsmoking big city occult detective, who can literally go to hell — has been put on indefinite hold. Ditto Madame X, about the DC sorceress Madame Xanadu. That doesn’t mean both will never happen; they simply have to find new, non-HBO Max homes, as Warner Bros. Discovery goes through some things. In the meantime, let’s hope they bring back the film’s stacked supporting cast, including Rachel Weisz, Tilda Swinton, Djimon Hounsou, and — that’s right — Bush vocalist Gavin Rossdale.

(Via Variety)

The Nebraska Cornhuskers are looking for a new head football coach. On the heels of last week’s 45-42 loss to Georgia Southern, the university opted to part ways with Scott Frost, who made a nasty habit of losing very close games during his tenure in Lincoln. A former national championship winning quarterback for the Huskers, Frost went 16-31 and 10-26 in conference play after returning to his alma mater from UCF to much fanfare.

It’s led to plenty of questions about who Nebraska can hire. Firing Frost gave them more time to figure things out, but on Saturday, a number of the school’s fans made pretty clear there’s one name at the top of their list: Urban Meyer. Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff is in Lincoln ahead of the team’s game against Oklahoma on Saturday, and at one point, Meyer — who is an analyst for Fox Sports — got serenaded by Cornhuskers fans.

A little later in the show, Fox brought The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman onto the show to run through potential candidates and Meyer’s name didn’t come up.

Meyer is one of the most decorated coaches in college football history, as he has recorded a 187-32 record during his time with Bowling Green, Utah, Florida, and most recently, Ohio State. He is a three-time national champion, having won two titles with the Gators and one with the Buckeyes. His last stop as a coach was not nearly as successful, as Meyer made the jump to the NFL last year to serve as the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. After going 2-11 and watching him get embroiled in a number of off-field controversies, the Jags decided to fire Meyer.

Kid Cudi seems to be a fan of Abbott Elementary. In a TikTok video uploaded by actress Sheryl Lee Ralph‘s son, Etienne Maurice, Ralph, who plays Barbara Howard on Abbott, reveals to her son that Cudi sent her flowers following her winning the award for Best Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series at the Emmys.

Maurice reads the message sent with the flowers, which says, “Congrats Sheryl, you are a legend, and watching you and Quinta [Brunson] win was truly inspiring. Your speech was everything. Always rooting for you…Looking forward to meeting you one day.”

It’s hard to tell who’s more excited; Ralph or her son. But nonetheless, Maurice is grateful that his mother is receiving her flowers (in both the figurative and literal sense).

“Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think one of my favorite artists of all time would be sending flowers to my mom,” he said in the post’s caption. “I know this is about my Mom, but @KidCudi, my mother wouldn’t know who you were if I wasn’t blasting your music on my way to school in the morning or her buying tickets to see you for my high school graduation. I am your fan from DAY 1 bro bro. Thank you for showing love to moms. You are loved my g.”

The second season of Abbott Elementary premieres on ABC next Wednesday, 9/21 at 9 p.m. EST

Drake and music critic Anthony Fantano appear to be having a war of the words. Earlier this week, Drake took to his Instagram story to share a series of messages he sent to Fantano, mocking the rating system he uses on his YouTube channel to rate and review albums.

“Your existence is a light 1,” said Drake in an Instagram DM to Fantano. “And the 1 is cause you are alive. And cause you somehow wifed a black girl. I’m feeling a light to decent 1 on your existence.”

Fantano, who has been openly critical of Drake’s music for years, had taken to YouTube earlier to share a video called “Drake Slid In My DMs.” In the video, he shares screenshots of fake DMs of a vegan recipe. Drake’s actual messages seem to be a response to this.

Later this evening, Fantano shared a video called “The Drake Situation,” in which, he assures viewers that while he maintains his stances on Drake’s music, he has no animosity toward the rapper.

“I really do not have anything personal against Drake,” Fantano said. “Do I think he’s made some very mediocre records over the years? Yes. He’s made some really good and great ones as well. It’s always the negative [reviews] that stick out in people’s minds the most, I guess. But that’s kind of the nature of reviews, kind of the nature of criticism, I suppose.”

