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Tour ticket prices have become one of the hottest discussions online in the past month, as Ticketmaster responded to accusations of unfair business practices by rolling out new policies and highly anticipated tours like Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour have put those policies to the test.

A new hot commodity tour was announced yesterday, and it looks like fans will continue to be unhappy about pricing. Drake and 21 Savage, who teamed up on last year’s album, Her Loss, announced the North American dates of their It’s All A Blur Tour kicking off in June. However, upon seeing the prices — which some fans are reporting to be as high as $1,000 — fans are balancing their “wants and needs” to decide if this particular “rich flex” is worth the cost.

Of course, most of those tweeting seem to be reporting much more reasonable prices — around $400 or so — but that’s still a stretch if you consider the 20-something target demo and… well, everything going on in the world right now.

Of course, Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing system changes the prices of tickets based on demand, so it makes sense that one of the biggest superstars on the planet — who hasn’t toured since 2018, by the way — would be one of the most demanded tickets on the market. When the general sale opens up, things could get better, since there will be more tickets available — or they could get a lot worse since everyone who missed out on the presale will be even more determined to get their hands on them.

If Aaron Rodgers ends up getting his wish and is traded to the New York Jets sometime soon, it seems like a safe bet that he’s not going to tell Adam Schefter to break the news. During his appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday afternoon, Rodgers expressed that he’s not exactly a fan of ESPN’s NFL newsbreaker, telling a story about a time Schefter got his phone number and reached out to him.

“Ask Schefter what I texted him when he somehow got my number and texted me,” Rodgers said. “I didn’t respond to Dianna Russini, I think her name is … but like, I would say the same thing I told Schefty: Lose my number, nice try. I’ll speak for myself.”

Well, Schefter decided to go along with this and posted the exact text that Rodgers sent him.

Rodgers has expressed his thoughts on Schefter and NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport during cameos on McAfee’s show in the past, saying that “There’s an inner circle, and in my inner circle, nobody talks to Ian Rapoport, to Adam Schefter or to any of those people. So if you’re one of those people who’s talking to those people, it’s a great reminder to you: You’re not in the inner circle.”

The 2023 NCAA Tournament technically began Tuesday with the First Four in Dayton, and each game of the doubleheader was highly entertaining. For many, though, the action really kicks into high gear with jam-packed slates on Thursday and Friday with the feel of a two-day national holiday for sports fans. Filling out brackets and rooting for specific team victories provides enjoyment to millions and, for NBA die-hards, this is a fantastic annual opportunity to brush up on the latest with the next wave of professional standouts.

In 2023, the best prospect in the NBA Draft is Victor Wembanyama, and he won’t be suiting up on the collegiate stage this month. That is also the case for Scoot Henderson, Amen Thompson, and Ausar Thompson, which serves as a reminder that college basketball is far from the only place to check out top-tier prospects. In fact, some of the best college prospects won’t participate in the Tournament (Ohio State’s Brice Sensabaugh, Michigan’s Jett Howard, etc.), but there remains no shortage of intriguing players to monitor.

Today, we’ll glance at the five top prospects in each NCAA Tournament region, acknowledging this is an arbitrary cut-off and perhaps the No. 6 prospect in one region may be better than the No. 4 prospect in another. Alas, let’s get to the players.

South Region: Brandon Miller (Alabama), Keyonte George (Baylor), Noah Clowney (Alabama), Terquavion Smith (NC State), Adam Flagler (Baylor)

The South Region is unquestionably headlined by Alabama’s Brandon Miller. The buzz is building that Miller could even usurp Henderson, at least for some, as the No. 2 overall player on the board, and Miller’s performance over the course of the season has been tremendous for the Crimson Tide. His size and shooting bring encouragement with regard to floor and, after a very rough start inside the arc, Miller improved rapidly with his craft. There are continuing questions around his off-court linkage to a January shooting, but Miller hasn’t missed a minute for Alabama as a result and NBA teams are still evaluating him as one of the top prospects around.

