Category: News

In the aftermath of his re-election loss, Donald Trump did what he’s always done: He sowed chaos and made money, often by shady means. Since November, the former president’s political PAC has raised about $75 million off his legions of supporters, ostensibly to help finance ballot reviews in states he’s alleged, without evidence, of fraud. But so far the only thing he’s spent their dough on his himself.

According to The Washington Post, the millions donated to Trump’s Save America PAC, some of from no doubt cash-strapped supporters, hasn’t gone towards efforts to prove last year’s election was stolen from him, as he continues to allege. Instead, it’s “paid for some of the former president’s travel, legal costs and staff, along with other expenses.”

Much of the money hasn’t been spent. But amassing a fortune off the backs of his supporters, argues the Post, “allows Trump to build up a war chest to use in the 2022 midterms on behalf of candidates he favors — and to stockpile cash for another potential White House run, an unprecedented maneuver for a former president.”

Instead, Trump has let others pay the millions for the months-long audit of Maricopa County’s ballots in Arizona. The slack has been taken up by nonprofits, most of whose donors have not been publicly disclosed.

Meanwhile, the Save America PAC has until July 31 to to reveal the details of its fundraising and spending for the first half of the year. Given Trump’s long history of simply ignoring the law — and getting cheered on for same by his fans — we’ll see how that goes.

Trump’s PAC has raised its bounty with a mix of unsubstantiated claims alleging election fraud and vague sloganeering. “We need you to join the fight to SECURE OUR ELECTIONS!” one Facebook ad reads. Republican lawmakers across the country, meanwhile, have set in place an untold number of vote restriction laws, claiming to stop fraud that has never been proven.

Meanwhile, Trump’s die-hards should be happy to know that their hard-earned money has been so far spent on helping one of the allegedly richest people in the world cruise around the country. Or maybe they think it’s badass that he may have just grifted them.

(Via WaPo)

Earlier this week, Kanye West revealed that his tenth album, Donda, would arrive before the weekend. The rapper also announced that he would hold a listening event at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the 75,000-capacity venue that’s home to the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons. Despite a nearly two-hour delay, the event went on as expected, but Donda was not officially released afterward and fans were once again left empty-handed, with no clue for when the project would arrive.

After spending much of the day waiting for an update on Donda, Kanye finally released an updatet late Friday night, but it came from an unexpected source: Justin LaBoy. On Twitter, the social media personality wrote, “KANYE WEST WILL MOVE THE RELEASE DATE OF DONDA TO AUGUST 6TH. THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE.” He added, “HE WANTS TO GIVE HIS FANS THE BEST POSSIBLE PRODUCT WITHOUT RUSHING ANYTHING. HE LOVES YALL WITH ALL OF HIS HEART. GOD BLESS.”

LaBoy is certainly not the name you’d expect to make this announcement, but apparently they’re closer than you may think. Last week, the social media personality revealed Kanye played the album for him and NBA player Kevin Durant during a listening session in Las Vegas. Afterwards, Laboy posted on social media, “ALBUM OF THE YEAR. DONT @ ME.”

Night after night, Tucker Carlson bombards his millions of viewers with unhinged conspiracy theories: Vaccines are dangerous. He’s being spied on by the NSA. The Jan. 6 insurrection wasn’t that bad. But behind the scenes he may be a lot more chummy with his purported enemies than he lets on. A recent New York Times piece alleged that he’s a notorious leaker to the so-called “Fake News Media.” And now a lefty politician claimed he and the Fox News host got into it over text.

On Friday, Representative Eric Swalwell, one of the House’s biggest critics Donald Trump critics, took to Twitter, posting an alleged screengrab of a mobile exchange between he and the Fox News firebreather. It shows Carlson reaching out to him, asking him to give him a call.

“I’m hesitant to do that,” Swalwell wrote back. “You falsely smeared my wife on Tuesday and she’s getting death threats. That’s way out of bounds. She’s a pregnant mom of a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old. Hit me all you like. But to go after her. That’s just wrong.”

