Category: News

Hey, you know how baseball pants have pockets in them? And you know how players will usually shove their batter’s gloves or, like, some sunflower seeds or something into them and go about their duties as a baseball player. Well on Tuesday night, Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Rodolfo Castro decided to bravely ask the question “can I play the great game of baseball with my cell phone in my pocket?”

It is certainly possible Castro has asked that question in the past, but during Tuesday’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Castro’s phone straight up fell out of his pocket. Castro drew a walk in the top of the fourth, then scooted over to third when the next batter, Oneil Cruz, hit a single into center field. He needed to slide into third and went in head-first, and apparently, doing this made the cell phone that he had in his back left pocket fall out.

This is, assuredly, not something that anyone thought would happen when the game of baseball was invented more than a century ago. It raises the question of why did Castro have a cell phone in his pocket while he was playing, but it seems safe to assume we’ll get an answer to that at some point in the near future.

The Breakfast Club is a popular New York-based hip-hop podcast hosted by Angela Yee, Charlamagne Tha God, and DJ Envy. It’s been drawing in a large audience since its inception in 2010, but now it seems like something is going to change.

Yee made an ominous tweet on Tuesday, writing, “The breakfast club as you know it is officially over.” Closing the post with the emoji of hands making a heart makes it less eerie, but fans are wondering what this means about the future of the show. Whether The Breakfast Club is ending or just making changes is unclear.

The Breakfast Club has not been without drama. Earlier this year, DaBaby used his time on their platform to defend himself from accusations of homophobia. “I didn’t mean what you think I meant,” he said. “What you want me to do? Go look myself in the mirror and say, ‘You don’t like gay people?’ Nah. I’m not trippin’ on gay people at all. If I said what I said to get people to raise they cell phones and it was misinterpreted by people who watch a five-second clip at home. You not supposed to understand what’s going on. You could raise your cell phone if you wanted to. You ain’t supposed to be able to digest a clip that’s been altered and shortened with a narrative to go along with it, with enough people driving it, it gonna do what it do.”

The 2021-22 season was a disaster for the Los Angeles Lakers in virtually every way. Despite the presence of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers floundered to a 33-49 record and posted the No. 22 offense in the NBA on a per-possession basis. Some of that downturn can be attributed to James and Davis missing almost 70 games combined but, even when the stars were on the floor together, things did not click in Los Angeles. With a new head coach in place in Darvin Ham, changes are on the horizon and, on Tuesday, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports shed light on a recent meeting between the powers that be in Los Angeles.

Though the meeting took on a number of subjects, one of the more interesting revelations from Haynes was that Ham “said one wrinkle he will implement and stick with is having the offense run through Anthony Davis, and James concurred.” Davis missed more than half of the 2021-22 campaign and struggled with his jump shot, but Yahoo’s reporting indicates the belief that Davis will be able to carry a heavier load on the offensive end. In theory, that would also take some pressure off James as he adds another year of wear and tear to his body.

At the same time, it may be hard to envision James operating as the No. 2 option on any court, and there may be a balance to find between Davis being the clear go-to option and keeping James engaged. Perhaps a clear stagger of the two superstars might accomplish that, but Haynes also reports that the Lakers are “also hopeful for a corner-3 shooting percentage bump from Russell Westbrook next season.” Westbrook has been a topic of consternation for months in Los Angeles and, at the very least, it will be interesting to see if Ham can get him to buy in to that kind of role in conjunction with Westbrook improving his shooting efficiency.

The Lakers are always an object of fascination in the NBA world, and that will be the case this season. Having Davis and James healthy is a strong starting point, but the work on the margins will also be interesting, even if Ham and James seemingly agree on the broad approach to lean on the younger star a bit more this season.

Perhaps, if anything, Cecily Strong underplays when she plays Judge Jeanine Pirro. The Fox News personality is known for her epic on-air meltdowns, where she seems to enter some fugue state as she works herself up into a discombobulating mess. Even a seasoned pro like Strong can’t touch the real deal. On Tuesday, Pirro had one of her best blow-ups yet.

Since the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago on Monday, Fox News has been pretty much 24/7 screaming fits. Everyone’s angry that the feds are formally investigating the potential criminal activity of former president Donald Trump. And even though exactly what authorities are searching for has yet to be revealed — it has something to do with the 15 boxes of classified material he lugged down to Florida after leaving the White House in disgrace — that hasn’t stopped commentator after commentator from blowing their gasket.

