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Charles Barkley’s time on TNT’s “Inside the NBA” might be coming to an end, meaning fans of professional basketball will be without the banter between him, fellow legendary players Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith, as well as iconic TNT host Ernie Johnson.
But the expected end of the beloved program will not stop the 1993 NBA MVP from sharing his thoughts on sports and especially from sharing criticism of those who cover them – particularly basketball.
Friday morning, ESPN drew the ire of Barkley, which aired Game 1 of the NBA Finals on ABC between the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night and will also air the Stanley Cup Finals on ESPN throughout the next week or so.
The first game from Boston game wasn’t close from the jump (the Celtics drubbed the Mavs 107-89, and the game wasn’t as close as that score indicates), but that wasn’t what irked Barkley.
The basketball analyst and former NBA great joined Outkick host Dan Dakich on Friday, where he called those who run ESPN “idiots” for spending an inordinate amount of time talking about everything but the game before tipoff.
Barkley’s complaints centered on a lengthy discussion on the network about who could become the new coach of the Los Angeles Lakers after the May firing of then-coach Darvin Ham.
According to reports and endless speculation, UConn Huskies men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley is the favorite to take over in L.A.
ESPN spent a lot of time discussing the potential hire Thursday while the first game of a series that will decide the NBA championship was set to begin.
Barkley told Dakich he was not at all pleased by ESPN’s unrelenting coverage of the Lakers’ coaching situation during the game.
Charles Barkley turned off ESPN because of their coverage pic.twitter.com/iosxFy7hCT
— OutKick (@Outkick) June 7, 2024
“I was so pissed with Game 1 of the Finals and Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals coming on, for them to spend the first hour talking about, ‘What if Danny Hurley goes to the Lakers,’ I was so pissed yesterday I had to turn my TV off,” he said.
Barkley added, “This is how stupid they are. Y’all got the Stanley Cup and NBA Finals, and y’all talking about a team that is currently irrelevant.
“Whoever’s doing that program has to be the stupidest, most boneheaded people in the world,” Barkley added.
He concluded, “Who in the hell is running their programming over there?”
Barkley savaged the coverage of Hurley as “speculation” and said he asked himself Thursday, “What kind of idiots are running this network?”
He explained that he was fond of Hurley and that there was a time and place to discuss coaching vacancies.
But he said the lead-up to the NBA and Stanley Cup Finals was not that time for such a discussion, especially when it involves a team that meekly exited the playoffs in the first round.
“That was crazy,” he said. “I just thought it was so stupid of ESPN yesterday, Barley added. “Ya’ll got the biggest game of the NBA season coming on tonight and ya’ll spend the first hour talking about if Danny Hurley goes to the Lakers.”
Barkley concluded his remark with one of his trademark “Come on, man” reactions.
ESPN will have the chance to discuss the Lakers more or to actually discuss Game 2 of the NBA Finals before it tips off on Sunday.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
The post Charles Barkley Says He Got Fed Up and Turned Off ESPN: ‘What Kinda Idiots Are Running This Network?’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
Vanna White bid Pat Sajak an emotional farewell on Thursday night’s “Wheel of Fortune,” as the longtime host is set to retire following Friday’s show.
In an emotional, pre-recorded video, White nearly broke down while explaining to her “Wheel” partner of more than four decades just how much he has meant to her over the years.
“I can’t believe tomorrow is our last show together,” White said with a smile at the beginning of the two-minute message. “I don’t know how to put into words what these last 41 years have meant to me, but I’m gonna try.”
Try she did, and the TV mainstay delivered a message that came straight from the heart.
“Eight thousand episodes went by like that,” White, 67, said with a snap of her fingers.
White said she was “green” when she joined the show in 1982 and that Sajak had helped her grow up. (Sajak started on “Wheel” in 1981 with co-host Susan Stafford.)
Through a montage of older photos, White said to Sajak, 77: “You’ve made me so comfortable and so confident, Pat. You made me who I am.”
She further explained that while she and Sajak spent four decades doing the show together and enjoyed it, she would enjoy their off-camera memories the most.
White began to hold back tears as decades of images of the two were shown – including personal photos of their families growing up together.
“We’ve laughed, we’ve cried. We’ve celebrated,” White told Sajak. “What an incredible and unforgettable journey we’ve had, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it with you.”
“As this chapter of our lives is coming to an end, I know you’ll still be close by,” she added. “You’re like a brother to me, and I consider you a true lifelong friend who I will always adore.”
White concluded, “I love you, Pat.”
Thursday’s live audience at the syndicated game show reacted to the remarks with applause.