Carlson, allegedly, had a one-word response: “Coward.”

In the post, Swalwell said Carlson is “losing his mind that I won’t return his calls,” adding, “Sorry, Tucker, I’m just not that into you. Who knows what lie he’ll tell next?”

Earlier in the week, Carlson came after the Democratic lawmaker in a segment entitled “Eric Swalwell Has a Problem With Money.” In it, he claimed that “more than $20,000.00 of Eric Swalwell’s campaign expenditures went to the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Half Moon Bay, California. Now, weirdly or maybe not so weirdly, Eric Swalwell’s wife is an executive at that very hotel.” He also accused him of bedding a Chinese spy.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Looks like Bobby Shmurda just took the stage for his first official show back now that he’s officially out of prison. Though Shmurda was slated to appear at the All Star Weekend this spring to perform alongside 50 Cent, that show was unexpectedly canceled. So when the line-up for Rolling Loud was announced this past April, fans were eager to get a do-over for the “Hot N—-” rapper’s long-awaited return.

When Shmurda went to prison back in 2016 on a plea deal along with fellow GS-9 crew member Rowdy Rebel, the pair were some of the, ahem, hottest artists out. Now, it’s still unclear if Bobby can return to his former glory after all this time has passed, but considering his first hit was a product of the viral Shmoney dance and spread via social media clips, it seems like he already has the blueprint down, no? And considering Migos have his back several times over, and he’s closely following his parole guidelines, it looks like he’s well on his way to a come back.

Check out some clips of Bobby’s performance below, and here’s hoping he’ll be gracing a lot more stages this year. If anyone deserves a chance to get back on stage and prove his worth, it’s an artist like him who tragically had his career cut short.

You’ve heard of the University of Miami turnover chain and Chris Paul’s secret stuff, and the New York Mets debuted their own version on Friday night — a stuffed horse that back-to-back Home Run Derby winner Pete Alonso termed the Home Run Horse.

During Alonso’s two-dinger night, the Mets celebrated with a cotton-filled mare that could easily be found in a children’s playroom. It first came out in the bottom of the first inning.

The Home Run Horse came back in the bottom of the eighth as Alonso hit another bomb to give New York a 3-0 lead.

After the game, Alonso said on the local broadcast that the idea for the Home Run Horse came from hitting coach Hugh Quattlebaum. As you can tell from Alonso’s explanation, there’s really not much to the gimmick.

The Mets could use the kick in the butt when it comes to power. They are 25th in the majors in total home runs, and even the powerful Alonso is 24th in MLB with just 19 home runs on the season.

Still, a win on Friday night led by the Home Run Horse pushed the Mets to 51-43, extending their lead in the National League East to an impressive 4.5 games.

Aaron Rodgers is expected to announce his retirement from the NFL some time before the Packers’ first training camp practice, if Las Vegas sports books are to be believed. The Westgate SuperBook has closed its NFC North odds, and according to Bill Huber of SI Fan Nation’s Packer Central, other books have followed suit.

Writes Huber: “Two other sportsbooks contacted after that initial message said the expectation is Rodgers is going to announce his retirement sometime before the first practice on Wednesday.”

As Huber charts, Packers season win total bets are not available at PointsBet, DraftKings or Bet Online, while at Bovada, there are no odds listed for Rodgers’ touchdown or passing yardage totals.

The latest Rodgers reporting from Adam Schefter of ESPN indicates Rodgers turned down a two-year extension that would have made him the highest-paid player in the NFL. The 2020 MVP made it clear in doing so that money in this case is not what will talk.

As contract negotiations between Green Bay and wide receiver Davante Adams come to an impasse, the Packers seem to have extensive issues on their hands that go beyond Rodgers. But Rodgers is not helping matters by remaining opaque about his intentions, still having not publicly demanded a trade or announced his intentions when it comes to 2021.

