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My grandma has sewn every costume and baked every birthday cake. Now, I can give her my timeIt's Monday morning, and I should be at work. Instead I'm in a draper's shop on the high street in Hythe, Kent, helping my 86-year-old grandma buy elastic. Elastic bands?" the assistant asks. No, knicker elastic," Grandma says firmly. She tuts. Mine's getting all worn out."Ten minutes later we leave with the elastic in a paper bag, along with some shoulder pads, which Grandma intends to sew into a jacket. She will do this with the same ease she exhibits when replacing her knicker elastic. There's no question of her buying new ones, as I would. Nearly lunchtime," Grandma says (it's 10.30am). I've made a lovely quiche."Ellie Keel is a writer and theatre producer, and the founder director of the Women's Prize for Playwriting Continue reading...

Biden can revive ailing poll numbers by reminding voters Trump was a threat to social security and cut taxes for the wealthyJoe Biden should sharpen his economic message by acknowledging voters' pain and drawing a more direct contrast with Donald Trump to revive his ailing poll numbers, according to research presented to the White House and seen by the Guardian.Surveys by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), a grassroots organisation aligned with Senator Elizabeth Warren, found that voters trust Republicans over Democrats to handle the economy - but there are ways to close the gap by highlighting Trump's past mistakes and threat to social security. Continue reading...

After his triumph in Libya I can't wait to see what Mr Failed State achieves as foreign secretary. Sorry, that's unfair - Lord Failed StateWho's that walking up Downing Street? Why, it's the man who ghosted Britain! In some ways the sight of David Cameron back in SW1 was always a possibility. Behavioural science tells us these guys often return to the scene of their crimes - either to retrieve a trophy, or to show police the various burial sites in the hope of receiving a slightly more lenient sentence. In this case, from the history books.But let's be real: the only acceptable excuse Cameron would have for being in the Downing Street area is that he has been sent back in time to terminate his past self before the moment he accidentally sets the UK on the course of permacrisis politics, in which it is still agonisingly and destructively trapped. Unfortunately, the Cameron unit has made the wrong calculations - again - and emerged through the space-time tear seven and a half years too late. He is now foreign secretary, and after his full-spectrum triumph in Libya it will certainly be interesting to see what Mr Failed State achieves in that role. Sorry, that's unfair - Lord Failed State.Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

As ministers seek to dehumanise Palestinians, I am part of a coalition of Jews and Arabs showing that there is another way

Revelation comes during interview with Georgia district attorney's office about events around US electionAn attorney for Donald Trump has told prosecutors in Georgia that one of the former president's top aides told her in December 2020 that Trump was not going to leave" the White House under any circumstances", despite having lost the election to Joe Biden.The revelation from Jenna Ellis came during an interview with the Georgia district attorney's office in Fulton County. Ellis is cooperating as part of a plea agreement in the Georgia election interference case against Trump and various allies. Continue reading...

Peggy Ann Fulford, 65, was given a 10-year sentence in 2018 for stealing millions of dollars pretending to be a financial adviserA woman who admitted to stealing millions of dollars from Dennis Rodman, Ricky Williams and other professional athletes has been released early from the 10-year prison sentence she had been handed in 2018.Peggy Ann Fulford, 65, served part of the punishment at a low-security federal prison in Aliceville, Alabama, which is about 45 miles west of Tuscaloosa. The US bureau of prisons then released her on 27 April to a halfway home program in Orlando, Florida, which is administered by the government, an agency spokesperson said in a statement on Monday. Continue reading...

The Italian PM has watered down old far-right ideas for the 21st century - and is attempting to remake Italy in her own imageShe's the brash campaigner and paradoxical populist - the Brothers of Italy sister who has strongly partisan prescriptions for a country prone to a stagnant economy, a lagging birthrate and political stalemate. She intends to defeat these challenges by consolidating her own power. Giorgia Meloni is western Europe's most ruthless tactical operator - a new kind of nationalist populist who defies the easy categories.She's also the ideological descendant of a dangerous tradition, formed in the Italian Social Movement, rooted in the the postwar incarnation of Benito Mussolini's fascists and steeped in the adaptation of beguiling cultural tropes. After decades of fractious coalitions and technocratic solutions, supporters relish her dominant leadership approach and mission to defend" the country from outside influences.Anne McElvoy is executive editor at Politico. The Reinvention of Italy is on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday 14 November, repeated on Monday 20 NovemberDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

