Category: News

If you thought that Lauren Boebert tweeting about Magic Mike was the end of the rootin’ and tootin’ for the day, well, there is always room for more. And things are rather astronomical here in the sense that she allegedly made up an un-Earthly amount of mileage (more than our planet’s circumference) to deduct as campaign expenses, apparently associated with her Colorado district.

Even if Boebert had driven around all of the Rocky Mountains (many times apiece), she likely could not have achieved this number, but this is also a lawmaker who used campaign expenses to pay rent and utilities, which is also quite illegal. The New York Times dug into the newest potentially fraudulent set of financials, which revealed how Boebert inflated 2020 mileage expenses and used campaign reimbursements to sort out tax liens on Shooter’s Grill. Raw Story summarizes the gist of this situation:

“Utilizing an illegal source of funds or ill-gotten funds to pay off a tax lien is illegal in Colorado and under federal law,” reads a complaint sent to the Colorado attorney general’s office by the the American Muckrakers PAC. “That is the very definition of ill-gotten funds.”

The allegations against Boebert were first reported in February 2021, claiming that Boebert had cashed two checks from her campaign totaling $22,259 for mileage reimbursement, but that figure worked out to 38,712 miles — which is significantly further than the planet’s 24,901-mile circumference.

Again, it’s wild to believe that Boebert believed that the mileage figures would pass muster, especially when she wasn’t running a nationwide campaign, but alright! The New York Times did confirm that the mileage/tax lien situation is being further investigated by an interagency group, and it’s a subject that will likely be of interested for those former Boebert employees who already alleged plenty of financial shenanigans before the freshman congresswoman even ran for office.

(Via New York Times & Raw Story)

Azealia Banks is usually involved in some sort of beef with somebody, and a couple days ago, she set her sights on Cardi B, calling her an “industry plant,” although she did go on to praise Cardi for how well she has managed her career. So, there’s not really an actual feud here. In fact, Cardi returned the favor by offering some (cautious) praise for Banks, saying she wants to direct a photoshoot with her.

In a recent live broadcast, Cardi said of Banks, “I would love to direct a photoshoot with her, for her, because she’s a very pretty girl and I feel like she gets it. I feel like she gets it, but I feel like nobody… not a good team has had a hand on her. […] I would love to direct a photoshoot for her, but, you know, I’m a little afraid of her [laughs]. She can turn left real quick, but I would love that.”

Banks responded to the video, writing on Twitter, “SIS, come thruuuuu let’s re-do Salchichon one time for THE REAL UPTOWN MAMIS.” She added in another tweet, “I really never actually turn left. I’m really naive and think people have my best interest alot of times , then when my dumbass discovers the person has been actually ki’king in my face .. I gotta roast. Because a lot of ppl think they’re funny but I’m MAD FUNNY.”

Of course, it would seem Cardi is in a prime position to make a Banks photoshoot happen, considering she got involved with Playboy back in December.

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Snoop Dogg has a full-time blunt roller. Full stop. Where was the job posting for this dream job when it became available? Because I’m pretty sure I missed my calling. At any rate, a few years ago, Snoop Dogg was on The Howard Stern Show alongside Seth Rogen and the three of them spent some time talking about this dream job.

Snoop said the impetus for the hiring was that he simply didn’t have the time to do it himself anymore. “If you’re great at something that I need, Im gonna hire you,” the new Death Row Records honcho said. “He’s a PBR: Professional blunt roller.”

He then indicated that he made, “Somewhere between $40,000 and $50,000 a year… and all paid expenses.” He added, “Everything free I get, he gets. So if I’m gonna go get some free clothes, I’m gonna give him some.”

Not a bad deal right? But that was in 2019 and looks like the price for a PBR has gone up. In response to a tweet from factoid aggregator Twitter account UberFacts about Snoop Dogg’s blunt roller making “between $40,000 and $50,000 a year,” Snoop quote retweeted and added, “Inflation. Their salary went up!!”

The PBR job description just keeps getting better. And look, if Snoop Dogg can adjust his professional blunt roller’s salary to account for the mounting cost of living in today’s modern world, then certainly corporate American can do the same.

There are more working women today than there probably have ever been in the United States. While the evolution of women in the workplace has improved tenfold, they still face a slew of gender-specific stereotypes and challenges. It can be particularly hard for women who want to break into male-dominated industries, such as the various professions in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).

