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The Chicago Sky played host to the New York Liberty on Wednesday night in the first game of the WNBA Playoffs, as the 2-seed in the league looked to get their title defense off to a strong start.

However, the Liberty had other ideas in a thrilling Game 1 that saw big runs on both sides, a number of lead changes, and a ton of offense as both teams piled up the points in what became a 98-91 New York win. It was clear from the outset that the Liberty had come to play, as Sabrina Ionescu, Natasha Howard, and company were able to take an early (small) lead, going right at the Chicago defense and taking the aggression to the Sky.

The champs would respond, with Kahleah Copper, Candace Parker, and company battling to take a four-point lead into the second quarter, but New York would not fade away, as they were able to go on a second quarter run to seize a three-point lead at the half after Marine Johannes started to get hot.

New York would extend their lead early in the second, but Copper’s relentless attacking helped the Sky flip the script and pull ahead by one going into the fourth.

A four-point play early in the fourth from Allie Quigley pushed the Sky ahead for what looked like it might be good, as they would hold a two-possession advantage for much of the quarter.

However, midway through the fourth Ionescu started to get hot, hitting from all over with a spinning, driving lay-in, a quick-trigger three, and then a midrange pull-up that put the Liberty in front by three and forced a Chicago timeout as their offense stalled.

Unfortunately for the Sky, they just could not find an answer offensively down the stretch as the Liberty closed the game out on a 13-0 run to win by seven, with Johannes delivering the highlight of the game with a wild over the head assist to Howard to put the icing on the cake.

The win means the Liberty now have homecourt advantage in the Best of 3 first round format, with Chicago needing to win back-to-back games in order to advance to the second round. Ionescu and Howard each finished with 22 points to lead the Liberty, along with 17 from Betnijah Laney and 13 from Stefanie Dolson. On Chicago’s side there were plenty of strong performances, as Copper led the way with 21 points and eight rebounds, Parker had 18 points and 10 boards, Quigley scored 18, and Azura Stevens had 16 off the bench, but the offense went cold at the wrong time and the usually stout defense of the Sky was not able to contain the Liberty on offense down the stretch.

The biggest difference from the two sides was from beyond the arc, where New York went 11-for-25 (44 percent) compared to a 7-for-25 (28 percent) night for Chicago. They’ll be back in action on Saturday afternoon (12:00 p.m. ET, ESPN), with New York finding itself as the team with a chance to close things out and knock out the defending champs on the road.

Last summer, prosecutors nabbed one of Donald Trump’s closest and most loyal confidants: Allen Weisselberg. The former CFO of the Trump Organization, he was indicted by a grand jury over a 15-year tax fraud scheme. He’s never ratted his former boss out, and he has no plans to do so, even as his legal problems balloon yet again. What he will do is cut a plea deal with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, in which he may testify against Trump’s businesses, which could be bad for the big guy, too.

In new reports by Rolling Stone and The New York Times, Weisselberg is looking to avoid what could be a lengthy prison sentence, which could be as long as 15 years. He could get that down to five months, with only 100 days in the slammer, if he acknowledges that he conspired with other Trump-owned companies. He’s also agreed to testify in an October trial against the Trump Organization and the Trump Payroll Corporation, but only if he’s asked to do so.

Weisselberg’s cooperation, alas, stops with the aforementioned testimony. He has refused to “flip” on either Trump or his children in broader investigations into their potential crimes.

Still, Rolling Stone argues, “his potential testimony could pose a severe threat to Trump’s companies”:

“This possible testimony, which allegedly implicates Trump’s businesses, could be key to prosecutors’ securing a guilty verdict against these companies. When a company is found to have engaged in criminal conduct, significant fines can pile up quickly — potentially leading to its demise.”

In other words, the fiercely Trump-loyal Weisselberg won’t help in the effort to potentially imprison his longtime compadre, but he could help leave him with nothing but his pensions.

(Via Rolling Stone and NYT)

After a nine-month absence, Kenny Omega has finally returned to AEW.

In the weeks leading up to Wednesday night’s ‘House of the Dragon’ event, the Young Bucks teased difficulties finding a partner in AEW’s trios tournament, with the build up of the tournament leading to the organization crowning its first trios champions. But Wednesday night, Omega made his triumphant return to join the Bucks in the main event against La Faccion Ingobernable in the first round of the tournament.

This was Omega’s first match since dropping the AEW heavyweight title to Hangman Page back in November at AEW Full Gear.

Omega reportedly dealt with a slew of injuries he’d been holding off on getting fixed including shoulder, knee, and abdomen injuries per the Wrestling Observer.

“Kenny Omega is currently recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery. The recovery from this will take about ten weeks. He will be getting surgery to repair his sports hernia at the end of March and that’s about a two-month recovery. There are other things he’s also taking care of,” Meltzer wrote.

