4/6/2022: Kourtney & Travis Head to the Chapel
PLUS: Elon Musk’s Big Twitter Plans, Student Loan Deferral, and Tiger Woods at the Masters
Today is Wednesday, April 6, 2022.
It is the 96th day of the year.
269 days remain.
TRENDING
#FirstContactDay was trending along with #StarTrek Tuesday. The hashtags were in reference to the meeting of humans and Vulcans which — per the show — takes place on April 5, 2063.
#ThingsYouShouldNeverPayFor landed in Twitter’s Top 10 Trends yesterday. Tweets included, “Catnip,” “a crack pipe, Joe gives them out for free,” “fart jars,” “healthcare,” and “a puppy.”
Several Twitter users called on Elon Musk to reinstate Donald Trump’s Twitter account now that he is the largest shareholder of the company. More on his big plans in Hit List.
Tiger Woods was trending after announcing his decision about this week’s Masters. More in Sports.
#AddABandRuinAQuote was trending Tuesday. Tweets included, “Give me liberty or give me Megadeath!,” “The only thing we have to fear is Tears For Fears itself,” “Never look a gift horse in the Smashmouth…,” and “When life gives you lemons, make Lemonheads.”
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HIT LIST
In a tweet on Tuesday, Elon Musk promised big changes to Twitter: “Looking forward to working with [Twitter’s CEO] & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!”
Still no word on what those details might entail.
MEANWHILE: In an editorial published in the Washington Post, Timothy O’Brien opines, “Elon Musk just bought a $3 billion stake in Twitter, Inc., because when you’re the world’s richest human you can toss billions around like poker chips.”
The sentiment appears under the headline, “Elon Musk’s Twitter Investment Could Be Bad News for Free Speech.”
You know, sort of like Jeff Bezos – who Musk recently dethroned as the world’s richest man – buying the Washington Post and running editorials disparaging his business rivals.
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Here’s an infuriatingly late headline from the Harvard Gazette: “Cost of distancing may outweigh benefits for healthy adults” when it comes to managing covid.
WORTH ASKING: Why are Harvard intellectual dorks only now asking about tradeoffs and cost/benefit analysis?
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Home mortgage interest rates continue their upward climb in an economy flush with cash and surging inflation.
CNBC reports that the average interest rate has exceeded 5% for the first time since 2011.
IN OTHER WORDS: The market is working to cool a white hot seller’s market.
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Sacramento Police have taken a second suspect into custody connected to a mass shooting early Sunday morning that left six dead and at least a dozen more injured.
This suspect is the first suspect’s brother. He’s been a person of interest under law enforcement supervision at the hospital since the shooting took place.
CNN reports that once he’s out of the hospital, he’ll be booked on charges of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and possession of a machine gun
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The Dow dropped 280 points Tuesday, finishing down less than one percent.
Both Brent Crude and West Texas Intermediate resumed trading over $100 a barrel.
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CHARTS
Top 5 Fiction & Nonfiction Books Currently on the New York Times Best Sellers List:
FICTION:
“Where The Crawdads Sing,” Delia Owens
“Run, Rose, Run,” James Patterson
“The Recovery Agent,” Janet Evanovich
"It Ends With Us," Colleen Hoover
“Verity,” Colleen Hoover
NONFICTION:
“The Body Keeps The Score,” Bessel van der Kolk
“One Damn Thing After Another,” William P. Barr
“The 1619 Project,” edited by Nikole Hannah-Jones, Caitlin Roper, Ilena Silverman and Jake Silverstein
“The Splendid and the Vile,” Erik Larson
“Crying in H Mart,” Michelle Zauner
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DEATHS
BOBBY RYDELL has died.
The teen idol from the early ‘60s passed away Tuesday. Additional details were not shared.
He was 79.
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BREAKUPS
MLB player ALBERT PUJOLS, 42, and his wife DEIDRE PUJOLS have split after 22 years of marriage.
The news comes a week after Deidre underwent brain surgery.
The couple share five children.
No word on what caused the split.
