7/29/2022: Mega Millions Billions
Discover more from Morning Martini
7/29/2022: Mega Millions Billions
PLUS: Barnes Biffs, Hasselback Returns to “The View,” and Cheating Royal?
Today is Friday, July 29, 2022.
It is the 210th day of the year.
155 days remain.
TRENDING
#recession was trending Thursday. More in Swamp.
#PrinceofPegging and #princewilliamaffair landed in Twitter’s Top 10 Trends. More in Royals.
Marilyn Monroe was trending yesterday as Netflix dropped the first trailer for the new film “Blonde,” starring Ana de Armas. It premieres on September 28.
#RENAISSANCE was trending ahead of the release of Beyonce’s newest album.
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HIT LIST
Former employees of ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, allege that they regulated content on the app to promote China and censor negative stories about the Chinese government on the app.
ByteDance denies the claims.
The whistleblowers went to BuzzFeed News, which broke the story. They also say this propaganda program ended when TikTok ended its TopBuzz section, which was an attempt at creating a news-specific feed of information.
AS BUZZFEED POINTS OUT: “ByteDance could use TikTok in a similar way to influence public discussion in the United States (or elsewhere) in order to benefit China’s authoritarian government.”
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An additional 780,000 doses of monkeypox vaccine are expected to be available today across the country. The feds have ordered 5.5 million total so far, but it’ll take some time to get them manufactured, shipped, and distributed.
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Heading to Lollapalooza in Chicago this weekend?
The Chicago Health Department has some advice for you: “Fentanyl is a strong opioid that can easily cause overdose,” they warn in a Tweet. So what’s their recommendation?
“Test your drugs before you use, carry Narcan, and don’t use alone.”
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A couple living in Hawaii has been charged on multiple espionage-related charges, primarily Conspiracy to Commit Offense Against the United States.
Just like in FX’s “The Americans,” the couple allegedly adopted American identities stolen from young children who died decades ago, and used the information to get legal documents like passports, driver’s licenses, and even Department of Defense credentials.
Unlike Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, this couple was born in the United States. This story is still fresh, so no word yet on what they allegedly did to get recruited by a foreign government, but federal prosecutors have shown photos of the couple in KGB uniforms, and the woman spent some time in Romania before the fall of the Soviet Union.
The couple’s home was also foreclosed in 1987, suggesting financial hardship could have led to their recruitment.
The man worked in the Coast Guard as an avionics technician until he retired in 2016, but carried on work with a defense contractor in Honolulu.
THIS IS WILD: The New York Post contacted the father of one of the children who died in 1968 at six weeks old. He’s now 91, and told the Post, “The odds are like one in a trillion that they found her and used her name. People stoop to do anything nowadays. Let kids rest in peace.”
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TELL ME THIS ISN’T A GOVERNMENT OPERATION: The New Mexico Department of Transportation recently replaced a highway sign on Route 66 pointing drivers toward Albuquerque.
Except they misspelled Albuquerque, omitting the R on the sign.
It was up for just a couple days before it was fixed.
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BY THE NUMBERS
📈 The Dow added 332 points (1.03%) on Thursday to close at 32,529. The S&P 500 added 48 points (1.21%) to close at 4,072 while the Nasdaq added 130 points (1.08%) to close at 12,162.
🛢 West Texas Intermediate was trading below $98 on Thursday. Brent Crude was trading over $102.
⛽ The national average price of a gallon of gas was $4.28 on Thursday.
₿ Bitcoing picked up nearly $900 on Thursday, trading around $23,850.
🛩 There were 3,619 flight delays within, into, or out of the United States on Thursday, and 618 such cancellations.
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CHARTS
New to Hulu:
Hatching (Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%)
A Day to Die (No Score)
Client 9 (Score: 90%)
New to Netflix:
Purple Hearts (No Score)
The Entitled (No Score)
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DEATHS
BERNARD CRIBBINS has died.
The actor, known for his roles on “Doctor Who” and “The Railway Children,” passed away Thursday. No cause of death was shared.
He was 93.
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THE SWAMP
The nation’s economy is not in a recession, even though there have been two consecutive quarters of contracted Gross Domestic Product. Since eight minutes ago, a recession is no longer defined by two consecutive quarters of contracted Gross Domestic Product. The White House will not define what a recession is, but it’s certainly not two consecutive quarters of contracted Gross Domestic Product, which was made official yesterday morning.
