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It goes without saying that being Black in the 1960s was not easy, and often led to fatal results for those who were outspoken. In a recently declassified FBI file on the late Aretha Franklin, it was revealed that she was extensively tracked by the bureau for her civil rights activism and close relationships with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Angela Davis.

The document, including over 270 pages of information, details that there were death threats against the late singer in addition to negative characterizations of her Southern Christian Leadership Conference performances in the 1960s. They were labeled “communist infiltration” events, and the memorial concert at the Atlanta Braves stadium was specifically cited as it “would provide emotional spark which could ignite racial disturbance.”

With regards to Angela Davis, she was noted as “facing murder-kidnapping charges in California” and a concert sponsored by the National United Committee with the goal of freeing Angela Davis was being held by “an organization founded by The Communist Party, United States of America.” Aretha Franklin had offered to post bail on Davis’s behalf, which was not reflected in the FBI file.

Franklin was deemed a potential performer at alleged threatening events, though the characterizations far exceed the number of events that she actually appeared at.

Check out the full declassified FBI file on Aretha Franklin here.

Queen Elizabeth II’s passing has shocked the world but no one is taking it harder than Piers Morgan.

The lifelong royalist has always sung the late monarch’s praises and today, he’s mourning the 96-year-old head of state with a tribute on his talk show.

“This is one of the saddest and most momentous turning points in the history of the United Kingdom,” Morgan began. “There’s nobody in this country or the world, who hasn’t lived the majority of their lives under the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. For 70 years she served this country with astoundingly dedicated duty. I struggle to even imagine a Britain without this Queen. But … the moment we’ve all been dreading has finally come.”

Morgan went on to explain how her death was a blow to the country’s “psyche,” before explaining that people around the world who aren’t British subjects likely don’t understand the love the English have for the Queen. He described the monarchy as the “very essence” of being British, likening it to the relationship between American culture and Abraham Lincoln, or apple pie, and the Constitution.

“Nothing and nobody has symbolized being British like Queen Elizabeth,” Morgan continued. “She’s always been there. She had an aura of invincibility that sadly today has been shattered and now we have to learn as a country to live without her.”

He ended the three-minute monologue by saying his own personal goodbye to this “remarkable little lady.”

“She was our greatest export, our greatest leader. The greatest of Britains. When Her Majesty the Queen died this afternoon in Balmoral, a little piece of us all died with her.”

Watch the full video below:

The last time we saw a real live NFL football game that counted, the Los Angeles Rams won the Super Bowl, defeating the Cincinnati Bengals in a game that started with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson hyping up the crowd and introducing both teams on the field before kickoff.

Seven months later, the NFL is back and the Rams got the honor of kicking off the season in L.A. with their ring night festivities against this year’s Super Bowl favorites, the Buffalo Bills. Given how well it worked the last time, the Rams decided to see if The Rock could bring them good luck once again, as they paid him what was surely an upsetting amount of money to do a 19-second intro to get the crowd on their feet before kickoff.

The Rock’s cash per word rate here must be extraordinary, and it wasn’t lost on many fans that it was a bit funny seeing the owner of a different football league doing an intro for an NFL game — Johnson, of course, is the new owner of the XFL for when it launches for a third time in 2023.

Unfortunately for the Rams, this time around they were not able to get off to the same positive start after The Rock’s intro as they did in the Super Bowl, with the Bills marching to an impressive first drive touchdown from Josh Allen to Gabriel Davis to put the first points on the board of the 2022 NFL season.

As The Handmaid’s Tale heads into its fifth season on September 14th, shifting its gaze toward revenge instead of Canadian safety, fans can watch knowing that they’ll get one more season of the dystopian show. Hulu announced today that the Elisabeth Moss-starring nightmare will close out after a 6th season while showrunner Bruce Miller develops a future-set spin-off series called The Testaments.

“It has been a true honor to tell the story of Margaret Atwood’s groundbreaking novel and chillingly relevant world, and we are thrilled to bring viewers a sixth and final season of The Handmaid’s Tale,” Miller said in a statement. “We are grateful to Hulu and MGM for allowing us to tell this story, which unfortunately has remained as relevant as ever throughout its run, and are in awe of our incredible fans for their unwavering support, and without whom we never would have gotten to this point.”

Even though it’s hard to say goodbye, this is great news. It allows the series, which has already evolved past its source material and past its original conceits, to close out purposefully. June has come an excruciatingly long way in her quest for freedom from subjugation, and it’s difficult to see just how much longer that quest could or should continue. The big question will be whether she topples Gilead for good. Maybe they can replace it with some kind of functioning democracy!

