Discover more from Morning Martini
3/23/2022: Stormy Daniels Owes Trump
PLUS: Hilary Gets Covid, Amanda Bynes’ Conservatorship, and Prince Andrew Update
Today is Wednesday, March 23, 2022
It is the 82nd day of the year.
283 days remain.
TRENDING
#DrivingThroughTheDesert was trending Tuesday. Tweets included, “and want to meet wild sand cats,” “you’ll see many interesting plants,” “is better than walking through the desert,” “someone had to have mentioned a horse with no name right” and “oh wait, that doesn’t say dessert.”
In honor of #WorldWaterDay, Twitter was full of tweets about the importance of water, including conservation efforts to ensure there is enough for future generations.
Twitter users tweeted out thanks to farmers yesterday on #NationalAgDay.
#DisneyDoBetter landed in Twitter’s Top 10 Trends as Disney employees participated in a walkout on Tuesday. The walkout was in response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
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CHARTS
Top 5 Fiction & Nonfiction Books Currently on the New York Times Best Sellers List:
FICTION:
“Run, Rose, Run,” James Patterson
“Shadows Reel,” C.J. Box
"It Ends With Us," Colleen Hoover
“High Stakes,” Danielle Steel
“Verity,” Colleen Hoover
NONFICTION:
“One Damn Thing After Another,” William P. Barr
“In Love,” Amy Bloom
“The Body Keeps The Score,” Bessel van der Kolk
“Allow Me To Retort,” Elie Mystal
“From Strength to Strength,” Arthur C. Brooks
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BABY NEWS
JACK OSBOURNE, 36, and his fiancee AREE GEARHART, 31, are expecting their first child together.
This will be Gearhart’s first, while Osbourne is already a dad to Pearl, 9, Andy, 6, and Minnie, 4, with ex-wife LISA STELLY.
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BURT JENNER, 43, welcomed his third child, a daughter, with longtime girlfriend VALERIE on Sunday.
Burt, the son of CAITLYN JENNER and CHRYSTIE SCOTT, and Valerie are already parents to Bodhi, 5, and Behr, 3.
The little girl is Caitlyn’s 20th grandchild.
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Rapper BLACKBEAR, 31, and his fiancee MICHELE MATURO welcomed their second child together, a little boy named Morrissey Onyx Musto, on March 12.
The newborn joins big brother Midnight Thomas, 2.
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SICK BAY
HILARY CLINTON has COVID-19.
The 74-year-old tweeted about her positive test results on Tuesday, telling followers that she is experiencing “some mild cold symptoms,” but otherwise “feeling fine.”
Bill has tested negative.
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LOTTERY
No winner for Monday night’s Powerball drawing. Tonight’s drawing will be for a $167 million jackpot or a $109 millions cash payout.
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SHOWBIZ NEWS
On Tuesday, Florida authorities released photos of the hotel room where BOB SAGET was found deceased on January 9.
One snapshot shows a white, padded headboard in the hotel room where investigators theorize that the actor may have hit his head. Another photo shows Saget’s toiletries sitting on the bathroom counter, and a third shows the room’s sitting area.
The images come just days after an incident report was released by the chief medical examiner. The report states that the fracture to Saget’s skull, “coupled with the fact that the skin on the back of the head was still intact,” meant he hit it on “something hard, covered by something soft” — such as the padded headboard.
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KELLY CLARKSON spoke out about her recent name change.
The singer told “PEOPLE” that she just kept her middle name for her personal life and is still Kelly Clarkson in all other aspects.
“I don’t think I can change Clarkson at this point. I’m 20 years in,” she joked.
As previously reported, Clarkson wanted to change her name to Kelly Brianne following her divorce from DAVID BLACKSTOCK.
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After becoming the first comedian to sell out Dodger Stadium, GABRIEL “Fluffy” IGLESIAS has added a second show at the venue.
The newly announced “Fluffy on the Field” is set for Friday, May 6.
As with the first, the new show is part of Netflix Is a Joke: The Festival.
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GARY LAI, the chief architect of Blue Origin’s “New Shepard” shuttle program, will take PETE DAVIDSON’s vacated seat on the forthcoming flight.
