Earlier this week, Hall-of-Fame basketball player Scottie Pippen doubled down on his claim that legendary NBA coach Phil Jackson is racist. According to Fox Sports Radio host Doug Gottlieb, ‘racist’ is a term that gets thrown around too lightly.

“I don’t think people understand…how staining a term like ‘you’re a racist’ is,” Gottlieb said. “Especially to somebody who isn’t! Disliking somebody or making decisions on somebody’s life or career based on the color of their skin is gross.”

@GottliebShow on Scottie Pippen calling Phil Jackson racist:

“All this does is expose Scottie Pippen as a 𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗥𝗜𝗕𝗟𝗘 teammate.” pic.twitter.com/MpJ3vfN96K

— FOX Sports Radio (@FoxSportsRadio) June 30, 2021

During the 1994 NBA Playoffs, Jackson drew up a potential game-winning shot for Chicago Bulls rookie Toni Kukoc. With Michael Jordan in the middle of his first retirement, Pippen was the top player left on the Bulls and wanted the shot.

More than a quarter-century later, Pippen claimed Jackson’s decision to give Kukoc the ball was a “racial move,” during an interview with GQ. Pippen was asked by Gottlieb’s Fox Sports Radio colleague Dan Patrick to provide clarification.

“By saying a racial move, you’re calling Phil a racist,” Patrick told Pippen earlier this week.

“I don’t have a problem with that,” the six-time NBA champion answered.

“Do you think Phil was, or is?” Patrick asked

“Oh, yeah,” Pippen said unequivocally.

“Putting somebody who treats people fairly in that circle and doing it in a huge public forum is almost as bad as the act of racism itself,” Gottlieb argued on his radio show. “Scottie sounds like an idiot. He just does.”

Gottlieb added further context to the 27-year-old gripe, reminding his audience that although Jackson drew up a final shot for Kukoc, the two prior plays went through Pippen and he missed both attempts.

“All this does is expose Scottie Pippen as a terrible teammate,” Gottlieb said. “And not accountable for his own actions, which is also a bad teammate. It makes me think even more of Michael Jordan and even less of Scottie Pippen.”

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) said Wednesday it had ordered Robinhood to pay $70 million as part of a settlement agreement related to service outages and claims the trading platform disseminated “false and misleading” information to its customers.

“FINRA considered the widespread and significant harm suffered by customers, including millions of customers who received false or misleading information from the firm, millions of customers affected by the firm’s systems outages in March 2020, and thousands of customers the firm approved to trade options even when it was not appropriate for the customers to do so,” the organization said in a statement.

FINRA said Robinhood agreed to pay $57 million as a fine, along with $7 million to customers who were confused or misled by the company’s information on margin trading. It specifically cited a 20-year-old trader who killed himself in June 2020 after the platform advised that he had a negative balance of $730,000 — and was unable to reach Robinhood’s customer service to resolve the issue.

“In a note found after his death, he expressed confusion as to how he could have used margin to purchase securities because, he believed, he had not ‘turned on’ margin in his account,” FINRA said. “Robinhood also displayed to this individual (and certain other customers) inaccurate negative cash balances.”

It said users had lost $7 million due to Robinhood’s “misstatements,” in addition to an undisclosed amount that was lost as a result of service outages arising due to technical issues from January 2018 through February 2021. The company is paying another $5 million in restitution to customers affected by the outages.

The settlement does not include the January ordeal that led the company to halt trading of stock in GameStop. Outrage over the incident led to a congressional hearing in February, where CEO Vlad Tenev told lawmakers that downtime was required for the company to meet certain regulatory requirements.

Watch above via CNBC.

Bill Cosby’s former prosecutor Kristen Gibbons Feden explained the disgraced actor’s early release from prison, telling MSNBC’s Chuck Todd that the Supreme Court believes Cosby “never should have been arrested” in the first place.

Cosby, who is set to be released from confinement on Wednesday, was sentenced to prison in 2018 for aggravated assault, as several women accused him of criminal sexual acts.

On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned the convictions, ordering for his release from prison, as they found an agreement with a previous prosecutor, which prevented Cosby from being charged in the case.

Todd spoke to Cosby’s former prosecutor following the announcement, who explained that the Supreme Court believes Cosby “never should have been arrested.”

“Unfortunately I have not gotten through the entirety of the 79-page opinion, but what I can tell you just from glancing at it, obviously it’s playing a crucial role in the trial and the entirety of the investigation, is that, while I 100 percent respect the Supreme Court, every justice on the Supreme Court, I can’t tell you what the agreement said, because I don’t believe there was one.”

