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NBA free agency has mostly ground to a halt in the last week, as money has dried up around the league and the remaining free agents who didn’t get a deal early have been left without a lot of options.

Among those is Josh Hart, as the Pelicans’ wing entered the offseason as a restricted free agent and had made clear that he hoped to find a new opportunity. However, as wing spots around the league got filled and offers weren’t coming his way, and the Pelicans likewise had their top plans fall apart, the two sides seemed to realize their best bet was to run it back in New Orleans.

On Monday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski brought word that Hart was finalizing a three-year, $38 million deal to stay with the Pelicans, a deal that gets him pretty good market value while also being easily movable in the future should the two sides want to part ways at some point.

Hart is a very good defensive and rebounding wing, but his swing skill is going to be his shooting in terms of whether he becomes a value on this new deal or not. Hart shot just 32.6 percent from three a year ago, but if he can ever find a way to approach the 39.6 percent he shot as a second-year player in L.A. again, he will immediately vault up the list of desired wings for contenders. Re-signing in New Orleans seems to provide him with opportunity to continue proving his worth without having to take a discounted deal, while the Pelicans retain a quality piece and also could see themselves holding a very valuable trade chip in the near future if his shooting pops again.

Today is Young Thug‘s 30th birthday and he’s been enjoying accolades and acknowledgments from peers like Drake, Meek Mill, and more. One well-wisher was 21 Savage, who attended a private event to celebrate the occasion last night and added a little trolling to his birthday wishes, pointing his phone camera across a table at Thugger, and saying, “Look at the birthday girl.” Thug playfully snatches the phone from Savage, but given the video was eventually updated to the latter’s Instagram Story, it seems they were merely joking around rather than Thugger taking any offense.

Other well-wishers for Thugger’s birthday included Lil Yachty, who posted a photo of the two together with a heartfelt caption, Thug’s YSL artists Gunna and Lil Keed, and of course, legions of Thug’s fans.

Thugger’s 30th year looks like it will include his second studio album, Punk, after he teased a potential release date in autumn during his NPR Tiny Desk debut in which he played songs from the upcoming album alongside Travis Barker, hip-hop’s favorite rocker. In the meantime, he continues to enjoy being one of rap’s most in-demand feature artists, contributing to releases from Belly (“Better Believe“), Cordae (“Wassup“), and IDK (“Pradadabang“).

Check out some of the well-wishes from Young Thug’s friends above.

Ted Cruz has yet to meet a political topic that hasn’t completely blown up in his face when he tried to drop a “hot take” on Twitter, and the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan has proven to be no different. On Monday afternoon, Cruz criticized CNN reporter Clarissa Ward for broadcasting live from Afghanistan while wearing a burka and noting how “bizarre” it was that the Taliban were being in a “friendly” manner in a video (posted by right-wing provocateur Jack Posobiec).

“Is there an enemy of America for whom @CNN WON’T cheerlead? (In mandatory burkas, no less.),” Cruz tweeted.

However, in a notable move, CNN’s Communication Team fired back at the Texas senator in a tweet that not only defended Ward’s bravery for reporting from Afghanistan, but absolutely eviscerated Cruz for his infamous trip to Cancun while his home state was buried under snow and left without power:

“Rather than running off to Cancun in tough times, @clarissaward is risking her life to tell the world what’s happening. That’s called bravery. Instead of RTing a conspiracy theorist’s misleading soundbite, perhaps your time would be better spent helping Americans in harm’s way.”

This is becoming a routine practice for Cruz. He spouts off on Twitter, and inevitably someone comes in and humiliates him for all the world to see. Last time around, The Daily Show ate Cruz’s lunch, and before that, veteran news anchor Dan Rather got in on the act after Cruz tried to argue against mask and vaccine mandates while COVID cases are spiking across the nation. Basically, Cruz would be wise to stick the sage advice of “never tweet,” but he seems to be hell-bent on doing anything but that.

