Trump challenges Biden to second presidential debate — but there’s a catch
Former President Trump on Thursday challenged President Biden to another debate, this time with no moderators.
In a Truth Social post, Trump requested a “no holds barred” and “all on” discussion with Biden about the future of the country.
“Let Joe explain why he wants Open Borders, with millions of people, and many violent criminals from parts unknown, pouring into our once great Nation, or why he wants Men Playing in Women’s Sports, or demand ALL ELECTRIC VEHICLES within five years, or why he allowed INFLATION TO RUN RAMPANT, destroying the people of our Country, and so much more,” he wrote.
BIDEN TELLS WHITE HOUSE AUDIENCE HE’S ‘NOT GOING ANYWHERE’ DURING FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION
“It would also, under great pressure, prove his ‘competence,’ or lack thereof. Likewise it would be yet another test for me. What a great evening it would be, just the two of us, one on one, in a good, old fashioned Debate, the way they used to be. ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE!!!”
A spokesperson for Biden’s campaign did not immediately respond Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
BIDEN FACES THE MOST CONSEQUENTIAL WEEKEND OF HIS PRESIDENTIAL REMATCH WITH TRUMP
Trump’s eagerness to take on Biden again comes as no surprise, as the Democratic president is widely regarded to have lost in their first encounter of the 2024 race.
The 81-year-old incumbent’s halting delivery and stumbling answers during the CNN Presidential Debate in Atlanta on June 27 sparked widespread panic among Democrats and spurred calls from pundits, editorial writers and some party donors for Biden to step aside in favor of a younger, more able standard-bearer.
Biden so far has stubbornly resisted the calls to step aside. During remarks at a White House celebration for the Fourth of July, he told the audience, “I’m not going anywhere.”
BIDEN RAMPS UP SPENDING IN BID TO STEADY HIS FALTERING CAMPAIGN
White House chief of staff Jeff Zients reportedly held an all-staff meeting Wednesday to urge team members to tune out the “noise” and focus on the task of governing.
Even as Zients acknowledged that the days since the Atlanta matchup between Biden and Trump have been challenging, the chief of staff stressed to White House aides the accomplishments and the track record of the Democratic administration and said governing will only become more crucial once the campaign season heats up, particularly after the Fourth of July holiday.
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ABC News is scheduled to host the second debate between Biden and Trump on Sept. 10 at 9 p.m. ET. The network has not yet announced the moderators for that debate.
Trump tests out new nickname for VP Harris amid speculation she’ll replace Biden
Former President Trump is rolling out new nicknames for Vice President Kamala Harris as part of a new focus on the VP, just as she is being touted as a potential replacement for President Biden on the 2024 ticket after Biden suffered a disastrous debate performance.
Trump regularly coins nicknames for his political opponents, from “Low Energy Jeb” [Bush] to “Crooked Hillary” [Clinton]. For Biden, Trump has called him “Slow Joe,” “Sleepy Joe” and “Crooked Joe,” among others.
Now, after a debate performance from Biden that has sparked panic among some Democrats and media figures and seen him slump in the polls, Trump turned his attention this week to Harris.
BIDEN TELLS WHITE HOUSE AUDIENCE HE’S ‘NOT GOING ANYWHERE’ DURING FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION
As vice president, Harris would succeed Biden if he resigned from office, and she would also be a top contender for the 2024 Democratic nomination if Biden announced that he does not intend to serve a second term.
Trump, in a Truth Social post, accused Biden of having “choked like a dog” during the debate and offered his “congratulations” to the vice president as he dubbed her “Laffin’ Kamala Harris.”
“Also, respects to our potentially new Democrat Challenger, Laffin’ Kamala Harris,” he said. “She did poorly in the Democrat Nominating process, starting out at Number Two, and ending up defeated and dropping out, even before getting to Iowa, but that doesn’t mean she’s not a ‘highly talented’ politician!”
WH AIDES, CAMPAIGN STAFF REPORTEDLY ‘MISERABLE’ AS PRESSURE BUILDS ON BIDEN TO DROP OUT
A day earlier, the Trump campaign had put out a statement slamming Democrats and the media for an alleged cover-up to hide Biden’s alleged mental acuity.