Sajak, the lovable and often sarcastic host, appeared at a rare loss for words, but he and White shared an embrace.
Sajak will sign off one final time Friday before walking away from the show with decades of fans, especially White, who will never forget his presence as an American staple.
Sajak said farewell in a segment before Friday night’s broadcast.
“Well, the time has come to say goodbye,” he said, per NBC. “I have a few thanks and acknowledgments before I go. And I want to start with all of you watching out there. It’s been an incredible privilege to be invited into millions of homes night after night, year after year, decade after decade. …
“Thank you for allowing me into your lives.”
When “Wheel of Fortune” returns for the 2024-25 season, White will be back, but Ryan Seacrest will be the host.
White will remain on the show through the 2025-26 season.
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This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
The post Watch: Vanna White Breaks Down in Tears as She Says Goodbye to Pat Sajak appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
Thursday marked 80 years since an estimated 160,000 soldiers stormed the beaches of Normandy to begin what would be the knockout blow to Hitler’s iron-clad grip over Europe.
If you were looking for Google to acknowledge the event through one of its trademark “doodles,” you were let down by visiting the far-left company’s search engine.
No mention was made of the paratroopers who dropped in during the overnight hours before what was deemed “Operation Overlord” by Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Google did not mention those who died, those who lost limbs, and those who to this day have never been found after fighting tyranny.
However, the company did honor Jeanne Córdova, a woman whose claim to fame was being sexually attracted to other women and then writing about it.
Google spent the anniversary of D-Day “Celebrating Jeanne Córdova” with a cartoon image of the lesbian author and activist who died in 2016 at the age of 67 — far from German machine-gun fire and in peaceful Los Angeles, according to the Wikipedia page the company pushed as its top result for her.
Google noted on the “doodle” that it chose Córdova because of its embrace of LGBT “pride” for the month of June.
This is how Google is celebrating the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
Some random LGBTQ+ feminist author. pic.twitter.com/tr7DJ0Gy1W
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) June 6, 2024
“In honor of Pride Month, today’s Doodle celebrates lesbian Chicana activist, feminist, and author Jeanne Córdova, who is widely known for her leadership in the LGBTQ+ rights movement,” the company announced.
Google invited people who clicked on its celebration of the far-left political activist to “learn more” about her.
The company noted she once said that “It’s the job of the young to push the societal envelope” and that before she died, comfortably and away from mortar and artillery fire, she said, “It is wonderful to have had a life’s cause.”
Apparently, screaming loudly about one’s sexual desires is as brave or braver than exiting the ramp of a Higgins Boat and meeting the MG 42 and its 1,500-rounds-per-minute firing rate.
Google further noted of Córdova:
“Jeanne cherished her families — both family of birth and family of choice — and got great joy from bringing people together around our dining room table, wherever we lived. Whether it was to celebrate holidays or to organize political actions!”
The sacrifices of young men who quite literally ended the largest campaign of suffering known to mankind, or at least to the West, evidently don’t measure up to Córdova’s writings about lesbianism, in Google’s estimation.
On June 6, 1944, 4,426 men who also loved family and who would today mostly not be old enough to buy a beer, died where they stood — mowed down by German gunfire and bombs.
Those men stormed beaches held by a well-armed and entrenched enemy that had taken advantage of more than three years of preparation to pre-sight every grain of sand for the inevitable return of the allies to a continent that was killing on an industrial scale.
Those who did not die were scarred physically, psychologically or both for life, and many of them would go on never to discuss what they saw.
They selflessly enlisted, fought, ended tyranny and came home to lead quiet lives and spark the most prosperous age in history.
They ended the mass executions of Jews and gays. Those young men cornered a tyrant in less than a year, forcing him to choose to eat a bullet over being captured and facing justice.
The actions taken by brave young men on June 6, 1944, altered world history and ended fascism in Europe — forever connecting the ideology to large-scale death.
They were honored by Big Tech eight decades later with a slap across the face, as Google chose on June 6, 2024, not only to snub them for a woman who liked other women, but with a banner that read, “8 ways to ‘Find Pride’ with Google.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
The post Google Snubs 160,000 Men Who Landed at Normandy 80 Years Ago, Instead Celebrates ‘Lesbian Chicana Activist’ on D-Day appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
Steve Perry didn’t reunite with Journey for this week’s episode of “America’s Got Talent,” but an unassuming middle-school janitor named Richard Goodall did a phenomenal job of filling in for him.
Goodall stunned the audience and the show’s judges and even earned a rare “golden buzzer” from model and judge Heidi Klum.
