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New York Post reporter Lydia Moynihan boldly told Charles Blow that he was trying to create a social media moment out of their discussion. Charles Blow on Wednesday wouldn’t stand for dismissive comments from New York Post reporter Lydia Moynihan, who claimed during a heated CNN discussion on “NewsNight With Abby Phillip” that the veteran journalist was just trying to create a viral “social media clip.” Blow had asked Moynihan if she could acknowledge that former President Joe Biden won the 2020 election after Jay Clayton, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and President Donald Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence, publicly refused to. Moynihan said she could, but added: “I know you’re trying to get a social media clip, Charles.” Blow, a former op-ed columnist for The New York Times and political analyst for MS NOW, who founded his high school newspaper and graduated magna cum laude from Grambling State University before launching his professional career, fired back. “I really appreciate you lecturing me about what I’m here to do,” he told Moynihan. Blow added, “I’m here because Abby’s show invited me here, and I have been in journalism for a very long time. In fact, I came to The New York Times the year that you were born, so I would suggest that you choose a lane that is your own and stay in it.” Then came the clincher: “And don’t lecture me, because I won’t be lectured by a child.” Moynihan had no response, but had a lot to say earlier in the show in support of Clayton — who was grilled during his confirmation hearing Wednesday by Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) about whether or not Biden was illegitimately elected in 2020 as Trump still baselessly claims. Clayton refused to give a straight answer. He told Ossoff, “I’m not going to do this with you” and offered a tepid, “Joe Biden was certified as the president.” Phillip said Wednesday, “Lydia, that’s kind of embarrassing … If he can’t just state a fact, how can he do that other job?” “I mean, he’d been asked, I think, three times at that point, and he did mince words,” Moynihan replied, adding: “But there’s a lot of theatrics at these kind of hearings. Jon Ossoff got his soundbite, and Republicans kind of do the same thing.” She continued, “They love to ask, ‘What is a woman?’ And [Supreme Court Justice] Ketanji Brown Jackson couldn’t answer [during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in 2022]. A lot of people still can’t answer that question. So to me, it’s theatrics.” It was then that Blow interjected to ask her about the 2020 election. Moynihan was previously confronted on “NewsNight” in December for defending racist comments from Trump at the time — and arguing that certain cultures are “not compatible” with America. Trump is set to present new claims about the 2020 election in a primetime address Thursday.

 A man has been arrested after breaking into “Today” show set, looking for Al Rocker and shouting the N-word at Craig Melvin. During the Thursday, July 16 filming of the “Today” Show, a man reportedly broke past the morning show’s security at the Rockefeller Center and lunged at host Craig Melvin. According to TMZ, which first reported the news, the incident took place around 9 AM ET. The unnamed man was apparently looking for veteran “Today” show co-host Al Roker before ultimately confronting Melvin, where he reportedly charged at Melvin while yelling the N-word. The incident was not captured during the morning broadcast, and the man has reportedly been arrested. “Officers responded and placed an unidentified individual into custody,” the NYPD told Entertainment Weekly. “There were no injuries reported. The investigation remains ongoing.” Following the incident, NBC staff are now “demanding answers” as to how the intruder was able to get past security and so deep into the building. Neither Melvin, Roker, nor the “Today” show has commented on these reports. This is a developing story.

