Category: News

Despite essentially flushing $35 million down the toilet (not to be confused with one of the White House’s clogged toilets), Mike Lindell is still trying to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election. The pillow man, whose attempts to reinstate Trump as president include threatening a lawsuit against “all machines” and hosting a multi-day Thanksgiving “marathon” that was viewed by dozens, has made multiple predictions about when “The Big Lie” will be revealed, none of which have come true. Obviously.

But folks, he’s back at it again.

“We are… the preliminary injunction, the first one in the United States, it’s going to be, come out on Thursday. We’re looking at Thursday, if everything goes right,” Lindell said. “Now, I’m not going to give all the details, there’s a lot of surprises. It’s going to shock the country, as a matter of fact. How we’re doing these, and how they’re going down.”

Lindell then spoke directly to “all you journalists out there” (including he called the “enemy of the people”) who “write your stupid stories on, you know, this subpoena and that subpoena. How about talking about the biggest crime in history? And how about these preliminary injunctions and what we’re going with the evidence? We’re taking the evidence from the machines, because we know what’s inside them.”

The only shocking thing that’s going to happen on Thursday is how much pizza cake I’m going to eat on International Pizza Cake Day. It’s alarming, frankly.

(Via Raw Story)

Nicki Minaj dropped Queen, her latest album, in the summer of 2018, so it’s been a minute since a new Minaj LP. There has been talk of a new one, though, and now London’s Wireless Festival has seemingly suggested Minaj’s fifth album will be out soon.

In a tweet yesterday, the fest wrote, “Brand new album by @NICKIMINAJ soon and a whole lotta BRAND NEW lyrics to memorise….right before the festival.” This year’s festival runs in multiple installments, from July 1 to 3 and from the 8th to the 10th.

That said, it doesn’t appear the Wireless Festival organizers actually shared any secret info or let the cat out of the bag early. After a Twitter user asked, “says who,” the fest responded with a clip from Minaj’s February Late Late Show interview with James Corden and wrote, “The queen herself. Pay attention.”

In the video, Minaj tells Corden, “Well, I do know it’s soon, and I do know it’s a lot sooner than it’s ever been, right? And I know that it’s coming this year, and I know that it’ll be out before the summertime.”

Of course, Minaj has yet to officially announce a new album and despite what she said on Corden, delays happen all the time in the music industry. So, it appears we are no closer today than yesterday to actually knowing when Minaj’s anticipated new release is coming.

The 1-8 series in the Western Conference is headed to New Orleans with the series tied at one game a piece. After a Chris Paul fourth quarter masterclass in Game 1 helped steer the Phoenix Suns to a victory, Brandon Ingram nearly had a triple-double and CJ McCollum could not miss down the stretch to help the Pelicans pick up a 125-114 win.

The story of the first half was the torrid play of Devin Booker. The Suns took a narrow 61-56 lead into the locker room at halftime, with Booker outscoring the rest of his team — the All-Star guard scored 31 points in the first half on 12-for-18 shooting with a 7-for-10 clip from three. He ended the half with a bang, knocking down a triple from the midcourt logo.

Still, despite the huge half from Booker, Mikal Bridges (10 points) was the only other player to score in double-digits, while McCollum and Ingram combined for 26 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists to keep New Orleans afloat. They continued to hang around early in the second half, and several minutes into the third quarter, the Pelicans were able to take the lead off of a triple by Ingram.

Back and forth the two teams went to start the third, sometimes literally. One sequence saw Jaxson Hayes get rejected by Bridges on one end, only for Hayes to get him back almost immediately on the very next possession.

But after a Bridges dunk midway through the frame, everything went right for New Orleans. The Pelicans outscored the Suns from the halfway point of the quarter until its conclusion, 19-9, and outscored them by 12 over the duration of the third. Booker heading to the locker room didn’t help here, and while New Orleans wrapped the quarter up, Monty Williams gambled and opted to keep the rest of his starters on the bench.

As a result, the Pelicans held a 90-83 lead after three, with Ingram scoring 14 points in the quarter.

It did not take long for Phoenix, with Booker watching on the bench and unable to return due to hamstring tightness, to take the lead back. The team started the fourth on a 13-5 run and were able to get ahead thanks to a dunk by Cameron Johnson.

Booker on the bench presented an opportunity for the Pelicans to pounce, and they responded in a big way. Ingram and McCollum, in particular, were able to get into a groove and help them take and extend their lead.

