Category: News

After turning Kevin McCarthy’s Speaker of the House election into a mad house, Matt Gaetz is, alas, newly emboldened. Not only does his party have a wafer thin majority in the chamber, he may even have negotiated his way into some new powers. Whatever the case, one half of the GOP’s Beavis and Butt-Head been speaking up more. But that may not be so good for him, much less the rest of America.

As per HuffPost, a Congressional hearing with the House Armed Services Committee was held on Tuesday, during which Gaetz tried to be his usual combative self. Instead, he only wound up being calmly humiliated by a witness he was trying to grill. In an exchange with Colin Kahl, the undersecretary of defense for policy, Gaetz tried to slam U.S. involvement in Ukraine, inquiring whether the Pentagon has officials in the invaded nation. Kahl said they don’t.

Gaetz then tried to bust out a gotcha moment. He cited a report from Global Times about Pentagon allegedly training Ukrainians to fight. What is Global Times? Well, it’s an English-language daily tabloid run that’s a subsidiary of the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship newspaper The People’s Daily. In other words, it’s not exactly something a competent lawmaker cites in a hearing. And Kahl called him out on it.

“I’m sorry, is this the Global Times from China?” Kahl asked Gaetz.

Gaetz fumbled, first claiming it wasn’t then, after looking at the publication more closely, sheepishly saying, “Yeah, it might be. Yeah.”

Kahl calmly responded, “As a general matter, I don’t take Beijing’s propaganda at face value.”

Gaetz then asked if the allegation happened to be true anyway. “I don’t have any evidence one way or the other,” Kahl replied, then repeated, “As a general matter, I don’t take Beijing’s propaganda at face value.”

“Fair, fair enough,” an embarrassed Gaetz replied. “I would agree with that assessment.”

Gaetz oozes unearned bravado, so please enjoy him being cornered by someone who actually knows what he’s talking about.

(Via HuffPost)

Competitive cheerleading is one of the most difficult activities out there. At any given moment, you’re flipping, spinning or getting tossed in the air all while shouting chants and trusting your stunt group will catch you. Throw some dancing in the mix and it’s like a mash-up of gymnastics, dance and acrobatics that requires tight ponytails and plastered-on smiles even when it hurts.

It’s a sport that gets little respect outside of other cheerleaders and their family members, but the training is intense. The private tumbling lessons so you can land your back handspring full twisting layout before tryouts. Gym nights so long you may as well live there, all leading up to important competitions where all of your hard work is on full display.

Imagine putting in all that time, only to have the music stop while you’re mid-routine at that competition you just drove hours to get to.

That’s exactly what happened to a competitive cheer squad in the middle of what appears to be a National Cheer Association competition. Technical issues are a possibility whenever there’s technology in use, but thankfully, cheerleaders generally learn their routines without music to an eight-count with emphasis on the odd numbers. Lucky for the cheerleaders who lost their music mid-routine, the crowd was full of other cheerleaders.

When the music went out, the crowd immediately began to count and clap in unison so the cheerleaders on the mat could finish their routine without interruption. The entire thing was caught on video and the internet is having some feelings.

“This literally gave me chills. They say cheer isn’t a sport! Please. This was the epitome of sportsmanship! Class act! Pure bada**,” one commenter wrote.

“The way they didn’t even hesitate, they heard the music stop and immediately started counting. I have no background in cheer but this was amazing to see,” another person said.It’s not clear who the cheerleaders are or where this took place. It was posted to TikTok recently by Magen Reaves and currently has 1.9 million views. You can watch the incredible moment for yourself below.

@magenreaves

And why were we all crying?! Such a sweet moment and they slayed their routine! 📣 #AXERatioChallenge #cheerleaders #cheer #cheerleaders #cheertok #competitivecheer #allstarcheer #nca #ncacheer #dallas #zero #zerodeductions

While Republicans often refer to themselves as the “family values party,” some of them also seem to have a habit of wishing death upon their enemies. And each other. While Lauren Boebert has been known to lead a church full of parishioners in praying for the death of Joe Biden (on more than one occasion), Republican lawmakers who are worried about what sort of havoc Donald Trump could wreak on the country — and the GOP — with his 2024 presidential run are apparently quietly wishing he’d just keel over somewhere between the first and eighteenth holes.

