Month: July 2024

Over the past few years, Britney Spears has spent an ungodly amount of time in court (just look at her conservatorship battle). But rumors claim that the “Mind Your Business” singer was prepared to return, this time over her musical works.

However, yesterday (July 26), Britney Spears shut down the claims that she launched a lawsuit against fellow entertainer Halsey over their “Lucky” single.

“Fake news, that was not me on my phone. I love Halsey and that’s why I deleted it ,” she wrote.

Before the track’s release or video, which both sampled elements of Spears’ 2000 song, Halsey told friends they received the approval from their idol.

So, when outlets such as TMZ initially reported a potential legal battle brewing, supporters were confused. But now that Spears has refuted those whispers, all is good between the pop babes.

Halsey even took to their X (formerly Twitter) page to echoed Spears’ admiration. “And I love Britney,” they wrote. “I always have and always will you were the first person who ever made me realize what it means to feel inspired. And you continue to inspire me every day.” they replied.

Watch Halsey’s official Britney Spears-inspired video for “Lucky” above.

After the typical flurry of action in the opening week of the NBA offseason, things have slowed to a crawl and a handful of players who thought they might be in for a big contract this summer have been left to re-evaluate their situation. Among them is Tyus Jones, who was hoping to get paid like a starting point guard, either by the Wizards or someone else, but found that cap space had dried up and no one was interested in a sign-and-trade to land him on a high-priced long-term deal.

As a result, Jones had to make a decision on how best to move forward. He could’ve sought out a portion of someone’s mid-level or looked to return to Washington on a team-friendly, tradeable contract, but determined his best pathway to a big deal was to prove himself on a contender. On Saturday, word broke that he was headed to Phoenix on a 1-year, $3.3 million deal (his veteran minimum) to fill the massive hole on the Suns roster for point guard help.

Last year, the Suns operated without a true point guard for most of the season, with Devin Booker taking on the starting unit’s point guard responsibilities (and handling them fairly well). It was pretty clear by the time they got ousted by the Timberwolves in the first round that they were in desperate need of better organization on offense. The question was how they’d upgrade that point guard spot with just minimums at their disposal, but they’ve done quite well adding Monte Morris and now Tyus Jones, who is, at minimum, a fringe starter caliber guard. Getting one of those for the min is tremendous value, and while the Suns hopes for a title rest on the shoulders of their stars playing at their peak level, adding Jones undoubtedly raises their floor in the regular season.

For Jones, he gets a chance to prove he can be a big contributor on a contending team. If he performs well in that role and the Suns make a playoff run, he won’t be waiting around for a minimum next summer.

For anyone who thinks stories of sexual harassment and assault are complicated, writer Maura Quint has a story for you. Actually, she has quite a few.

Quint posted a thread on her Twitter account that quickly went viral in which she talked about a number of real-life encounters with men that started out sexual, involved her expressing disinterest, and the men responding appropriately.

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It wasn’t an unrealistic hero’s tale of men handing over the keys to their autonomy. Rather, Quint’s incredible thread made it clear that the only variable in cases of assault vs. non-assault are when a man doesn’t respect the autonomy of the woman he’s propositioning.

Her thread opens up in an all-too-familiar tone, where we’re led to believe it will go to an incredibly dark place:

Instead, Quint says her indifference to his proposition was met in kind with a guy just acting in a basic, non-rapey way:

She goes on to offer several other examples of being in sexual or potentially sexual situations with men who also managed to not sexually assault her:

And here’s the real kicker, Quint says she has been assaulted. To her, the difference isn’t hard to pinpoint:

Her thread has been re-tweeted nearly 50,000 times and “liked” more than 100,000 times. Other women and some men jumped in with their own tales of drinking, partying and still, somehow, managing to not assault or even harass the women they encountered.

It’s a stark contrast to the half-baked defenses of Brett Kavanaugh and other men like him. There are incredibly rare exceptions where a man is accused of assault or harassment and he is entirely free of guilt. But for women, or anyone for that matter, who has survived sexual assault or experienced sexual harassment, there is no “gray area.”