Ultimately, Phoenix just ran out of gas, while New Orleans seemed to get better and better as the game went on. Ingram led all scorers with 37 points, and chipped in 11 rebounds and nine assists. McCollum likewise just missed a triple-double, going for 23 points, nine assists, and eight rebounds. Herbert Jones pitched in 14, Jonas Valanciunas had 10 with 13 rebounds, and Larry Nance provided 13 points and six rebounds off the bench. Booker did not score in the second half, while Bridges had 19 and Paul had a double-double with 17 points and 14 assists.

Game 3 between the Suns and the Pelicans from New Orleans will tip off on Friday night at 9:30 p.m. ET.

The Minnesota Timberwolves made a statement in Game 1 of their first round series against the Memphis Grizzlies. The 7-seed, who got the the postseason by way of the play-in tournament, walked into Memphis and knocked off the 2-seed by double-digits, making clear that they were not going to be a pushover against a Grizzlies team with a whole lot of hype.

Instead of backing down after suffering an emphatic home loss, Memphis rallied on Tuesday night to demolish Minnesota and even things up as the series shifts to Minneapolis. By the time the game came to an end, both teams were running out their backups and the Grizzlies picked up a 124-96 win.

The first quarter was a cagey affair defined by fouls — according to Kirk Goldsberry of ESPN, the 33 combined free throws by both teams was tied for the most in any opening frame in the last 25 years — leading to a one-point Grizzlies lead. But then, the avalanche came, as Memphis spent much of the second and third quarters running the Timberwolves out of the building.

Unsurprisingly, Ja Morant led the charge. The Grizzlies’ star guard was the engine that made the whole thing work for the first three quarters of the game, nearly having a triple-double by the time he ran to the locker room before the fourth quarter began due to an inadvertent Karl-Anthony Towns knee to his thigh. He barely fell short in his quest for a triple-double but was nonetheless spectacular, scoring 23 points on 9-for-16 shooting with 10 assists, nine rebounds, and a steal.

In total, seven members of the Grizzlies scored in double-digits. Jaren Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane both had 16, with Jackson causing the highlight of the night when he cleaned up a miss by Dillon Brooks with a putback slam.

Beyond them, Brandon Clarke, Xavier Tillman, and Ziaire Williams all had 13 off the bench, while Tre Jones pitched in 10 of his own. As a team, the Grizzlies shot 44-for-92 from the field and did not trail after the 4:20 mark of the first quarter.

While Anthony Edwards and Towns led the way for the Timberwolves, they were unable to have the kind of impact that made up for the sheer number of guys who were able to score for Memphis. Towns struggled with foul trouble en route to 15 points and 11 rebounds in 28 minutes of work, while Edwards was nowhere near as hot as he was in Game 1, going for 20 points on 7-for-16 shooting.

Now, the series will head up north, where the Timberwolves have already won this postseason — the team beat the Los Angeles Clippers in the Target Center in the 7/8 play-in game to earn a spot in this series. Game 3 will tip off on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. ET on TNT.

Devin Booker got scorching hot during the first quarter of the Phoenix Suns’ Game 2 tilt against the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round of the 2022 NBA playoffs. Booker scored 16 points on 6-for-10 shooting and knocked down four of his six attempts from three in the frame, and while New Orleans led by two after the opening 12 minutes, Booker is the kind of player who is able to win the Suns games if he sees a few go in early.

One fan in the crowd benefitted from Booker’s hot start, as Phoenix’s All-Star guard hit a jumper, fell to the ground, looked over, and saw that he was right next to one Suns supporter. As a result, Booker stuck his fist out and decided to dap them up, although the fan might not remember this happened years down the line, because the fan in question was a baby.

It was a very good bucket by Booker — he pulled up off the bounce with a pair of defenders in his face, and it’s a sign of how locked in he was in the first quarter that he was able to get this to go down. But more importantly, he got to have some fun with a young fan, which is very nice.

The Republican Party has had long problems, but ever since moving Trump-ward, they’ve gotten bizarre, too. It’s a strange old party now, increasingly filled with unhinged lunatics trying to rewrite reality, even if it means denying a very clear re-election loss or protesting public health measures that actively get your constituents killed. (Then incoherently trying to blame the other side for those deaths.) And James Carville has had enough.

