6/1/2022: Popcorn Shortage
PLUS: Dems Are Stumped, Jeter Joins Twitter, and Kim & Pete Jump the Pond
Today is Wednesday, June 1, 2022.
It is the 152nd day of the year.
213 days remain.
TRENDING
#BobbyBrownBio was trending Tuesday ahead of the premiere of the final two segments of the A&E docuseries about the singer.
Stranger Things landed in Twitter’s Top 10 Trends after breaking a record on Netflix. Head to Showbiz to find out more.
#ThingsIHateToDo was trending yesterday. Tweets included, “Cleaning my room,” “small talk,” “drink decaf coffee,” “change the sheets,” “the dishes” and “get out of bed.”
#TheCaptain was trending following New York Yankees all star Derek Jeter joining Twitter.
#StupidCookingQuestions landed in Twitter’s Top 10 Trends Tuesday. Tweets included, “What do they call Upside Down Cake in Australia?,” “How long does it take for [evaporated] milk to evaporate?,” “Why isn’t sushi cooked?” and “How long does minute rice take to cook?”
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HIT LIST
Citizens of Shanghai, China, have been living under strict covid lockdowns for the last two months, but now the Chinese Communist Party is signaling they’ll loosen restrictions.
Starting tomorrow, mass transit will resume, including high speed rail in and out of the city – because when the Chi-Coms don’t want you to leave, they ensure you don’t.
Despite the relaxing of restriction protocols, some areas will remain completely shut off from the rest of the city and the world: The Associated Press reports that more than 500,000 people remain in “control zones” that will maintain strict controls.
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Late last Wednesday, a man carrying an AR-15 rifle approached a graduation party at an apartment complex near Charleston, West Virginia and started firing at the crowd, including children.
An armed guest shot him dead. No one else was injured.
A local TV station reports that the party guests had earlier approached the man about driving more slowly with so many kids running around. He left and returned later with his weapon.
The woman who shot the man cooperated fully with police and has not been charged.
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Movie theaters are facing yet another setback: there’s not enough popcorn to meet demand for crowds!
The Wall Street Journal reports that not only are popcorn suppliers anticipating not having enough supply, but also that the lining material that keeps butter from dripping out of the cardboard bucket are hard to come by, too.
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An Indiana donut shop has set a world record for the most donuts sold in a day.
Tom’s Donuts in Angola sold 8,558 donuts in six hours, shattering the previous Guinness World Record of 1,700.
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Stocks were down Tuesday, with the Dow losing 222 points. The S&P lost 26.
Each day seems to be setting a new record price for gasoline. Tuesday’s average was $4.62, another record.
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CHARTS
Top 5 Fiction & Nonfiction Books Currently on the New York Times Best Sellers List:
FICTION:
“In the Blood,” Jack Carr
“Book Lovers,” Emily Henry
"It Ends With Us," Colleen Hoover
“Where The Crawdads Sing,” Delia Owens
“Verity,” Colleen Hoover
NONFICTION:
“The Office BFFs,” Jenna Fischer & Angela Kinsey
“Phil,” Alan Shipnuck
“Killing The Killers,” Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard
“River of the Gods,” Candice Millard
“Finding Me,” Viola Davis
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DEATHS
CHARLES SIEBERT has died.
The actor, best known for his role as Dr. Stanley Riverside II on “Trapper John, M.D.,” passed away on May 1 from covid-related pneumonia.
He was 84.
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BABY NEWS
NFL QB PATRICK MAHOMES, 26, and his wife, BRITTANY MATTHEWS, also 26, are expecting their second baby.
The couple are already parents to 1-year-old daughter Sterling Skye.
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BREAKUPS
Singer BILLIE EILISH, 20, and actor MATTHEW TYLER VORCE, 30, have called it quits.
Vorce confirmed the news Tuesday, clearing the air on the swirling cheating rumors.
“Nobody cheated on anyone,” he said in his Instagram Story. Eilish has not commented on the split.
The pair dated for a little over a year.
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RELATIONSHIPS
MARGARET QUALLEY, 27, is engaged to record producer JACK ANTOFF, 38.