As the GOP tries to figure out the best way to win back the White House in 2024, the big question on many people’s minds is: How will Trump help or hinder that goal? Given his most recent track record (read: he lost in 2020), official and potential presidential candidates are doing their best to carefully analyze what sort of power Trump’s seemingly shrinking base might hold. And as Politico reports, many Republicans are reportedly just hoping that a heart attack on the golf course might take care of the problem.

As David Siders and Meridith McGraw wrote for Politico:

Despite his difficulties since he left office, about a third of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters still consider themselves supporters more of Trump than the Republican Party, according to a recent NBC News poll. Many of them aren’t going anywhere. Fully 28 percent of Republican primary voters are so devoted to the former president that they said they’d support him even if he ran as an independent, according to a national survey last month from The Bulwark and longtime Republican pollster Whit Ayres. Indeed, the “Always Trump” component of the party is so pronounced that it’s affecting how Trump’s opponents operate around him.

Fergus Cullen, former chair of New Hampshire’s Republican Party, gave a pretty blunt answer about what he’s hearing around the GOP watercooler: “All these folks are just hoping that Trump’s going to have a heart attack on a golf course one day, and that’s going to solve this problem for them. Not much of a strategy.”

Maybe not, but it’s certainly effective.

An unnamed source close to Trump told Politico that the former/would-be POTUS doesn’t take his supporters for granted.

“He ran on a platform of the forgotten man and woman in America,” said the insider. “They have been with him since he announced in 2015, they were with him in 2020. They won’t leave him.”

Will that be enough to defeat Joe Biden (should the current president choose to run again) or any other candidate (Democrat, Republican, or otherwise) who ultimately decides to throw their hat in the ring for 2024? Only time — and no sudden golf course emergencies — will tell.

(Via Politico)

Prince Harry’s new hit memoir, Spare, has been a fount of Piers Morgan-triggering tabloid fodder. There are some inevitable shocking stories about the Royal Family, from which he and his wife, Meghan Markle, are semi-estranged (though his dad is trying to lure him back for his coronation). There are also some more lighthearted passages. For instance, he claims he once did magic mushrooms while staying at the home of Courteney Cox, which sounds MadLibs-y enough to be true. Well, turns out it may be only partially legit.

The story as told by Prince Harry: He and some pals were crashing at the Friends’ alum’s home. One night their host had some friends over for a party. At one point in the evening, he and an unnamed reveler went to the kitchen. There, they found a box of “black diamond mushroom chocolates” in the fridge. Someone told them the shrooms were communal.

“My mate and I grabbed several, gobbled them, washed them down with tequila,” wrote the Duke of Sussex, who claims he was soon hallucinating that Cox’s trash can was talking to him.

In a new interview with Variety, though, Cox — who just nabbed her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame — poured a bit, if not a lot, of cold water over the fun tale.

“He did stay here for a couple of days — probably two or three. He’s a really nice person,” Cox told the publication. “I haven’t read the book. I do want to hear it, because I’ve heard it’s really entertaining. But yes, it’s gotten back to me about it. I’m not saying there were mushrooms! I definitely wasn’t passing them out.”

In summary: There may or may not have been shrooms lurking in the refrigerator of the former Monica Geller, but she will neither confirm nor deny. Worth noting, though, that Prince Harry never said that she handed them out, so maybe he really did trip his balls off in the home of someone who acted in the movie where Kevin Costner and Kurt Russell are thieving Elvis impersonators.

(Via Variety)

Donald Trump is no stranger to working with lawyers who are just as (in)famous as their clients (see: Rudy Giuliani — who could be as f**ked as his former client for his efforts to push The Big Lie). Still, many eyebrows were raised back in August when it was announced that the former president had hired Drew Findling to represent him when a grand jury was convened to determine whether Trump tried to illegally interfere with the results of the 2020 presidential election.