After Miller, there is a drop to Keyonte George, who many still view as a lottery pick for Baylor. He has efficiency and distribution issues, but George has tremendous pedigree dating back to high school. Clowney is showing tremendous defensive tools and could be in line for a late first-round landing spot if his play stands out for the Crimson Tide this month. Smith was a potential first round pick a year ago that returned to NC State and is leading a tournament team as a prominent shot creator. There is a drop in consensus after that top four, and Flagler gets the call at No. 5 here. The transfer from Presbyterian has continued to rise on boards for NBA teams, and Flagler’s biggest appeal is his high-level shooting acumen and solid size for a point guard.

East Region: Cason Wallace (Kentucky), Dariq Whitehead (Duke), Dereck Lively (Duke), Kyle Filipowski (Duke), Julian Phillips (Tennessee)

Wallace is a personal favorite as a tremendous defensive guard with real instincts. He is a potential lottery pick, especially if teams give him the semi-annual bump for miscast Kentucky guards. Wallace is also a very solid shooter and decision-maker, even if he may not have primary upside. Whitehead has been banged up at times this season, but he’s a 6’6 wing for the Blue Devils that can shoot it with five-star high school pedigree.

Lively was, at least by some, the No. 1 recruit in the country and had a brutal start to the season. However, the 7-footer has come along nicely on the defensive end, and he has sky-high potential on that end to go along with some appeal as an offensive rim-runner. Filipowski is more polarizing as the best college player for Duke but also the No. 3 prospect on his own team. His offensive appeal is very easy to see as a big with inside-out ability and a tremendous skill level, but the questions come with a lack of a natural defensive role in the NBA. Phillips is a jack-of-all-trades forward for the Vols who doesn’t stand out in any single way right now, but he’s 6’8 and checks a lot of boxes as a potentially intriguing role player.

Midwest Region: Jarace Walker (Houston), Jalen Hood-Schifino (Indiana), Kris Murray (Iowa), Colby Jones (Xavier), Marcus Sasser (Houston)

Houston is a tremendous college basketball team, as evidenced by their No. 1 seed, and Walker is both a very valuable college player and a lottery-projected prospect. He’s a 6’8 forward with a reported 7’2 wingspan and tremendous defensive capabilities. On offense, he’s a projected role player, but Walker finishes well and doesn’t need the ball to be succesful. Hood-Schifino is a fast-rising prospect this cycle as a 6’6 guard that can handle, defend, distribute and generally excel. He would fit in a lot of places at the NBA level.

Murray, the brother of Sacramento’s Keegan Murray, is extremely productive and will garner obvious comparisons to his brother. Keegan was the better prospect, but Kris isn’t far off and will be a first-round pick based on his forward size and offensive skill set for the high-powered Hawkeye attack. Jones has a ton of positive assets as a projected NBA role player, with good shooting guard size, craft, and shooting acumen. It’s easy to see his translation from a starter with the Musketeers to a valuable NBA player. Sasser is currently banged-up, with questions on whether he’ll play for Houston in its opener, but the 6’2 guard can score and he’s extremely valuable to a No. 1 seed.

West Region: Nick Smith Jr. (Arkansas), Anthony Black (Arkansas), Gradey Dick (Kansas), Jordan Hawkins (UConn), Julian Strawther (Gonzaga)

Arkansas has the top two prospects in this range and is the No. 8 seed in the West. That’s tough to reconcile, but Smith missed a large swath of the season. He was a consensus top-five high school prospect with very clear offensive upside as a primary scorer in the NBA. Comparisons have been in the ether to Jamal Murray, and Smith could return to a mid-lottery slot or higher with a breakout in March. Black is less traditionally appealing as a shot creator, but he is a 6’7, highly-skilled perimeter player who passes well, defends, and makes all the right plays. His jumper is the big question, but Black is the kind of player that could be an NBA starter even as a fringe shooter.

Dick is a 6’8 sniper with a high release and excellent shooting numbers. He’s not a pure specialist by any means, though, as Dick is a good passer and has enough size to at least be reasonable on defense in time. He’s improved even over the course of the season for the Jayhawks. Hawkins is a 6’5 shooting guard with real movement shooting potential and rock-solid defense. His lack of size may be limiting a little bit, but he’s a first-round talent. Finally, Strawther is clearly No. 5 on this list and would be closer to the fictional No. 6 than to No. 4. Still, his size and shooting are very appealing for Gonzaga, and the questions really focus on whether his limited athleticism will make him too much of a defensive challenge in the league.