“Every one of them has lied about Joe Biden’s cognitive state and supported his disastrous policies over the past four years, especially Cackling Copilot Kamala Harris,” the statement said.
A national poll released Tuesday by CNN suggests Harris performs slightly better than Biden in a matchup with Trump.
HOLLYWOOD MEGADONOR CALLS ON DEMS TO ‘STOP GIVING’ MONEY UNTIL BIDEN DROPS OUT
“Harris’ slightly stronger showing against Trump rests at least in part on broader support from women (50% of female voters back Harris over Trump vs. 44% for Biden against Trump) and independents (43% Harris vs. 34% Biden),” the poll notes in a release.
Biden, who at age 81 is the oldest president in the nation’s history, is facing the roughest stretch of his bid for a second term in the White House. Biden’s campaign has repeatedly insisted that the president has no intention of dropping out of the race.
On Thursday, he told supporters that he is not leaving the race. A supporter called out at an Independence Day event, saying, “Keep up the fight. We need you!”
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Biden responded, “You got me, man. I’m not going anywhere.”
What did reporters who cover the White House know, and when did they know it?
What did reporters who cover the White House know, and when did they know it?
As President Biden lurches toward a withdrawal from the 2024 election that seems likelier by the hour, the question of the media’s role in hiding his mental decline is taking center stage.
The greatest loser from Biden’s catastrophic meltdown during his debate last week with Donald Trump is not Biden himself.
GREG GUTFELD: MEDIA’S SHOCK OVER BIDEN’S DEBATE PERFORMANCE SEEMS LIKE ANOTHER COVER-UP
Somewhere deep inside, Biden may actually be relieved that he may soon be free of the obligation to perform (or pretend to perform) the world’s most important job.
No, the greatest loser is the media, specifically elite news organizations like The New York Times that have teams of reporters covering the White House. These teams either entirely missed Biden’s sharp cognitive decline — or, worse, actively covered it up.
Either way, a reckoning for the way media outlets have turned into spear-carriers for the Democratic Party may be coming. I hope it will be. It is long overdue.
On Thursday afternoon, New York magazine published a long article about Biden’s decline by Olivia Nuzzi, a Washington correspondent who is its top reporter. Nuzzi wrote in the piece, headlined “The Conspiracy of Silence to Protect Joe Biden,” that top Democrats had talked about Biden’s worsening memory and cognitive problems at least since January.
“Following encounters with the president, they had arrived at the same concern: Could he really do this for another four years? Could he even make it to Election Day?” But the worriers did not want to talk publicly, Nuzzi said. “They were scared and horrified.”
Okay. Those folks want Biden to be president. Their allegiance is to him, not the truth. Thus, the conspiracy. And Nuzzi wrote she could not get these high-ranking Democrats on the record — though it is not clear how hard she tried.
Then, late in the piece, Nuzzi made an extraordinary admission — one whose importance she seems not to have recognized.
She, too, had seen Biden’s decline up close. So had much of the Washington press corps.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE ANSWERS POINT-BLANK IF BIDEN SUFFERS FROM DEMENTIA AFTER DISASTROUS DEBATE
As hard as Biden’s courtiers try to protect Biden, they cannot keep him from every public interaction. The White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner is Washington’s premier annual social event, its so-called “nerd prom.”
Nuzzi met Biden, whom she had covered closely and extensively during the 2020 campaign, at a photo session and reception before the dinner. Here is how she describes the encounter:
Try to wrap your head around what happened that night — April 27, 2024, exactly two months before Joe Biden’s infirmities exploded for the world to see.
The reporters who cover the president, who are the eyes and ears of the world on a man who controls a nuclear arsenal capable of killing billions of people, saw his cognitive decline face-to-face.
They didn’t write about what they had seen. They didn’t investigate it.
They joked about it. With each other. Privately. Nuzzi and the rest were part of the “conspiracy of silence” as much as any Democratic donor.
