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Congress has seemed to have been trapped in gridlock for ages. It started during the Obama era, during with then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was open about blocking as much Democratic legislation as he could. And it’s thought to be even worse now, when McConnell has returned to that role, and now has some help from waffling Democrats. But on Tuesday, the entire Senate, at least, came together to pass a bill that will do at least a small amount of good.

According to The New York Times, the government body unanimously passed a bill to turn Juneteenth, aka the 19th of June, into a federal holiday, after it was put on the floor by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Otherwise known as Emancipation Day, Juneteenth commemorates an important though disturbing date in American history: It’s the day, in 1865, when General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas — the most remote of the slave states — and informed still enslaved African-Americans that they’d been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. Granger was a little late: The bill had been signed into law almost two-and-a-half years prior.

Over a century and a half later, in 1980, Texas became the first state to recognize Juneteenth as an official holiday. The day earned greater significance this time last year, due to the Black Lives Matter protests that emerged in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was later convicted of the crime.

The bill still has to make its way to the House, though a unanimous vote in the famously split Senate is a harbinger of good news. If/when passed, Juneteenth will be the 11th official federal holiday on the books.

The passing of the bill was met with much rejoicing.

But it was also met with some skepticism. Some thought it was a small measure that will turn the day into one for white people to do the bare minimum.

Some pointed out that Juneteenth was getting federal recognition at the same time that Critical Race Theory was being shut down in Republican states.

There were other issues, too.

Some, though, had some suggestions on how people — particularly people of color — can celebrate the day, which is arriving this Saturday.

(Via NYT)

If you were paying even the slightest amount of attention to indie rock in 2017, there’s absolutely no way you missed Gang Of Youths. Their album, Go Farther In Lightness picked up fans all over the world for the Sydney-based band, proving once and for all that heartland rock was no longer strictly an American thing, it could crop up anywhere on the planet. That was the band’s second album, and their clear breakout, and now it sounds like they’ve got something new in the works.

Today they shared their first new music since Lightness came out, a freewheeling track called “The Angel Of 8th Ave” that feels pretty New York City to me, but maybe that’s projection. The Springsteen influences are laced all through the track once again, as frontman Dave Le’aupepe’s vocals do the same raspy acrobatics that Bruce’s do. Hey, we might not be that far away from a Gang Of Youths/Springsteen collab, considering he just worked with Bleachers last year and has a new song dropping with The Killers.

“Angel Of 8th Ave” is the precursor to the band’s new album, which Le’aupepe told Zane Lowe came after scrapping two earlier versions. Honestly, I take that kind of perfectionism as an incredibly good sign. And Dave also said the record will be different from what they’ve done in the past. “It’s probably the only song that you’ll hear from us from now that sounds remotely kind of what we sounded like the previous kind of six to eight years that’s intriguing,” he said. “I think there was kind of a part of us that wanted to still tip the cap to what we’d been for so long, but also gestured to the future and gestures to the sounds that we’re obsessed with gestures to the world that we’re starting to create in this kind of room.”

Check out the song above and keep an eye out for an album announcement coming soon.

Feist, one of the greatest (and still underrated) artists of our time, has announced an intimate performance called Multitudes. The new live show was developed by Feist and designer Rob Sinclair — who worked on David Byrne’s American Utopia, and with the likes of Peter Gabriel and Tame Impala — in the midst of quarantine. Designed as an “Ω in-the-round performance experienced in custom 18-point D&B Soundscape immersive audio,” the ethos of the show is an effort to be “radically communal, and topsy-turvy concert that muddies the roles between audience and performer.”A press release also said that the show is “formulated to bring people together as they re-emerge from lockdown while providing an outlet for connection between artist, art, and community.”

Featuring all new music written and performed by Feist, accompanied by Todd Dahlhoff and Amir Yaghmai, the audience will be welcome to contribute their own noise or vocals to the show. No word yet on whether new songs or videos will be released leading up to the live performances, but since there’s clearly new Feist music in existence, hopefully that means we’ll get a new album soon. Oh, and I’ll take my copy without any contributions from the audience, thanks.

For updates check out listentofeist.com.

The Boston Celtics endured a frustrating season in 2020-21, falling well short of preseason expectations. That wasn’t the fault of Jayson Tatum, however, as the 23-year-old set career highs in scoring (26.4 points per game), rebounding (7.4 per game), and assists (4.3 per game) in an All-Star campaign. With that as the backdrop, many expected Tatum to be a contender for All-NBA honors when the league revealed its three teams on Tuesday but, in the end, Tatum fell just short.