There’s being OK with assault and then there’s everything else. Whether or not we’re consciously aware of this, we’ve all chosen a side. But if you’re on the wrong side, it doesn’t have to be that way forever.

This article originally appeared on 10.02.18

The Olympics is a time for each nation to firmly stand in their patriotism. However, there’s one musician that transcends boarders—Celine Dion.

Yesterday (July 26), the “My Heart Will Go On” singer made her joyous return to the stage since her Stiff-Person Syndrome diagnosis during the 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony.

As emotional as the moment was for Celine, it was equally moving for viewers, including Kelly Clarkson. As a special commentator of the broadcast, Clarkson held back tears watching Celine sing given her documented condition.

Alongside fellow guest anchors, Mike Tirico and Peyton Manning, Clarkson expressed her admiration for the singer. But she needed to pause in order to do so.

“I’m so sorry, I’m trying to hold it together,” she said.

Clarkson even went on to crown Celine the evening’s biggest winner: “[Celine Dion is a] gold winner for vocal athletes.”

User online agreed with the trios remarks about the moving performance.

“So perfectly said, Kelly Clarkson and I felt the same way while weeping but joyful tears What a triumphant comeback,” wrote one user.

“I’m so happy that Celine was able to belt out her signature vocals here today,” penned another.

“I cried too. It was very touching,” added another.

Washington, DC’s premier music event, Broccoli City Festival is back. Today (July 27) and tomorrow (July 28) festival goers will gather at Audi Field to witness headliners Megan Thee Stallion, Gunna, and PartyNextDoor perform their latest projects among other acts and activities.

With a such a jam-packed lineup, you’ll need to plan according. Continue below for the 2024 Broccoli City Festival set times.

Broccoli City Festival Set Times For Saturday, July 27, 2024

According to the festival’s official Instagram page, here are the official set times for July 27 (all times p.m. and local). Over on the Converse Stage, Skilla Baby will open the festival at 2:10. Amaarae will follow at 3 pm. Then Hoe Down with Tanner Adell is scheduled to hold the crowd over beginning at 3:55 pm. At 4:45 Fridayy will take to the stage. By 5:40, Trapsoul Karaoke hosted by Bryson Tiller will go down. Lil Yachty & The Concrete Family will go on at 6:35. PartyNextDoor should be on stage by 7:45. Then at 9:10, Megan Thee Stallion will start her headlining set to close out the festival.

Simultaneously, the City Stage has several notable acts of its own. OCTFME will kick things off at 3. At 3:45 Crank Caviar will join them. ChloTheGod will take to the stage at 4:30. Then Ryan Trey is set for 5:05. Coco Butter with Uncle Waffles is scheduled for 6. At 7:25 Teezo Touchdown should be on stage. If you are unable to make your way over to the Converse Stage, at 8 pm a live feed will broadcast from City Stage.

Broccoli City Festival Set Times For Sunday, July 28, 2024

At this time, set times for Sunday, July 28 haven’t been shared.

Have you listened to the miscellaneous voices of your miscellaneous items on the floor lately?

Oh yours don’t speak? Well these do.

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And they have something to admit.

THEY ARE MURDERERS!

Conveniently enough, they offer four easy steps to make them not murderers.

ONE:

TWO:

THREE:

FOUR:

*phew*

And now for some follow-ups…

YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO…

Less murderous miscellaneous items, safer babies, better world.

This article originally appeared on 1.14.15

Zoe’s story, “Removed,” has been seen by millions of people.

It was previously shared by my amazing Upworthy colleague Laura Willard. We got just a tiny taste of what it was like for kids in foster care, right after being removed. Specifically, a little girl named Zoe and her little brother Benaiah.

My wife and I, foster parents for the past year, even shared the original with our adoption worker, who passed it along to the entire agency and, then, it took off like wildfire among those people as well.