And in June, when even the most tightly controlled public events could not hide Biden’s infirmities, they wrote of “cheap fakes” (meaning, accurate and real videos) and “misinformation.” Only now that the world knows have they turned on Biden — viciously, as I wrote Wednesday.
Every last one of them should be ashamed. And wondering how they allowed their Democratic partisanship and hatred for Donald Trump and in-group thinking to overcome their most basic instincts to chase the truth and give it to the readers and viewers who pay their bills.
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I almost died working as a foreign correspondent for The New York Times in Iraq 20 years ago. That’s not an exaggeration. I cannot believe what the Times and the rest of the elite media have become. I am heartbroken today.
This is the last and greatest in a series of media catastrophes over the last several years. They all have in common an unwillingness to admit, much less investigate, hard truths that Democrats find unpleasant.
If it does not provoke a reckoning, nothing will. And places like the Times will lose whatever shreds of credibility they have left.
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A-list actor went undercover to be normal for a day, realized it was terrible
Kevin Bacon is no stranger to fame.
After decades in Hollywood, the prolific actor has become a household name. But he once decided to try life outside the spotlight. To do this, he used prosthetics and accessories to form a disguise, but he didn’t like what happened.
“I’m not complaining, but I have a face that’s pretty recognizable,” Bacon explained in a new interview with Vanity Fair. “Putting my hat and glasses on is only going to work to a certain extent.”
KEVIN BACON, KYRA SEDGWICK MAKE RARE APPEARANCE WITH THEIR ADULT KIDS
To be able to truly be unrecognizable, he said, “I went to a special effects makeup artist, had consultations and asked him to make me a prosthetic disguise.”
With the makeup artist’s help, he was given a new nose and new teeth. After adding accessories, he ventured out to The Grove, a popular outdoor shopping center in Los Angeles.
“Nobody recognized me,” he recalled. “People were kind of pushing past me, not being nice. Nobody said, ‘I love you.’ I had to wait in line to, I don’t know, buy a f—ing coffee or whatever. I was like, ‘This sucks. I want to go back to being famous.'”
As Bacon explained later in the interview, fame was always something he wanted, even as a child.
“My father [Edmund Bacon, an urban planner] was famous in Philadelphia, which, in some ways, is a small pond. But, for me, it was a big pond,” he explained. “I saw him get recognized by people when he would walk down the street, and seeing that was definitely a big driving force in my life.
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“Frankly, I wanted to be more famous than him. And you can lay me down on the shrink’s couch. We could talk about that for a while. But it was definitely a motivator.”
For Bacon, it’s not only about fame. He told Vanity Fair nearly 50 years after his feature film debut in 1978’s “Animal House” he’s still invested in the art of acting.
“Yes, I am still hungry, and I still feel like the best work is in front of me,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a competition. It’s a competition with myself. I probably did this in the past, but I’m not looking at this actor going, ‘I wish I was him’ or ‘I wish I had what he had.’
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“When I reach out to people, it’s not because I’m trying to get a gig. It’s because I feel like being appreciated for what you do as an artist from somebody else is a nice feeling. If there’s somebody that I admire that comes up and says, ‘Hey, I really like that’ or ‘You did a good job,’ it feels good.”
He also criticized the film industry, saying much of it is “hierarchical bulls—” that causes people within the industry to have “this underlying feeling that we need to be competing with each other.”
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“So, wherever I can feel like I’m a member of a community that is supporting each other in creating these things that I think are super important, I want to do that,” Bacon emphasized.
ABC’s Biden interview puts spotlight on former Clinton flack Stephanopoulos
ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos landed President Biden’s first interview since his disastrous debate performance, putting a spotlight on the longtime host’s partisan past and recent on-air editorials.
Stephanopoulos’ ties to Democrats run deep; he rose to political prominence decades ago as a top aide in Bill Clinton’s White House.
In 1994, a New Republic feature headlined, “The Kids Are Alright: Well, sort of. In Praise of the Stephanopoulites,” detailed Stephanopoulos’ close friendship with Ron Klain, who went on to be a longtime ally of Biden’s.
