Category: News

With Election Day just hours away, Joe Biden and Donald Trump’s campaigns are doing their best to get in some last pre-election thoughts. Over the weekend, the Trump campaign made mention of Lady Gaga in a press release, and she came back with a response.

In a Trump campaign press release written by Trump communications director Tim Murtaugh, the Gaga mention reads, “Nothing exposes Biden’s disdain for the forgotten working men and women of Pennsylvania like campaigning with anti-fracking activist Lady Gaga. This desperate effort to drum up enthusiasm is actually a sharp stick in the eye for 600,000 Pennsylvanians who work in the fracking industry.”

After Gaga caught wind of the post, she took to social media to share her thoughts. She posted a screenshot of Murtaugh’s post on her Instagram Story and wrote, “Heeeey Donald… #WINNING (also, what is a fracking?) keep your jobs PA… we [heart emoji] you.” Sharing the post on Twitter, she added, “HEY TIM HEY @realDonaldTrump SO HAPPY IM GLAD TO BE LIVING RENT FREE in your HEAD. #BidenHarris”

In the lead-up to the election, Gaga has been one of music’s most vocal stars in getting people to vote. A couple weeks ago, for example, she shared a “cheesy” song she wrote about voter registration.

On Halloween night, Trump busted out his ALL-CAPS tweeting finger while expressing his apparent excitement and obvious support for his supporters in Texas who formed a so-called “Trump Train” amid highway-speed traffic while surrounding a Biden-Harris campaign bus. The Texas Tribune first reported that the FBI is currently investigating the confrontation (which led to “at least one minor collision”) on 1-35 in Hays County, and the investigation was later confirmed by the FBI bureau in San Antonio. However, Trump doesn’t seem to share federal authorities’ concern and, in fact, he believes that the MAGA-flag-brandishing truck drivers did no wrong and are actually “patriots.”

This update follows after Trump tweeted video footage of the incident while typing, “I LOVE TEXAS!” Now, he’s doubling down with praise. “In my opinion, these patriots did nothing wrong,” Trump tweeted. “Instead, the FBI & Justice should be investigating the terrorists, anarchists, and agitators of ANTIFA, who run around burning down our Democrat run cities and hurting our people!”

The New York Times reports that Joe Biden described the incident as an attempt to push his campaign bus “off the road.” According to USA Today, the Biden campaign called 911 and reported to law enforcement that the trucks “surrounded the bus, trying to slow it down in the middle of the highway or run it off the road.” Local law enforcement then helped the bus reach Austin, but the incident led Texas Democrats to cancel multiple campaign events over “safety concerns.”

The Texas confrontation wasn’t an isolated effort, apparently. Following similar New York and New Jersey incidents, Trump spokesman Jason Miller backed up his boss’ sentiments while deflecting to “downtown Washington businesses having to board up their windows in anticipation of lawless, violent Biden supporters rioting and looting on Tuesday night.”

Previously, Biden’s Texas communications director, Tariq Thowfeek, released a statement to condemn the Texas “Trump Train” tactics:

“Rather than engage in productive conversation about the drastically different visions that Joe Biden and Donald Trump have for our country, Trump supporters in Texas [Friday] instead decided to put our staff, surrogates, supporters, and others in harm’s way.”

On Sunday, Biden also spoke on the matter during a Philadelphia event. “We are so much better than this,” Biden declared. “It’s not who we are. And we got to change it.”

(Via New York Times, Texas Tribune & USA Today)

By now, you’re likely well-acquainted with corn-based whiskey. September was National Bourbon Heritage Month, and we committed to it pretty. damn. hard. So you might already know that one of the parameters for a whiskey being referred to as bourbon is that its mash bill must be comprised of at least 51% corn. The rules for “wheat whiskey” (or “high wheat whiskey”) are similar — except that the juice must be made primarily from wheat (51%). The closely related “wheated bourbon” is still bourbon, meaning it’s still majority corn, it just leans heavily on wheat in the remainder of the mash bill.

