by Lyz Lenz | Jul 22, 2026 | Civil Rights, culture, Opinions
On Saturday, Andrew and Tristan Tate, far-right social media influencers and self-described misogynists who command a following of young, angry men on the internet, were arrested in Miami on rape and sex trafficking charges from the U.K. They will remain in custody in Florida as they fight an extradition request. British authorities say the two brothers face 59 charges between them, including charges of choking and raping women; Andrew Tate also faces charges relating to “indecent images of a child and extreme pornography.”
These charges come on top of a slew of others including a 2022 arrest in Romania on rape and sex trafficking charges, but that case was thrown out on legal and procedural grounds as prosecutors continue to investigate. The brothers have previously denied all wrongdoing.
They have been hailed as political heroes who helped deliver President Donald Trump the manosphere vote — that segment of young, disaffected men who crave power, money and domination over women.
As the case slogged on, the Tates were allowed to travel to Florida on a private jet. There, they have been hailed as political heroes who helped deliver President Donald Trump the manosphere vote — that segment of young, disaffected men who crave power, money and domination over women as their American manifest destiny.
The Tates’ arrest comes days after the president addressed the nation, spinning a conspiracy about imagined voter fraud and nefarious conduct as part of a secret shadow operation of the imagined deep state, but it’s all been a tale told by a fool, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Trump released documents purporting to prove his conspiracies — they did
by Brian Lowry | Jul 18, 2026 | culture, Opinion
Before “The Odyssey” embarked on its theatrical journey, writer-director Christopher Nolan suffered slings and arrows from conservative social media warriors. In their quest to gin up culture war controversy over casting choices in a movie they hadn’t seen, they have succeeded only in helping promote a film that hardly needed extra publicity, while making themselves look stupid.
Because those launching ill-informed broadsides against the film included Elon Musk and Donald Trump Jr. — railing on social media against the casting of Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy because she’s Black, and Elliot Page as a Greek warrior because he’s trans — the attacks became difficult for the media to ignore. Plus, anti-“woke” crusading against a familiar target like “liberal Hollywood” remains one of those gifts (or grifts) that keeps on giving.
Despite the advance obsession over Nyong’o and Page’s characters, the two actors each occupy no more than a few minutes of screen time.
Yet Nolan’s film merely makes those conservative provocateurs sound foolish. At a run time of almost three hours, “The Odyssey” continues the “Oppenheimer” director’s personal war on moviegoers’ bladders. But despite the advance obsession over Nyong’o’s and Page’s characters, the two actors each occupy no more than a few minutes of screen time in a film that stars Matt Damon, Tom Holland and Anne Hathaway. The beauty of being Nolan, at this point, is that his reputation and track record enable him to attract identifiable talent — a la Zendaya, rapper Travis Scott and horror queen Mia Goth — for even smallish roles, a clever means of broadening the film’s appeal.
Musk and others sought to transform that into something nefarious,
by Charles F. Coleman Jr. | Jul 16, 2026 | culture, Opinion, Politics
Rapper Boosie Badazz had a problem. In 2025 the Louisiana-based artist, who had already been convicted of a felony, was facing up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines for being found in possession of a weapon. As NOTUS reported Monday, Boosie (whose legal name is Torence Hatch) gave $600,000 to right-wing lobbying firm JM Burkman and Associates to help him get a pardon from President Donald Trump and says he was told on New Year’s Day that it had been secured. But it wasn’t. On Jan. 13, 2026, in exchange for his guilty plea, a federal judge sentenced him to three years’ probation, 300 hours of community service and a $50,000 fine, a fraction of the amount he paid in an attempt to get a pardon.
Here it is July, and Boosie hasn’t been pardoned. And not only is he trying to get at least half his money back, he’s making a social media spectacle by calling out the right-wing influencers he says were supposed to help sell his case to Trump, according to the firm’s associates.
He’s calling out the right-wing influencers he says were supposed to help sell his case to Trump, according to the firm’s associates.
Boosie’s case is another illustration of the rottenness of the pardon system in Trump’s presidency. MS NOW’s Ken Dilanian brought to light pay-to-play allegations related to Trump pardons in the series “Justice Interrupted”; in May, Rep. Dave Min, D-Calif., and Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., sent letters to 17 people they say received pardons or commutations from Trump “under circumstances that warrant further congressional scrutiny.”
