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Remember earlier this year when Republicans tried to save Dr. Seuss, Pepé Le Pew, Mr. Potato Head, and more from the evil libs? We’re well past that. This past weekend, the GOP has had another one of their unpredictable changes of heart. Now they’re mad at Big Bird, all because the fictitious avian told children to get vaccinated. It’s been wild and weird, with everyone from Ted Cruz to Laura Ingraham coming for a fictitious character who dared tell kids to stay healthy during a once-in-a-century public health crisis.

And now Newsmax has stepped into the ring. As per The Daily Beast, host Eric Bolling — who left Fox News in 2017 amidst sexual misconduct allegations — devoted a section of his show Monday to denouncing Big Bird and his neighbors, bragging that he said “15 years ago that Sesame Street are a bunch of communists,” as a completely sensible adult human is wont to do. On Tuesday, he was back at it, this time extending his ire to their cousins the Muppets.

Like the folks on Sesame Street, Bolling and the Muppets go way back. He’s had their number for ages, telling his audience that this isn’t the “first time these little felt communists have tried to infect the minds of our youngest and most vulnerable children.” (It’s true, Big Bird has been preaching for vaccinations for almost 50 years.)

Bolling then showed clips from his other battles with inanimate objects brought to life by human puppeteers with funny voices. There was that time, during a 2011 Fox Business segment, when he compared the Muppets to “communist China.” Bolling was one of many far right commentators who railed against that year’s revival movie, entitled simply The Muppets. It’s not that they felt it let down the franchise. Rather, they were insulted that the villain was a Texas oil baron named Tex Richman, played by Chris Cooper. (No such brouhaha happened when 1979’s The Muppet Movie made its baddie an evil Southern capitalist played by Charles Durning.)

“Here’s what happened: The Muppets were blaming an oil baron for closing down the studio. That’s cute, you little oppressive Muppets,” Bolling said after his clip. “They didn’t even try to hide their disdain for success by naming the guy Tex Richman, but I took them to task.” He sure did.

Bolling also showed a clip of him first apologizing to Kermit the Frog for helping create a ludicrous controversy over a movie about puppets, only to dare he and Miss Piggy to a debate — moderated, he suggested, by Donald Trump. (Again, this was 2011.)

The Newsmax host added that Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy “never took me up on that offer.”

It was clear Bolling remained bitter. In a tone that wavered between sarcasm and seriousness, he called Miss Piggy a “portly pink dummy who took to the media to trash me for exposing her leftist tyranny.” He then re-extended the offer to characters who aren’t real.

“Guess what? The invite is still open Miss Piggy, if you or your emasculated frog boyfriend Kermit ever want to join this desk, it’s free,” Bolling crowed while looking at a Kermit doll. “First, I thought they were mere ideologues and now I think they’re just stuck on stupid.” He added, “I mean, they don’t get it.”

At least Bolling attempted to be humorous, however awkwardly. Ted Cruz and Laura Ingraham almost seem to they think they’re angry at real, anthropomorphic animals.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Travis Scott was reportedly unaware that a tragedy took place in the crowd at the Astroworld Festival until quite a while it ended. A source connected to the rapper told TMZ that he was never notified about the deaths and injuries that occurred. As a result, Travis left the premises and headed to a nearby Dave & Buster’s for a party that was hosted by Drake. “Travis didn’t know the severity of the situation when he arrived at the party,” the source told TMZ. “As far as timing, this remains consistent with the fact that no one including the police had publicly confirmed the gravity of the events that had taken place.”

Travis brought out Drake as a surprise guest at the festival, and the two performed songs including “Sicko Mode” and “Way 2 Sexy.” The TMZ report comes after Travis’ partner Kylie Jenner, who is currently pregnant with her second child with him, came to his defense about the festival.

“Travis and I are broken and devastated,” she wrote in a post to her Instagram Story. “My thoughts and prayers are with all who lost their lives, were injured or affected in any way by yesterday’s events.” She added, “And also for Travis who I know cares deeply for his fans and the Houston community, I want to make it clear we weren’t aware of any fatalities until the news came out after the show, and in no world would have continued filming or performing.”