Patients and medics in desperate situation' at al-Shifa as Israeli tanks and snipers encircle the complex. Plus, the menu items that mystify us but we order them anywayGood morning.Patients and medics remain trapped in Gaza's main hospital after days of fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas, as aid agencies warn that critically ill patients and babies are at risk of death due to lack of fuel and dwindling supplies of food and water.What's happening in the US? A New York civil liberties group is suing Joe Biden for allegedly failing in his duty under international and US laws to prevent Israel committing genocide in Gaza. The complaint by the Center for Constitutional Rights on behalf of several Palestinian groups and individuals alleges that Israel's actions, including mass killings", the targeting of civilian infrastructure and forced expulsions, amount to genocide.What else does the report say? Allison Crimmins, a climate scientist and director of the National Climate Assessment, said escalating dangers from wildfires, severe heat, flooding and other impacts meant the US now had a disaster costing at least $1bn in damages every three weeks on average, compared with once every four months in the 1980s. Continue reading...

A new report says many countries are increasing their oil and gas production. Delegates to Cop28 must confront this crisisLet me see if I have this right.A vast majority of the world's best climate scientists have told us again and again that to maintain a stable and liveable planet, we, the human race, must reduce the burning of fossil fuels - and emissions of greenhouse gases - by half by 2030. And end emissions altogether by 2050. Knowing this, what are we on track to do? Continue reading...

In the toxic manosphere, fasting is seen as a mark of strength and self-reliance. I can think of another word for itFood's awful and eating sucks." Thus spake Andrew Tate, on X (formerly Twitter). I hate eating. I hate feeling full," he elaborated, before broadening, in his trademark fashion, the personal to the universal: Imagine how stupid you have to be to find food entertaining. Literally embarrassing."It is not at all unusual, in the toxic manosphere, to see hunger as a human frailty to which you, as the ultimate man, are immune. Jordan Peterson has a not dissimilar relationship with food, having once gone on a months-long diet of nothing but beef, salt and water. He ended up in a coma in 2019, yet insists that wasn't due to the steak but rather, his dependence on clonazepam, a type of tranquilliser. You have to wonder whether, whatever the immediate causes of his nine solid days unconscious, the odd vegetable might have helped. He once also claimed to have gone 25 days without sleeping, thanks to a deviation from the meat-only diet. I can't remember what his slip-up was - I want to say a Jelly Baby? Continue reading...

Clint Hill flung himself on to the back of the president's limousine in a desperate attempt to block any further bullets on that fateful day in Dallas 60 years agoIt has become a cliche that everyone of a certain age could tell you where they were when they heard President John F Kennedy was dead. Clint Hill spent decades trying to forget.The Secret Service agent was in the Dallas motorcade as a member of the first lady's detail when Kennedy was assassinated on 22 November 1963. Hill leaped on to the back of the presidential limousine to use his body to shield the Kennedys from any additional shots. Continue reading...

Democrats and Republicans must back the movement together, senator says ahead of Senate hearing with labor leadersIf the US is going to save the middle class" then Democrats and Republicans must come together to back the newly resurgent labor movement, Bernie Sanders told the Guardian this week ahead of a Senate hearing on the benefits of unions.Sanders is holding a Senate health, education, labor and pensions committee hearing on Tuesday with US labor leaders on the state of the US labor movement and efforts to rein in corporate greed in America. Continue reading...

I was invited to a school panel that wasn't even about Israel and Palestine. Then, some parents accused me of hate speech'The Downingtown area school district, the sixth-largest school district in Pennsylvania, claims to be a twenty-first century district with the idealistic warmth and charm of a small town". The district's diversity, equity and inclusion program says it works to create a culture where every individual can feel included and thrive". And this charming and inclusive school district has also just trammeled on my free speech rights. I've been cancelled.Here's the story. Last March, the district approached me about offering a virtual event supporting their diversity, equity and inclusion program. Initially, I was asked to present a program on Arab Americans, but in May, the district proposed changing the focus to supporting refugee students and their families. This is a topic I have previously presented on and one that is close to my heart, as my family has long been involved in various aspects of refugee resettlement. We agreed on the details, I sent them a headshot and bio, and the district began advertising the event on their website on 1 November. Continue reading...