The actress confirmed the news on Tuesday with a series of photos on Instagram.
The pair were first linked in August 2021.
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WEDDINGS
Reality star MAMA JUNE SHANNON, 42, secretly tied the knot with her boyfriend JUSTIN STROUD, 34, in March at a courthouse in Georgia.
Us Weekly was the first to report the news, saying the nuptials come after less than a year of dating for the couple.
This is Shannon’s first marriage.
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THE SWAMP
The Biden Administration just can’t figure out where they’re going wrong, apparently.
NBC News reported Tuesday that “record inflation, high gas prices, a rise in Covid case numbers” have stymied the White House, and that “Democrat leaders are at a loss about how he can revive [President JOE BIDEN’s] prospects by November.”
The report also indicates that Biden first heard about the ongoing baby formula shortage just a month ago, and blames the FDA for being “sluggish” when it comes to fixing the situation.
IT GETS WORSE: Biden’s staff has notoriously and regularly walked back his own statements on economic and foreign policy. When Biden said in Poland that Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN “cannot remain in power,” the White House quickly issued a statement walking the president’s words back. According to NBC, “Biden was furious that his remarks were being seen as unreliable, arguing that he speaks genuinely and reminding his staff that he’s the one who is president.”
In an astounding moment of total unawareness and irony, an unnamed source told NBC, “We don’t say anything that the president doesn’t want us to say.”
Biden’s also mystified that surrogates don’t defend him on TV more frequently and is frustrated that his approval numbers are no better than his predecessor, former President DONALD TRUMP. One source said, “he’s really twisted about it.”
Biden receives weekly polling briefings which lately show him losing support with suburban women, who helped him to victory in November 2020.
WORTH REMEMBERING: Biden said last September that he doesn’t look at polls.
BEST OF ALL: A few weeks ago, Biden rolled out the term “Ultra MAGA” to negatively describe those still loyal to Trump and his allies. Since then, those same people co-opted the term and now wear it as a badge of honor. NBC reports that Biden himself came up with this dud.
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LOTTERY
No winner for Monday night’s Powerball drawing. Tonight’s drawing will be for a $168 million jackpot or a $99.8 million cash payout.
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SHOWBIZ NEWS
DEREK JETER has joined Twitter.
His first foray into Twitterverse was a response to a tweet from 2014 that reads: “Derek Jeter has no excuse not to have a Twitter account by now.”
“Looks like I’ve officially run out of excuses,” Jeter responded.
BY THE WAY: His handle is @derekjeter.
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KEVIN SPACEY says he will “voluntarily appear” in the UK to mount a defense against a new slew of sexual assault charges.
In a statement released to “GMA,” the actor said he is “confident” he can prove he’s innocent.
As previously reported, Spacey is facing four criminal charges for alleged incidents involving three different men between 2005 and 2013. He has also been charged with “causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.”
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OWEN WILSON was a victim of grand theft auto…or, technically speaking, grand theft tires.
According to law enforcement, the actor parked his Tesla in front of his Santa Monica home on Saturday and when he came out Sunday, he saw that someone had stolen all his rims and tires.
Per the criminal report, the stolen goods are worth about $4K.
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JASON MOMOA is pleading with his followers to join the Be The Match Registry, a national marrow donor program.
The plea comes amid the actor’s close friend, Travis Snyder’s fight against acute myeloid leukemia, a type of cancer in which the bone marrow makes a large number of abnormal cells.
According to the National Cancer Institute, it is the most common type of acute leukemia in adults.
The cancer is treated with a blood stem cell transplant, which replaces the unhealthy blood cells. Initially, Snyder does not have any full matches on the Registry, prompting a public plea from Momoa.
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The fourth season of “Stranger Things” racked up over 286 million hours of viewing over the holiday weekend, setting a new record for opening weekend viewing.
Season two of “Bridgerton” previously held the record with 193 million viewing hours.
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HARRY STYLES is teaming up with Everytown for Gun Safety.
In a statement announcing the partnership, Styles referenced the shooting in Uvalde, saying he feels “absolutely devastated” by what happened.
Styles will donate proceeds from his sold out tour and will match contributions from Live Nation, totaling more than $1 million.
