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What started as a surreal conspiracy theory claiming former president Donald Trump was battling a shadowy cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles may soon take a turn for the worse. As per CNN, the FBI is warning lawmakers (or trying to, anyway) that, in the wake of the failed insurrection of Jan. 6, QAnon adherents may turn even more violent in the wake of the failed Jan. 6 insurrection that some of them still think is a setup.

In a new report, the agency is warning that those who subscribe to the theory — which at least at one point included Georgia representative and headline-maker Marjorie Taylor Greene, as well as Trump lawyer Sidney Powell — may move from mere “digital soldiers” into committing more real world atrocities. It refers to them as “domestic violent extremists.”

Oddly, the shift may happen because they realize the theory is bull. The elusive person known simply as “Q” laid out a series of predictions, among them that Trump would reclaim power. None of them have come true. As such, the report claims, supporters “can no longer ‘trust the plan” set forth by its mysterious standard-bearer.” But instead of abandoning a crackpot theory altogether, they may, as CNN puts it, feel the “need to take greater control of the direction of the movement than before.”

Of the hundreds arrested for storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, over 20 self-identified as QAnon adherents, among them Jake Angeli, better known as the scantily-clad, headpiece-wearing “QAnon Shaman.” They may, the FBI believes, go even farther, targeting people they believe are part of the alleged cabal, rather than wait for Q to spout more nonsense that never comes true.

In other words, it’s more proof that both the internet and electing Donald J. Trump were great ideas that won’t negative affect the nation for years.

(Via CNN)

Today’s Republicans do not apologize. When called out for saying something offensive or just plain wrong, they never back down. Instead they double down. That’s just what Marjorie Taylor Greene, the most nightmarish of freshman congresspeople, did back in May, when many were horrified that she was going around comparing mask mandates to the Holocaust. Fellow Republicans, including Mitch McConnell, called her out. Even the social media account for the Auschwitz Museum came after her. But now, several weeks later, she’s done the unthinkable, at least for her: She’s finally admitted she was wrong.

The Georgia representative and noted conspiracy theorist — who recently suggested the theory of biological evolution was less believable than “Jewish space lasers” — started the week with a public mea culpa. She had paid a trip to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in D.C., and she emerged a changed person.

Greene told reporters that she was a “normal person” whose parents raised her right. “One of the best lessons that my father always taught me was that when you make a mistake, you should own it,” she said. She then confessed that “there are words that I have made that I know are offensive, and for that I want to apologize.”

She also talked about what she learned at the museum, among them that “six million Jewish people were murdered,” though she added that among those killed included “black people, Christians, children, people that the Nazis didn’t believe were good enough or perfect enough.” She also felt compelled, for some reason, to add that the Holocaust is “something that some people don’t even believe happened.”

As per Forbes, when asked whether she still believes that masks are comparable to yellow Jewish stars, Greene simply said she’s “removing that statement completely away,” referring to her comparing public health measures to the systematic extermination of six million people of the Jewish faith. One thing she didn’t do was retract her statement comparing Democrats to Nazis. Instead, when asked about that topic, she stated that “socialism is extremely dangerous, and so is communism.”

Greene also denied that she was apologizing because she was at risk of being censured in the House. Instead, she said it was just “important” to do so.

(Via Forbes)

There may not be any WNBA games on Monday night, but that didn’t stop the spice from filling the air. After a video of Skylar Diggins-Smith breaking the ankles of New York’s Didi Richards went viral on Twitter over the weekend, Jones decided to toss a bomb in Diggins-Smith’s direction and bring up the fact that despite the highlight, the Mercury had lost the game.

That was a mistake. Diggins-Smith took issue not only with Jones’ criticism but also of the Liberty’s entire publicity strategy, rolling up a whole attack on WNBA marketing into a pretty savage tweet back at Jones.

In addition to telling Jones to shut up, Diggins-Smith is of course referring to 2020 No. 1 overall pick Sabrina Ionescu as the “one person” whom the Liberty tend to hype up. This is something Diggins-Smith has commented on for a while, dating back to a firestorm online that began last college season when hoops trainer Alex Bazzell commented that UConn phenom Paige Bueckers would be a top-five point guard in the WNBA if she was in the league already.

The main point that Diggins-Smith seems to be getting at is that the basketball media is quick to anoint white players but not usually Black ones. Diggins-Smith is saying that rather than Jones attacking for getting featured by Bleacher Report, or complaining that teammate Betnijah Laney (who had a double-double in New York’s win) doesn’t get enough attention, that Jones should look internally at how her own team markets its players.

Diggins-Smith backed up her perspective with a subsequent tweet calling out Jones’ “crabs in a barrel a** mentality.”

The Mercury and Liberty next play on Aug. 25, and it’s anyone’s guess what happens that night, as Jones followed up with some not-so-coded allusions toward letting physicality do the talking the next time these two face off.