But if the sports books have it right, news about Rodgers’ retirement could come in the very near future.

In the immediate aftermath of the Milwaukee Bucks beating the Phoenix Suns for an NBA championship, Suns coach Monty Williams walked over to Milwaukee’s locker room and, while placing an arm around NBA Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, congratulated the team for what they accomplished, saying, “You guys made me a better coach, made us a better team.”

It was a really cool moment, with the Bucks stopping their celebrating to welcome Williams in and giving him a round of applause for the show of sportsmanship. And in an interview with Malika Andrews of ESPN, Antetokounmpo took some time to praise Williams, both for the gesture and for the series.

“It was an amazing moment,” Antetokounmpo said. “He came up to me and told me congrats. He’s a great coach, he got the best out of his team, and you could see — he said it — that they’ve never been there before, and that we were there. But we wasn’t, we’ve never been here before in the NBA Finals. But we’ve played in the playoffs, we had a little bit of experience.

“But I felt like the right thing to do was to take him in the locker room and allow him to talk to the team, because I think he wanted to talk to the team, but he didn’t want to stop the celebration,” Antetokounmpo continued.

Antetokounmpo went on to say that he had things stop in the locker room so Williams could speak, then wished him luck and predicted that this may not be the last time they battle one another.

“I told him, ‘I feel like there’s a good chance we might run it back next year,’” Antetokounmpo said. “He has a great team and we have a great team, but that’s too far away, I can’t be thinking about that.”

The series was nothing short of fantastic, with the Suns winning the first two games and the Bucks ripping four wins in a row to win the whole thing in six games. It would be terrific if they do, indeed, meet up again with the title on the line next year, but like Giannis said, that’s way too far away for anyone to think about right now.

With the onset of the pandemic and an extended period of isolation last year, many people turned to online communities and digital platforms in a new ay for a sense of community and connection. So it’s not surprising that one such digital community center, Discord, has been going mainstream in recent months. Even if you’ve never heard of Discord, plenty of your favs are already using it to connect with fans or fellow artists. Grimes recently launched her own server on the site and used it to tease new music, and multi-hyphenate rapper, actress and comedian Awkwafina is a big proponent of the platform, too.

So much so, that Nora from Queens is starring in a new ad that attempts to explain the extremely online concept of digital networking to the rest of the world — as summed up by the one and only Danny DeVito. In the clip, which was dubbed with the tongue-in-cheek name Discord: The Movie, Nora takes Danny with her on a wild ride through the servers, while users pop in here and there to tell their stories. With a cameo from J Balvin — and obviously, Grimes — among many others, the clip is a feel-good look at what the best of the internet can be. And Awkwafina is always a to watch no matter what she’s doing. Check it out above.

Need a mood boost to help you sail through the weekend? Here are 10 moments that brought joy to our hearts and a smile to our faces this week. Enjoy!

1. How much does this sweet little boy adore his baby sister? So darn much.

Oh, to be loved with this much enthusiasm! The sheer adoration on his face. What a lucky little sister.

2. Teens raise thousands for their senior trip, then donate it to their community instead.

When it came time for Islesboro Central School’s Class of 2021 to pick the destination for their senior class trip, the students began eyeing a trip to Greece or maybe even South Korea. But in the end, they decided to donate $5,000 they’d raised for the trip to help out their community members struggling in the wake of the pandemic instead.

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Read the story here.

3. Radio DJ rallies community to help a man he saw walking 6 hours a day to and from work.

After veteran Chicago radio personality “Ramblin’ Ray” Stevens noticed Braxton Mayes, 20, walking during his commute from work several times, he offered him a ride. Then, when he found out Mayes walked 3 hours each way to and from work because his car broke down, he called on the community to help him get his car fixed. Read the full story here.

Fox 32 Chicago/YouTube

4. Just for the sheer adorableness of it, this red panda noshing on snacks while getting weighed.

Stop it. How cute can a video get? It doesn’t even look real. Gah. Now desperately feeling the need to find a red panda.