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It is unlikely that MARILYN MANSON will face charges of sexual abuse as investigators say there have been some “credibility issues with the victim.”
LAPD officers are ready to submit their findings to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, who will make the final decision.
As previously reported, detectives searched Manson’s L.A. home in November after several accusations of abuse were raised.
Manson has continued to deny everything.
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CASTING CALL
RACHEL ZEGLER has joined the cast of the upcoming “Hunger Games” prequel film, “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.”
She will play the female lead, Lucy Gray Baird.
The prequel flick takes place 64 years before the first “Hunger Games” film and follows 18-year-old Snow, who eventually rises to become the tyrannical president of the dystopian nation of Panem.
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Disney announced that its live-action remake of “Pinocchio” will debut on Disney+ on Thursday, September 8.
The re-telling of the beloved tale about a wooden puppet stars TOM HANKS has Geppetto and BENJAMIN EVAN AINSWORTH as the titular role.
JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT is Jiminy Cricket.
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LESLIE MANN and TIM ROBBINS have exited Amazon’s thriller series “The Power.”
Mann was set to play Seattle mayor Margot Cleary-Lopez, opposite RAINN WILSON as Daniel Dandon, Washington’s Republican governor, in the 10-episode sci-fi series. Wilson dropped out of the project in April after production delays related to covid.
Details about Robbins’ role are unknown.
“The Power” follows a group of teenage girls, who, without warning, develop the power to electrocute people at will. The hereditary, inbuilt power cannot be taken away from them.
Both roles will be recast, while Wilson's role has been downgraded from a series regular to a recurring guest star.
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KATE MINER and JASON CANELA are set to star in the horror flick “Stay Safe.”
The movie, set on the front lines of a Pandemic Hotzone, follows an Army Surgeon’s attempt to uncover the truth behind a subliminal message she received from a patient, while dealing with the unexpected arrival of an illegal immigrant into her home, according to the official description.
Role details were not shared.
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KALEY CUOCO, star of HBO’s “The Flight Attendant,” believes that the recently wrapped second season will be the series’ last.
“We did two -- we should probably be done,” she told People.com.
Sources from HBO told TVLine that “no official decision” has been made about a third season of the show.
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COURT CASES
Still no verdict in the highly-publicized defamation trial between JOHNNY DEPP and AMBER HEARD.
The jury resumes deliberations today.
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THE DAILY KARDASHOPUS
KIM and PETE DAVIDSON arrived in the UK just days ahead of QUEEN ELIZABETH’s Platinum Jubilee.
The pair were spotted by photogs walking around the city and later dining at the River Cafe.
It is unknown if the pair just happen to be in town or are there to take part in Her Majesty’s celebrations.
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WE’LL NEVER BE ROYALS
PRINCE HARRY and MEGHAN MARKLE’s daughter LILIBET DIANA will celebrate her birthday in style this weekend.
A party for the tot’s first birthday will be held Saturday in the UK as the Sussexes will be in town to celebrate QUEEN ELIZABETH’s Platinum Jubilee.
This will be the first time that Harry’s family gets to meet the little girl.
WORTH NOTING: The celebrations officially kick off tomorrow!
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SPORTS
Transgender swimming champ LIA THOMAS says she is “not a threat to women’s sport.”
“I don’t need anyone’s permission to be myself and do the sport that I love,” the University of Penn athlete stated in an interview on “GMA'' yesterday.
WORTH NOTING: No one is telling Thomas she can’t be who she is and no one is telling her she can’t do the sport that she loves. The issue is that biologically she is a male, which IS an advantage when competing against biological women. The Science Says So!
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A rare KOBE BRYANT playing card has hit the auction block.
The 1997 Skybox Metal Universe Precious Metal Gems #81 -- one of only 100 sold -- also features Bryant’s signature, making it even more coveted.
SCP Auctions, who listed the card, is hoping to fetch at least $1 million for it.
WORTH NOTING: An unsigned Kobe PMG card brought in around $2 million at auction a few months ago.