Jones seemed to get the last word in by retweeting a video of her own game-winning bucket against Phoenix from the very same game:

Between one second-year guard fighting for respect in the league and an established superstar who feels she’s already earned that respect, this is not a surprising fight to flare up, but it admittedly got far more amped-up than most would expect.

Maybe it’s just having a little extra time on a day with no games. That time off also meant players (and teams) from around the WNBA were all also on Twitter to chime in on the budding beef.

Less than one week ago, the NBA announced that Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert was the winner of his third Defensive Player of the Year award. While Gobert was a comfortable leader in the final voting tally, the runner-up was Philadelphia 76ers do-it-all standout Ben Simmons, who netted 15 first-place votes and dominated the No. 2 slot on the majority of ballots. On Monday evening, Gobert and Simmons were once again recognized for their defensive excellence, as both were unanimous selections to the NBA’s All-Defensive first team for the 2020-21 season.

Gobert and Simmons were always going to be selected to the first team, and they were joined by Golden State’s Draymond Green and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo at forward, as well as Milwaukee’s Jrue Holiday to round out the backcourt. In the 2020-21 installment, none of the voting results revealed razor-thin margins between the first and second team, though Miami’s Bam Adebayo was the closest to cracking the top five when compared to Antetokounmpo.

Adebayo was joined by teammate Jimmy Butler, listed at guard, as well as Kawhi Leonard on the second team. From there, a pair of Simmons’ teammates, Joel Embiid and Matisse Thybulle made the final cut.

Phoenix Suns wing Mikal Bridges, Indiana Pacers big man Myles Turner and Atlanta Hawks center Clint Capela were the closest vote-getters that did not reach the top ten.

Throughout the playoffs, Gobert and Simmons have continued to differentiate themselves. Gobert is the hub of a legitimate Western Conference contender, while Simmons is showing his versatility in taking on the assignment as the primary defender of Trae Young. Overall, the league’s top defensive honors yielded few surprises this season, but the top-tier players on the defensive end continue to shine.

James Holzhauer was last seen around these parts causing trouble for his co-workers on a new game show, but according to a report he’s got a new group of colleagues in the world of sports journalism. The record-breaking Jeopardy! GOAT is currently making hay as a “chaser” on the ABC game show The Chase, but he’s long had his eye on a career in sports and appears to be making moves there with a job writing about sports betting.

According to a report from New York Post sports media columnist Andrew Marchand, Holzhauer will soon pen a sports betting column for The Athletic.

Though we haven’t seen much writing from Holzhauer beyond his very entertaining Twitter presence, this isn’t exactly a stretch for Holzhauer. When he took the Jeopardy! world by storm with the second-longest run as champion in show history in 2019, he was mostly known as a professional sports bettor in Las Vegas. And he’s a huge sports fan — most notably the Chicago Cubs and Las Vegas Golden Knights. Holzhauer has spoken in the past about potentially working in sports for a professional team. That hasn’t happened just yet, but he’s clearly been busy, with a turn on the Jeopardy Greatest Of All-Time tournament and now two seasons of The Chase. Adding “sports columnist” to the list will certainly keep him busy, and maybe make some sports fans a bit of money if his column is as good as his trivia knowledge.

Golf is often called the gentlemen’s game, a sport where players are supposed to report rules infractions on themselves and doing so is seen as a sign of respect of the game. It is rarely the seen of real controversy, which is why the recent Brooks Koepka-Bryson DeChambeau beef has taken over the golf world because they so rarely get players who are willing to talk about how much they dislike each other.

However, while Koepka and DeChambeau might trade barbs, no one would ever expect that to turn physical in any way, but the greatest rarity in the sport happened on Monday at a Korn Ferry Tour qualifier: a full on fight on the golf course. The details come from Ryan French of the Fire Pit Collective, who does tremendous work detailing the weekly battles to get into tournaments across the PGA Tour, Korn Ferry Tour, and elsewhere in golf.

Per French, at Sand Creek Station Golf Club in Kansas, Austen Dailey was paired with Luke Smith and Derek Fribbs and the group quickly began to have issues with pace of play. Frustrations with Smith and his father, Oliver who was caddying for Luke, were building on the front nine for a variety of reasons before they came to a head on the seventh green after the Smiths refused to help Dailey look for an errant tee shot and Dailey commented on their lack of help when they were already struggling with pace. At that point, all hell broke loose.

After Dailey completed the hole he said something to Smiths about how helping to look for shots might help speed the group up. This was apparently a bridge too far for the Smiths. According to Fribbs, Luke and Oliver Smith started yelling at Dailey about his quality of play and how it was affecting the group. Oliver went on to make it clear that his son Luke, “wasn’t here to look for balls.”

