These Celebs Deleting Social Media After Diddy Charges, High School Uses Police to Ban Parents from Soccer...for Wristbands?!, Jill Biden Running Cabinet Meetings, (The Five for 09/24/24)

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[one]

In a story dramatically under-reported by the American press…Jill Biden is now running (at least the majority) of the Presidential Cabinet meetings:

From the Hindustan Times:

On Friday, First Lady Jill Biden led much of the public portion of what could be President Joe Biden’s final Cabinet meeting. So, remind us exactly who is running the country now?

Jill took charge at her husband’s first Cabinet meeting since October 2023. After a brief introduction from the president, she delivered extended remarks.

The POTUS opened the meeting by discussing the need for Congress to pass a short-term funding bill but quickly turned the focus to his wife. “Before I begin this Cabinet meeting, I want to discuss very briefly the need for Congress to pass a continued resolution. It’s critical, we have 10 days for Congress to pass a short-term funding bill,” he said.

“We have four months left in the administration, and we’re going to keep running through the tape.”

He then introduced his wife, noting her presence for the first time at a Cabinet meeting. “We’re grateful that Jill is here today — I heard that clapping, it wasn’t for me,” he joked.

“This is the first time Jill has joined us, and it goes to show how important the issue is, which she is about to speak to.” Handing over the floor, Biden concluded with, “It’s all yours, kid.”

It’s worth noting that YouTube “fact checked” the situation…but the fact check fails to mention that Joe ran the first 10% of the meeting, then Jill took over.

Jill Biden has never been elected to any office in the U.S., let alone the highest one.

[two]

A high school has removed parents from a high school soccer game…for wearing pink wristbands.

The New Hampshire Journal reports:

When their daughters’ soccer team was forced to compete against a team with a biological male on the roster, some Bow High School parents were unhappy about it. They complained to the school’s athletic director, Mike Desilets, but were told there was nothing that could be done in the wake of a federal judge’s ruling that the term “girl” includes males who identify as female.

The school and the team could not act, school officials said.

But when several parents showed up to watch Tuesday night’s soccer game between Bow and Plymouth Regional High School wearing pink armbands as symbols of support for girls-only sports, those same officials sprang into action. They stopped the game, demanded the pink armbands be removed, and issued police-enforced “No Trespassing” orders against at least two parents.

“My daughter’s playing in the homecoming game this weekend, and I’m banned until the 23rd,” said Anthony Foote of Bow, N.H. “I can’t watch her play in homecoming — which is ridiculous.”

Foote forwarded a copy of the order to NHJournal.

According to the order, it’s because “prior to and during the soccer game [Foote] brought and distributed pink armbands … to protest the participation of a transgender female student on the other team.”

The order, signed by Superintendent of Schools Marcy Kelley, says wearing the pink armbands violates school policy against “threatening, harassing, or intimidating…any person.” Kelley also claims the armbands violate its policy “that no person shall ‘impede, delay, disrupt or otherwise interfere with any school activity.’

“The District had to obtain additional police presence to ensure order. The District had to order you to remove the armbands and as a result of your ‘protest’ and other actions, play was temporarily stopped.”

Foote denies there was any discernible “protest” other than quietly wearing the pink armbands, decorated with “XX” to show support for women. (Females have two X chromosomes.) He says the district did not need to take any action, that he and some likeminded family members simply wore the armbands. He gave NHJournal several videos of the sidelines of the game.

The videos Foote claims to have recorded haven’t been posted online, so I suppose we have to allow for a possibility the parents were disruptive…but if this is all that happened:

…it’s REALLY tough to buy the argument that this piece of fabric somehow “delayed, disrupted or otherwise interfered” with a school activity.

[three]

In the light of the Diddy scandal, with the former music mogul facing life in prison for Sex Trafficking (and is currently on suicide watch), there is at least circumstantial evidence that other celebs are trying to erase evidence.

From Newsweek:

Usher and Pink's X, formerly Twitter, accounts have been stripped, sparking speculation after Sean 'Diddy' Combs' recent arrest, despite neither being connected to the case.

Usher has not been accused of any crimes, however, his relationship with the rapper—formerly known as Puff Daddy and P. Diddy—has caused social media to run rampant with rumors.

