11/9/2022: Republicans Faceplant

PLUS: NASA Keeps Eyes on Nicole; PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man; and More Fallout for Ye

Nov 09, 2022

Today is Wednesday, November 9, 2022.

It is the 313th day of the year.

52 days remain.

HIT LIST

Tesla has recalled 40,000 Model S and Model X cars made between 2017 and 2021 over concerns about its power steering assist.

The electric carmaker has issued a software update that’s supposed to fix the concern. Tesla’s internal systems show only 314 times vehicles registered power steering assist failure, however.

WORTH NOTING: “Recall” is getting to be an outdated term – fittingly, like “roll down the window.” Where a recall once meant taking vehicles to dealerships to get problems resolved, Tesla owners in many cases can resolve these recall issues with a software update. The “recall” is mostly now just a regulatory term.

MEANWHILE: SEC filings show ELON MUSK has sold off nearly $4 billion worth of Tesla shares since taking over Twitter.

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NASA is keeping an eye on tropical storm Nicole that’s headed for the Kennedy Space Center, where the Artemis I rocket remains on the launch pad.

The rocket can reportedly safely stay upright against winds up to 85 miles per hour – but even if it can, it probably shouldn’t.

BUT WAIT: Even as Nicole is likely to turn into a hurricane, NASA is, for now, planning to move forward with the scheduled November 14 launch. The launch has been scrapped because of weather and systems tests four times since late August.

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The CFO of Tyson Foods – they make chicken nuggets and such – was arrested over the weekend after falling asleep in someone else’s bed?

HOW DOES ONE FALL ASLEEP IN SOMEONE ELSE’S BED IN ANOTHER HOUSE, YOU ASK?: Details are slim, but the arrest report says 32-year-old John R. Tyson – who’s the son of the company’s chairman and great-grandson of the company’s namesake founder – has been charged with trespassing and public intoxication.

He issued a company-wide apology Monday.

SPEAKING OF DOUCHEBAG EXECUTIVES: Theranos founder and convicted fraudster ELIZABETH HOLMES has been denied a new trial. The judge overseeing the case said the motions to retry the case didn’t introduce substantial new evidence and didn’t convincingly argue the prosecutors acted improperly.

She’ll be sentenced for her fraud conviction on November 18.

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Sometimes a bunch of cash stuffed in your mattress is still the safest bet to keep your money.

A San Diego man says hackers stole more than one million dollars from a crypto savings account last week. The hackers managed to liquidate his account by conducting over 11,000 trades over the span of five hours, to avoid detection by Coinbase, the crypto bank where the funds were held.

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You, too, can own a Tyrannosaurus Rex skull.

The 200-pound fossil of a T-Rex nicknamed Maximus that was discovered in South Dakota is headed to the Sotheby’s auction block on December 9.

Analysts expect it to go for $15 million.

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BY THE NUMBERS

📈 The Dow added 333 points (1.02%) to close at 33,160 Tuesday. The S&P added 21 points (0.56%) to close at 3,828. The Nasdaq added 51 points (0.49%) to close at 10,616.

🛢 West Texas Intermediate slid to $88 Tuesday. Brent Crude settled at $95.

⛽ The national average price of a gallon of gas was $3.80 on Tuesday.

₿ Bitcoin got pummeled Tuesday, losing more than $2,000 in value and trading around $18,500.

🛩 There were 2,163 flights delayed within, into, or out of the United States on Tuesday and 93 such cancellations.

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CHARTS

Top 5 Fiction & Nonfiction Books Currently on the New York Times Best Sellers List:

FICTION:

“It Starts With Us,” Colleen Hoover
“No Plan B,” Lee Child and Andrew Child
“It Ends With Us,” Colleen Hoover
“The Boys From Biloxi,” John Grisham
“Verity,” Colleen Hoover

NON-FICTION

“Radio’s Greatest Of All Time,” Rush Limbaugh with Kathryn Adams Limbaugh and David Limbaugh
I’m Glad My Mom Died,” Jennette McCurdy
“And There Was Light,” Jon Meacham
“Waypoints,” Sam Heughan
“The Body Keeps The Score,” Bessel van der Kolk

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DEATHS

British actor LESLIE PHILLIPS has died.

He passed away Monday in his sleep, according to the BBC. No further details were shared.

Phillips is best known for voicing the Sorting Hat in several “Harry Potter” films.