As seen above, Tatum finished with the most total points of any player that did not make the cut. Unfortunately, Tatum’s contract provisions also dictate that he will not receive a $32 million bonus that would have arrived even if he made the third team.

There is an entire debate on whether awards, particularly those voted on by the media, should be able to influence this kind of financial incentive for a player. Aside from that, though, there is the basketball-related debate on whether Tatum should have finished higher. Arguments can be made on all sides, but Tatum also fell victim to the NBA’s strange positional designations, leading to a bizarre quirk in the final tally.

In short, Tatum was eligible at both guard and forward, leading to some voters to peg him in each category. In the end, he was classified as a forward because he received more votes at that position, but that bit Tatum, as he received more total votes than former teammate Kyrie Irving, who made the third team at guard.

There are all kinds of weird takeaways across the positional spectrum, including several voters anointing both Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid with first-team honors. The NBA opened the door for this kind of thing with extreme lenience on positional designations, though, and we’ll never know if Tatum might have made the cut if things were just a bit different. In the meantime, Tatum will undoubtedly lament the process that kept him from more than $30 million.

Amorphous is having a huge year. After years of sharing DJ mash-ups of popular tracks from the present and the past, the viral producer is seeing his career take off, working with some of the industry’s biggest names. His latest big moment came during a studio session with Brandy and James Fauntleroy. The latter greeted the prospering producer at the door, but it seems to be his introduction to Brandy that moved him the most.

This big moment came not long after Amorphous joined forces with Kehlani for their first-ever collaboration “Back Together.” The track is a summer-ready anthem that speaks about refusing to commit to past lovers. He also spoke about recording the track with the singer during an interview with Uproxx. “I was super nervous going in,” he said. “I mean, it’s Kehlani, it’s my first major studio session. I’ve obviously been in the studio by myself and with friends. But to be working with a major recording artist, I felt a lot of pressure.”

Prior to that, Amorphous provided the production for Fat Joe and Diddy’s “Sunshine (The Light),” which sampled Rihanna’s “Kiss It Better” and “Luther Vandross’ “Never Too Much.”

Kehlani is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Prior to Tuesday night’s Game 4 between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Brooklyn Nets, the NBA announced the 15 players who will make up the 2020-21 All-NBA teams. Unsurprisingly, a handful of the names that make up the teams will take the floor in the ensuing game, with Giannis Antetokounmpo on the first-team and Kyrie Irving on the third-team.

The headliner of the first-team is, unsurprisingly, Denver Nuggets star and NBA MVP Nikola Jokic. He’s joined by Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry, Luka Doncic, and Kawhi Leonard.

On the second team, the big name was Joel Embiid, who played at a first-team level but got bumped down by there only being one spot for centers. Alongside him were LeBron James, Damian Lillard, Julius Randle, and Chris Paul.

Rounding things out are the third-team selections: Irving, Jimmy Butler, Bradley Beal, Paul George, and Rudy Gobert.

Beyond these names, the following picked up votes.

While Antetokounmpo was sensational this season, it’s fascinating that he was the only unanimous selection of the bunch. Presumably, Jokic’s only second-team selection came because one voter was beholden to the positions players are locked into and put Embiid on the first team, although a number appear to have taken advantage of the fact that Embiid had eligibility at forward and center.

YG and Mozzy dropped their joint album Kommunity Service last month. It was a solid display of West Coast rap and it’s one that the duo continues to promote. Indeed, now they’ve dropped a new video for “Vibe With You,” which elicits Ty Dolla Sign to sing the song’s chorus, all while the trio drinks in the essence of a West Coast summer day. That includes riding with their ladies in a car with the top down and enjoying an outdoor day party with a large cast of women standing around them.

“Vibe With You” is the fifth track from Kommunity Service to receive the video treatment, following ones for “Dangerous” with G Herbo, “Gangsta,” “Perfect Timing” with Blxst, and “Bompton To Oak Park.” As for Kommunity Service as a whole, the 10-track album features help from A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, G Herbo, Tyga, D3, E Mozzy, Celly Ru, and Young M.A., in addition to the aforementioned names.

Elsewhere, Mozzy recently stood alongside Allblack and YFN Lucci in their own videos, while YG handed out more than $20,000 worth of his Block Runner shoes to ex-inmates in Los Angeles.

You can watch the visual for “Vibe With You” above.

Kommunity Service is out now via Mozzy Records/4Hunnid Records/EMPIRE. Get it here.

Ty Dolla Sign is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

A handful of names that are set to make up the United States men’s basketball team at the Tokyo Olympics are starting to get leaked. Earlier in the day on Tuesday, it was reported that Portland Trail Blazers standout Damian Lillard and Golden State Warriors ace Draymond Green committed to joining the roster for this summer’s festivities.