If we want to create a more equal work environment and empower women to find their place in industries like STEM, then it’s essential to show them at a young age what they’re truly capable of. That’s what DIY Girls is all about. The San Fernando Valley-based non-profit organization is on a mission to increase girls’ interest and success in STEM through innovative educational experiences and mentor relationships.

Focused on girls in 5th to 12th grade, DIY Girls offers hands-on experiences and projects that introduce its students to the world of STEM. The organization also offers resources, such as resume-building and financial literacy workshops, to its network of recent graduates. DIY Girls currently has an alumni network of about 45 women, some of which have graduated from well-renowned universities and become successful STEM professionals.

“It changes the lives of girls and they discover new careers,” says Julisa Chavez, Development and Communications Manager for DIY Girls. “We know that these women are going to be empowered, fulfilled women who come back and change the communities.”

To learn about how DIY Girls is making a difference for women and girls, check out our conversation with Chavez in the video above.

Top Gun: Maverick continues to take Republicans’ breath away. The Tom Cruise sequel that’s been shattering box office records has become an obsession in right-wing corners where it’s being hailed as an “anti-woke victory” thanks to its patriotic imagery and glowing portrayal of U.S. Navy fighter pilots.

Case in point, Republican Congresswoman Claudia Tenney stopped by Newsmax where she pushed Top Gun: Maverick as a much better alternative than watching the upcoming January 6 hearings.

Via Ron Filipkowski on Twitter:

“Are they gonna go watch Top Gun, which is entertainment, or are they going to watch the J6, you know, TV-produced show? That is, by the way, not even bipartisan. It’s a committee that’s a sham brought to you by the same people that brought the Russian collusion hoax. … To me, it’s just a sad and weak attempt to hang on to an issue that’s really not relevant to America’s every day life, right now.”

Of course, Republican-leaning Americans probably weren’t going to watch the January 6 hearings in the first place thanks to Fox News refusing to air the proceedings on its main channels. But Tenney’s comments reflect the ongoing conservative love affair with Top Gun: Maverick, which recently saw former The View co-host Meghan McCain gush about the film.

In her column for the Daily Mail, McCain praised the film’s box office success for proving that “Hollywood must wake up to the reality that ‘go woke, go broke’ is real.” However, McCain’s argument is predicated on the assumption that Hollywood doesn’t know how to make a “successful” movie anymore, which clearly isn’t the case as shown by the massive box office hauls of Spider-Man: Far From Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

(Via Ron Filipkowski on Twitter)

Myles Turner has been a popular name among trade talks for the last couple of seasons. With the Indiana Pacers having kickstarted a new direction by trading All-Star big man Domantas Sabonis this past winter, rumors continue to swirl about Turner’s future in Indiana.

According to Marc Stein, however, Turner is expected to remain with the Pacers this summer.

“Myles Turner, every time I ask, the word I get back is that he’s likely to stay in Indiana,” Stein said during a recent Spotify Live session. “I don’t think that discourages teams from trying to get him, I’m sure the Pacers are getting calls on Turner. But every time I check, that’s kind of the word I get.”

Per usual, Indiana remains in an interesting spot as it pertains to a long-term direction. Tyrese Haliburton is already quite good. Veterans like Malcolm Brogdon, despite his unfortunate string of injuries, is quite good, as are Turner and Buddy Hield. Meanwhile, developing young players such as Isaiah Jackson, Oshae Brissett, Terry Taylor, and Chris Duarte are all in the fold. Plus, it’s not like the 22-year-old Haliburton is close to his prime.

Surrounding prospects with win-now players can certainly enhance development curves, so there’s merit to keeping those established rotation players around. But shifting to a full-fledged rebuild led by Haliburton is also reasonable and could produce the best long-term results. Regardless, it seems as though Turner will stay put, at least for the time being.

Anthony Edwards is rapidly becoming the most entertaining person in basketball. Yes, he is extremely good on the hardwood and is a major reason why the Minnesota Timberwolves emerged from the play-in tournament to make the playoffs this year. Off the court, Edwards has emerged as perhaps the best quote in all of basketball, as he somehow manages to say something extremely funny any time he is asked about anything.

As it turns out, he’s also got some pretty good acting chops. Edwards is one of the several current and former basketball players who appear in the film Hustle, which released on Netflix on Wednesday after having a limited theatrical release last week. While Juancho Hernangómez is the hooper at the center of the film, Edwards plays Kermit Wilts, his rival.

I have given you this information to prepare you for the following two clips from the movie, which feature Edwards playing basketball against Hernangómez and talking so much trash that he gets extremely mad at Ant (in the movie, of course, although I suppose I wasn’t on set to confirm or deny if this actually got under his skin).

