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Four years ago, no one would have expected that Georgia would be a battleground state in the 2020 presidential election.

Well, not no one. Stacey Abrams not only saw it coming, she played a big role in making it happen.

The former member of the Georgia state legislature became the first Black American woman to run for governor of a state under a major party in 2018. She lost to Republican Brian Kemp by just 1.5% in a hotly contested election. Kemp, who was Georgia’s Secretary of State at the time, has been accused of engaging in voter suppression, making it harder for minorities in the state exercise their right to vote. Abrams refused to officially concede the election, claiming that Kemp had a conflict of interest as the person in charge of his own election.

After the gubernatorial race came to close, Abrams took the issue of voter suppression on with gusto. She had already spent years advocating for voter rights as a lawyer and lawmaker and continued the effort by founding an organization called Fair Fight that focuses on funding and training people to protect the vote in 20 battleground states, with a special emphasis on her home state of Georgia.

One of the main strategies Abrams has engaged in is getting enough voters registered and motivated to turn out on election days any voter suppression tactics that might be employed would be unsuccessful due to sheer numbers.

“Our goal through Fair Fight and Fair Fight 2020 is to ensure that people know about the obstacles that are being placed in their way, but (are encouraged to) vote in even larger numbers to overwhelm the intention of the system,” Abrams told USA TODAY.

According to USA Today, Democrats had seen potential in Georgia’s changing demographics. The city of Atlanta, in particular, has drawn a more educated workforce from around the country, which also includes potentially younger Asian, Black and Latino voters. Other counties that were once Republican strongholds have also become more diverse, opening the door to Democrats, who tend to draw more non-white support than Republicans.

Abrams’ focus on getting those voters registered and ready to show up at the polls has paid off. A reliably red state for decades, Georgia is now in play. But it’s not just as simple as getting people to the polls. Abrams has a deep pool of historical knowledge and a keen understanding of the systems in place that make it harder for people to exercise their civic duty.

In an interview with Ezra Klein at Vox, Abrams explained that there is no Constitutional right to vote.

“The reality is that the right to vote does not exist as an affirmative opportunity,” she said. “What does exist in the Constitution is the delegation of authority for the administration of elections to states, which sounds very benign until you realize that for most of American history, voter suppression has been almost entirely the construct of states.

What the Voting Rights Act did in 1965 was shatter the impermeable nature of states to say who could and could not vote. The Voting Rights Act said you could not use race — and, by 1975, that you could not use language — as a way to preclude access to the right to vote. It said that states could not take proactive steps to block the right to vote through poll taxes, literacy tests, closing of polling places — any action that would interfere with the right of people of color, or people who spoke English as a second language, to vote. In states that had a long and storied history of blocking the right to vote, no new voting laws could be countenanced without having the Department of Justice approve.”

The Voting Rights Act helped get the U.S. to a place where we elected our first Black president in 2008 and again in 2012. Then, in 2013, it was gutted by a Supreme Court case that essentially removed the rule that states had to get their voter rules approved by the federal government.

“That was essentially a get out of jail free card for states that wanted to discriminate; what was different this time is that it was no longer relegated to those states that participated in voter suppression through Jim Crow,” said Abrams.

“You had a proliferation across the country of voter suppression techniques that had been prohibited clearly by the Voting Rights Act. That’s why you saw the rapid shutdown of polling places. That’s why you saw the expansion of restrictive voter ID laws. That’s why in 2020, we are seeing so many cases that essentially challenge state laws designed to restrict who has access to the right to vote.”

Thanks to Abrams’ efforts—among others—to ensure that more Americans have their voices heard at the ballot box, Georgia may end up turning blue. In the very least, it’s now a solid purple, which is a huge accomplishment for those who have worked so hard to enfranchise voters.

Thank you, Stacey Abrams, and all the other warriors fighting for voter protection, for carrying America to the finish line of this hard-fought race.

You might assume that the chilly November weather, when winter beers start to flourish, isn’t right for the citrus, resinous, floral notes of your favorite IPAs. But beer has always been like Walt Whitman — it contains multitudes. Who says you can’t savor a slightly bitter West Coast IPA or a hazy New England-style juice bomb on a crisp fall day? Not us!

In fact, IPAs might just be the perfect seasonal choice for anyone who isn’t ready to admit that it’s getting dark at 5 p.m. these days. Or those of us who want to wait until at least Thanksgiving before the barrel-aged stouts and rich, chocolatey porters start flowing. And especially the lucky few who live where the temperature never dives below 60.