(Via CNN Communications on Twitter)

There have been plenty of rumors leading up to the announcement of the next game in the Call of Duty franchise. Most of those rumors surrounded the idea of the franchise going back to World War II and a series of leaks recently appeared to have confirmed that would be the direction the game was going in. Shortly after, a teaser had been added to the victory screen of Call of Duty: Warzone where the player attempting to escape on a helicopter would be shot and killed by an opposing sniper. The sniper was dressed in World War II style clothing.

After the leaks and the teasers, the new Call of Duty was officially unveiled on Monday with a cinematic trailer. The trailer pans through battlegrounds, destroyed buildings, and bombed beaches with each location ending on a face that was formed during the battle. These faces appear to represent the characters who will be starring in the game’s campaign mode. The trailer ends with a wide shot of all four main characters in a still picture together charging into battle.

It’s interesting to see the franchise returning back to World War II once again. They did so once before with Call of Duty: WWII and obviously the roots of the franchise are built on being a World War II shooter franchise. Of course, once Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare came out it didn’t take long for the games to shift to a more modern setting. However, with the most recent game being set during the Cold War there seems to be a desire to once again go back in time and explore stories from that time period.

Players who want to get an early look at Call of Duty: Vanguard will be able to in a special event during Call of Duty: Warzone on August 19. With Warzone being a free-to-play battle royale it is not uncommon for COD publishers Activision Blizzard (which it must be noted are currently facing a lawsuit from the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing for creating a “frat boy culture” and abusive work environment) to utilize it as a way to advertise their upcoming mainline game. They did something similar when Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War came out by introducing new guns and adding special events such as zombies on the map.

More details on Vanguard will be arriving in the coming weeks, and fans of the franchise can get a taste of the upcoming new game later this week.

Reservation Dogs: (Season 1 premiere) — Taika Waititi’s FX on Hulu followup to What We Do in the Shadows brings us a comedy series that’s co-written by Native American filmmaker Sterlin Harjo. Yes, the lead quartet in this show rocks suits that look strikingly similar to the characters of Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, yet they’re four Indigenous teens who fight crime and also commit it. The show (which has some Atlanta vibes) was shot in and near Okmulgee, Oklahoma (the home of the Muskogee Creek tribal headquarters) — where excitement is lacking. Not for long, though, and these teens hope to make it all the way to California. This week, the rival crew’s presence pushes Elora to enlist help for the Rez Dogs to learn some defense moves.

Roswell, New Mexico (CW, 8:00pm) — Kyle receives a blast from the past, Michael is otherwise disturbed, and Isobel and Maria take an answer-seeking voyage.

The Republic Of Sarah (CW, 9:00pm) — This show follows the ending of tranquility of Greylock, N.H., after a stash of valuable coltan leads to new overlords, and a rebellious teacher (Sarah Cooper) steps in to halt the madness. Greylock becomes a sovereign nation, and this week, Greylock must confront flooding possibilities after a massive blizzard, so Sarah seeks help from an unlikely source.

The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Melissa McCarthy, Jai Courtney, Little Simz

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Ben Platt, Dana Bash. Jeff Bowders

CODA (Apple TV+ movie) — This Sundance-awarded film (of four awards, including the Directing Award, the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize) from Vendome Pictures touches down on your streaming devices. The story follows a teenager named Ruby, who happens to be the only member of a deaf family who’s able to hear. She’s not only involved with all of the usual teenage concerns but also interpreting duties for her parents and the family business. When she joins her school’s choir, things get rough after she blossoms and finds herself with a difficult choice: keep meeting all of those family obligations, or strike out on her own venture.

Beckett (Netflix film) — John David Washington stars as an American tourist, Beckett, who finds himself targeted by authorities following a tragic accident in Greece. Cue the international conspiracy-and-thriller vibes while Beckett desperately tries to clear his name amid political unrest throughout the country. Can he reach the American embassy in time, and will it make sense? Who knows, but this movie’s sure to be less confusing than Washington’s most recent release, Tenet.