Omega’s return sets up nicely for his squad to be favorites in the run up to the crowning of the trios champions at All Out, with a possible showdown against Page and his buddies, the Dark Order.

You don’t hear about Taylor Lautner as much as you do his Twilight co-stars. But he’s doing well. In fact, he’s getting married! Who’s the lucky person? It’s a woman named Taylor (last name Dome). If you think it must be confusing for them, both having the same first name, that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Because when they tie the knot, Lautner’s future wife will be taking his surname. And yes, that means they’ll both be “Taylor Lautner.”

The actor was casually discussing his engagement on The Kelly Clarkson Show when the news came out. When asked how they address each other, Lautner said he goes by “Taylor” while she is “Tay.” Simple enough. (Though some people, he said, refer to them as “Boy Tay” and “Girl Tay.”)

But then he revealed that they’re going to make it even more complicated when Taylor Dome also becomes Taylor Lautner. “We’re literally going to be the same person,” he joked. “How narcissitic?”

In the meantime, Twilight was back in the news for another reason: The director of the saga’s third installment, New Moon, reportedly turned down another Taylor, Taylor Swift, after she offered to make an appearance. Too many Taylors! In the meantime, here’s to the happy couple who will soon have the same name.

You can watch Lautner’s appearance on Kelly Clarkson in the video below.

(Via Pop Base)

In some couples, there’s one person who wishes they looked differently while the other loves their partner just the way they are. That may be the case with one of the most prominent couples in the world. After Canadian musician Grimes tweeted her interest in elf ear surgery on Monday (August 17), her babies’ father Elon Musk made his disapproval clear in a public response on Twitter.

The musician revealed she’d made an appointment with a plastic surgeon two years prior and wondered what the people would want to see. “Any face mods y’all think would look good on me?” Grimes tweeted. The post that drew the Tesla CEO to the timeline was her earnest inquiry about the riskiness of elf ear surgery.

“Also, has anyone done elf ear mods with a good outcome? Im scared about ear cartilage having a hard time healing. Especially as a musician this surgery seems risky but I’ve wanted it my whole life. Curious about peoples experiences !” Musk enthusiastically replied with “The downside of elf ear surgery probably outweighs the upside” on Tuesday, August 17.

It appears Grimes was able to take it in stride, following it up with a complaint about how she was born in the wrong generation.

Check out the Twitter exchange above.

It’s the question currently haunting the GOP: Who is the alleged informant who ratted Donald Trump out to the feds? Last week, the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago, the resort where the former president now lives. Since then, Trump and his Republican cronies have raged and howled at federal agents investigating his potential crimes — and at whoever the rat could be. Some have ideas. Mary Trump thinks it could be son-in-law (and poor memoirist) Jared Kushner, or someone in his orbit. But one GOP candidate think it’s another current Florida resident.

As per Insider, Mark Lombardo, his challenging Matt Gaetz for his House seat, released an ad in which he strongly suggests — albeit without much evidence — that his opponent is the Mar-a-Lago mole.

“When Donald Trump really endorses someone, he goes big,” the ad’s narrator booms. “You’ve seen none of that for lying Matt Gaetz.” It then offers an answer for why he’s not relentlessly throwing his name about. “What does Trump know? Is Gaetz the informant?”

The ad then goes onto air some claims, some of which are debunked. (No, the judge who approved the FBI search never represented Jeffrey Epstein, but Fox News aired it anyway.) It concludes that “Matt Gaetz puts himself first, ahead of Trump and ahead of you.”

Gaetz was not pleased with the ad. “President Trump’s son is campaigning for Congressman Gaetz in Pensacola on Monday. President Trump’s 2020 finance chair just released a video endorsing Gaetz,” a spokesperson for him told Insider. “Mark Lombardo is busy trying to please Resistance Liberals with plays from the Lincoln Project playbook. Congressman Gaetz is fighting for Florida and the Trump agenda.”

Meanwhile, Gaetz is still under investigation for ties to a sex trafficking ring. Florida’s primary day is Aug. 23.

(Via Insider)

Better Call Saul is over. Sad news! It can also restart immediately by pressing play on season 1, episode 1. Great news! As you’re waiting for it to load, check out this video from yo chill bruh which envisions what a Pixar version of the Jimmy McGill Lawyering Hour would look like. Spoiler alert: characters with Pixar heads and shiny-wet giant cartoon eyes get shot.

This is an exquisite collection of moments from every season, combined to create some sort of uncanny valley inside the uncanny valley, where everything feels wrong and right simultaneously. Is there a God? This video definitely raises the question.

