Discover more from Morning Martini
6/15/2022: “Squid Game” Comes To Life
PLUS: Jack ‘n Coke In A Can, Cambridges Leave London, and NFL’s New Pizza Sponsor
Today is Wednesday, June 15, 2022.
It is the 166th day of the year.
199 days remain.
TRENDING
#FlagDay landed in Twitter’s Top 10 Trends yesterday. On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress approved the design for a US national flag.
Little Caesars was trending Tuesday after the pizza chain made a new deal with a major sporting organization. Head to Sports to find out more.
#JusticeForAmberHeard made the rounds on social media Tuesday as someone, somewhere tried to stand up for the actress.
#BidenDestroysAmerica was trending Tuesday. There is really not much more to add to this.
###
HIT LIST
The Canadian government has announced that unvaccinated citizens won’t need to show proof of vaccination to travel by air or rail domestically, starting June 20.
In a creepy Orwellian twist, the official language says they will “suspend” the vax mandate, a less-than-subtle implication it could come back on a whim at any time.
MEANWHILE: A new research paper in the International Journal of Educational Research shows that Swedish schoolchildren had no learning loss over the course of the pandemic. Sweden largely kept schools wide open, as did most of the rest of the world.
BY THE WAY: Reuters reports that the FDA is considering applying a heart risk warning associated with the Moderna vaccine, particularly for young men.
WORTH REMEMBERING: Just six months ago, pointing out that young men were suffering an outsized risk of heart trouble, and asking whether the mandates should be slowed down, were grounds for unpersoning and banning from Twitter.
###
The FAA is making SpaceX jump through all kinds of environmental and weird social justice hoops in order to keep its license to launch rockets. According to a CNBC report, SpaceX will have to foot the bill for the following:
Perform lighting inspections with a qualified biologist to ensure their rockets don’t impact sea turtles.
Perform cleanups at the nearby Boca Chica Beach.
Preparing “historical context reports” about the Mexican War regarding battles that took place in the area in the 1840s.
Annual contributions of $5,000 each to a variety of environmental organizations that protect endangered species.
WORTH ASKING: Is this a regulatory review or a federal extortion scheme?
###
A majority of Americans say trans women shouldn’t be allowed to compete competitively with female counterparts in high school sports, according to a Washington Post (!) poll. Even more Americans agreed that the practice should be banned at the collegiate level.
Only 3 in 10 said trans women should be allowed to compete at those levels.
###
Coca-Cola is launching a pre-mixed Jack ‘n Coke cocktail in a can in Mexico later this year, with plans to take the product global soon after.
The deal includes using Jack Daniels branding alongside Coke’s distinctive logo.
Coca-Cola also has a deal in the works to ship a spiked Fresca flavor in the coming months.
###
Nanchy Crampton-Brophy made a living as a romance novelist, and even wrote a book called “The Wrong Husband” and an essay called “How to Murder Your Husband.”
Now she’s facing life in prison for murdering her husband.
Crampton-Brophy shot her husband in June 2018 at the Oregon Culinary Institute in Washington, where he was an instructor.
In a blistering testimony given at her sentencing ceremony, her husband’s son said in part, “You executed my father in an act of cold-blooded premeditated murder. A man that did everything for you. Cooked you meals, washed your clothes, accepted your sedentary nature, supported your failed endeavors, and brought you into the warm embrace of our family.”
Crampton-Brophy is 71 and is up for parole in 25 years.
###
The Dow lost 151 points (.5%) Tuesday while the S&P closed down 14 points (.38%) and the Nasdaq rallied after an afternoon dip to finish in the black a mere 19 points (.18%).
West Texas Intermediate and Brent Crude remain over $120 a barrel.
The average national gas price set another daily record, but only by a hair, ticking up .2 cents, from $5.014 to $5.016 a gallon.
BUT WAIT: The Biden administration announced Tuesday the release of 45 million barrels of crude from the strategic reserve, because that really did the trick earlier this year.