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WEDDINGS
HGTV star CHRISTINA HAACK and real estate agent JOSHUA HALL are married.
The couple reportedly tied the knot sometime in the past six months, sources told TMZ.
The marriage was revealed after TMZ obtained a screenshot of Haack’s real estate license, which features her new surname.
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Victoria’s Secret angel JOSEPHINE SKRIVER, 28, married longtime boyfriend, singer ALEXANDER DELEON, 32.
The pair wed in an intimate ceremony in Cabo San Lucas on Sunday, a source told E! News.
They got engaged in November 2018.
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THE SWAMP
The White House announced Tuesday that student loan payment deferrals will continue until August. Payments were supposed to resume May 1.
WORTH NOTING: Two reasons this is both terrible politics and terrible policy: The move is an olive branch for lefty kookbags who expected President JOE BIDEN to fully forgive all student loan debt, as was hinted during the campaign. (Biden’s formal policy proposal called for $10,000 credit per student). For everyone else, it’s an irritating double standard: Businesses still have to pay loans. Credit card holders still have to pay loans. Car drivers still have to pay their loans. This is a move to kick the can down the curb to midterms, when Biden will then blame a Republican Congressional majority for why there was no student loan forgiveness.
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Former President BARACK OBAMA returned to the White House for the first time since leaving in 2017, for an event commemorating passage of the Affordable Care Act.
The Hill reports that Democratic strategists hoped that 44’s appearance would give Biden a much needed boost.
WORTH NOTING: How bad do things need to be to drag out a decade-plus-old achievement that has been proven to have driven up healthcare costs and prescription drug prices to find something to celebrate?
BY THE WAY: Obama and President JOE BIDEN had lunch Tuesday, too. White House Media Commissar JEN PSAKI told press they also talk on the phone regularly.
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LOTTERY
No winner for Monday night’s Powerball drawing. Tonight’s drawing will be for a $246 million jackpot or a $157.1 million cash payout.
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SHOWBIZ NEWS
JUSTIN BIEBER is offering therapy sessions to his fans and crew.
The Biebs, who recently partnered with online therapy platform BetterHelp, is offering his fans one free month of online therapy for themselves, or to share with a friend or family member in need.
He is also offering 18 months of free therapy to the 250+ people working on his Justice World Tour.
BetterHelp says the services being offered are worth up to $3 million.
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People are getting WILL SMITH'S assault on CHRIS ROCK inked on their bodies.
Several tattoo artists revealed they have been asked to tattoo the scene, with several posting photos of the finished products on social media.
Commenters were quick to share their shock, calling the tattoo “unnecessary,” “childish” and “so dumb.”
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FARRAH ABRAHAM wants to become a stand-up comedian.
The former “Teen Mom” star was stopped by TMZ photogs outside of the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, where she revealed her future plans.
“Comedic relief is everything that we need,” she told them.
WORTH ASKING: Did she not see the Oscars?
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A handful of artists had their YouTube channels hacked on Tuesday.
JUSTIN BIEBER, DRAKE, EMINEM, TAYLOR SWIFT, KANYE WEST and several others had strange videos uploaded to their profiles. The posts have since been removed.
Twitter user @lospelaosbro claimed responsibility and asked his followers for suggestions on who to hack next.
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CASTING CALL
Actor SHAUN WEISS will star in “Jesus Revolution” alongside KELSEY GRAMMER.
The flick tells the true story of Lonnie Frisbee and the hippies he baptized in the ‘70s.
Weiss will play a strung-out Vietnam vet who gets saved and sobers up.
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HBO Max is considering a “Sherlock Holmes” series.
Insiders told Deadline that two potential spinoff series from the Warner Bros. movie franchise starring ROBERT DOWNEY JR. and JUDE LAW are in early development at the platform.
The source explained that the series would revolve around characters that were not introduced in the films.
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ABC announced spring finale dates on Tuesday.
The series finale of Season 8 of “Black-ish” will air on Tuesday, April 19.