Black folks love a comeback story. Actually, scratch that. We love a story where somebody tells America, “You ignored us, stole our history, erased our contributions—and now we’re going to make a fortune telling the truth.” That was Uncle Nearest. The company didn’t just sell whiskey. It sold receipts. Nathan “Nearest” Green, the formerly enslaved man who taught Jack Daniel how to distill whiskey, spent more than a century as one of American history’s wronged. Then Fawn Weaver came along, found the story, built an empire around it, and, for a while, looked like she had written the blueprint for Black entrepreneurship in America. The brand exploded. Investors came calling. Awards piled up. Every Black business conference wanted Weaver on stage. Every magazine wanted to profile her. Uncle Nearest wasn’t just successful—it became the company people pointed to whenever somebody claimed Black businesses couldn’t scale. Which is exactly why watching this thing unravel feels like seeing your favorite aunt and uncle fight at Thanksgiving. You don’t want to see it, but you can’t stop looking. Today, Uncle Nearest is in court-appointed receivership after its lender alleged the company defaulted on more than $100 million in debt. The company has disputed many of the lender’s allegations, and those claims remain the subject of ongoing litigation. Still, the fact that a federal court appointed someone else to oversee the company isn’t exactly the kind of business update you celebrate by popping a cork. Then things somehow got…Black Twitter levels of chaotic. There was a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Then a court said the filing couldn’t stand because the receiver—not the company’s founder—had the authority to make that decision. Then reports surfaced that Fawn Weaver herself had been removed from the company she built. I’m sorry, what?  That’s not a pivot. That’s not a restructuring. That’s not “challenging market conditions.” That’s the kind of corporate dysfunction where you need a flowchart just to explain who’s allowed to unlock the front door. Here’s what’s especially frustrating. Black folks have spent decades telling each other that ownership is the answer. Create a brand. Create generational wealth. Create a legacy. Don’t just work for the company; own the company. And Uncle Nearest looked like the proof that all of that was possible. It was a great Black American underdog story. And now, instead of talking about market expansion or international growth, we’re talking about receivers, bankruptcy courts, governance disputes, and lawsuits. That’s heartbreaking. Not because successful companies never struggle—they absolutely do—but because Uncle Nearest had become more than a whiskey company. It became a symbol. It became a beacon. It became proof that something stolen could be made right. Here’s where I think we sometimes get ourselves into trouble. Whenever a high-profile Black-owned business stumbles, two groups immediately show up. The first group starts tap dancing like they just discovered rhythm. “See? I told y’all Black businesses can’t…” Stop. And then, stop some more. White-owned companies implode every single day in America. Silicon Valley burns through billions before lunch. Wall Street has turned spectacular corporate failures into an Olympic sport. Nobody concludes that white people shouldn’t own businesses because one CEO drove a company into the ground. Let’s stop acting like a failing business is merely Black people’s business. Then there’s the second group. The “Don’t criticize Black businesses no matter what” crowd. Nah, that’s not solidarity. That’s fandom. There’s a difference. If a company ends up under court supervision, loses control of its own operations and becomes consumed by legal warfare, it’s okay to ask what happened. That’s not rooting against Black success. That’s acknowledging reality. Because here’s the thing: if we only celebrate Black excellence but refuse to examine Black failures, we don’t actually learn anything. We just create mythology. And mythology doesn’t balance books. Again, it’s important to remember that many of the most serious allegations in the ongoing litigation remain disputed. The courts—not social media—will determine those issues. But even setting aside every disputed allegation, the public facts are enough to make anybody who loves Black business wince. The company is under receivership. Its leadership has changed dramatically. Its future remains uncertain. And, you don’t get there because everything is going according to plan. The biggest tragedy is that Nathan Green deserved every bit of the recognition Uncle Nearest gave him. He deserved to have his story told. That part can’t be undone. No lawsuit changes history. No bankruptcy filing erases his legacy. No courtroom can take away the fact that millions of people now know his name because this company existed. That’s real. But it’s also real that one of the brightest examples of Black entrepreneurship in modern America now serves as a reminder that a powerful story, a charismatic founder, and a beloved brand still need boring things like governance, accountability, and financial discipline. Those aren’t sexy words. I get it. But because no company—not even one built on one of the greatest untold stories in American history is too important to fail, and no founder is too celebrated to make mistakes. That’s a lesson worth swallowing, even if it burns a little more than the whiskey. The post Sips & Stumbles: How Uncle Nearest Went From Being The Bourbon Blueprint To A Sobering Setback appeared first on Bossip.