How to weigh a red panda.. 😊 https://t.co/xKmIoXcLWN

— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden_)
1627056252.0

5. Speaking of adorable animals, this wild Canada goose couple is winning hearts all over the place.

Arnold is a Canada goose that lives near the Cape Wildlife Center with his life partner, and after he was taken to the center to be treated for injuries, she showed up at the door looking for him. The staff let her see him while he was getting oxygen after his surgery, and they both calmed down as she started grooming him. Goose love is real, folks. Read the full story here.

6. This dedicated dad wanted to surprise his Moana-loving kids, and The Rock made it happen.

We love The Rock. It’s hard not to when you see videos like this one. (And kudos to the dad for keeping up with his rap. Not easy, even when you’re a parent who’s heard the soundtrack a million times.)

7. Mama cat introducing her kitten to her best doggo friend.

This is what we call “Pupworthy” content. You can almost hear the dialogue happening. So dang sweet.

Mommy cat introducing her kitten to her best friend.. 😊 https://t.co/DzSf9ad9x6

— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden_)
1627065626.0

8. A little perspective—our beautiful home planet viewed from space.

There are more than 7 billion of us here on this little rock hurtling through space, and while we definitely have our issues to work out, this short video is a stunning reminder that we’re all one people, part of one earthly home.

Earth at night viewed from space. https://t.co/EMdoaDJVkU

— Crazy Science (@crazysciencee)
1626947338.0

9. This joy-filled commentary of Friday feeding time at Caen Hill farm is a perfect timeline cleanser.

Caen Hill Countryside Centre is a charity in Devizes, United Kingdom that helps young people and rescues animals, and we would like this gentleman to narrate all of the happenings in our daily lives, please.

Greetings and good morning it’s the Friday rush #rushhour #farmrushhour #FridayThoughts @caro_painter https://t.co/vmpHtMPqZ6

— caenhillcc (@caenhillcc)
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10. If you still feel like you’re stumbling instead of sailing into the weekend, don’t fret. You’re not alone.

We hope perusing these stories lifted your spirit, but if it didn’t, that’s okay. Sometimes we just need to just flop down and rest on our faces for a while. Thanks, doggo, for the solidarity.

Some doggos aren’t built for the obstacle course. Wait for it… https://t.co/M50Y3jOBFc

— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman)
1626879852.0

Have a lovely weekend, everyone.

The COVID-19 vaccine has been readily available for all U.S. citizens for months now, and on Thursday, the NFL made clear that they very much want every player to get it. In a memo sent out to all 32 teams, the league said that a COVID-19 outbreak among unvaccinated members of a team would not lead to games getting moved around, as they were last season.

Instead, teams that suffer said outbreak would forfeit the game, accept a loss in the standings, and prevent players on both teams from getting their game checks. It’s very much a “the carrot didn’t work, so here’s the stick” approach from the league, but in response, some players have taken some strange approaches.

Some, like DeAndre Hopkins of the Arizona Cardinals, floated the possibility of just not playing football if need be (Hopkins since deleted his tweet and walked it back). And then, there have been guys like Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys, who are asked about whether they got vaccinated and cite HIPAA.

This is not HIPAA. Known in full as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, HIPAA basically means — at least in this context, and to be clear, this is an overly-simplified definition — that healthcare professionals can’t reveal your medical information. It does not mean that a reporter is not allowed to ask you if you got the COVID-19 vaccine. You can just respond by saying, “I do not want to answer this question,” which you can do on any other number of subjects! This same conversation is happening in the world of politics right now, because one particular politician is doing this exact same thing. Regardless of the job, this is not a HIPAA violation.

Anyway, Prescott got some egg on his face for this, because in the aftermath, a bunch of folks took to Twitter and made HIPAA jokes.

If you’d like to learn more about what HIPAA is an isn’t, click here.