In those letters, the lawmakers sought information including: “The
by Anthony L. Fisher | Jul 15, 2026 | Civil Rights, culture, Opinion
MAGA trolls and their allies in right-wing media joined forces last week to gin up an exceptionally dumb, cynically engineered culture war “outrage.” Apparently, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani “hates” Italians because a map of “immigrant enclaves” released by the city’s Office of Immigrant Affairs did not include downtown Manhattan’s Little Italy. The recriminations from deeply offended supporters of America’s most unapologetically racist president in at least a century were swift.
My grandfather was born over 110 years ago in a cold-water flat on Bleecker Street to impoverished Sicilian immigrants who had arrived in America less than a year earlier. (I guess that makes me an anchor great-grandbaby.) I still get a kick out of taking my kids to Little Italy’s Feast of San Gennaro festival in the fall and showing them Giuseppe and Margherita’s old neighborhood. But the neighborhood hasn’t been an Italian immigrant enclave in many decades. Census data from 2010 showed that not a single Italian immigrant lived in the neighborhood. What was once a 50-block Italian American community has long since shrunk to about 2 1/2 blocks — with at least as many tourist trap tchotchke shops and Albanian-owned pizzerias as “authentic” Italian red sauce joints. The immigrants who made Little Italy, and their descendants, assimilated and moved on.
What’s especially rich is that this concern-trolling about immigrant enclaves is coming from some of the country’s most vitriolic anti-immigrant activists.
But why let sober contemplation of facts get in the way of stoking an angry mob? Right-wing activist Christopher Rufo — well known for bragging about his success at manipulating the media with relentless, truth-bending (to put it
by Noor Noman | Jul 11, 2026 | culture, Opinion, Sports
Joy is perhaps one of the most vulnerable things we can experience. It is an unmediated emotion — unlike anger, for instance, which shrouds pain, or even a deep sense of care. And revealing unmediated emotions is incredibly vulnerable.
Hegemonic masculinity does not give men much permission to experience joy and pleasure (in nonsexual contexts) and its concomitant vulnerability: Rarely do we see men giddy. But this FIFA World Cup has given men permission to experience joy and giddiness in a way that is both rare and profound.
As the underdog Norway prepares to take on England in a quarterfinal match in Miami on Saturday, video of Norway fans’ Viking row (both in stadiums and elsewhere, like in Times Square) have been shared and reshared all over the internet.
Every new viral moment evinces this kind of joy. Take, for instance, Scots descending on America in kilts and chanting “No Scotland, No Party” to the tune of The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” wherever they go; and Egyptians dancing in the streets of Vancouver to music, celebrating their team’s win against against New Zealand; Brazilian fans (alongside some Mexican fans) taking a break from celebrating their team’s win against Japan to console a Japanese fan in tears, holding him as he cried and then cheering him up. Then, there’s the Democratic Republic of Congo superfan, who captured the world’s attention by paying homage to the country’s first president, Patrice Lumumba — a crucial figure in the anticolonial, independence movement — posing as an unflinching statue of the politician at Congo matches.
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Ashlyn Harris reflects on her legacy in women’s soccer in “Gamechangers” documentary
June 29,
by Robyn Autry | Jul 5, 2026 | culture, Opinion, Politics
Victor Willis, a lead singer for the Village People who died Tuesday, insisted that the 1978 hit “YMCA,” the group’s most famous song, was not a gay anthem. Never mind its innuendo — its description of the YMCA as a place that has “everything for young men to enjoy/You can hang out with all the boys” and “do whatever you feel.”
Jacques Morali, the openly gay French music producer who helped create the group, said he did so after thinking to himself that “gay people have no group,” but Willis, who was the straight frontman dressed as a police officer surrounded by gay costumed bandmates, said “YMCA” was merely about young men having a place to clear their minds at the gym in the comfpany of other men. He said the songs “Macho Man” and “In the Navy” weren’t about gay life, either.
Willis said “YMCA” was merely about young men having a place to clear their minds at the gym.
Maybe that’s what Willis needed to tell himself to justify becoming a closing act at MAGA rallies. Willis performed “YMCA” the night before President Donald Trump’s second inauguration alongside a new group of band members, as Trump twisted at the waist and pumped his fists instead of doing the simple hand motions fans created to spell out the letters. To many people, Willis aligning himself with MAGA, including his performance at the inauguration, felt like a betrayal, but Willis maintained the month before that performance that “YMCA” was for everyone and that after he decided to entertain MAGA “the financial benefits have been great.”
Willis was right about one thing. Like the cultural institution