The Ted Lasso Power Rankings are a weekly analysis of who and/or what had the strongest performance in each episode. Most of the list will feature individual characters, although the committee does reserve the right to honor anything from animals to inanimate objects to laws of nature to general concepts. There are very few rules here.

Season 3, Episode 1 — “Smells Like Mean Spirit”

HONORABLE MENTION: Dr. Sharon (good for her with her handsome new man just waiting for her in bed); sewers, generally (gross but useful); wise children (potential spinoff idea: we fast-forward 25 years and Henry and Phoebe are married and running a counseling service); Dani Rojas (my sweet boy); Paddington Bear (imagine how devastating it must be on a personal level to get Zero Marmalade Sandwiches from Paddington Bear); Mr. Maher (tough break about that train); chatty airline employees who confess to holding up flights to Sydney because of video games (I do not think I would like someone to tell me that right before taking my child to an airplane that he is going to fly in across an ocean); Higgins (“Yo”); Rupert (he would be friends with the Sacklers); Ms. Kakes (more on her later)

10. (tie) Nate

It’s difficult to rank Nate appropriately right now because, in any reasonable examination of the facts, he would be off the board. He is doing real, real bad. He’s being a jerk to people who work under him, he’s doomscrolling Twitter alone in his office, he’s trying to impress his new mentor Rupert by being a prick a lot, and he’s still doing that thing where he kind of spits a lot when he thinks about Ted or anything else that makes him feel insecure. I do not enjoy the spitting. Just bad, bad stuff all around.

But we only know that because we see his quiet moments, the little faces he makes that show us how he’s really doing. To the outside world, he’s kind of crushing it. He’s the new coach of a dominant team, he’s a cool story about rising up from humble beginnings, he’s cruising into work with Rakim playing, all of it. And he has a sick new car now, which he seems to enjoy. Although I refuse to believe that Nate wouldn’t have already purchased a flashy car with his first paycheck. The man has zero self-esteem. There’s no way he’s pulling into his new job in a lil clunker. He has too much overcompensating to do. He probably should have shown up in a Harrier jet and landed it right on the field.

But now I’m just nitpicking.

10. (tie) Kenneth the Bus Driver

ON ONE HAND: Having a burnout bus driver with a mysterious and drug-fueled personal life is pretty much a direct ripoff of Otto from The Simpsons.

ON THE OTHER HAND: I love him very much and would watch an entire episode about him before we wrap this show up for good in a few months.

9. Roy

I worry about Roy, in a couple of different ways. I worry about him in the context of the show. He and Keeley broke up for dubious reasons identified by his niece. He’s now the coach in charge of strategy and has designed a plan to play things very safe, which is boring and doomed and he’s going to have to dump for some cool trick plays at some point, in part because the squad is undermanned and undergunned and will need an infusion of creativity to defeat more skilled opponents, and in part because the show needs that to remain fun and interesting. No one wants to watch a movie where a basketball team wins a championship by playing a sensible 2-3 zone and throwing bounce passes. They want the coach to put the dog in the game. There’s nothing in the rulebook that says you can’t.

I also worry about the character, in general. A little. Brett Goldstein remains one of our best cussers and I’m happy to let him cook, but I do hope he gets a teeeeeeny bit more to do this season if they’re gonna make him a part of the brain trust. I do need him to keep cussing, though. That’s important. To me.

8. Keeley

Keeley is:

• Running her own business
• Sobbing a little sometimes behind the creepy harassment windows
• Single again, kind of, despite two different characters professing their love for her in the season two finale and a third planting a smooch on her out of nowhere

Lot going on here. We will continue to monitor this situation.