Source: Dallas County Jail / Rowlet Police Department Months after Texas 18-year-old Daniel Erving’s mysterious drowning, the questions surrounding his final moments are only multiplying and getting louder and two recent arrests have only added fuel to the fire. According to NBC News, Daniel’s mother, Tameca Erving, says the arrests of 19-year-old Lucas Roper and a 16-year-old juvenile on felony evidence tampering charges are only “partial justice.” The two teens are accused of tossing Daniel’s cellphone and clothing after the 18-year-old honor student and standout swimmer disappeared while jumping from a railroad bridge into Lake Ray Hubbard in April. Daniel’s body wasn’t recovered until four days later, and while the medical examiner ruled his death an accidental drowning, his family has never been convinced that’s the full story. “As a mother, I knew something was wrong on day one,” Tameca Erving said at a news conference Tuesday. “I feel like my son only received partial justice. But we’re here to have murder charges brought against those two.” The allegations paint a picture that’s difficult to ignore. As BOSSIP previously reported, investigators say the teens never called 911 after Daniel went under. Instead, prosecutors allege Roper ordered the juvenile to throw Daniel’s phone out of a moving vehicle, tossed his clothes into nearby brush, and even deleted messages from his own phone because he feared facing criminal charges for Daniel’s death. That’s the kind of behavior that has Daniel’s loved ones asking the same question many people online have been repeating for months. If this was simply a tragic accident, why erase evidence? CNN reports that Daniel’s family, represented by ubiquitious civil rights attorney Ben Crump and attorney Sean Daredia, believes the evidence tampering charges barely scratch the surface the charges that Roper and the juvenile should be facing. They’ve publicly urged the Dallas County District Attorney to present the case to a grand jury for possible homicide charges, arguing that abandoning Daniel, hiding evidence, and allegedly attempting to cover their tracks deserves far more scrutiny than what’s currently on the books. For Daniel’s family, however, the clock has already been ticking for months. They aren’t celebrating the arrests because they don’t see them as the finish line. Until they get answers explaining exactly what happened in those moments before Daniel disappeared beneath the water, justice remains incomplete. Judging by the growing public skepticism surrounding this heartbreaking case, they’re far from the only ones demanding the full story. The post Daniel Erving: Mother Of Black Swimmer Who Suspiciously Drowned In Texas Lake Speaks Out After Evidence Tampering Arrests appeared first on Bossip.

During an exclusive interview with theGrio, America’s lone Black governor says the facts and the law are not on President Trump’s side. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is speaking out against President Donald Trump ahead of his scheduled primetime speech Thursday night, reportedly focused on his repeated false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election. “This is what losers do. They complain about the rules, and then they slam the table,” Moore, who has publicly clashed with the president over a host of issues, told theGrio in a phone interview on Tuesday about Trump’s expected primetime remarks. Trump said on Tuesday that his remarks would be “big news,” telling reporters in the Oval Office that his speech would focus on elections and the legitimacy of voting machines. “It’s really big news. It’s really, really big news, and our country has to shape up,” said the 80-year-old president. “What we’re going to talk about Thursday, it doesn’t get bigger because without free and fair elections, you don’t have a country.” According to reports, Trump will revive his years-long claims that voting machines were improperly used in the 2020 election—which he lost to former President Joe Biden—and is prepared to back up his claims with alleged declassified information from an investigation launched by the White House. The president is also reportedly prepared to take aim at Georgia U.S. Senators Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, both Democrats, calling them “illegitimate” senators as a result of allegations of voter fraud. In January, Trump’s FBI raided the elections office in Fulton County, Georgia, where he tried to contest the legitimacy of votes when he lost the Georgia election to Biden in 2020. Moore, who is stumping for Democrats in Georgia, South Carolina, and Nevada over the next week and a half ahead of November’s elections, and who is America’s only Black governor and rumored 2028 presidential candidate told theGrio that “60 court cases already have [disputed]” Trump’s claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election. “The reason the president is doing this and reviving this conspiracy theory is because he knows that it’s not just that the facts aren’t on his side, the law isn’t on his side, and he’s lost the people,” said Moore. The Maryland Democrat and U.S. Army veteran said that instead of delivering a primetime speech on already debunked conspiracies on elections, President Trump should focus more on America’s affordability crisis, the U.S. war with Iran, and the yet-to-be fully released Epstein files. “Instead of giving a press conference about the fact that we are fighting foreign forever wars that is costing everybody, instead of giving a press conference about the fact that everything from energy prices to food prices to gas prices have skyrocketed,” said Moore. “Instead of giving a press conference about why we continue to have a government cover-up of an international pedophile ring, we’re having conversations about something that has been widely rebuked.” Governor Moore, who slammed Trump in a scathing July 4 holiday speech on patriotism, added, “I don’t think anybody is surprised that he’s doing this, and frankly, I don’t think anyone is going to be moved by whatever allegations that he throws out.”