It also looks loads better than the Metaverse. Not hard to do, really. Although this is what I imagine getting a Memoji text from Giancarlo Esposito looks like.

The other impressive thing this video achieves is highlighting how fantastic Pixar animation is. There are moments where the entirety of the scene looks like it was animated, but it’s just the heads that have been replaced, which means Pixar movie backgrounds are maybe more photorealistic than we assume while watching them. That is, for the movies where there’s no blood splattering on the salmon pink shirt of a disgraced lawyer with a terrifyingly adorable baby head cropped onto his body.

Splash House is like a music festival, pool party, and weekend vacation all in one. So it’s no wonder why thousands of bikini-wearing women and shirtless dudes flock to the desert in Palm Springs to be a part of the action each year. The festival hosts three separate events every summer — each of which offers a slew of epic electronic music performances and loads of good vibes.

Most recently, from August 12th to 14th, the lineup featured Dabin, Dombresky, John Summit, Nora En Pure, Polo & Pan (DJ Set), Elohim, Franc Moody, and more. In other words, it was the epitome of an iconic summer rager.

If you’re holding onto the last weeks of summer, let these photos keep you hyped for the remainder of the season. Scroll through the shots of Splash House below, and you’ll be ready to hit the pool with your crew in no time.

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Bullies are made, not born. Bullying traits might be picked up in a variety of ways, but violence, aggression and cruelty are most certainly learned behaviors during a child’s development.

The book “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Child and Adolescent Psychology,” co-authored by psychiatrist Jack C. Westman M.D. and science writer Victoria Costello, lists five major factors that most often lead to bullying: physical punishment, watching aggressive behavior in adults, violent television, problems with processing emotions and undiagnosed mental illness.

The underlying theme in these causes? A lack of empathy. Bullies are often taught—whether directly or subversively—that dominance and control are more vital than compassion and understanding. This results in pain for not only the intended target, but for the oppressor themselves.

Hurt people hurt people.

Photo by yang miao on Unsplash

But just as it can be learned, bullying can be unlearned—through supportive friendships, trusted role models and maybe even professional help. People are always capable of change when given the necessary tools to do so.

Recently, a Reddit user asked former bullies (and former “mean girls,” for as we all know this is not necessarily a gender-specific phenomenon) to share what “finally brought a change.”

The answers were inspiring. They not only showed that yes, the adage is true, “hurt people hurt people,” but also that powerful transformation can happen simply by taking accountability. Many of these former bullies admitted to growing up in less-than-ideal environments and did not know any other way to cope. But eventually they were given fresh insight, and with that were better able to choose kindness.

The world might seem like a cold and uncaring place at times, but these 10 stories are a beautiful reminder that change is always possible.

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“Wasn’t really a bully but I wasn’t nice either. I…was mean to people who I thought deserved it, and it didn’t help that there were also other people who were just as mean and judgmental as I was. It got to the point that I was needlessly fighting my friends and only when I was confronted about my attitude and I got to hear my friend’s perspective that I shifted.

…Took a lot of time and educated myself on how to be better. Also therapy lol. Anger management, anxiety management, etc. I couldn’t erase who I was and I accept that part of me. I’m not saying I’m all perfect now…I know there’s still a lot of work to do, but all in all it’s loads better than before. I’m glad I had the chance to grow up and get better.” – @AnxiousCrownNinja

“Right after high school was the turning point for me… I was having a lot of discord with my own friends due to my attitude and it took hearing their honest feedback about how my approach was alienating them for me to start doing major self reflection. I decided I didn’t want people to fear me and I certainly didn’t want to alienate my own friends, so I started talking less and listening more. I made an honest effort to care more about people as individuals-I got interested in the unique strengths each person brings to the table and did what I could to start learning from others. I humbled myself a lot over the years. I worked on saying I’m sorry and admitting when I was wrong. And years later I’ve gotten into therapy to continue to work on myself. I’ll never be warm and fuzzy as that’s just not my personality, but I’m a much better person than I was when I was younger.” – @Babhak

“Was essentially bullied at home by my family and I took it out on those around me. Thankfully I had some friends that let me know I was being a dick and I apologized to the people I hurt, I’ll always hate myself for the way I acted and I don’t think that will ever change. I still catch myself being a grumbling asshole sometimes but I will never let myself be who I used to be.” – @raikonai

“I got a job as a video game tester and worked with people who were bullied when they were younger. We’d tell stories and things I found funny they found traumatic and mean. As cliche as it is, I never thought about it from their perspective or thought my behavior was bullying until then. Helped me see it from the other side, I’m much more empathic now. Pretty ashamed about my behavior when I was younger.” – @GCJallDAY

“When I realized I was just like my dad, and I really dislike my dad.” – @kastawamy

“I come from a small town where families have generational feuds. It also didn’t help that my family is poor and very ghetto/redneck and very racially mixed. All of my aunts and uncles and parents are some form of addict in one way or another. I didn’t have a chance. I truly didn’t. The kids I went to school with weren’t allowed to hang out with me and my siblings. I remember going to a friend’s house and their parents asked me my last name and they told me to leave once they heard it. I was severely bullied in elementary school and teachers didn’t care to help because of the family I came from. I had one teacher just be vicious to me because my mom was selling her kid weed. I was pretty much feral and didn’t have manners and just in general an autistic kid.