Now, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports has the latest All-Star to toss their hat into the ring. Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics has reportedly given a commitment to head overseas this summer with an eye on helping the United States’ men’s team win its fourth consecutive gold medal.

This would serve as an opportunity at international redemption for Tatum, who was among the players who suited up for the United States at the FIBA Basketball World Cup in China in 2019. Tatum suffered a sprained ankle during the tournament, and the U.S. famously finished in seventh place, marking the first time since 2002 that the team failed to medal in a major international competition.

Tatum has grown considerably as a player since then, and this past year, the Celtics’ star had his best all-around campaign in the Association. Tatum averaged 26.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 4.3 assists in 35.8 minutes per game.

Donald Trump and his minions were never merely evil. They were also weird. The president-turned-failed blogger always led the charge, establishing a foundation of Mad Libs-style horrors that combined the nefarious with the absurd. (And he’s still got it!) One of the least flamboyant — though still shifty — of his staffers was Mike Pompeo, who took over as Secretary of State in April 2018, and rode it out until the end. He largely — but not entirely — kept a low profile. But he’s been acting up a bit since he lost his old job.

Tuesday saw a good example of the lunacy of which Pompeo is capable. Apropos of nothing much at all, the former CIA director took to Twitter to call upon “unapologetic Americans” to “join me and become a Pipehitter.”

What…could that possibly mean? Pompeo helpfully included a definition of the term it appears he just made up. In a pastiche of dictionary definitions, he defined it as “someone who is unapologetically American, someone who fights for our future, someone who never gives an inch, someone who is dedicated to stand against the radical Left’s agenda.”

Pompeo may have been a relatively quiet Trump staffer, but he wasn’t without incident. Perhaps his greatest offense was that time he chillingly claimed Trump would “transition” into a “second term” after losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden. Still, this kind of lowest-common-denominator conservative red meat business seemed slightly out of character for him.

But it was bizarre any way you slice it. And people on social media were quickly taken aback.

Some complained that there are already too many Trumpists to mock these days. (For instance, on Monday Ted Cruz went viral on two separate occasions.)

Some pointed out the term was ill-advised, if he was advised at all.

Some pointed out “pipehitter” is already a term, and not one you want.

Others pointed out that this proves, once again, that satire is dead.

But the majority of people saw Mike Pompeo drop the term “pipehitter” and immediately thought of drugs.

There were other jokes as well.

So there you have it: Yet another person who used to be employed by Donald Trump, stepping directly into that rake.

Last week Jeff Bezos announced that he was going to step down as CEO of Amazon, the mega-corporation he created, earlier than expected. Why? In part because he wants to go to space. While the world’s richest person was using his imaginable wealth to nurse a childhood dream, his ex-wife was donating billions to organizations that seek to make the world a better place. And when news broke, people couldn’t help but point out which was the better half in the marriage.

As per The New York Times, MacKenzie Scott, formerly Bezos, along with her husband Dan Jewett, has decided to give $2.74 billion to organizations involving the arts and the fight against racial discrimination. Her divorce from the Amazon honcho in 2019 left her with $36 billion in company stock. Since then that number has ballooned to almost $60 billion, much of it during the pandemic, which saw the company — and Bezos’ already unimaginable wealth — grow far richer, all while many, including Amazon employees, suffered.

But unlike her ex-husband, Scott has no interest in hording her wealth, or spending it on things like space travel. She’s always promised to give her riches away “until the safe is empty.” Indeed, this isn’t the first time she’s tried to empty her purse. Over the last 11 months, she’s donated some $8 billion, mostly to nonprofits. Last year alone she gave $6 billion to 500 organizations. Among the 286 she’s donating to in this latest dump include the Alaska Native Heritage Center, Broward College in Florida, and Jazz at Lincoln Center. The average donation is around $10 million each.

Scott is operating differently than other charitable billionaires, such as Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates (the latter also soon to be an ex). She doesn’t have a foundation. Instead she gives money when she likes, writing about where she’s giving to and why on blog posts on Medium. These posts also include her ruminating about philanthropy, with her saying she wants “to de-emphasize privileged voices and cede focus to others.”

When news broke that at least someone whose wealth is tied to Amazon was trying to pay it forward, it was met with fulsome praise.

Others dwelled more on her considerably less philanthropic ex.

There were jokes.

And there were reminders that maybe waiting around for billionaires to do the right thing isn’t a solid game plan for making the world a better place.

While his ex-wife is being praised for being a good person, Bezos himself was being trolled with jokey Change.org petitions that called him out for what he’s done — and what he hasn’t, namely paying his fair share in taxes.

(Via NYT)