“We have not heard from our local authorities since last Tuesday,” Christine Wonsley said regarding any new updates in her son’s case. The parents of Nolan Wells say they have not heard from local investigators in nearly a week as they continue searching for answers about what happened to their 18-year-old son after he disappeared during a July 4 outing on Mississippi’s Horn Island. In an exclusive interview with theGrio’s Natasha S. Alford, Christine and Elmore Wonsley said they remain frustrated by what they describe as a lack of communication from investigators, while civil rights attorney Ben Crump addressed why he joined the case and what his legal team is doing to help the family. As theGrio previously reported, Wells disappeared after traveling to Horn Island with a group of friends on July 4. Search crews later found his body on the Mississippi barrier island. Authorities have not publicly released a cause or manner of death, and the investigation remains ongoing. “So, I’m going to be honest, we have not heard from our local authorities since last Tuesday,” Christine said. “And that was because I sent a text. I was like, ‘Hey, this is Christine, Nolan’s mom. Just wanted to get an update.’ We received a phone call. Basically, really no updates. And that was it. We’ve heard from no one else.” Crump called the lack of communication unusual and said the family deserves the same level of urgency that investigators would give any other family. “If the roles were reversed, this investigation would be handled totally different … We want a zealous investigation for our son too. We want you to do for our son what you would do for anybody’s son and get to the bottom of this because it’s not adding up,” Crump said. The family also continues to reject the explanation that Nolan voluntarily stayed behind on the island. “When they said that, that automatically turned me off, but it turned on a question like I know he wouldn’t do that. I preach that to him every day. He would not do that … You’re lying to me. I can’t believe it, and I won’t believe it,” Elmore said. Christine echoed those concerns, saying she does not believe her son would have willingly left without his cellphone. “I just cannot fathom Nolan leaving his phone,” Christine said, noting that even his best friends would say that was unlike him. “To sit there and say that, ‘Oh, you know, he just left his phone,’ that’s hard for me to believe. I just don’t see any teenager without their phone.” Christine also addressed conflicting accounts from people who were on Horn Island that day. She said the family had never met Tristan Shepard, who has publicly described himself as one of Nolan’s best friends, but appreciated that he reached out to offer his condolences. She also said a young woman named Katie has been identified, though the family does not know whether investigators have interviewed her. “We just have not heard much from our local authorities,” she said. “We just want transparency and a very thorough investigation, just like they would do for anyone else.” She also urged anyone with information to share it with both investigators and the family’s legal team. Crump said his team is conducting its own investigation by interviewing dozens of witnesses, seeking deleted text messages and social media communications and awaiting preliminary findings from an independent autopsy. “Nobody believes that Nolan either fell off a boat or jumped in the water without people seeing it. That would make no sense,” he added. Later in the interview, Alford asked Crump to explain his role in the case after public criticism over his involvement. Crump said he is representing the family as a civil rights trial lawyer and explained that only prosecutors and government officials have the authority to bring criminal charges, while his role is to pursue accountability through the civil justice system. “We understand we can’t put nobody in jail. Only the prosecutor, only the elected government officials can do that,” Crump said. “But I’d be damned if we’re not going to fight to say that our people can get some measure of justice.” Christine also responded to those who have criticized the family’s efforts to seek answers about Nolan’s death. “I would hope anyone, if their loved one, if this type of tragedy or if they, you know, whatever, I would hope they would fight. I would hope they would fight like hell to find out what happened. And if something did happen, who did it? You know, for justice purposes. I don’t get why a lot of people are so upset with us asking the questions, because God forbid if you were in the situation. I would hope that, you know, you would too,” Christine explained. She also made one final appeal to the parents of the children who may know what happened to Nolan on Horn Island. “I would say put yourself in our position,” Christine said. “If your child has seen something, if they took a picture and he’s in it, send it in its original form so we can look at the timestamps. But don’t be scared to speak up.” Watch the full interview below:

Source: Lashy Bills/X / Screenshot It was just last month that I wrote in a report that, often, “racial profiling is just a cop deciding to personally slide the scale of what constitutes probable cause when encountering a Black person they just want to stop and search because they are there.” I wrote that in response to a story about a Michigan cop who handcuffed and detained a Black teen because, as the cop stated, the teen “looked guilty” because he appeared to be “nervous” and because he grabbed his crotch area, which, in the cop’s view, meant he was “acting like someone who commits crimes.” Well, now, another picture-perfect example has gone viral, exposing another white cop who thinks any old excuse will do when they have spotted a Black person, whom they’re looking to harass and place in handcuffs while they embark on a fishing expedition, hoping to find a criminal offense to justify the stop. In the video clip, which was taken in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, according to Fox 56, the Black teen is seen recording himself as he walks down a road when a police officer, who is coming up behind him, says, “It’s a warm day to be wearing that jacket.” The teen continues to walk without saying a word, at which time the officer says, “You’re going to get hit by a car here,” to which the teen responds by, well, continuing not to respond, which clearly got under the cop’s thin, blue skin. “I’m asking you to stop,” the officer says before repeating those words as he grabs the teen by the shoulder.  “I’m doing a traffic stop on you. You walked across the road in front of a car,” the cop says, suddenly indicating that he actually has an excuse to be following the teen around for reasons other than the jacket he was wearing on a “warm day.” Later, the teen is shown sitting handcuffed in the back of a patrol vehicle. The teen hasn’t been publicly identified, but Fox 56 spoke with a man claiming to be his father, Jessie Lopez, who described the altercation as “a lesson for both of us.” “I need to make sure he knows how to interact with police, even when he feels he’s done nothing wrong,” he said. “Things can escalate fast. He ended up handcuffed and detained because he didn’t want to stop and answer their questions.” Lopez also mentioned that his son “suffers from eczema, and direct sunlight aggravates his skin condition.” “Although it was warm outside, there was a legitimate medical reason for him wearing his hood,” he said. The thing is, it really doesn’t matter why the teen was wearing a jacket in the heat. It’s no one’s business besides the teen’s. Setting aside the fact that anyone who has been outside during the summertime in the past decade or so knows how common it is for young people, these days, to wear hoodies and light jackets when it’s blazing hot outside. We might poke a little fun at them for it, but we don’t leap to the assumption that there’s anything suspicious about them, that they might be engaged in criminal behavior, or that wearing a jacket when it’s hot outside constitutes enough probable cause for a cop to place handcuffs on a minor. Now, a “back the blue” bootlicker will watch this video and reflexively ask, “Well, why didn’t he just stop when the officer said stop?” But for Black people who have plenty of lived experience with the effects of driving while Black, walking while Black, or just existing where white people don’t think we belong, all we needed to see was the expression on the young man’s face. We know that look. Hell, we are that look. The teen’s facial expression displayed the look of “we tired.” That look was the reflection of 400 years of Black people trying desperately to mind our own business while the white world around us considers our very existence to be a criminal act. We can’t do anything without looking suspicious to self-appointed Caucasian overseers who feel entitled to our submission. Let’s be real: that cop didn’t feel the need to handcuff and detain that Black teen because he “walked across the road in front of a car.” If that was the case, how come the officer began his pursuit by asking about the teen’s attire, rather than the manner in which he was crossing the road? No, that cop cuffed that Black kid because he didn’t like being ignored while he was attempting to abuse his authority. Anyway, according to Fox 56, Williamsport police said in a statement that the officer who conducted the stop is assigned to the Lycoming County District Attorney’s Office Narcotics Enforcement Unit and is not a member of the Williamsport Bureau of Police. “We are aware of a cell phone video circulating on social media involving a pedestrian stop,” the department said. “We want to clarify that the stop was not conducted by the Williamsport Bureau of Police, and we do not have any information regarding the circumstances surrounding the incident.” So, basically, even other cops saw this cop’s behavior and essentially said, “He doesn’t even go here!” As the teen’s father indicated, the onus always seems to be on us to know how to deal with police, because “things can escalate fast,” but these incidents never result in a lesson for police, who are supposedly trained to de-escalate, or those who are dedicated to defending them, no matter the circumstances. The officer targeted a youth who wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary and didn’t want to be bothered. They pretend to wonder why we’re so wary of them, while intentionally giving us every reason to be wary. And we are tired. SEE ALSO: White Man Fired Over Racial Profiling Video Michigan Cop Blames Police Violence On ‘Too Many Minorities’