7. Rebecca

The bad news here is that Rebecca is melting down about Rupert to an unhealthy degree now that Richmond is back in the Premier League and picked by pretty much everyone to get walloped. It’s not ideal. Nor is the thing when she has gobs of eye makeup stained on her white blouse. That’s not as big of a deal, I guess. She can always start wearing a bib or a smock when she goes to visit Keeley. Soooo let’s focus on the other thing.

This is going to be a problem. Rupert is an ass whose office looks like somewhere a bad guy on The Mandalorian would summon underlings and prisoners, but he’s also a charming bomb of charisma and smirks. People are naturally drawn to people like that. I’m sure the press and the public love him. I’m sure it eats her up a bunch, given their history. It’s going to bump up against Ted and the way he deals with things a lot, I suspect, at least in the early going, like we saw this week with the sewer business. It’ll be fine, eventually, probably, because things in this show usually end up fine, but it could get a little dicey in spots on the way.

6. Barbara the CFO

Really just an incredible week for cold, unsmiling staffers, between Barbara’s hatred of flowers and Ms. Kakes — Rupert’s assistant who delivered the car keys to Nate and terrified me a little — just standing there staring at people. I hope the two of them become friends and go on vacation together. Show me both of them at a luxurious tropical resort just frowning into their pina coladas and challenging charges to their room at the front desk. Send them to a White Lotus. They’ll hate it a lot. Which I will enjoy. Also a lot.

5. Ted

Three big things here, which I will address in reverse order of importance.

THREE: I like that Ted knows the sewer guy by name and I need to know how many other municipal employees around town he’s buddies with.

TWO: Ted has some stuff going on right now. It’s not like that’s a secret. It’s a secret to the other people on the show, I suppose, who mostly only see the smile and mustache and goofy demeanor, but we saw his face in the airport at the beginning. We saw him checking his phone constantly while Henry’s plane was in the air and questioning why he’s still doing any of this. He’s walking past his house on the sidewalk and having a little mini-crisis and his doctor is off coaching rugby and sleeping with handsome new boytoys. This is the struggle now. He’s got to figure out what he’s doing and how to make it work, both personally and professionally. It’s good to remember that at the core of this generally silly premise — American football coach goes to England to coach soccer — is a dude who is kind of having an existential crisis.

ONE: His press conference at the end, where he ticked off all his faults and weaknesses in a jokey back-and-forth, was basically just a very polite and Midwestern version of the freestyle Eminem does at the end of 8 Mile, which I point out both because it’s how my mangled brain works and because it’s very funny to picture Eminem at home in Michigan watching Ted Lasso on his iPhone in bed. Think about it now. My gift to you.

4. Coach Disco

This show has a long storied history of giving characters silly nouns as last names, starting at the top with Ted Lasso and continuing through with Coach Beard and Jamie Tartt, even if the spelling of that last one plays a little fast and loose with the spelling.

It brings me great pleasure to add Coach Disco to the list. I must know everything about him at once. Or maybe nothing. This is another one of those “maybe don’t ruin a beautiful thing with more information” situations. It says a lot about me as a professional television critic that this is the biggest takeaway I had from this episode. We all have a lot to consider. Coach Disco included.

3. Crying

Crying is not fun as it’s happening. You feel silly and stupid for being emotional. You start questioning why the human body even does it. Why, when we feel sad or overwhelmed by any other emotion, does our entire face contort itself into a scrunched-up little ball and start leaking water and snot out of most of its holes? It’s especially embarrassing when there’s someone else there who is not crying. You start, like, apologizing and feeling sillier and crying more and it’s just a weird and annoying cycle.

But Rebecca does have a point here. It feels good once you get all of it out. It’s cathartic and a little freeing. I don’t want to sit here and wish a crying fit on any of you if you don’t have an honest one coming, but if you do, buddy, let it fly. Put on a Pixar movie or something and grab a box of tissues. It’s fine. You deserve it every now and then.

2. Jamie

Jamie didn’t have a lot to do this week beyond wearing colorful puffy vests with fanny packs draped over them, which is still more than you can say for most characters on most television shows. But he should not be ranked this high. There was much more important business going on out there. I do not care. I am putting him at number two for three equally important reasons:

• I like that he was the one who took Ted’s lesson about the sewer system to heart, which shows real strides for him as a leader of the team
• I like that the word “poopy” in his accent comes out “poo-peh”
• I am a child and find it very funny to put the poo-based entry at number two

Thank you.

