It’s the first two answers to Monday’s “Can’t Beat Raven” questions. Just don’t tell Raven about it..
The Cheat Sheet
Best Albums of 2023?!
Well, this wouldn’t be my list, but “Rolling Stone” released their list of the top 100 albums of the year……
Top 10:
1. “SOS”, SZA
2. “The Record”, Boygenius
3. “Data”, Tainy
4. “Let’s Start Here”, Lil Yachty
5. “Guts”, Olivia Rodrigo
6. “This Is Why”, Paramore
7. “The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We”, Mitski
8. “Maps”, Billy Woods and Kenny Segal
9. “Jaguar 2”, Victoria Monét
10. “Zach Bryan”, Zach Bryan
(Image: AP Newsroom)
Raven’s Report Card: Tree Problems
Every week, Raven’s wife Alicia grades Raven based on how he behaved as a husband. Will both an issue with a Christmas Tree and a video online be Raven’s downfall this week? Find out in the podcast.
Friday December 1, 2023: Single Christmas; Hot Girl Anthropologist; Raven’s Report Card
Would you ever eat a $1 burrito? Anna and Raven disagree often, but they both agree that certain things need to cost more than a dollar… (:30)
It’s the first day of December! Astrologer Anne talks to Anna and Raven about what the stars might have in store for you this month! (3:20)
The best part about a Christmas present is the surprise! So if you go snooping around for your presents early, that’s all I need to know about you! (7:22)
The Santa Tipline has returned! Call 855-785-4101 and leave Santa a voicemail about who has been naughty and who has been nice. Anna and Raven will play the funniest messages on the air! (10:42)
Gen Z has declared that a staple of Millennial fashion is now dead! Anna and Raven invited Hannah Brown, the Hot Girl Anthropologist, to explain why! (13:54)
Being single on Christmas sounds lonely, but is it really? Anna and Raven invited single people to call in and share why they love being single during the holidays! (17:44)
Every Friday, Raven’s wife Alicia calls in to give Raven a grade on how he did as a husband this week! This week, Raven got a little overzealous when it came to cutting the tree… (20:44)
What are your predictions for football Sunday? Anna doesn’t know what she’s talking about, but 5-year-old Marco might know a thing or two! (24:49)
It’s time for Mommy’s Margarita Friday! Moms (and Dads) share all the crazy things that their kids have put them through this week that have definitely earned them a margarita! (28:13)
Leslie can’t stand that her husband, Julian, wants to go grocery shopping with her every week. That means that they have to take their kids too. It becomes a huge outing, expensive, and overall stressful. She doesn’t understand why he can’t just stay home and watch the kids while she runs out for an hour. He says that he likes to see and choose the items, but admits that he can’t do the “real shopping” by himself. Can she make her husband stay home with the kids so she can shop in peace or is she mean? (31:36)
Mike has got a shot at $1600! All he has to do is beat Raven in pop culture trivia! (39:26)
Family of Marine killed in Afghanistan fails to win lawsuit against Alec Baldwin
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Alec Baldwin didn’t have to pay anything to resolve a $25 million lawsuit filed by family members of a Marine killed in Afghanistan after the actor chastised them on social media over the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Baldwin’s attorney said.
U.S. Southern District of New York Judge Edgardo Ramos in August dismissed the lawsuit sought by the wife and sisters of Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, of Jackson, Wyoming, When the McCollum family didn’t file an amended lawsuit as Ramos invited to do before a September deadline, the judge closed the case in October.
Baldwin paid nothing to resolve the case, his attorney Luke Nikas said Wednesday in an email to The Associated Press.
The case has seen no activity since, according to court documents. Lawyers for both sides, including McCollum family attorney Dennis Postiglione, did not comment further on the case when contacted by email Thursday. Reached by email Wednesday, Postiglione declined to comment and said the McCollum family would not comment.
The lawsuit, filed initially in Wyoming and then New York, alleged Baldwin exposed the family to a flood of social media hatred in 2022 by claiming on Instagram that Roice McCollum was an “insurrectionist” for attending former President Donald Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021, rally in Washington, D.C., that preceded the insurrection that day.
Roice McCollum protested peacefully and legally, was not among those who stormed the U.S. Capitol, and never was arrested or charged after being interviewed by the FBI, according to the lawsuit.
Even so, she was a “limited public figure” under the law by talking about her brother’s death in the news media and by engaging with Baldwin, a well-known celebrity, on social media, Ramos ruled in dismissing the lawsuit.
To prove her case as a limited public figure, McCollum needed to show that Baldwin acted with malice toward her. She did not, so Baldwin’s comments were protected under his free-speech rights, Ramos ruled.
The lawsuit was filed as Baldwin faced legal peril for the death of a cinematographer on a New Mexico movie set in 2021. Baldwin was pointing a gun when it went off, killing Halyna Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
Special prosecutors initially dismissed an involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin but now seek to recharge the actor after presenting new information to a grand jury.
FILE – Alec Baldwin speaks at the Ripple of Hope Award Gala at New York Hilton Midtown on Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021, in New York. A lawsuit against Alec Baldwin filed by relatives of a U.S. Marine killed in Afghanistan has been resolved without the actor paying any of the $25 million sought for his chastising them on social media over the 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
Heuermann wife’s cheek swab matches her DNA on victims
Police officials say a DNA sample taken from Asa Ellerup the estranged wife of alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann matches genetic material that was found on the remains of some of the victims.
Investigators obtained a cheek swab from Ellerup the night her husband was arrested for the murders of three women.
Prosecutors have said Ellerup’s hairs were found on the victims and the DNA extracted from the hairs matches the cheek swab samples.
Prosecutors have cleared Ellerup of any wrongdoing and have said she was out of town at the time of the murders.
Photo James Carbone/Newsday via AP
An appeals court reinstates gag order that barred Trump from maligning court staff in NY fraud trial
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York appeals court Thursday reinstated a gag order that barred Donald Trump from commenting about court personnel after the former president repeatedly disparaged a law clerk in his New York civil fraud trial.
The one-sentence decision came two weeks after an individual appellate judge put the gag order on hold while the appeals process played out.
Trial judge Arthur Engoron, who imposed the restriction, said he now planned to enforce it “rigorously and vigorously.”
Trump attorney Christopher Kise called it “a tragic day for the rule of law.” Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, complained that the gag order was “nothing but attempted election interference, which is failing terribly.”
Engoron imposed the gag order Oct. 3 after Trump posted a derogatory comment about the judge’s law clerk to social media. The post, which included a baseless allegation about the clerk’s personal life, came the second day of the trial in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit.
James’ lawsuit alleges Trump exaggerated his wealth on financial statements used to secure loans and make deals. Trump denies any wrongdoing. The Republican 2024 front-runner contends the lawsuit is a political attack instigated by James and furthered by Engoron, both Democrats.
Over the trial’s first few weeks, Engoron fined Trump $15,000 for violating the gag order. The judge expanded the order — which initially covered only parties in the case — to include lawyers after Trump’s attorneys questioned clerk Allison Greenfield’s prominent role on the bench. She sits alongside the judge, exchanging notes and advising him during testimony.
Trump’s lawyers sued Engoron, challenging his gag order as an abuse of power.
State lawyers supported the restriction, saying it was a reasonable step to protect Engoron’s staff. An attorney for the court system tied Trump’s comments to an uptick in nasty calls and messages directed at the judge and law clerk.
A court security captain wrote in a sworn statement last week that Greenfield has been receiving 20-30 calls per day to her personal cell phone and 30-50 messages per day on social media, LinkedIn and two personal email addresses.
The captain reported that Greenfield received enough harassing voicemails to fill a transcript with 275 single-spaced pages, and that about half the harassing and disparaging messages to her were antisemitic.
Trump’s lawyers then argued that while messages and calls were “vile and reprehensible,” he shouldn’t be muzzled because of other people’s bad behavior. Trump never called for violence against Greenfield, nor did he or his lawyers ever encourage or condone harassment and threats, the attorneys wrote in a court filing.
They argued that the gag order infringed on his free speech rights.
“As the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination and as a citizen on trial, President Trump is well within his rights to comment on what he perceives as bias,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
While the gag order was suspended, Trump posted about Greenfield as recently as Wednesday, referring to the judge’s “very disturbed and angry law clerk.”
In recent days, Trump also assailed the judge’s family, citing critical social media posts about him that he asserted came from Engoron’s wife. Court system spokesperson Al Baker said Thursday that they did not.
Engoron ruled before the trial that Trump and other defendants engaged in fraud, and he ordered that a receiver take control of some of Trump’s properties, putting their future oversight in question. An appeals court has put that order on hold for now.
The trial concerns remaining claims of conspiracy, insurance fraud and falsifying business records. James is seeking more than $300 million in penalties and a ban on Trump doing business in New York.
Trump is due to testify, for a second time, Dec. 11. All testimony is expected to wrap up shortly afterward.
Then the two sides are due to submit filings and make their closing arguments in January, under a schedule sketched out Thursday.
The verdict in the non-jury case will be up to Engoron, who said he he hopes to reach a decision by the end of January.
FILE – Former President Donald Trump, center, flanked by his defense attorneys, Alina Habba, left, and Chris Kiss, waits for the continuation of his civil business fraud trial at New York Supreme Court, Oct. 25, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool)
GOP Rep. George Santos refuses to resign and warns his expulsion from Congress would set a precedent
WASHINGTON (AP) — A defiant Rep. George Santos is refusing to resign and warned on Thursday that his expulsion from Congress before being convicted in a court of law would establish a precedent that “is going to be the undoing of a lot of members of this body.”
The first-term Republican congressman from New York could well become just the sixth member of the House to have been expelled by colleagues. Republicans and Democrats have offered resolutions to remove him, and the House is expected to vote on one of them Friday.
While Santos survived two earlier expulsion efforts, a critical House Ethics Committee report released on Nov. 16 has convinced more members that his actions merit the House’s most severe punishment.
Santos preempted the vote with a press conference just outside the Capitol early Thursday. He noted that, of the previous expulsions, three were for disloyalty to the Union during the Civil War and two were for lawmakers who had been convicted in federal court. In short, he presented himself as someone who was being treated differently.
“This will haunt them in the future where mere allegations are sufficient to have members removed from office when duly elected by their people in their respective states and districts,” Santos said.
The House Ethics Committee said it had amassed “overwhelming evidence” of lawbreaking by Santos that had been sent to the Justice Department. The report concluded flatly that he “cannot be trusted” after a monthslong investigation into his conduct.
The panel said that Santos knowingly caused his campaign committee to file false or incomplete reports with the Federal Election Commission, used campaign funds for personal purposes and violated the Ethics in Government Act concerning financial disclosure statements filed with the House.
Santos also faces a 23-count federal indictment that alleges he stole the identities of campaign donors and then used their credit cards to make tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges. Federal prosecutors say Santos, who has pleaded not guilty, wired some of the money to his personal bank account and used the rest to pad his campaign coffers.
Santos was a bright spot for the GOP when he won his election in November 2022, flipping a seat that had been held by the Democrats and helping Republicans take control of the House. But, soon after, reports began to emerge that Santos had lied about having Jewish ancestry, a career at top Wall Street firms and a college degree. He turned into a distraction and an embarrassment to his party.
In early March, the House Ethics Committee announced it was launching an investigation into Santos. That was followed in May when the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York unveiled a 13-count federal indictment that was later replaced with the 23-count indictment.
Santos easily survived an expulsion vote in early November, before the Ethics Committee unveiled its findings. The vote was 179 for expulsion and 213 against, with 41 others voting present or not voting.
The vote on Friday will mark the third expulsion effort of his short tenure in Congress. Expulsion from the House requires a two-thirds vote, a high bar.
“It’s just an unfortunate circumstance that I have to sit here and watch Congress waste the American people’s time over and over again on something that is the power of the people, not the power of Congress,” Santos said.
The history behind expulsion was not lost on Santos, but rather than seek to avoid it by resigning, he sought to frame it as an unfair persecution, saying “if I leave, they win. If I leave, the bullies take place. This is bullying.”
“They are trying to join me to the group of three Confederates and two people convicted in a court of law,” Santos said. “So, if I am to be expelled tomorrow, I will be number six in the history, the first Republican and the only one without a conviction or without having committed treason.”
He also assailed the Ethics Committee report as “littered in hyperbole, littered in opinion.” He emphasized the decision by the committee to submit the report to the House without making a recommendation on punishment. Submitting a recommendation would have required a longer, trial-like process. “Changing precedent for me, it seems that it’s all fair game,” Santos said.
As part of his claim of being treated differently, he said he would be offering a privileged resolution on the House floor on Thursday to expel Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman from office. Bowman pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count for triggering a fire alarm as lawmakers scrambled to pass a funding bill before a government shutdown deadline.
Bowman will pay a $1,000 fine and serve three months of probation, after which the false fire alarm charge is expected to be dismissed from his record under an agreement with prosecutors.
“Let’s hold our own accountable,” Santos said, “but let’s make sure we do it with the precedent of the House.”
Bowman replied in a press release that no one in Congress or anywhere else in America “takes soon-to-be former Congressman George Santos seriously.”
“This,” Bowman said, “is just another meaningless stunt in his long history of cons, antics, and outright fraud.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he had “real reservations” about the expulsion of Santos. He said he was concerned about the precedent it would set, but he also said that GOP leadership is telling members to “vote their conscience.”
Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York held his weekly press conference with a massive photo next to him of Santos and Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia sitting in the House chamber together and laughing.
“George Santos is a malignant distraction, and hopefully that issue gets resolved,” Jeffries said.
(AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
Getting Closer to A Chocolate Paradise
On December 15th the highly anticipated “Wonka” hits theaters. They have done a remake of the original 1971 film starring Gene Wilder in 2005 where Johnny Depp played Willy Wonka. This movie is the first prequel starring Timothée Chalamet as Wonka himself. We are definitely living in a remake/ reboot/ sequel and prequel kind of world.
(Image: AP Newsroom)
Issues With Selfies
Selfies can be dangerous?! Sounds odd, but it makes logical sense when Dr. Jennifer Wider explains the dangers behind them. Find out all about it in the podcast.