Bitcoin was down $592.90 (2.64%).
###
CHARTS
Top 5 Fiction & Nonfiction Books Currently on the New York Times Best Sellers List:
FICTION:
“Sparring Partners,” John Grisham
“It Ends With Us,” Colleen Hoover
“Where The Crawdads Sing,” Delia Owens
“Book Lovers,” Emily Henry
“Verity,” Colleen Hoover
NONFICTION:
“Happy-Go-Lucky,” David Sedaris
“Killing the Killers,” Bill O’Reilly & Martin Dugard
“Finding Me,” Viola Davis
“The Body Keeps The Score,” Bessel van der Kolk
“Here’s The Deal,” Kellyanne Conway
###
BABY NEWS
Actors BETH BEHRS, 36, and MICHAEL GLADIS, 44, welcomed their first child together, a daughter named Emma George Gladis.
Behrs shared the news on Instagram, along with a black and white photo of the couple holding their daughter’s hand.
###
BREAKUPS
JASON MOMOA, 42, and EIZA GONZALEZ, 32, have broken up.
A source told PEOPLE magazine the two are “just very different people.”
The actors began dating in February, but only just confirmed their romance last month.
###
SICK BAY
SHARON OSBOURNE updated fans on husband OZZY OSBOURNE’s health Tuesday.
“Ozzy is doing well and on the road to recovery! Your love means the world to him,” she wrote on Instagram.
As previously reported, the 73-year-old Black Sabbath rocker had pins removed and realigned in his neck and back yesterday.
###
THE SWAMP
Senate Minority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL said he’s on board with the bipartisan framework in the Senate to expand federal gun regulations. With his vote, 11 Republicans are now on board with the deal, virtually ensuring enough votes to break the filibuster.
###
The Democratic National Committee booked Vice President KAMALA HARRIS to headline its annual Women’s Leadership Forum at the end of May, a major annual fundraiser and opportunity to hobnob with the Party Elite.
But Puck News reports that the event had to be rescheduled to fall – because the DNC couldn’t sell enough tickets!
Top-tier packages spanned from $15,000 to $50,000, and organizers couldn’t sell enough in time to make it worth the effort. For now.
WORTH NOTING: Even Democrats don’t think she’ll be president, otherwise they’d be clamoring for a photo op.
###
LOTTERY
No winner for Monday night’s Powerball drawing. Tonight’s drawing will be for a $258 million jackpot or a $147.4 million cash payout.
###
SHOWBIZ NEWS
Ever wonder how much JUSTIN BIEBER is worth?
According to Celebrity Net Worth, The Biebs’ decade-plus music career has earned him a net worth of about $285 million.
In a year he is touring, he brings in anywhere from $60 to $80 million, according to Forbes.
###
LIZZO is changing a controversial lyric in her song “Grrls.”
After dropping the new single on Friday, several social media users called her out over the word “spaz,” which they referred to as a “derogatory” term.
In response, Lizzo told her fans that she “heard their concerns” and “made a change” to the song, as she is well aware that “words matter.”
###
MIKE TYSON will be one of the celebs who gets to roast wrestler RIC FLAIR this summer.
The two men are not only buddies, but business partners. Tyson’s cannabis company recently struck a deal with Flair’s marijuana biz. Together the superstars will be selling different marijuana-based products, including edibles.
The event is set for July 29 in Nashville.
WORTH NOTING: Two nights later Flair is scheduled to wrestle in the final match of his career. Still no word on who he will face in the ring.
###
SAM “Sami” SHEEN, the eldest daughter of DENISE RICHARDS and CHARLIE SHEEN, has joined Only Fans.
The high school dropout, who turned 18 in March, revealed her new venture on Instagram this week.
In response, Richards told Page Six that all she can do “is guide her and trust her judgment.”
###
MOHAMED HADID, a real estate developer, and dad to famous models GIGI and BELLA HADID, owes the State of California over $243,000 in back taxes.