Already trying to figure out a new method to counteract all the holiday food and cold-weather lethargy that’s headed our way these next few months? You might want to read up on a new study that claims there’s a new, effortless, and 100% turkey-coma safe way to go about keeping off the extra pounds: playing video games.

As reported by The Daily Mail, a recent study conducted by the company behind the competitive mobile gaming app Stakester has revealed that playing video games burns way more calories than you might have expected. According to Stakester’s research, male gamers generally burn up to around 420 calories over an intense two-hour gaming session while women can burn all the way up to 472. While that might not seem like a lot when you look up just how many calories are in that Starbucks drink you love, Stakester noted that it actually makes two hours of gaming roughly equivalent to doing 1,000 sit-ups and I don’t know about you, but I definitely know which of those options I prefer.

To conduct the study, researchers used smart devices to measure the heart rates and calories burned by 50 gamers while they played FIFA and Call of Duty: Warzone for two hours. They then used the same devices to monitor the players while they performed sit-ups. The final results revealed that male gamers burned an average of 210 calories per hour while playing games, whereas female gamers burnt off around 236. According to CEO and founder of Stakester Tom Fairey, the team expected to find that gaming burns more calories than the average person might assume. However, they were shocked by just how much a few rounds of Call of Duty can get the blood pumping:

We all know that competition increases our heart rate and most of us have experienced the “gaming sweat” that happens when you’re searching for a last-minute goal in FIFA or in a tight spot in Warzone. It’s no surprise that this burns calories, but we we’re surprised to see just how many is burned during a 2-hour session, it certainly beats doing 1000 sit ups!

All this being said, it feels irresponsible to not add that of course gaming is no supplement for, you know, actually moving around and doing some of those aforementioned sit ups. But hey, at least this gives us a bit more of an excuse during our next Friday night game session, right?

Stadium food isn’t always good, but it should, at minimum, satisfy the basic need of making you no longer hungry while at a sporting event. I’m not speaking of the gourmet culinary offerings that can now be found at most major stadiums and arenas or actual restaurants with remote locations in stadiums, but the basics at the normal concessions stands.

We’re talking hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken tenders, nachos, and pizza, all the classic stadium fare that make up the “less expensive” options (even if at this point that still likely means $10-15). If you can’t make adequate stadium basics, what hope should anyone have for the rest of the food at your stadium? That brings us to SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, the brand new home of the Rams and Chargers, which got roasted over the weekend for their weak effort at “pizza” that was selling for $15 to fans at the Rams-Chargers preseason game.

The issues at SoFi apparently go beyond just the pizza, as Arash Markazi presented the world’s saddest smorgasbord to the world on Twitter, showing off the aforementioned “pizza,” a hot dog that looked like it’s been on the rollers since at least mid-June, and the cheeseburger and veggie burger subs, which appear to just be a cost-cutting measure to only need to purchase hot dog buns.

The pizza is the standout here, as it appears to be a piece of focaccia brushed ever so delicately with tomato sauce and sprinkled with basil and three chunks of cold cheese. I really don’t think I need to dive too much more into what’s wrong with that, but it’s very bad.

I would like to talk about this hot dog, because, my heavens that thing has shriveled up like earthworm in the sun. The bun almost looks plastic and the dog itself needed to be removed from the heat hours ago. Then we get to the burger and veggie burger subs, which have cold Kraft singles covering the world’s driest rectangular burger patties, topped with some pickles (that look fine, but that’s because they come straight from a jar), resting on a hot dog bun that either has a very tiny amount of ketchup on it or someone grabbed it with a bloody thumb, unclear which is correct.

It’s preseason for everyone, but it might be time for the SoFi concessions folks to go back to the drawing board before the regular season because this is truly dire.