This is part 2 of that story, and it hits hard.

(Yes, the video’s on the long side at about 20 minutes. But it’s worth the watch to the end.)

She describes her life as a cycle, interrupted by a tornado. She’s a foster child. I don’t think I need to say any more.

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So … let’s accompany that with 9 uncomfortable — but enlightening — facts below. There are only nine bolded, but within those headers, there are several more facts.

1. There are an estimated 400,000 kids in foster care right now.

Some are awaiting adoption. Some will go back to their parents. Others will age out or, sometimes, run away.

2. Foster kids can suffer from PTSD at almost two times the rate of returning veterans.

And PTSD can mimic a lot of other mental illnesses, and it can manifest as nightmares, flashbacks, fight-or-flee responses, anger outbursts, and hyper-vigilance (being on “red alert” at all times), among other symptoms.

3. The average age of a foster child is 9 years old.

They’re just on that edge of childhood, and chances are, it’s been a pretty messed up childhood at that. Trauma does that.

4. About half of all foster kids are in non-relative foster homes.

8% are in institutions, 6% are in group homes, and only 4% are in pre-adoptive homes. Read that again — only 4% are in pre-adoptive homes.

5. Some of foster children experience multiple placements. In some cases, eight or more.

That’s eight homes that they move into — and out of. And just consider … that means they lose not just adults and other kids with whom they are establishing a bond, but friends, schoolmates, pets.

6. The average foster child remains in the system for almost two years before being reunited with their biological parents, adopted, aging out, or other outcomes.

8% of them remain in foster care for over five years. Of the 238,000 foster kids who left the system in 2013, about half were reunited with parents or primary caregivers, 21% were adopted, 15% went to live with a relative or other guardian, and 10% were emancipated (aged out).

7. In 2013, more than 23,000 young people aged out of foster care with no permanent family to end up with.

And if you add that up, year after year, hundreds of thousands of foster youth will have aged out of the system. What does that look like? “You’re 18. You’ve got no place to live and no family. Good luck — buh-bye now!” One-quarter of former foster kids experience homelessness within four years of exiting the system.

8. Foster “alumni” (those who have been in foster homes and either adopted, returned to parents, or aged out) are likely to suffer serious mental health consequences.

They are four-five times more likely to be hospitalized for attempting suicide and five-eight times more likely to be hospitalized for serious psychiatric disorders in their teens.

Based on that set of statistics alone, it’s in the public’s interest (ignoring, for a second, the interests of those kids) to help them through their lot in life and spend resources making it all work much better for everybody before it gets to that point. Right?

So there’s a lot to be angry about in this whole messed up situation. But this next thing? My blood boils.

What’s one of the biggest risk factors in families whose children are placed in foster care?

Your guess?

Cruelty?

Drugs?

Sexual abuse?

Neglect?

The answer is …

9. Poverty

Together with homelessness and unemployment, it’s a main contributing factor. It happens all the time. The fact that it’s far easier for a parent to be accused and investigated for neglect or abuse because of simple things like lack of access to a vehicle, or a working refrigerator, or the ability to get a kid to a doctor’s appointment — that has a lot to do with this. Tie that to the link between drug abuse and poverty and between poverty and child abuse … well, you can see where this is going.

And in a country where one-third of children are living in poverty (hint: the good ol’ U.S. of A.), imagine how that affects the number of kids being removed and placed into foster care.

I’ll end this with a bit of hope through my story.

My kids went through something a lot like the kids in the clip above before they came to live with us. We’ve been through the ringer in ways that we’re going to have to talk about one day because it’s not just that the kids have been challenging — they have — it’s that the system itself has been more challenging.

The entire system — from agencies to government entities to social workers to even the schools — seems like it’s designed to fail these kids and the families who are attempting to help. It’s almost designed not to work. There, I said it.

But that doesn’t mean we won’t fight to make it better for everybody. We most definitely will.