In the lead up to the 2021-22 NBA season, the league rolled out a list of the top 75 players in NBA history. It wasn’t done in the clearest format, including the fact that the list eventually included 76 players, but the reaction was swift and arguments began on which players should have made the cut that didn’t. One prime example was Dwight Howard, with many pointing out that the veteran center’s on-court profile was certainly deserving of inclusion.

Howard, who is still playing for the Los Angeles Lakers, was left off, however, and Taylor Rooks of Bleacher Report asked him about the snub this week.

Almost before the question was finished, Howard said “I knew I wasn’t going to be on it.” When pushed on why, Howard promptly attributed the omission to “politics” and said that he “already knew” the list would not include him as soon as word broke that the top 75 would exist.

Howard certainly isn’t the only player with a real case for inclusion but, as much as he did say that he knew it was coming, the eight-time All-NBA center did assert that he should have made the final cut.

“I most definitely should be on that list, but it’s okay,” Howard said. “It is so okay. I’m not upset about it. I was for probably like 30 seconds. But I said, ‘You know what? Life is great. I’m alive. I’m still playing basketball in my 18th season. Who cares about a list made by people who ain’t never bounced a basketball before? Who cares?”

For years, Howard’s reputation has seemingly led to his play being underrated. On top of eight All-Star inclusions and eight All-NBA selections, he is a five-time rebounding champion and a three-time Defensive Player of the Year. In addition, Howard had a firm case for several seasons as a top-three player in the sport and, while the back half of his career hasn’t been at the same level, it would be unwise to overlook just how good he was at his peak.

It is certainly debatable on whether “politics” was the reason he wasn’t included. In fact, Howard’s claim that the list was made by “people who ain’t never bounced a basketball before” isn’t necessarily accurate, either.

Justin Bieber will be trying out a new location for an upcoming concert. Thing is, it’s not part of the real world. Bieber teamed up with Wave, a leader in virtual entertainment, for an interactive virtual concert that’s set to occur later this month. The collaboration, entitled “Justin Bieber – An Interactive Virtual Experience,” will combine gaming, real-time motion-capture, and live musical performances. He will also perform songs from his 2021 album Justice.

Thanks to Wave’s technology, Bieber will turn into a digital avatar as he performs an entire live show from a virtual world for the very first time. Viewers will be able to appear on stage with him at certain times as well as influence his performance and environment in real time. “I am a big believer in Wave and love the platform as a new way for me to engage with my fans,” Bieber said about the upcoming performance. “I’m excited to be using this technology to bring people together and connect with fans from all over the world. I can’t wait for them to check out this interactive performance.”

The concert will air on November 18 at 6pm PST/9pm EST and people can sign up on wave.watch to experience the event for free. Rebroadcasts will occur on November 20 at 8pm PST/11pm EST and November 21 at 11pm PST/2pm EST. The United Kingdom, Europe, and South America will receive a rebroadcast on November 21 at 7pm GMT while Australia, Asia, and the Pacific’s own will air that same day at 3pm AEDT.

You can read more about the upcoming interactive experience on Wave’s website here.

The GOP has always had a sick obsession with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, not the least being her colleagues in Congress. Marjorie Taylor Greene has a long history of harassing the New York representative, even once stalking her outside of her office. But Paul Gosar may have gone too far. Over the weekend, the Arizona congressman shared an anime video someone had made of him killing both AOC and President Joe Biden. AOC had a devastating response to the tweet, which could land Gosar in hot water. But perhaps the angriest response came from his very own sister.

Jennifer Gosar, the youngest of the representative’s nine siblings, went on MSNBC and it is clear that she does not look up to her oldest brother.

“I am absolutely beyond aghast at how much this man has gotten away with,” she said. “I don’t know what he would need to do for any one of those people in quote ‘a leadership position’ to hold him accountable.”