So I quickly learned that anger was the best shield. I bullied my bullies back. They can’t catch you off guard if you’re the attacker. I fought the people who came at my family with as much violence as they gave me. It bled onto kids who were friends with my bullies. They turned into essentially collateral damage. I was a bully but I was also the blood in the water in a school system that encouraged violence. It’s taken me a long time to deal with [what] my home town put me through. I switched towns and changed my name. That helped a lot. I ended up in juvy after a giant fight with several family members. To say I was scared straight is an understatement. I was required to go to group therapy as part of the program I was put in to reform me. The judge knew my family and gave me a shot I took advantage of. He played a huge role in my mindset on my circumstance. I learned how to handle my trauma in a more productive way over the course of years and so much hard work. I ended up having to change my name so I wouldn’t be harassed by cops and those who knew my family.

I’ll definitely say this again—I grew up in a system where you had to do everything you could to survive. I can’t really stomach what I did…I’ve left apologies in so many inboxes as an adult. I’ve even made friends with some of them.” – @beastgalblue

“Over time and with new experiences, I stopped hating myself and my life. Then, I started seeing value in my existence and realized I actually impacted people. Happiness, for myself and others, became my reason for living. My middle school health teacher used to tell us that bullies are hurting and that’s why they bully. Miss Costello, wherever you are, you were right. I’ve never met a bully who was happy with themselves or their life. I tell my students all the time that hurt people hurt people, and I stand by that. The fastest way to help a bully change is to show them love, kindness, and compassion.” – @mha3620

“I was a mean girl. Cheer, popular, thought I was better than everyone else. During summer break in high school I went to camp. I was bullied by some of the other girls there so relentlessly. From hazing, to humiliating me, lying to get me in trouble. It was bad. After that I changed. Wish it was earlier.” – @lesbomommy

“I was one of those jocks who picks on the weaker kids who couldn’t really defend themselves, in order to make the crowd laugh…It was never anything too physical or over the top, so parents or others never got involved, but I know that I made life a pain for some individuals while in elementary school.

Anyhow, this PE teacher of mine took me into his office after hours one day and explained that I should try to use my authority better, and that while it might feel good to make others laugh on someone else’s behalf, it feels a lot better to be an overall good guy.

Never really had any good male influence in my life before that, so that really stuck with me, and from high school and onward I tried to reach out and confront others in school that bullied others. Oftentimes we just don’t know better.” – @KingBob3922

“I grew up in an abusive home and did it out of self-protection. Verbally hurt them before they could hurt you. I know my behavior didn’t make me popular or really make me feel better but I needed to lash out on the easiest targets. fast forward to having no friends in my mid 20 s and needed to figure out why.

I actually became friends with older coworkers [and] as a proxy parental influence they gently guided me. ‘Why would you say that to someone? Why would you say that about yourself? Why do you talk that way? Why is everything a fight? What’s wrong with being different? What’s wrong with making mistakes?’ No judgments, just gentle questions that I couldn’t answer until I looked hard at myself.

I’m glad that someone took the time to see past my anger, my pushing people away, my misery and saw a young person that just needed some kindness.” – @OrdinaryPride8811

Animals sure are fun when they’re not getting into stuff or accidentally giving you a heart attack. Take Pablo, for example. The poor boy was just trying to enjoy a relaxing nap. Like, a REALLY relaxing nap.

Pablo was just resting after a hard day of being a dog when he started sliding down the couch, seemingly lifeless. His head eventually rested on the floor below him but that wasn’t going to stop his deep sleep. Pablo’s owner, on the other hand, was not given the memo that Rip Van Winkle temporarily inhabited his dog. And that’s when panic set in.

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As soon as the dog started sliding down the couch, his owner sat up to try to rouse him but the dog continued to slide as if he was going to make a dog-shaped puddle. Of course, the dog’s slow descent down the couch startled the owner who shouted the dog’s name with fear in his voice. Groggily, the dog comes to his senses and makes his way on over to the other side of the couch to finish his nap that was so rudely interrupted by his human companion. He’s probably left wondering why his owner was freaking out over a nap.

Watch the hilarious video below: