Month: October 2023

Britney Spears is cutting loose on social media. From her racy videos to her exotic choreography tutorials, Spears is reclaiming her joy for her forty-two million followers. Unfortunately not everyone finds her antics entertaining. On Tuesday, September 26, after a clip of knife-wielding Spears went viral, the police went to her home for a welfare check.

Although Spears insisted that people lighten up, ensuring that her seemingly dangerous choreography was safe, cops were sure to investigate the situation further. Following the encounter Saturday, September 30, Spears returned to social media with a striking message blasting the officers for their mistreatment.

Read her complete response below.

Is it a joke in the news again with wellness checks??? Come on, America … we’re cooler than that, right??? The officers came to my home and said they would not leave until they spoke to me as people do 4-minute performances with them. I am getting an apology. I’ve been bullied in my home for so long now…IT’S ENOUGH! Don’t talk about it, come on, let’s DO!!! As my mom does the silent treatment when paps ask questions about her own daughter, as if I’m in the wrong…nope, it’s an old game. People need to be responsible for their actions! It’s about power for cops.

Since the termination of her conservatorship, Spears has used her various social media platforms to let supporters into the inner workings of her new life.

The Cincinnati Bengals, having made back-to-back AFC Championship games, were expected to be one of the contenders once again this season, as Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, and that offense were supposed to be among the NFL’s best.

However, through four games the Bengals offense has been pretty dreadful, averaging 12.25 points per game through four games, including a pair of 3-point outings on their way to a 1-3 start. Sunday was yet another dismal effort, as they could only muster 211 total yards against the Titans in a 27-3 loss and afterwards, frustrations seemed to be mounting. Burrow has dealt with a lingering calf issue since training camp, but even beyond his health not at 100 percent, something has seemed off with Cincinnati’s offense. The line play has not been good, seemingly regressing from last year, and that’s contributed to inconsistency in the passing game and a fairly ineffective rushing attack.

As tends to happen when the offense isn’t performing, the Bengals star pass catcher Ja’Marr Chase doesn’t seem particularly pleased with being seen as part of the problem. After Sunday’s loss, in which Chase was among the few bright spots with 7 catches and 73 yards, Chase declared emphatically that he’s “always f**king open,” via WCPO’s Marshall Kramsky.

Chase is far from the first and will be far from the last star receiver to make such a declaration, and it is hard to pin much of their struggles on him. He had 12 catches for 141 yards a week ago and 7 for 73 on Sunday, meaning he’s probably not all that far off from the truth when he says he’s always open. The problem is, Burrow doesn’t have the time to get to him in his progression and also doesn’t have his normal mobility to extend plays and find his longtime favorite target dating back to their LSU days. It’ll be interesting to see if the Bengals can figure something out on offense in the next two weeks facing the Cardinals and Seahawks before they continue their NFC West tour with a showdown against the very good 49ers defense. Arizona certainly feels like a get-right spot to lower tensions, but if they sputter again against the Cardinals, we’ll see how Chase and others respond with tensions already high.

The Los Angeles Rams looked like they were headed for a blowout win in Indianapolis after running out to a 23-0 first lead early in the third quarter, but Anthony Richardson and the Colts had other ideas as they stormed back to tie the game in the closing minutes and force overtime.

The Rams won the coin toss, but needed to suddenly find some life offensively after stalling out for most of the second half, and were able to do so behind Matthew Stafford, Kyren Williams, and one of the breakout stars of the early season, Puka Nacua. Stafford found Williams on a few checkdowns to early in the drive to move it downfield into Indianapolis territory. Once there, the Rams faced a 3rd and 4 from just outside the red zone and Stafford found his favorite target of the first quarter of the season when Nacua got free on a coverage bust by the Colts against a bunched formation and strolled into the end zone for the game-winner.

There was clearly a miscommunication in the Colts secondary on who was going to carry the middle and who would jump to the flat, and both defenders jumped outside leaving the man who has 39 catches in his first four games in the NFL wide open in the middle of the field.

It’s the first touchdown of Nacua’s career, as he’s quickly established himself as a threat in the middle of the field and, in this instance, got some help from a bust and made the most of it by ending the game and avoiding a disastrous collapse on the road. It’s a tough way for the Colts to drop the game given their second half performance on both sides of the ball, but there still has to be some optimism in Indy, particularly with the way their rookie quarterback keeps making plays in big moments.

Reboots! They’re all the rage, and have been of ages now. Usually, though, they try to give the audience more of the same. Some, rare though it is, think outside the box. Indeed, fans of a certain ‘90s NBC favorite will be in for a bit of a shock when its own rehash returns to streaming or network or wherever it winds up.