As his two children with wife Lisa Bonet enter their teen years, Jason Momoa has been proud to share his work with them, but not all of his work. In a new interview with the Australian radio show Fitzy and Wippa, Momoa revealed that his daughter, Lola, and son, Nakoa-Wolf, get to see “a lot of stuff that Papa is doing.” However, the Aquaman star holds a firm line on how far back they’re allowed to go in his career, and there’s one show that is particularly off-limits: Baywatch: Hawaii.

Momoa starred on the Baywatch spinoff in late ’90s, and he’s apparently not a fan of revisiting those days or acknowledging that they even exist. Via Entertainment Weekly:

“We don’t say the B-word at home! We hide all of that mate! Never happened mate!” joked Momoa when the host brought up the popular television series that Momoa starred on, playing lifeguard Jason Ioane from 1999 to 2001. “We don’t talk about those words, the B-word didn’t happen.”

Momoa also confirmed that Game of Thrones is obviously off limits for now while making it a point to note that the show is “fantastic.” It was an interesting admission given Momoa recently had a testy exchange with New York Times writer David Marchese at the beginning of August. Momoa took issue with Marchese asking about whether he regretted portraying the sexual violence in the show during his time as Khal Drogo. The actor caused the interview to end on an awkward note as he labeled the line of questioning as “icky.”

“There are producers, there are writers, there are directors, and you don’t get to come in and be like, ‘I’m not going do that because this isn’t kosher right now and not right in the political climate.’ That never happens,” Momoa said. “So it’s a question that feels icky. I just wanted you to know that.”

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

In October 2019, I sat at a table in Jakarta interviewing a young Afghan woman about the plight of refugee women in Indonesia. Her family had fled the Taliban when she was a child, and now she’s stuck in a life of limbo in Jakarta with little hope of change.

By practically every measure our lives are nothing alike, yet I felt connected to her immediately. She was brilliant and eloquent (in English, no less), with a keen passion for justice and equality.

But mostly she was just so fully and beautifully human. The only real difference between us was that I was born inside certain man-made borders and she inside different ones. Neither of us chose our life circumstances. The happenstance of my birth did not make me more deserving of the freedom and privileges that lay unjustly out of her reach.

When we hugged goodbye, I wished I could take her back to the U.S. with me. I lamented that the Trump administration had slashed our refugee admissions ceiling to historic lows and thought of the countless women like her, overflowing with potential that might never be realized because of where they were born and the rules out of their control.

Her face flashed before my eyes as the news of the Taliban taking over Afghanistan after U.S. military withdrawal broke. Women and girls like her will surely bear the brunt of the fallout. We’re already seeing heartbreaking stories of women burning the diplomas and degrees they have earned, fearing a life of extremist oppression, watching their hopes and dreams destroyed overnight. There were already Afghan refugees scattered in camps and stopover countries throughout the world, waiting for a chance to build a life for themselves—and now there will be thousands more.

Young and educated Afghan women tell me they are burning their degree certificates and diplomas, so that they won’t… https://t.co/d6lW9RnAGN

— Amruta Byatnal (@amrutabyatnal)
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Women and girls have always paid a high price in men’s wars, but rarely is the price as visible as it is in Afghanistan. We know what Taliban rule means for women and girls there and we can’t in good conscience just walk away and do nothing to help them.

If you feel compelled to do something, here are a few options:

1) For help on the ground right now, consider donating to organizations that have a strong track record of helping Afghan women and girls.

– Women for Women International is a non-profit organization that provides aid and support to women in war-torn countries. Women for Women has long had a presence in Afghanistan and their Stronger Women, Stronger Nations program has proven to have a significant impact in the country. A donor has promised to match up to $500,000 for the emergency aid fund in response to the humanitarian crisis unfolding there. Learn more and donate here.

– Women for Afghan Women is a grassroots civil society organization that “works to help Afghan women and girls exercise their rights to pursue their individual potential to self-determination, and to representation in all areas of life—political, social, cultural, and economic.” With offices in Afghanistan and New York, they assist disenfranchised Afghan women both in Afghanistan and the U.S. Learn more and donate here.

