Category: News

James Harden is a Brooklyn Net. And Victor Oladipo is a Houston Rocket. And Caris LeVert is an Indiana Pacer. And Jarrett Allen is a Cleveland Cavalier.

Basically, a lot happened on Wednesday afternoon in the NBA, and when something as monstrous as the four-team James Harden deal takes place, it is Adrian Wojnarowski’s job to deliver the details to the masses both on the internet and on television. Usually, Woj pops up on The Jump or SportsCenter to talk NBA gossip and break down a trade like this, but in this instance, ESPN simply cannot wait to have him explain how a deal that sends a former MVP to play with another MVP and involves eight (8) draft picks and swaps and an All-Star going from a surprise fourth team back.

As it so happens, this trade broke just as the crew from NFL Live was settling in to discuss the upcoming Divisional round of the NFL Playoffs and took a detour to let a clearly giddy Woj break some NBA news in the midst of ESPN’s top NFL show.

Woj isn’t known for being exactly effervescent as a personality, but this seemed like as happy a moment as he’s had on TV, getting to talk about a big NBA trade on, as he said, his favorite NFL program. Woj figures to be a busy man for the rest of the day as he’ll surely show up on SportsCenters for the rest of the night, but his debut on NFL Live will surely be the highlight of his day.

Nearly a year into the deadliest pandemic in a century, the U.S. is still battling not only the virus, but Americans living in denial of reality as well.

Take this video of a group of anti-maskers who stood in front of a Trader Joe’s entrance and tried to argue that they had every right to shop there without masks. The woman narrating the video states that they have “a right to commerce” (they don’t—there’s literally no such right), that Trader Joe’s doesn’t have the right to require masks (they do—it’s their store), that the mandate to wear masks in public places can’t be enforced because it’s not a real law (it can—), and that they were not there to demonstrate, but just to buy groceries (umm, right).

The manager, to his credit, did what he could to calmly talk with these people while also making it clear that they were not going to enter the store without a mask.

“The point you’re trying to make isn’t going to be made with us,” he said. “It can be made with your government…I am not here to debate policy. I totally respect for you to think anything you want to think…my job, as manager of the store is to enforce the mandate, whether you believe in it or not.”

The anti-maskers complained when the manager allowed masked customers to enter the store, asking why they were allowed to shop. The feigned innocence and insincere bafflement is really something. The demonstrators blocked the entrance to the store, preventing other shoppers from entering, then sent some of their group around to the back of the store when they found out that mask-wearing customers were being let in through the back door.

The whole thing is incredibly stupid, but the Trader Joe’s employees standing their ground with superhuman patience and diplomacy are incredibly impressive.

(Check out the subtle shade moment at 1:52 when a masked shopper gives a sassy little foot kick as she enters the store.)

TJ 1 9 21 Salem OR

www.youtube.com

The Oregon Health Authority has made it very clear that the state’s mask mandate is binding for all. In the Q & A section of its website, the question of whether there are even any health exemptions is addressed:

“If a person with a disability cannot wear a mask, face covering or face shield, a place of public accommodation, such as a business or space open to the public, will need to work with that person to provide a reasonable modification. Some common reasonable modifications are: free curbside pick-up, free delivery or an appointment by phone or video. A reasonable modification does not include allowing a customer inside without a mask, face covering or face shield.”

Also, governors have the right to enact emergency powers, so yes, a public health mandate is legally binding during a public health emergency.

In addition, Trader Joe’s is a private business, which has the right to enact and enforce its own rules for shopping there. We’ve lived with “No shoes, no shirt, no service” signs for decades without demonstrators claiming that they have every right to shop barefoot. Shopping at a specific grocery store is not a constitutional right. These people aren’t just annoying, they’re wrong about everything they are saying. They’re also putting others at risk by refusing to wear a mask in public.