To explore these expressions further, we asked a handful of well-known bartenders to tell us their favorite wheat whiskey or wheated bourbon. The bottles they shouted out below are sure to make great company as November begins and the weather really starts turning.

Bainbridge Battle Point

Jess Thorson, bartender at TORO Kitchen & Lounge at Viceroy Snowmass in Snowmass, Colorado

Bainbridge Battle Point Organic Wheat. It uses only wheat (no corn) yet is incredibly flavorful. This award-winning whiskey is full of the flavors of sweet sherry, salted caramel, and creamy vanilla.

1792 Sweet Wheat

Carlos Lopez, bar manager at Stitsville Fish Bar in Miami

1792 Sweet Wheat Bourbon. It’s easy to drink and the price point is just right for what you get. While the mash bill isn’t disclosed, this high wheat whiskey is filled with sweet cereal, rich oak, and creamy caramel flavors.

Spirits of French Lick The Wheater

Zach Wilks, bartender at Anthony’s Chophouse in Carmel, Indiana

I’m a huge fan of what The Spirits of French Lick are doing down in Southern Indiana. They have a whiskey actually called The Wheater that’s a great bottle — it’s super creamy and has lots of vanilla, caramel, and baking spice notes.

W.L. Weller 12

Hayden Miller, head bartender at Bodega Taqueria y Tequila in Miami

Weller 12 is always a top choice for me when it comes to wheated bourbon. The composition, flavor profile, and finish come together for a great glass of whiskey.

Larceny Small Batch

Mitchell Meredith, general manager of SOFF’s at JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort & Spa in Miami

Heaven Hill Larceny Small Batch is a great wheated bourbon with a 6-year age statement, giving you not only a softer flavor profile, but settled butterscotch notes to be enjoyed on a rock. At 92 Proof, it is always nice to start with a sip neat, and add ice to open up the flavors.

Smooth Ambler Yearling

Jeremy Allen, bartender at MiniBar in Los Angeles

Smooth Ambler Yearling is one of the best values in booze. It’s easily available, bold, and filled with hints of sweet caramel, pecans, and brown sugar. Perfect for a cocktail or on its own.

David Nicholson Reserve

Andy Printy, beverage director at Chao Baan in St. Louis

The David Nicholson Reserve from Lux Row is high on my list. The nose is sharp and woody, but the palate stays true to a wheated bourbon. Loads of caramel and brown butter up front, finishing with balanced oak and citrus notes.

Maker’s Mark 46

Anna Mains, brand ambassador for Monkey Shoulder

I’m a huge fan of Maker’s Mark 46. It’s full of flavor, but with no bitterness. I think it makes one of the best Manhattans, and there is nothing better than a perfect Manhattan in the fall.

Writer’s Picks:

Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond

This nine-year-old 100 proof wheated whiskey is a great mix of mellow and spicy. It starts off with a subtle hint of peppery spice that quickly moves into honey and caramel sweetness — ideal for slow sipping.

Bernheim Straight Wheat Whiskey

This 90-proof whiskey is aged for seven years. This award-winning whiskey is subtly spicy and full of vanilla sweetness and rich, toasted caramel notes.

This week’s fifth episode of The Walking Dead: World Beyond, “Madman Across the. Water,” was marginally better than the first four episodes of the series, although it did not have the benefit if a terrific CRM-specific post-credits scene, as last week’s episode did.

The issues that have plagued the series all along, unfortunately, continue to persist, namely bad writing, a series of laughably implausible turn of events, and characters that neither appeal well to the existing The Walking Dead fanbase or to a newer, younger set of fans. The World Beyond is not bringing in a new audience, and it’s mostly only annoying the existing one, which tunes in each week to find answers pertaining to Rick Grimes and the parent series but is more often left with mundane episodes that echo some of the adventures in the opening seasons of The Walking Dead, only with a less developed teenage cast.