Taika Waititi's Next Goal Wins is the latest attempt to create a blockbuster based around the beautiful game. Focusing on personal stories may be the answerSports movies have been a mainstay of Hollywood throughout its history.Cinema wouldn't be the same without Robert Redford's Natural hitting a light bursting home-run, Paul Newman's Hustler smirking as he chalks his cue, Raging Bull's operatic pugilism, or Rocky hurling himself up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Continue reading...

The 7ft 4in Frenchman has a decent body of work after his first few weeks in the league. We asked former players and a coach to give their verdictsVictor Wembanyama's rookie campaign has been the story of the NBA season so far, which is little surprise given that he's 7ft 4in and plays with the agility of a much smaller man. Now that we have a decent body of work - 10 NBA games - to learn from, what do those who have been around basketball their whole lives think of the young Frenchman.Kevin Willis (NBA All-Star, 2003 NBA champion with Spurs) Continue reading...

A small plane overshot the runway while landing at a Texas airport and struck a car driving along a nearby road, injuring one person. The propeller plane smashed through a fence during an emergency landing in the Dallas suburb of McKinney and then bounced and skidded on to a road, losing a wheel and colliding with the car Continue reading...

Pedro Sanchez's amnesty for separatists will return him to power, but he faces mounting public discontentAs many Europeans clashed over protests related to the war in Gaza in recent days, Spaniards took the streets to contend with an entirely different issue. Hundreds of thousands came out in Madrid and other major cities to demonstrate against a deal struck between the Socialist prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, and Catalan separatists. That agreement will allow Sanchez finally to form a new coalition government this week, ending a political crisis that has afflicted the country since the general election on 23 July.But it is a politically incendiary settlement that leaves Sanchez exposed. The far-right Vox party leader, Santiago Abascal, in over-the-top, unjustified rhetoric, accused him of a coup", and the conservative People's party (PP)'s Isabel Diaz Ayuso, president of the Madrid region, said the prime minister had ushered in a dictatorship through the back door".Maria Ramirez is a journalist and deputy managing editor of elDiario.es, a news outlet in Spain Continue reading...

Ugly, divisive rhetoric has been embedded in the Conservative party since the days of moderates' like Cameron and MayThat Suella Braverman ever graced one of the great offices of state should forever dispel any illusions about our political establishment. She owed her grip on the Home Office to the tawdry cynicism of Rishi Sunak, whose thin technocratic veneer poorly disguises a man who burns with political ambition but doesn't have the talent to match. Braverman's endorsement of his leadership candidacy was important because, knowing that the average Tory member would probably view Genghis Khan as a milquetoast liberal, a chastened Sunak needed to bolster his right flank to prevent Boris Johnson from returning. This short-term advantage came with a heavy long-term cost; a pattern that has defined Sunak's benighted premiership.But while Braverman's pantomime villain persona makes her downfall all the more satisfying, it would be a mistake to treat her sacking as a symbol of Sunak's newfound moderation. That she crudely exploited Britain's most extreme political sentiments in the name of self-advancement is undeniable. Decrying immigration as an existential threat to European civilisation was to summon a great replacement" conspiracy theory beloved by the far right. She compared migrants to a hurricane - that is, a natural disaster that inflicts death and destruction. Her claims that most child grooming gangs were almost all British-Pakistani" - disproven by Home Office research, which found most were actually white - were designed to foment racist division and hate. Continue reading...

Hazardous materials teams clear burned material from underneath Interstate 10 as crews assess damage

Republicans had accused the homeland security secretary of dereliction of duty in his management of the US-Mexico borderThe US House of Representatives voted on Monday to pause the effort to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, halting a Republican campaign that alleges he has been derelict in his duty in managing the US-Mexico border.The articles of impeachment, introduced by Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican representative, on Thursday, contend that Mayorkas, an appointee of Joe Biden, violated his oath of office by failing to constrain the record numbers of migrants arriving at the border. Continue reading...