The longtime Democratic consultant, who helped drive Bill Clinton into the White House and who has been begging his party to get more aggressive, went on MSNBC and told host Ari Melber need to get a lot more aggressive about pointing out how the GOP has gone off the deep end.

“The problem is they are a weird political party. They need to be branded as such,” Carville told Melber. He alluded to the 26 QAnon candidates on the ballot this fall, saying they’re not “necessarily the extreme” of the current Republican party. “These are people that talk about testicle tanning. These are people that go to Hungary for conferences,” he said, alluding to two things Fox News superstar Tucker Carlson has done: promote dodgy ways to rescue allegedly dwindling testosterone levels in men and going to a country ruled by an actual authoritarian and singing their praises.

“A large part of the Republican party is just out-and-out weird,” he concluded. “And when you have Moscow Mitch, ‘We need more sane people,’ that means you’ve got a lot of really crazy people.”

Carville then singled out Peter Navarro, who worked in the Trump administration and who was hailed as the most “serious person in the White House,” he said. “You’re telling me that he’s a normal human being? No. And he’s not even among the worst.”

In the year-plus that the Biden administration has been in the White House, they’ve largely gone easy on the other side, perhaps hoping for some return to bipartisanship that has barely existed for the last 20 years. (Remember, “Moscow” Mitch McConnell openly vowed to be nothing but an obstructionist to Barack Obama during his first term almost 15 years ago.) But perhaps they should take a page from Carville, a successful kingmaker, and start loudly pointing out that the other side has lost their damn minds.

(Via Raw Story)

The Miami Heat held serve in dominant fashion on Sunday afternoon, blasting the Atlanta Hawks to take a 1-0 series in the best-of-seven series. Two days later, the Hawks were much more competitive in the rematch, but Jimmy Butler led another impressive effort for Miami, holding on for a 115-105 victory.

In the opening minutes, there were brief signs of a Miami barrage that could be similar to Game 1. After the Hawks scored first, the Heat scored the next ten points, to take early control.

Atlanta would respond, though, and the Hawks were up for the challenge in a different way than Sunday. The Hawks put together an immediate 12-5 run to tie the game, and they were competitive on both ends of the floor.

Following an individual disaster in Game 1 with his worst offensive numbers of the season, Trae Young found his stride. He scored 10 points in the first quarter and 18 in the first half, getting comfortable against Miami’s switching scheme.

The second quarter was an exercise in back-and-forth basketball, with neither team leading by more than four points. There were some fireworks, though, as De’Andre Hunter and Kyle Lowry earned a double-technical for jawing.

Beyond the peripheral energy, fouls were a big story. 30 fouls were called in the first half, with three regulars (Hunter, Kevin Huerter, Bogdan Bogdanovic) picking up three for the Hawks and both Bam Adebayo and Dewayne Dedmon picking up three for the Heat. That set up alternative lineups on both sides, and Miami took it into the half with a two-point lead.

Early in the third quarter, Jimmy Butler asserted his will. He was the best player on the floor in the first half, scoring 21 points, and Miami’s star forward kept it going with his drive game, pull-up jumper and foul drawing. Butler keyed an 11-0 run by the Heat, with Miami eventually building a double-digit lead for the first time in the game.

The Heat maintained a comfortable edge through the third quarter and into the fourth, with Miami leading 94-78 with less than nine minutes remaining. Atlanta would not roll over, though, as the Hawks put together a 12-0 run to slash the margin. Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 10 points in less than three minutes, bringing the visitors within four.

After a timeout and a bit of stabilization, Miami pushed the margin back to nine, riding the veteran duo of Butler and Kyle Lowry.

Behind the continued red-hot shooting of Bogdanovic, the Hawks climbed back within three with less than three minutes remaining. Atlanta had a shot in the air that would’ve tied the game, but it clanged off the rim and, moments later, Butler put the game away by engineering a personal 7-0 run, giving the Heat a 10-point lead that they would never relinquish.

Butler was the story of the evening, finishing with a playoff career-high 45 points on 15-of-25 shooting, 4-of-7 from three-point range, and 11-of-12 at the free throw line. He added five rebounds, five assists and top-shelf defense, and Butler repeatedly made huge plays down the stretch to secure the win.

