3/3/2022: Amazon Closes Up Shops
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3/3/2022: Amazon Closes Up Shops
PLUS: Moon Impact, The Jennifer Hudson Show, and Kim K Declared Legally Single
Today is Thursday, March 3, 2022.
It is the 62nd day of the year.
303 days remain.
TRENDING
#AshWednesday was trending yesterday. Social media users posted selfies with ashes in the shape of a cross on their foreheads. The day marks the first day of Lent.
#ReadAcrossAmericaDay landed in Twitter’s Top 10 Trends on Wednesday. Twitter was full of tweets about users’ favorite books in honor of the special day. The day falls on Dr. Seuss’ birthday each year.
Twitter users were still discussing the State of the Union yesterday. Tweets were a range of praise and displeasure.
Girl Scouts was trending after Insider Life released an article about troops being harassed by angry adults during Girl Scout cookie season.
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HIT LIST
The United Nations passed a resolution demanding immediate Russian withdrawal. Five terrible countries voted against it: Belarus, Eritrea, North Korea, Russia, and Syria. A handful of other countries abstained from the vote.
COMING FOR THE OLIGARCHS: Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich is looking to sell Chelsea Football Club, for around $2 billion. German authorities have seized the yacht belonging to Alisher Usmanov.
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In the three weeks since Sweden eliminated all restrictions, cases have declined an astonishing 88.8%.
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The Dow finished up nearly 600 points on Wednesday. The S&P jumped 80 points.
WTI (West Texas Intermediate) Crude Oil hit $112 a barrel Wednesday, the highest since 2011. Brent Crude surpassed $113 a barrel, the highest since 2014.
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Amazon is coming full circle: getting out of the physical bookstore business.
The first shops opened in 2015, and eventually 68 were opened around the globe. Now the company says it’s shutting those down in the coming weeks.
Employees will be reassigned or offered severance.
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A Texas AirBNB owner is facing 15 counts of invasive visual recording for perving on the guests staying at his cabin.
Jay Allee allegedly hid a tiny camera in what appeared to be a power adapter for an internet router, and used it for at least nine months on his guests. One couple finally inspected the device and contacted law enforcement.
IT GETS WORSE: The Sun reports that Allee actively encouraged his guests to watch the sunrise in the nude.
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Astronomers keeping tabs on unconfirmed space junk set to impact the moon estimate its impact will create a crater up to 66 feet across and scatter moon dust for miles.
The refuse was originally believed to be a spent SpaceX rocket, but now is more likely to be part of a 2014 Chinese moon mission. For their part, China’s space agency says it’s not.
While several spacecraft have impacted the moon intentionally or as part of a botched landing mission, this will be the first piece of space junk to hit the lunar surface. It’s expected to impact some time Friday.
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CHARTS
An episode of “Wheel of Fortune” had viewers shaking their heads in disbelief this week after the three contestants struggled to solve a common phrase.
Check out a clip of the baffling moment shared to Twitter by @RADonaldson.
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DEATHS
ALAN LADD has died.
The veteran film producer passed away Wednesday at his home, according to a social media post from his daughter. No other details were shared.
He was 84.
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KATIE MEYER has died.
The Stanford soccer star passed away unexpectedly this week. No details of her passing were shared.
She was 22.
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KIRK BAILEY has died.
The actor, known for his role as Kevin “Ug” Lee in the Nickelodeon show “Salute Your Shorts,” passed away over the weekend from lung cancer, his family said in a statement.
He was 59.
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CHARLES CRISS has died.
The older brother of actor DARREN CRISS took his own life last month. The date and circumstances of his death are not known.
He was 36.
In response to his brother’s death, Darren sent out a powerful message about mental health.
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BABY NEWS
Actor MICHAEL SHEEN, 53, is expecting his second child with girlfriend, Swedish actress ANNA LUNDBERG, 27.
The couple are already parents to 2-year-old daughter Lyra, while Sheen has a 23-year-old daughter, named Lily, whom he shares with his ex, actress KATE BECKINSALE.
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Baby #2 is on the way for actress SOPHIE TURNER, 26, and musician JOE JONAS, 32.
The couple are already parents to 1-year-old daughter Willa.
Pregnancy rumors first sparked last month, when Turner was photographed holding her stomach while wearing a crop top.
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BREAKUPS
Actor CHRIS PINE, 41, and actress ANNABELLE WALLIS, 37, have called it quits after four years together.
