8/12/2022: No More Distancing

PLUS: Twitter Misinformation Brigade; Tommy Lee’s NSFW Post; and Housewife Bags on Kim’s Beauty Line

Aug 12, 2022

Today is Friday, August 12, 2022.

It is the 224th day of the year.

141 days remain.

HIT LIST

IT’S OVER: The CDC has ended its guidance that people should stay six feet apart and quarantine if they’ve come into contact with someone who has covid – in case you were waiting for Big Brother to tell you it’s okay to live your life.

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Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, McDonald’s sold off its stores in Russia and shut down operations in Ukraine, closing 109 restaurants there. Now, McDonald’s is beginning the process of reopening in Ukraine, Reuters reports.

Reps for the company say they’ve consulted with vendors and security specials, and also considered employees’ desires to get back to work.

No word yet on how many will get reopened, but the company is starting in the western part of the country that has been relatively more protected from Russia’s invasion and attacks.

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Google is calling on Apple to update its technology to make messages between Android and iOS devices more seamless.

iPhone users are well-aware that texts and media from non-iPhone contacts are displayed on a green, not blue, background, and media such as photos and links are garbled and harder to access.

Android has even launched a whole campaign to pressure Apple to update its technology, including a website that outlines all the issues.

MEANWHILE: The next iOS update for Apple products will reportedly include a feature that allows users to un-send text messages – but only when they’re sent to other Apple users with up-to-date software. Senders will have two minutes to delete the message from their own device and the recipient’s.

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A freak accident injured 34 people on the Fire Dragon ride at Legoland in Guenzburg, Germany on Thursday.

Two trains on the track collided at the boarding station, but investigators are still trying to figure out what went wrong.

THIS IS WEIRD: Last week, a 57-year-old woman fell out of a roller coaster in Klotten, Germany and died.

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Officials at London Heathrow airport say summer travel is starting to stabilize. After a week in which they asked airlines to not book last-minute tickets, airport staff at one of the world’s busiest say security screeners are back to pre-pandemic levels and 88% of travelers get through in 20 minutes.

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BY THE NUMBERS

📈 The Dow added 27 points (0.082%) Thursday to close at 33,336. The S&P lost 2.97 points (0.071%) to close at 4,207 while the Nasdaq lost 74 points (0.58%) to close at 12,779.

🛢 West Texas Intermediate ticked back up to $94 and Brent Crude was approaching $100 a barrel.

⛽ The national average price of a gallon of gas was $3.99 on Thursday.

₿ Bitcoin was up $110 Thursday afternoon, trading just north of $24,000 a year.

🛩 There were 3,960 flight delays into, within, or out of the United States and 714 such cancellations.

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CHARTS

New to Amazon Prime:

Cosmic Love (Rotten Tomatoes Score: No Score)

New to Disney+:

Father of the Bride (Score: 70%)
Father of the Bride Part II (Score: 52%)

New to Netflix:

13: The Musical (No Score)
Day Shift (No Score)

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DEATHS

DAVE LEA has died.

The “Batman” stuntman passed away last Saturday after a battle with cancer.

He was 67.

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GORD LEWIS has died.

The Teenage Head guitarist was allegedly murdered by his son, JONATHAN LEWIS, 41, on Sunday. His son has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder.

According to authorities, the father and son lived together in the apartment where Gord was killed.

He was 65

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THE SWAMP

In a brief statement Thursday, Attorney General MERRICK GARLAND confirmed he personally authorized the decision to seek a warrant to authorize the raid on Mar-a-Lago Monday, in which FBI jackboots spent nine hours tearing apart former President DONALD TRUMP’s home.

Garland acknowledged there is “substantial public interest” in this case, and defended the integrity of the FBI’s staff and mission.

Garland confirmed that the Department of Justice has filed to make the warrant public.

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Twitter would very much not like to repeat the bad publicity and chaos of determining what is and isn’t misinformation in the runup to midterm elections.

They’ve outlined what they call a “Civic Integrity Policy” for policing content. Twitter will decide what is and isn’t “misleading” when it comes to information about the voting process, in particular: “misleading content intended to intimidate or dissuade people from participating in the election,” and “misleading claims that may undermine public confidence in elections outcomes.”

WORTH ASKING: Does this policy include the Tweet NANCY PELOSI sent on May 16, 2017, that said, “Our election was hijacked. There is no question. Congress has a duty to #ProtectOurDemocracy & #FollowTheFacts.”