In this week’s episode, sisters Hope and Iris continue on their journey to New York, having arrived at the Mississippi River (by my estimate, they have now walked around 400 miles from their starting point in Nebraska). Felix and Huck continue to try and convince the four teenagers to turn around and return to the Campus Colony (unaware that it has been destroyed by the CRM), and they find, in Elton, someone who will at least listen. Felix and Huck both figure that, if they don’t talk them into returning before they cross the Mississippi River that they’ll be unable to do so.

Meanwhile, to cross the river, the sixsome have to get an old boat running. That task somehow entails getting a fire in the engine hot enough to get it going, and they cleverly (?) surmise that throwing buckets of nail-polish into the burner will do the trick. That requires returning to a nearby factory and retrieving the nail polish, as well as fending off a number of zombies that are unleashed by a very bad CGI-lightning strike. The fending off involves the use of some fishing line, which is apparently strong enough to keep a horde of zombies at bay long enough to get the engine going and everyone into the boat before they are swarmed by the walkers. Once they finally arrive to the other side of the Mississippi, no more thought is given to returning to the Campus Colony. In fact, Huck travels ahead to act as a lookout for the rest of the group, which should at least break up the storylines a little.

The juicy part of the episode, however, comes in a conversation between Elton and Hope when Elton opens up his book and Hope spies a picture inside.

For those who have been watching all along, the significance of the photo should be fairly obvious. However, I have seen some understandable confusion on message boards because the woman in the photo — Elton’s Mom — looks slightly different than how we have seen her in another context earlier in the series. Recall that on Monument Day (the day the world went to hell), Hope and her mother found a truck and we’re about to take it to escape. However, another woman — who we know to be Elton’s mom — entered the scene holding a gun, insisting that she would take the truck. In a moment of panic, Elton’s mom accidentally shot and killed Hope’s mom. In turn, Hope picked up the gun and she accidentally shot and killed Elton’s mom.

In other words, when Hope saw that photo in Elton’s book, she realized for the first time that the woman she killed was Elton’s mom. A couple of episodes ago, Hope confessed to her sister Iris that she was inadvertently responsible for their mother’s death, but now she has another secret: That she was also responsible for the death of Elton’s mom, the only family Elton had remaining after his father died in a zombie attack.

As character drama goes, it’s not exactly thrilling, but it will probably pay off when Hope confesses to Elton, and Elton will have to decide whether to forgive Hope for killing his mother or go to war with her.

Unfortunately, that storyline is far less interesting than the CRM subplot, which never figured into this episode. Meanwhile, the episode ends with the introduction (in silhouette) of a new character, who could be either friend or foe.

‘The World Beyond’ returns with its sixth episode next week.

Fear the Walking Dead continued this week with its terrific run of episodes (as it maintains one of the most unlikely creative comebacks on television in recent memory). The talent in front of the camera in the form of Lennie James, Colman Domingo, Garrett Dillahunt, Alycia-Debnam Carey, and Ruben Blades (and previously Kim Dickens) has always been there, but more recently, the writing has finally caught up. Showrunners Ian Goldberg and Andrew Chambliss have also leaned into their strengths — telling smaller stories focused on only a few characters in each episode — and even the dialogue itself is better, in part because Goldberg and Chambliss are no longer afraid to use silence to their advantage. I have no evidence to support this theory, but I also feel like Scott Gimple has stepped back from Fear and turned more of his attention to The World Beyond, which has been great for Fear but hasn’t been working out as well for the other spin-off.

A lot of things are working well this season, too. There’s intriguing mythology surrounding “the key”; Morgan’s rebirth has been a godsend; Dwight and Sherry’s reunion has provided a lot of heart; and Strand returning to his weaselly roots has been the best thing to happen to that character in years. But the thing that is really working well for this season — the ingredient that has been missing on Fear since the beginning — is that the series finally has a formidable villain.