He was 98.

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THE SWAMP

The biggest winner of last night’s midterm election was Florida Governor RON DESANTIS, who was re-elected by shocking margins that showed a seismic shift, especially among Hispanic voters, from Democrats to Republicans. Enthusiasm for DeSantis also buoyed Florida Senator MARCO RUBIO to an easy re-election.

But the Republican electoral upset was mostly limited to Florida. Here’s where things stand in some of the most closely-watched races as of 3:30 am:

IN OHIO: Republican JD VANCE handily won election on a populist message, but the win merely kept a Senate seat in Republican hands.

IN OREGON: Democrat TINA KOTEK and Republican CHRISTINE DRAZAN are separated by one percentage point with 65% of votes tallied.

IN WISCONSIN: A lackluster Republican governor nominee failed to deliver a vision for his leadership and lost to incumbent Democrat TONY EVERS, who has been kept in check by a Republican legislature. Incumbent Republican RON JOHNSON appears to have beaten Democrat Lieutenant Governor MANDELA BARNES in the race for US Senate. With 94% of votes in at 3:30 am, Johnson held a roughly 33,000-vote lead. Johnson is expected to formally claim victory at an event later this morning.

IN GEORGIA: With only a handful of votes yet to be counted, neither candidate won a majority of the vote, so a runoff between Democrat incumbent RAPHAEL WARNOCK and Republican HERSCHEL WALKER is likely for early December. Incumbent Republican Governor BRIAN KEMP won re-election.

IN ARIZONA: Final numbers aren’t expected until Friday as the state’s vote-counting process moves glacially slow. With 61% of the vote in, Republican KARI LAKE trails Democrat KATIE HOBBS by roughly 43,000 votes. In the state’s Senate contest, Democrat incumbent MARK KELLY leads Republican challenger BLAKE MASTERS by nearly 120,000 votes.

IN PENNSYLVANIA: Lieutenant Governor and stroke-haver JOHN FETTERMAN beat TV doctor MEHMET OZ. Democrat JOSH SHAPIRO trounced his Trump-backed Republican opponent for the governorship.

IN NEVADA: Republican ADAM LAXALT holds a slim, 16,000-vote lead over Democrat CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO in the race for US Senate.

FOR THE SENATE: With an uncalled race in Nevada and Georgia headed for a runoff next month, it’s very possible the Democrats will either maintain control where Vice President KAMALA HARRIS casts deciding votes, or Democrats even hold a 51-to-49 seat majority.

FOR THE HOUSE: As of 3:30 am, Republicans had 197 confirmed wins to Democrats’ 168. A majority requires 218 seats. Forecasts suggest Republicans will reach this threshold but they have not yet formally done so. Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY claimed victory in a televised speech for a Republican majority late last night.

WORTH NOTING: Florida’s Constitution limits governors to two consecutive terms. If DeSantis were to run for president in 2028, he’d have been out of office for two years at this point. Trump-backed candidates floundered Wednesday across the country. The GOP needs to unite behind a visionary leader with a clear message.

DeSantis is that leader.

ALSO WORTH NOTING: Ultimately, Democrats poured millions of dollars into primary races to bolster Republicans closely aligned with former President DONALD TRUMP in the hopes of making them easier targets at midterms. This strategy appears to have paid off.

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LOTTERY

After a delay, due to “security and technical issues,” Powerball numbers were finally drawn on Tuesday morning.

A single winning ticket for the $2.04 BILLION jackpot was sold in California. The amount set a new record for the world’s largest lottery prize.

Tonight’s Powerball drawing will be for a $20 million jackpot or a $9.8 million cash payout.

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SHOWBIZ NEWS

CHRIS EVANS has been named PEOPLE magazine’s 2022 Sexiest Man Alive.

The “Captain America” star landed the coveted spot and will appear on the issue due out November 21.

WORTH NOTING: He was the likely winner last year, but the title was ultimately given to PAUL RUDD.

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SHAKIRA and her sons are moving to Miami after she and their father, her former boyfriend and soccer star GERARD PIQUE reached a new custody arrangement.

An insider confirmed the news to TMZ, saying the singer and “the kids will now move back to her longtime home of Miami, where all the maternal family is.”

In case you missed it, Shakira and Gerard called it quits in June after 11 years together.

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Judge JUDY SHEINDLIN says her former neighbor, JUSTIN BIEBER, was not very…neighborly.