Dailey then turned his back and walked away towards the eighth tee. Little did he know that in a matter of seconds all hell would break loose. It was at this point that Luke Smith allegedly jumped on Dailey and started to throw punches. Fribbs, who was standing on the eighth tee, ran back to try to and play peacemaker. But Oliver Smith had other plans. The elder Smith allegedly waved a putter at Fribbs- and anyone else with an eye on jumping into the fracas. (Oliver Smith’s putter-waving was was later confirmed by another PGA Section official on site.)

Dailey and Smith were taken to the clubhouse where the latter was arrested after Dailey said he wanted to press charges, marking maybe the first time a player has been arrested for fighting their playing partner. Fribbs went on to finish the round by himself — and had to give his official statement to police on the 10th hole — in what was surely the most insane day he’s ever had on the golf course.

A constant frustration for NBA defenders, coaches, and fans is how often players hunt fouls by leaning or jumping into contact in order to get to the free throw line. Over the years, the NBA’s rules have steadily shifted the game in favor of the offensive player, but as players have been more aggressive in seeking out fouls and often make moves to get that contact unnaturally, there have been calls to adjust how rules regarding shooting fouls are applied to discourage such behavior.

Earlier this season, Steve Nash made headlines after he called out Hawks guard Trae Young saying his foul drawing is “not basketball,” and even Young’s former coach Lloyd Pierce was apparently not a fan of his seeking out of contact in unnatural motions. Young is far from alone, as James Harden’s ability to get himself to the foul line has been a topic of conversation for years — and he ironically now plays for Nash — and plenty of other players have learned one of the fastest ways to getting into rhythm at the line (and to getting opponents in foul trouble) is to get them in the air and jump into them in order to sell the contact.

The league has taken some half measures at times to quell foul drawing efforts, like calling rip through moves on the floor fouls now instead of shooting fouls, but players know once they get the team into the bonus it’s free points to catch a player with their hands out and ripping through — Kevin Durant is the best in the league at it. Apparently the league has heard these concerns and will look into possible rule changes to stop rewarding unnatural motions, namely jumping sideways or backwards into contact, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The NBA has shared a video compilation of player examples with the 30 teams that outlines a number of motions deemed unnatural that used to draw fouls. The NBA and Competition Committee will drill down on specific plays with the league’s GM’s next week to target examples that’ll be recommended to owners to vote to eliminate next season, sources said.

While generally a good idea to try and work to litigate those fouls that pretty much everyone hates out of the game, it does create a bit of dread at the possibility of adding another subjective element to how the game is officiated. Still, most agree that something has to be done and if the league can simply make a mandate that a player jumping sideways or backwards is not a foul, it would seem to be a positive for the game as a whole. We’ll find out later this summer if anything comes of it and what exactly they come up with in terms of verbiage and a full plan for no longer rewarding those plays, but it would make for, if nothing else, a more aesthetically leasing game.

Signing an internet petition is the absolute bare minimum one can do to qualify as an activist. Still, there are a lot of cases out there worth supporting these days. One of them is this: There’s a movement to get the richest man in the world to eat one of the most recognizable pieces of art on the planet.

Thousands of people have signed a Change.org petition to get Amazon founder and future obscenely wealthy astronaut Jeff Bezos to purchase and consume The Mona Lisa, the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece. A person going by Kane Powell started the petition on Change.org, which is often used to gain momentum for some really important and world-altering causes. And then there are these kinds of things, which are funny and extremely unlikely to happen, for a variety of reasons.

“Nobody has eaten the mona lisa and we feel jeff bezos needs to take a stand and make this happen,” the text of the petition states. And though movement in the petition’s first few days was slow, as of Monday things are ramping up. It’s seen enthusiastic support from those that have signed as well.

“This is the most important petition in modern times,” one commenter wrote. “Jeff Bezos needs to eat the Mona Lisa to save the world. Another was even more succinct, saying “gobble da lisa.”

There are a number of reasons Bezos will not eat the Mona Lisa, starting with the fact that it’s a priceless artwork. But given that he’s basically the richest person in human history, in theory he could make anything happen. That he’s chosen to do personal spaceflight and two-day shipping at the expense of a lot of non-union labor seems about as reasonable as buying and eating a painting, when you really think about it.

One could imagine a 500-year-old painting that’s been hanging in the Louvre since the 18th century would taste just awful, but perhaps this is some kind of punishment for Bezos doing nothing to help those struggling through the coronavirus pandemic. The petition originally asked for 5,000 signers, a number that’s been reached. What happens next? Well, that’s up to you now, isn’t it?

There are a few things you can always expect when it comes to E3 — huge announcements, news leaks, awkward moments between hosts, and pure unadulterated zaniness from Devolver, to name a few. One of the more unfortunate things you can expect at E3, however, is for certain games to just simply vanish. Sometimes, perhaps even most of the time, they return with tweaks but others are thrust into game development purgatory while their respective studios decide what to do with them. Unfortunately, this seems to be the case with the highly-anticipated artsy adventure game Everwild.

