‘I Thought It Was Crap!’ Soccer Legend Trashes World Cup Halftime Show in Wild Moment on BBC Broadcast

Bahney

Jul 19th, 2026, 5:36 pm

English soccer legend Wayne Rooney, who served as an analyst for the BBC’s World Cup Men’s Final broadcast,was not impressed by the event’s first-ever halftime show.

The 11-minute show featured Shakira, Madonna, BTS, Justin Bieber, and Burna Boy. According to Fox Sports the performance was “curated by Chris Martin of Coldplay, featured a cameo from Brazil icons Ronaldo Nazário and Ronaldinhobefore conductor Gustavo Dudamel led musicians from the New York Philharmonic and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela.” The Muppets also made an appearance.

When asked what he thought of the performances, Rooney answered in his best Manchester accent, “I like a lot of them acts, but I thought it was crap.”

“I tell you what else you get at the BBC — honest reviews!” quipped Gabby Logan.

“I think it was Bieber that brought you down, wasn’t it?” Logan joked. “I think Bieber was a bit slow for you.”

https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/i-thought-it-was-crap-soccer-legend-trashes-world-cup-halftime-show-in-wild-moment-on-bbc-broadcast/

==Speaker endorses ban on lawmaker relationships with all staff — not just subordinates

His comments come amid a broader push to police bad behavior among House members.==

Chris Marquette07/21/2026, 12:15pm ET

Mike Johnson, Lisa McClain, Steve Scalise and Nicole Malliotakis walk.

5 hours ago

Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday he supports a more extensive ban on lawmakers having sexual relationships with any congressional aides — not just subordinates in a personal office or on a committee.

Johnson replied “yeah,” when asked at a news conference whether he’s on board with remarks made over the weekend by House GOP Conference Chair Lisa McClain of Michigan in support of establishing new rules barring members from having sex with any congressional staff.

It’s unclear what the path forward is for such a change, but it would require a revision to the House Code of Official Conduct — and an endorsement from two of the top lawmakers in the House is a promising sign there could be action.

The staff director for the House Ethics Committee did not respond to a request for comment.

In the wake of the #MeToo movement, the House in 2018 opted to formally ban members from having intimate relationships with their subordinates in personal offices or on the committees on which the lawmakers serve, with an exception for lawmakers who are married to staffers.

This latest push from McClain, and now the speaker, to expand the prohibition is partly a response to recent reporting on Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), outlining that Gallego had relationships with staffers who were not under his supervision.

There has also been a swell of misconduct allegations earlier this year, in which it was reported that former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) sexually assaulted a staffer and that former Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) had a sexual relationship with a woman in his congressional office who later died by suicide. Both men were forced to resign amid the allegations.

(70 years too late! Idiots)

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/07/21/congress/speaker-backs-ban-on-members-dating-staff-01006175

ESPN’s Ryan Clark Was Laid Off While Doing NFL Live — Did Not Return After Commercial Break: Report

Ahmad Austin Jr.

Jul 21st, 2026, 10:41 am

ESPN analyst Ryan Clark was informed of his firing while he was on the show NFL Live, and he did not return after receiving the news.

On Monday, The Athletic reported that Clark had been laid off as part of another round of layoffs at the company.Sources then told The Athletic that ESPN made the unusual move of telling Clark as he was in the middle of taping a show.

The report read:

Clark was on ESPN’s “NFL Live” on Monday. He was informed of the decision during the show, said the sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. Clark did not finish the program.

Sources at ESPN said theunusual decision came down due to media inquiries about Clark’s departure and a fear that the news would leak before they could inform him. Sources told The Athletic that Clark’s job was possibly in jeopardy since after the Super Bowl in February.

Last week, ==The Athletic learned that Clark was likely to be let go.=•

For several years, Clark had been a crucial component to the success of NFL Live. Alongside Laura Rutledge, Mina Kimes, Dan Orlovsky, and Marcus Spears,Clark helped the program become one of the best daily sports shows in the industry; and that success led to multiple Emmy wins.

