by Zeeshan Aleem | Aug 8, 2026 | culture, elections, Opinion, White House
Right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson announced in June that he was leaving the Republican Party because he was incensed at President Donald Trump for launching a war against Iran. Surprisingly, what began as a theatrical (and possibly temporary) exit from the GOP has led to a more adversarial and organized opposition. The former Fox News personality appears to be trying to help launch — or encourage the launch of — a right-wing third party. If it comes to fruition, that could be a terrible thorn in the side of Republicans.
In an interview with the Columbia Journalism Review published in July, Carlson said he was “going to help build a third party” as part of his “good-faith effort to figure out what benefits the country.” In his explanation he leaned into the same isolationism he cited when he said he was leaving the GOP.
“Your life expectancy has gone down, and the promise of your children’s lives is likely gone. No one seems to care,” he said to CJR. “It’s not even a factor. ‘What about Hamas?’ I officially don’t care about Hamas. The US government should have, as its first priority, the welfare of its own people.”
Carlson said later in the interview that on matters of finance and war, there is “a one-party state posing as a democracy, and it needs to be broken.” He also said he didn’t want to be a candidate for this party.
The Carlson rebellion reflects the strange state of the organized right.
It’s one thing to float the possibility of creating a third party, but there are signs Carlson may be trying to make it happen. Carlson recently hosted
by Evette Dionne | Aug 8, 2026 | culture, Opinion, Pop Culture
In 2023, Oscar-nominated actor and singer Ariana Grande recorded a video addressing people concerned about her thin appearance on the set of “Wicked.”
“I think we should be gentler and less comfortable commenting on people’s bodies, no matter what,” she said on TikTok. “We should really work toward not doing that as much. … There are really different ways to look healthy and beautiful.”
In some ways, Grande is right. The bodies of celebrities, especially female celebrities, are constantly under a microscope, with every pound they lose or gain fodder for stories splashed across tabloid covers. In a society as fame-obsessed as ours, the parasocial entitlement that exists between famous people and the broader public must indeed be emotionally and mentally taxing for celebrities, who are often regarded as possessions, not humans. Commentary about the size of their bodies is a particularly nasty feature of that perceived ownership.
It’s hard to ignore Grande’s appearance in recent days.
Yet in light of reporting that she’ll be taking a break from public work, it’s hard to ignore Grande’s recent appearance. While looks can be misleading and may not accurately reflect one’s health, she seems even thinner now than she did more than three years ago. When she shared the video for her latest single, “Petal,” on Instagram, a community note was attached encouraging people navigating eating disorders to seek care. That may feel like overstepping, or another form of body-shaming a famous woman. It shouldn’t be considered problematic, however, to point out the obvious: that Grande is not merely thin.
To be clear, we don’t know if Grande is experiencing any particular medical condition, including an eating disorder.
by Jordan Rubin | Aug 6, 2026 | culture, Deadline: Legal Blog
Rachel Leviss’ lawsuit can move forward against her former “Vanderpump Rules” reality television castmate Ariana Madix, after a California appeals court rejected Madix’s bid to strike the suit that stems from the “Scandoval” controversy.
Leviss had an affair with their fellow former castmate Tom Sandoval, who was Madix’s boyfriend at the time. Madix found sexually explicit videos of Leviss on Sandoval’s phone. Madix then recorded the videos and sent them to Leviss, who sued Madix in turn.
Wednesday’s appeals court ruling against Madix upheld a trial judge’s rejection of her motion to strike. The appeals court said Madix failed to meet her burden of showing that Leviss’ claims against her arose from constitutionally protected activity.
Madix had argued that her alleged conduct concerned an issue of public interest about an individual in the public eye. But the appeals court said Leviss’ status as a public person doesn’t make every aspect of her personal life a matter of public concern.
The court noted that the case was about video recordings of Leviss engaging in a private sexual act at a private residence during a private FaceTime call with Sandoval. Even if the affair was known at the time, the court said public interest in it wouldn’t extend to private recordings depicting the most intimate aspects of the relationship.