The two-hour Season 18 finale of “Grey’s Anatomy” will air on Thursday, May 26.
Meanwhile, “The Goldbergs,” “The Wonder Years,” “The Connors,” “Home Economics” and “A Million Little Things” will air their spring season finales on Wednesday, May 18.
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“Snowfall” has been renewed for a sixth and final season at FX.
The renewal comes midway through Season 5, which is on pace to be the most-watched season ever, per Nielsen and FX.
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TAHJ MOWRY will star opposite LILLY SINGH in the cast of Disney+’s upcoming comedy series “The Muppets Mayhem.”
The show follows The Electric Mayhem Band as they go on an epic musical journey to finally record their first studio album.
Mowry will play Gary “Moog” Moogowski, a lovable and awkward die-hard superfan of the band who follows them from gig to gig.
Singh will play a woman named Nora, who Moog develops a crush on.
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“DailyMailTV” is calling it quits this summer.
The daily newsmagazine launched in 2017 and featured top stories from DailyMail.com.
The series won a Daytime Emmy in the Outstanding Entertainment News Program category in 2019.
No word on why the show is ending.
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TORI SPELLING will host “@Home with Tori,” an original lifestyle series on Vizio’s WatchFree+ platform.
The 10 half-hour episodes will center on a different theme, ranging from pool parties to mother-daughter relationships to cocktails.
The series will premiere in May.
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Paramount+ has acquired crime thriller “Finestkind.”
The flick follows two brothers, played by BEN FOSTER and TOBY WALLACE, who reunite as adults after growing up on opposite sides of the tracks. When one of them makes a deal with a dangerous Boston crime syndicate, their newly formed bond is tested.
The movie also stars TOMMY LEE JONES and JENNY ORTEGA.
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THE DAILY KARDASHOPUS
Early reporting Tuesday claimed KOURTNEY KARDASHIAN and TRAVIS BARKER tied the knot Monday morning at the One Love Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas.
The alleged nuptials came just hours after the pair attended the Grammy awards.
But later in the day multiple outlets said that while the pair were at the chapel, they are not legally married because they didn’t have a marriage license.
Other than a personal photographer and security, no friends or family were in attendance.
Neither Kourtney nor Travis have commented on the news, but his ex-wife SHANNA MOAKLER told PEOPLE that she wishes the “best that life has to offer [them] on their journey together.”
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Coachella organizers say there are no hard feelings toward KANYE WEST, whose exit from the festival leaves a massive headliner hole.
Organizers told TMZ that they feel “no animosity” toward Ye and hope he takes the “time to work on himself.”
As of now, no one has been announced to take over the open slot.
WORTH NOTING: The festival starts in less than two weeks.
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WE’LL NEVER BE ROYALS
PRINCE ANDREW’s daughters have been dragged into his latest scandal.
As previously reported, Turkish millionaire NEBAHAT EVYAP ISBILEN claims she entrusted her financial advisor SELMAN TURK with 67 million euros. Some of those funds were given to Andrew under the guise that he would help Isbilen obtain a new passport to flee her country, where her husband is imprisoned.
Turk and Andrew’s advisors claim the funds given to him were a “wedding gift” for his daughter PRINCESS BEATRICE, who wed EDOARDO MAPELLI MOZZI in July 2020.
While Andrew has reportedly paid back the money, Beatrice and PRINCESS EUGENIE are being questioned over what they know about the payments.
WORTH NOTING: Andrew’s ex-wife SARAH FERGUSON also reportedly received some of the money Isbilen gave to Turk. It is unclear what explanation was given for her payout or whether she has paid the amount back.
An investigation into the matter is ongoing.
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SPORTS
TIGER WOODS says he will play in this week’s Masters tournament.
The golf legend announced at a press conference that “as of now” he plans to be on the green at Augusta when the tournament begins on Thursday.
Woods’ explained that he has no concern about his “physical” game, but worries a bit about walking around the course on his surgically repaired leg.