On Tuesday’s episode of The Five, it was Pirro’s turn. “You do NOT — You do NOT breaking into a house of a guy that you’ve been working with for nine months, that you have to admit has been cooperating with you, for presidential records? No!” she shouted into the camera, barely able to stay in her chair.

“You do not do that and have guys with AR-15s — and women, I might add — at the front of Mar-a-Lago, in a situation like this where the man’s about to announce for president, if he’s going to run for president!” she continued. She then speculated about representing Trump:

“But if I were the lawyer, the first thing I’d say is [she then pointed a stern finger at the camera], ‘As a citizen of the United States, I want to know from the Department of Justice why you’re doing this? I want to know from the FBI whether or not this is legitimate, because everything you’ve done regarding Donald Trump has been illegal, illegitimate, and amoral, and the country knows it. And you have destroyed our faith in the justice system!’”

One of Pirro’s co-hosts tried to get a word in edge-wise, but she had one last hurrah: “And it’s not Donald Trump’s fault! It’s their fault!”

Was it as funny as Jesse Watters, right after the news broke, grasping at straws like a sweaty octopus, reaching for any and all conspiracy theories to defend Trump? Was it as beautiful as Marco Rubio declaring that the FBI was punishing political opponents, only to have people remind him he was fine with them doing that with Hillary Clinton? It’s for each of us to decide for ourselves.

Tuesday, August 9 would’ve been the late rapper King Von‘s 28th birthday. In honor of the hip-hop icon, his estate has unveiled a music video, “Get It Done,” featuring OMB Peezy from his posthumous album What It Means to Be King.

Directed by 20K Visuals, it follows other posthumous videos, like “Don’t Play That,” “Too Real,” “Demon,” “Armed & Dangerous,” “Mine Too,” and “Wayne’s Story.” As per usual, the “Get It Done” video has lots of fire, strobes, cash, and scenes with cars. Mostly it watches King Von and OMB Peezy rapping alongside one another.

In Uproxx‘s 2020 interview with King Von, which was conducted just days before he was killed, the rapper discussed the making of his music videos. “It be fun when you putting together the ideas but then when it’s time to make it, I be mad as hell, that I put together all this,” he said. “It’s tiring, man. We would get it out in one day. Sometimes it would drag over to the next day, if that was the plan, but if it was that day, we would just punch the hours in. We out five o’clock in the morning damn near.”

Watch the video for “Get It Done” above.

If you think the American wing of Trump World has lost their minds over the FBI searching Mar-a-Lago (and boy, have they), you clearly haven’t been watching Russian state television. The Daily Beast has, and they’re making the likes of Jesse Watters, Lauren Boebert, and Rudy Giuliani look like amateurs.

Russian State TV has long been virulently pro-Trump (and pro-Tucker Carlson, of course). On Monday night various shows were praising CPAC for sticking by their favorite U.S. president even as Fox News has threatened to decamp for Ron DeSantis. Then the feds arrived at the resort where Trump now resides. Tuesday night’s news broadcasts went all-in, repeating some of the more outlandish takes from most hysterical sections of MAGA-land, and throwing in some bald exaggerations about “one hundred FBI agents” as well.

Take Russian 60 Minutes. Appearing on Tuesday’s show, military expert Igor Korotchenko — who’s straight-up called for Putin to support Trump should he run in 2024 — called the FBI search a “witch hunt,” “worse than McCarthyism,” and a “symbol of inordinate despotism.”

On the same broadcast, Evgeny Popov, deputy of Russia’s State Duma and a self-avowed “friend” and “protégé” of Trump, offered a little theory on why Trump received a visit from the feds. “As soon as Donald Trump complained that Biden was the worst president in the history of the United States, which is fast becoming a third world country, there was a knock on Donald’s door: “Knock-knock, this is the FBI!” (Biden has claimed to have had no knowledge of the search and learned about it along with everyone else.)

Popov also had the stones to cry about the persecution of dissidents. “Biden, with his dictatorial tendencies, repressions, and persecution of dissidents, is turning America into Ukraine,” he bellowed. “He already did that, since the opposition is being persecuted by authorities.” Popov then fantasized about Florida seceding from the U.S.

Meanwhile, on Full Contact With Vladimir Solovyov, its host rhapsodized about the potential for violent conflict in the United States. “Could this be the beginning of a civil war?” he mused. “This is totally unprecedented, I don’t remember anything like this in American history. If Trump calls on his supporters to come out—and half the states are led by Trump’s allies — there’ll be hell to pay.”