On the Hawks side, it was a much more competitive effort, keyed by 29 points on 18 shots from Bogdanovic. Young bounced back with 25 points, seven assists, and six rebounds, but he committed 10 turnovers and did not quite reach his usual level of dominance, particularly in the second half where he had just seven points. As a team, Atlanta shot just 12-of-40 from three-point range, and the Hawks committed 19 turnovers that led directly to 21 points for the Heat.

From here, the series shifts to Atlanta for Game 3 on Friday evening. Given the 0-2 deficit, the Hawks will face a virtual must-win scenario at State Farm Arena, though Atlanta has been dominant at home, winning 20 of the last 23 games.

It took one game for the 2-7 matchup between the Memphis Grizzlies and Minnesota Timberwolves to become perhaps the most exciting first-round series in the 2022 NBA playoffs. Both teams are led by young stars and came into things with chips on their shoulders, and after the Timberwolves took Game 1 in Memphis, all eyes were on Tuesday night’s Game 2. (Well, as long as you have NBA TV, but that’s neither here nor there.)

Anyway, one of the best moments of Game 1 came when Karl-Anthony Towns Sr. and Tee Morant — you’ve probably heard of their sons! — met up at midcourt during a stoppage in play and had a conversation with one another. The whole thing really was spectacular, behold:

On Tuesday, we got part two of KAT Sr. and Tee going back-and-forth with one another. Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports is on sideline duty for Game 2, and at one point during the second quarter, he was able to pull both of them aside and just let them talk some junk. It is one of the best things that has been put on air during a basketball game in some time.

Forget a Players Only broadcast, let us get a dadcast during Game 3 on Thursday night.

Red Table Talk, the Emmy-winning Facebook Watch talk show hosted by Jada Pinkett Smith, her daughter Willow, and her mother Adrienne Banfield-Norris, returns this week. But when it does, there’s a sizable elephant lurking the room: Jada’s participation in the most scandalous event in Oscars history. It’s only been about three weeks since Will Smith slapped presenter Chris Rock over a joke he made about her. But you’d never know it from the new season’s trailer.

It’s a star-studded affair, featuring guests like Janelle Monaé, Kim Basinger, one of the victims of the “Tinder Swindler,” and more, all coming in for heavy, emotional discussions. What’s missing is any reference to the incident that got a member of the family banned from the ceremony for a decade. Instead, it’s business as usual.

That makes sense: Insiders tell Variety that the new episodes were filmed before this year’s Academy Awards ceremony, which changed the Smith family in more ways than one. (At least Will got an Academy Award out of it.) Besides, Jada, Willow, and Adrienne shouldn’t have to answer for something none of them did. Still, seeing an ad that doesn’t address one of the still newish year’s biggest stories can’t help but seem a bit awkward.

Red Table Talk begins its new season on Wednesday, April 20. You can watch the trailer on Facebook Watch.

(Via Variety)

It’s been nearly a year and four months since an army of violent Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building in D.C., and the feds are still rounding up perps. A number of them were busted in creative (which is to say dunderheaeded) ways. For instance, one perpetrator, who was arrested last month, bragged to his Uber driver about taking a key part in the Capitol storming, all while a webcam was rolling.

As per NBC News, Jerry Daniel Braun, a Jan. 6 participant, spent part of that evening being ferried in an Uber in downtown D.C. Some people hold conversations with their Uber drivers, and this man was no different. Braun showed up in the back of the driver’s car bruised, with an injury to his eye. They then had the following conversation:

“So, has it been violent all day?” the driver asked.

“Well, it started around, right when I got there. I tore down the barricades,” the man replied.

“You did?” the driver asked. “Why?”

“Well, because, so we could get to the Capitol,” the man replied.

“Well, how’d that work out for ya?” the driver asked.

“Well,” he replied, “it looks like, uh, Biden’s gonna be our president.”

The Uber driver tipped off the feds shortly thereafter, even providing his webcam footage. Fifteen months and some internet sleuthing later, and Braun joined the nearly 800 defendants charged in connection with the attack.

Braun joins a long list of Jan. 6 perpetrators with stranger-than-fiction apprehension stories. Who could forget the one who called lost-and-found for objects he left behind? The guy who bragged about pounding Coors Light while invading the Capitol? The guy busted while in a touring production of Jesus Christ Superstar? And then there’s the “influencer” who bragged that she wouldn’t go to jail because she’s “white.” Spoiler: She went to jail.

(Via NBC News)