Or this one from KARINE JEAN-PIERRE on April 2, 2020: “Reminder: Brian Kemp stole the gubernatorial election from Georgians and Stacy Abrams.”

ALSO WORTH ASKING: Who decides? Who holds accountable the dozens of foreign policy “experts” who incorrectly called the HUNTER BIDEN laptop story in October 2020 misinformation when it turned out to be very, very real?

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Here’s a wild hiccup in the 2024 Republican presidential landscape: Axios reports that Republican Miami Mayor FRANCIS SUAREZ intends to run for the nomination.

He’s the head of the American Conference of Mayors, an association of 1,400 cities that have populations over 30,000. Suarez is also fundraising for a third party group that’s running small digital advertising campaigns in early primary states to test various messages.

He’s also leveled criticisms at both Florida Governor RON DESANTIS and former President DONALD TRUMP.

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We’ll just leave this here:

Elon Musk @elonmusk

Fate 🖤 Irony

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LOTTERY

No winner for Tuesday night’s Mega Millions drawing. Tonight’s drawing will be for a $65 million jackpot or a $37.9 million cash payout.

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No winner for Wednesday night’s Powerball drawing. Saturday night’s drawing will be for a $48 million jackpot or a $28.2 million cash payout.

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SHOWBIZ NEWS

These albums drop today:

Boris, “Heavy Rocks”
Danger Mouse & BLack Thought, “Cheat Codes”
Danny Elfman, “Bigger. Messier.”
Elaine Howley, “The Distance Between Heart and Mouth”
Hudson Mohawke, “Cry Sugar”
Max Tundra, “Remixtape”
Omar Apollo: “Ivory”
Panda Bear & Sonic Boom, “Reset”
Peezy, “Only Built 4 Diamond Links”
Rod Wave, “Beautiful Mind”
Sylvan Esso, “No Rules Sandy”
The Game, “Drillmatic: Mind vs. Heart”
Tomu DJ, “Half Moon Bay”

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KEVIN FEDERLINE took to Instagram yesterday to share some videos of his ex-wife BRITNEY SPEARS yelling at their two sons.

In the first video Brit is seen scolding her boys, ages 11 and 12 at the time, about “respecting” her in her home. The second clip shows the singer disciplining her son Sean after he went inside a store without shoes on.

All of the videos appear to be shot without Brit’s knowledge.

K-Fed justified sharing the footage by claiming to be defending his sons for not wanting to be around their mom.

A Britney source told Page Six that “[Kevin] is weaponizing the kids by releasing the videos.”

UPDATE: By Thursday afternoon, Federline had deleted all the videos.

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“Well, you have to kill every time.”

TINA FEY says those words, spoken to her by STEVE MARTIN, have stuck with her throughout her comedy career.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Fey recalled the moment Martin uttered those words to her.

“One time Steve was visiting at ‘Saturday Night Live,’ and I had seen him do Letterman the night before, I said ‘You were so funny on Letterman last night.’ And he very matter of factly said, ‘Well, you have to kill every time.’ It was chilling to me, but it’s true,” Fey said.

Fey and Martin, who have remained friends for years, now star opposite each other as enemies on Hulu series “Only Murders in the Building.”

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TOMMY LEE posted a full-frontal nude pic on Instagram that left nothing to the imagination early Thursday morning.

“Oooooppsss,” he captioned the snapshot.

The photo was swiftly removed by the platform that has a strict no nudity clause, but before it was deleted more than 1.4 million followers got a peek.

Several commented on the post as well, including Lee’s wife BRITTANY FURLAN who wrote: “OH MY GOD.”

If you're curious about the image, several screenshots have made their way to Twitter.

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ANNE HECHE was allegedly under the influence of cocaine and possibly fentanyl at the time of her fiery car crash.

LAPD sources told TMZ that the actress’ blood test came up positive for both substances. The sources noted that it was possible the fentanyl was administered post-crash at the hospital.

There was no sign of alcohol in her system.

Heche’s condition has been called “dire,” as she remains in a coma, an insider told the outlet.

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HEIDI KLUM has revealed her secret to looking so young.

Joking with E! News, the 49-year-old said her anti-aging secret is sucking her 17-years-younger husband TOM KAULITZ’s blood.

“Like a vampire,” she quipped.

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A recent BuzzFeed article created a list of “major villains” throughout history.

The article, titled “17 Famous People Who Started Out As Heroes But Lived Long Enough To Become Major Villains” includes BILL COSBY, KEVIN SPACEY, JOE PATERNO, JK ROWLING and many more.

Full List Here >>>

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JERRY SEINFELD once told LISA KUDROW that the overwhelming success of her show “Friends” is all thanks to him.

Kudrow, who plays Phoebe Buffay on the popular series, told The Daily Beast that during a party in the 90s, Seinfeld bragged that the popularity of his own show -- “Seinfeld” -- had a “knock-on effect” in making “Friends” popular.

TO BE FAIR: Both shows follow a group of friends and their daily shenanigans.

JUST FOR FUN: Are you #TeamSeinfeld or #TeamFriends?

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“Prey,” the latest film in the “Predator” franchise, grossed the most viewing hours in its first three days than any other Hulu movie or show.

The streaming platform revealed this week that the prequel beat out the total viewing time of “The Kardashians,” which became Hulu’s biggest TV series premiere when it debuted in April.

“Prey” follows a young warrior named Naru, played by AMBER MIDTHUNDER. She, along with the rest of the Comanche Nation tribe must defend themselves and their home against the Predator alien who is on a hunting spree.

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CASTING CALL

JON HAMM is joining the cast of “The Morning Show” for Season 3.

He will play a “corporate titan” named Paul Marks, opposite stars of the Apple TV+ drama, JENNIFER ANISTON and REESE WITHERSPOON, The Wrap reports.

Filming is set to begin this month.

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As drama continues to surround actor EZRA MILLER, Warner Bros is unsure about whether they should move forward with their big-budget DC superhero flick, “The Flash, in which they (Miller goes by they/them pronouns) stars.

Just this week, Miller has been charged with felony burglary and has been named in an investigation into the disappearance of a Vermont mother and her three children who were allegedly living with the 29-year-old.

An insider told The Hollywood Reporter that the studio has three options on how to move forward.

First, they can hope Miller gets professional help and then later gives an interview explaining the crazy behavior. Second, WarnerBros releases the flick, but limits Miller’s involvement in marketing and all premieres leading up to the release. And the last option -- which seems very unlikely considering the $200 million put into filming -- the studio scraps the whole thing.

As of now, “The Flash” is set to hit theaters in June 2023.

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SHANNON BREAM has been tapped to host Fox News Sunday, the show hosted for years by CHRIS WALLACE, who left the network for the doomed CNN+ late last year.

Bream has been a legal correspondent for Fox News for years and has recently anchored the 10:00 pm news show “Fox News at Night.”

In May, CNN announced Wallace would host a Sunday evening news show. It’ll be similar in format to the show he intended to produce for CNN+.

WORTH REMEMBERING: CNN+ imploded after mere days, because why pay for commie garbage news when you can get commie garbage news for free?

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THE DAILY KARDASHOPUS

“Real Housewives of New York” star BETHENNY FRANKEL is not a fan of KIM KARDASHIAN’s SKKN skincare line.

The reality star shared her thoughts in a TikTok video calling the line “impractical at best” and “somewhat overpriced.”

In the clip, which has been viewed more than 1.3 million times, Frankel calls Kim’s eye cream “bulbous,” referencing its egg-like shape.

“I don’t have a circular house or medicine cabinet,” Frankel exclaimed.

Many followers thanked the business-savvy woman for her honest review of the products.

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WE’LL NEVER BE ROYALS

PRINCE HARRY is not trying to destroy the monarchy, but rather “modernize it,” so says former royal butler GRANT HARROLD.

Talking to The Sun, Harrold, who once worked for PRINCE CHARLES, said, “I don't believe for a second that Harry would intentionally try to destroy the monarchy [but] I wouldn’t put it past him to want to modernise [sic] it…”

SPEAKING OF HARRY: A former police protection officer who worked with the prince as a child, believes that he may return to the UK when his father takes the throne.

“I have this feeling that he could well be back in a new role, with or without Meghan…” the royal officer told The Sun.

ARCHEWELL AWARD: Harry and MEGHAN MARKLE’s charity will be honored for its contribution to the Human First Coalition -- specifically helping Afghan refugees. Last year, the couple visited a military base in New Jersey housing over 10,000 refugees. Harry and Meg will not receive the award in person.

PRINCESS ANNABEL: The royal we all know as PRINCESS BEATRICE was almost named Annabel, according to The Sun. An insider told the outlet that QUEEN ELIZABETH was not impressed with the name, saying it was too “yuppie,” so PRINCE ANDREW and FERGIE named her Beatrice. No word on whether the same issue arose with naming their second child, PRINCESS EUGENIE.

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SPORTS

The Field of Dreams complex in Dyersville, Iowa will not host a Major League Baseball game in 2023.

Former MLB star FRANK THOMAS made the announcement this week, citing construction on a youth baseball and softball complex as the reason for the tourist attraction not hosting a game next year.

The site, which is located near the iconic field from the 1989 film starring KEVIN COSTNER, hosted its first game last year between the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox. It was the most-watched regular season baseball game in 16 years.

This year’s game, which took place yesterday, saw the Cincinnati Reds take on the Chicago Cubs.

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LIST OF THE WEEK

In honor of National Vinyl Record Day, here are the most selling vinyl records of all time:

Pink Floyd, “Dark Side of the Moon” - 45 million copies worldwide
Michael Jackson, “Thriller” - 33 million copies worldwide
The Beatles, “Abbey Road” - 31 million copies worldwide
Nirvana, “Nevermind” - 30 million copies worldwide
David Bowie, “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” - 20 million copies worldwide

*Info courtesy of Vinyl Record Day.

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DAY OF THE YEAR

National Vinyl Record Day

National Julienne Fries Day

National Middle Child Day

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ON THIS DATE

1492 – Christopher Columbus arrives in the Canary Islands, on his first voyage to the New World.

He stopped to restock provisions and make repairs. He departed the islands at the beginning of September.

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1953 – The Soviets match America’s nuclear weapon development efforts with the detonation of the “Layer-Cake” bomb.

The 400-kiloton weapon was tested in Kazakhstan, providing 30 times the force of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima to end World War II.

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1974 – Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford become the first teammates to be inducted into the Hall of Fame on the same day.

Mantle appeared in 12 World Series, including seven championships and holds the World Series record for most home runs (18), RBIs (40), extra-base hits (26), runs (42), walks (43) and total bases (123). He was an All-Star for 16 seasons, crowned MVP multiple times and was awarded the Hutch Award for “exemplifying the fighting spirit and competitive desire.”

Ford is a ten-time MLB All-Star and six-time World Series champion. In 1961 he was awarded the Cy Young Award and World Series MVP.

Both men spent their entire careers with the Yankees.

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1990 – The bones of the largest Tyrannosaurus rex ever found are discovered.

They are estimated to be more than 65-million-years-old, belonging to a dinosaur who paleontologists would later name Sue.

The whole dig revealed a 90-percent complete skeleton that remained remarkably well preserved. Once assembled, the skeleton stood 42 feet tall from head to toe with 58 teeth.

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2000 – A Russian nuclear submarine with 118 crew members sinks.

The “Kursk” was playing part in war games with other ships. A series of two explosions were recorded, causing it to sink, though the exact cause is unknown.

While some countries offered to assist in the rescue, the Russians refused.

An investigation the following year raised the submarine, though the front hull, where the explosions reportedly happened, had to be cut off to get it to the surface.

This, with the Russians’ typical cloud of mystery, raises questions about the reason for and lack of inquest into the ultimate cause of the ship’s sinking.

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2013 - James “Whitey” Bulger is found guilty on 31 of 32 racketeering and firearms charges.

The mob boss is also found to have been involved in 11 murders.

His sentencing would take place in November.

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2016 - Katie Ledecky sets a world record with her time of 8:04.79 in the women’s 800-meter swim at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

In the end, Ledecky would take home 4 golds and 1 silver for Team USA.

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2021 - Britney Spears’ father Jamie Spears says he will step down as her conservator, after controlling her life and income for more than 13 years.

The Free Britney movement is credited with getting the ball rolling on this major win for the pop princess.

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BIRTHDAYS

Rudy Pankow - actor, “Outer Banks” - 24

Cara Delevingne - model - 30

Mario Balotelli - soccer player - 32

Tyson Fury - boxer - 34

Leah Pipes - actress, “Sorority Row” & “The Originals” - 34

Casey Affleck - actor, “Ocean’s Eleven” & “Manchester by the Sea” - 47

Yvette Nicole Brown - actress, “Boston Legal” & “Community” - 51

Peter Krause - actor, “Parenthood” - 57

Sir Mix-a-Lot - rapper - 59

George Hamilton - actor, “My One and Only” - 83

George Soros - philanthropist - 92

Born On This Date

Norris McWhirter - founder of Guinness Book of World Records - 1925 (d. 2004)

Jane Wyatt - actress, “Star Trek” - 1910 (d. 2006)

Alfred Lunt - Broadway star (born in Milwaukee, WI) - 1893 (d. 1977)

Cecil B. DeMile - filmmaker, “The Ten Commandments” - 1881 (d. 1959)

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