In our unending quest to make your selection process easier every time you hit the beer aisle, we asked a handful of our favorite bartenders to tell us their go-to IPAs to drink this November. Check out their answers below!

Sierra Nevada Celebration

Seth Falvo, bartender at The Hotel Zamora in St. Pete Beach, Florida

Sierra Nevada Celebration IPA is perfect for fall. Brewed in honor of the hop harvest, the sweet malty base contrasts beautifully with the layers of citrus and pine provided by the hops. Plus, it’s widely available — making it a great last-minute six-pack to pick up from the gas station on your way to Thanksgiving dinner.

Dock Street King Juice

Alex Clark, bartender at Square 1682 in Philadelphia

I definitely recommend the King Juice from Dock Street Brewery. This beer is brewed right up the street from my house in South Philly and it’s one of my favorites to pick up. It’s a hazy double IPA and comes in around 8.5% ABV, so you really only need to have one or two, and the flavors and hops that come out in this beer are truly amazing.

This is about as “juicy” as an IPA can get, so it stays true to the name.

Elysian Contact Haze

De’Ann Wellwerts, beverage director at City Works Eatery & Pour House in Pittsburgh

Elysian Contact Haze. This is a very mild hazy IPA. It has such a refreshing taste with a bright citrus flavor, a pronounced hop scent without being too bitter. This is a year-round beer, but I think this is a great option for the fall, since I enjoy so many heavier darker beers, this can bring some lightness and a summery feel even in the cold winter.

Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere

Roberto Berdecia, bartender at La Factoria in San Juan, Puerto Rico

Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere Harvest is a perfect fall beer. It’s brewed in celebration of the seasonal hop harvest. It’s a wet hop IPA, bursting with floral and piney hop flavors perfect for crisp November days.

Earthbound Thai Basil IPA

Andy Printy, beverage director at Chao Baan in St. Louis

Earthbound Brewery in St. Louis now has their Thai Basil IPA. It has loads of Thai basil for an herbaceous front that balances out with jaggery date syrup and that dry-hopped goodness.

Darwin Juicy Dayze

Hayden Miller, head bartender at Bodega Taqueria y Tequila in Miami

Juicy Dayze is another new classic from Darwin Brewing. The can says it all — with its heady logo and description: fruit juice, citrus, and stone fruit. Just tart enough and the hops make it an easy rider. Perfect for all those moments missing a beer.

Peak Autumn IPA

Can Coskunkal, director of operations at Street Guys Hospitality in Washington, DC

Peak Autumn IPA is pretty good and specially crafted for this time of year. Peachy, citrusy, and easy on the palate in the not-so-cold fall season.

Toppling Goliath King Sue

Michaela Todd-Milner, general manager of Coastal County Brewing Company in Pensacola, Florida

The best new IPA that I’ve had this year is probably — and it is new to my region — Toppling Goliath King Sue. This double IPA is massively citrusy and just delightful. It has a punch in the ABV department but is still crushable or ready to just be enjoyed by a fire.

Writer’s Picks:

Cigar City Fancy Papers

You probably already know that the humid, hot summer days are perfect for hazy IPAs. Well, so are the dry, chilly fall days. Made with Strata, Sabro, and Idaho 7 hops, this pick is a sweet and juicy. A nice respite from the dark winter days ahead.

Founders All Day IPA

If you’re looking for a great, refreshing IPA to drink in between your 12 percent ABV bourbon barrel-aged stouts this fall, make it a Founders All Day IPA. It might only be 4.7 percent ABV, but it’s complex, fresh, and filled with bright hop flavors.

Troegs Perpetual IPA

This 7.5 percent offering checks all of the IPA boxes. It’s dry-hopped and a great mix of fresh, juicy fruit flavors along with bitter, resinous hops. A great back porch sipper on a cool-but-not-bone-cold November night.

We’re two days out from election day and we still don’t know who the next president of the United States will be. There are indications that we might know by the end of today… or maybe not until the weekend. No one knows what the hell is going to happen and, frankly, it’s created a lot of stress.

Granted, we always knew that this election was going to be different — with millions of Americans changing their voting habits in response to the COVID-19 pandemic — but we definitely weren’t ready for the stress of having to watch two elderly men slowly box it out over a few thousand votes across Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. That sh*t will exhaust you.