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DAY OF THE YEAR
National Caramel Popcorn Day
National Sorry Charlie Day
National Student-Athlete Day
National Tartan Day
National Teflon Day
New Beer’s Eve
National Bookmobile Day
National Walking Day
Childhelp National Day of Hope
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ON THIS DATE
1830 – Joseph Smith establishes the Mormon church.
He based the religion on a vision he had of an angel named Mormoni speaking of a 1500 year old religious text that had been transcribed onto discs by a Native American. His dictation of what he believed to be the content of those discs formed the Book of Mormon.
Smith was later murdered by an anti-Mormon mob. The religious drew widespread criticism for some of its more unconventional beliefs, like polygamy.
Smith’s successor, Brigham Young, later brought the church to Utah, where it has since flourished.
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1841 – John Tyler is inaugurated as president.
He was William Henry Harrison’s Vice President. Harrison died only a month into his term.
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1896 – The first modern Olympic games open.
Greece’s King Georgios I welcomed 60,000 spectators to watch the events, featuring 280 athletes from 13 countries.
There were 43 events in total in the following sports:
Athletics, cycling (road and track), fencing, gymnastics, shooting, swimming, tennis, weightlifting, and wrestling.
Scheduled sailing events were canceled due to bad weather.
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1909 – Explorer Robert Peary and his expedition reach what they believe to be the North Pole.
But analysis of their records a few years later determined they were very likely south of the actual position.
On May 3, 1952, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph O. Fletcher is believed to be the first, undisputed person to set foot on the actual point.
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1917 – The US House votes 373 to 50 to authorize America’s entry into World War One by declaring war against Germany.
Public opinion had been turning against Germany over the course of several months, following naval attacks on vulnerable ships.
In March, German ships sank four American merchant vessels. Following a call by President Woodrow Wilson for war and an appropriation of $250 million for the war effort, it was official.
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1968 – Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” is released into theaters.
While critics had mixed reviews, there was so much demand for the film that some theaters carried it for regular showings for a year.
The film would win an Oscar for Best Visual Effects.
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1996 - Actor Marlon Brando makes anti-Semitic remarks on “Larry King Live,” stating that the “Jews control Hollywood.”
He explained his thoughts on the matter saying that, “Hollywood exploits negative racial stereotypes, except those about Jews.”
King responded to the remarks saying, “When you say something like that, though, you’re playing right into anti-Semitic people.”
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2016 - A baby is born with DNA from 3 parents through mitochondrial transfer in Mexico.
The procedure, called spindle nuclear transfer, involves removing the healthy nucleus from one of the mother’s eggs and transferring it to a donor egg which has had its nucleus removed. The resulting egg – with nuclear DNA from the mother and mitochondrial DNA from a donor – was then fertilized with the father’s sperm.
The technique was used to ensure a disease mutation carried by the mother would not be passed down to the baby.
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2020 - Nadia, a tiger at the Bronx Zoo, tests positive for COVID-19.
It is the first known case of human-to-cat transmission.
And
The death toll from COVID-19 in the US passes 10,000, with more than 356,000 Americans infected.
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BIRTHDAYS
Casey Simpson - actor, “Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn” - 18
Oscar Piastri - race car driver - 21
Peyton List - actress, “Jessie” & “Bunk’d” - 24
Jack Stauber - pop singer - 26
Miranda May - actress, “Liv & Maddie” - 26
Julie Ertz - soccer player - 30
Charlie McDermott - actor, “The Middle” - 32
Eliza Coupe - actress, “Scrubs” - 41
Candace Cameron-Bure - actress, “Full House” & “Fuller House” - 46
Zach Braff - actor, “Scrubs” - 47
Todd Chrisley - reality, “Chrisley Knows Best” - 53
Paul Rudd - actor, “Clueless” & “Ant-Man” - 53
Michael Rooker - actor, “The Walking Dead” - 67
John Ratzengerger - actor, “Cheers” - 75
Billy Dee Williams - actor, “Star Wars” & “Nighthawks” - 85
Born On This Date
Merle Haggard - country singer - 1937 (d. 2016)
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