The 55-year-old custodian from Terre Haute, Indiana, joined the NBC show for its 19th-season premiere and crushed a rendition of Journey’s smash 1981 hit “Don’t Stop Believin.’ ”
When introducing himself to the show in a pre-taped interview, Goodall explained that he spent his time belting out songs while keeping a school in the Midwest clean for students, staff and administrators.
The shy man, who said he was waiting to call his fiancee after his performance, told show host Terry Crews in an interview that he lived a simple life.
“I’m not a fancy person. I take out the trash, I wipe off the tables, I sweep the floors. I’m just having fun, and I’m trying to make people happy,” Goodall said.
He said he loved to entertain people, especially kids who attend the school that employs him.
Once he took the stage, the tension was palpable. Goodall humbly told judge Simon Cowell he was glad to be there and that his dream was to become a singer.
“I love to sing,” he said.
After Goodall said that very few people knew he had traveled to the Los Angeles area to audition for the show, the iconic piano intro for what is perhaps Journey’s most recognizable hit began to play while a “nervous” Goodall waited to deliver the opening line.
His voice sounded as though it was borrowed from Perry.
Goodall’s opening line — “Just a small-town girl” — earned immediate applause and elicited shocked looks from judges.
After nailing the song, Goodall stood on stage and waited for feedback from judges Cowell, Klum, Howie Mandel and Sofia Vergara.
The show’s live, studio audience also chanted his name and gave him a standing ovation.
After Cowell explained that Goodall’s performance was “genuinely special” and designated him a “hero,” Vergara also praised him.
“This was an amazing surprise,” the former “Modern Family” star said.
Mandel then opined that the humble janitor from Indiana had “cleaned up.”
Klum put an exclamation point on the moment when she said Goodall moved her, or as she put it, “You knocked me off my feet.”
“Now, this is what I’m going to do for you because I love you,” she said as she smashed her golden buzzer – signifying an amazing performance that elevated Goodall directly from auditions to the live shows.
As she embraced him on stage, Klum told Goodall, “I can’t wait to see what you’re gonna sing next.”
Goodall explained that performing for the show’s audience and judges was not only a dream come true but that to achieve it, he had to board an airplane for the first time to get to California.
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This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
The post 55-Year-Old Janitor Shocks ‘America’s Got Talent’ Judges with ‘Genuinely Special’ Performance, Earns Rare Golden Buzzer appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
Iowa Republican Governor Kim Reynolds signed a disaster proclamation on Tuesday for one of her state’s counties as public health officials prepare to euthanize more than 4 million chickens exposed to a highly contagious bird flu.
The order comes after a case of avian influenza was confirmed among a large flock of egg-laying chickens in Sioux County on Tuesday by state and local agriculture officials, according to a report from CBS News.
As a result, the animals will be destroyed and their remains will be isolated in an attempt to prevent the further spread of the contagion.
In total, some 4.2 million chickens will be put down.
Iowa is the nation’s largest exporter of chicken eggs and the economic effects of the culling are expected to be felt far and wide.
Reynolds signed a disaster proclamation for Sioux County that will last until June 27, her office announced in a Tuesday statement.
“Today Gov. Kim Reynolds announced the signing of a disaster proclamation for Sioux County, Iowa effective immediately,” the governor’s office said. “This proclamation allows state resources from Iowa Homeland Security, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, and other agencies to assist with tracking and monitoring, rapid detection, containment, disposal, and disinfection.”
“The proclamation also waives regulatory provisions related to commercial vehicles responding to affected sites,” the statement continued. “The recent HPAI detections in birds do not present an immediate public health concern, and it remains safe to eat poultry products. If producers suspect signs of HPAI in their flocks, they should contact their veterinarian immediately.”
When responding to the news on her X account, Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst said she has full confidence in her state’s farmers.
“This is serious, but our Iowa farmers know how to mitigate the spread!” she wrote.
I’m in touch @IADeptAg about avian flu being detected in Sioux County.
This is serious, but our Iowa farmers know how to mitigate the spread!
I will continue my work to ensure @USDA has a more coordinated response on HPAI outbreaks.
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) May 28, 2024
The Iowa Capital Dispatch reported that the discovery of illness among the flock of chickens in Sioux County was the first reported in the state this year.
Other infections have been detected in neighboring Minnesota.
It is believed that avian influenza cases are spread between farms by migrating birds.
According to the Dispatch, 23 million birds have been culled and their carcasses have been isolated in Iowa over the past two years.
Sioux County has been one of the most severely affected counties during that time horizon.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
The post Governor Signs Disaster Proclamation as Officials Order Killing of 4.2 Million Chickens appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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