Content creator Matt Wallace, who makes videos about Dogecoin cryptocurrency, said in a message via X on Sunday: "Usher just deleted all of his tweets. The Diddy tapes are about to send hundreds of celebrities to prison."

Again, all circumstantial evidence here…but the charges against Diddy are very real.

Both Pink and Usher are connected to Justin Bieber (we’ll get there in a moment). Justin, one could infer from (again) circumstantial evidence may have been sexually abused by Diddy, who “took custody” of Justin at age 12, from Beiber’s legal guardian, Usher, who Justin was signed to.

Later video footage shows abuser/victim like roles being played.

Finally, Pink, then 36, got awkwardly sexual with Beiber, who was still high school aged in 2015:

Finally, it’s possible Diddy’s “party invites” were an attempt to hedge his bets if he went down.

If some of the people on this list are charged with crimes…our sports and entertainment landscape is going to look VERY different.

Speculative? To be sure…but the evidence is quickly tipping towards Diddy looping several other A-listers into his allegedly illegal activity.

[four]

After a crackdown on illegal street racing, Philadelphia is becoming a hellscape.

CW Philadelphia reports:

Several Philadelphia Police officers were attacked and their vehicles were damaged during a series of illegal car meetups across the city over the weekend.

Philadelphia police say they’re investigating 11 meetups involving crowds from 50 to more than 200 vehicles engaging in illegal street racing, lighting bonfires, setting off fireworks, shooting a flamethrower, and even damaging police vehicles.

The meetups started at around 9:30 p.m. on Saturday and ended just after 4:30 a.m. on Sunday, spanning across almost every corner of the city from the Northeast to the Southwest.

Police said at least one officer is recovering after the chaotic incidents.

Some incidents caused more violence than others.

“It’s playing whack-a-mole, that’s the best way to describe it,” said Philadelphia police Residents were very shaken by the incidents as they watched Philadelphia Police work to break up the chaos for hours.

An officer from the 39th district sustained minor injuries while responding to an assist call when his police vehicle was struck by another car that fled the scene of an incident on the 3300 block of Fox Street.

At 15th and Market Streets, countless tire marks can still be seen across the streets after police said more than 100 cars drifted into crowds of people, setting fires, and attacking several police officers just after 4:30 a.m. Multiple police vehicles were vandalized, leaving their windshield broken and their tires flattened. Deputy Commissioner Mike Cram. “We hit them at one location they move to another.”

The donuts/drifting stunts being pulled (shown in the video above) are a REALLY good way to cause unintentional civilian deaths. The hot-rodding culture of the 60’s was also quite dangerous, with drag races taking place on open highways. But the potential for civilian casualties is MUCH higher with large crowds of people along the impromptu raceways.

For comparison, check out street racing in Detroit in the 1960’s…which mainly took place on empty roads.

[five]

Finally, podcasts are growing like crazy when it comes to media presence in this election…but the public also doesn’t trust what they’re hearing?!

With the opportunity to chat far longer with a podcast host than what he’d get on television, former President Trump has made podcasts part of his media outreach strategy in 2024. He’s appeared on shows such as the All-In Podcast and Impaulsive Podcast. Vice President Kamala Harris has done the same, turning up on shows such as We Can Do Hard Things. Not only do podcasts offer the candidates more time to explain their positions, but they also reach what is a growing audience for political news.

Morning Consult has released a new survey finding that more than one in ten Democrats and Republicans say they tune to a podcast at least daily as part of their news consumption diet. That may be about a third of what broadcast television gets each day, but the data shows podcast news consumption now exceeds that of print newspapers. Morning Consult’s data also shows that Democrats are slightly more likely to be daily news podcast listeners than Republicans.

Trust in podcasts, and the media overall, remains low, however. Morning Consult says the partisan divide is clear. While 63% of Democrats say they have “a lot” or “some” confidence in the news media, just 38% of Republicans say the same. That is a 25-point gap.

As a still-emerging medium with lots of shows coming from unknown sources, many of whom have strong opinions, the public doesn’t put a lot of trust in what they hear right now. Overall, just 4% of U.S. adults said they trust what they hear on podcasts. The unexpected twist is it is Republicans that have more trust in podcasts than Democrats. Five percent of Republicans have trust in podcasts versus 3% of listeners who are Democrats. 

Like most of the data coming out of an election year…the takeaways are…inconclusive.

But fascinating nonetheless.

Until the next one,

-sth