9/22/2022: Welcome to Bhutan
PLUS: Zuck Baby #3; Ted Lasso Goes Virtual; and Finding the Next James Bond
Today is Thursday, September 22, 2022.
It is the 265th day of the year.
100 days remain.
TRENDING
Letitia James, #TrumpCrimeFamily and #TrumpIsGoingToJail all landed in Twitter’s Top 10 Trends on Wednesday after the New York AG filed a lawsuit against the former President. More in Swamp.
Bill Murray was trending Wednesday as fans sent the actor birthday wishes. He turned 72.
Actor Tom Hardy was trending yesterday. Head to Showbiz to see why.
###
HIT LIST
While many Americans have flocked to Florida in recent months amid overbearing pandemic restrictions elsewhere, New Yorkers in particular have moved there in record numbers.
An analysis by the New York Post shows that 5,838 New York State residents got Florida Driver’s Licenses in August alone, the highest number for a single month in history. On top of that, nearly 42,000 have moved to Florida so far this year.
###
Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN has suggested he will activate military reservists to bolster his invasion efforts in Ukraine – leading a spike in internet searches for “how to break an arm at home” in the country (except they searched for it in Russian, obviously).
The info comes from a Newsweek analysis of publicly-available Google Trends data, which measures relative search volumes.
Putin has rattled his saber in recent days, hinting at using nuclear weapons to push back against Western support for Ukraine.
###
The Kingdom of Bhutan sealed its borders at the onset of the pandemic – but visiting was never cheap.
Foreigners could visit the landlocked Asian country before March 2020 and pay a daily package rate of between $200 and $250, which typically included accommodations and a designated tour guide, and was inclusive of a $65 “Sustainable Development Fee.”
Now, Bhutan is opening its borders again, but that sustainable development fee alone is $200 per person per day, and does not include anywhere to stay or a guide.
BUT WAIT: Kids under 5 travel free, and kids between 6- and 12-years-old get half off.
###
Two people will split the July $1.337 billion Mega Millions jackpot, third-largest US lottery jackpot ever.
The winners split a single ticket, and are opting for the $780.5 million lump sum payout. They’re also invoking their right to remain anonymous, which they can do in Illinois and 16 other states.
###
Here’s the kind of government wealth redistribution a guy can get behind: The state of Alaska has begun distributing $3,000 checks to each and every citizen, paid for with revenue related to the state’s oil resources.
The legislature approved a supplemental $662 per person on top of the base amount to hit the round $3,000 number. There are no restrictions on how the money can be spent.
###
BY THE NUMBERS
📈 The Dow lost 522 points (1.7%) Wednesday to close at 30,183. The S&P lost 66 points (1.71%) to close at 3,789, and the Nasdaq lost 204 points (1.79%) to close at 11,220.
🛢 West Texas Intermediate was trading at $83 on Wednesday. Brent Crude closed at $89.83.
⛽ The national average price of a gallon of gas went up Wednesday, to $3.68.
₿ Bitcoin got clobbered late Wednesday, losing more than $500, and trading at $18,350.
🛩 There were 2,778 flights delayed within, into, or out of the United States on Wednesday and 68 such cancellations.
###
CHARTS
The US Space Force released their official song this week, titled “Semper Supra,” meaning “Always Above” in Latin.
The Twitterverse is less than impressed. One user called the track a “Star Wars ripoff,” while another called out the line that reads, “Standing guard both night and day,” tweeting “there is no night or day in outer space.” To that a third user called it a “grammatical black hole.”
Listen Here:
###
BABY NEWS
MARK ZUCKERBERG, 38, and his wife, former pediatrician PRISCILLA CHAN, 37, are expecting their third baby.
The Facebook co-founder revealed the news on Instagram (which is owned by Meta) Wednesday, telling followers that the baby on the way is a girl.
The couple are already parents to daughters Max, 7, and August, 5.
###
SICK BAY
Reality star JUNE SHANNON aka Mama June has been hospitalized after suffering severe headaches and dizziness.
An insider told Page Six that June has undergone a series of scans and tests, all while specialists try to figure out what is going on.
The source added that her new husband has been by her side. No word on whether her daughters, who she is estranged from, have visited her.
###
THE SWAMP
After yet another exhaustive, intrusive, overbearing witch hunt investigation into former President DONALD TRUMP, New York’s Attorney General has come up empty on criminal charges against the former Commander in Chief.
But New York Attorney General LETITIA JAMES is still trying to score some points ahead of midterms. Did she find evidence of working with Vladimir Putin? Of selling off secret documents? Of trying to get people to overthrow the government?
Nope – instead, a weak civil lawsuit alleges that The Trump Organization overvalued its assets on some documents.
WORTH NOTING: This is like getting sued because you put too high of an asking price on your house. It’s a witch hunt. It’s empty. It’s meaningless – and it’s getting increasingly embarrassing for the left.
WORTH REMEMBERING: Have you noticed how quickly the Mar-a-Lago jackboot FBI raid has disappeared from headlines? Why? Why does one new manufactured scandal always pop up to take down Trump just as the last one has fizzled away?
THEN, GET A LOAD OF THIS: There’s a few names you’ve heard before related to the HUNTER BIDEN laptop scandal, and suddenly all the dots are connecting in truly damning ways.
TONY BOBULINSKI was the whistleblower who went public in October 2020, saying he personally witnessed Hunter coordinate meetings between his business partners and JOE BIDEN, who was the then-Vice President.
TIMOTHY THIBAULT (sounds like Tim Tebow, but that’s confusing) was the FBI agent identified as suppressing an investigation into Hunter’s various scandals. He “voluntarily retired” earlier this year.
NOW: The New York Post’s Miranda Devine reports that the information Bobulinski brought to light was handled by none other than Thibault.
As Devine reports, “Tony Bobulinski had been the business partner of Hunter Biden, and he knew that Joe Biden was involved with this multi-million dollar deal with China that was detrimental to America's national interest.”
IN OTHER WORDS: The FBI knew all this and had Bobulinski to corroborate it, but the agent responsible for running it up the food chain and looking into it conveniently decided not to.
BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER: On one hand, Democrats have mobilized the Deep State, the FBI, activist judges, activist politicians, with the help of a detrimentally sympathetic media to try to prevent Trump from holding office, and have told whatever lies and invented whatever slander to achieve this goals.
On the other, there is an abundance of glaring evidence that the Biden Family Crime Syndicate is guilty of the exact things the Democrat apparatus has accused the Trump family of doing, without turning up any actionable evidence, and these same people who slobber all over themselves about “defending our Democracy” can’t even feign interest.
So there’s that.
###
LOTTERY
No winner for Tuesday night’s Mega Millions drawing. Friday night’s drawing will be for a $301 million jackpot or a $160.3 million cash payout.
###
SHOWBIZ NEWS
ADAM LEVINE’s former Yoga instructor claims she also received flirty texts from him.
ALANNA ZABEL, who is now the fourth woman to speak out, shared her experience on Instagram Wednesday, captioning her post “Long overdue #ExposeAdamLevine.”
Zabel, who worked for Levine from 2007 to 2010, said he once texted her saying “I want to spend the day with you naked.”
While Levine was not married at the time, Zabel says that she wanted to come forward because she is “disappointed” in the singer’s response to other allegations made against him.
As previously reported, several women have come forward accusing Levine of sending them flirty messages on social media, with one, model SUMNER STROH, claiming to have had a “physical relationship” with him last year.
WORTH REMEMBERING: Levine has been married to former Victoria Secret model BEHATI PRINSLOO since 2014. They have two kids and one more on the way.
###
Country singer MAREN MORRIS is unsure if she will attend the CMA Awards following her social media feud with fellow country singer JASON ALDEAN’s wife, BRITTANY ALDEAN.
Speaking to the LA Times, Morris said that despite being nominated for Album of the Year, she doesn’t “feel comfortable” attending the award show.
The feud started last month after Brittany thanked her parents on social media for “not changing” her gender during her “tomboy phase.” Morris, taking offense to the comment, responded with “It’s so easy to, like, not be a scumbag human? Sell your clip-ins and zip it, Insurrection Barbie.”
The 2022 CMA Awards will take place on November 9.
###
BRAD PITT’s new skincare line, Le Domaine, dropped on Wednesday.
Products include, The Serum ($385), The Cream ($320) and The Cleaning Emulsion ($80). According to Le Domaine’s website, The Fluid Cream will be released in January.
Pitt told Page Six that he credits his ex, actress GWYNETH PALTROW, with helping him “inspire the idea,” noting her own successful beauty line, Goop.
###
FLOYD MAYWEATHER told TMZ Sports that he would like to have a rematch with MMA fighter CONOR MCGREGOR in 2023.
When asked how serious he is about a future fight, Mayweather said “there have already been conversations about money and location.”
The last time the two faced off in the ring, Mayweather won by TKO in the 10th round. As for a payday, Mayweather got $300 million, while McGregor got $100 million.
McGregor responded to TMZ’s story on Twitter writing, “[two-finger peace sign emoji] #notinterested.”
###
New York University’s Clive Davis Institute is offering a class focusing on LANA DEL REY’s music.
The course, which launches next month, focuses on the “singer/songwriter’s connection to social justice movements including Black Lives Matter, Me Too and Times Up,” according to the course description.
Earlier this month, the university started its first-ever course on TAYLOR SWIFT.
###
TOM HARDY (“Venom” & “The Dark Knight Rises”) scored an impressive victory over the weekend in a martial arts competition in the UK.
The actor won first place in his Division (MALE GI / BLUE / MASTER 3 (41+). That division is high-level Blue Belt -- one rank shy of the top, Black Belt.
A spokesman for the event told The Direct website that “everyone recognized him but he was very humble and was happy to take time out for people to take photographs with him.”
###
CASTING CALL
JASON SUDEKIS’ character Ted Lasso is joining the EA Sports universe.
The video game maker announced Wednesday that Lasso will be a playable manager in Career Mode on FIFA ‘23. Lasso’s team, AFCRichmond will also be available in the game.
For those unfamiliar with the Emmy award-winning show, “Ted Lasso” follows an American football coach in London charged with leading a struggling English Premier League football (soccer) team.
###
Season 1 and 2 of Netflix’s “The Crown” rose to No. 3 and No. 7 on the streamer’s hours-viewed chart, respectively, last week following QUEEN ELIZABETH’s passing.
The first season logged 40.8 million hours viewed, while Season 2 notched 16.7 million viewing hours.
MEANWHILE: “Cobra Kai” is holding strong at No. 1 with 95 million hours viewed.
###
MOLLY RINGWALD has joined the second installment of FX’s anthology series, “Feud: Capote’s Women.”
The eight-episode miniseries, set in the 1970s and ‘80s, follows Capote, played by TOM HOLLANDER, as he stabs several of his female friends, whom he refers to as his “swans.”
Ringwald will play Joanne Carson, the second wife of Johnny Carson, who was a good friend of Capote until he died in 1984.
###
“James Bond” producers BARBARA BROCCOLI and MICHAEL G. WILSON say selecting the next 007 may take “a couple of years.”
Speaking to Variety last month, the two explained that they want to make sure they have the right fit, as that person will be in for a “10-, 12-year commitment.”
IN THE MEANTIME: Broccoli and Wilson are busy producing “007’s Road to a Million,” a Bond-style race around the world, set to air on Amazon Prime.
WORTH NOTING: There have only been six Bond actors to date: Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig. Number 007 will have big shoes to fill.
###
THE DAILY KARDASHOPUS
KANYE WEST says his music catalog is being “put up for sale” without his permission.
Taking to Instagram, Ye responded to Billboard’s report that his team has been “quietly” shopping his catalog, writing, “just like Taylor Swift…my publishing is being put up for my [sic] sale without my knowledge. Not for sale.”
The reference is to Swift’s feud with her former manager SCOOTER BRAUN who sold her masters for more than $300 million. In response, she is re-recording her albums.
Re-recording would be an option for Ye, but he would have to re-clear hundreds of samples that a significant amount of his tracks include.
Maybe ELON MUSK’s attorney ALEX SPIRO can help?
Ye has reportedly hired Spiro to help him in his battle with GAP, following the termination of their partnership over an alleged breach of contract by the clothing company.
Spiro, who has also represented JAY-Z and MEEK MILL, is currently helping Musk terminate his $44 billion agreement with Twitter.
###
WE’LL NEVER BE ROYALS
PRINCE HARRY and MEGHAN MARKLE are back in the US.
According to ELLE magazine, the couple left the UK on Tuesday -- one day after QUEEN ELIZABETH’s funeral. They had been in the UK since September 3, first arriving for prior obligations.
A source told the publication that Harry and Meg were anxious to return to their children in Montecito.
WORTH NOTING: It is unknown if Meghan got her one-on-one chat with KING CHARLES before they left, but The News International reported that she did recently sit down with KATE MIDDLETON. According to the outlet, the two women secretly met prior to Her Majesty’s death to discuss the ongoing rift between PRINCE WILLIAM and Harry. No other details were shared.
###
Actor-producer TYLER PERRY told HODA KOTB and JENNA BUSH HAGER on “Today” Wednesday that PRINCE HARRY and MEGHAN MARKLE are “the real deal.”
“The love they have is really, really moving,” Perry said of the couple, who he let crash at his Los Angeles mansion while they were house hunting after leaving the Royal Family.
###
SPORTS
ROBERT SARVER is selling the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury after the NBA discovered that he used the “n-word” multiple times during his tenure as owner in the leagues.
In a lengthy statement, Sarver shared that he is “seeking buyers for the Suns and the Mercury.”
Following the league’s findings, commissioner ADAM SILVER fined Sarver $10 million and suspended him for a year, but fans and several big-name players, including LEBRON JAMES, felt the punishment was not enough.
###
DAY OF THE YEAR
American Business Women’s Day
National Centenarian’s Day
National White Chocolate Day
World Car Free Day
Dear Diary Day
Elephant Appreciation Day
Hobbit Day
National Ice Cream Cone Day
###
ON THIS DATE
1776 – Patriot Nathan Hale is executed by the British for spying on behalf of General George Washington.
Hale's cover was as a schoolteacher. As the redcoats captured Manhattan and burned it to the ground, Hale tried to escape by sailing back to American territory, but the Brits caught him. Historians aren't certain why he was suspected of espionage.
Upon his capture, British General Howe found compromising documents Hale was carrying, and ordered him to the gallows.
###
1789 – Congress establishes the national post office system and creates the Postmaster General position.
At the outset there were only 75 offices and 2,000 miles of roads connecting the post offices. Its staff included the Postmaster General, his secretary, an Inspector of Dead Letters, and only 26 post riders.
Its scope was expanded in 1792, as the nation's postal needs also grew.
###
1862 – President Lincoln issues the Preliminary Proclamation, a precursor to the Emancipation Proclamation.
The decree set a date for the freedom of all American slaves. On January 1st of the following year, all slaves were declared free, but it had no effect in the rebelling southern states.
###
1910 – The Duke of York's Picture House opens in Brighton, England. It remains in operation today, making it the longest-running movie theater in Great Britain.
It has just one screen and seats 283 people on the floor of the auditorium and in a luxury balcony. Originally its capacity exceeded 800, but renovations through the years have whittled that down.
The Picture House mainly shows indie films or flicks with huge cult followings. It is also known for things like all-night “Lord of the Rings” marathons.
###
1927 – Boxers Gene Tunney and Jack Dempsey square off at Soldier Field in Chicago in front of more than 100,000 fans.
Tunney beat Dempsey one year earlier for the world heavyweight title in Philadelphia.
This rematch was under new rules, though, which would put the match at the center of controversy. When a fighter was knocked down, he had 10 seconds to get back to his feet, only after the opponent moved to a corner away from any trainers.
When Dempsey knocked Tunney to the ground in the seventh round, he didn't immediately move away, so the ref couldn't start the count. It took Tunney 13 seconds to get back to his feet, but the ref had only counted to 9.
Tunney eventually recovered and dominated the last 3 rounds. He won the bout by unanimous decision.
###
1975 – A crazed assassin outside Saint Francis Hotel in California attempts to shoot President Gerald Ford.
A bystander tried to wrestle the gun out of crazy Sarah Jane Moore's hands. She got off a shot, but didn't hit her target.
The Secret Service hustled Ford away.
This was only 17 days after another woman, Squeaky Fromme, tried to shoot Ford in Sacramento, California.
###
2003 – David Hempleman-Adams lands his hot air balloon in Ireland.
His journey started in Canada. The trip was the first trans-Atlantic flight made in an open wicker basket hot air balloon.
###
2020 - The COVID-19 death toll in the US passes 200,000.
It is the highest number of deaths in the world at the time.
###
BIRTHDAYS
Michael Rainey Jr. - actor, “Barbershop: The Next Cut” - 22
Carlos Correa - baseball player - 28
Tom Felton - actor, “Harry Potter” films - 35
Tatiana Maslany - actress, “Orphan Black” - 37
Billie Piper - “Secret Diary of a Call Girl” - 40
Ronaldo - soccer player - 46
Chris Tallman - actor, “The Thundermans” & “Reno 911!” - 52
Parry Gripp - rock singer, Nerf Herder - 55
Bonnie Hunt - actress, “Cheaper By the Dozen” - 61
Scott Baio - actor, “Happy Days” & “See Dad Run” - 62
Joan Jett - rock singer - 63
Andrea Bocelli - opera singer - 64
Neil Cavuto - journalist, Fox News - 64
Mark Johnson - Olympic hockey player (Miracle on Ice) - 65
John Brennan - former CIA director - 67
Born On This Date
Allan “Rocky” Lane - voice actor, Mr. Ed & Red Ryder - 1909 (d. 1973)
Anne of Cleves - Queen of England, 4th wife of Henry VIII - 1515 (d. 1557)
###