While Findling, an Atlanta-based criminal defense attorney, has successfully represented plenty of high-profile clients throughout his career, the self-described “#BillionDollarLawyer” is best known for his work with rappers and hip hop stars including Cardi B, Gucci Mane, Waka Flocka Flame, and Da Baby. Da Former President is kind of a new one. But as VICE reports, Findling sees a lot of similarities between defending Trump’s phone call to Georgia election officials and asking them to “find” enough votes for him to win the state and using rap lyrics as evidence.

Put simply, according to VICE’s Greg Waters, it comes down to context.

“When we look at the full context, that’s when we realize there is no criminal case,” Findling told VICE News in late 2022. “And that’s one of the reasons that we jumped into this case when asked to.”

While Trump has not officially been charged with anything yet, Fani Willis — the district attorney for Fulton County, Georgia — announced that at least a dozen people will soon feel the full weight of the law for interfering in the election and that Trump may very well be one of those people.

Of specific interest is Trump’s hour-long phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, during which the then-president told Raffensperger that, “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state.” While such a statement has set off alarm bells elsewhere, Findling doesn’t seem all that worried. And he’s banking on his history of dissecting rap lyrics for legal purposes to help lawmakers see things his way.

“Prosecutors, first of all, don’t know the first thing about lyrics,” Findling told VICE. “They’ll take out eight or nine words. They’ll take out something that lasts a few seconds and say, ‘Aha, this is evidence of some wrongdoing.’ In like fashion, no one ever talks about the full 62 minutes. No one ever talks about the surrounding circumstances of those 62 minutes.”

Trump, meanwhile — and perhaps unsurprisingly — sees nothing wrong with anything he did in the wake of losing the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden. And has described his phone call with Raffensperger as “perfect” on multiple occasions, to anyone who will listen.

(Via VICE)

Not a ton of people have seen The Whale; its box office after 11 weeks is a tiny fraction of Avatar: The Way of Water’s haul. But that hasn’t stopped the Brendan Fraserssance from rolling right along. The actor is in a tight race with Austin Butler and Colin Farrell for the Best Actor Oscar. He’s already won trophies and delivered moving speeches. And it’s got people, Fraser included, looking back at his past work. For instance, The Mummy? It’s come up a lot recently. To some it’s a fun movie that made his star ascend even higher than it had. For him, it’s a film on whose set he almost died.

Fraser recently swung by The Kelly Clarkson Show, where she brought up a scene in which his daring hero, Rick O’Connell, is nearly executed by hanging. For the scene he had a real rope tied around his real neck. After a take in which director Stephen Sommers felt Fraser’s reaction was insufficiently realistic, they tried again, this time with the crew member controlling the rope pulled it higher than he had before, leaving Fraser with “nowhere to go but down.”

And so the erstwhile George of the Jungle was nearly choked to death for real. “The next thing I knew, my elbow was in my ear, the world was sideways, and there was gravel in my teeth, and everyone was really quiet,” Fraser recalled to a gasping Clarkson.

After recovering — and not dying — Fraser received some news from a crew member. “Congratulations, you’re in the club!” they told him. “The same thing happened to Mel Gibson on Braveheart.”

Fraser has told the story before, including in 2019. But Clarkson’s reaction made it seem new all over again. You can watch the clip in the video above. The Whale is now in theaters while the 1999 The Mummy currently streams on Hulu.

(Via Page Six)

Don Toliver has wasted no time in answering a question many of his fans had almost from the first instant his new album Love Sick hit the DSPs: Will he release a deluxe edition?

Yes, yes he did. Just four days after the release of his third album, the Houston rap crooner followed up by adding four new songs, tapping his mentor Travis Scott and Texan rising star Teezo Touchdown to feature on “Embarrassed” and “Luckily I’m Having,” respectively. The other two new songs are “Geronimo” and “No Pole.” All four songs continue the album’s theme of addressing various aspects of love.

Toliver revealed the original tracklist by means of a string of posts highlighting the featured artists with vintage art. Those features include Brent Faiyaz, Charlie Wilson, GloRilla, Future, James Blake, Justin Bieber, Don’s girlfriend Kali Uchis, Lil Durk, TisaKorean, Toro y Moi, and Wizkid. He also released a playlist of songs from the album with visuals forming an episodic short film which you can watch here.

The updated tracklist for the deluxe edition of Love Sick can be found below.

1. “No Pole”
2. “Embarrassed” Feat. Travis Scott
3. “Geronimo”
4. “Luckily I’m Having” Feat. Teezo Touchdown
5. “LoveSickness”
6. “Let Her Go” Feat. James Blake
7. “Leave The Club” Feat. GloRilla & Lil Durk
8. “4 Me” Feat. Kali Uchis
9. “Go Down” Feat. TisaKorean
10. “Time Heals All”
11. “Leather Coat”
12. “Honeymoon”
13. “Private Landing” Feat. Future & Justin Bieber
14. “Slow Motion” Feat. Wizkid
15. “Do It Right”
16. “If I Had” Feat. Charlie Wilson
17. “Company Pt. 3”
18. “Bus Stop” Feat. Brent Faiyaz
19. “Cinderella” Feat. Toro Y Moi
20. “Encouragement”

LinkedIn is primarily a platform for working professionals to connect and find employment that aligns with their skills and values. With company layoffs continuing (even increasing in some industries) people have also used the website to courageously share their layoff experiences.

While the main intent behind this is, of course, finding a new job, there have also been some lovely displays of humanity that not only challenge the stigma of being laid off but show the power of a supportive community.

Take this heartwarming story, for example.

Patrick McCarthy, Communications Management & Marketing Leader, recently posted about a layoff that quickly went viral on the platform. Not for himself—for his father.

“This is Pete. He’s my dad,” his post began. “My dad lost his job yesterday. I would tag him here, but he doesn’t have a LinkedIn.”

Pete, who has had a “starkly different professional journey” than his son, spent most of his life working in the service industry and absolutely loved interacting with customers. His empathy and knack for listening made him perfect for the role. Over his career, Pete had collected thousands of interactions from working at Walgreens, Fry’s, and (most recently) Winco, often being the reason folks came back.

And then, Pete was laid off. His job as a cashier, one that he loved and was good at, was gone.

“As anyone would be, he’s shocked. Overwhelmed. Scared. Emotional,” Patrick wrote.

Knowing his dad didn’t have the same network to easily find a new job, Patrick reached out on his behalf, wholeheartedly believing in the “magic” of the LinkedIn Community. He implored that anyone looking for a candidate with “a LOT of customer-facing, customer service, and service industry experience” send him a message so that he could put them in touch with Pete.

Patrick’s faith paid off—way more than he thought it would. In less than a week, the post was shared over 500 times, with over 600 comments from people wanting to help.

A manager at a nearby Sprouts grocery store said Pete sounded like a perfect match for a clerk position that could even pay his daily wage ahead of time. Another suggested he could be an excellent outdoor tour guide for REI. Someone else referred them to a weekly meetup group led by a career coach.

Even LinkedIn responded, writing, “Pete sounds like a top-tier employee! 💙 Keep us posted as he progresses on his journey, as well as any tips or insights either of you learn along the way—it may help those in a similar situation.”

Truly, Pete’s story already provides some helpful insight. While he might still be in the job-seeking phase, things certainly look more optimistic. And all it took (besides Pete being a lovely human being) was one simple, honest post. As Patrick told Upworthy, “Clearly something about his story connected with others. Humanity. Vulnerability. Empathy.”

The words “social media” and “job market” can elicit some pretty negative visceral responses. Of course, this viewpoint has some merit, but it’s refreshing to see the power of human connection break through the disheartening headlines. Here’s to Patrick and his father Pete, for reminding us that even when things seem bleak or uncertain, the world is full of people trying to help out one another.

Hummingbirds are fascinating to watch, so people often put hummingbird feeders in their yards during the summer. But one special hummingbird and his human friend have taken that fascination to another extremely wholesome level.

Julian, better known as @birdperson666 on TikTok and Instagram, has gained over 2 million followers with videos of a neighborhood hummingbird named Hector’s visits. Julian told ABC7 that it only took about five days for “Hector the nectar collector” to start eating from his hand and that Hector sometimes visits several times a day. The combination of Julian’s deep, resonant voice and Hector’s adorable, iridescent self makes for surprisingly addictive content.

Hummingbirds are quite a unique species, after all. Their wings beat around 70 times per second and up to 200 times per second during a dive. They are the only bird that can fly forward, backward and sideways and hover in the air. They’re wicked fast—the Anna’s hummingbird flies faster proportionally for its body size than a fighter jet. And they’re wicked hungry, too, with a metabolism that requires them to consume twice their body weight in food each day.It’s no wonder that Hector has regularly shown up at Julian’s window for a snack for the past couple of years.

Julian’s videos of Hector’s visits started going viral early in the COVID-19 pandemic and most of them are delightfully similar. “Yo, Hectorrrrr,” Julian calls from his open window while holding out a small feeder filled with sugar water. And Hector, bless his tiny little needle beak, dutifully flies over to say hi and take some sips.

@birdperson666

Take a load off! 😋

Sometimes Hector even lands on Julian’s finger while he eats. Hummingbirds have sharp memories and recognize humans and their voices, so it’s not just a coincidence that Hector routinely shows up to see Julian.

@birdperson666

take a chill 😋

Sometimes Hector will disappear for weeks or months and then return to Julian’s window. (Hector belongs to a species that is non-migratory, so he has a permanent home nearby.)

Julian told ABC7 that he uses the Audubon Society’s recipe for hummingbird nectar, which is four parts water to one part white granulated sugar, because that recipe is the closest in chemical makeup to natural flower nectar.

See on Instagram

Much to their followers’ chagrin, Julian moved to a new apartment in early 2023 and had to say goodbye to Hector. But thankfully, a little female hummingbird has already picked up where Hector left off, landing right on Julian’s hand and offering hope for continued hummingbird joy.

@birdperson666

Maybe she’s born with it…

Thanks for sharing Hector and a love of hummingbirds with the world, Julian!

YouTube user bobcatransom was on vacation in Chiang Mai, Thailand, when they came across a three-piece band playing in a bar and were blown away by the singer’s ability to sing like jazz legend Louis Armstrong.

“About an hour after we arrived in town we heard these guys just absolutely slaying it for a small handful of people and having the time of their lives doing it,” they captioned the video. The band performed a note-perfect version of “What a Wonderful World,” and the singer even added some improvisational scat singing just like Uncle Satchmo would have done.

“What a Wonderful World” may be Armstrong’s most famous song, but it is an anomaly in his legendary career. Armstrong is known by many as the first great jazz soloist and the most important musical figure of the 20th century, so the heartfelt ballad wasn’t adored by his hardcore fans when it was first released.

“This is so heart warming,” Youtuber Scott Mitchell commented on the video.

Armstrong recorded “What a Wonderful World” four years before his death, and it feels like a person coming to grips with their own mortality and appreciating the things that really matter in life. Armstrong sang the tune while thinking of the children in his Queens neighborhood in New York City.

“I saw three generations come up on that block,” he said, according to the Louis Armstrong House museum. “They’re all with their children, grandchildren, they come back to see Uncle Satchmo and Aunt Lucille. That’s why I can say, ‘I hear babies cry, I watch them grow, they’ll learn much more then I’ll never know.’ And I can look at all them kids’s faces. And I got pictures of them when they was five, six and seven years old. So when they hand me this ‘Wonderful World,’ I didn’t look no further, that was it.”