2) For help in the long run, ask the U.S. government to increase the refugee ceiling back to historic norms at minimum.

While the Biden administration increased the number of refugees the U.S. would accept this year from 15,000 to 65,000, that’s still far lower than the numbers the U.S. has historically welcomed. (To be clear, the refugee resettlement program is separate from the asylum-seeking we see at the southern border.) Refugees are the most vetted group of people to enter the U.S., they are statistically more likely to start businesses than native-born residents and other immigrants, they overall have a positive impact on the economy, and logic would tell us that displaced people are likely to be grateful and loyal to a country that offers them safe haven and opportunity. Refugee resettlement is good for the U.S. in addition to being the right thing to do.

Sign the International Rescue Committee petition to raise the refugee ceiling here.

Let’s add our financial resources and civic voices to our thoughts and prayers for the women and girls of Afghanistan, as well as all of those facing oppression under the Taliban regime. While pundits play political football over who is to blame for the mess, let’s put our focus on helping those who are most impacted by it.

The Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan on Sunday as the U.S.-led coalition began withdrawing forces after 20 years of fighting. The war resulted in the deaths of at least 200,000 people on both sides of the conflict.

It’s estimated that the war could end up costing U.S. taxpayers up to $6.5 trillion by 2050.

The loss of Afghanistan is heartbreaking for those who served in the war and could be devastating for the women and girls of the country who may be forced to live under strict Sharia law.

Thousands of Afghan civilians have swarmed the Kabul airport in a last-ditch effort to flee the country. Reports from the airport say that seven people have died in the chaos.

At least seven people have reportedly been killed at Kabul airport as hundreds of people desperately tried to flee… https://t.co/QTMABzYhjJ

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish)
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As countless people at the airport are attempting to flee while they can, one man who could have left to safety has stayed behind to help. Sir Laurie Bristow, UK’s ambassador to Afghanistan, has remained at the airport in Kabul to personally sign visas to help UK and Afghan nationals flee to Britain.

A spokesperson for the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) told MailOnline: “We have reduced our diplomatic presence in response to the situation on the ground.”

“However our Ambassador remains in Kabul and UK Government staff continue to work to provide assistance to British nationals and to our Afghan staff,” the statement continued. “We are doing all we can to enable remaining British nationals, who want to leave Afghanistan, to do so.”

Genuinely moved by news that our ambassador to Afghanistan, Sir Laurie Bristow, has stayed behind at Kabul airport… https://t.co/xMsVsLY6Ro

— Shane Greer (@shanegreer)
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Bristow was due to be airlifted out of the country over the weekend but instead decided to stay behind to help, risking his life in the process.

It’s believed that around 4,000 British nationals and eligible Afghans are in need of evacuation from the country.

“Sir Laurie Bristow, who’s the ambassador out there on the ground, has a very tough job and has a very great team with him I’m sure,” former UK Ambassador to Afghanistan, Sir Nicholas Kay, told SkyNews.

“They will be working absolutely flat out with very little sleep, very little food. I imagine as they are processing, particularly the applications from Afghans who worked for us or have been closely associated with us over the years, who are now in desperate fear for their lives and desperate to leave the country.”

Former UK Ambassador to Afghanistan, Sir Nicholas Kay, says Sir Laurie Bristow and the team on the ground at Kabul… https://t.co/az5m1yfOIB

— Sky News (@SkyNews)
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Bristow’s sacrifice comes at a time when many fear they will be left behind.

“It’s a really deep part of regret for me,” Defence secretary Ben Wallace said. “Look, some people won’t get back. Some people won’t get back and we will have to do our best in third countries to process those people,” he added.

The ambassador’s sacrifice is even more commendable given the fact he was only posted to Kabul in June of this year. Previously, he was the UK ambassador to the Russian Federation and the COP26 Regional Ambassador to the Middle East, North Africa, Eastern Europe, Central Asia.