Fantano continues, reiterating that the fake recipe screenshots were meant as a lighthearted joke, and expressed hope that the two could “bury the hatchet in private.”

Toward the end, Fantano said he’s “looking forward to more Drake music in the future.”

Check out the full video above.

For Bad Bunny‘s latest visual, the reggaeton superstar highlights important issues affecting his homeland. The video for “El Apagón” is accompanied by a 22-minute mini-film titled Aquí Vive Gente, which translates to People Live Here. Throughout the video, viewers see clips of protestors taking to the streets of Puerto Rico, responding to a multitude of social, political and economic issues.

The video is narrated by Puero Rican reporter Bianca Graulau, and throughout the short film, Bad Bunny brings attention to crises like summertime blackouts by privatized energy companies, as well as rent increases across the island, and wealthy foreigners receiving tax cuts. Clips also cover displacement, gentrification, and various forms of modern colonialism.

Bad Bunny, who grew up in Baja, Puerto Rico, maintains an affinity for his homeland, however, he often uses his platform to speak on issues the Island’s people are facing. In a recent interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Bunny mentioned the summertime blackouts, and revealed he’s had to bring in special equipment in order to perform in his home country.

“Puerto Rico is the only place [I perform where I have to] install like 15 industrial power generators, he said, “because I can’t trust the power grid. LUMA, go to hell.”

Check out the video for “El Apagón” above.

Earlier this year, Kanye West‘s three-part docu-series, Jeen-Yuhs, premiered on Netflix. The docu-series spans over 20 years of his career, including his time collaborating with producer Just Blaze at Roc-A-Fella records. At one point in the documentary, Ye calls Blaze his best friend and his archenemy.

On an episode of Uproxx’s The People’s Party With Talib Kweli podcast, Blaze spoke with the host, revealing that he understands where the comments came from.

“I can see why he would look at it as the ‘archnemesis’ thing,” Blaze said to Kweli. “I guess it kinda was that, ’cause a lot of archnemeses…a lot of times they’re actually guys that are friends. Most of the classic super-villain/superhero stories, there’s a friendship there.”

Blaze continued, saying, “Some people like to spin the narrative, ‘Oh, they were super competitive, they were out there duking it out,’ I never, I honestly never looked at it like that. Like, he would call me to ask me, ‘Yo, how did you get your horns to sound like this on this record, I’m trying to figure that out,’ right?”

Elsewhere in the episode, Blaze revealed that he and West haven’t spoken in a while, not out of bad blood, but rather due to going separate paths. Though in 2021, West accused Blaze of copying his production style, though Blaze remained peaceful on the matter.

Check out the full episode above.

The concept of being an introvert versus an extrovert is a fairly new one. Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung first came up with both terms in the early 1900s, and from the get-go, it was understood that people’s personalities generally fell somewhere between the two extremes.

Nowadays introverts are often mislabeled as being antisocial, which isn’t necessarily true. Going off of the Jung definition, introverted people simply orient toward their “internal private world of inner thoughts and feelings”—unlike extroverts, who “engage more with the outside world of objects, sensory perception, and action.”

Most introverts will tell you, it’s not that we hate people. We just find them … draining. What we tend to detest are things like trivial small talk and the cacophony of large groups. But even that, many introverts can turn on for, enjoy even … so long as we can promptly go home afterwards and veg out.

Being introverted is certainly not unique—up to half of the entire population is estimated to be introverted. Heck, it’s even a trait for animals. And it’s certainly not a weakness. Many notable leaders were known for being reserved. However, the world is often made to favor extroversion, making it hard for introverts to be understood, let alone valued.

Reddit user Sarayka81 asked for introverts to share their “nightmare situations.” The answers are an eye-opening (and pretty hilarious) glimpse into how one person’s idea of normal, or even fun, can be another person’s torture.

Enjoy 15 of the best responses. Introverts, beware.

---

1. Public marriage proposals

“I’ve told every partner so far, if you propose in public I will turn it down.” – @AngelaTheRipper

“All those youtube videos of these big proposals, like a whole dance routine pop up…everyone is like ‘omg what a great gesture!’ No. no. no.” – fearme101

2. Afterparties

“You mean there’s more stuff to do after the stuff we planned on doing? I only have so much energy to deal with people and it was already used up.” – @Nyctomancer

3. Being picked out of the crowd to speak

“People who just raise their hand to be chosen are true heroes.” – @Chogolatine

4. Unexpected visitors

“As a child my worst nightmare was when my parents got visitors and I’m stuck upstairs hungry and thirsty because I can’t access the kitchen.” – @mikasott

“Ask them nicely, ‘would you kindly REMOVE yourself from my personal space.‘” – @GDog507

“But that requires talking to them.” – @StinkyKittyBreath

5. Introducing yourself

“I get locked jaw when this happens. Along with sweaty palms and cold sweat.” – @ellisonjune

6. Multiple conversations at once

“I was at a conference where everyone is doing the circle thing and I was chatting with some people about some interesting, but pretty dry, industry topics. All of the sudden I hear someone in another conversation circle say something along the lines of: ‘Yeah man, gorillas will rip your head off.’

All of the sudden, I can’t concentrate on my current conversation and my brain tunes into the gorilla conversation instead. I could not for the life of me tune back into my main conversation.” – @reAchilles

7. Running into someone you know in a public place

“All you want to do is read your book, but there’s no way out and you decide to put up a brave front. Already you can hear the office gossip in your head: ‘Oh my God, guess who I was stuck on the train with…’Nightmare fuel. Work from home was a blessing in this regard.” – @jew_bisquits

8. Singing “Happy Birthday” at a restaurant

“This shouldn’t be legal” – @Chogolatine

9. Surprise parties

“I’m essentially the 49th wheel at my own party. Kill me now.” – @Anneboleyn33

10. Being talked over

“Especially when the only thing the person interjects with is filler or exclamatory flurry that adds nothing to the conversation while stifling any other contribution. Things like ‘yes girl yes!’ or ‘I can’t believe that!’ or …even loud forced laughter – really any noise interjected in that space to make it seem like they’re contributing or listening instead of actually participating.” – @torn_anteater

11. Networking events

“Don’t forget to come up with a fun fact!” – @sub_surfer

12. Extroverts who just don’t get it

“‘Wanna hang out this Saturday?’

‘Sure!’

… Saturday arrives, 10 minutes before hangout time …

‘Oh also I invited my friend you have never met before to join us.'” – @drflanigan

13. Phone calls

“Receiving and twice as bad having to make one.” – @Isand0

14. Impromptu work presentations

“I need like a couple days to prepare myself for any speaking engagement lol.” – @koriroo

15. Party games that involve small talk

“‘Who’s up for two truths and a lie?’

Thinks … Can they all be lies? No … What are the most boring truths I can think of so no one comes up to talk to me after this?‘” – @littlewittlediddle

Though only four months have passed since Becky G released her sophomore album, Esquemas, the Latin-pop icon has dropped a new single. On her latest, “Amantes,” which is the Spanish word for “lovers,” Becky collaborates with Daviles De Novelda, incorporating flamenco and rap sounds, blending them with bachata rhythms.

The song is Becky’s first bachata song, on which, she and De Novelda, seek to rehabilitate a past love.

Over the course of her decade in the game, Becky has evolved her sound. Known initially for viral pop hits, like “Shower” and “Break A Sweat,” Becky has become a staple in Latin music, as she’s made a name for herself in the genre with reggaeton tracks like “Sin Pijama” with Natti Natasha, “Mamiii” with Karol G, and now, “Amantes.”

While she’s been putting out music since she was a teenager, Becky, 25, revealed in an interview with Teen Vogue that she feels like she’s just getting started.

“The true artist at heart knows that I want to keep going,” she said. “I want to keep learning. I’m that little sponge that just loves to absorb anything that I can, understanding the meaning and the why of something. And so, I’m excited for what’s to come because I know that the opportunities can be made into something even more beautiful. It’s humbling as hell.”

Check out “Amantes” above.