1. Coach Beard

Coach Beard is back at number one as always. He was always going to be number one. That’s just how things work here. But he did actually earn it this week when he did the silent little hand gesture in the screencap up there, the one where everyone saw Nate’s comments and got mad and Ted was going to say something but Beard saw Jamie getting ready to step up. That’s great assistant coaching. We could all use a Coach Beard in our lives to be a voice of reason and support.

He’s a good man. I missed him very much.

Billie Eilish has dabbled in the fashion world, like when she worked with H&M and Urban Outfitters. She’s also been a frequent partner with Nike since 2021, creating two new Air Jordan designs that are also fully vegan. Some examples include the Nike X Billie Eilish Air Force 1 High ’07 Sequoia.

This month, she will be dropping a reworked version of her patchworked Air Force 1’s in a “Triple White” color. In an outdoor photoshoot, Eilish shared some shots of herself wearing the shoes on social media.

“The latest @billieeilish x Nike Air Force 1 Low combines the timeless white on white colorway with the familiar patchwork upper, creating a future favorite with infinite styling options,” Nike also posted in the caption.

“The rethought upper and cork sockliner balance Billie’s progressive and contemporary perspective with a heartfelt respect for the legendary shoe. The result — an unexpected and stylish twist on the AF1 that’s perfect for everyone,” Nike added through their web description.

Along with the upcoming drop, Hypebeast has reported that the pop star could be bringing back the Nike Air Alpha Force 88’s for an upcoming drop this year — although a specific release date for this one has yet to be confirmed.

Billie Eilish x Nike Air Force 1 Low “Triple White” will cost $130. The shoes are set to drop on March 22 through her official artist store here, before being made available on March 23 at 10 a.m. through the SNKRS app and in-person select retail stores.

Just last week, legendary indie band The Cure announced they would hit the road for a North American tour this summer for the first time since 2016. Despite singer Robert Smith promising that a new album called Songs Of A Lost World would be released soon and it never coming out, fans quickly forgave the rocker so long as their tour with special guest The Twilight Sad would go out without a hitch. The Cure even attempted to put together an action plan to prevent scalpers from ruining their forthcoming tour for fans, but Ticketmaster is going to Ticketmaster.

Even though the live event conglomerate is allegedly working on mandating transparency in its ticket pricing for concerts in addition to enforcing a stricter pre-sale policy in response to its Taylor Swift The Eras Tour flub, fans of the band have joined the Ticketmaster hate train for a different reason.

While legacy acts like Bruce Springsteen had no problem with his high dynamic ticket prices as fans asked for them to be lowered (a pricing model Ticketmaster defended), The Cure purposely set their tour price ticket prices lowers, but Ticketmaster’s mandatory fees are still a hindrance. One user on Twitter uploaded a screenshot of their checkout screen, which lists ticket prices at $20 a pop while fees for those same tickets cost more than the tickets themselves.

Others jumped in to share their frustration with Ticketmaster as well.

For the record, Smith seems upset by this, too: Yesterday, he tweeted, “(WE DIDN’T AGREE TO THE ‘DYNAMIC PRICING’ / ‘PRICE SURGING’ / ‘PLATINUM TICKET’ THING… BECAUSE IT IS ITSELF A BIT OF A SCAM? A SEPARATE CONVERSATION!).”

Aaron Rodgers‘ future is starting to become a little more clear. During a Wednesday afternoon appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, Rodgers announced that he plans on playing football during the 2023 NFL season as a member of the New York Jets, as long as the Jets and the Green Bay Packers can figure out a deal.

“At this point, as I sit here, I think since Friday, I made it clear my intention was to play and my intention was to play for the New York Jets,” Rodgers said. “And I haven’t been holding anything up at this point, it’s been compensation that the Packers are trying to get.”