His relationship with the Clintons became a sore spot during the 2016 presidential cycle, when Stephanopoulos was caught giving money to the Clinton Foundation and had to recuse himself from hosting primary debates.
ABC NEWS MUM ON KEY DETAILS OF BIDEN-STEPHANOPOULOS INTERVIEW
Stephanopoulos joined ABC after resigning from the Clinton White House shortly after the president’s 1996 re-election. He swiftly rose through the ranks as an analyst and correspondent and now hosts “This Week” and “Good Morning America.”
In 2018, Stephanpoulous’ high-profile interview with former FBI Director James Comey, the first interview Comey gave since his abrupt firing by then-President Trump a year earlier, was heavily criticized for a massive editing job. The full transcript released by ABC News revealed it chose not to air several key moments during its Sunday night special, such as when Comey ripped former President Barack Obama.
In 2020, Stephanopoulos failed to ask then-candidate Biden about his son Hunter’s scandalous laptop during an ABC town hall in the days leading up to the presidential election.
BIDEN TO GRANT FIRST POST-DEBATE INTERVIEW TO ABC’S GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS FRIDAY
Earlier that year, Stephanopoulos was caught on camera making a throat-slash gesture as ABC cut away from then-President Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow taking questions from the press during coverage of Trump’s first Senate impeachment trial.
During the 2024 election cycle, Stephanopoulos has ratcheted up his hostility towards Trump, sparring with several Republicans for vowing to support their party’s presumptive nominee.
Last August on “Good Morning America,” then-Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley irked Stephanopoulos for asserting that Biden would not finish his term in office.
“Excuse me, excuse me,” Stephanopoulos interrupted. “How do you know Joe Biden’s not going to finish his term? What is that based on?”
Stephanopoulos pushed back when Haley suggested everyone feels Biden is simply too old.
“What evidence do you have that he’s not going to finish the term? What Americans feel has no basis on whether he’s going to finish his term or not,” Stephanopoulos snapped at Haley.
HALEY MOCKS STEPHANOPOULOS AFTER HE DISMISSED HER WARNINGS OF BIDEN’S MENTAL DECLINE: ‘BELIEVE ME NOW, GEORGE?’
Trump is currently suing Stephanopoulos for defamation after he said several times on air that the former president was “found liable for rape,” when Trump was actually found civilly liable for sexual abuse in the Carroll case. ABC has stood by Stephanopoulos.
BIDEN DONORS ‘FREAKED OUT’ BY HIS RELIANCE ON TELEPROMPTERS AT PRIVATE FUNDRAISERS
In recent weeks, Stephanopoulos has gone viral for his dramatic anti-Trump monologues on ABC’s “This Week.”
“In 1774, John Adams said, ‘Representative government and trial by jury are the heart and lungs of liberty.’ Two hundred-fifty years later, the heart and lungs of liberty are facing what may be the ultimate stress test,” Stephanopoulos said following Trump’s guilty verdict in his New York criminal trial. “But for now, the New York jurors have already presented their fellow citizens with a choice: do we want to be represented, to be led for the first time in history by a convicted felon? That answer will come in November.”
At the beginning of the trial in April, after listing all of Trump’s other legal woes, Stephanopoulos told viewers, “It’s all too easy to fall into reflexive habits, to treat this as a normal campaign, where both sides embrace the rule of law, where both sides are dedicated to a debate based on facts and the peaceful transfer of power. But that is not what’s happening this election year.”
HOLLYWOOD MEGADONOR ARI EMANUEL TORCHES BIDEN, SAYS DONORS ARE MOVING MONEY DOWNBALLOT: ‘WE’RE IN F— CITY’
Stephanopoulos continued spouting anti-Trump rhetoric on his recent book tour, declaring it’s “journalistic malpractice” to interview Trump on live TV. He also insisted he would halt interviews with Republicans and refuse to discuss the issues concerning Americans if they don’t accept the results of the 2020 election.
“I’m not going to participate in some kind of a sham where you somehow equate the legitimacy of an election or the peaceful transfer of power with a debate over tax cuts or environmental regulation,” Stephanopoulos told CNN last month.