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More details on the absurdly-named Inflation Reduction Act that’s now making its way through the Senate. Here’s some high-level highlights:
A 15% minimum tax on companies that profit at least $100 million a year.
An additional $80 billion for the IRS, on top of its existing funding, specifically to conduct more audits on lower-income Americans who otherwise would not be flagged for review.
$60 billion in grants to American companies to build green energy technology.
$30 billion in grants to state and local governments to green-ify their bureaucracy.
Remember when California started handing out “inflation rebates” because of their budget surplus as a result of all the left over covid money? Couldn’t that be repurposed, instead of spending more money that the government already doesn’t have?
$9 billion for the federal government to buy electric cars.
$20 billion in “climate-smart agriculture practices,” according to a Democrat caucus-written summary of the legislation.
$5 billion toward “urban tree planting”
$3 billion to greenify America’s ports.
Much of the supply chain backlogs are due to inefficiencies at ports. This spending will not address those slowdowns and backlogs, and may even make the situation worse, as more time is spent installing green technologies instead of facilitating the import and export of goods.
WORTH REMEMBERING: If this sounds like a lot of money, remember that this is the slimmed-down version of what President JOE BIDEN wanted to pass as the “Build Back Better” package. It’s about 15% (!!!!) of what was initially proposed. Just imagine the inflation we’d be experiencing if it had.
ALSO WORTH REMEMBERING: Remember when the Obama administration backed a $535 million loan to green energy company Solyndra that went bankrupt within two years, sticking taxpayers with the bill? This time, the government is just giving that money away to similar companies. What could go wrong?
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Locals in one southern city tell the Los Angeles Times that they are so “fed up” with the influx of immigrants that they’ve printed flyers calling the new residents an “[effing] plague” that should leave because the locals “[effing] hate you.”
The southern city in question is Mexico City, the capital of Mexico (the whole other country south of the United States). It’s Mexicans who want immigrant Americans to leave. The Americans who’ve moved there are taking advantage of the lower costs of living and virtual work opportunities.
One resident tells the LA Times, “We’re the only people speaking Spanish except the waiters.”
One local got on TikTok to say that Americans traveling there “stinks of modern colonialism.”
WORTH ASKING: Are these Mexicans bad for wanting the normalcy of their way of life back? Is that racist? Or does that only apply to Americans?
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The Democrat race for US Senate is tightening in Wisconsin. Wisconsin Treasurer SARAH GODLEWSKI and Lieutenant Governor MANDELA BARNES are the last two major candidates remaining before the primary election on August 9.
The winner will take on incumbent Republican Senator RON JOHNSON, who’s held the seat since 2010.
At a recent event, Barnes seemed to be confused about who he’d be taking on.
WATCH:
WORTH NOTING: Scott Walker was governor until 2018. He was never a Senator. He’s not currently running for any office and remains pretty low-profile.
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LOTTERY
No winner for Tuesday night’s Mega Millions drawing. Tonight’s drawing will be for a $1.1 BILLION jackpot or a $648.2 million cash payout.
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No winner for Wednesday night’s Powerball drawing. Saturday night’s drawing will be for a $170 million jackpot or a $100.5 million cash payout.
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SHOWBIZ NEWS
These albums drop today:
Amanda Shires, “Take It Like a Man”
Andrew Tuttle, “Fleeting Adventure”
Dance Gavin Dance, “Jackpot Juice”
DC Gore, “All These Things”
Jemima Coulter, “Grace After A Party”
Joyce Manor, “At Some Point You Stop”
King Princess, “Hold On Baby”
Maggie Rogers, “Surrender”
Matt Nathanson, “Boston Accent”
Patrick Holland, “You’re The Boss”
Stick to Your Guns, “Spectre”
Tallies, “Patina”
Whiskey Myers, “Tornillo”
Wilder Maker, “Male Models”
Wombo, “Fairy Rust”
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SHAKIRA has decided to try her luck in court, opting not to accept a plea deal offered by Spanish prosecutors who allege that she defrauded Spain’s government of $15 million in taxes.
She “trusts her innocence and chooses to leave the issue in the hands of the law,” the 45-year-old’s PR team said in a statement.
As previously reported, Spanish prosecutors charged the singer in 2018 with failing to pay millions on income earned between 2012 and 2014.
If found guilty, she faces a possible fine and prison sentence.
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ASHTON KUTCHER says no one wanted to hang out with him during his time hosting MTV’s prank show “Punk’d.”
Speaking about his time on the show with “Bachelorette” alum RACHEL LINDSAY for ExtraTV, Kutcher said he would never return to the show because it was “far too lonely.”
As many may remember, the show did return in 2020, without Kutcher. CHANCE THE RAPPER took over hosting duties.
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MADONNA says she will never sell her music catalog.
“They’re my songs. Ownership is everything isn’t it” she recently said in an interview with Variety.
ON THAT NOTE: Madge says she is always looking for “interesting, fun ways” to re-release her catalog, as a way to “introduce” her music to a “new generation.”
BY THE WAY: High-profile artists who have recently unloaded their music catalogs include, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, STING, JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE and BOB DYLAN.
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“Euphoria” star SYDNEY SWEENEY does not make as much dough as many would think, so she says.
The actress recently told The Hollywood Reporter that she would not have enough funds to cover a six-month break from acting.
“They don’t pay actors like they used to, and with streamers, you no longer get residuals,” she explained.
WORTH NOTING: Sweeney lives in a $3 million mansion in Los Angeles.
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CASTING CALL
ELIZABETH HASSELBACK is making a temporary comeback to “The View.”
The conservative host appeared on the show from 2003 to 2013.
“Pray for me y’all,” she told PEOPLE magazine in a recent interview about her return.
Hasselback is set to return on August 3.
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Host RYAN SEACREST, and judges KATY PERRY, LUKE BRYAN and LIONEL RICHIE are all returning for Season 6 of “American Idol” on ABC (21st Season overall).
The upcoming season premieres in spring 2023.
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JACK O’CONNELL, PATRICK DEMPSEY and SARAH GADON have joined the cast of the race car drama “Ferrari.”
Dempsey will play Piero Taruffi and O’Connell will play Peter Collins, with Gadon taking on the role of Linda Chrisitan.
They join previously announced cast members ADAM DRIVER, PENELOPE CRUZ, SHAILENE WOODLEY and GABRIEL LEONE.
The flick, set during the summer of 1957, follows former race car driver Ferrari (Driver) who is facing bankruptcy and marital struggles. In a last ditch effort to fix it all, he agrees to one last race -- 1,000 miles across Italy, the iconic Mille Miglia.
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KRYSTEN RITTER will executive produce and star in “Orphan Black: Echoes,” a spinoff of “Orphan Black.”
The 10-episode series takes place in the near future and explores the scientific manipulation of human existence, per the series’ description.
Ritter plays Lucy, a woman who along with several other women, weave their way into each other’s lives to unravel the mystery of their identities.
The series is set to debut in 2023 on AMC.
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DOMINIC PURCELL, NICK STAHL, KATE BOSWORTH and MEL GIBSON are set to star in the upcoming thriller “Informant.”
The film follows a police detective dying of cancer who makes a deal with an informant to get killed in the line of duty so his family will receive benefits.
No role details were shared.
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THE DAILY KARDASHOPUS
LAMAR ODOM told Page Six that he would have gladly helped his ex-wife KHLOE KARDASHIAN expand her family over her ex TRISTAN THOMPSON.
“She could have hollered at me for that,” he told the outlet in when asked about Khloe expecting baby #2 with her lying, cheating ex-boyfriend.
Odom has previously hinted at wanting a second chance with Khloe.
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WE’LL NEVER BE ROYALS
Rumors of PRINCE WILLIAM stepping out on his wife KATE MIDDLETON ran rampant this week, even leading to the creation of hashtags including “Prince of Pegging” and “prince william affair.”
The gossip began with an email submitted to DeuxMoi, a celeb gossip blog that shares “rumors and conjecture, not facts,” claiming that the royal was having an affair. The email also alluded to some of his rumored sexual preferances.
Twitter went nuts with the news, with many believing it to be true.
WORTH ASKING: Who is the unlucky staffer that has to inform QUEEN ELIZABETH of the rumor?
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Remember when MEGHAN MARKLE told OPRAH WINFREY that she was an “only child” in the bombshell interview last year?
Now her team of lawyers says she didn’t exactly mean it that way.
The denial came in response to Meg’s half-sister SAMANTHA MARKLE’s defamation lawsuit that calls the claim defamatory, making her family seem like “opportunists” who only want to “cash in on having a famous relative.”
When asked about her childhood, Meg told Oprah that she felt like an only child because Samantha is 17 years older than her and was raised in a separate home. Meg’s attorneys argue the statement is “subjective” because it was how Meghan felt at the time.
REMINDER: In today’s day and age feelings have more weight than facts.
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SPORTS
FIFA announced this week that the Olympic soccer competition at the 2024 Paris Games will end with the women’s final, not the men’s, for the first time.
The women’s final is set for August 10, with the men’s final match set for the 9th.
The tournament -- for both genders -- kicks off July 24.
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LIST OF THE WEEK
In honor of tonight’s YUGE Mega Millions jackpot, here are the 10 largest Mega Millions Jackpots ever:
$1.537 billion - October 23, 2018 (1 ticket - SC)
$1.150 billion - January 22, 2021 (1 ticket - MI)
$1.1 billion - July 29, 2022 (TBD)
$656 million - March 30, 2012 (3 tickets - KS, IL, MD)
$648 million - December 17, 2013 (2 tickets - CA, GA)
$543 million - July 24, 2018 (1 ticket - CA)
$536 million - July 8, 2016 (1 ticket - IN)
$533 million - March 30, 2018 (1 ticket - NJ)
$522 million - June 7, 2019 (1 ticket - CA)
$516 million - May 21, 2021 (1 ticket - PA)
*Courtesy of foxbusiness.com
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DAY OF THE YEAR
National Lasagna Day
National Lipstick Day
National Chicken Wing Day
International Tiger Day
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ON THIS DATE
1907 – A small group of young men gathers at Brownsea Island, just off the southern coast of England. They were organized by Sir Robert Baden-Powell, a former lieutenant general in the British Army -- he was working to keep young men from growing up without any moral compass or knowledge of the outdoors.
That small gathering laid the foundation for the Scouting movement, which began blossoming in the United Kingdom shortly thereafter, and was started in the United States in 1911.
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1921 – The National Socialist Workers Party elects Adolf Hitler as its political leader.
In the ensuing 24 years, Hitler rose the ranks of German government, helped spark a worldwide war, and oversaw the murder of millions.
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1948 – The Olympic Games kick off for the first time in 12 years, previously stalled on account of the war.
London hosted, amid its rebuilding efforts.
Events were relatively limited, and included traditional races, a marathon, relays, a 10- and 50-kilometer walk, plus other field events. The US cleaned up with 27 medals overall. Sweden took second with 13.
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1958 – Congress establishes NASA.
Following the successful launch of the Soviet's Sputnik satellite the previous October, the US was already behind in the space race.
By the time NASA was created, the Soviets had launched a follow-up satellite, with a dog on board.
In May of 1961, JFK would declare the country's intent to land men on the moon.
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1981 – Prince Charles marries Lady Diana, a layperson and schoolteacher. The televised wedding became one of the most-watched TV events in world history.
Equally public was their separation and divorce more than a decade later.
Diana was killed in a car accident in August 1997.
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2000 – American royalty Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston get married in a million-dollar ceremony.
They had been dating since 1998. The marriage was brief, ending in 2005. Rumor is, Brad wanted kids and Jen didn't want to stall her career, coming off the success of “Friends.”
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2015 - Zion Harvey, 9, becomes the first pediatric patient to receive a double hand transplant at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
At the age of 2, Zion developed sepsis, which attacked his entire body and eventually required amputation of both of his hands and his legs below the knee.
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2019 - Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus’ single “Old Town Road” sets a new record for longest run at the top of the singles chart.
The track sat at No. 1 for 17 weeks.
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BIRTHDAYS
Dak Prescott - football player - 29
Dae Dae - rapper - 30
Paula Goto - actress, “Miss XV” - 31
Munro Chambers - actor, “Degrassi: The Next Generation” - 32
Genesis Rodriguez - actress, “Days of Our Lives” - 35
Ryan Braun - baseball player - 39
Ashley McBryde - country singer - 39
Allison Mack - actress, “Smallville” - 40
Fernando Alonso - race car driver - 41
Josh Radnor - actor, “How I Met Your Mother” - 48
James Otto - country singer - 49
Wil Wheaton - actor, “Star Trek: The Next Generation” & “The Big Bang Theory” - 50
Martina McBride - country singer - 56
Charles Schwab - investor, Charles Schwab Corporation - 85
Born On This Date
Tony Sirico - actor, “The Sopranos” - 1942 (d. 2022)
Elizabeth Short - Black Dahlia victim - 1924 (d. 1947)
Benito Mussolini - Italian dictator - 1883 (d. 1945)
Walter Hunt - inventor, safety pin & sewing machine - 1796 (d. 1859)
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