In an interview with Vanity Fair (in a bit teased out by Entertainment Weekly), Mayim Bialik — actress, academic, author, and sometime Jeopardy! host — confirmed rumors that there’s a revival afoot for Blossom, the teen sitcom/dramedy that made her a star (after playing young Bette Middler in Beaches, that is).

“I’m happy to tell you that, yes, it’s true,” Bialik said. “All of the cast and the original creator and producers are on board, and we believe a reboot can and should exist once the strike ends.”

There’s one catch, though. “We’re hoping to reboot it not as a sitcom, though,” she revealed. “We want to bring back these interesting, deep characters—a child of divorce, a recovering drug addict, an alcoholic—to see them in a whole new way.”

It’s not a total stretch to see Blossom taking a more serious bent. The show, in which Bialik played a teen girl being raised by her single father (Ted Wass) with a friend named Six (Jenna von Oÿ), had a yen for “Very Special Episodes,” in which they seriously tackled the issues (with a couple token jokes). Even for an age in which lots of sitcoms popped up the occasional VSE, Blossom leaned into them more than most.

Bialik may have less time to focus on Blossom 2.0 than she did recently. She turned down the chance to host Celebrity Jeopardy! because of the then-ongoing WGA strike. Last week that strike came to a close after nearly five months, thus freeing her up to meet more people who had crushes on her when they were young.

(Via Vanity Fair and EW)

The Dolphins and Bills meet on Sunday in the most anticipated matchup of Week 4 in the NFL, as Miami was coming off of a 70-point performance against the Broncos, while Buffalo seemed to be finally finding its stride after a dismal opener in New York.

Early on, the game delivered on all fronts as the two teams combined to score touchdowns on the first five drives of the game, with Stefon Diggs breaking a 14-14 tie as he slipped behind the linebacker on a catch from Josh Allen on a crossing route in the middle of the field.

After the touchdown, Diggs decided to go celebrate with the good people of Buffalo, running over and snagging a couple cold beers and going full Stone Cold on them, smashing them together to shower the front row.

It’s an expensive celebration for whoever donated those two beers to the cause, but I’m sure they won’t mind as long as the Bills keep running it up on the Miami defense. Diggs wasn’t done with a huge first half as, after some rare punting from both teams, the Bills got the ball back and Allen again found Diggs, this time on the perimeter where he shed two tacklers before taking off down the sideline for a long touchdown to push Buffalo in front by 14.

This time there were no beers smashed in celebration by Diggs, but I’m sure there were some being sprayed in the crowd as Buffalo was feeling it in the first half against the red hot Dolphins.

On Saturday, a mere three hours before the deadline, Congress passed a stopgap spending measure to avoid a shutdown of the federal government — for the time being. All the bill does is delay matters for 45 days. Will the MAGA extremist wing, populated by the likes of professional nuisance Matt Gaetz, try to shut things down again? Almost certainly. And Democrats are already bracing for the next tussle.

Per Insider, John Fetterman — fresh off the even more important pickle over the Senate dress code — torched the MAGA twerps for sowing chaos instead of helping American citizenry.

“I voted at 8:30pm on a Saturday night, that’s my job. But the American people should never have to worry about their government shutting down,” Fetterman wrote in a statement. “Pushing the snooze button solves nothing, because these same losers will try to pull the same sh*t in 45 days.”

Fetterman added that he’s “done normalizing this dysfunction,” adding, “This is not entertainment, it’s governance. We must not allow the Freedom Caucus to turn our government into The Steve Wilkos Show.”

He was of course referring to the show that carries on the proud tradition of The Jerry Springer Show, where guests may act like maniacs but at least they don’t heckle presidents as they’re talking about their dead sons, much less get handsy during a production of the Beetlejuice musical.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shared similar sentiments, saying there aren’t any “moderates in the Republican party” any more, “just different degrees of fealty to Donald Trump.” She also compared their desperate antics to thwart Democrats to an out-of-control Roomba, desperately searching for a “door that Democrats opened.”

For now, though, the federal government is up and running and Matt Gaetz is already plotting Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy’s ouster — unless he gets expelled first.

(Via Insider)

After winning seemingly every close game they found themselves in a year ago, the Minnesota Vikings have had the opposite luck to start the 2023 NFL season. Minnesota came into Sunday’s game at Carolina with an 0-3 record with all three losses by six points or fewer, and it’s been an incredibly frustrating start for a team that’s been, statistically, among the best offenses in the league but cannot get out of its own way in key moments — or off the field defensively.

That continued on Sunday when they marched down the field on their opening possession, but Kirk Cousins tried to go to the flat route late and got jumped by Sam Franklin who took it 99 yards to the house. Along the way, he had to get by Cousins who was trying to prevent a pick-six, but Franklin was able to pedal down and let a teammate absolutely blow up Cousins before jogging to the end zone for the first score of the game.

It’s a real insult to injury moment for Cousins, who not only made a dreadful throw for the pick — you can never be that late on that long a throw — but then made a genuinely strong effort to run it down, only to get smoked by a (clean) block. This won’t help Minnesota’s cause as they look to finally pick up a win, and if they fall short in a one score game once again it won’t be hard to figure out what score will get blamed for the loss this time.

After months of nothing happening on the trade front, the Eastern Conference has seen some seismic shifts over the past week.

First, the Milwaukee Bucks traded Jrue Holiday, Grayson Allen, and picks and pick swaps to Portland for Damian Lillard, pairing the All-NBA guard with Giannis Antetokounmpo. Then on Sunday, Holiday was traded back East to the Boston Celtics for Robert Williams, Malcolm Brogdon, and two first round picks, giving the Celtics a point guard upgrade and bringing in a high-level defender to deal with Dame and the Bucks.

With those moves, the Bucks and Celtics have cemented their status as the heavy favorites in the East, creating a clear separation from the rest of the conference. Teams like Philadelphia and Miami now face an uphill battle in challenging for the East crown, with the Heat failing to land Lillard (or Holiday) as hoped, while the Sixers are dealing with their own trade request from James Harden that leaves them without a clear direction as camp gets set to begin.

With all of that going on, Joel Embiid couldn’t help but fire off a tweet after Holiday’s trade to Boston laughing off how this offseason’s gone for him, as he’s seen his two top competitors get better while his co-star asked out.

Few NBA players are funnier on social media than Embiid, who isn’t afraid to chuckle at himself and the circumstances he finds himself in here. He knows the reality of the situation and is taking it in stride in the only way he can, with a laugh and then will try to get to work the next week to figure out how to close that gap with the teams up top.

Matt Gaetz has sure been in the news a lot lately. The Florida representative was one of the main characters in the recently averted government shutdown, duking it out with Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, whom he absolutely does not like one bit. After McCarthy sided with Democrats to get a short-term extension, Gaetz was quick to vow he would formally introduce measures to oust him from his gig. But it turns out Gaetz may be the one expelled.

In a report by CNN (in a bit caught by Mediaite), an unnamed House Republican said the caucus was up to here with the meddlesome nuisance. The source pointed to the Ethics Committee investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, and other abuses, which was revived over the summer. Should investigators conclude that Gaetz is guilty, his colleagues may try to expel him for good.

“We want him out,” said the anonymous member.

They’re not the only one sick of Gaetz. Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich spoke to other House Republicans, one of whom said, “No one can stand him at this point. A smart guy without morals.”

Has this left Gaetz spooked? Of course not. Often priding himself on how unpopular he is among the chamber, he responded to these threats with a meme, superimposing his face upon Keanu Reeves’ in the poster for John Wick: Chapter 2, which features the actor surrounded by assassins wielding guns.

After all this mess has concluded, who will be out on the street: McCarthy? Gaetz? Both? For now, though, Americans don’t have to worry about the MAGA wing erasing the federal government again — at least for another month-and-a-half.

(Via CNN and Mediaite)

When the Portland Trail Blazers traded Damian Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks for a package featuring Jrue Holiday, the expectation was for the star guard to be on the move once again, with contenders lining up to land one of the best perimeter defenders in the league.

Sure enough, on Sunday morning a deal got done to send Holiday back to the East to the Bucks’ top competition in Boston, as the Celtics made a big time offer to bring Holiday in. Boston will send two first round picks along with Robert Williams III and Malcolm Brogdon to Portland in exchange for Holiday, who figures to serve as Marcus Smart’s replacement.

It’s a big swing from the Celtics, who now add an elite defender to try and deal with Dame and the other top guards in the East. In the process they do give up some frontcourt depth and an excellent rim protector in Williams, although Williams only played 35 games a year ago and durability has been a concern. Adding Holiday gives the Celtics a truly spectacular top six with Holiday, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, and Kristaps Porzingis, but like the Bucks, they will have some depth questions. Even so, they’ll have plenty of lineup versatility with those six players, capable of playing big or small with tons of switchability throughout the roster on defense and lots of offensive firepower.

For Portland, they bring in two more first round picks, as well as a veteran guard to help provide some leadership for their backcourt and another very good frontcourt player for a robust center rotation along with the newly acquired Deandre Ayton. Williams and Brogdon both, health pending, figure to be movable at the deadline for more assets as they both should have value to other contenders, as the Blazers continue breaking the Dame trade into other potential deals.