Rodgers claims that Green Bay is “digging their heels in” on what they would like to get back in return for the former NFL MVP, with Adam Schefter of ESPN reporting earlier in the day that the Packers would like to get a few first-round picks back to move him. Rodgers also said that, before he went into his highly-publicized darkness retreat, he was “90 percent” sure that he was going to retire.

Meanwhile, back in the Meadowlands, the Jets’ social media folks appear to be pretty excited about Rodgers potentially coming to town.

Costco sells a lot of alcohol. Their sales of booze — beer, wine, and spirits — is in the billions of dollars annually. Part of that huge footprint is that Costco carries its own discount spirits under the “Kirkland Signature” brand name. One of the best deals on the spirits end of Costco’s Kirkland Signature is their 1.75-liter bottle of Irish Whiskey. Basically, you’re getting 2.33 bottles of triple-distilled Irish whiskey for $30, which is about $12.50 per bottle (standard 750ml size).

But is it any good? Moreover is it actually better than the world’s number one Irish whiskey, Jameson? Let’s find out!

METHODOLOGY:

For this blind taste test, I had one glass of each Irish whiskey poured for me and I nosed and tasted the whiskeys. The thrust of this blind tasting is whether or not a $12 bottle can beat a $30 one. That’s a tall order.

There are no fancy parameters here. This is based on taste alone. So with that in mind, let’s dive in and see if Costco’s famed Irish Whiskey is actually better than one of the most iconic whiskeys of all time, Jameson.

• Single Malt Whiskeys From Around The World, Blind Tasted And Ranked
• We Blind Tasted Single Malt Whiskies From All Over The World To Find A Champion
• A Giant Irish Whiskey Blind Tasting, Just In Time For St. Paddy’s Day
• The Best New Whiskeys To Chase Down This February
• The Best Whiskeys To Chase Down This March

Part 1: The Irish Whiskey Tasting

Taste 1

Tasting Notes:

Nose: The nose is a fairly classic yet light Irish whiskey with a hint of soft graininess, a drop of honey, and a little leatheriness with maybe some apple.

Palate: The palate is very neutral with hints of that grain and honey and a balance of mild malt spice, oak, and a touch of orchard fruits.

Finish: The end is pretty much vodka.

Initial Thoughts:

This is as basic as Irish whiskey gets. Yes, you can tell it’s “Irish” but only just.

Taste 2

Tasting Notes:

Nose: Light green chili pepper is accented by lemon candy, soft maltiness, a hint of sweetgrass, and honey-dipped almonds on the nose.

Palate: The palate opens with a hint of chocolate malt with a dash of vanilla next to creamy honey, nutty cakes, and a whisper of woody spice barks with a touch more of that dry sweet grass.

Finish: The proofing water comes through on the end but doesn’t overly mute the honeyed nuts and soft grassy maltiness.

Initial Thoughts:

This is so much more complex that it’s almost mind-blowing side-by-side. It’s like waking up and then having all that half-asleep fogginess clearing and seeing the world anew finally.

Part 2: Ranking Kirkland Signature Irish Whiskey Vs. Jameson

2. Kirkland Signature Irish Whiskey — Taste 1

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $29 (1.75-liter bottle)

The Whiskey:

This macro-whiskey from Ireland is triple-distilled and a blend of malt and grain whiskeys. The whiskey ages for at least four years before it is batched, proofed, and bottled for Costco.

As for who makes it? Costco will never tell. But it really, really feels like watered-down Jameson so I’d wager it’s likely Irish Distillers, which also happens to be one of the only distilleries that could handle the volume that Costco needs for this expression.

Bottom Line:

If you’re drinking whiskey and Coke or whiskey and ginger ale, then… I guess get this? It’ll be cheap and completely neutral with a fleeting sense of “Irish whiskey” buried deep under that sweet fizzy soda pop.

Or maybe if you’re making a big punch and need a cheap whiskey for it.

Or, you know, just skip it entirely. If you’re looking for quality, cheap Irish whiskey for this weekend’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities, this ain’t it.