As previously reported, Davidson was forced to drop out of the mission after the date of the flight changed.
The flight, originally set for today, will now blast off on March 29.
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RACHEL ZEGLER will be at the Oscars after all.
Over the weekend, the “West Side Story” actress revealed that she did not receive an invite to the awards show, despite her film being nominated in several categories.
On Tuesday, multiple outlets reported that Zegler not only got invited to the ceremony, but will also present one of the night’s awards.
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CASTING CALL
DAVID SPADE is getting ready to release his first-ever Netflix comedy special.
The 57-year-old, who already launched a podcast and voiced a character in “Hotel Transylvania: Transformania” this year, will drop his “Nothing Personal” special on April 26.
The stand-up special was filmed at the Pantages Theater in Minneapolis.
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Rumor is…BEYONCE may open the 2022 Oscars.
The first-time Oscar nominee is in talks to perform “Be Alive,” her Best Original Song entry from the soundtrack of the film “King Richard,” according to insiders.
The 2022 Oscars, hosted by AMY SCHUMER, REGINA HALL and WANDA SYKES, will air live from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles this Sunday.
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CHRISTINA RICCI has joined the cast of “Wednesday.”
The 42-year-old is rumored to be replacing THORA BIRCH in an unnamed role after the latter exited the Netflix series last year, Deadline reports.
As many may remember, Ricci played Wednesday Addams in the 1990’s franchise “The Addams Family.”
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LUKE COMBS, MIRANDA LAMBERT, KEITH URBAN, MAREN MORRIS, RYAN HURD, LITTLE BIG TOWN, KANE BROWN, CARLY PEARCE, CODY JOHNSON and KELSEA BALLERINI will perform at the 2022 CMT Music Awards.
Ballerini will also host the show with actor ANTHONY MACKIE.
The awards ceremony is set for April 11.
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Season 5 of “Selling Sunset” will drop on April 22.
Netflix announced the date this week, while also introducing the newest cast member, real estate agent CHELSEA LAZKANI.
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MCKENNA GRACE is set to star alongside ANNA PAQUIN and COLIN HANKS in “A Friend of the Family.”
The story follows the harrowing true story of the Broberg family, whose daughter Jan was kidnapped multiple times by an obsessed family friend.
Grace will play Jan Broberg in the later years. Hanks and Paquin will play her parents.
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DANIELA MELCHIOR has joined the cast of “Fast and Furious 10.”
She joins series stars VIN DIESEL, TYRESE GIBSON, LUDACRIS, MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ and SUNG KANG.
Plot details are unknown.
It is set to be released on May 19, 2023.
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The final episodes of Netflix series “Grace and Frankie” will drop on April 29.
Four episodes of the seventh and final season of the show already aired as part of a surprise release in August 2021.
JANE FONDA and LILY TOMLIN star in the series.
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COURT CASES
A judge officially terminated AMANDA BYNES’ conservatorship on Tuesday.
After nine years, the actress will be able to make personal and financial decisions for herself, her attorney told TMZ.
Bynes filed docs in February asking for the conservatorship to end.
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Adult film star STORMY DANIELS lost her appeal in her failed defamation lawsuit against DONALD TRUMP and has been ordered to pay the former president almost $300,000 in legal fees.
In response to the ruling, Daniels tweeted “I will go to jail before I pay a penny.”
Trump called the ruling a “total and complete victory and vindication.”
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THE DAILY KARDASHOPUS
KYLE JENNER and TRAVIS SCOTT have decided their newborn son’s name simply “doesn’t fit him” so they have decided to change it.
The infant was given the name Wolf Jacques Webster at birth.
It is unclear what they have changed it to, if anything.
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WE’LL NEVER BE ROYALS
PRINCE ANDREW will attend next week’s memorial service for PRINCE PHILIP.
According to his spokesperson, Andrew will be in attendance for the service at Westminster Abbey on March 29 — his first public appearance since settling his civil sex assault case.
With the exception of PRINCE HARRY and MEGHAN MARKLE, all senior British royals will be in attendance.
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SPORTS
The Boston Red Sox will honor the late JERRY REMY by wearing a commemorative patch for the upcoming 2022 regular season.