Correspondent Valentin Bogdanov, speaking from New York City, weighed in, saying, “The civil war is already underway in the United States. For now, this is a cold civil war, but it keeps heating up.”

Then again, Russian State TV isn’t the only one going to such hysterical lengths. Talk of a civil war is all the rage on Trump’s rinky-dink Twitter clone.

You can read more about the madness at The Daily Beast.

Red Rocks in Denver, Colorado is known as one of the world’s most beautiful concert venues, but looking at pictures it’s not hard to notice that it’s probably not great for accessibility. Cushioned between massive natural rocks and full of steps, the amphitheater is not easy to navigate. However, the venue is now under fire for allegedly overcharging for wheelchair-accessible seats, as reported by 9 News.

The U.S. Justice Department announced on Monday that it settled a lawsuit against the City and County of Denver, Red Rocks, and concert promoters Live Nation, AEG, and PBS12 over this controversy. The discrimination claim was under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). There are 121 wheelchair-accessible seats available for Red Rocks events, but, according to The Justice Department, between 2018 and 2020, “concertgoers who used wheelchairs, and their guests, were charged $47,950.90 more for those seats than was permitted by ADA regulations.”

By setting yesterday, Denver has agreed to set aside that amount — $47,950.90 — to refund those who’ve spent money on wheelchair seats. “Red Rocks is an iconic concert venue, and people with disabilities who attend events and watch their favorite bands there should not be unfairly overcharged for wheelchair-accessible seating,” U.S. Attorney Matt Kirsch stated in a news release. “This agreement reflects our commitment to enforcing the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires equal treatment for people with disabilities.”

Trump World is still in the midst of an apoplectic fit over the FBI searching Donald Trump’s home over possible criminal activity. It’s not clear exactly what they were looking for or what they took. All we know is it (maybe) involves the 15 boxes of classified documents he took from the White House. But not knowing the full details hasn’t stopped the right from blowing their tops. Nor has them demanding something very similar happen to Hillary Clinton a mere six years ago.

The Daily Show put together one of their damning compilation videos, where they took various Fox News commentators demanding the FBI investigate Hillary Clinton’s email scandal. That they did — twice, including a mere 11 days before the election that Trump won. In both cases, then-FBI director James Comey reached the same conclusion: There was no criminal intent, so there was no case. In other words, the GOP loudmouths got what they wanted.

What were some of their arguments for the FBI investigating Clinton? They sound an awful lot like arguments one would make for investigating Trump

• “The FBI stepping forward at this moment is demonstrating real integrity.” — Mike Pence
• “When you have a presidential candidate, the FBI has a duty to ‘We the People,’ to investigate any appearance of impropriety.” — Bill O’Reilly
• “I mean, come on, are we supposed to believe that after all that time she just didn’t know what the rules were?” — Harris Faulkner
• “It is a federal crime to negligently handle classified information.” — Judge Jeanine Pirro (who also declared Clinton “guilty”)

There’s also blood-curdling footage of 2016 Ted Cruz before he grew his bad beard.

In short, conservatives care about the rule of law when it comes to Democrats, but when it comes to fellow Republicans — even the guy Fox News was all ready to throw under the bus for the guy who bullies kids — it’s another story.

It was the year we saw violence in Tiananmen Square and the dismantling of the Berlin Wall. The year we got Meg Ryan in “When Harry Met Sally” and Michael Keaton in Tim Burton’s “Batman.” The year “Seinfeld” and “The Simpsons” debuted on TV, with no clue as to how successful they would become. The year that gave us New Kids on the Block and Paula Abdul while Madonna and Janet Jackson were enjoying their heyday.

The jeans were pegged, the shoulders were padded and the hair was feathered and huge. It was 1989—the peak of Gen X youth coming of age.

A viral video of a group of high school students sitting at their desks in 1989—undoubtedly filmed by some geeky kid in the AV club who probably went on to found an internet startup—has gone viral across social media, tapping straight into Gen X’s memory banks. For those of us who were in high school at the time, it’s like hopping into a time machine.

The show “Stranger Things” has given young folks of today a pretty good glimpse of that era, but if you want to see exactly what the late ’80s looked like for real, here it is:

u201cHigh school students, 1989.u201d

— A SLICE OF HISTORY (@A SLICE OF HISTORY)
1659831504

Oh so many mullets. And the Skid Row soundtrack is just the icing on this nostalgia cake. (Hair band power ballads were ubiquitous, kids.)