This isn’t hard. The science behind mask mandates has been clear for many months at this point, and further backed up by data from places that tracked the virus before and after mask mandates were implemented. But the key to success is compliance. If people would just wear them because it’s the right thing to do to protect everyone and to enable us to live some semblance of normal life without killing millions, that would be great. The irony is that mask mandates only become necessary when people don’t do that.

The U.S. is drowning in COVID-19, and these people are flipping over the lifeboats because they’re uncomfortable. And the entitlement of believing a business has to serve you when that’s what you’re doing? Ridiculous. Good for these Trader Joe’s employees for not backing down.

A hip-hop national monument is in danger of going out of business as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Dilla’s Delights, the Detroit donut shop named for the late producer J Dilla and owned by J’s uncle Herman Hayes, has closed its doors. On Sunday, during a heartfelt Instagram Live session, Hayes announced that the closure is permanent and official, although he is still looking for a new location to keep the business alive.

“It’s official — the donut shop is closed in that location,” he admitted. “We don’t quite know which direction we’re gonna go in and where we’re gonna be, but we’re working on some things. That location at 242 John R Road is no longer open and we will not open back up at 242 John R Road and we are looking for a home. We’re homeless — we’re looking for a home and the possibilities are out there, let’s put it that way. We may want to open up somewhere else. I don’t know. We gotta figure it out.”

However, he remained optimistic. “We’re definitely gonna keep donuts alive, Dilla’s legacy alive,” he assured his followers. “We’re gonna come back bigger, better, and just be creative.”

Dilla’s Delights was founded in 2016, inspired by the iconic Detroit producer and his favorite snack, for which he named 2006 second studio album, Donuts. After Dilla passed away — just three days after the release of his album — Hayes began planning to open the store, overcoming a decade of funding issues to finally open in the Ashley building, where Dilla once resided. The store was a focal point for the hip-hop community, where Rolling Stone noted the opening day was packed with well-wishers and fans.

However, the ongoing COVID crisis forced the shop to close in March of 2020. While Hayes was able to continue selling snacks with pop-up opportunities around the city and merch inspired by the work of J Dilla, it wasn’t enough to renew the lease with the Ashley location.

Watch the hour-long live stream detailing the foundation of Dilla’s Delights and Uncle Herm’s fight to keep Dilla’s memory alive above.

Wednesday saw some very important national news take place and also a very big NBA trade that flipped the basketball world on its head, as James Harden was dealt to the Brooklyn Nets in a four-team trade that also brought Victor Oladipo back to Houston, sent Caris LeVert to Indiana, and Jarrett Allen to Cleveland (who kicked in one of the picks going to the Rockets).

It was a wild trade that felt like it kept growing and growing by the minute, with additional details streaming out until the complete picture was finished. As the rumors began swirling on Wednesday that a deal was going to get done either with the Sixers or with the Nets, after Harden’s incendiary press conference on Tuesday night burned just about every bridge remaining in Houston, players around the league joined fans in waiting for the news to break.

Bradley Beal, who is considered the next top player who could potentially end up moving in a trade — albeit he has not pushed his way out of Washington in the way Harden did Houston — had a pretty funny sequence of one-word tweets that basically summed up how everyone viewed the stream of news that went from rumor to blockbuster in what felt like record time.

The rest of the league likewise took notice, as pregame naps were interrupted and the NBA world recognized that everything had been flipped on its head.

Andre Drummond, meanwhile, had a laugh at jokes about the Cavs continuing to add big men to the roster.

It’ll be interesting to see what kinds of dominoes fall in the wake of the Harden trade, as you would think this would apply further pressure to East contenders to chase other opportunities — such as maybe being more aggressive in pursuing someone like Beal. For now, it turned a random January afternoon into the same kind of feeling as the opening day of free agency — with a second presidential impeachment also happening at the same time.