Serving more early aughts realness, Blackstarkids is back with another dreamy hit. On their latest cut, “Cyberkiss 2 U,” the members of the trio embrace a flame, despite the fact that they’re far apart.

Joined by Beabadoobee, Blackstarkids maintain their connection with a lover online while rapping and singing over a techno-inspired beat.

On the song’s chorus, Beabadoobee sings, “I just wanna send you a kiss,” recalling the magical, millennial feeling of connecting with a crush via the internet.

Back in January, Blackstarkids chatted with Alternative Press, detailing the creative process behind their upcoming mixtape, Cyberkiss 2 U.

“It was a fun time with each other,” said member Deiondre. “We hadn’t really lived with each other yet at that point, so it was our first time being in that setting. It’s hard to fake being in a good mood around each other; we see right through that bullsh*t. If trying to make a song feels weird, it’s a bit like, ‘Ah, there’s clearly one person in this room that doesn’t want to.’ So we try to hang out with each other as much as possible and not take ourselves too seriously. We wanted to get into this thing to have it feel as least like a job as possible. That was the ultimate goal. We always want music to feel like our go-to for having fun because the one thing that connects us all when we want to hang out is music.”

Check out “Cyberkiss 2 U” above.

Cyberkiss is out 9/23 via Dirty Hit. Pre-save it here.

This is Hollywood’s new rule: if you win the Squid Game, you get to star in a Star Wars show. This precedent comes courtesy of ol’ #456 himself, Lee Jung-jae, who is set to play one of the leads in The Acolyte, which “takes viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era.” Details about his character also fall in the realm of “shadowy secrets.”

Written and directed by Leslye Headland (Russian Doll), the Disney+ show will also star Amandla Stenberg, Jodie Turner-Smith, and, per Star Wars tradition, one adorable CGI-enhanced puppet that’s a Sith this time.

That last part is a joke. Unless they actually have a Sith puppet. It’s a cool idea.

Fortunately, we won’t have to wait too long to see, because The Acolyte already has its release date set for August 11, 2023. At the very least, we already know that the casting is off the charts.

Plus, the only way they could really go wrong here is to make Lee’s character enter some perverse murder contest among emerging Sith trainees who all have to compete in fatal children’s games (like podracing) in order to secure the love of wealthy Sith lords. After digging deep into the sands of Tattooine for Westerns and adventure, a mystery thriller set in the Star Wars universe sounds fantastic.

(via Deadline)

No one ever envisioned Black Adam arriving at a dicey time for the DC/Warner Bros. camp, which is distributing The Rock’s (New Line Cinema) entry into the (live-action) superpowers realm. Let’s just say that things are strange over at Warner Bros. Discovery these days, and very few of their comic book adaptations (Harley Quinn and the Joker sequel, which is still two years away, among them) are receiving good news these days. And Black Adam is now destined to be a proving ground, which is, again, unanticipated because it’s been over six years since Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson broke the news that he’d be portraying the DCEU’s Black Adam.

According to the above trailer, Black Adam (who was once Egypt’s greatest champion) has woken up from a 5,000-year nap after being “born from rage.” And as you can see, The Rock is pissed off as Black Adam, who never claimed to be a hero. Viola Davis returns as Amanda Waller from those Suicide Squad movies. And Pierce Brosnan appears as Doctor Fate, all while Black Adam wants nothing to do with any of this. Can this save the DCEU? We’ll find out this fall.

This movie’s under a lot of pressure for what was essentially a big-budgeted passion project for the star who’s a self-admitted “fan boy” of the character, who’s been (at least in the comics) both a supervillain and an antihero. This surely looks like a far cry from Shazam!, that lighthearted predecessor starring Zachary Levi, so it’s not too surprising that The Rock wanted Black Adam to be totally left out of the movie about a kid in a superhero’s bod. And thus far, we’ve seen a grim teaser and a trailer where The Rock catches a rocket like it ain’t no thing. From the movie’s synopsis:

From New Line Cinema, Dwayne Johnson stars in the action adventure “Black Adam.” The first-ever feature film to explore the story of the DC Super Hero comes to the big screen under the direction of Jaume Collet-Serra (“Jungle Cruise”). Nearly 5,000 years after he was bestowed with the almighty powers of the ancient gods—and imprisoned just as quickly—Black Adam (Johnson) is freed from his earthly tomb, ready to unleash his unique form of justice on the modern world.

Black Adam will try hard to save DC Comics movies on October 21, 2022. Enjoy this very serious poster, too.