Despite this, the report added, thedecision to cut Clark was allegedly motivated by “some of his choices,”including when he belittled fellow analyst Peter Schrager during a debate on the show Get Up.

https://www.mediaite.com/media/sports/espns-ryan-clark-was-laid-off-while-doing-nfl-live-did-not-return-after-commercial-break-report/

Wild Video | Transgender Florida student suffers meltdown when cop misgenders him.

(How many more are crazy?)

https://youtu.be/Fswsif9_NIc

>>24852993

The cop had to deal with this nut for 11 minutes. Here’s the full videothat Cop was amazing.

Trans Florida Student Arrested After Explosive Meltdown Over 'Misgendering'

Viral police body cam video appears to show a self-described transgender Florida student freaking out on a campus police officer for “misgendering” him — and then being hauled away in cuffs.

The footage shows a blue-haired University of Central Florida student, identified as 27-year-old Jarrett Vick, screaming at a police officer after the cop arrived at a campus building for an unrelated call.

“Why do you let those pigs get away with this? They are not supposed to be here,” says Vick at the start of the video, which was filmed in February 2025 — but released Friday by Inside The Blue TV.

11:07

(Once they’ve swallowed the lie there is no way to get them sane again, if they ever were.)

https://youtu.be/j6Miw3pgBe4

New York Post

https://xcancel.com/jasonjournodc/status/2079647516807582157

Treasury stopped nearly $100M in taxpayer money from going to dead people after new gov’t measure implemented

VICTOR NAVA

The Treasury Department has blocked nearly $100 million in taxpayer money fromgoing to dead people since implementing a government-wide payment verification process last year, The Post has learned.

The department’s Bureau of theFiscal Service discovered the money set to go to ghosts after a review of an eye-popping 885 million payments worth a total of nearly $2.7 trillion.

Since March 2025, the screening has identifiedmore than 4,900 disbursements, worth approximately $99 million, associated with deceased payees, according to the Treasury.

The payments going to the dead – often indicative of fraud – were returned to the originating federal agencies for review before any funds were disbursed, the department said.

The $99 million figure is a tiny fraction (0.0036%) of the $2.7 trillion the department reviewed as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on waste, fraud and abuse— but more than triple what Treasury discovered going to the deceased in the days before President Trump took office last year.

“Treasury has delivered on a key promise of President Trump’s mandate to stop improper payments and fraud before money leaves the Treasury, and strengthen the integrity of the federal payment system,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

“Together with Vice President Vance’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, this new safeguard addresses a longstanding vulnerability and helps ensure every dollar the federal government spends reaches its intended recipient,” Bessent added. “Treasury will continue efforts to modernize the federal payment system, strengthen safeguards against fraud and improper payments, and protect taxpayer dollars.”

The Treasury used the federal Do Not Pay program — which confirms a recipient’s identity, eligibility, and bank account information before issuing federal payments or awards — as well as other new verification tools to flag the $99 million that was going to the graveyard.

The department “significantly expanded” its use of the verification systems last year on Trump’s orders.

Legislation passed in 2021 granted the department temporary access to the Social Security Administration’s “Full Death Master File,” which helped identify some of the deceased payees.….

https://www.aol.com/articles/treasury-stopped-nearly-100m-taxpayer-103250000.html

Trump's DNI pick clears key hurdle, reviving path for nation's top anti-terror surveillance program

The confirmation clears a path to reauthorize Section 702, the FISA surveillance tool that has been dark since June

July 21, 2026 2:58pm EDT

Senate Republicans quietly advanced President Donald Trump’s pick to run the nation’s intelligence agencies and placed Congress back on a path to restart a crucial counterterrorism tool.

Senate Intelligence CommitteeChair Tom Cotton, R-Ark., revealed that the panel voted U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton out of committee in a 9-8 vote during a closed-door session. Thattees up a later confirmation votefor Clayton to serve as the Director of National Intelligence (DNI).

"Jay Clayton is a highly qualified nominee with a deep experience combatting a wide range of national security threats," Cotton said. "I’m pleased that the Senate Intelligence Committee voted to advance his nomination to be Director of National Intelligence."

The role was previously vacated by former DNI Tulsi Gabbard and then hastily filled on an interim basis by Trump with Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte, who Democrats railed against as an unqualified loyalist who would weaponize the intelligence community against the president’s enemies.

Clayton, who served as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) during Trump’s first term,ended up becoming a victim of the political firestorm that surrounded Pulte.

His first hearing was derailed by Trump, who demanded that the Senate confirm his replacement for the Southern District in New York and attach the SAVE America Act to must-pass legislation to reauthorize a key surveillance tool that has been inactive since June.

Clayton will now face a full confirmation vote in the Senate, where several Senate Democrats previously voted for him to be SEC chair.

But his hearing was dominated by questions about whether he would admit that former President Joe Biden won the 2020 election and Trump had lost, which Clayton shrugged off as "theater."

That could play out on the Senate floor in the coming days, and he will need Democratic votes to clinch the nomination.

Movement on his nomination could open up a path to reauthorizing the nation’s top counterterrorism tool, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act(FISA), which was notably used to thwart a terrorist attack at a Taylor Swift concert years ago.

Democrats derailed the process after Trump appointed Pulte, but with a new face leading the nation’s 18 intelligence agencies, Section 702 could soon see the lights come back on.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trumps-dni-pick-clears-key-hurdle-reviving-path-nations-top-anti-terror-surveillance-program

Johnson and Vought pitch House Republicans on latest reconciliation effort

The speaker and White House budget director promised members they’d get another chance to enact conservative policy priorities later this fall.

By MEREDITH LEE HILL, MIA MCCARTHYand JENNIFER SCHOLTES

07/21/2026, 10:29AM ET

Speaker Mike Johnson and White House budget chiefRuss Vought tried to rally House Republicans on Tuesday morning around passing a party-line package containing the administration’s $95 billion supplementalfunding request for the Iran war and farm aid — by promising members they’d get another chance to pass a more sweeping partisan policy bill after the midterms.

A group of GOP holdouts, however, has yet to fully fall in line ahead of a critical vote Wednesdayon a budget resolution that wouldpave the way for a filibuster-skirting reconciliation billcontaining the war and agriculture funding, plus $10 billion for grants to states to encourage voter ID and citizenship requirements in order to participate in elections.

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said the pitch “wasn’t that compelling.”

Johnson and Vought told House Republicans at the closed-door conference meeting Tuesday morning that the vote on thebudget resolution Wednesday was simply a first step, according to four people inside the room.

Vought also argued the political realities in the Senate shaped the package the White House and House GOP leaders are currently pushing.

Johnson cannot lose more than a tiny handful of Republicans on the budget resolution, and he’s already lost at least one: Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) said in an interview Monday he planned to oppose the resolution and was not at all moved by the argument for a fourth reconciliation bill.

There’s also a procedural rule vote Tuesday afternoon paving the way for floor consideration not just on the budget blueprint but a stopgap government funding package, the annual defense policy bill and legislation to crack down on congressional stock trading. Republicans could vote down the rule to prevent any one of these measures from advancing.

House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said he thought Vought’s pitch could have some resonance given the stakes of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

“I thought Russ did a good job laying out why this approach makes sense,” Jordan said in an interview. When you’ve got a military operation, you’ve got to replenish the bullets. And I don’t think the Democrats are going to vote for that, so I don’t know how else to do it.”

He also said he thought most fiscal hawks did understand and appreciate the argument that approving supplemental funding through reconciliation — even without offsets — will cost less than negotiating a supplemental with Democrats.

“We’re going to know here in a few hours — we’ve got a rule vote coming up,” Jordan added.

Inside the meeting, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a persistent thorn in GOP leadership’s side, indicated he would likely support the rule vote and budget resolution, according to the people inside the room for the closed-door meeting. Roy declined to weigh in on the matter to reporters as he left leaving the meeting, however.

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/07/21/congress/johnson-and-voughts-pitch-01005997

Jul 20, 2026 -

Politics & Policy

Scoop: Chuck Edwards gifted pink and blue handguns to young female staffers.1/2(it’s obvious this article coming out today when Johnson announces the new policy of no interaction with congressman and woman have no relationships with staff etc)

Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) gave two young female staffers each a personalized handgun as a present while they worked in his office in 2024, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the gifts.

Why it matters: The guns, and a surprise musical performance organized by the congressman,are additional examples of Edwards allegedly singling out the young female staffers for unusually personal attention, conduct that is now at the center of a House Ethics Committee investigation-into alleged sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment.

Edwards gave one staffer a blue handgun engraved with her name and the other staffer a pink handgun. Both gifts occurred in North Carolina.

A lawyer for one of the former staffers told Axios that she "only awkwardly accepted the gift for fear of reprisal against her employment but later legally disposed of it because she did not want it in her possession."

A member buying gifts for staffers is not explicitly against House rules.

Edwards was a licensed firearms dealeruntil November 2024. He previously owned a firearms business called Second Amendment Gun Traders in Hendersonville, North Carolina.

He touts an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association on his campaign website.

In a statement to Axios,Edwards said: "I have taught several staff members to shoot and handle weapons, and in some cases, I provided them with their own. Before being elected to Congress, I was a licensed firearm dealer. I'm a strong believer in teaching men and women about firearm safety and self-defense.

Firearms are useful tools for home and self-defense when held by law-abiding citizens."

Three sources told Axios that they had never seen or heard of Edwards giving other staffers firearms or teaching other staffers how to use a firearm.

Axios has previously reported that Edwards singled out the two youngfemale staffers in their 20s for attention that multiple sources described as inappropriate, including handwritten correspondence, personal gifts, drinking outings, casino trips and promotions.

The congressman has denied wrongdoing in response to Axios' previous reporting about his alleged misconduct.

One of the former staffers declined to discuss her interactions with Edwards when contacted by Axios. Axios will not name the staffers due to the sensitive nature of the allegations.

https://www.axios.com/2026/07/20/chuck-edwards-ethics-guns-female-staff

>>24853437

2/2

Edwards also arranged a surprise musical performance during a personal birthday party for one of the staffers while she worked in his office, according to three sources familiar with the event.

In spring 2025, Edwards hired a singer to perform the staffer's favorite Ed Sheeran songsduring the staffer's birthday party at Salazar in Washington, D.C.

The sources described the staffer as being embarrassed by the performance, which they said was arranged without her prior knowledge.

Edwards did not attend the party. Instead, he coordinated the surprise through one of the staffer's friends, whom he had met while visiting the staffer in the hospital when she had appendicitis, one of the sources told Axios.

Axios previously reported Edwards left Capitol Hill during the workday to visit the staffer at the hospital, according to two sources.

Edwards didn't answer a question from Axios about the musical performance he allegedly organized.

Catch up quick: Edwards wrote one staffer a flattering poem that he read aloud — while choking up and becoming teary-eyed — at her office-wide going-away party, four sources told Axios.

He also told that staffer that she had "written a complex chapter in my heart" shortly before she was set to leave his office in a three-page handwritten letter reviewed by Axios.

Edwards gave the staffer a custom puzzle revealing an image of Adam Sandler with a handwritten note inviting her to attend one of Sandler's comedy shows with him, according to a photo viewed by Axios and three sources with knowledge of the gift.

During the fall 2025 government shutdown,Edwards vacationed with the staffer in Las Vegas after she left his office, where he arranged for flowers to be waiting in her Bellagio hotel room, according to two sources familiar with the trip and receipts reviewed by Axios. The female staffer told Edwards the flowers made her uncomfortable, according to the sources.

One of the staffers complained about Edwards' behavior and was worried about retaliation from the congressman, according to text messages reviewed by Axios and four sources familiar with the interactions.

Zoom out: The ethics investigation could complicate Edwards' reelection prospects, though investigations typically take months, if not years, to complete.

Democrats have made Edwards' western North Carolina district a top target in their effort to win back the House.

Edwards' Democratic challenger, Jamie Ager, outraised him by roughly $1.3 million in the latest fundraising quarter.

Edwards and his wife, Teresa, announced last week that they sold all six of their McDonald's franchises to "devote even greater attention to public service." Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed.

Edwards also recently removed references to President Trump from his campaign websiteafter previously highlighting the president and seeking his endorsement.

https://www.axios.com/2026/07/20/chuck-edwards-ethics-guns-female-staff