It’s been a problem since the beginning of this series (and it’s part of what is plaguing The World Beyond right now). While The Walking Dead is often defined by its villains — The Governor, the Terminus Cannibals, Negan, the Whisperers — Fear has never really had a great one. They didn’t even try until Season 3, which was characterized less by villains and more by “bad guys,” like Troy and Jeremiah Otto. Even when Season 4 was working, it was in spite of its terrible villains, beginning with the nonsensical Vultures before crashing and burning the hobo lady, whose only motivation to kill was the fact passersby didn’t stop and help her husband after a car accident. Season 5, meanwhile, largely revolves around a nonsensical villain in Logan, who we later learned was being controlled by Virginia and the Pioneers, who — in Season 5, anyway — were woefully undeveloped.

In Season 6, meanwhile, it feels like “The Pioneers” have mostly been scuttled, and replaced by “rangers,” who are mostly red-shirts/stormtroopers for Virginia, played by Colby Minifie, who has low-key been the MVP of this season (she was also promoted this week to series regular on The Boys).

Virginia is a terrific villain for a number of reasons, not least of which is because she’s formidable enough to have actually won. Like Negan did with Alexandria, she’s now in control of the Fear protagonists, but unlike the Alexandrians in TWD, she hasn’t broken their spirit. Virginia prefers, instead, to build her enemies up and make them work for her. For instance, she gave Strand an impossible mission, and when he succeeded, Ginny promoted him to ranger and put him in charge of his own people.

It’s that kind of relationship that is also at play in this week’s Fear between Virginia and John Dorie. Virginia, again, has fully enabled John Dorie by putting him in charge of the community of Lawton, where he has been allowed to thrive. It’s not necessarily his ideal situation, but it’s allowed Dorie the illusion of independence and freedom, and also allowed him to believe that he’s done good work for the community. There were no deaths in Lawton for months, and in his heart, Dorie takes credit.

Then a ranger named Cameron is found dead, wrapped up in the barbed wire fence, and eaten by zombies. Virginia wants to blame Cameron’s death on his drunkenness — he fell into the fence and was eaten. Dorie, however, insists on investigating, and with the evidence that he unearths, Virginia manages to frame Janis for the murder. Janis didn’t kill Cameron; they were sleeping together and had planned to run off together, but Janis did not kill him. Strand knew it. Virginia knew it. And Dorie knew it. But they all also knew that if Dorie continued to investigate the case, he’d get himself killed, so Janis basically confessed to Cameron’s murder in order to save Dorie.

Dorie didn’t want anything to do with Janis’ confession, and he sought to help Janis escape from prison before she was executed for the murder of Cameron. However, both Strand and the Rabbi double-crossed Dorie with the help of Janis herself and moved up her execution date to ensure that Dorie didn’t get himself anymore involved. By the time Dorie arrived to help Janis escape, she was already dead, and Dorie was left devastated.

And this is how clever Virginia is: instead of punishing Dorie for trying to help Janis, she rewarded him with a promotion for helping out in the investigation. The guilt, however, was killing Dorie (and that guilt manifested itself in a rotten tooth), and so Virginia granted Dorie the one thing he couldn’t turn away: a reunion with June.

Dorie, meanwhile, is left saddled with all that guilt over the death of Janis, but knowing that if he tried anything, not only might he die, but so might June. It’s a hell of a bind, and a stroke of brilliance from Virginia, who continues to illustrate the importance of a great villain, a character that viewers respect, but who we also want to see die a miserable, painful death.

In the meantime, in the episode’s tag, we see Morgan in search of Grace, using a hound dog (and a behind-the-scenes assist from his friend Daniel). However, the two men we saw spray paint “The end is the beginning” in the season’s opening episode crash into Morgan’s car. Violence ensues, and Morgan easily dispatches the two men, who we learn are after the key that Morgan took away from Ginny’s assassin. So, that key is valuable, and related to the “end is the beginning” people, who — according to Dwight — probably are not associated with Ginny. It’s an interesting mystery on top of a great ongoing storyline.

I can’t wait to see if Fear can go five-for-five with next week’s episode.

The Chargers may have moved from San Diego to Los Angeles and may have moved on from Philip Rivers to rookie Justin Herbert, but rest assured, they are still the Chargers. A team that has been tortured by close calls for years, with a somewhat impossible ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, moved to 2-5 on this season with their latest blown fourth quarter lead against the Denver Broncos.