Sources told Page Six that Mohamed owes millions to several builders.
Also on the delinquent taxpayers list is actor TERRENCE HOWARD, who owes more than $255,000 and Lakers owner JIM BUSS, who owes over $232,000.
###
CASTING CALL
Season 4 of “Stranger Things” is currently No. 1 on the Most Popular English-language TV series on Netflix’s all-time list with more than 781 million hours viewed.
The series eclipsed “Bridgerton” Season 2 (656 million) and “Bridgerton” Season 1 (625 million), which are now in second and third place, respectively.
The category measures viewership during a show’s first 28 days on the platform.
###
JESSE TYLER FERGUSON confirmed that a script for a “Modern Family” spinoff show has been written.
The actor, who starred as Mitchell Pritchett in the ABC sitcom, told ET that while the script is done, it has yet to be picked up by a network.
According to Ferguson, the spinoff would follow Mitchell and his on-screen husband Cameron Tucker, played by ERIC STONESTREET, as they move with their two kids to Kentucky.
###
LADY GAGA is in talks to play Harley Quinn opposite JOAQUIN PHOENIX in the upcoming follow-up film to 2019’s “Joker.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, in the new film Harley Quinn would “exist in a different DC universe” than the character played by MARGOT ROBBIE in “Suicide Squad (2016),” “Birds of Prey” and “The Suicide Squad (2020).
The outlet also reported that the forthcoming flick will be a musical.
###
A reality show based on Netflix’s “Squid Game” is heading to the streamer.
Netflix is currently searching for 456 participants who want to fight for the “largest cash prize in television history” in “Squid Game: The Challenge.”
In total, $4.56 million is up for grabs to whomever can survive all levels of the childhood-inspired games.
No release date has been announced.
###
The final episode of “The Wendy Williams Show” will air on Friday.
A spokesperson confirmed the end of the daytime talk show, telling Page Six “after 13 seasons the curtains will close on June 17.”
Williams will not be there for a final good-bye, but a video montage in her honor will be played.
The vacated time slot will be filled with “Sherri,” a talk show fronted by SHERRI SHEPHERD.
###
COURT CASES
BRITTNEY GRINER will remain behind bars in Russia for at least another two weeks after a court extended her detention Tuesday.
Meanwhile, US State Department officials have been meeting with reps from Griner’s WNBA team -- the Phoenix Mercury -- to figure out a way to get her back.
Griner has been in custody in Russia since February after she was found with hash oil in her luggage while going through airport security.
###
CRIB NOTES
Newlyweds BRITNEY SPEARS and SAM ASGHARI are moving to their new $11.8 million Calabasas mansion.
The 11,650-sq. foot home is located near where her ex-husband KEVIN FEDERLINE lives with their two sons, Sean and Jayden.
The big move is perhaps why the couple didn’t leave on a honeymoon right after tying the knot.
###
THE DAILY KARDASHOPUS
The KarJenners are demanding BLAC CHYNA cover their legal fees -- approximately $400,000 -- after the model failed in her attempt to sue them.
A judge also recently ruled that Chyna owes them the amount after “putting them through the legal wringer.”
WORTH NOTING: The amount DOES NOT include attorney’s fees. No word on whether the KarJenners will also come after Chyna for that too.
###
WE’LL NEVER BE ROYALS
PRINCE WILLIAM, KATE MIDDLETON and their three kids are leaving Kensington Palace.
The family of five is relocating to Berkshire, where QUEEN ELIZABETH’s primary residence of Windsor Castle is located.
The move is centered around the children, a source told the Sunday Times, explaining that GEORGE, 8, CHARLOTTE, 7, and LOUIS, 4, will attend a new school in Windsor and a much more “relaxed life.”
As for where the family will live, multiple outlets reported that they will take over Adelaide Cottage on the Windsor estate, though that has not been confirmed.
WORTH NOTING: Berkshire is also home to Kate’s family.
###
SPORTS
Little Caesars is now the new official pizza sponsor of the NFL.
The deal gives Little Caesars marketing rights designed to connect the brand with the NFL. Both companies will unveil components such as “social media games, new products, new packaging and unique promotions” prior to the start of the 2022 season, per a press release.
The league previously held pizza sponsorships with Papa Johns from 2010-18 and Pizza Hut from February 2018 to 2022.
###
DAY OF THE YEAR
National Smile Power Day
National Nature Photography Day
National Lobster Day
Magna Carta Day
###
ON THIS DATE
1667 – A doctor performs the first blood transfusion on a human.
Jean-Baptiste Denis is commonly credited with the procedure. He was the personal physician to King Louis XIV.
The patient was a 15-year-old boy who had nearly been bled out with leeches 20 times.
This was before the time of blood banks -- and it could be fatal to bleed out another human.
Jean-Baptiste transfused 12 ounces of sheep blood into the boy -- who survived.
###
1775 – The Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia to appoint their newly-formed Continental Army. They pick George Washington.
Washington accepted the next day, but asked to not be paid. He only wanted reimbursement for any expenses. This is back when the job really meant serving one's country.
The next day, the Congress commissioned Washington as the Commander in Chief.
###
1864 – Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton designates the 200 acres surrounding Arlington Mansion a military cemetery.
The estate had been the property of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
After the Union won the war, the government snatched up the Arlington estate for $26,800 in a tax sale. Though Mrs. Lee tried to pay her tax bill, government agents turned her down.
Ten years later, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government grabbed the land without due process, and turned it over to Lee's son Custis.
One year later, Custis sold the land back to the United States for $150,000.
###
1877 – Henry Ossian Flipper graduates from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
He's the first black man to do so.
He was commissioned to lead one of the four all-black cavalry regiments -- the first non-white officer to lead such a regiment.
###
1916 – Woodrow Wilson approves the Congressional Charter to incorporate the Boy Scouts of America.
The organization was founded six years earlier, however.
The largely ceremonial honorific granted the organization official status as a group sanctioned and condoned by the U.S. government.
###
1969 – “Hee Haw” debuts on CBS.
It replaced “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.”
Though CBS would drop the show after three seasons, it was picked up in syndication and ran through 1992.
###
1989 – Just months after leaving the White House, Ronald Reagan is knighted by Queen Elizabeth.
He doesn't get to use the honorary "sir," though. That's just for Brits.
He was able to append "GCB" after his name -- for "Knight of the Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath.”
Reagan was the 58th American to receive an honorary knighthood.
###
2018 - Physicist Stephen Hawking’s ashes are interred in Westminster Abbey, London, between the remains of Issac Newton and Charles Darwin.
###
2019 – A baseball jersey belonging to Babe Ruth sells for $5.64 million at an auction in New York.
That price makes it the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia to ever be sold.
###
BIRTHDAYS
North West - daughter of Kim & Ye - 9
Madison Kocian - Olympic gymnast - 25
Lil Pete - rapper - 26
Cooper Kupp - football player - 29
Parker McCollum - country singer - 30
Bayley - wrestler - 33
Nadine Coyle - pop singer - 37
Neil Patrick Harris - actor, “How I Met Your Mother” - 49
Leah Remini - actress, “The King of Queens” & “Old School” - 52
Ice Cube - rapper - 53
Courteney Cox - actress, “Friends” & “Cougar Town” - 58
Helen Hunt - actress, “Twister” & “Mad About You” - 59
Xi Jinping - world leader - 69
Born On This Date
Waylon Jennings - country singer - 1937 (d. 2002)
Sam Giancana - Chicago gangster (42 Gang) - 1908 (d. 1975)
Rachel Donelson Jackson - former First Lady - 1767 (d. 1828)
Lisa del Giocondo - the subject of Leonardo da Vinci’s the Mona Lisa - 1479 (d. 1542)
###