She added, “No one, no one holds him accountable. Not Kevin McCarthy, not [ed. former] Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, not Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, not Speaker Nancy Pelosi, not Attorney General Merrick Garland. No one holds him accountable.” She then called him a “sociopath.”

Paul Gosar’s sister wasn’t only concerned about him posting violent videos of him murdering his colleagues. She said there was “evidence” that he was part of a “conspiracy to commit treason against the United States of America.” She added, “Where is the accountability?”

Jennifer also spoke about the latter issue on CNN back in June, telling Anderson Cooper that she believes “my brother was an organizer of, or part-organizer of [the insurrection], and I have no evidence to the contrary to suggest anything different.”

Sure enough, Paul played a major role in Rolling Stone’s explosive report on how several Trump loyalists reportedly played a major role in the lead up to the Jan. 6 Capitol siege. According to sources who are cooperating with the bipartisan committee into the fateful day, he offered organizers a blanket pardon for anything they might do in the attempt to overturn the 2020 election. Gosar, who has spent the 10 months since the incident trying to work up the far-right mob over the shooting death of insurrectionist Ashlii Babbitt, denied it.

In her blistering takedown of Paul Gosar, AOC had a lot to say about him. She called him a “creepy member I work with who fundraises for Neo-Nazi groups” and a “collection of wet toothpicks.” She sad that white supremacy is “for extremely fragile people &sad men like him, whose self concept relies on the myth that he was born superior because deep down he knows he couldn’t open a pickle jar or read a whole book by himself.” But of course, she said, he’ll “ face no consequences bc @GOPLeader cheers him on with excuses.”

But perhaps not this time.

(Via The Hill and The Daily Beast)

On Tuesday, it was reported that Dean Stockwell — one of the most diverse performers in the entertainment industry, whose credits reach back to the 1940s — had passed away. He was 85 years old. Stockwell lived quite the picturesque life. He was a child actor who hit young adulthood just in time to play a role in the counterculture. His credits span movies and TV, from two appearances on Columbo to five seasons on Quantum Leap, and even a toe in the music world. As such, his passing attracted a wide range of mourners.

Stockwell’s career began in the Golden Age of Hollywood, when he was only nine years old, when he was a regular go-to for precocious kids. He appeared opposite Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra in 1947’s Anchors Aweigh and, the same year, the growing son of William Powell and Myrna Loy’s married sleuths Nick and Nora in Song of the Thin Man.

As he got older, he co-starred in a Leopold and Loeb-like court drama with Orson Welles (Compulsion) and held his own opposite Katharine Hepburn, Ralph Richardson, and Jason Robards in the 1962 film version of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night. As the counterculture took over the culture, he was there, appearing in Psych-Out, with a young, ponytailed Jack Nicholson, and with his friend Dennis Hopper in 1971’s The Last Movie.

He was also good friends with Neil Young, and the two collaborated twice. Stockwell designed the bizarre collage cover of his 1976 album American Stars ‘n Bars, and the two co-directed the 1982 musical comedy Human Highway, which features, among other sights, Devo jamming out to Young’s classic “Hey Hey, My My.”

To some, Stockwell was most remembered as Al, the companion to Scott Bakula’s time-traveling hero on Quantum Leap. Each episode found Bakula’s Dr. Sam Beckett (no relation to the legendary playwright, though the name was nudge-nudgey) unwittingly finding himself zapped into the body of a random person over time. Stockwell’s Al, who was an admiral from his real time who communicated with him via hologram, was at once Sam’s friend and guide as well as the show’s comic relief.

Bakula was one of many to honor Stockwell after news of his passing broke. “We connected immediately,” he wrote, saying that he “stuck with us” even after he received his first and only Oscar nomination, for the 1987 comedy Married to the Mob. “I loved him dearly and was honored to know him,” Bakula wrote. “He made me a better human being…”

Stockwell also worked with David Lynch twice: in his 1984 version of Dune (Stockwell played the doomed Dr. Yueh) and, even more memorably, as the enigmatic Ben in Blue Velvet. Lynch made sure to honor Stockwell during his daily weather report YouTube video.

