Category: News

For the second time this month, SNL opened with one of Fox News’ most unhinged hosts. No, not Tucker Carlson. Cecil Strong again busted out her deafening Judge Jeanine Pirro, to shout about yet another rollercoaster week. On the plus side: the Biden-led Build Back Better bill passed the House (though not before Kevin McCarthy’s deranged, record-breaking, much-mocked filibuster). On the negative: Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted for shooting three protesters, killing two. One of these things Strong’s Pirro liked.

“That lovable scamp was put through a nightmare of a trial just for doing the bravest thing any American can do — protecting a used car lot in someone else’s town,” her Pirro loudly declared.

She also brought on Rittenhouse trial judge, Bruce Schroeder (Mikey Day), who let loose a little Freudian slip. “It was all standard procedure,” he said. “That’s why I ordered that the prosecution not use the word ‘victims,’ they were rioters, and hey were not shot, they were ge-doinked. That did not give my client and unfair advantage in any way.”

When Strong’s Pirro pointed out that he called Rittenhouse “my client,” not “the defendant,” he apologized. “Oooh, yeah, sure. I keep doing that,” he said.

Talk moved to the Build Back Better bill, even to Joe Biden’s colonoscopy. (“What was President Brandon doing getting socialized buttplay paid for by your tax dollars?”) But she eventually deferred to her favorite former president-turned-failed blogger, Donald J. Trump, played once again, with almost creepy verisimilitude, by new cast member James Austin Johnson. Along with a spot-on impersonation, Johnson also likes to do some free associative rambling, meaning he can start by talking about politics and suddenly, somehow start talking about teen TV.

“We’re coming back,” Johnson’s Trump said. “We’re coming back in 2024. Everyone loves reboots. People loved it before they are going to like it again — just like iCarly. Just like iCarly.” In another rant, he got on the subject of Gossip Girl, bemoaning the reboot and getting into the weeds about the original, which the real Trump probably knows very well, too.

You can watch the sketch in the video above.

Terence Crawford has long been one of boxing’s most talented stars, but many wanted to see the man who briefly sat atop the pound-for-pound rankings step in the ring with some of the current best in the welterweight division. On Saturday night, he gave them the show they wanted when he squared off with Shawn Porter and the two delivered a thrilling 10-round battle that saw Crawford once again deliver some theatrics in the later rounds.

Early on the two were trading shots and through the midway point of the fight, there were a number of ringside observers who had the fight even or had Porter ahead on the cards.

Crawford was able to open up a cut over Porter’s right eye early, but Porter kept moving forward and tagged Crawford with plenty of shots of his own. The two traded shots throughout the fight, providing plenty of action for the capacity crowd at Mandalay Bay.

However, as happens so often in Crawford fights, once he drew Porter out to the deep waters of the late rounds, his power remained while Porter’s shots no longer carried the same weight and, slowly but surely, he began to take control. After a strong ninth round, Crawford unloaded on Porter in the 10th with a pair of knockdowns that cemented the fight as his.

After Porter was knocked down twice with 81 seconds still left in the 10th round, Porter’s father stepped in and threw the towel in from the corner, giving Crawford the TKO victory as he became the first person to ever stop Porter.

The win moves Crawford to 38-0 with 29 knockouts, including nine consecutive fights where he’s stopped his opponent before the final bell. The immediate hope for many is to see Crawford tangle with Errol Spence Jr., who was in Vegas for the fight but left almost immediately after Crawford’s scintillating knockout win. For Porter, it’s his second loss in three fights, having lost a split decision to Spence in 2019, and, as mentioned, the first time he hasn’t made it the distance. There will be plenty of chatter about what’s next for Crawford, particularly as he appears set to move on from Top Rank, but in the immediate, we were given a chance to marvel at one of boxing’s very best at any weight class put on another sensational show.

The Sacramento Kings find themselves in unfortunate familiar territory 16 games into the season, sitting at 6-10, which is only good for 12th in the West at the moment. The Kings are in quite the skid of late, going 3-7 in their last 10 games and it has revived hot seat talk around Luke Walton.

To make matters worse, they began a brutal stretch of schedule on Saturday night at home against the Jazz, and with 9:36 to go in the fourth quarter, a fan courtside simply couldn’t take anymore. In what was a heavy-handed metaphor for Kings basketball in the last decade, a fan literally puked on the floor by the Jazz bench and caused what became a very lengthy delay.

It was apparently a lot of vomit, too.

The fan in question, well, looks like a guy who just threw up courtside at an NBA game as the poor Kings arena crew tries to clean it up.

The Jazz had to exit their bench area during the cleanup and seemed to be stunned by what they just witnessed — and trying to enjoy themselves as they passed the time during what became a lengthy cleaning process.

It is honestly a bit stunning that there aren’t more delays for fans spilling things on the court, but puking on the court is another level of courtside mishap. That fan likely won’t be invited back to Kings games, at least near the court, and has to live with the fact that he’ll forever be remembered for this, even if he may not remember what happened tomorrow morning.

There are a lot of injuries one can sustain as a mixed martial artist, but one of the most common (and at times grotesque looking) is cauliflower ear. It can also leave a permanent mark and is one of the telltale signs of a former wrestler or MMA fighter — aka, the guy you do not want to get into a fight with at a bar.

At UFC Vegas 43 on Saturday, bantamweight Adrian Yanez picked up a win in his bout with Davey Grant to move to 15-3 in his career, but also picked up a nasty case of cauliflower ear that he didn’t really notice until after the fight when he was awaiting the decision from the judges scorecards. As he accepted a congrats from a coach, Yanez started feeling at his ear and noticed how bad his left ear had swollen up, offering up some commentary that got picked up by ESPN’s cameras.

That’s the exact reaction I would also have if I just noticed that my ear was approximately three times its normal size. Happily, Yanez got it drained before his presser and looked much better as he spoke to the press — and had a little clamp there to keep the swelling from returning.

There are only three teams that are still undefeated at the FBS level this season. Top-ranked Georgia is the heavy favorite to win the national championship this season, while Cincinnati is steadily making its case to be the first non-Power 5, non-Notre Dame team to make it into the College Football Playoff — with their latest statement coming in a dominant 45-14 win over SMU on Saturday.

The other undefeated squad is one that has flown much further below the radar nationally, as the UTSA Roadrunners from Conference USA entered Saturday at 10-0, ranked 22nd in the most recent CFP rankings. The Roadrunners are an incredible story, a team that is in its 10th year of existence at the FBS level and has never won more than eight games in a season — that season coming in their first in the WAC. Now, Jeff Traylor has them on the rise and with a chance to clinch the C-USA West crown in a big time battle with UAB at home on Saturday.

The Blazers led for much of the proceedings, but UTSA got one final drive to try and get a win, trailing 31-27 late. After getting stuffed on 3rd and goal at the 1, it was one play with four seconds left and a perfect season on the line, when some magic happened for the Roadrunners.

A low snap nearly derails the play from the start, but Frank Harris picks the ball up and rolls to his left, lobbing a pass to Oscar Cardenas that gets tipped, forcing Cardenas to stretch for it, still managing to haul it in for the game-winning score. The scene in San Antonio is incredible afterwards, as the fans go absolutely wild for the biggest moment in program history. UTSA won’t be part of the Playoff conversation no matter how their next two games go, but it’s a reminder of how even beyond the Playoff there’s plenty of great stories in college football.

Alabama, despite a loss to Texas A&M earlier this season, is right back near the top of the college football playoff rankings at No. 2, just behind Georgia who they’ll meet in an SEC title game if they can win out.

However, before we could get a No. 1 vs. No. 2 SEC title game in Atlanta, the Tide had to navigate two more SEC West opponents in Arkansas and Auburn. Alabama was a three-touchdown favorite against the Razorbacks on Saturday, but found themselves in a tight battle in the fourth quarter thanks to Sam Pittman digging deep in the playbook for a wild fake field goal early in the fourth quarter. Pittman sent his kick team out on 4th & 9 for a long field goal and the Tide were in a field goal safe look, but still got fooled on a fake field goal jump pass from the holder.

It’s an unbelievable play by the tight end to reach back and haul in the pass, not only getting the first down but keeping his balance and rumbling for the touchdown to cut the Alabama lead to six. The design is beautiful and even takes advantage of the positioning of the officials, as the outside defender gets picked by the official as the tight end comes across the seam to create some added separation.

It’s been just over a year since Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, handily crushing incumbent Donald J. Trump (despite what he continues to say). It hasn’t been smooth sailing, and some have wondered if he’ll run again, especially considering he’ll be nearly 83 during Election Day 2024. But word is that, some three years out, he’s already talking about seeking re-election.

This comes from The Washington Post, which reports that, despite cratering approval ratings less than a year into his administration, he’s been telling allies that, in three years, he’s up for four more years.

“The only thing I’ve heard him say is he’s planning on running again,” said former senator and Biden pal Chris Dodd. “And I’m glad he is.”

A Biden re-run is not a given. At a fundraiser earlier this month, he told a group of donors that, while he was at least probably going to run again, he’s also “never been able to plan 3½, four years ahead, for certain.” There’s also fear about his health (though he was deemed “vigorous” during a physical on Friday). Former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell added that, “He will not run if he feels he can’t do the job physically or emotionally.”

But will his party have him again? The Post spoke with 28 Democratic strategists and officials, and they weren’t ruling out the idea of someone to replace him on the ticket in 2024. One source told them they “couldn’t think single person they had spoken to in the last month who considers the possibility of Biden running again to be a real one.”

Since taking office in January, Biden has had untold messes to clean up. There have been scandals, notably the messy withdrawal from Afghanistan. Inflation is driving up prices (though it might not be quite the mess some are claiming it is). And his approval rating is currently in the low 40s. It’s still relatively early days, though, both for restoring faith in his administration and for deciding who would be suitable to tackle the Republican frontrunner in three more years, be that Trump again or maybe that guy whose state has one of the highest COVID death rates in the nation.

(Via The Post)

The most aesthetically pleasing game of the college football season, every season, is when USC and UCLA meet in their crosstown rivalry game in Los Angeles, with both teams donning their road unis in a gorgeous uniform matchup of red vs. blue.

This year, it also happened to be a highly entertaining contest, at least in the first half, as the Bruins took a 28-17 lead into the half despite a sloppy start that saw three combined turnovers in the first four drives. After tossing two picks in the first quarter, UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson settled in, throwing for three touchdowns and rushing for another, as he accounted for all 28 of the Bruins’ points in the first half, but after his final score he picked up a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct for his celebration.

He didn’t taunt the Trojans or break into some kind of wild dance, he simply signed a hat for a fan — oddly one wearing a USC jersey but passing him a UCLA hat — which was apparently frowned upon by the officials.

This isn’t a Terrell Owens situation where he broke a sharpie out of his sock and signed the ball, he’s just giving the fans some love in the moment. In this new NIL world, I feel like this shouldn’t be flagged. DTR’s just trying to make the fans experience at the game as enjoyable as possible, and if that means signing a couple autographs, he’s willing to do it.

Kyle Rittenhouse is a free man. On Friday, the Illinois teenager was acquitted of all charges connected to the fatal shooting of two protesters (plus one person he “only” wounded) in Kenosha, Wisconsin last summer. There was much rejoicing on the right, including multiple calls from lawmakers to make him a congressional intern. But there’s one person who finds such behavior “disgusting”: one of Rittenhouse’s attorneys.

Mark Richards, who has already expressed irritation with Tucker Carlson for bugging them while filming a Fox Nation special, spoke with Insider, and he made sure to slam the likes of Matt Gaetz and Paul Gosar, who he argues are exploiting a tragedy for political and financial gain.

“There’s a lot of people trying to profit on this, and I don’t think people should,” Richards told Insider. “They’re raising money on it and you have all these Republican congressmen saying come work for me,” he said, adding, “They want to trade on his celebrity and I think it’s disgusting.”

Earlier, in an interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo, Richards discussed how his client has been turned into a folk hero by the right, who are openly courting him to join their cause. “I had a talk with Kyle. All I can say is what I say,” Richards said. “And Kyle’s going to have some hard choices in his life about the direction he goes and what he stands for. Those will have to be made by Kyle eventually.”

Both Gaetz and Gosar offered Rittenhouse jobs, the latter joking that he will “arm wrestle” Gaetz for dibs on the young man. Gosar is hot off being censured by the House over posting an anime video in which he murders both fellow representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and President Joe Biden. Meanwhile, Gaetz, who launched into a bizarre defense of Gosar before the vote, remains under federal investigation over ties to a sex trafficking ring, which may have involved underage girls.

(Via Insider)

America has a lot of problems right now. Vigilantism. Violent rhetoric among politicians. And there’s this: The nation is currently in the midst of a spike in inflation, with prices rising as the nation struggles to find some way out of the pandemic. Food prices are high; gas prices are higher. The Federal Reserve has tried to ease nerves, saying it will likely be transitory. Meanwhile, the right has used this to create panic, in a naked attempt to scare people from voting Democrat next fall. (Though conservatives aren’t the only ones.) But there are still reports like the one by Market Watch, which made such unlikely claims that much of social media couldn’t resist calling bull.

The piece claims that the U.S. is seeing the highest inflation in 31 years, and among the industries hit are concertgoing and booze. Writer Vivien Lou Chen asserts that “average Americans are paying as much as $100 to $200 for a single concert ticket, $90 for a bottle of wine, and $5 a gallon for gas.”

This was the intel Market Watch’s social media team highlighted in a tweet. And when that tweet went viral, people were not convinced that any of that was true, especially the bit about wine.

Granted, Chen used the words “as much as,” but that still seemed far-fetched. If it was true, though, that a typical household was able to shell out almost 100 bucks for a bottle of wine, then that would imply the economy’s booming.

Some wondered if “average Americans” actually meant “billionaires.”

Mother Jones published a longer response to the Market Watch piece, debunking claims that concert tickets had suddenly become very pricey.

Concert tickets have been maddeningly expensive for a while—driven by a single giant company’s domination of the market, not some mysterious force lifting all prices. As someone who just two days ago snagged a perfectly delicious French red for $11, I’m amused by the notion that there exists some “average American” (a construction Lou Chen uses three times) who feels compelled to fork over near-three-figure sums for the pleasure of a bottle.

They allowed that gas prices are indeed high, though perhaps not as high as Chen claims.

Gas prices are indeed high, and unlike live music and booze, millions of Americans can’t opt out of driving because it’s too expensive; people have to get to work and shop, and our mass transit system is generally a joke. But as New York‘s Eric Levitz recently argued, this phenomenon stems from a tangle of factors including the 2010s fracking boom-bust saga and the demand for windfall profits from petro-states like Saudi Arabia and Russia.

In other words, to conjure the specter of runaway inflation, the Marketwatch piece leans on two phantom examples and one that can’t be fixed easily by the conventional governmental tools for bringing down consumer prices.

In conclusion, Mother Jones says there “are plenty of things to worry about, but inflation isn’t one of them.” Neither are pricey bottles of Malbec.

(Via Market Watch and Mother Jones)