The Houston Rockets made James Harden’s departure official on Wednesday afternoon when he was flipped to the Brooklyn Nets in a monster deal that also included the Cleveland Cavaliers. It turns out, though, that the Rockets were not done, and that one of the players they acquired in that deal will be used to trade for an All-Star.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Caris LeVert’s tenure in Houston came to an end after all of ten minutes. LeVert is heading to the Indiana Pacers, with Victor Oladipo heading to Texas.

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN confirmed that this is going to happen, too, saying that this is an expansion of the Harden deal.

This is a gigantic move by the Rockets to get someone to fill the void left by Harden. Oladipo, a free agent at the conclusion of this season, is averaging 20 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.7 steals in 33.3 minutes per game. Still, while his free agency loomed large and there were rumblings that he wanted to move on, his inclusion in this deal is a shock. There was no indication that the Pacers were openly shopping him, nor were there any indications that he wanted out right now. This does, however, give the Rockets a look at a very good basketball player before he becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year.

As for the Pacers, LeVert gives them a young backcourt scorer to put alongside Malcolm Brogdon — the now-former Nets youngster is averaging 18.5 points per game this season. The team currently sits at 7-4, half a game out of first in the Eastern Conference, and now gets a relatively young player (LeVert is 26) back in exchange for someone who had expressed a desire to leave. Even more appealing for Indiana is that LeVert is in year one of a three-year extension, giving them a player who can stick around and be part of their core for the foreseeable future.

Everyone Is Doing Great (Hulu/Endeavor Series) — A little lightness will come in handy right about now, so this series from One Tree Hill alums James Lafferty and Stephen Colletti could hit the spot. Lafferty and Colletti star as former TV A-listers, who happened to play vampires on an enormously popular series called Eternals. Five years later, things are pretty damn awkward in their careers and lives, so it’s time for a late coming-of-age spin. The show found popularity with two episodes on the 2018 festival circuit, so the duo crowdfunded the rest of the season.

Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer (Netflix limited series) — This spellbinding docuseries dives deep into the investigation of brutal serial killer Richard Ramirez, who terrorized Los Angeles in the mid 1980s. Law enforcement found themselves puzzled by Ramirez’s apparent lack of rhyme or reason, given that his series of murders and sexual assaults at first appeared to be disconnected. After round-the-clock work by the members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, breaks in the case eventually arrived, and this series seeks to paint a portrait of how citizens feared becoming the next victim in this real-life horror story.

The Goldbergs (ABC, 8:00pm) — Adam’s planning a spooky party with Beverly while Erica’s actually considering changing her major to pre-med while she counters Barry’s attitude on the same subject.

The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Riz Ahmed, Angela Bassett, Jacob Collier ft. Daniel Caesar

The Late Late Show With James Corden — Paul Bettany, Lennie James

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Rachel Brosnahan, Bobby Moynihan

In case you missed these recent picks:

Surviving Death (Netflix series) — Dive into this investigative series about whether or not the afterlife exists and whether death is really the end of life. As one might expect, this show provides firsthand accounts from those who have come close to (and even experienced) the D word to provide an illuminating view of the ultimate question that plagues us. The show’s based upon Leslie Kean’s best-selling book of the same name.

Gordon Ramsay’s American Road Trip (FOX series premiere on Hulu) — FOX staple Gordon Ramsay takes a pre-pandemic roadtrip (yes, in an RV fondly named “Betty”) with two chef fancy friends (an Italian chef and a French maître d’hôtel). Together, they cross half of America, including California, Vegas, and Texas. They eat barbecue and do the dude ranch thing, and yep, this might be surprisingly essential viewing.

James Harden’s tenure as a member of the Houston Rockets has come to an end. According to Adrian Wojnarowski and Shams Charania, Harden, who has wanted out of Houston in recent months, is headed to the Brooklyn Nets.

Earlier in the day, a report had emerged that the Nets were willing to offer as many as seven first round picks for Harden, which, given Houston’s general lack of future first rounders from their own trades made it a very enticing package. In the end, the two teams brought in the Cleveland Cavaliers to bolster the deal with an additional first round pick, making it four picks and four swaps going to Houston, with Taurean Prince and Jarrett Allen going to Cleveland, while Caris LeVert headlines the package going to Houston, per ESPN’s Wojnarowski.