Another Lynch alum, Russ Tamblyn, paid tribute as well. The two had come up the ranks together, appearing as children in 1948’s The Boy with Green Hair, with starred Stockwell as a boy so worried about impending war that his hair turns a freakish color. “Dean. My oldest friend. A godfather-figure to my daughter, Amber. Brilliant artist. Loving dad,” Tamblyn wrote. “Rest easy now, brother. Give Dennis [Hopper] a hug from me when you see him on the other side.”

Stockwell affected many over his seven decade-plus career, from those he worked with to those who admired his craft, his range, and his resiliency.

We leave you with maybe Stockwell’s most famous screen sequence: Him lip-synching along to Roy Orbison’s “In Dreams” in Blue Velvet as his friend Dennis Hopper looks on in tears.

An end-of-game fracas on Monday night caught the attention of basketball fans, as Markieff Morris hip checked Nikola Jokic and the reigning NBA MVP responded by running up behind the Miami Heat forward and knocking him to the ground. Heat players were furious, Jokic was tossed, and Jokic’s brothers made a Twitter account so they could get into it with Morris’ twin brother, Marcus.

The Inside the NBA crew had some pretty strong thoughts on the whole thing, but you might be surprised to learn they were in Jokic’s corner here. Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley both agree that there should be a one-game suspension handed out because that’s what the rule is, but both Hall of Fame inductees said they liked Jokic taking matters into his own hands like this.

“He gave him a shot in the back and whiplashed him,” Ernie Johnson said when Barkley asked what Jokic did to deserve some sort of slap on the wrist.

“Hold on, Ernie,” Shaq replied. “It’s called retaliation. First of all, when you hit me, don’t turn around.”

Shaq then referenced his famous fight with Brad Miller of the Chicago Bulls before explaining what a big man does in this situation.

“As a big guy, when a little guy hits you, you gotta touch him on back,” Shaq said. “I have no problem with what The Joker did, I actually like it as a big guy. You got these guys foulin’ ’em, hanging on. He hit him, intentional, unnecessary roughness, so what do you do as a big guy? You go hit him back. When you hit me, don’t turn your head, because it’s coming. You’re either gonna get it in the front, or you’re gonna get it in the back.”

Johnson then asked if it was “a dangerous and dirty play,” with everyone on set disagreeing. Barkley then explained why he shares Shaq’s sentiment.

“Morris started it, let’s get [that] first,” Barkley said. “Joker retaliated, and then people say, ‘Well, he hit him in the back.’ Well, if you hit me, I’m with Shaq on this. Let me tell you something Ernie — if you hit me, you better not turn your damn back, because I’m coming back at you. You can’t hit somebody and turn your back.”

There is no word on whether Jokic and/or Morris will face any sort of punishment from the league.

Towards the end of last year, Phoebe Bridgers launched her label Saddest Factory Records, saying that it had been a “dream” of hers to start one of her own. Months after the announcement, she signed the trio Muna to the imprint, making her and singer Claud as the only two artists on the label. Muna then received help from Bridgers on “Silk Chiffon,” their debut release. The track arrived with a delightful music video that featured the Muna band members in head-to-toe cheer gear and Bridgers in pink hair in a song the band described as one “for kids to have their first gay kiss to.”

Now, more than two months after that song arrived, Muna and Bridgers delivered their first performance of the track on late-night TV. On The Late Late Show With James Corden, Muna and Bridgers shared a bubbly rendition of the track backed by a pool of pink balloons, shimmery decorations, and more.

After signing to Saddest Factory earlier this year, Muna shared a tongue-in-cheek statement that explained how they got signed. “Phoebe asked us to be in a four person couple with her,” Muna wrote. “We said, ‘Sadly, we are all taken but we will happily sign to your record label for the small fee of 10 million dollars.’ After much negotiation, she obliged. We look forward to this lifelong partnership and Phoebe raising our first born children, as was included in the contract.”

You can watch their performance of “Silk Chiffon” on Corden above.

