CULTURE

Kanye West’s Obnoxious Divorced Man Energy

With only the likes of Candace Owens on his side, Kanye West is not and has not been fighting the good fight for a long time

Kanye West

By Liam Goodner // Shutterstock

Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, is at it again. His chaotic crusade has reached every level of his life: his music, his business ventures, his aesthetic pursuits, his current relationship, and — perhaps most tediously — his divorce.

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Culture News

Meet the Man Kim Kardashian Is Trying to Save from Death Row

Brandon Bernard is scheduled for execution in December, more than 20 years after crimes he committed as an 18 year old.

Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Shutterstock

With all the chaos of 2020, not a lot of attention has been paid to the fact that the federal government has started executing prisoners.

At the state level, of course, the death penalty has never taken a break. Over 1,500 prisoners have been executed in the U.S. since the 1970s. But until 2020, only three prisoners had been executed by the federal government.

Under President George W. Bush, Timothy McVeigh, Juan Raul Garza, and Louis Jones Jr. were executed between 2001 and 2003. Then, for more than 17 years, the federal government got out of the execution business.

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Culture News

Kanye West's Presidential Run Is Great News for Donald Trump

"Better late than never" may not apply in this case...

By Ovidiu Hrubaru / Shutterstock

Update 7/8/2020: In a truly wild interview with Forbes, Kanye West claimed to be done with his support of Donald Trump and "taking off the red hat."

Among other revelations was the announcement that he will be running for president under the label of "the Birthday Party," that Tesla CEO Elon Musk will be advising him along with his running mate, Michelle Tidball—an obscure preacher out of wyoming—that he would model his administration after the fictional nation of Wakanda from Black Panther, that he believes vaccines are "the mark of the beast," and that Planned Parenthood is doing "the devil's work."

If that wasn't enough, Kanye also asserted that "America needs special people that lead." And on Kanye's list of special people are Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, and (of course) Kanye. As for the Democrats presumptive 2020 nominee, Kanye said "Joe Biden's not special."

Unfortunately for the world, only one of the people on Kanye's "special" list has any chance of winning the election in November... Hat or no, Kanye is still team Trump.

On Saturday, in a strange celebration of Independence Day, rapper, producer, and sneaker mogul Kanye West announced his intention to run for president in 2020.

As in, this year. Right now.

The announcement quickly prompeted messages of support from Kanye's wife, prison reform advocate Kim Kardashian West, as well as from billionaire weirdo/Grimes baby daddy Elon Musk.

Of course, this news comes well past the filing deadline for independent candidates in several major states—which means that unless a political party randomly decides to nominate him, Kanye's name won't appear on those ballots. As deadlines in other states approach—with little apparent effort to gather the petition signatures required—Kanye is officially joining the long, proud history of vanity presidential campaigns. Unfortunately, that's a lot more dangerous than it sounds.

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Culture News

Is Donald Trump Going to Pardon Joe Exotic?

Donald Trump Jr. expressed interest in the idea in a radio appearance on Monday

Update 8/18/2020: On Monday President Trump hinted to reporters that he was planning to pardon someone "very, very important."

After reporters confirmed that the person in question was neither NSA leaker and former Trump punching bag Edward Snowden, nor disgraced former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, speculation began to run rampant that Trump was planning to pardon Joe Exotic. Not this time.

As it turned out, Trump bestowed a posthumous pardon on Susan B. Anthony, the "very, very important" women's rights activist who died more than a hundred years ago. Anthony was arrested in 1872 for illegally voting in Rochester, NY nearly 50 years before women were granted the right to vote by the 19th amendment.

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TV News

Who's to Blame in the Slapfight That Pushed Kourtney to Quit KUWTK?

In the season premiere of Keeping up With the Kardashians Kim's criticism of Kourtney finally pushed things too far

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These days it's hard to imagine anyone getting mad at another person for staying home sick.

The best reason to get mad at someone during the coronavirus pandemic is that they refuse to stay home. But that wasn't the case last September, when the Kardashian family's usual tension and in-fighting escalated to physical blows between Kourtney and Kim.

It was around the time Kylie Jenner was scheduled to have a major moment at the Balmain Spring 2020 fashion show in Paris. As the season premiere of Keeping Up With the Kardashians documents, Kylie was planning to represent Kylie Cosmetics at the event—and was in the process of planning out looks for the models—when she became violently ill. According to posts made to Twitter and Instagram, Kylie had a case of strep throat that was so bad she was bleeding from the mouth and had to be hospitalized, with Kylie later tweeting, "It was the sickest I've ever been."

But apparently Kim Kardashian West was not convinced of her half-sister's illness, and she was not concerned for the well-being of all the models and attendees that Kylie could have infected—we used to be so careless pre-2020! She felt strongly that she and Khloé were the only sisters who knew the value of hard work, and she let Kourtney know that she and Kylie were letting down the family, stating matter-of-factly, "You don't care about stuff" and, "If I were on my deathbed, I would still show up." Cool...

This is not the first time that Kim, 39, has directed this kind of criticism at her older sister—the infamous fight over the Christmas photo shoot was much the same—but it was apparently the last straw for Kourtney, 40, who interrupted Kim to say, "You act like I don't do sh*t … You have this narrative in your mind—" which is when Kim cut her off. Kourtney continued trying to mount a defense while Kim interjected with her criticism until Kourtney finally came out with, "I will literally f*ck you up" and quickly showed that it was not an empty threat.

The exchange of slaps, kicks, punches, and digging fingernails has to be seen to be fully appreciated—though footage of kangaroos fighting in the wild will get you 90% of the way there.

In the aftermath of the fight airing on national TV, Kourtney all but officially confirmed that she will not be returning to the show. It's always sad to see a family business falling apart over this kind of sibling drama—even if the family business was to constantly be on the brink of falling apart over sibling drama—but the question remains, whose fault was it?

Actually, never mind, it was Kim's. Without a doubt. Good for her that she's a hard worker—and she has actually done some impressive things in recent years—but her attitude that her siblings are supposed to live according to her standards, and that she knows better than they do about their own health, is insufferable—especially from a younger sister. Kourtney should not have flown off the handle, but Kim should have seen that she was striking a nerve and backed off rather than escalating it—and actually slapping her sister across the face with a lot more force than Kourtney managed.

Kangaroo Boxing Fight | Life Story | BBC Earthwww.youtube.com

In a series of tweets on the incident, Kourtney said, "It's trash #KUWTK." And when another user suggested that the fight had been the motivation she needed to finally leave the show—after previously deciding to cut way down on her involvement—Kourtney responded, "It is from our darker moments where growth happens." Grammar aside, it would be nice if she followed through this time and we no longer have to see this kind of drama without the soothing tones of David Attenborough's narration to reassure us that the kangaroos will be okay.

Culture Feature

The Upside of the Coronavirus: We're Finally Past Celebrity Drama

Celebrities' normal antics are not as entertaining (or as important) as they once seemed.

Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Shutterstock

Kim Kardashian has lashed out at Taylor Swift, or Taylor Swift has lashed out at Kim Kardashian, but most of all, both lashed out at all of us for constantly devouring their drama.

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