Speaking to Access Hollywood, Judy claimed that Justin used to be “terrified” of her, sharing how he allegedly had his security alert him when she was outside so he wouldn’t accidentally cross paths with her.

“There was a period of time before he grew up -- when he was foolish, and doing foolish things,” she explained.

No word on whether the two have crossed paths since The Biebs has matured and gotten married.

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KATY PERRY came under fire for voting for former Republican-recently-turned-Democrat RICK CARUSO for mayor of Los Angeles.

One Twitter user wrote that the singer voting for Caruso is “not an indication of anything other than a rich white woman voting for a fake democrat…”

Actor CHRIS PRATT also revealed on social media that he was endorsing Caruso because he is a “builder” who “knows how to get s**t done.”

Perry has not commented on the backlash.

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DRAKE and 21 SAVAGE are being sued by Vogue over fake magazine covers they created to promote their new record, “Her Loss.”

According to legal documents obtained by TMZ, CONDE NAST, which owns Vogue, claims they “have not endorsed [“Her Loss”] in any way” and have asked several times for the promos featuring the Vogue name to be taken down.

Drake says they were given the all-clear by editor-in-chief ANNA WINTOUR.

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MATTY HEALY, frontman for the band The 1975, chowed down on some raw meat during their recent concert in Madison Square Garden.

Pausing in the middle of the show, Healy dropped to his knees and took a big bite of a raw slab of steak.

No explanation has been offered for why he did what he did.

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AARON CARTER was working hard on new music just weeks before his death.

His manager Taylor Helgeson told TMZ that Aaron was working on “Love 2,” a sequel album to his 2018 album.

Taylor says Aaron’s goal for the project was to use the lyrics to fix his relationship with his big brother, NICK CARTER, and the rest of his family.

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CASTING CALL

CASEY ANTHONY has emerged from the shadows for a tell-all interview about her daughter’s murder.

For the first time, Casey will sit down and tell her side of the story, 11 years after being found not guilty in her daughter, CAYLEE ANTHONY’s murder.

“Casey Anthony: Where The Truth Lies” will air in three parts on Peacock, premiering November 29.

RECAP: The case of the missing toddler gripped the nation, with more than 40 million people tuning in to watch the trial. To the shock of many, Casey was acquitted of capital murder, aggravated child abuse and aggravated manslaughter of a child. It is still unknown exactly how little Caylee died, and who is responsible for her death. The 3-part limited series will allow Casey to tell her side of what happened, with interviews from those who still think she did it.

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Director SHAWN LEVY is in talks to develop a new “Star Wars” film.

No details beyond that have been shared, though Deadline reports that work on that project won’t begin until Levy finishes directing “Deadpool 3” for Marvel.

WORTH NOTING: Lucasfilm hasn’t released a “Star Wars” film in theaters since 2019’s “Episode IX: The Rise of Walker.”

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More than 12.5 million baseball fans tuned in to watch the Houston Astros defeat the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6 on FOX over the weekend.

That number is down from the 14.3 million who tuned in last year to watch the Atlanta Braves beat the Astros, according to Nielsen.

The first five games of the series were fairly similar when it came to viewers from last year to this year.

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THE DAILY KARDASHOPUS

KANYE WEST is being sued by Boogie Down Productions over allegations that part of his song “Life of the Party” copies one of their tracks.

Phase One Network Inc, which owns copyright interests in Boogie Down’s song “South Bronx,” has filed suit against Ye claiming his song includes “an exact reproduction of horn hits, a drum part and a melody from Boogie Down’s song.”

“This appears to be an ongoing practice of Mr. West, using other people’s music without paying for it,” Phase One’s attorney Gary Adelman stated.

Reps for Ye did not comment on the allegations.

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WE’LL NEVER BE ROYALS

MEGHAN MARKLE says she is “rethinking” how she parents son Archie and daughter Lilibet, after chatting with Ariel Investments co-CEO, MELLODY HOBSON, on a recent episode of her “Archetypes” podcast.

Hobson spoke about growing up poor and how in sixth grade she found an orthodontist that offered her a payment plan to get some work done on her teeth.

In response, Meg said “If that’s what yields you, then I’ve really got to up my game with our kids being self-sufficient.”

She later used the same story to segway into a lesson about how women are afraid to ask for what they want over fear of being labeled as “pushy.”