Robert Sarver’s tenure as the owner of the Phoenix Suns has come under heavy scrutiny in recent days following a report from Baxter Holmes of ESPN alleging that he fostered a hostile work environment. This included a number of incidents of racism, sexism, and sexual harassment, and in the aftermath, the NBA has launched an investigation into Sarver and the franchise.

A new report from Holmes indicates that Sarver’s wife, Penny, responded to these allegations and the subsequent investigation by reaching out from a trio of ex-Suns employees — two via her Instagram account, one via text. One of the former employees said they viewed the correspondence they received from Sarver as “a threat.”

The first message Sarver sent included the line, “Think about your own child for a second and imagine the tables turned,” while the second featured, “Your interpretation of what happened is so far from the truth. You are crushing my families lives.” In the third, Sarver told its recipient, “You are such a liar. In your trying to destroy my husband with [your] lies — you have destroyed my family and children.”

While Sarver did not dispute that she sent the messages, she did push back against their characterization in a statement to ESPN.

“Over the weekend, I decided on my own to reach out to a few people to try to set the record straight and to share how disappointed and hurt I am by the lies that are circulating about my husband and the Suns organization,” Penny Sarver said. “I shared the betrayal that I felt and I touched on some of the pain that we are going through as a family.

“Any suggestion that I tried to ‘intimidate’ anyone is as silly as it is wrong and outrageous.”

It is unclear how Sarver knew that these individuals spoke to ESPN for its original piece highlighting her husband’s alleged behavior, or why she thought reaching out to these people was a good idea.

Imagine how different the world would be if cis-gendered men had the ability to give birth? Would the state of Texas attempt to ban abortions after six weeks or would they be available on-demand?

Would we live in a country without mandatory paid maternity leave? How much more affordable would childcare be? Would there be a tax on period products? How would we treat people experiencing period pain?

A few brave men decided to see what life was like for people who have periods in a funny but enlightening video that’s gone viral on TikTok. In a video posted by Benz Trap House that has over 1.4 million views, a group of guys tried a period simulator to experience what menstrual cramps really feel like.

Period simulators are essentially the same as labor simulators. They’re called transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) machines that are designed to relieve pain. But when turned up a notch can create intense, debilitating discomfort.

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The group took a semi-scientific approach to the experiment with a woman acting as a control subject. At the beginning of the video, she attaches the simulator to an area near her ovaries and turns it up to ten, the highest setting. In the clip, the group looks impressed as she endures the extreme setting without showing any discomfort.

The men would not do as well.

The boys tried a period simulator #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #funny #periodcramps #periodsimulator #viral

When the first guy attempted to wear the period simulator he was shocked by the discomfort. “Is it supposed to hurt like that?” the second guy says before erupting in nervous laughter.

The third guy said that he felt the pain all the way down to his knee caps.

At one point in the video, the period simulator is attached to a woman and a man at the same time. When the device is turned on, the guy is in extreme pain while the woman stands still, claiming the feelings created by the machine are “not even as bad as a cramp.”

“Yeah, my cramps hurt worse than this,” she added.

A lot of people who menstruate felt validated after seeing the guys experience their first period.

“‘You feel that in your back, boi?’ every month, friend,” a commenter named Crystal said.

One of the most popular comments was from Candyce, who said: “I’m convinced if men could get pregnant they’d have abortion clinics on every corner and paid maternity leave the whole pregnancy.”

Another commenter, S DeMarco, pointed out that women have to go through an entire day in pain without a break.

“When he said ‘it’s stabbing me what do I do?’ You go to work, clean the house and continue on bb,” she wrote.

Shellz took reality up a notch. “Let’s add headaches. And period poops. And bloating. And the feeling of blood leaving you. And the nausea,” she wrote.

It’s cool that the lighthearted video has gone viral because it’ll give some people newfound respect for the pain that people who have periods go through. Some who watched the video thought that period simulators should be mandatory in sex ed classes.

Imagine how different the world would be if everyone experienced menstrual pain just once in their life?