A source confirmed the split to Entertainment Tonight, but did not speculate on a reason why.
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RELATIONSHIPS
Actress SYDNEY SWEENEY, 24, is engaged to her longtime boyfriend, restaurateur JONATHAN DAVINO, 37.
The couple sparked engagement rumors earlier this week when Sweeney was spotted with a massive rock on her ring finger.
The pair have been together since 2018.
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SICK BAY
SCOTT HALL in the hospital after breaking his hip during a fall.
Hall’s friend JERRY JARRETT shared the news in a Facebook post, telling his followers to pray for the WWE legend.
Hall is scheduled to participate in several events leading up to WrestleMania in Dallas next month. It is unknown if the injury will prevent that.
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THE SWAMP
During Tuesday night’s State of the Union, President JOE BIDEN’s Twitter account posted that Ford and General Motors are investing in electric cars and creating American manufacturing jobs.
ELON MUSK felt a little left out. He replied, “Tesla has created over 50,000 US jobs building electric vehicles & is investing more than double GM + Ford combined [fyi to person controlling this twitter].”
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Confirmations hearing for Judge KETANJI BROWN JACKSON’s nomination to the Supreme Court will start the week of March 21.
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Let’s talk about media bias.
Politifact takes on the claim that the United States increased its imports of oil from Russia in 2021.
Headline: “The U.S. did not double oil imports from Russia in the last year.”
And then in the SECOND (!!) bullet point of the fact-check, the author writes, “The U.S. did double the amount of crude oil imported from Russia last year.” Here’s their caveat: “But Russia accounts for only about 3% of overall U.S. crude oil imports in 2021.”
DOESN’T MATTER: It still doubled.
Here’s another one:
HEADLINE: “Keystone wouldn’t simply offset oil US imports from Russia.”
And in the FIRST (!!) bullet point, the author writes, “The Keystone pipeline, which President Joe Biden canceled, would have transported more oil per day than the U.S. imports from Russia…”
The writer then jumps through hoops to explain how regulations and legal challenges would make that output unlikely by now.
WORTH NOTING: If it hadn’t been stalled by former President BARACK OBAMA and environmentalist kooks, it could already be flowing. This whataboutism doesn’t get to just exist in a convenient vacuum of feelgoodery to excuse the Democrat Party’s incompetence.
ALSO WORTH NOTING: Only deeply entrenched slaves to bureaucratic process insist that any government project must move glacially slow. Trump proved time and again the ability to move decisively and quickly when given the need and opportunity (e.g. ventilators, vaccine development, repealing red tape).
WORTH ASKING: What reason does Politifact have to so blatantly obfuscate the truth?
ALSO WORTH ASKING: Why are they suddenly so interested in nuance and finesse, when they still take former PRESIDENT TRUMP literally and at face value for every single statement?
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LOTTERY
No winner for Tuesday night’s Mega Millions drawing. Friday night’s drawing will be for a $113 million jackpot or a $77 million cash payout.
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SHOWBIZ NEWS
RANDY NEWMAN is postponing his European tour as he recovers from neck surgery.
The 78-year-old told The Post that he saw a doctor after noticing that he was “shrinking.” The doctor told him that his neck was broken and he would need to undergo surgery to avoid more permanent issues.
New tour dates will be announced soon.
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WINNIE HARLOW has launched her first skincare brand, CAY Skin.
The 27-year-old supermodel told PEOPLE magazine about her line, saying it is “for everyone under the sun.”
The products are available now on cayskin.com and will be available on sephora.com on March 22 and in-store on April 1.
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PARIS JACKSON’s upcoming tour is being promoted by AEG — the company that ran her father, MICHAEL JACKSON’s last and final tour.
As many may remember, the company was sued by the Jackson family for Micheal’s wrongful death — a fatal drug overdose. The Jackson family lost the suit, with a jury ruling that Micheal’s death was due to his own drug abuse.
Neither Paris nor AEG have commented on the partnership.
Paris’ tour kicks off this month.
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DUA LIPA is being sued by a Florida reggae band who claims that the singer ripped off one of their songs for her hit “Levitating.”
The 26-year-old was hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit this week from members of Artikal Sound System, who allege that her tune sounds a lot like their 2017 song “Live Your Life.”
Lipa released “Levitating” on her 2020 album “Future Nostalgia.” She has not commented on the suit.
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CAMILA CABELLO and ED SHEERAN teased their new single “Bam Bam” on Wednesday, with a clip from the music video.