1. Jameson Triple Distilled Irish Whiskey — Taste 2

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $29

The Whiskey:

The whiskey is a blend of single pot still (made from malted and unmalted barley) and single grain whiskeys. Those whiskeys age in ex-bourbon barrels and ex-sherry casks until they hit that classic sweet spot that makes Jameson Jameson. Those barrels are then blended, proofed, and bottled.

Bottom Line:

While this felt a million times better when tasted next to Kirkland Signature Irish Whiskey, this was still pretty basic. This will make a decent cocktail or mixer with ginger ale. You can also shoot it with a beer (Guinness, duh!) back. Other than that, this is entry-level stuff at an okay price point.

Part 3: Final Thoughts

I’m probably going to give that bottle of Kirkland Signature to my sink (the last thing I need is a bottle that big collecting dust on a shelf). Sorry, it’s just not that good.

And that’s kind of the issue with Costco’s Kirkland Signature spirits. Some of them are stellar, especially their latest bourbon releases. Then some bottles, like their tequila, are just okay. Some of it is absolutely undrinkable. This falls into the “meh” category, which is a pretty hard pass but not undrinkable. If you’re going to Costco for booze this weekend, get the vodka instead. Or just go to your local liquor store and pick up a Jameson.

Thanks to a calculated alignment with Kevin McCarthy where she served as biggest ally during the contentious Speaker of the House vote, Marjorie Taylor Greene has seen her political star rise from disgraced congresswoman to sitting on several key House committees. Heck, McCarthy even let her preside over Congress as Speaker Pro Tempore for a day. There’s seemingly no limit to Greene’s power, but there probably should be after her latest political stunt.

During a recent House Homeland Security Committee hearing in Texas, Greene reportedly revealed intelligence that may have been classified. While questioning U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz, Greene openly asked him about explosives that were found near the border and whether he was aware that they were planted by “cartels.” Ortiz refused to answer the question citing the confidential nature of the topic.

“I will tell you that some of this information that I receive, I receive in a confidential [sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF)],” Ortiz told Greene. “So I’m going to be a little hesitant of briefing what I know and what I don’t know with respect to some of those, an event like that.”

Greene, however, defended her disclosure of classified intel. Via Raw Story:

“I understand, Chief Ortiz, but I’m not going to be confidential because I think people deserve to know,” Greene declared. “Our Border Patrol agents should not be in those type of conditions where they are at risk of being blown to pieces by the cartels, who, by the way, are criminals, and they should be treated as such.”

The Georgia congresswoman proceeded to grandstand even further by demanding America go to war with the cartels.

“As a matter of fact, I’ve co-sponsored legislation to declare war on the cartels because they are definitely declaring war on us, the American people, and our Border Patrol agents, and I’ve had enough of it,” Greene said. “And I know Americans have had enough of it.”

In Greene’s defense, former President Trump may have declassified the material with his mind, so we can’t confidentially say whether Greene erroneously divulged national secrets or not. You always gotta factor in the mind powers.

(Via Raw Story)

Last year, it was Better Call Saul. This year, it’s Succession. What hall of fame prestige drama will the TV gods take from us next?

Succession creator and showrunner Jessie Armstrong recently confirmed that the fourth season of Succession will also be its final season. “There’s a promise in the title of Succession. I’ve never thought this could go on forever. The end has always been kind of present in my mind,” he told the New Yorker. “From season two, I’ve been trying to think: Is it the next one, or the one after that, or is it the one after that?” Guess we know the answer.

Alan Ruck, who plays presidential laughingstock Connor Roy, agrees with Armstrong’s decision to end the show before it becomes stale. “The truth is, we’ve all known on the show since June,” he told Empire. “And I think it’s the right time to end it in terms of the struggle to see who’s going to take command of this empire. A fifth season would have been drawn out, and if it just faded away, that would have been a disgrace.”

As for what to expect from Connor in season four (the Conheads are gonna love this), Ruck teased, “I don’t think it’s far-fetched to say that this delusional man with unlimited resources could make it to the highest office in the land.”

Hm, whoever could he be referring to?

“We just went through what we went through with Trump, and nobody thought that would happen. And it did, and it was a mess.”

I guess that’s who. Succession returns to HBO on March 26.

(Via Empire)