She went on to note that the Supreme Court does claim that an agreement was reached, yet added that there was nothing written down, or evidence of court approval regarding that agreement, which is common practice for cases such as Cosby’s.

“Essentially what the Supreme Court is saying is that Bill Cosby should never have been arrested because there was a non-prosecutorial agreement in place that prohibited our office from prosecuting him in 2015,” she added. “Again, this was argued in the trial court who found that there was no prosecution agreement.”

She pointed to the fact that the trial court found Cosby guilty — a verdict approved by the Superior Court of Pennsylvania — yet the Supreme Court still overturned the ruling.

“One thing I do want to emphasize is that what the court is saying is that we should have never went through with the trial. What the court is not saying is that Andrea Constand was not credible,” she added. “The jury still found that he sexually assaulted Andrea Constand. I understand that the conviction will not stand, but again, I want to emphasize, the jury found that Bill Cosby sexually assaulted Andrea Constand after administering an intoxicant to her.”

She explained that she wanted to emphasize that fact for sexual assault and crime survivors who found peace through the initial ruling, adding that she hopes they are still able to find justice through that.

“Essentially what happened during the trial back in 2015, maybe 2016, there was something called a Habeas hearing — a due process type hearing — and during that hearing, we as a commonwealth, put on a number of witnesses to establish that, in fact, there was no agreement between the prosecutor’s office and the defendant that there would be no prosecution,” Feden said. “But the defendant said that there was. And what they pointed to was that, and this came out in testimony, was one that Bruce Castor, who was the district attorney at the time, had told Bill Cosby that he was not going to prosecute him if there was — if he participated or cooperated in a civil proceeding against Andrea Constand.”

Feden explained that in addition to the hearing, Castor also testified that his press release was an indication not to prosecute, although the release specifies Castor’s right to reconsider his opinion should the need arise.

“In addition to that, Lisa Furman, who is now Judge Furman, who was his first assistant, and who was the district attorney at the time of Cosby’s arrest, was also not familiar with any nonprosecutorial agreement,” she added. “That’s really important because generally if the D.A. is going to make such a prosecution agreement, he’s going to alert his first assistant.”

Feden went on to reveal that Castor only vocalized that stance once — while running for district attorney against Kevin Steele. 

“And perhaps that was why, because he had to answer that question, probably as part of his political campaign, why didn’t you — why didn’t you press charges against Bill Cosby when Andrea Constand made the report in 2005,” she said. “And perhaps that was his answer.”

Watch above, via MSNBC.

General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testifies on the department’s fiscal year 2022 budget request during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on June 23, 2021. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

Former President Donald Trump attacked General Mark Milley again on Wednesday and said that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — who Trump himself appointed to that position — should resign.

Milley made headlines last week for his impassioned response to a question about critical race theory in the military, saying he finds it “offensive” to accuse officers of being “‘woke’ because we’re studying some theories that are out there.”

Additionally, there’s new reporting this week from an upcoming book that Milley and Trump got into a fierce shouting match in the Situation Room last year.

Trump denied that report as “Fake News” in his statement Wednesday, claiming, “If he had displayed such disrespect for his Commander-in-Chief I would have fired him immediately.”

He went after Milley for his apology last year for participating in that now-infamous Trump photo op in Lafayette Square, calling it a “groveling apology.”

Trump claimed that Milley “practically begged me not to send in the military to stop the riots” last year and said he’s now defending critical race theory.

“Gen. Milley ought to resign, and be replaced with someone who is actually willing to defend our Military from the Leftist Radicals who hate our Country and our Flag,” he added.

After snippets of @MichaelCBender‘s new book revealed some tense exchanges between Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley & Trump (and his aides) over last summer’s BLM protests, the former president calls for the four star general (whom he appointed to the role) to resign. pic.twitter.com/iK4JGnmzXE

— Vivian Salama (@vmsalama) June 30, 2021

Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy questioned Jen Psaki on the charge that Republicans “defunded” police by voting against bills that contained funding for the police, this time on the basis that none said they voted against such funding in order to defund the police.

After an extended volley with White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on the same subject earlier this week, Doocy went back to the well at Wednesday afternoon’s briefing.

DOOCY: You mentioned at the last briefing that you think Republicans wanted to defund the police because they did not support the American Rescue Plan. Which Republican ever said that they did not like the American Rescue Plan because they wanted to defund the police?