At this point, it would be easier to make a list of things Anthony Edwards would not be good at.

Simu Liu used to appear in textbooks; now he’s written his own book. The Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star called his memoir, We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story, “one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life,” but there was a moment in Philadelphia on Tuesday night that left him “shook.”

“Had a not great altercation at the end of my book event in Philly,” Liu tweeted. “Look, I’m trying to have a real moment with my audience. If you come to my events and harass me or make me or my fans uncomfortable, there’s no chance in hell I’m going to sign for you. Don’t cross that line.” The Barbie actor described the incident further:

“Best photo that I could get but these professional autograph seekers followed us out of the Philly event and then threw soda on our window. They then ran to their car to remove the front license plate so we couldn’t ID them. Thankfully we had someone at the event venue documenting so we will get them and file a report with authorities. Obviously everyone is fine but we’re just a bit shook that this could happen.”

Liu later added, “At the end of the day it was just a couple bottles of soda but it’s indicative of a really toxic culture of autograph seekers (not all, some) that are willing to cross personal boundaries just to make a buck. I’m not rewarding that behaviour.”

I’ve seen professional autograph seekers at most red carpet events I’ve covered for work, and they’re usually a) carrying an obscene amount of posters or DVDs or headshots, and b) obnoxious and pushy. They’re no better than adults who steal foul balls; in fact, they’re worse, because they’re selling a Renée Zellweger-signed copy of Shark Tale, or whatever, on eBay. Good on Liu for calling these bottom feeders out.

Yesterday, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney of The Black Keys took some time out of their afternoon to host an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on the r/indieheads subreddit. Reddit users came through with some good questions, which consequently got some solid answers from the duo.

Perhaps the most notable of them was one user who asked, “Pat recently said that y’all never stopped working after recording Dropout Boogie. Can we expect to hear another album next year?” The duo responded affirmatively, writing, “We like to think that is highly likely.”

Elsewhere, Auerbach and Carney revealed longtime Black Keys fans are getting a treat this year, as the audio from the duo’s first ever concert — which took place on March 20, 2002 at Cleveland’s Beachland Ballroom & Tavern for an audience of eight people — will be released this fall via Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound label.

Meanwhile, it looks like Auerbach’s sporadically active solo career — his two solo albums are 2009’s Keep It Hid and 2017’s Waiting On A Song — could add another chapter in the not-so-distant future. Somebody asked if Auerbach is planning to release another solo album and he replied, “Hope sooner rather than later.”

The AMA has other good bits of trivia, too — like Carney’s favorite drummers and how the duo ended up appearing on Workaholics — so check it out here.

Streaming services have been struggling with keeping up the momentum of their most popular shows, which often get a week or so in the spotlight before the internet moves on to another weekly Netflix drop or Hulu debut. Remember when Inventing Anna was all anyone would talk about for six days, and then it disappeared and now nobody can even remember what it was about? Like that!

With weekly shows like Euphoria getting massive amounts of viewers every week during its season and always trending on Twitter, it would make sense for Netflix to want to cash in on that. If everything is released at once, it’s hard to keep up with the memes, which is especially evident with Stranger Things. Netflix might agree…but they probably won’t do it.

Peter Freelander, Netflix’s head of scripted series for U.S. and Canada, recently told Variety that the weekly model wasn’t going to work for the final season of their hit series Stranger Things, or any of their shows for that matter.”For the fans of Stranger Things, this is how they’ve been watching that show, and I think to change that on them would be disappointing,” Freelander explained, saying the “binge it all in one go” model is what works best for them, and what the fans are used to. “To not give them exactly what they’ve been expecting — which is Stranger Things is a seasonal experience, they go through that with them — I think that it would be an abrupt change for the member.”

Their compromise seems to be releasing their shows in “volumes” with one releasing just months before the other. “That’s what you see [with Stranger Things] and that’s what you see with Ozark. So we have had some experimentation in that space. But it’s also, you’re giving multiple-episodic-viewing experiences, it isn’t a standalone,” Freelander added. “So it really does, what we think, honors our relationship with our members and what their expectations are. There have been other types of launch cadences, but that’s connected to an unscripted approach or a competition approach.”

For a company that spent $30 million per episode of the sci-fi hit, and lost 200,000 subscribers this year alone, maybe switching up the approach wouldn’t be a bad thing? It’s a thought.

(Via Variety)