It is the fourth straight game L.A. has seen a 16-point lead evaporate on them — although they were able to go back in front to beat Jacksonville a week ago — which sets a new NFL record.

They can’t help but play in one-possession games that come down to the wire, as that Jaguars game, a 39-29 win, is the only game they’ve played this season that wasn’t decided by 7 or fewer. They have twice lost in overtime, once to the Chiefs and once to the Saints, and on Sunday found a fate worse than an OT loss, allowing Drew Lock and an otherwise anemic Broncos offense to explode for 21 fourth quarter points to come back from as many as 21 down, winning on a game-winning pass from Lock to rookie K.J. Hamler.

That was set up by a pass interference call in the back of the end zone, and while they seem to have their quarterback of the future in Justin Herbert, they just can’t get in the win column enough — Herbert is now 1-5 as the starter despite putting up incredible numbers. On this afternoon, Herbert was 29-of-43 passing for 278 yards, three touchdowns, and a pair of interceptions, so he’s not absolved from blame, but he’s doing pretty incredible things as a rookie, like tossing this dime to Mike Williams.

That said, the offense can’t finish off late drives with touchdowns, settling far too often for field goals — they kicked two in the fourth in this one — and the defense has the opposite issue, failing to keep the opposing offense out of the end zone. Lock found the end zone three times through the air himself, going 26-of-41 passing for 248 yards and one interception, with this TD strike to DaeSean Hamilton helping to reel the Chargers in in the fourth quarter.

It is the same old story in L.A., one that Chargers fans have seen far too often but seem destined to watch more and more as this season wears on.

John Mulaney’s second SNL hosting gig of the year hit all the notes you would expect. There was a stronger-than-usual monologue and, of course, a musical sketch that both brought back a recurring Mulany-SNL favorite and celebrated the wonderfully weird realities of life in New York City.

Mulaney’s much-beloved “Diner Lobster” sketch has gotten a new spiritual sequel each time he’s hosted. The show has covered bodega bathrooms, and in February skewered New York’s La Guardia airport with an airport sushi-themed sketch. But the latest sketch managed to cover life in New York during a pandemic while still serving as a celebration of the city both Mulaney and the show call home.

Pete Davidson and Chris Redd once again encounter Mulaney in an iconic New York City location, this time a Times Square souvenir shop. Davidson foolishly says he wants to buy some ‘I <3 NY’ underwear, which kicks off a long series of musical numbers about life in quarantine. There’s a number called “Send In The Crowds,” a song from the “diddler on the roof” and a powerful number from Maya Rudolph as the Statue of Liberty.

The sketch was what often makes SNL its best. There are knockoff costumed Times Square impersonators, show-stopping numbers about chain coffee shops — “Even Tim Hortons is closed, Canadians weep” — and the Bubba Gump shrimp mascot doing its best to steal the show. By now Mulaney’s hosting gigs on SNL have developed their own bits; he later reprised his role as a hopelessly meme’d man getting embarrassed at work by his nephew. But by now “Diner Lobster” one has clearly become the most fruitful of the bunch.

The Saints and Bears met on Sunday in a matchup between likely NFC Playoff squads who both have some offensive issues, and the result was a defensive slugfest many anticipated in a windy, cold Soldier Field.

What few saw coming was the weirdest fight in the NFL this season in which Bears wide receiver Javon Wims walked over to Saints DB C.J. Gardner-Johnson well after the end of a play, tapped him on the chest (or maybe pretended to snatch a non-existent chain) and then threw two sucker punches to Gardner-Johnson’s helmet who was completely confused by the entire interaction before a minor brawl broke out with Saints players tackling Wims to the ground.

Wims was tossed and the broadcast eventually found what was the catalyst for the fight, Gardner-Johnson reaching through Anthony Miller’s facemask and poking him on the cheek.