While everyone is wondering what is going on with Mitch McConnell, longtime South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, passed away at the age of 71. According to his office, Graham died after a “brief and sudden illness,” while not providing any further details about his passing, adding in the statement that his family “appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period.” Graham, a former Air Force lawyer who was a staunch advocate for aggressive US foreign policy, was at one time totally against the Republican party nominating Donald Trump to be its leader, quickly became one of Orange Mussolini’s biggest allies, and a sycophant. Before Trump was first nominated as the Republican nominee for President of the United States, Graham famously tweeted, “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed…….and we will deserve it.” Hilariously, that tweet is still up, and now will live on forever now that he is no longer among the living. Donald Trump & Republican Leadership Speak On Lindsey Graham’s Death Donald Trump, in very Trumpish fashion, touched on Graham’s death, writing on his trash platform, Truth Social. “Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known, is dead!” Trump posted early Sunday. “He was always working, and was a true American Patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!! DETAILS AND ARRANGEMENTS TO FOLLOW. So sad!” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said: “My heart is heavy this morning to learn the passing of my friend and colleague.” Thune added Graham was “a strong advocate for the United States and a strong ally to freedom-loving countries across the globe. He believed in the might of America to achieve good in the world and dedicated his life to advancing that cause.” The rest of social media isn’t being as kind or sharing any fond thoughts about Graham; in fact, they are doing their best impression of the Big Fendi meme. “RIP Lindsey Graham. You taught me it was okay to be a coward whose only skill is debasing myself until death for a tiny, ultimately illusionary crumb of power,” one person on X, formerly Twitter, wrote. Another post read, “Maybe Scott Jennings can get Lindsey Graham on the phone to confirm the death of Lindsey Graham?” Well damn. While Graham will fondly be remembered by those he worked with on the right and some on the left, it’s clear his constant Trump a**-kissing will be his crowning achievement to many. You can see more reactions to his sudden passing after the flip! The post Donald Trump’s Biggest Fan, Lindsey Graham, Dead At 71, Social Media Is In Big Fendi Mode appeared first on Bossip.

As the U.S. Senate prepares to return next week, the GOP is still plagued with questions surrounding one congressional leader: How is Sen. Mitch McConnell doing, is he coming back to work, and, if so, when? As we reported earlier this week, the Republican senator from Kentucky was hospitalized last month for reasons no one seemed to know until it was revealed this month that, according to audio from a 911 call, someone at his home suffered a “cardiac arrest.” McConnell, 84, has spent three weeks in the hospital and hasn’t been present for a congressional vote since June 11. As Reuters reported, “The U.S. Senate returns on Monday for a four-week work period expected to include votes on defense ​and other national security legislation, with one of the most influential voices on those issues…still absent with undisclosed health problems.” And if the 911 call revealing the likelihood that it was McConnell who suffered a cardiac arrest after being found unconscious in his home wasn’t concerning enough, CNN has released video footage of someone, presumably McConnell, being loaded into an ambulance on a stretcher. The video was apparently taken last month, at the time the 911 call was placed. From CNN: A neighbor of McConnell told CNN that they opened their door to find commotion outside their home at around 8:30 a.m. on June 14, with two ambulances a fire truck and Capitol Police officers blocking the entire street. Videos taken by the neighbor show emergency responders wheeling a person on a stretcher toward an ambulance. The videos are shot from some distance, and the face of the person is not visible. Once in the ambulance, the person’s lower legs appear to be covered by an orange blanket, but feet are visible. The neighbor said they asked officers what was going on, and the officers responded that there had been a “medical emergency.” But when the neighbor inquired if McConnell was having a medical emergency, officers said they would block the street for anybody. The neighbor said they learned from another eyewitness who saw the individual’s face that the person on the stretcher was McConnell and he was not wearing an oxygen mask. “He’s in a stretcher, and he’s in some sort like orange foam-looking blanket-type thing,” the neighbor said, adding that when they looked at the person’s feet, they were “not moving.” CNN noted that neither the video footage nor the neighbor’s account of that morning had been reported before now, and it surfaced as Republican officials and conservative pundits like CNN contributor Scott Jennings have been scrambling to put out the message that McConnell is doing just fine, and going as far as to claim they recently spoke with him to emphasize the narrative. Of course, none of this provides any additional insight into McConnell’s current condition or whether he’ll be returning to work any time soon, if ever. On that, we’ll simply have to wait and see. SEE ALSO: Sen. Mitch McConnell Hospitalized After 911 ‘Cardiac Arrest’ Call ‘Stroke’ Trends After Mitch McConnell Freezes And Needs Help Walking Away From Press Conference