However, LeVert won’t be long for Houston as the Rockets and Pacers will swap LeVert for Victor Oladipo, per The Athletic’s Charania, as Houston gains some star power and the Pacers swap out their disgruntled star for the up-and-coming LeVert.

The full deal looks as such:

For Harden, he joins what now has to be considered the frontrunner in the Eastern Conference, re-teaming with former OKC teammate Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving (whenever he returns from his personal leave) to form a trio that is unmatched in the East and really in the NBA. He also reunites with his old coach Mike D’Antoni, who will know as well as anyone how to deploy the superstar on the offensive end.

Harden joined the Rockets ahead of the 2012-13 season in a trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder. While he served as the team’s sixth man in his old digs, Harden was immediately given the keys in Houston and turned them into a hyper-efficient offensive juggernaut. He made the All-Star Game in every year that he played for the franchise and made top-2 MVP finishes the norm, taking home the league’s Most Valuable Player award in 2018.

While he is perhaps the most efficient offensive player to ever live, the Rockets have never been able to get over the hump with Harden at the helm. The team came close a number of times, but also had a number of high-profile meltdowns — they famously were up, 3-2, on the Golden State Warriors in the 2018 Western Conference Finals before a Chris Paul hamstring injury (and an historically bad shooting night in Game 7) led to their demise, and the following year, they could not topple the Dubs in the conference semis despite Kevin Durant going down with a calf injury when the series was tied at two games each.

The inability to get over that hump reportedly played a major role with him wanting out, with a report surfacing on Wednesday that part of the reason Harden wanted to leave town was that he could not envision the Rockets toppling the Los Angeles Lakers. But this past offseason, turmoil in Houston proceeded his wanting out — Mike D’Antoni and Daryl Morey both left the franchise, while the Rockets opted to trade Russell Westbrook for John Wall. The first two men, in particular, advocated for creating a Harden-centric culture, building a franchise around his gifts as an offensive player.

That, ultimately, may be the biggest question facing Harden in his new digs. Houston’s decision to make Harden the sun, the body around which its entire franchise orbited, rubbed some (like Westbrook) the wrong way, and he is now headed to a place where the culture likely will not be as Harden-centric as his now-former franchise.

The Nets send out a significant amount of talent and draft capital, but certainly have to feel like the East favorites at this moment with the firepower they can deploy come playoff time. Losing Allen is a significant blow to their frontcourt rotation and one would expect they might need to tinker with their roster further on the buyout market or at the trade deadline, but their core is unbelievable.

The Rockets, one would think, will be looking to lock Oladipo up on an extension given that they made him the centerpiece of the trade along with the draft picks, and with Oladipo, Christian Wood, John Wall, and the rest there’s some reason for optimism that they’ll continue to be competitive this year.

The Pacers get a terrific young player in LeVert who fits a lot of what they could use offensively in replacing Oladipo, who went from having little to no trade market this offseason to netting them a player some believe could be an All-Star. And the Cavaliers step in to provide an additional (late) first round pick for next year courtesy of the Bucks as well as salary filler in Exum and in exchange bring in a terrific young big in Allen and a solid wing in Prince who very well could be flipped at the deadline to a contender in need of 3-and-D assistance.

Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert hasn’t been in Congress very long, and she’s already made a name for herself. The freshman representative burst onto the scene by vowing to carry her Glock every time she’s on the floor of Congress, which quickly put her on the radar of the Capitol police. She followed that up by live-tweeting Nancy Pelosi’s exact location during last week’s violent insurrection. When that very same insurrection led to metal detectors being installed in the Capitol building, Boebert, once again, drew national attention by refusing to comply with the officers working the security gate and throwing a tantrum when they attempted to search her purse.