The song will be released tomorrow.
WORTH NOTING: The pair previously collaborated on “South of the Border,” which appeared on Sheehan’s album “No. 6 Collaborations Project.”
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MATT REEVES, director of “The Batman,” missed the world premiere of the new movie after testing positive for COVID-19.
Stars of the flick, ROBERT PATTINSON, ZOË KRAVITZ, JOHN TURTURRO, COLIN FARRELL, PETER SARSGAARD, JEFFREY WRIGHT, PAUL DANO, ANDY SERKIS and JAYME LAWSON attended the event in New York on Tuesday night, while Reeves had to sit out and quarantine.
He told Variety that missing the premiere is a “great heartbreak.”
WORTH NOTING: Reeves, who is 55, is double-vaccinated and boostered.
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The MTV Movie & TV Awards will take place Sunday, June 5.
Further details will be announced at a later date.
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CASTING CALL
JENNIFER HUDSON is heading back to the small screen with her own self-titled talk series.
The one-hour daytime talk show will debut this fall on FOX.
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EVAN RACHEL WOOD will star alongside DANIEL RADCLIFFE in “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” for Roku.
According to the streaming service, Wood will play Madonna.
For those unfamiliar with the connection, Madonna and Yankovic crossed paths when he parodied her song “Like a Virgin” with “Like a Surgeon” in 1985.
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The History Channel is teaming up with LEONARDO DICAPRIO, RAY LIOTTA, PIERCE BROSNAN, PEYTON MANNING and ROBIN ROBERTS for six new series.
DiCaprio will work on “Sitting Bull,” Liotta on “Five Families,” Brosnan will host “History’s Greatest Heists,” Manning will produce “History’s Greatest of All-Time with Peyton Manning and “The Einstein Challenge” and last, Roberts will executive produce “Harlem Hellfighters.”
No word on when the series will premiere.
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FOX has renewed “Next Level Chef” for a second season.
The cooking competition series stars GORDON RAMSAY, NYESHA ARRINGTON and RICHARD BLAIS, who run a culinary gauntlet.
Contestants are each assigned a chef and a varied level of ingredients of which to create a master dish.
The winner walks away with a $250,000 grand prize.
The Season One finale episode aired last night.
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MARY J. BLIGE will executive produce a movie, titled “Real Love,” for Lifetime.
The new original film is inspired by her hit ‘90s song of the same name.
According to Deadline, the romantic drama centers on Kendra, a college freshmen in upstate New York. After meeting her film class partner, Ben, Kendra has a hard time focusing on her studies. Despite many obstacles that stand in their way, the two fall hard for each other and learn the “meaning of real love.”
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CBS has renewed “The Bold and the Beautiful” for two more years.
The soap has been on air for 35 years.
The renewal brings “B&B” up to par with “The Young and Restless,” which CBS also renewed through 2024.
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THE DAILY KARDASHOPUS
KIM KARDASHIAN is officially single.
A judge granted Kim’s request to end her marriage to KANYE WEST on Wednesday.
Kim appeared at the hearing via video chat, while Ye was nowhere to be seen. His lawyer — one of the few he has not fired — did not object to restoring Kim’s single status.
She has been asking to have her single status restored since December, when she told the court that she “very much desires to be divorced.”
WORTH NOTING: The ruling also means Kanye is single too.
AFTER COURT: Kanye dropped a music video for his song “Eazy” — the one that features the verse, “God saved me from the crash, just so I can beat Pete Davidson’s ass.” The video shows an animated Pete being buried alive by Ye.
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What do you do when you get dumped by a Kardashian? Apparently have a late-night dinner.
KANYE WEST and TRISTAN THOMPSON were spotted grabbing a bite to eat at The Setai Hotel in Miami on Tuesday night — one day before the court hearing regarding Ye’s divorce from KIM KARDASHIAN.
The two men were joined by a couple of women, eyewitnesses told TMZ.
It is unknown if Ye’s current muse CHANEY JONES was one of the women.
WORTH ASKING: Should all the KarJenner exes form a support group?
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WE’LL NEVER BE ROYALS
One royal biographer thinks there is no way PRINCE HARRY will travel to the UK for his grandmother’s Platinum Jubilee.
Tom Bower, who is currently working on a biography of MEGHAN MARKLE, told Closer magazine that he believes Harry is using the security issues as an “excuse” not to head back home.