As for us, we’re just a few weeks away from becoming the legal parents to these kids, and we’re extremely happy to be right here, making it happen. And they seem quite happy to be our kids. Along the way, we fell in love with them, and we can’t imagine life without them.

But to be totally honest … if we’d have known how hard it was going to be when we started this journey, and if we could somehow turn back the clock and NOT do it … well, would we have actually gone forward with the process?

I take that back. I won’t be totally honest here. I will simply let you decide.

Here are some places to help, if you’re so inclined.

• AdoptUsKids.org is a place to start if you’re considering fostering or adopting.
• My Stuff Bags is a really cool and inexpensive way to help foster kids by gifting them actual luggage, duffel bags, and more, so that they don’t travel from home to home with garbage bags for their belongings — or nothing at all.
• CASA for Children offers legal help and advocates for foster kids through a network of volunteers.

The 2024 Paris Olympics games have begun. From Snoop Dogg’s carrying of the torch to Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, and Gojira’s trending performances, cameos featuring musicians are in abundance.

But in typical fashion, Beyoncé surprised the world with a patriotic promotional video that nearly crashed the internet. Yesterday (July 26), while after everyone processed the dazzling opening ceremony, NBC Olympics & Paralympics dropped their Team USA introduction video lead by none other than the Cowboy Carter herself, Bey.

In the visual, Beyoncé dressed in fully customized Americana regalia fit for the now reigning rodeo queen as a reimagined version of her song “Ya Ya” soundtracked the moment.

Beyoncé’s entry into country music, often viewed as the most red-blooded American genre, wasn’t exactly appreciated at the time. Despite the tension from naysayers, the Houston native preserved and make musical history along the way. The true American way.

This complex dynamic of who is considered to be a proper representation of America made its way into the promotional clip as Beyoncé said: “These hopes and dreams. These superstars that represent us. The people of this big, bold, beautiful, complicated nation.”

Call it what you want, but this type of alignment couldn’t have been more divine.

Watch Beyoncé’s introduction video for Team USA above.

The United States were led into the Opening Ceremony at the Paris Olympics by a pair of flag-bearers: LeBron James and Coco Gauff. The future Basketball Hall of Fame inductee and the 20-year-old superstar in the world of tennis are at the opposite ends of their careers, but their fellow Olympians chose them to represent the Stars and Stripes.

This Opening Ceremony was a little different, because instead of all the athletes walking into a stadium, everyone was put on a boat that went through the River Seine, which cuts right through the city. It led to some absolutely breathtaking moments, which remained the case when Team USA showed up late in the evening in the driving rain.

James held the flag up during this in what was both a really cool moment and something that the internet latched onto. While James is no stranger to getting meme’d, folks on Twitter ran with this one and kept making jokes comparing him to the famous painting of George Washington leading American troops to cross the Delaware River during the Revolutionary War.

The patriotism on display was off the charts.

As for when we’ll see James turn in his Opening Ceremony outfit for his USA Basketball uniform, the men’s team will take the floor for the first time against Nikola Jokic and Serbia on Sunday.

The 2024 Olympics men’s basketball tournament got underway on Saturday, and the headliner of the first day of action was the host nation France playing their first game against Brazil.

The French side has medal expectations and figure to be one of the biggest threats to the USA for the gold, as their roster is headlined by Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert, who create a terrifying defensive tandem in the paint. The two top vote getters in last year’s NBA Defensive Player of the Year award race figure to make it tough to get to the rim in the half court, but transition is a whole different ball game as we learned early in France’s opener.

The Brazilian squad got out on the break and Joao Cardoso authored the early frontrunner for highlight of the Olympics with a crazy alley-oop finish over Gobert, sending the 4-time DPOY crashing to the floor.

Part of being a great rim protector is going after blocks that you may not have a chance to get, and that means getting dunked on. Gobert is no stranger to that, but this is one of the most vicious finishes we’ve seen over him and the Brazil team was rightfully hyped after Cardoso put the Stifle Tower on a poster.