ABC News is set to air the full interview in a primetime special Friday night at 8 p.m. ET and will also release a transcript of the unedited interview.
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Biden’s shocking debate performance has become a political earthquake. Wide swaths of the liberal media are calling for him to withdraw from the presidential race, as well as an increasing number of Democratic lawmakers.
Both Biden and the White House have repeatedly insisted he is staying in the contest. The White House also denied multiple reports Wednesday that Biden told a key ally he was considering stepping aside.
ABC News didn’t respond to a request for comment.
3 dead, 8 injured as addiction counselor is accused of mowing down crowd
A suspected drunk driver, who police say crashed his truck into a crowd of people during a Fourth of July celebration in New York City on Thursday – killing three and injuring eight, is a wellness advocate and a substance abuse counselor, sources say.
Daniel Hyden, 44, of New Jersey, was driving a Ford F-150 pickup truck at a high rate of speed when he ran a stop sign at an intersection, mounted a sidewalk and smashed into a group who were enjoying the evening at Corlears Hook Park in the Lower East Side at around 9 p.m., police said.
Three people have now been confirmed dead – Lucille Pinkney, 59, and her son, Hernan Pinkney, 38, as well as an unidentified female – after the holiday celebrations turned deadly in horrific circumstances.
AT LEAST 2 KILLED, MULTIPLE INJURED IN NYC AFTER PICKUP TRUCK CRASHES INTO CROWD
Eight other victims were injured, including an 11-year-old child.
“Responding officers who did arrive on the scene did smell some alcohol,” said NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said at a late-night police briefing. “There were people who were there at the scene who grabbed the driver, removed the driver and made sure the driver didn’t leave.”
So far, Hyden has been charged with three counts of driving while intoxicated with alcohol or drugs, and one count of operating a vehicle without a license. He is expected to be hit with several more charges.
He was perp walked out of the 7th Police Precinct at 1:50 p.m. Friday where he was heckled by New Yorkers – and relatives of the victims – who shouted expletives at him.
Heyden was wearing a white t-shirt splattered in blood and had noticeable swelling and marks on the left side of his face. He kept his head down at all times and limped in handcuffs to a nearby patrol vehicle while being held by two detectives.
“You killed Hernan Pinkney, you f—ing b—–d… you don’t deserve air,” one woman screamed. Another man, who said he was Hernan Pinkney’s step-father, also roared at Heyden.
CENTRAL PARK ATTEMPTED RAPE SUSPECT WHO ATTACK SUNBATHING WOMAN IS CHARGED, POLICE SAY
Hyden reportedly wrote a book in 2020 titled “The Sober Addict,” which claims to be a guide on “how to be functional with the dysfunctional disease of addiction.”
“This guide will help you learn how to function with this dysfunctional and chronic illness,” the book’s bio on Amazon reads.
In the book, Hyden describes himself as an “ex-professional addict…with over 18 years of use and abuse experience” and claims “addicts don’t choose addiction — addiction chooses them,” the New York Post reports.
Hyden’s Amazon author bio lists him as a substance abuse counselor, instructor and public speaker. The New York Post was first to report that the suspect in the case had penned the book.
He has a prior arrest fpr assualt in February was charged with a traffic offense and driving under the influence in Wisconsin in 2015, the publication reports, citing court records show. He pleaded guilty to the former charge and the latter was dismissed.
Responding firefighters on Thursday found the four victims – including the three deceased – underneath the truck when they arrived on the scene.
“They used their airbags, floor jacks and cribbing in order to lift the vehicle off of the victims,” FDNY Assistant Chief Michael Meyers said at the press conference.
Video from the scene shows the front of the truck smashed, and it is surrounded by several park benches and debris like empty cups strewn across the floor.
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New York City Mayor Eric Adams also briefed the media and said that the victims were simply out celebrating when the deadly incident unfolded.
“We had a tragic incident which took place here,” Adams said. “A driver drove into a crowd of people who were actually just celebrating like so many New Yorkers and Americans are doing right now.”
He said the incident was not terror-related.