The saxophones are getting louder. The WNBA is turning into an epic telenovela. In the past two weeks alone, we have seen Mercury star Alyssa Thomas become the target of racial slurs and death threats after a hard foul. We have watched as The King Center, founded by Coretta Scott King to preserve and advance Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy, stepped out of its traditional bounds to release a statement publicly calling out WNBA leadership for failing to protect its Black and LGBTQ players. We are seeing a fresh wave of dissatisfaction and front-office friction in Chicago, just as the league and its players prepare to head there for the WNBA’s All-Star Weekend. And, to cap it all off, Cathy Engelbert, the commissioner responsible for steering the league was loudly and repeatedly booed on the court during the presentation of her Commissioner’s Cup trophy, during a ceremony that should have been a joyous celebration after the home team clinched the trophy. And the music isn’t letting up. It is mind-boggling that this is the current state of affairs during what is supposed to be a milestone celebration. This is the WNBA’s 30th season. It is operating under a new collective bargaining agreement that has delivered record salaries and expanded benefits to its players. It is showcasing arguably one of the most talented rookie classes in years. By every commercial metric, the focus should be on elite basketball playing out against the backdrop of an unprecedented economic and competitive renaissance. Instead, here we are. With the volume still rising. I should be spending this pivotal period crafting beautiful pieces that honor the league’s foundational legacy. I should be writing about the pioneers, the overwhelming majority of them Black women, who gritted through decades of minimal resources, structural disrespect, and pay so low it forced them onto rosters of teams overseas during the WNBA offseason. Black women like former Liberty center Kym Hampton and former Liberty guard Vickie Johnson have carried their legacies forward in spectacular fashion. Hampton has remained a visible ambassador for the game, and Johnson has carved out a successful coaching career. Both former players were part of the league’s original foundation as it began its journey from empty arenas to a brick-by-brick building of the sports powerhouse we all enjoy today. I should be chronicling their brilliance, celebrating their hard work, and helping to document and cement their place in sports history in general and women’s basketball history in particular. Instead, here I am. Feeling drowned out by the saxophones and increasingly feeling like I’ve been deposited into my local Dave & Buster’s to play a game of impromptu whack-a-mole. We’ve still got a little more than half a season to go and this past weekend not even what should have been a routine game prevented the next shoe from dropping. I expected the Fever vs. Aces matchup to be a fairly mild one with Caitlin Clark on the bench nursing a back injury. Instead, I found myself staring at my television in utter disbelief at the game’s announcers. Discussing the wave of online harassment, including death threats directed at Black women players and their families, they urged players to ignore social media, keep their focus on their jobs playing basketball, and reminded them that “the product is the narrative.”  Those comments landed at a time when Black players across the league have been speaking publicly about racial abuse, harassment, and death threats against their families. Public conversations shape the culture around any league. Language that treats the safety and well-being of players as an obstacle to be ignored contributes to an environment in which the burden continues to fall on players rather than on the institutions responsible for protecting them. The WNBA and its commissioner, Cathy Engelbert, should be deeply embarrassed by this coverage. Just as Engelbert should be deeply embarrassed that the King Center, the institutional guardian of Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy of peace and justice, found the league’s overall pattern of behavior so egregious that it has called the league out for failing to protect Black and LGBTQ players under her watch. One of the league’s own franchises, the Atlanta Dream, carries part of Dr. King’s legacy, honoring his “I Have a Dream” speech, and the team maintains an active partnership with The King Center. Having the center publicly step in to demand that league executives protect the Black women who make up the majority of the league’s players and remain its backbone should be a wake-up call that a change in leadership at the very top is imperative. Now the sound of the saxophones has reached New York, straight to Cathy Engelbert’s office at the WNBA headquarters, where they land alongside the King Center’s statement, adding to a long history of racial grievances where Black women in this league have gone unprotected. Like so many other complaints and calls to action, the center’s statement appears to have been tossed onto that same pile, left for the league to ignore until its back is against the wall, and even then handled with an amateur hand that falls short of anything resembling real accountability or protection. Adding to the pile is Engelbert’s ongoing inability and unwillingness to engage with players directly when they’ve been targeted and racially harassed. When Phoenix Mercury star Alyssa Thomas spoke out about the torrent of racial slurs and death threats she and her family were receiving, she said Engelbert never reached out directly. It was only after Thomas called out that silence to reporters that the commissioner scrambled to issue a reactive, boilerplate statement, one that never named Thomas directly and buried any real condemnation of racism inside language vague enough to cover whatever complaint or bad press the league might face next. Then, reports from league insiders surfaced suggesting the two had exchanged texts, a walk back that has the fingerprints of the league’s PR machine written all over it. This isn’t the first time Engelbert has left