No one in the public eye quite captures the confusion and despair of election week like celebrity chef Alton Brown. Brown’s unique brand of commentary began simply enough, with a tweet that read: “No matter what happens tomorrow, we’ll still have tiny chocolate doughnuts” on the eve of the election. Since that jumping-off point, his tweets have devolved into word salads that are both borderline incomprehensible and also perfectly apt for this strange social/political moment.

Over the past two days, Brown has taken fans on a wild ride — from drinking jaeger in the shower to juicing Slim Jims to a strange tirade about litigation over pineapples.

All we have to say is: we feel for you, Alton. As Kurosawa once said: “In a mad world, only the mad are sane.”

Greta Thunberg may only be 17 years old, but it turns out that she has a long memory and isn’t afraid to bring up the past when it comes to roasting Donald Trump. The environmental activist is often the target of climate change deniers and others on Twitter, including the current president of the United States. But with Trump currently melting down on the social media platform over the continued effort to tally election results in various counties, Thunberg made waves when she parroted a tweet with a message that Trump once sent out criticizing the teenager back in 2019.

As Trump’s early leads in Georgia and Pennsylvania continued to dwindle on Thursday, he tweeted several misleading things about voter fraud and demanded that counting votes stop in the United States. Given the state of races in Arizona and Nevada, however, a full stop of counting legally cast votes would still be enough for Joe Biden to win the electoral votes necessary to keep Trump from a second turn. Which perhaps is why Thunberg tweeted that Trump should “chill” and work on his “anger management.”

The tweet itself was funny, mostly because the concept of going to “a good old fashioned movie with a friend” is a very funny turn of phrase. But eagle-eyed internet denizens realized that Thunberg was actually mirroring something Trump had tweeted about her a year earlier. A quick Twitter search found an exact same text of a tweet, right down to the “so ridiculous” at the start.

Waiting nearly a year to dunk on Trump when he’s most vulnerable is a pretty savvy move from Thunberg, who is no stranger to giving criticism right back to Trump when she gets it. This wasn’t even the first time she shot back over this exact tweet, but she picked as good a time as any to break out the request for Trump to “chill.”

Save Me Too (Peacock Original series) — Lennie James (Morgan from Fear The Walking Dead) returns to his other show (the first season was called Save Me) to continue as Nelly, whose life changed forever when he was accused of kidnapping his daughter. She’s still nowhere to be found, but new suspects and secrets surface, and this is bit of a redemption story inside of a London-set thriller story.

Carmel: Who Killed Maria Marta? (Netflix documentary series) — One of the most controversial criminal cases in Argentina gets the spotlight while this show digs into the strange circumstances of the death of María Marta García Belsunce.

Operation Christmas Drop (Netflix film) — Holiday fare is in full swing, this time with service members at a tropical U.S. Air Force base rallying to remain open in the face of semi-nefarious forces.

Paranormal (Netflix series) — A doctor in 1960s Egypt dives into eerie supernatural events while hoping to unravel a series of mysteries behind unusual cases.

Supernatural (CW, 8:00pm EST) — The good of the whole becomes the priority for Sam, Dean, Castiel, and Jack as they fully launch their plan.

The Outpost (CW, 9:00pm EST) — Talon wants answers when Tobin’s clearly got a secret while returning with an army in tow. Meanwhile, a Throne Room fight gets ugly… and deadly.

Star Trek: Discovery (CBS, 10:00pm EST) — An intriguing new addition to the U.S.S. Discovery crew helps rekindle some past memories while Sarek’s looking for assistance elsewhere.

Jimmy Kimmel Live — David Duchovny, Jon Pardi

Late Night With Seth Meyers — David Sedaris

The Late Late Show With James Corden — Christine and the Queens

“I learned that I had to deal with the things that hurt me… I didn’t really have anybody to talk to… in the hood, nobody wants to hear that… Talking about your problems is viewed as a sign of weakness when actually it’s one of the bravest things you can do. One of the bravest things you can do is put it on the table, chop it up, and just let it out.”

In this clip from next week’s People’s Party with Talib Kweli, Kweli and Jasmin Leigh go deep with legendary rapper DMX — discussing the roots of his crack addiction. X explains how his struggles with the drug began at 14-years-old, when he unknowingly smoked a crack-laced blunt given to him by the same person who introduced him to hip-hop. He goes on to detail how this trauma would inspire much of the confessional output of his rhymes.