Hollywood couple fuels speculation about marriage by spending holiday apart
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck spent the 4th of July holiday apart as rumors continue to swirl that their marriage is in trouble.
The “Accountant” star had his wedding ring on when he went to lunch with his child, Fin, in Los Angeles on Thursday. He wore a blue button down and tan khakis.
While Affleck was with his kids in L.A., Lopez was with friends in the Hamptons.
BEN AFFLECK, JENNIFER LOPEZ’S MARRIAGE ‘COMPLETELY OVER’ AS ACTOR MOVES BELONGINGS OUT OF THEIR HOME: SOURCE
The “On the Floor” singer was also wearing her wedding ring on the trip, as she was seen spending time with her manager, Benny Medina, shopping for plants.
Lopez shared some photos of her Hamptons fun on her Instagram. In the carousel of photos, she’s sitting on a fence smiling with rows of purple flowers behind her, posing among yellow flowers and standing by a fence with a sign that read, “NO TRESPASSING, PRIVATE PROPERTY.”
She captioned her post, “Happy Fourth,” including a red rose and white heart emoji.
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The 54-year-old also showed her adventures on her Instagram Story, sharing a photo with friend Stevie Mackey in the car with flowers, as well as a selfie with animated fireworks.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to reps for Lopez and Affleck for comment.
Prior to 2024, Lopez and Affleck spent time together for the holiday. Last year, the two enjoyed a celebration hosted by billionaire sports merchandising magnate Michael Rubin. They were joined by tons of other stars, including Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Tom Brady, Kim Kardashian, Justin Bieber and Hailey Bieber.
In one group photo from the party in 2023, Lopez and Affleck were with his daughter, Violet.
Back in 2021, the actor and the singer were spotted looking very coupled up in the Hamptons. The two were photographed with their arms around each other, wearing matching ensembles while walking by the beach.
BEN AFFLECK SAYS JENNIFER LOPEZ’S FAME IS ‘BANANAS’: ‘I DON’T LIKE A LOT OF ATTENTION’
The “Let’s Get Loud” singer has been a big fan of spending time in the New York celebrity hot spot with her current flames for the 4th of July. Back in 2020, Lopez and her then-fiance, Alex Rodriguez, were photographed riding bicycles over the holiday weekend. Lopez and A-Rod started dating in 2017, got engaged in 2019 and split in 2021.
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In 2013, she and then-boyfriend, Casper Smart, were seen holding hands while out and about enjoying the Hamptons sunshine. The two had an on-again-off-again relationship from 2011 to 2016.
BEN AFFLECK EXPLAINS WHY HE ALWAYS LOOKS ANGRY IN PHOTOS, WHILE JENNIFER LOPEZ SPENDS SOLO HOLIDAY IN ITALY
However, this year the “Atlas” star was without her husband, Affleck, amid divorce rumors.
The two were married in July 2022, but now, Affleck has reportedly moved all of his belongings out of the home they share. Lopez and Affleck have been living separately, a source previously confirmed to Fox News Digital.
Lopez is living at the couple’s $60.8 million Beverly Hills mansion, while the 51-year-old actor is staying in a rental a few miles away in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, according to People magazine.
According to a source close to the couple who spoke with People, the “Argo” star removed all of his personal items from the mansion ahead of Lopez’s return from her solo vacation in Italy.
“He started moving out a while ago,” a source told Fox News Digital. “The marriage is completely over, and Jennifer is heartbroken. She loves love and wanted this to work so badly.”
Another source confirmed to Fox News Digital that Affleck has made work his main focus during his marital troubles.
“Ben has been working nonstop and spending a lot of time at his office,” the insider said. “He has a lot of projects he’s working on that he’s excited about. He’s quite hands-on with his company (Artists Equity). He really wants to continue focusing on directing, acting and producing.”
Affleck is starring in and producing the action thriller “The Accountant 2,” which is in production in Los Angeles.
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‘Jeopardy!’ fans fume after ‘positively disgusting’ ruling costs contestant
A ruling on a recent episode of “Jeopardy!” has fans up in arms.
