Zack Bia says he's not Olivia Rodrigo's 'Vampire,' because 'there was never any drama' with her

The Chargers' Austin Ekeler missed the last two games because of an ankle injury but has hopes to play against the Raiders on Sunday after practicing on a limited basis Wednesday.

It’s Ronald Acuña Jr.’s world and we’re all just living in it. 

"Don't rip it!"

Francisco Lindor hit three home runs in the Mets' doubleheader split to join the 30-30 club, and Kodai Senga reached 200 strikeouts in his season finale.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley didn't mince words on how she feels about entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy's intelligence.

A fan was denied entry into Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday when he attempted to get in with an emotional support alligator, per multiple reports.

Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Vivek lost. The second Republican debate, like the first, took place in a parallel political universe in which Donald Trump was an obscure figure of no serious importance. The candidates who showed up at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California engaged in a largely vapid exchange of canned lines and talking points, repeatedly attempting to create “moments” that didn’t quite land. Nikki Haley showed some spirit in picking fights with her rivals, I guess. Ron DeSantis tried to seem above it all. Doug Burgum attempted to get someone to notice him, the “governor of an energy state.” No one had all that much to say about Trump. It is difficult for me to imagine how this debate will make any impact on the race. The central characteristic of the contest is still that Trump has a massive lead. A debate with extremely limited discussion of Trump was a useless waste of time. In a way, everyone on stage was a loser, for failing to shake up that underlying dynamic. In a way, everyone watching was a loser for having spent those two hours and gotten so little out of it. But some particularly earned that loser status. Loser: Vivek Ramaswamy Justin Sullivan/Getty Love him or hate him, Vivek Ramaswamy was the focal point of the first GOP debate. He was a new face whose rhetoric style contrasted with the career politicians onstage — and he often clearly drew their ire and contempt. Ramaswamy was the subject of much pundit conversation afterward. But despite some predictions, the buzz failed to translate into a bounce in the polls. And at tonight’s debate, Ramaswamy’s schtick sounded stale. When his rivals made him a punching bag again — Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, and Mike Pence all took their shots at him, saying he did business in China and that his Ukraine policy would help Russia — he failed to respond memorably. Most importantly, he didn’t really have an effective way to advance his argument about why he should be president. At one point, he acknowledged that some might view him as a “know-it-all,” and admitted he didn’t know everything and would have to seek advice from others. The affected humility wasn’t convincing given his general behavior throughout the race, but it also wasn’t a case for why he deserves to be in the Oval Office. If Ramaswamy wants to get out of the mid-single digits in polls, he’ll have to try something different. Loser: The moderators Justin Sullivan/Getty Debate moderators Fox News host Dana Perino and Fox Business Network host Stuart Varney Moderating a debate with seven candidates onstage so that it can be interesting, revealing, and coherent is no easy feat. Having said that, Dana Perino, Stuart Varney, and Ilia Calderón seemed puzzlingly reluctant to have the candidates actually, well, debate each other. In an attempt to retain tight control of the proceedings, the moderators regularly cut off exchanges between the candidates, rushing onward to get to the next question in their preset list. At one point, Perino even chided the candidates for mentioning each other too much, saying that would mean they’d get fewer questions. Those questions themselves were also often hyper-specific to each individual candidate. It was as if the moderators were trying to conduct “gotcha” interviews with seven people simultaneously. Do we really care whether Chris Christie flip-flopped on his immigration position of 13 years ago? A good debate draws out how the candidates differ from each other to inform voters about their choice, and for the most part, the moderators failed to do that. They also almost entirely avoided posing questions about the overwhelming poll leader: Trump. Seven candidates trailing badly in the polls were instead scrutinized by the moderators, while the poll leader got off scot free. Loser: Fox News Earlier Wednesday, Semafor’s Max Tani reported that Fox had to reduce its ad timeslot prices by hundreds of thousands of dollars for this debate, as compared to the first one, because interest was expected to be low. That’s a very tangible demonstration of Fox’s failure to make these debates matter — a failure that mainly stems from Trump making clear, yet again, that Fox needs him more than he needs them. Back on January 8, 2021, Fox chairman Rupert Murdoch wrote in an email that Fox News was “pivoting” because he wanted to “make Trump a non person.” And throughout 2021 and 2022, the network’s enthusiasm toward Trump seemed to have cooled, and its coverage did much to built up Ron DeSantis as a credible national rival to him. But those plans fell apart this year, as Trump’s candidacy and indictments made him impossible to ignore. As has been demonstrated whenever Fox tries to harm Trump, the network’s leaders and stars feel they are hemmed in by their viewers who love him. Trump has paid no price for skipping these two Fox debates — but Fox has. Winner: You know who MATTHEW HATCHER/AFP via Getty This was another debate where the guy leading by 40 points was not on stage and took only the slightest of blows from those who were on stage. (Sorry, Chris Christie, calling him “Donald Duck” is cheesy and ineffective.) It was also another debate where there was no clear winner — no breakout star that could be elevated to Trump’s main challenger. There was a time, earlier this year, when the polling between Trump and DeSantis wasn’t totally lopsided, and it seemed at least possible that Trump’s lead could be dislodged. That time has long passed. And any campaign event that fails to shake up that status quo is effectively one that aids Trump’s path to the nomination.

Brentwood senior quarterback Boone Lourd is carrying on a family football tradition started by his older brothers and writing his own chapter in the intersectional rivalry with Palisades.

Angelina Jolie says her kids saved her, and she was much darker when she was younger: 'Maybe that part of me wants to push back.'

The White House should have fired Flaherty and pretended he had gone rogue. Instead, Joe Biden hired him for his 2024 campaign. Shameless. But who’s going to stop them?

Now it’s Simon Holmstrom’s turn.

Republican presidential candidates sparred over immigration, the Russia-Ukraine war and the economy during the second primary debate Wednesday night.

The first impeachment inquiry hearing into President Biden takes place Thursday. The GOP memo says the inquiry "will span the time of Joe Biden's Vice Presidency to the present, including his time out of office."

ReutersSwifties and Sunday Night Football are about to go from strange bedfellows to a match made in heaven.For Taylor Swift, one Kansas City Chiefs game just wasn’t enough. After all but breaking the internet by appearing in a luxury suite at Arrowhead Stadium to cheer on Travis Kelce last Sunday, the singer-songwriter is set to do it all again—this time in New Jersey, according to multiple reports.Both Front Office Sports’ Michael McCarthy and NFL Insider Jordan Schultz reported on Wednesday night that the “Cruel Summer” singer plans to attend the Chiefs’ matchup against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. The news will no doubt fuel both the rampant rumors of the pair’s burgeoning “Love Story,” as well as ticket prices to the game, with the so-called Swift effect having already caused sales of Kelce-themed merch to spike nearly 400 percent.Read more at The Daily Beast.

ReutersNikki Haley didn’t hold back when going after Vivek Ramaswamy in Wednesday’s second GOP debate, flaming her fellow presidential hopeful for having a TikTok account despite its ties to China. In response to a question on why he joined the social platform after a dinner with the influencer Jake Paul, Ramaswamy explained that posting to TikTok was necessary to reach young voters and win back the White House. Haley scoffed at the response and unleashed on Ramaswamy in a rant.“This is infuriating because TikTok is one of the most dangerous social media apps that we could have and, honestly, every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber for what you say,” she quipped. Read more at The Daily Beast.

Mike Blake/ReutersCrosstalk and candidates attacking fellow candidates was one of the big takeaways from the second GOP debate Wednesday night, but another lesson America learned is that the 2024 challengers on stage apparently have terrible senses of humor.The zingers were not zinging, but many in the audience were, indeed, cringing.Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie typified the kitschy tone of the evening, issuing a stern warning to the campaign’s frontrunner that came off less stern and more mortifying.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Which Republican presidential candidate made an impression—and who faltered—during the second primary debate Wednesday evening?

"That is crazy! He's trying to fight!"

Alexandro Bolaños Escamilla/LionsgateWhen it debuted in the early aughts, the Saw franchise was almost instantly slapped with the dreaded “torture porn” label. The series, about a serial killer called Jigsaw who kidnaps victims he deems “unworthy of the gift of life”—trapping them in grotesque, nearly inescapable machines meant to test their will to live—was likened to the most banal subgenre of horror films. But though the franchise shares some qualities with movies like Hostel and I Spit On Your Grave, it never quite deserved to be denigrated in that company. Saw always paired its gratuitous gore with legitimate questions about humanity, teeing up moral quandaries that made the films something more than just blood and guts. (Whether the franchise was always successful in executing that is another story entirely.) That virtuous undertone, combined with traps of increasingly delightful absurdity, earned the Saw films a massive cult following across its first nine installments.After several false endings and a franchise “reboot” of sorts, the tenth film in the series, Saw X, arrives in theaters Sept. 29, bringing with it a whole new host of traps, victims, and ethical queries. With a noticeably increased production value, plus the exhilarating return of the fan-favorite characters, Saw X was already destined to please Saw’s most devoted supporters (Saw-pporters, if you will). But by cleverly setting its timeline between the series’ first two installments, Saw X is both an invigorating thrill ride on par with the franchise’s best entries and a trenchant, timely charge against industrial systems set in place to keep humans sick.Read more at The Daily Beast.

The alert would be sounded. “Bingo, bingo, bingo!’’ The center had noticed something that he needed to convey, quickly and succinctly, to the players lined up next to him, the right and left guard. Maybe the center noticed the hand of a defensive player looked light, as if it was not going to get stuck...

Donald Trump was absent as Republican candidates clashed in a debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, but his supporters made up for it.

Shares in embattled Chinese developer Evergrande Group and its two subsidiaries were all suspended from trading in Hong Kong on Thursday, after fears grew about its ability to restructure its mammoth debt and stave off a liquidation of the business.

Indonesia has banned e-commerce transactions on social media platforms, the trade minister said on Wednesday, in a blow to short video app TikTok, which is doubling down on Southeast Asia's biggest economy to boost its e-commerce business.

The Republicans vying to become the top alternative to Donald Trump in 2024 opened their second debate Wednesday night with new attacks on the front-runner, but their efforts to separate themselves from the pack were marred by a chaotic environment, filled with cross talk.

From answers on immigration to striking workers to Donald Trump.

"The moment DeSantis forgot he isn't supposed to be giving his creep smile," one social media user posted.

Seven Republican presidential candidates participated in a debate Wednesday night in California, while the front-runner in the party primary, former President Donald Trump, skipped the debate and instead gave a speech in Michigan amid a strike by autoworkers.

The company had about two-dozen staffers devoted to election integrity before Musk bought the company for $44 billion last year. Now, there are at most six staffers in that department left.

"If you keep doing that, no one up here's gonna call you Donald Trump anymore. You're gonna be Donald Duck," Christie jabbed.

Luke Donald will never forget the moment he first stood on the first tee at a Ryder Cup with a golf club in his hands.

Damian Lillard chose to address his departure from the Trail Blazers in song form. 

SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP to meet on Monday, resuming strike negotiations.

The Nationals closed out their season series with their Beltway rivals 0-4, but the 5-1 loss included their first — and only — run against Baltimore in 2023.

NFL insider Jordan Schultz reported that the singer will be rooting for her rumored new beau at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.

Striking actors and the Hollywood studios will resume negotiations on a new labor contract on Monday, SAG-AFTRA, the actors' union, said Wednesday, the same day writers ended their own strike in the entertainment industry.

The union representing Hollywood actors, SAG-AFTRA, has agreed to resume bargaining with the major studios more than two months after its members went on strike.

U.S. District Court Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. didn't fully explain his reasoning for delaying sentencing for Paul Paradis, a former attorney, until Nov. 7.

State Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron undervalued Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago at a measly $18 million drawing incredulous howls from property professionals who assessed it at $300 million.

Marc J. FranklinOssie Davis’ Purlie Victorious (A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch) is both uproarious satire and cultural gut punch—with the biggest clue in its lead character’s name and the play’s title. A happy ending for Purlie Victorious Judson (the excellent Leslie Odom Jr.) is guaranteed. To get there, the play, first performed in 1961 and now revived on Broadway (Music Box Theatre, booking to Jan 7, 2024), confronts racism in tooth and claw, leavened by the laughter of farce and slapstick.These two very different dramatic registers echo off the other; the play is serious in intent, and also serious about using humor as its ultimate puncturing weapon against prejudice. Director Kenny Leon smoothly operates the levers to maximize the impact of both—no easy thing tonally. He is aided by a low-key beautiful design by Derek McLane (which has its own luminous swansong), and similarly attractive costumes by Emilio Sosa and lighting by Adam Honoré.The setting is described as “the cotton plantation country of the Old South,” the time, “the recent past”—i.e., the late 1950s. Within the play, Jim Crow laws are still in effect; the show’s villain Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee is so ugly in his views and actions, the actor Jay O. Sanders (so good at delivering them) received boos at the curtain call.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Swift is expected to attend the Kansas City Chiefs game Sunday against the Jets in New Jersey.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for an exponential increase in production of nuclear weapons and for his country to play a larger role in a coalition of nations confronting the United States in what he described as a “new Cold War.”

As Republican primary candidates prepared to take the debate stage, Trump spent his speech attacking Biden.

Mexico's armed forces sent troops, vehicle convoys and soldiers into remote towns near the southern border with Guatemala, after drug cartels blocked roads and cut off electricity in some areas over the weekend

"The dog died on or around September 4 and [the trainer] sent the owner photos of what was purported to be training after that date," police said.

The move is a show of defiance to U.S. requests to return to stalled talks through which Pyongyang could secure economic aid in exchange for disarmament.

The action is as exciting as ever, the animation just as sharp, and the characters just as likable.

Ossie Davis’s 1961 comedy, starring “Hamilton’s” Leslie Odom Jr., has its official opening on Broadway at the Music Box.

The candidates focused their criticism on President Biden and the striking union members.