Bower told the publication that the real reason Harry doesn’t want to see his family is because of his bombshell memoir, which is due to be published just a few months after the special event.
“How can Harry come back and pretend all is fine? The worst of what he will say is yet to come,” Bower added.
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SPORTS
The International Paralympic Committee has decided to allow Russian athletes to compete, but with some restrictions in place.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the IPC said that athletes from Russia and Belarus will be allowed to compete in the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games but they will be listed as “neutral athletes.”
Also, athletes from those nations will not be included at their medal tables if they win an event.
IPC President Andrew Parsons said the decision was the “harshest” one that could be made “without breaking [the organization’s] constitution.”
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Indiana Pacers forward JALEN SMITH has been fined $20,000 for “directing profane language toward a game official.”
The incident went down after Smith was ejected during a loss in Orlando Monday.
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PAT BALDWIN has been fired as head coach of the UW-Milwaukee Panthers.
Following the team’s loss in the first-round of the Horizon League tournament on Tuesday, the school announced Baldwin had been released after five seasons as coach.
He leaves the school with an overall record of 57-92.
WORTH NOTING: Baldwin’s replacement will be UWM’s fourth coach in eight seasons.
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DAY OF THE YEAR
National Anthem Day
National Cold Cuts Day
National I Want You to Be Happy Day
National Mulled Wine Day
Soup It Forward Day
National Hospitalist Day
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ON THIS DATE
1873 - Congress enacts the Comstock Act.
This law extended obscenity laws, prohibiting the distribution of obscenities by mail.
One of these obscenities included contraceptive devices and information about abortion by mail.
The law is still on the books, but the test of what qualifies as obscene remains up to the courts.
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1923 - The first issue of Time Magazine hits newsstands.
It was the first weekly newsmagazine in the United States, marketed as an easy-to-read summary of news and events from the week, plus commentary.
Time remains in print today, with European and Asian spinoffs, reaching 25 million subscribers.
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1931 - Congress passes a resolution making “The Star-Spangled Banner” the national anthem.
The lyrics came from a poem written by Francis Scott Key, describing the attack on Fort McHenry by the British navy during the War of 1812.
Before that, “My Country ’Tis of Thee,” was an unofficial national song frequently sung at large public events and gatherings.
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1938 - The world’s fastest steam-powered locomotive is completed.
The Mallard was built by London and North Eastern Railway in Doncaster, England. The record-setting test run happened four months later, on July 3.
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1969 - Apollo 9 is launched from Kennedy Space Center.
The mission was the first to feature the complete Apollo spacecraft, including the Lunar Module. The crew never left the earth’s orbit, testing docking and undocking maneuvers essential to a complete moon-landing mission.
The crew safely splashed down on March 13.
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1991 - Los Angeles police officers severely beat motorist Rodney King.
The incident was caught on amateur video, which later led to riots after the officers were acquitted.
The rioting lasted six days with 63 deaths and 2,383 injured.
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2005 - Steve Fossett completes the first nonstop, unrefueled, solo airplane flight around the world.
For the flight, Fossett piloted a specially designed craft with a carbon-composite airframe and a single Williams jet engine.
He took off from Saline, Kansas and headed east returning to Saline 67 hours and 2 minutes later, after flying 25,000 miles.
He would make the flight again a year later.
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2019 - SpaceX’s Dragon capsule successfully docks at the International Space Station during its demonstration run.
The commercially-developed, unscrewed space capsule arrived at the orbiting lab after completing a one-day rendezvous in Earth’s orbit, following its launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
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BIRTHDAYS
Thomas Barbusca - actor, “Grey’s Anatomy” & “The Thundermans” - 19
Jayson Tatum - basketball player - 24
Camila Cabello - pop singer - 25
Sam Asghari - model & Britney’s fiance - 28
Michael Thomas - football player - 29
Josh Duggar - eldest of 19 Duggar kids - 34
Jessica Biel - actress, “7th Heaven” & “Blade: Trinity” - 40
Buddy Valastro - chef, Cake Boss - 45
Julie Bowen - actress, “Modern Family” - 52
George Miller - director - 77
Born On This Date
Jean Harlow - actress & 1930s' sex goddess, “Dinner at 8” & “Bombshell” - 1911 (d. 1937)
Edmund Lowe - actor, “Black Sheep” & “Dillinger” - 1892 (d. 1971)
Alexander Graham Bell - telephone inventor - 1847 (d. 1922)
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