On Wednesday’s episode of the game show, Kelly Proulx buzzed in to answer a clue in the “Waterfalls” category. She added an extra “s” at the end of her response, which was enough for host Ken Jennings to deny her the points — something fans are calling “brutal.”
The clue read: “A Yosemite fall with a wispy ribbon of water that flutters in the air like a diaphanous cloth bears the name of this marital wear.”
‘JEOPARDY!,’ ‘WHEEL OF FORTUNE’ CONTESTANTS EXPLAIN DISMAL PERFORMANCES: ‘AN OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCE’
Proulx answered, “What is Bridalveil Falls?”
“No, I’m sorry,” Jennings responded. “It’s actually Bridalveil Fall, so we couldn’t take that. It is, ‘What is a bridal veil?’”
Proulx didn’t win the game — she was the returning champion, but fellow contestant Isaac Hirsch’s sizable lead, along with the failure of all three contestants to correctly guess the Final Jeopardy clue, meant that her incorrect response didn’t play a factor in her loss.
Still, fans were upset at Jennings’ ruling, complaining that it was a “brutal call.”
“Kelly should hold a grudge on this one,” one person wrote on the “Jeopardy!” Reddit page, while someone else called the decision against her answer “extremely pedantic.”
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Another comment read, “Wow, Kelly was robbed. That ruling on Bridal Veil Fall/ Falls was ridiculous. Adding the S seems to fall firmly in ‘yea, we’ll take that’ territory.”
One person wrote, “I typically give long and wide deference to the judges, but f— the judges for that ruling. there is nothing pinning the clue to ‘fall’, so she got the required information correct. that was positively disgusting.”
Others explained that the issue is that judges were only looking for the name of the article of clothing — “bridal veil.” They argued that by choosing to give extra information in the full name of the location, it was on Proulx to be fully correct, down to the letter.
A representative for the show did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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Last week, fans of the long-running game show lashed out about another clue, one involving actress Zendaya.
“Before somehow making tennis steamy in 2024, this single-named star guested on Disney Channel’s ‘Good Luck Charlie,'” the clue read.
Although contestant Staci Garner guessed Zendaya correctly, the clue left people confused online as the actress only appeared in one episode of “Good Luck Charlie.”
“jeopardy just falsely stated that zendaya starred in ‘good luck, charlie,” a user online wrote on X.
Another wrote, “Zendaya was not on ‘Good Luck, Charlie’… right?”
“The one crossover episode?” another X user asked.
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Zendaya got her start as a child star on Disney’s “Shake It Up,” which aired for three seasons from 2010 to 2013. As stated, she did portray her character on the show, Rocky Blue, in a single crossover episode.
12-year-old girl killed by crocodile while swimming in creek
Australian authorities discovered the remains of a 12-year-old girl Thursday after she was reportedly snatched by a crocodile while swimming in a creek.
Police Senior Sgt. Erica Gibson told reporters, “It was an extremely difficult, essentially 36 hours, difficult for the first responders involved in the search.”
The child’s disappearance began a nearly two-day search by land, air and water.
Her remains were discovered near the river where the girl had gone missing, southwest of the Northern Territory capital Darwin, in the Indigenous community of Palumpa.
Sgt. Gibson confirmed that the girl’s injuries were from a crocodile attack, saying “The recovery has been made. It was particularly gruesome and a sad, devastating outcome.”
AUSTRALIAN FAMILY DISCOVERS VENOMOUS SNAKE IN CHILD’S BED
“However, for the family, it is the most devastating outcome possible for them. They are in a state of extreme shock and disbelief,” Gibson added.
Saltwater crocodiles are known to be territorial and the killer reptile may still be in nearby waterways. They are known to be a general risk in the Northern Territory, according to The Associated Press.
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Northern Australia is a tropical climate, supporting a boom in saltwater crocodile populations since populations have been conserved under Australian law beginning in the 1970s.
The population of large crocodiles is on the rise in Northern Australia, with some reptiles reaching up to 23 feet long. The animals grow throughout their lives, and crocodiles can live up to around 70 years of age.
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Sgt. Gibson told reporters that the search efforts for the killer crocodile are still underway.