I swear I went to high school with every person in this video. Like, I couldn’t have scripted a more perfect representation of my classmates (which is funny considering that this video came from Paramus High School in New Jersey and I went to high school on the opposite side of the country).

Comments have poured in on Reddit from both Gen Xers who lived through this era and those who have questions.

First, the confirmations:

“Can confirm. I was a freshman that year, and not only did everyone look exactly like this (Metallica shirt included), I also looked like this. 😱😅”

“I graduated in ‘89, and while I didn’t go to this school, I know every person in this room.”

“It’s like I can virtually smell the AquaNet and WhiteRain hairspray from here….”

“I remember every time you went to the bathroom you were hit with a wall of hairspray and when the wind blew you looked like you had wings.”

Then the observations about how differently we responded to cameras back then.

“Also look how uncomfortable our generation was in front of the camera! I mean I still am! To see kids now immediately pose as soon as a phone is pointed at them is insanity to me 🤣”

“Born in 84 and growing up in the late 80’s and 90’s, it’s hard to explain to younger people that video cameras weren’t everywhere and you didn’t count on seeing yourself in what was being filmed. You just smiled and went on with your life.”

Which, of course, led to some inevitable “ah the good old days” laments:

“Life was better before the Internet. There, I said it.”

“Not a single cell phone to be seen. Oh the freedom.”

“It’s so nice to be reminded what life was like before cell phones absorbed and isolated social gatherings.”

But perhaps the most common response was how old those teens looked.

“Why do they all look like they’re in their 30’s?”

“Everyone in this video is simultaneously 17 and 49 years old.”

“Now we know why they always use 30 y/o actors in high school movies.”

As some people pointed out, there is an explanation for why they look old to us. It has more to do with how we interpret the fashion than how old they actually look.

Ah, what a fun little trip down memory lane for those of us who lived it. (Let’s just all agree to never bring back those hairstyles, though, k?)

There are few things more despicable than robbing a child’s lemonade stand. That’s probably why people in Everett, Washington, and around the country are rallying around 12-year-old Jeremy Ryzhonkov.

According to a report by the Everett Police Department, Jeremy was selling lemonade and snacks on the street when he was approached by a man who asked for $15 worth of drinks but only had a $100 bill. Jeremy gave the man $85 change from his allowance but after the man left, the boy noticed the bill looked a little strange.

“The numbers looked different on each color and the hundred dollar bill was smaller and the color was kind of different,” Jeremy told King 5 News.

Jeremy ran the bill over to a gas station where the attendant told him it was a fake. The gas station attendant called the Everett police who put a call out for the man on Facebook.

What makes the suspect’s actions even more awful is that half of the proceeds from the lemonade stand were going to help families in war-torn Ukraine. So he stole from a child and struggling families.

“I felt really bad that they have to suffer through this,” said Jeremy.

However, the crime didn’t stop the young entrepreneur from running his business. He set up his stand again the next day to sell lemonade to his neighbors. One of them gave him a marker to help detect fake bills and others stopped by to support his stand and help him recoup the lost money.

After news of the story got out, Jeremy’s neighbor, Amy Steenfott, put together a GoFundMe campaign for the boy asking for $250 to help offset his losses and raise some capital for his small business.

“Jeremy is 11 years old and quite the entrepreneur,” she wrote on the website (he’s had a birthday since the post). “He is a hard-working boy between his lemonade stand, which is so much more than just lemonade (If you’re ever craving cotton candy you know who to see), mowing neighbors’ yards and shoveling snow in the winter. He has dreams of owning his own vending machine business in the future.”

The campaign went viral and since being started on August 4 it has raised nearly 100 times the original request. As this article is being written, the campaign has raised more than $24,000. What a blessing for Jeremy and the families in Ukraine.

u201cShameless scoundrel uses fake $100 bill at boy’s lemonade stand https://t.co/U2beFIT0CTu201d

— New York Post (@New York Post)
1659857840

“Needless to say I, as well as Jeremy’s family, are overwhelmed,” Steenfott wrote in an update to the GoFundMe campaign. “Jeremy doesn’t know the amount of love and support you all have sent just quite yet. We are trying to figure out how to do this.”

The Everett police haven’t made any announcements about whether the suspect has been apprehended or not.

Even though it appears as though the man hasn’t been brought to justice, the incident was a wonderful lesson to teach young Jeremy. Even though there are some bad people out there, they are wildly outnumbered by good-hearted ones who won’t stand for kids being victimized.