If you watch the news all day, you’ll probably think that America is a politically divided, dangerous, bigoted, contentious, depressing place that’s slowly losing its grip on being a world power. That’s because there are very few media outlets that can stay in business reporting good news. (Unless they’re Upworthy, of course.)

Humans have a negativity bias, so they are much more interested in hearing about the world’s problems than what’s going well. That makes it easy for them to develop a warped view of their country and the world that is much more negative than it should be.

Thousands of people on Reddit came together to make people feel a lot better about being an American recently after a user named KyleB2131 asked, “What does America do better than most other countries?” The post received thousands of responses from Americans and people abroad about the things that truly make the country great.

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A lot of the responses are about how America excels in innovation and has wonderful topography highlighted by a fantastic system of national parks. Americans are also incredibly creative and make the best entertainment in the world.

“This may be one of my favorite Reddit threads of all time,” a Reddit user named BigPlainV wrote. “Being tuned in to American mass media makes me feel like I live in the most fucked up armpit of the world. This thread has single handedly made me proud to be an American again.”

“The American mass media, I believe, is our biggest downfall,” circ2day added. “Because bad news makes more money than good news, that’s all we get. Everything is aggressively sensationalized for the sake of getting views. This makes America look incredibly bad to outsiders.”

Here are 17 of the best responses to the question, “What does America do better than most other countries?”

1. 

“Turning corn into things that are not corn.” — rlemon

2. 

“I was going to say cornbread but everyone said rest stops. Have y’all ever had cornbread?” — Admirable-Ad-2554

3. 

“I love the Interstate Rest Areas on road trips. I’m a Canadian from the west coast, and was always VERY impressed with the 24/7 rest areas. Clean washrooms, nice grassy areas for dogs, picnic tables, and a lot of times people selling crafts, or offering free coffee!

“I’ve only driven through the western states, (WA,OR,CA,NV,UT,AZ) but yeah, those rest areas were always reliable. Always well-marked signs when the next one was coming up. Just made everything about traveling easier! Thanks, neighbors!” — Ubba-Ga

4. 

“Jazz.” — PuzzleheadReveal58

5. 

“National Parks.” — Big-Win6220

SmellLikeSheepSpirit added:

“Absolutely. People complain about crowds at the national parks, but this is somewhat by design. As you mention the American national parks are very accessible, they have handicapped trails. They have large educational visitor stations. They have viewpoints on the roads. They’re meant to “market” the outdoors to the masses. They’re a “park” much like an urban park is. Most have truly amazing drives that give a great sampling of what they offer.

“They also have amazing landscapes that see much less usage only a few miles out. People miss the point that they work for both the layperson/day visitor AND the person who will spend 5 days in a roadless wilderness. And of course there are wilderness designations for that reason.”

6. 

“Make sure there’s ice in your beverage.” — HegemoniHarbinger

DJ33 added:

“I asked where the ice machine was in a hotel in Dublin and the woman at the desk thought I was damaged in the head. She’d clearly never, ever had anyone ask that before.”

7. 

“Buffets. No buffet I’ve had can beat the one’s I had in the states.” — sueRiot

8. 

“Music — The United States is the birthplace of Blues, Jazz, Rock and Roll, Hip Hop, Punk, Bluegrass, Country-Western, Rap, and a half a dozen different forms of regional folk music. Nearly every culture in the world imitates our musical forms.” — Mike the Bard

9. 

“While we have a LONG way to go, the USA is comparatively better than a lot of places regarding supporting people with disabilities.” — Kittenesque02

10. 

“The ability of the American farmer to produce food. It is really staggering the amount of food that is grown here.” — fat-dum-stoopid

11. 

“Women’s sports are really well supported here – so are female athletes. Despite many things Americans might say about it – if you go to other countries female athletics is really almost non-existent.” — Juls7243

12. 

“America wins EVERY Super Bowl!” — Leyline

13. 

“Air conditioners everywhere and free public restrooms. You have to pay to use the restrooms in Europe.” — SnooDoughnuts231

14. 

“Business. Hands down. It’s their biggest advantage in my opinion. Deals with Americans just get done easier. Compared to other countries American businesses are more open-minded to new things, don’t try to fuck you over, want a win for both sides, want simpler agreements, negotiate fairly, hold up their end of the bargain, etc.

“If you have even done business internationally you really see what a strong advantage it is. Other countries everyone is fucking everyone over, or are close-minded, slow as snails, and obsessed with bureaucracy. Commerce just flows better there.” — Stopinstinker

15. 

“Think big and be bold. I am originally from Europe where people often just think small.” — throwaway32132190432

16.