Less than 24 hours later, Boebert is at again. This time she made Sarah Palin trend after Twitter users couldn’t help but notice the similarities between the two while Boebert issued a rambling defense of Donald Trump during Wednesday’s impeachment hearing. Boebert took particular aim at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was a direct target of last week’s violent coup attempt. Via New York Post:

“What about the gentlewoman from New York who defended the looting by saying looters just wanted loaves of bread? Well, the last I checked, Best Buy and Teslas and stores of the like do not produce baked goods. Where’s the accountability for the left after encouraging and normalizing violence?” she said.

Boebert’s odd rant brought back memories of Palin’s numerous word salads, and it wasn’t long before tweets started firing off equating the Republican politicians:

Speaking of Twitter, Boebert took to Instagram to reveal that her account was locked this week with no explanation given as to why. However, within hours of Boebert sharing news of her Twitter suspension, the lock was reversed with Twitter saying the suspension was a “mistake.” Her account is currently active. For now.

Post Malone has essentially been the public face of Crocs for the past few years, and now he and the company have teamed up for a good cause. They partnered with Musicians On Call, a nonprofit that “brings live and recorded music to the bedsides of patients in healthcare facilities” (per their website), to give Crocs to hospital staffs in hospitals across the country.

They’re not handing out just any Crocs either, but the sold-out Post Malone x Crocs Duet Max Clog II, the same ones Posty recently gave away to people at the chicken restaurant where he used to work and to staff and students at his high school.

In a statement, Musicians On Call President and CEO Pete Griffin says of the donation, “The stress of the pandemic on staff in all areas of the hospital has been unrelenting and we have been doing what we can to continue bringing them the joy of live music. We are so grateful to Post Malone and Crocs for joining us in providing even more relief when they need it the most through this generous donation. Thanks to them, caregivers at 70 hospitals nationwide will have the added support of their Crocs to help them through their day.”

Susan Hernandez — DNP, MBA, RN, and chief nurse executive at UT Southwestern Medical Center — added, “We are grateful for this donation of footwear from Musicians On Call for our frontline health care workers and appreciate the recognition and caring it represents.”

Revisit our recent interview with Malone here.

While most streaming services boast finely-tuned music discovery algorithms, Sonos Radio lets fans discover music directly through their favorite artists. With their new high-fidelity subscription service Sonos Radio HD, Sonos is aiming to expand their reach. That’s why they’ve added even more artist-curated stations to their new HD platform.

Teasing the new stations Wednesday, Sonos announced they will be hosting curated stations by FKA Twigs, D’Angelo, The Chemical Brothers, Björk, and more.

With her station titled Main Squeeze, FKA Twigs describes the kind of music that can be heard when it launches February 10. “As an artist I’ve always been inspired by music that creates a world,” she said in a statement. “360° visionaries like Prince, André 3000 and Grace Jones have always made me fall in love with music over and over again. I’m excited to share my station, main squeeze, on Sonos Radio HD because it includes all the amazing artists that have helped shape my world – music I like to get ready to with my friends, songs that have got me through heartbreaks, backstage nerves, and nights out. It’s great to have all this music that has touched me all in one place, I hope you like it.”

D’Angelo’s station, Feverish Fantazmagoria, is available for Sonos listeners to tune in on January 13. “This is a curation of sorts — a collection of musical expressions that I call Feverish Fantazmagoria,” he said. “It includes some crate digging; a lot of psych rock and funk rock in there, even some gospel and soul. Just a lot of incredible music that’s fun and inspires me.”

About her station, which is available February 24, Björk says she’s excited to finally share decades of music discovery. “I am quite thrilled to have had a reason to go through 21 years of music-file collecting,” she said. “Since my first laptop I have been cd shopping, awkward cassette finding, vinyl searching in secret stores on my travels and gathered them all into a library of gorgeous wave-files. It was only a question of time before I would share them and then in yet another form: them clouds and streams.”

Listen to Sonos Radio here.