The appellate panel cited another celebrity sex story that made its way into a California court, from the 1990s, when Bret Michaels and Pamela Anderson Lee tried to block an adult entertainment distributor from publishing a videotape of them having sex. In that case, the court rejected the distributor’s argument that their public statuses as a rock star
by Jason Page | Aug 4, 2026 | culture, Opinion
Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham has been unapologetically blunt in her belief that transgender girls and women have zero place competing with cisgender females. That view on its face is one that is shared by a majority of Americans. But there are those looking to legitimately protect the safety of girls and women in sports and those looking to use the issue to demonize the transgender community as a whole — and Cunningham’s actions, more than her words, appear to put her far closer to the latter.
Cunningham claims to love everybody, insists she isn’t anti-trans and says her comments are about protecting women. But in choosing to pose for postgame photos on Sunday with outspoken trans critic Riley Gaines — the former swimmer who was one of the first people to speak out on trans women competing in sports with cisgender women — one could easily wonder if Cunningham is telling us a different story with the company she chooses to keep.
Why would a person in Cunningham’s position, with her platform and claims of loving everybody, choose to embrace Gaines?
Gaines gained notoriety after finishing in a fifth-place tie with trans swimmer Lia Thomas during an NCAA swimming competition in March 2022. Because organizers only had one fifth-place trophy and opted to give that to Thomas, Gaines had to receive her trophy at a later date. Using this dubious “I was victimized by a trans woman” narrative, Gaines operates under the guise of protecting girls and women in sports. But her rhetoric about the trans community at large shows a disdain that goes beyond the pale. From calling a Minnesota high
by Jeneane Nicodemus | Aug 2, 2026 | culture, Opinion
The other day I got a DM from my youngest daughter. It was a video of a strange-looking raccoon, a lady’s voice narrating, “What am I seeing?” Then the text caption: “a small little deformed and bedraggled beloved raccoon.” I watched, a little confused about why my daughter sent it my way. And then, as the dwarfed raccoon scurried across the screen, the next frame was captioned “Meet ‘Jimothy,’ Seattle’s Local Legend.”
By now I’ve learned of the absolute adoration the nation has for this strange creature. But on first viewing, I noticed my insides getting irritated. In fact sometimes I can’t help but feel a little cheated by this “Jimothy” phenomenon.
Part of me feels angry — Jimothy belongs to us — while another part believes it’s a sign and a reminder of our love.
My partner passed away 18 months ago. He’s a nickname guy. Had one for all the people he loved. Mine was Juanita Bonita, later simply Juanita. His name is James, Jim, Jimmy. My adult kids, as a way to endear him, coined Jimothy. They banter now over who came up with it; regardless, Jim grew to love it. Around them, he’d call himself the name. He’d sign cards, texts, laugh at how silly it sounded.
Images of the short-spined raccoon spreading across the internet invoke a strange mix of emotions for me. Part of me feels angry — Jimothy belongs to us — while another part believes it’s a sign and a reminder of our love.
Jim was a believer of signs. We live in Northwest Montana. Nature surrounds us. Jim loved the wild Turkeys. “There’s Greta,” he’d say,
by Brian Lowry | Aug 1, 2026 | culture, Opinion
In his comic book origin story, Spider-Man, aka Peter Parker, painfully learns that “with great power comes great responsibility.” The focal point of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is a corollary of that truism: True heroism often requires selflessness and sacrifice. Those old-fashioned values resonate all the more forcefully in this era of social media’s showboating and clout-chasing influencers.
Tom Holland’s fourth solo outing as Spider-Man features the requisite action sequences, including the best use of the Hulk on screen that we’ve seen in some time. At the movie’s core, however, we see a hero wrestling with loneliness, having given up relationships with his closest friend and the woman he loves in the previous installment, “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
At the movie’s core, we see a hero wrestling with loneliness, having given up relationships with his closest friend and the woman he loves.
Those action sequences notwithstanding, “Brand New Day” is a more deeply personal film, and it comes at a particularly fraught time both for the comic book movie and — without sounding too high-handed about it — America. “Brand New Day” appears destined to become a big fat hit — to the anticipated tune of more than $250 million in North America for its opening weekend, and better than twice that worldwide — and to provide Marvel a lift before the larger-scale “Avengers: Doomsday.” For the country, it offers a welcome distraction from a seemingly endless barrage of dreary headlines and general anxiety.
The central theme empowering “Brand New Day” is subtle, but it shouldn’t be overlooked. Thanks to Holland’s sensitive performance as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, a genuine angst permeates the film, reflecting the