Remy called Red Sox games for more than 30 years after playing for the team and later serving as a coach.
He passed away in October at 68-years-old following multiple bouts with cancer.
The team will also honor Remy with a ceremony before the April 20 game at Fenway Park against the Blue Jays.
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PHIL MICKELSON won’t play in next month’s Masters at Augusta National Golf Club for the first time since 1994.
The 51-year-old was listed as a “past champion not playing” on the Masters website, according to multiple outlets.
Mickelson’s reputation took a hit after he stated his support for a breakaway Saudi Arabian-back golf league, despite their “scary” human rights violations. After being criticized by fellow golfers, and being dropped by sponsors, Mickelson decided to take some time away from the sport.
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DAY OF THE YEAR
National Chia Day
National Chip and Dip Day
National Near Miss Day
National Melba Toast Day
National Puppy Day
National Tamale Day
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ON THIS DATE
1775 – American Revolutionary Patrick Henry voices his famous phrase, “Give me liberty or give me death!”
Henry spoke at the second Virginia Convention, where the discussion included declaring independence from British colonial rule.
Later, Henry would become the governor of Virginia by the Continental Congress, following the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
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1806 – Explorers Lewis and Clark begin their return trip from the American West Coast.
They had settled at Fort Clatsop for the winter, when they arrived the previous November.
Meriwether Lewis understood that the group may not make the return trip East. He left a list of names of those on the expedition with a local Indian chief, and asked the chief to give it to any civilized trading groups he encountered, so the world would know he and his crew made it all the way West.
Exactly seven months later, on September 23, 1806, the crew returned to St. Louis, where their expedition into the wild began.
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1919 – Italian socialist publisher Benito Mussolini creates the Italian fascist party.
The party called for a strong centralized government, national unity, and squashing dissident voices.
Three years later, Mussolini was tasked with forming a new government by the ceremonial monarch of Italy, and Mussolini became prime minister.
With the strong backing of the national police, Mussolini quickly rose to prominence as a dictator. In the ramp up to the second world war, he became a powerful ally to the Axis powers.
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1983 – President Ronald Reagan first proposes the missile defense system later known as the Strategic Defense Initiative.
By critics, it was mockingly called "Star Wars."
The defense program called for developing anti-missile technology and sharing it with the Soviets in order to deter intercontinental missile launches.
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1994 – Wayne Gretzky scores the 802nd goal of his NHL career, setting a new record that stands to this day.
The previous record holder was Gordie Howe, who was Gretzky's childhood idol.
Throughout his career, Gretzky broke 61 offensive scoring records.
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2005 – A major explosion at BP’s Texas City Refinery kills 15 workers and injures 180.
The explosion occurred when a hydrocarbon vapor cloud was ignited at the ISOM isomerization process unit.
The refinery was the second-largest in the state and third-largest in the United States.
BP sold the refinery in 2013 to Marathon Petroleum Corporation for $2.5 billion.
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2020 - The WHO says the COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating.
The first 100,000 cases took 67 days, the second 100,000 cases took 11 days and the third set of 100,000 cases only took 4 days.
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BIRTHDAYS
Victoria Pedretti - actress, “The Haunting of Hill House” & “You” - 27
JP Saxe - pop singer - 29
Kyrie Irving - basketball player - 30
Vanessa Morgan - actress, “Riverdale” - 30
Gordon Howard - basketball player - 32
Ben Higgins - reality star, “Bachelor” - 33
Ayesha Curry - TV show host & author - 33
Brett Eldredge - country singer - 36
CJ Perry - wrestler - 37
Brett Young - country singer - 41
Russell Howard - comedian - 42
Perez Hilton - reality blogger - 44
Randall Park - actor, “Fresh Off The Boat” & “Veep” - 48
Damon Albarn - rock singer, Blur - 54
Chaka Khan - R&B singer - 69
Rex Tillerson - former Secretary of State - 70
Born On This Date
Tony Burton - actor, “Rocky” films - 1937 (d. 2016)
Joan Crawford - actress, “Mildred Pierce” - 1908 (d. 1977)
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