Nancy Pelosi's husband recounts publicly for the first time details of David DePape's reported assault in their San Francisco homePaul Pelosi has recounted publicly for the first time details of the harrowing night he was attacked by a hammer-wielding man in the San Francisco home he shares with his wife and former House speaker Nancy Pelosi.Testifying in the trial of David DePape, the man accused of attacking him last year, Paul Pelosi recalled his alarm at seeing a man standing in his bedroom. Continue reading...

Rich Moore, 71, failed to return home after a plan to scale a 12,500ft peak in August with a hunter finding his remains and the dogThe body of an elderly hiker missing since August in Colorado's San Juan mountains was discovered by a hunter who also found the man's dog alive at the scene, authorities said.Rich Moore, of Pagosa Springs, southern Colorado, and his Jack Russell terrier, Finney, failed to return from a trip to the mountains on 19 August. The 71-year-old outdoor enthusiast had planned to reach the 12,500ft summit of Blackhead Peak, about 20 miles from his hometown, according to family members. Continue reading...

City's mayor promoting beleaguered downtown as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation is expected to draw nearly 20,000 peopleWith the world watching San Francisco this week as it hosts the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit, the California city has been making use of an opportunity to rehabilitate its reputation as a struggling metropolis in decline.Apec - San Francisco's largest international gathering since 1945 when dignitaries gathered to sign the charter creating the United Nations - is expected to draw 20,000 people to the city. The summit will bring together leaders from 21 member countries to promote trade and economic development in the Pacific region. Continue reading...

It is unclear if US House speaker's bill has support to pass while government's authorization to spend money expires on FridayThe House of Representatives will on Monday begin considering an unconventional proposal by the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, to extend government funding into the new year and ward off a shutdown that would occur this weekend, but it is unclear if the measure has the support to pass.Johnson's bill is the latest attempt to resolve a complex standoff over Washington's spending that has pitted hardline Republicans against their moderate colleagues and the Democratic minority in Congress's lower chamber, and also contributed to the chain of events that led to Kevin McCarthy's overthrow as speaker of the House in October. Continue reading...

Code of conduct published following months of criticism of rightwing justices accepting undisclosed giftsThe US supreme court has finally responded to mounting pressure over a spate of ethics scandals engulfing some of its senior rightwing justices by publishing its first ever code that sets out the rules and principles that guide the conduct of members of the court".The 14-page document follows months of increasingly sharp criticism of the justices and their failure to apply to themselves basic ethical rules that bind all other judges in the US. Even as they released the code, however, the justices maintained their defensive posture, insisting in a brief statement that the furore of recent months had been a misunderstanding". Continue reading...

Complaint on behalf of Palestinian groups and individuals alleges Israel's actions amount to genocideA New York civil liberties group is suing Joe Biden for allegedly failing in his duty under international and US laws to prevent Israel committing genocide in Gaza.The Center for Constitutional Rights' (CCR) complaint on behalf of several Palestinian groups and individuals alleges that Israel's actions, including mass killings", the targeting of civilian infrastructure and forced expulsions, amount to genocide. The CCR said that the 1948 international convention against genocide requires the US and other countries to use their power and influence to stop the killing. Continue reading...

If you've had to find an alternate route, take public transportation or work from home, we'd like to hear about your experienceA section of highway in downtown Los Angeles may be closed indefinitely following a huge fire on Saturday.State governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Saturday afternoon after a fire at a storage facility underneath an elevated section of Interstate 10, caught fire and spread across eight acres (three hectares) - - and burned for more than three hours causing damage to the infrastructure. At least 16 unhoused people living under underneath the highway were evacuated and brought to shelters. Continue reading...

