Politics
Ukrainian Orchestra Holds Concert for Peace in Kyiv Square
The Kyiv-Classic Symphony Orchestra performed a small concert in Ukraine’s Maidan Square Wednesday (March 9th), an act Conductor Herman Makarenko described as a call for peace amid the Russian invasion. The orchestra performed the Ukrainian national anthem as well as an excerpt from Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” on which the European Union’s anthem is based — both strong displays of Ukrainian sovereignty and a desire to move closer to Western Europe as Russian forces advanced on the country. “We would like to support our president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who called, calls and will call to all governments of the world (to) stop the war in Ukraine,” Makarenko said (per Reuters). While up to 70 musicians normally perform in the orchestra, Makarenko said he was only able to gather about 20 people fo...
Ariana Grande and More Celebs Slam Passage of Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill
On Tuesday (March 8), the controversial Parents Rights in Education bill was passed in the Florida Senate, leading Ariana Grande and other famous faces to speak out against it. Better known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, the potential law would restrict teachers from speaking about LGBTQ+ history, people, and other topics in school classrooms across the state and give parents the right to sue educators and administrators who did so. A proposed amendment to the bill would also require school counselors and teachers to out LGBTQ+ students to their parents at home if they come out or confide in a trusted adult at school. Explore See latest videos, charts and news “Really disgusting,” Ari wrote in her Instagram Stories beneath a post by Equality Florida sharing the news. Meanwhile, George Takei ...
MAGA Actor Ricky Schroder Has Another Meltdown Over Mask Mandate
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: VALERIE MACON / Getty Former child star, actor, and MAGA affiliate Ricky Schroder has yet another public meltdown captured on video after being asked to follow masking rules intended to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The incident, which was shared on social media by Schroder through his Instagram account, shows the former NYPD Blues actor becoming irate with security guards at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene, Kansas. Schroder stopped there while en route to Washington D.C. to join the purported “freedom convoy” of truck drivers protesting against vaccine and mask mandates throughout the United States. The video, which was shared by the Patriot Takes account on Twitter on Sunday (March 6th), shows the guards at t...
Kate McKinnon Takes Aim at Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” Bill on Saturday Night Live: Watch
Kate McKinnon stopped by Weekend Update during last night’s Saturday Night Live to speak about Florida’s discriminatory “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Watch the segment below. Appearing out of costume, the SNL vet first had nothing but nice things to say about the anti-LGBTQ+ bill, which passed through its final state Senate committee this week. “I heard about this law, and I think it’s amazing,” McKinnon told a baffled Colin Jost. She went on to explain: “You know, when I was in middle school in the ’90s, I was kind of, like tortured by the constant use of the word ‘gay.’ Like, you know, ‘That’s so gay’ or ‘Ew, you’re gay.’ It made me feel horrible, and to hear that Ron DeSantis has taken a stand and said, ‘No! You cannot say gay in school anymore,’ I’m just like, I’m so jazzed. And in Florida of ...
Crypto industry seeks to educate, influence US lawmakers as it faces increasing regulation
Interaction between the cryptocurrency industry and Capitol Hill is becoming ever more intensive as efforts to regulate crypto grow in tandem with its popularity. The surge in crypto industry lobbying last year was given some concrete parameters in February by crypto analytics startup Crypto Head. It released a report showing that the crypto companies that spent the most money on lobbying in 2021 were Robinhood, Ripple Labs, Coinbase and the Blockchain Association. These organizations were the lobbying leaders during the past five years as well, although with different rankings. Here is what the United States crypto-lobbying landscape looks like today. Metrics of influence Robinhood spent $1.35 million on lobbying in 2021 and was the only crypto-related organization to spend more than $1 m...
Andy Serkis, as Gollum, Stands with Ukraine on Colbert: Watch
It’s always fun to watch talented voice actors jump from character to character, which is what Andy Serkis did during a recent visit to the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Despite doing press for his recent turn as Alfred Pennyworth in The Batman, Serkis humored Lord of the Rings megafan Colbert by impersonating several characters from Tolkein’s universe, including a very topical rendition of a Ukraine-invading Gollum. Explaining how he managed to voice 132 different characters in the Lord of the Rings audiobooks, Serkis used a prop microphone to mime the physicality of each of the characters. After shuffling through the likes of Gandolf and Elron, Serkis brought out the hobbit Gollum, who he famously voiced in the Lord of the Rings movies. “Gollum was on this...
Tucker Carlson Shamelessly Asks Why President Biden Didn’t Share Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s LSAT Score
HipHopWired Featured Video CLOSE Source: Kent Nishimura / Getty Tucker Carlson seemingly enjoys nothing more than stirring up some nonsense theory to discredit anything that stands in opposition to his narrow-minded views. The Fox News host took aim at President Joe Biden by shamelessly asking why didn’t he share the LSAT score of U.S. Supreme Court justice nominee Judge Kentanji Brown Jackson. During a Wednesday night (March 2) broadcast, Carlson turned his attention towards President Biden’s nomination of Brown Jackson and stated that the American people should know if she is, in his words, a “once in a lifetime legal talent” as if her rise to the top was some kind of fluke. What makes this especially heinous on Carlson’s part is that Brown Jackson has been vetted by GOP superstars like ...
Tucker Carlson Shamelessly Asks Why President Biden Didn’t Share Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s LSAT Score
HipHopWired Featured Video CLOSE Source: Kent Nishimura / Getty Tucker Carlson seemingly enjoys nothing more than stirring up some nonsense theory to discredit anything that stands in opposition to his narrow-minded views. The Fox News host took aim at President Joe Biden by shamelessly asking why didn’t he share the LSAT score of U.S. Supreme Court justice nominee Judge Kentanji Brown Jackson. During a Wednesday night (March 2) broadcast, Carlson turned his attention towards President Biden’s nomination of Brown Jackson and stated that the American people should know if she is, in his words, a “once in a lifetime legal talent” as if her rise to the top was some kind of fluke. What makes this especially heinous on Carlson’s part is that Brown Jackson has been vetted by GOP superstars like ...
Ron DeSantis Weirdly Walks Up To Masked Students And Demands They “Take Them Off”
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Orlando Sentinel / Getty Since early on in the COVID-19 public health crisis, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been hellbent on running his state with a “don’t listen to the health experts, listen to me” mentality. It’s bad enough that even in the early stages of the pandemic, DeSantis was trying his best to dead social distancing ordinances, but he’s also always shown his contempt for mask mandates—to the point where he’s just being weird about it. According to CLTV, DeSantis was speaking at the University of South Florida Wednesday when he walked up to a group of students who were standing behind his podium to demand that they remove their face masks. Related Stories “You do not have to wear those masks,” DeSantis said. “I mean, please take them off....
Ben Shapiro Calls Joe Biden “the Kurt Cobain of Politics” As An Insult
Ben Shapiro, the cultural gadfly whose intellectual capabilities are dwarfed only by his diminutive height, called Joe Biden “the Kurt Cobain of politics,” and meant it as an insult. The former Never Trumper turned bootlicker extraordinaire made that utterance in response to Biden’s State of the Union Address. Shapiro was trying to spin out a metaphor, though the cognitive strain quickly defeated him. “Joe Biden is the Kurt Cobain of politics. He put a shotgun in the mouth of the American body politic and then pulled the trigger. And the brains are on the wall.” People who think words have meaning might point out that in this example, Biden is the author of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” in one sentence and then all of the American government in the next. Is Shapiro calling the President a murd...
President Joe Biden Jeered During State Of The Union Address By Lauren Boebert & Marjorie Taylor Greene
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Pool / Getty President Joe Biden delivered his State of The Union address Tuesday night (March 1) and the anticipated speech was not without its hitches as most expected. Republican Party congresswomen Rep. Lauren Boebert and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tried to foil the address by jeering and jawing throughout, highlighting how divided things are across partisan lines. As reported by NBC News, Biden did his best to address the concerns on both sides of the aisle but the attempt didn’t satisfy two of the GOP’s more visible members in Boebert and Taylor Greene. As noted in the report, the congresswomen continually talked throughout the address and did their dedicated best to derail the moment for Biden. More from NBC News: Related Stories Boebert and Green...
Louisiana Republican Posts Tweet About ‘Millennial Leftists’ But No One Knows WTF He’s Talking About
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Alex Wong / Getty Here’s the thing: Conservatives really don’t know how to roast. They don’t seem to have much of a grasp on how cleverness or humor actually work, so when they try to insult literally anyone, they either make themselves sound like school bullies who can’t actually fight and are mad girls don’t like them by shouting things like “libtard” and snowflake,” or their “jokes” are lacking in any semblance of comedic subtlety and they’re dryer than Ben Shapiro’s WAP-evaporating sex appeal. It’s why the closest thing right-wingers have to a current stand-up comedian who gets booked for specials is Joe Rogan, and he’s the comedic equivalent of people who post clearly offensive things they agree with online and passive-aggressively caption the post—“...