It is easily the weirdest fight you’ll see in the NFL this season if for no other reason than one of the parties involved had no idea he was supposed to be in a fight and seemed utterly confused by the entire situation. Wims, on the other hand, gets ejected and caused Gardner-Johnson absolutely no harm because he punched him in the helmet and facemask, which remains the dumbest football thing that happens so regularly I cannot believe it. The only person that gets possibly feels any pain in that sequence is going to be the person throwing punches, not the one being punched. It is the most “hustling backwards” thing in football, because not only could you hurt your hand (which is an important body part for a wide receiver) but you’re also losing money in the process from the inevitable fine.

If you are going to get in a fight on the football field, at least have the wherewithal to rip the other person’s helmet off like Andre Johnson did to Cortland Finnegan that one time he gave him a two-piece in a Houston-Tennessee game.

At least that way the guy you punch knows about it.

On Saturday’s John Mulaney-hosted episode of SNL, Colin Jost and Michael Che did their final “Weekend Update” before the election, and they acknowledged the elephant in the room: all that bottomless dread most if not all of us are feeling about what on earth could happen on and after Tuesday. Maybe Trump will win. Maybe he won’t concede. Maybe his army of lawyers and judges will spend the next weeks, even months battling the results.

But Jost did what he could to plead for sanity in a nation that has gone mad. Jost and Che tend to try to stay detached, to make jokes no matter what, sometimes to even take unpopular stances on certain issues. But that all dropped three minutes into this week’s “Update.”

“What I believe is we cannot do another four years of Trump,” Jost said, of the president who hosted the show around this time back in 2015. “It is too much. Every day I wake up after two hours of sleep and I Google ‘America still democracy?’” He even reached out to Trump’s legions of fans — or at least the ones who can be reasoned with.

“Even if you like Trump, at this point you have to be exhausted. Remember that friend you had who at 4am would be like, ‘Yeah, where we going next?’ And you’re like, ‘This is fun, but if I keep hanging out with this dude I’m going to die. Right now it feels like Trump wants us to do another bump of whatever he got from his Muppet doctor and see where the night takes us. I don’t know about you guys, but I think this time I’m calling a designated driver.”

He then brought up a photo of Trump’s presidential rival, Joe Biden. He added, “And I hope he brings this guy with him,” cutting to the new viral video of his former running mate, President Barack Obama, casually scoring a three-point shot.

Earlier in the segment, Jost had another message for Trump supporters: He’s gotten a lot of them sick and dead. He discussed recent instances in which Trump supporters were left in the lurch after rallies in cold weather, including one in Nebraska that left multiple fans in the hospital with hypothermia. That he’s been claiming, without explanation, that doctors “get more money if somebody dies from COVID,” makes the acts even more appalling.

“That’s our president, recently saved by doctors, saying doctors want more COVID for money,” Jost said. He also brought up a new, horrifying study that directly ties 30,000 cases of the coronavirus and 700 COVID-related deaths to his rallies. “That means he’s officially killed more people across the Midwest than Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy combined.”

You can watch Jost and Che’s comments in the video above. Election Day is on November 3.

After ending a five-year break from new music last year with Western Stars, Bruce Springsteen kept going, promising he would reunite with the beloved E-Street Band, his collaborators and touring band over the many year. No shock that that proved to be a great idea. The result is the new album Letter To You, which he’s promoted with an Apple Music radio series as well as a documentary. Lo and behold, that stormed onto the Billboard albums charts, bowing at No. 2.

That may not be No. 1, but it still made for big new: It makes Springsteen the first artist to have a top-five album in each of the last six decades. The previous albums are: 1975’s Born to Run, 1980’s The River, 1992’s Human Touch, 2002’s The Rising, and 2012’s Wrecking Ball, and this year’s Letter To You.

“I love the emotional nature of Letter To You, and I love the sound of the E Street Band playing completely live in the studio, in a way we’ve never done before, and with no overdubs,” Springsteen said when he announced the album in September. “We made the album in only five days, and it turned out to be one of the greatest recording experiences I’ve ever had.”

You can check out our review of Letter To You here.

(via Billboard)