“Serious answer? Logistics. We’re quite a large country and we’ve gotten very good at moving things around.” — weirdoldhobo1978

17. 

“Chatting, I’m from an Asian country where most people will avoid talking to stranger. But you can literally talk to anyone you met in the street in the US and most of them are willing to talk.” — _formosa_

Labor Day has officially passed, which means the seasonal aisles that have been filled with school supplies are now teeming with bags and bags of Halloween candy. Hallelujah.

If you’re one of those people who can buy bags of fun-sized candy bars and let them sit unopened in the cupboard for a month, only pulling them the night of Halloween to hand out to trick-or-treaters, congrats. You’re a giant among humans. More power to you.

This article is not for you.

I’m here for the folks who need a solid game plan to manage the nearly two months between Labor Day and Halloween when all willpower and impulse control get pushed to the brink every year. If you fool yourself into thinking you can have hundreds of pieces of chocolatey, nougaty, peanuty, toffee-y candy sitting in your home for weeks and not touch it, only to find yourself hitting the bag multiple times a day, alternating between justifying the consumption of obscene amounts of sugar and plunging into stomachaching regret, you are my people.

You don’t have to dread the Halloween candy season. It’s only taken nearly three decades of full-on adulthood to hone my strategy for September and October, but I’ve got it down. There’s an art to this, friends. Allow me to pass along some of my hard-earned wisdom.

Do not, under any circumstances, buy any Halloween candy before the week of Halloween.

Nope, not even if it’s on sale. No amazing deals. No buy-one-get-one-free gimmicks. Nada. You know you will eat that savings in a week and be forced to replace what you ate by Halloween, therefore spending more than you would’ve without the sale.

Trust me on this. You may think saving money in the moment will also save you from temptation, but it’s lies. Fake news and lies. Repeat after me: Halloween candy sales are not our friend.

The only exception to this rule is if you buy a padlock along with your candy. Then, when you get home, immediately hide the candy in a cupboard with the lock on it and give someone else the key until the day of Halloween. It’s a risky move—there is an entire car ride in which that candy bag will be staring you in the face—but it’s the only way to feel good about purchasing sale candy ahead of time.

Four days before Halloween is the sweet spot. Use it to your advantage.

Apparently, four days before Halloween is when you get the best price on candy, according to an analysis from online shopping portal Ibotta. This is a good thing. For one, it gets you away from the idea that a sale long before Halloween is one you simply can’t pass up. And two, having a clear number of days gives you a window in which to buy so you’re not going at this all haphazardly.

Haphazard Halloween candy buying is just sugar-laden, calorie-bombing chaos, my friends. Don’t do it. The key here is to look ahead, make a plan and stick to it. I like to make an absolute rule for myself that zero candy enters the house before the four-day mark, and then see how long I can hold out during those four days.

If you’ve got candy FOMO, don’t. You won’t miss out.

Sometimes we’re tempted to buy candy early so that we make sure we actually get some before the Halloween season is over, but let’s be real. There is no shortage of candy-filled bowls everywhere you go during these two months. Stop into pretty much any bank. Visit any informational booth. Make an appointment to see your kid’s guidance counselor. Don’t be shy. Grab that free Milky Way out of the bowl on their desk and go to town. No guilt.

Keep reminding yourself that candy is in abundance all around you. You’ll have your own home stash soon enough, but not so soon that you’ll make yourself sick on it. (Also, if you have kids, you can remind them that they have a roof over their heads and food in the fridge and the least they can do is share their Halloween trick-or-treating haul with the person who provides for them.)

Bottom line—you’ll have plenty of opportunities to snag a Snickers here and there during the Halloween season without having to buy your own bag.

Buy candy that you hate or candy that you love, but nothing in between.

I’m not usually this black-and-white, but hear me out. There are basically three ways of thinking about what Halloween candy to buy for trick-or-treaters, but only two of them have a desirable outcome.

1. If you buy candy you hate, you won’t be as tempted to eat it. I say as tempted because people who love candy can generally be tempted by almost anything, but most of us have a candy we simply won’t touch. I could have a bowl of Jolly Ranchers for months and never touch them, for instance. That’s a good trick-or-treater buy for me.

2. If you buy candy you love, you’re definitely going to eat it. Maybe even a ton of it. But if you follow the above advice and wait until a few days before Halloween to buy it, you’ll have less time to gorge on it but still be able to enjoy it. (Gimme all the peanut M&Ms, thankyouverymuch).