In a moment filled with pathos, DMX breaks down –reminiscing about this pivotal moment in his life and how it set him on the trajectory that would ultimately shape his career. As he explains, he considers himself “blessed with a curse.”

“Thank you for helping me open that door because that’s actually the biggest problem, not addiction. Drugs were never a problem, drugs were a symptom of a bigger problem. There were things I went through in my childhood where I just blocked it out. You never know when the things you stored away are going to come out and just fall all over the place… Let me open this door and start dealing with this shit right now before it comes out at the wrong time and I just have a meltdown… that’s what’s helped with addiction and sobriety.”

Catch this rare and deeply resonant moment with DMX above and watch the full People’s Party interview on Monday, 11/9 at 6amPT / 9amET.

After causing an intense backlash from Muslims in the Parisian suburb of Essonne, provocative posters for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm have been permanently removed from buses. The posters offended the Muslim community due to Sacha Baron Cohen posing nearly nude while wearing a ring that with the word “Allah” on it. Here’s a look at the poster in question.

While courting controversy is par for the course for Cohen, the situation in Essonne is particularly fragile right now as well as the rest of Paris. Via Variety:

The suburb of Essonne has been shaken up in recent weeks by the murder of Samuel Paty, a French middle-school teacher who was beheaded after showing cartoons to his students of the Prophet Muhammad from the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. The murder of Paty sent shockwaves through the entire country. The issue of mocking religion has long been sensitive in France. Charlie Hebdo was the target of a terrorist attack in 2015 that decimated its newsroom. A trial for this attack has been underway in Paris since September.

The Borat sequel ignited a gleeful firestorm with American audiences, thanks to Cohen brutally roasting the Trump administration, QAnon conspiracy theorists, and pro-life activists, along with catching Rudy Giuliani in a particularly compromising position for the film’s final scene. But while Cohen routinely put his own life at risk for the film, the recent situation in Essonne has turned into a tough one for the local populace to navigate. Amazon and Baron Cohen appear to be erring on the side of caution by removing the offensive posters. Although, it will be interesting to see if the comedian has thoughts on the matter at a later date.

(Via Variety)

I recently bought an old-ish $40 PC from somebody on Facebook Marketplace. I cleaned it, made minor upgrades to it, and connected it to my television to basically use as a beefier (and admittedly less energy-efficient) Fire TV Stick. Since then, I’ve sought new ways to enjoy my newly computerized TV. In the process, I made a personal discovery.

Remember channel surfing, the act of flipping through dozens of cable channels you paid for but seldom watched and checking out whatever’s on? For cord-cutters like myself, Pluto TV brings that back. In fact, that’s basically their slogan: “Drop in. It’s free.”

For the unfamiliar, Pluto TV is a ViacomCBS-owned TV streaming platform that launched in 2013 and is distinctly different from services like Netflix and Hulu. There are two major factors that set it apart: (1) It emulates traditional cable TV in that shows are broadcast on a variety of live channels; (2) It’s free, with advertisements much like regular TV.

Pluto TV isn’t going to replace any of the streaming platforms you subscribe to. That’s not the goal. What it should do for you, though, is serve is a worthwhile complement to them.

A common streaming TV quirk to which everybody can relate is the analysis-paralysis that comes with trying to pick what to watch. A report from 2019 said the average U.S. adult spends 7.4 minutes deciding what to watch on a streaming service. It also noted that 21 percent of users opt to not watch anything at all if they can’t make up their minds.

I don’t have data to back this up, but it seems like picking what to put on wasn’t as big a deal with cable. Back in those days, I’d throw on the TV, check my rotation of go-to channels, and just watch whatever was on. “Watching whatever is on” is a foreign concept to cord-cutters, though, because in order for something to be on, you have to put it on. It’s a low-stakes situation, but there’s definitely a pressure to choose the “right” thing to watch, which usually leads to frustration and an 80th The Office binge.

It’s in these situations, when you don’t know what you’re looking for, when Pluto TV comes in handy.

Recently, I’ve enjoyed sitting in front of the TV for a bit after dinner and checking out what’s playing on Pluto TV. The service boasts hundreds of themed channels, like one with classic Comedy Central content and another that just plays Deal Or No Deal reruns, all of which combine to offer over 100,000 hours of content.