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DAY OF THE YEAR
National Nail Polish Day
National Olive Day
National Go Barefoot Day
National Hazelnut Cake Day
National Heimlich Maneuver Day
National Penpal Day
National Say Something Nice Day
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ON THIS DATE
1495 – The first known batch of scotch whisky is finished.
Friar John Cor is credited with the concoction.
A royal ledger recorded that 8 bolls of malt were dispatched to the friar so he could make “aqua vitae” – which in Latin means “water of life” or “lifewater.”
Those 8 bolls would be enough for 1500 bottles.
A boll, by the way, is an archaic unit to measure amounts of grain.
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1792 – Kentucky becomes the 15th state.
It had previously been a region of Virginia past the Appalachian Mountains. Its residents spent eight years petitioning for separation. In 1790, Virginians agreed to the separation.
Isaac Shelby, a veteran from Virginia, was the new state’s first governor.
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EXACTLY FOUR YEARS LATER – 1796 – Tennessee becomes the 16th state. It had previously been federal territory.
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1869 – Thomas Edison is granted a patent for an electric vote-tallying machine.
It was the prolific inventor’s first patented invention, but no one was interested in buying it.
When the machine was presented to Congress, one Representative declared, “If there is any invention on earth that we don’t want down here it is this.”
A vote recorder would have wreaked havoc on Congress’ capacity to have roll call votes, a parliamentary maneuver used to force other representatives to change their votes.
Then Edison resolved to invent something that would be very marketable.
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1908 – “Captain Jack” Krohn departs Portland, Maine on an adventure to walk the geographical perimeter of the United States.
9,024 miles, 357 days, 119 pairs of socks, 12 pairs of shoes, and 17 pounds later, he returned to Portland, with a wheelbarrow in tow, having collected letters and trinkets from fans along the way.
Krohn, a newspaper publisher, had five years earlier walked to each of the states’ capitals on a bet.
His journeys are detailed in “The Walk of Colonial Jack,” a memoir he wrote after the adventure.
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1923 – The New York Giants become the first Major League Baseball team to score in every inning.
The opposing Phillies only scored eight runs. The Giants won the matchup 22-8.
Forty-one years later, the St. Louis Cardinals match the feat, routing the Chicago Cubs 15-2.
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1980 – Cable News Network hits the airwaves for the first time.
At the time it was the first – and only – cable channel to provide constant, 24-hour news coverage.
The first broadcast featured David Walker and Lois Hart, who were married newscasters.
Since its debut, the network has expanded to 36 bureaus in 27 countries.
Even six years later, it was the only network to offer live coverage of the launch and explosion of Space Shuttle Challenger.
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2009 – A flight bound for Paris from Rio de Janeiro mysteriously crashes in the Atlantic Ocean, killing 228 crew and passengers.
The black box was eventually recovered. Though an apparent faulty airspeed indicator caused the autopilot to disengage, what prevented the skilled pilots from maneuvering the Airbus out of the stall remains a mystery.
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2017 - President Donald Trump withdraws the US from the Paris Climate Agreement.
He felt that the agreement “undermined” the US economy and put the country at “a permanent disadvantage.”
Trump’s decision was backed by many Republicans and strongly opposed by Democrats.
A formal notice would be given 2 years later.
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BIRTHDAYS
Willow Shields - actress, “The Hunger Games” - 22
Chase Chrisley - reality star, “Chrisley Knows Best” - 26
Tom Holland - actor, “Spider-Man: Homecoming” - 26
Nick Young - basketball player - 37
Nikki Glaser - comedian - 38
Amy Schumer - comedian - 41
Brandi Carlile - country singer - 41
Sarah Wayne Callies - actress, “The Walking Dead” - 45
Alanis Morissette - rock singer - 48
Heidi Klum - model - 49
Teri Polo - actress, “Meet the Parents” & “The Fosters” - 53
Morgan Freeman - actor, “Million Dollar Baby” & “The Shawshank Redemption” - 85
Born On This Date
Andy Griffith - actor, “The Andy Griffith Show” - 1926 (d. 2012)
Marilyn Monroe - actress, “Some Like It Hot” & “The Seven Year Itch” - 1926 (d. 1962)
Brigham Young - president of the Church of Latter-day Saints (LDS) - 1801 (d. 1877)
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