3. If you buy candy you like but don’t really love, that’s just trouble. You’ll likely eat just as much of it as you would your favorite candy—that’s the nature of having copious amounts of not-gross candy on hand—but it won’t be nearly as satisfying. If you’re going to eat candy, you should get the optimal amount of enjoyment out of it. Make it worth it.

Go for the chocolate and nuts. Ditch the candy corn and jelly beans.

As far as narrowing down your candy choices, there’s a strategy here, too. Though you may assume they’re the worst because they’re so rich, nut-heavy candy like peanut M&Ms, Snickers and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are actually some of the best choices, according to two dietitians in Everyday Health. Nuts have protein and fiber and chocolate has antioxidants (the darker the better), so at least you’re getting some nutrition along with the sugar. (It’s a real thing! Dietitians said so!)

Chewy and fruity candies like candy corn and jelly beans are basically just pure sugar. They feel lighter as you’re eating them, which in my experience just makes you likely to eat more of them, leaving you eating more sugar and feeling less satisfied. I love me some Skittles and Smarties, but they just don’t hit like the Snickers and Reese’s. Not worth it to buy a whole bag of them.

The key is to delay the inevitable as long as possible, not to eliminate it.

I’m sure some people would suggest not even buying candy at all, and for some people maybe that’s wise. (There are some reasonable non-candy alternatives to give out.) But I’m not willing to forgo Halloween candy altogether. It’s all about timing, setting some realistic ground rules and knowing what candy is worth indulging in. The idea is to enjoy the candy if you really want to, but delay gratification as long as you can.

Speaking from experience, Halloween is a lot more fun if you don’t go into it having already gorged on candy for six weeks straight.

The first day of school was anxiety-inducing for many children returning to class in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday, CNN reported. For some, it was their first time back in a classroom after a gunman killed 19 students and 2 teachers on May 24 at Robb Elementary School.

“I’m so scared and shocked after what happened at my old school, and I’m still scared and nervous,” Zeke Wyndham, whose fourth-grade classroom was down the hall from where the massacre occurred, told CNN. “I can still hear the gunshots,” he said.

To help the students cope with the beginning of the school year, the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District enlisted the help of the Lutheran Church Charities K-9 Comfort Dog Ministry. It’s a “human-care” ministry that embraces the unique, calming nature and skills of purebred golden retrievers.

The ministry placed 10 dogs at eight schools in the district. The dogs all took different positions at the schools, some greeted students outside, while others waited in counselors’ offices for those in need.

“That will keep changing as the needs arise, as the kids get into their routine—and where the dogs are needed, the counselors will instruct us where to go,” Bonnie Fear, crisis response coordinator for the Lutheran Church Charities K-9 Comfort Dog Ministry told CNN. “Our goal is to be present with those that are hurting and in need, and we show up and just be with them in whatever they’re feeling.”

The students’ engagement with the animals is meant to be pressure-free so they can express themselves in a way that helps them feel comfortable.

u201cEight LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs and Hearts of Mercy & Compassion Deploy in Less Than 24 Hours to Mass Shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. nPlease pray for Uvalde, TX and our teams as they travel today.u00a0nnDonate to K-9 Travel Fund: https://t.co/jswtDc1mm0nn#uvaldeTXu201d

— LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs (@LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs)
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“We’re trained to be quiet. We don’t want to do a lot of talking. We want them to interact with the dog and to feel what the dog can help them through their emotions,” Fear said according to KSAT.

This isn’t the first time the charity has been in Uvalde. It provided dogs to comfort students at the schools last May in the days following the shooting. The ministry says that the dogs’ presence helped a lot of students feel comfortable returning to class after the horrible event.

There is a lot of research that shows therapy dogs can reduce stress and provide a sense of connection for people in difficult situations. But it’s important to note they have a different job than service dogs, who help individuals with physical challenges or mental health struggles.

Therapy dogs are trained to respond to people in their environment such as a school or hospital. Research shows that therapy dogs increase attachment responses that trigger oxytocin, the “trust hormone.” Therapy dogs have also been found to reduce the release of cortisol, the hormone associated with stress.

u201cComfort dogs are greeting Uvalde students for their return to school. Here’s how canine visitors can help after tragedy https://t.co/ftF2h4aWeHu201d

— CNN (@CNN)
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In a school setting, therapy dogs make it easier for children to open up in therapy settings and help to facilitate discussions and build rapport between people. Edutopia says that therapy dogs also encourage students to attend school and help curb tardiness.

This school year is sure to be hard for a lot of kids in Uvalde. It’s wonderful that the school district and the Lutheran Church Charities are doing their best to help these kids learn, develop and feel safe at a time when the wounds of last summer are still fresh.