PSAKI: Well, first let me just note that the president ran and won the most votes of any candidate in history on a platform of boosting funding for law enforcement. Republicans spent decades trying to cut the COPS program. There’s record of that. That doesn’t require anyone having new comments. And then also stood in the way of crucial funding needed to prevent the laying off of police officers as crimes increased. That’s a simple statement of fact.

DOOCY: I understand what you’re saying there, however, there are lots of examples of Democrats explicitly saying they want to defund the police. You’ve got Congresswoman Cori Bush, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, are there any examples of Republican members of Congress saying they want to defund the police?

PSAKI: I think most people would argue that actions are more important than words, wouldn’t you say?

DOOCY: Well to that point there, at the time of the vote on the American Rescue Plan, you had Republican leader in the Senate Mitch McConnell said he just didn’t like it because he thought that was a classic example of big government Democratic overreach in the name of Covid relief, and then Kevin McCarthy said he thought Democrats were using coronavirus as an excuse to justify funding pet projects. Where is the “we’re going to vote against this because we want to define the police?”

PSAKI: Again, I think actions speak louder than words, Peter, so if you oppose funding for the COPS program, something that was dramatically cut by their prior administration and many Republicans supported, and then you vote against the bill that has funding for the COPS program, we can let other people evaluate than what that means. It doesn’t require them to speak to it or to shout it out, their actions speak for themselves.

At issue was a Fox News Sunday interview in which White House senior adviser Cedric Richmond told Chris Wallace that it was Republicans who “defunded the police,” explaining that “When we were in Congress last year trying to pass … an emergency relief plan for cities that were cash-strapped and laying off police and firefighters, it was the Republicans who objected to it. And in fact, they didn’t get funding until the American Rescue Plan, which our plan allowed state and local governments to replenish their police departments and do the other things that are needed.”

Watch above via C-Span.

Socrates didn’t fear death. Even though he met a gruesome demise (he was executed by the state for the alleged crime of corrupting Athenian youth), Socrates didn’t flee or plead before his executioner. If we are to take his beliefs and teachings—that death is an inevitability that might be good, actually—to heart, we…

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Vacuum cleaners can clog by things getting stuck in the hose or from an over-full canister, but most clogs are easily solved by just regularly emptying your vacuum. Hair and string, though, tend to wrap around the vacuum brush and can restrict its movement, causing a slow death until it stops spinning altogether,…

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ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP / Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump went after CNN and MSNBC in a statement Tuesday, saying the networks are in a ratings “free fall.”

In the past two days, Trump put out multiple statements going after Bill Barr and Mitch McConnell for a new interview where Barr called his election lies “bullshit.”

The former president of the United States weighed in Tuesday on the ratings of cable news programs, saying, “CNN ratings are down 70%, MSDNC is also way down.”

“They say the news is ‘boring’ since I left D.C.,” Trump continued, before naming certain cable newsers individually.

“Morning Joe, Joy Reid (whoever that is?), Nicole Wallace, Jake Tapper, and even Chris Wallace, at Fox, in free fall. A wonderful thing to see!” Trump continued.

Trump, of course, is aware of who Reid is. Last September, he said the MSNBC host should be fired for her comments comparing Islamic extremists and “radical” Trump supporters (comments that also received criticism from Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib).

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump backed up Fox News host Tucker Carlson over his “totally believable” claim that the National Security Agency is spying on him and trying to destroy his show.

On Tuesday, Trump appeared on The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, running through a multitude of his standard talking points and swiping at the media along the way. At one point, Trump was asked about Carlson’s claim that the NSA under the Biden administration has targeted him and is monitoring his communications.

Sexton and Trump seized on that moment to groan about how the former president has been “targeted by the deep state” in recent years. This led to Trump reflecting on how “all hell broke out” when he pushed those claims, though nothing was said about how Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz determined back in 2019 that the FBI’s probe of Trump’s campaign was not tainted by political bias.

After a brief digression, Trump was once again asked about Carlson’s claims, and he answered “I think it’s true. It’s totally believable.”

This quickly segued into more of Trump’s unsubstantiated claims that the 2020 election was corrupt — the same “big lie” that fueled his supporters as they violently stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6th.

The idea that the NSA is spying on Carlson would be a bombshell news story if it could be proven that the government is targeting critics in the media. The Fox host has yet to produce solid evidence of the alleged insidious surveillance being conducted on him. More interestingly though, neither Fox’s news division nor their opinion team have given any further coverage to the explosive allegations coming from their top-rated colleague.

While Trump is siding with Carlson’s claims, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has rebuked them by telling reporters that the NSA’s focus is on foreign threats.

Listen above, via The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show.

Since 2001, the Fast & Furious films have been the go-to for racing action spectaculars. They’re wildly popular, and justifiably so, though not to everyone’s taste. Maybe you’re riding the high of the latest, F9, or maybe you’re looking for a racing movie with something different to offer.

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Jeff Garlin revealed how many more seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm fans should expect from Larry David. 

“We could maybe do one more, maybe,” he said Sunday on Tim Dillion’s podcast. “You know, Larry is in his 70s. Don’t get me wrong, he’s in good shape.”

He went on to say that he stars in both Curb Your Enthusiasm as well as The Goldbergs at “Fifty-fucking-nine,” calling the feat “exhausting.”

“It rips me apart. And the equivalent happens to Larry, cause he’s in every scene, working every day, having to be there at 6:30 in the morning,” added Garlin. “I don’t know if physically he can do more than, let’s say another season. I think he could do another, I don’t know if he has two in him.”

Dillion later asked Garlin if he expected the show to be so popular, calling the series “truly the greatest comedy of the last quarter-century.”

After thanking him, Garlin could not help but agree, calling the 90 minute stretch on HBO that included an episode of The Sopranos followed by one of Curb Your Enthusiasm, “the best 90 minutes in the history of television.”

He went on to clarify that he does not have a “big ego,” nor does he, “believe the hype,” but instead just recognizes that those “90 minutes” were “must-watch TV.”

Watch above, via The Tim Dillion Show. 

Joshua Roberts / Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump attacked Mitch McConnell over a new report on his behind-the-scenes efforts to get Bill Barr to speak out about the election lies and conspiracies Trump was pushing.

“Had Mitch McConnell fought for the Presidency like he should have, there would right now be Presidential Vetoes on all of the phased Legislation that he has proven to be incapable of stopping,” Trump said in a statement Monday afternoon.

He accused McConnell of losing Republicans the Senate and said, “He never fought for the White House and blew it for the Country.”

Trump continued pushing his usual baseless election claims and said McConnell “convinced his buddy” Barr to “get the corrupt… election done.”

The former attorney general broke his silence in interviews with ABC News’ Jon Karl, calling out Trump’s “bullshit” election claims. Then-Senate Majority Leader McConnell urged Barr to speak out publicly at the time, amid his concerns about Republicans’ chances in the Georgia runoffs (an account confirmed both by Barr and McConnell).

Trump put out a statement earlier attacking Barr over his comments, again pushing claims that Barr called “bullshit.”

Earlier this year, Bernard Goldberg quietly departed HBO’s Real Sports without much fanfare after more than two decades on the program. In recent months, Goldberg amplified his quiet exit, trashing the show and now blaming his departure on host Bryant Gumbel.

In his column for BernardGoldberg.com, the former Real Sports contributor recalled the show’s year-end roundtable on HBO last December. Goldberg pointed to a specific comment from Gumbel during the discussion that made him realize he no longer wanted to be a Real Sports contributor.

“I told the show’s host, Bryant Gumbel, that I recently tuned in to watch a National Hockey League playoff game and heard a player, at a pre-game ceremony, say that, ‘racism is everywhere,’” Goldberg writes.

“I told Gumbel that since I didn’t tune in to get a lecture on what a racist country America is, I changed the channel. To which Bryant replied: ‘Racism is everywhere.’”

Not only does Goldberg argue that racism is not everywhere, but he claims “racism was never everywhere” in the United States.

“It was never in the hearts of the abolitionists. Never in the hearts of those brave Americans who challenged Jim Crow and fought, often at great peril, for civil rights. I know it’s not everywhere because it’s not in my house,” writes Goldberg.

The year-end roundtable was Goldberg’s final contribution to Real Sports, officially leaving the show a few weeks after his discussion of racism with Gumbel. “I didn’t want to be part of a team whose most prominent voice thinks that, ‘racism is everywhere,’ and where the other 5 correspondents — whose politics range from liberal to hard-left progressive – just sat there and said nothing,” Goldberg added.

In a tell-all interview with Bill O’Reilly two months ago, the 76-year-old Goldberg argued he was “diversity” for Real Sports, because his conservative viewpoints differed from the other correspondents.