According to a report by VGC, Rare Limited’s Everwild, as we so briefly knew it, has been scrapped in its current form. Turns out that after the departure of creative director Simon Woodroffe last year, the studio decided to completely overhaul the game’s design and direction, as well as the team working on it. According to folks involved with the game’s development, Everwild has essentially been “restarted from scratch,” meaning it will likely be some time before we see it again. While unfortunate, this news makes sense following Everwild’s lack of presence at this year’s E3 and comments made by journalist Jeff Grubb late last week.

VGC also reported that the team behind Everwild is now “optimistically” targeting a 2024 release date under the new leadership of one of Rare’s most senior creative employees, Gregg Mayles. According to Everwild‘s executive producer Louise O’Connor, however, the team has “never been stronger” than when Mayles was added to the project. She went on to say the team is continuing “to work hard to realize our vision and to bring the magic of nature in Everwild to life for players around the world. The team behind Everwild continue to shape a truly magical experience and remain focused and excited about creating a new game centered around a truly unique, new world.”

While this might be a lot of us to process, according to folks familiar with Everwild‘s development this news isn’t particularly shocking. According to the VGC report, the project was struggling to find direction on its current path.

According to people familiar with its development, Everwild’s small team had struggled to define a clear direction for the title, beyond its striking art style and soundtrack.

As of last year, the game was a third-person adventure with god game elements, we were told. One person said that, in particular, a mandate from Rare’s leadership to not have any combat in the game had led to road blocks in design.

While we’re certainly a fan of the trend of games shifting away from combat, it’s understandable how forgoing it could cause the Sea of Thieves developers some pause. Here’s hoping by next year’s E3 Everwild might resurface and, even more importantly, look just as good as it did back in 2019.

Last weekend, everyone’s favorite deranged bedwear salesman, Mike Lindell, aka the financially troubled MyPillow Guy, held a kooky pro-Trump rally in New Hampshire. It was called “MAGA Frank,” and it featured such 45th president fans as Diamond and Silk, filmmaker and pardoned felon Dinesh D’Souza, as well as the big boy himself. Lindell is so confident about his belief that the failed blogger not only won in November but will be re-installed in the White House that he allowed a Rolling Stone reporter to cover the event, even interview him. And in the finished piece, he had some new deranged things to tell him.

Arguably the most shocking? That the Jan. 6 insurrection — in which violent Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election — was a scam. This isn’t a new opinion; baseless theories that folks from Antifa and BLM were posing as DJT fans were floated almost immediately after the failed but deadly attack. But Lindell still subscribes to some variation on that nonsense idea.

For one thing, he admitted to reporter Stephen Rodrick that he’s “never even watched footage of that.” His bona fides thus established, he then went on to claim that, “in my opinion, it was a setup.” Why? Because it had never happened before. “I’ve been to over 50 rallies year. There has never been one incident. And you don’t think it was a setup? Gimme a break.”

Is it a waste of time to point out that it’s hard for Trumpists to storm the Capitol at rallies not held at D.C.? Perhaps. But Lindell had another revelation: In his latest video, entitled Absolute 9-0 — a reference to his belief that the Supreme Court will unanimously vote to reinstate Trump after they get a load of the intel he drops in his latest motion picture screed — he claims that Trump didn’t win. He won bigly. While discussing his film with Rodrick, he doubles down on his claims:

“There was 147 million registered to vote. OK, Biden got 80 million and Trump got 75 million. That’s 10 million extra voters.” Lindell nods repeatedly, proud of his point. In fact, over 213 million American were registered to vote — Lindell was off by just a bit, i.e., 66 million. He then mentions that 1.7 million Pennsylvanians requested mail-in ballots while the election count shows hundreds of thousands more, proving more fraud. In reality, Pennsylvanians requested over 3 million mail-in ballots. As Lindell becomes more caffeinated, the claims become increasingly exorbitant. “Trump won 80 million to 68 million,” Lindell says as conservative outlets line up in the bus for their interview. That would be a 19 million-vote swing. Lindell is a college dropout whose main mathematical background comes from card counting at casinos. He says that number will be confirmed when there are audits done in all 50 states.

There’s a lot in the Rolling Stone piece, including Lindell’s belief that, because he banned him (and Trump) from Twitter, Jack Dorsey “should go to jail.” He brushes off the death threats that people like Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has received from Trump supporters, claiming he’s been getting them, too. And he makes a bold claim about his favorite president: “He is the only president in my lifetime who wasn’t in it for the ego and worked only for the people and not for his own interests.”

Despite this, Rodrick describes Trump’s eventual speech at the rally as “autopilot,” as though he couldn’t even bring the pain for his most ardent fan among the home goods market. A shame.

(Via Rolling Stone)