Jonathan Lewis was attacked by about 15 teens for defending a smaller child outside his high school and died one week laterA grieving father in Nevada has paid tribute to his 17-year-old son's heart of a champion" and denounced the scourge of teenage violence after the boy was beaten to death by a mob outside his high school for defending a smaller child.Jonathan Lewis said his son - also named Jonathan - died at the University medical center in Las Vegas last Tuesday, one week after the attack involving about 15 others near the city's Rancho high school. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. You can read our latest full report on today's day in court below:

Donald Trump's son showers praise on former president as he returns to the stand at $250m real estate fraud trial

Former president promised if re-elected to root out ... fascists and radical left thugs that live like vermin' in speech on Veterans' DayThe Biden White House condemned Donald Trump for promising, if re-elected president, to root out" opponents within US society he called communists, Marxists, fascists and radical left thugs that live like vermin".Employing words like vermin' to describe anyone who makes use of their basic right to criticise the government echoes dictators' like Hitler and Mussolini," the White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said, quoting Washington Post coverage of Trump's remarks. Continue reading...

Barry and her younger brother, the 77-year-old former US president, were notably at oddsMaryanne Trump Barry, a retired US federal judge and older sister of the former president Donald Trump, has died. She was 86.Multiple news outlets said Barry died at her home on the Upper East Side in New York City. A person familiar with the matter told the New York Times that Barry was found early on Monday morning. Her cause of death was unknown. Continue reading...

From a superb Cole Palmer performance to Simon Adingra's brilliance, we hand out honors (and dishonors) from the Premier League weekend

Anti-Jewish hate is rarely seen as part of a European racism that encompassed colonialism and slavery, with each distinct prejudice influencing the otherOn Saturday, hundreds of thousands took part in a history-making march for Gaza, while the hate mobs imagined by the now former home secretary Suella Braverman turned out to be the far right, who clashed with police. It's true that the Palestine solidarity march did contain a fringe of hateful messages, but to portray these as characteristic of the whole is absurd. Protesters called for a halt to the death, catastrophe and terror being inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza. Demands for a ceasefire are accelerating globally, as about 11,000 people have been killed in the sealed Gaza Strip, including over 4,000 children - and with thousands more injured or orphaned. The Palestinian cause is close to the hearts of leftists, but polling shows it goes wider than that: most of the British public support a ceasefire.Saturday's demonstration contained a sizeable Jewish bloc, who marched despite alarmist warnings across our politics and media that the protests were hotbeds of antisemitism. Jewish people (me included) attend Gaza solidarity marches for many reasons. But I would bet that none include giving free passes on antisemitism to leftists - and neither should a Jewish presence be used to discount the existence of any such prejudice at these protests. More likely, we understand that while this ancient hatred can appear anywhere, it is not the fault of Palestinians that Christian Europe has a long, lingering and largely unacknowledged problem with antisemitism. Continue reading...

Jacob Chansley, who became one of the most recognizable symbols of the insurrection, hopes to run in Arizona as a libertarianThe man who donned face paint and a horned headdress to storm the US Capitol at the 6 January insurrection has filed paperwork for a potential congressional run in Arizona as a libertarian.Jacob Chansley, known as the QAnon Shaman", became one of the most recognizable symbols of the insurrection, as media showed him walking the halls of the Capitol and standing at the dais in the US Senate. Continue reading...

It's not time for Pep Guardiola to panic, but Chelsea's unpredictable style removed what the manager covets most: control

Military said MH-60 Blackhawk was conducting aerial refueling and crashed due to unspecified emergencyThe US military has identified the five special operations troops who were killed when their helicopter crashed in the Mediterranean Sea during training on Friday.Officials identified the army operatives as Stephen R Dwyer, 38, of Clarksville, Tennessee; Shane M Barnes, 34, of Sacramento, California; Tanner W Grone, 26, of Gorham, New Hampshire; Andrew Southard, 27, of Apache Junction, Arizona; and Cade M Wolfe, 24, of Mankato, Minnesota. Continue reading...

In announcement, congresswoman cites rightwing threats to reproductive rights and efforts to clamp down on public schoolingThe Democrat Abigail Spanberger will quit Congress next year to run for governor of Virginia. Announcing her move a week after voters delivered a rebuke to the current Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, she cited rightwing threats to reproductive rights and attempts to clamp down on public schooling.Today, we find ourselves at a crossroads," