Winners And Losers From The Western Conference’s Offseason. (and The L.a. Lakers . . .)

Jury selection for Sen. Bob Menendez’s corruption trial began Monday, and “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart broke down the allegations against him. The New Jersey senator and former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is accused of taking bribes from three businessmen, among other crimes. The evidence against Menendez includes 13 gold bars seized by authorities during a raid of his home "I don't mean to get sentimental here,” Stewart joked, “but in what other country in the world can a Cuban American senator work hand in hand with an Egyptian-born businessman to corner the halal meat market?" Menendez’s defense team has indicated they will be arguing the gold bars in his possession are the result of "intergenerational trauma." Stewart mocked this dubious strategy, saying, "These are simply my emotional support gold bars." But for Stewart, this was just a starting point for a conversation about political corruption.read more

Fox's Laura Ingraham decided to conveniently omit a good deal of what Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker actually said during his commencement speech at Benedictine College this week, and used the backlash as an excuse to attack the "woke secularists" who dared to be offended by the sexist and bigoted remarks that came out of his mouth: Butker, a devout Catholic, delivered the commencement speech at Benedictine College in Kansas on Saturday.

A caller on C-SPAN's morning show explained that she had left the Republican Party because its lawmakers "do nothing but interfere" and "endorse everything [Donald] Trump does." During Wednesday's Washington Journal program, a caller from Maryland named Mary said she used to be a Republican but changed her party affiliation to Independent. "The reason I'm calling is to just say that anybody voting for a Republican is voting against their best interest," the caller announced.

The question of how many people have died in Gaza since Israel began a bombing and ground campaign in response to Hamas’s deadly Oct. 7 attack has taken on renewed urgency as President Biden tries to forestall a full assault by Israel against Hamas’ leadership and remaining battalions into the densely-populated city of Rafah.

Fifty years ago, talks began for a movie inspired by real Hollywood bigwigs who helped a leader of the Black Panthers flee America. It never got made…until now. The Big Cigar, a series debuting on Apple TV+ on May 17, is based on Hollywood producer Bert Schneider’s effort to get the black power group’s co-founder Huey Newton to Cuba, running the operation like a fake Hollywood movie production he called The Big Cigar. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The six-episode series follows Newton (André Holland) as he tests Schneider (Alessandro Nivola) to make sure he can be trusted before trusting him with his life.

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has undergone another operation two days after being shot multiple times and remains in serious condition, officials said Friday. Fico, 59, was attacked as he was greeting supporters after a government meeting in the former coal mining town of Handlova. A suspected assailant has been arrested. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Miriam Lapunikova, director of the University F.