WORTH ASKING: How can Meg compare the lifestyle of her kids to someone who grew up with very little?

ALSO: Her kids are toddlers. There is very little they should be self-sufficient at.

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SPORTS

This weekend’s Kansas City Chiefs vs. Los Angeles Chargers game has been flexed to “Sunday Night Football” on NBC.

The game was originally supposed to take place at 3:25 CT on CBS. That spot will now be held by the Cincinnati Bengals vs. Pittsburgh Steelers game.

WORTH NOTING: The Chiefs defeated the Chargers in Week 2.

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DAY OF THE YEAR

National Fried Chicken Sand

World Freedom Day

Carl Sagan Day

National Scrapple Day

British Pudding Day

National Louisiana Day

Chaos Never Dies Day

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ON THIS DATE

1872 - A fire in Boston kills 14 and levels hundreds of buildings.

The blaze began in a warehouse basement, and quickly spread to nearby homes and small factories. Roofs were widely made of wood, which made the fires spread quickly, especially with strong winds that night.

Boston did have a rudimentary hydrant system, but it proved ineffective. With the help of firefighters from Maine and Connecticut, the fire was put out by the following morning.

In rebuilding the town, Boston set up a financial district that remains today.

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1906 - President Teddy Roosevelt departs the US on board the battleship Louisiana, en route to Panama.

His visit came on the heels of his support to overthrow the Colombian government, in part to aid the construction of the Panama Canal.

Roosevelt checked out the beginning phases of construction on the project. Afterward, he toured Puerto Rico.

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1923 - German police forces push against the Nazi Party.

It had recently gained power and control with the Beer Hall Putsch a few days prior.

In the fighting between police and Nazis, Hitler's elbow became dislocated, and Hermann Goering took a bullet to the groin.

Ultimately 16 Nazis and 3 German police were killed.

Hitler was captured and tried and convicted of treason. While in prison, he wrote “Mein Kampf” and honed his oratory skills. When he was released, he relaunched the Nazi Party -- and the rest is morbid history.

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1960 - Robert McNamara is named President of Ford.

He would only hold the post for a month, though, before taking a spot in JFK's cabinet as Secretary of Defense.

McNamara kept the spot under Johnson, and afterward, became president of the World Bank.

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1990 - The IRS nails Willie Nelson for the $16.7 million he owed in back taxes.

He was primarily in trouble for hiding money in an illegal tax shelter. The IRS negotiated a $6 million cash payment to forgive the whole bill -- but Willie was broke.

Feds seized his house and put it up for auction. A die-hard Willie Nelson fan bought the ranch, which found its way back to the singer's hands.

Part of the revenues from Nelson's next album, “The IRS Tapes,” funded his debt bill. He paid it off entirely in 1993.

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2015 – SeaWorld in San Diego announces it will overhaul its killer whale show after controversy over the whales’ treatment.

The show which has been a part of the park’s identity for decades was replaced with a conservation-based show.

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2020 - COVID-19 cases in the US pass 10 million. The death toll is over 237,000.

Pfizer also announces their COVID-19 vaccine is 90% effective -- though against what exactly is still up for debate.

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BIRTHDAYS

Cheyenne Pyle - the youngest heart transplant patient (90 minutes old) - 26

Finn Cole - actor, “Peaky Blinders” - 27

Shelby Wulfert - actress, “Liv and Maddie” - 29

Nikki Blonsky - actress, “Hairspray” - 34

French Montana - rapper - 38

Chris Lane - country singer - 38

Vanessa Lachey - actress, “TRL” & “The Bold and the Beautiful” - 42

Cory Hardict - actor, “Gran Torino” & “Lovelace” - 43

Sisqo - R&B singer - 44

Nick Lachey - pop singer, 98 Degrees - 49

Eric Dane - actor, “Grey’s Anatomy” & “The Last Ship” - 50

Scarface - rapper - 52

Chris Jericho - wrestler - 52

Ryan Murphy - TV producer - 57

Lou Ferrigno - actor, “Incredible Hulk” - 71

Born On This Date

Caroline Flack - TV show host, “Love Island” - 1979 (d. 2020)

Carl Sagan - astronomer - 1934 (d. 1996)

Dorothy Dandridge - actress, “Carmen Jones” - 1922 (d. 1965)

Heidi Lamarr - actress, “Boom Town” - 1914 (d. 2000)

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