Today is Wednesday, February 26, 2025.
It is the 57th day of the year.
308 days remain.
WHAT’S ON TAP
NOTABLE & NOTEWORTHY: SAM BANKMAN-FRIED returns to X.
The NFL has a BILLION reasons to appreciate TAYLOR SWIFT and ROBERTA FLACK may soon get her star. More in SHOWBIZ.
RACHEL MADDOW fights back and JON STEWART cuts his hand. Details in CASTING CALL.
Rumors abound that MEGHAN MARKLE has lost her reps. Details in ROYALS.
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SAM BANKMAN-FRIED has regained access to his X account from behind bars, where he’s in the first months of a more than two-decade sentence.
In his first posts since January 2023, the disgraced crypto fraudster weighed in on the government’s mass layoffs. In a ten-post thread, SBF said that firing people is “one of the hardest things to do in the world” that “sucks for everyone involved.”
On an empathetic note, he said that when employees are canned it’s often because the organization doesn’t know what to do with them or how to effectively manage them. After offering some of his own anecdotal stories, he concludes, “But there’s no point in keeping them around, doing nothing.” [via Sam Bankman-Fried]
WORTH NOTING: It’s no secret that Bankman-Fried and his parents are trying to claw their way into the president’s inner circle for a shot at a pardon. This could be an attempt to curry favor with the administration.
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Thieves have been targeting freight trans hauling cargo between California and Arizona in recent months, with an apparent eye on Nike sneakers that aren’t due to go on sale to the public until later this year.
Last month, a gang of at least 11 people worked together to cut the brakes of a train in a remote section of Arizona before making off with 1900 pairs of sneakers worth north of $440,000. The robbery was one of at least ten similar heists over the last year; in all but one, the crooks specifically made off with Nike sneakers.
Fortunately, police have rounded up the culprits behind the latest robbery. Ten of the eleven are illegal immigrants from Mexico; the eleventh is a documented asylum-seeker. All have pleaded not guilty. [via AP]
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ROBERTA FLACK’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is hiding in plain sight.
According to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, the late singer was selected for a star in 1999, but a ceremony date was never chosen, meaning the honor was never unveiled.
Now, the organization hopes family members will reach out to set up a posthumous honor. [via TMZ]
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While hosting an episode of “Pop Culture Jeopardy!,” COLIN JOST revealed he once went dumpster diving for wife SCARLETT JOHANSSON’s missing engagement ring.
After being told she may have “accidentally” thrown it out, Jost says he “looked through 12 dumpsters of trash,” to no avail. Turns out, the ring was in Johansson’s pocket the entire time.
“It was a great day for me,” he joked. [via People]
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AYO EDEBIRI will write and star in an upcoming live-action “Barney” movie.
From the creative mind of DANIEL KALUUYA, the project “will speak to the nostalgia of the brand in a way that will resonate with adults, while entertaining today’s kids,” according to a press release.
The TV series, “Barney & Friends,” aired from 1992 to 2009. [via Variety]
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UP NEXT: More numbers on the NFL’s “Swift Bump,” JON STEWART’s bloody broadcast, details on a prolific IRS leaker, and a transglobal flight on this date in history.
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