On one weekday evening, for example, across all Pluto TV channels, I had the option of checking out reality/competition staples like Fear Factor, RuPaul’s Drag Race, and America’s Next Top Model; Nickelodeon classics SpongeBob SquarePants, Rugrats, Rocko’s Modern Life, All That, The Fairly OddParents, and Doug; music programming like Prince’s Sign O’ The Times concert film and a Britney Spears documentary; nature survival shows The Island With Bear Grylls and Survivorman; comedy favorites The Sarah Silverman Program, Crank Yankers, Reno 911!, Beavis And Butt-Head, and Everybody Hates Chris; anime hits Naruto and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure; and food shows Iron Chef America, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, America’s Test Kitchen, and Secret Eats With Adam Richman.

That’s not an awful slate of programming, especially for free! A lot of those shows are ones I used to watch during channel-surfing sessions, except now I’m not paying for them.

So far, I’ve gravitated towards the IFC channel to re-watch Portlandia and the Comedy Bang! Bang! TV series. I’ve also gotten a kick out of Idiotest, a GSN game show which ran from 2014 to 2017 and tasked contestants with answering brain-teasers and trick questions. Part of the appeal is that it’s not a major network-type of game show (the indie to Family Feud‘s pop, if you will), and that’s evident in the contestants’ winnings; the victors of one episode I saw recently went home with $760, and that was for two people. I hope the network paid for their flights, because otherwise, they maybe broke even on the trip.

Discovering an old show by chance like that is a rarer thing these days. Now, new shows usually enter your radar via some sort of recommendation. That’s the beauty of channel surfing and the revival of it via Pluto TV: it offers one less decision to make and the opportunity to let fate guide your life for a few minutes, potentially to an entertaining place you didn’t see coming.

A lot of things about traditional cable suck, but channel surfing isn’t one of them. So thank you, Pluto TV, for letting me have that again.

A day after shooting down a possible collaboration between himself and Travis Scott, Denzel Curry wants Travis Scott fans to stop overreacting to his tweet about the Houstonian rapper. When the “Black Balloon” rapper told a fan that Scott had a “funky” attitude in response to a question about working with him, Travis’ fans apparently took the comment personally. Today, Denzel sent a string of tweets commenting on the situation, saying, “I got stans and n****s with no hairline coming at me about their favorite rapper.”

Curry seemed nonplussed about the feedback, tweeting, “Lol people really mad about me keepin it real about their favorite artist,” and characterizing the response with a typically sardonic quip. “They actin like I DDT Their grandma or sumn,” he ribbed. He added in his own suggestion for resolving the issue: “Let’s start a boxing league for rappers that don’t like each other.” Considering how often fans clamor for a sequel to EA’s Def Jam Vendetta rap-wrestling game, it does seem like there’d be some interest.

Denzel did have a boxing-adjacent tour series going late last year and earlier this year but his Red Bull Zeltron World Wide battles were, like the rest of the live entertainment industry, struck down by the COVID-19 response. Before that, his planned joust with JID was postponed due to JID’s wrecked vocal cords, while his matchup with Rico Nasty was outright canceled by the coronavirus quarantine. Maybe when all this is over, they can make another attempt — and get Travis Scott on the bill, funky attitude or no.

HBO Max’s first original TV show, Love Life, included a sharp performance from Anna Kendrick, but given that the romantic dramedy is an anthology series, a changing of the starring guard was expected. This summer, executive producer Paul Feig told us that they had Season 2 all plotted out, and they were figuring out casting details. Well, the series has found its new star, William Jackson Harper of The Good Place fame.

Deadline reports that although Kendrick will sporadically appear in the sophomore season, Harper’s definitely the toplining leading guy. He’ll play a character who’s escaping a starter marriage of sorts (to a mistaken soulmate), and now, he’s single again in New York City, which means that the Jacked Chidi physique might serve a more clear-cut purpose. Here’s more:

Season 2 will focus on Harper’s character as he comes out of a years-long relationship with the woman he thought was going to be his person. The rug pulled out from under him, he is plunged back into the search for the romantic fulfillment that he thought he had already found.

Yep, a whole lot of us have been there, so it sounds like the show will keep viewers empathizing with the season protagonist. That made the first batch of episodes occasionally difficult to watch but ultimately rewarding in a realistic way, even if Harper’s character (like that of Kendrick) will probably have a much better apartment than his young-and-single status will suggest. Can he please be a firefighter? That’d be some news that could only make 2020 better.

(Via Deadline)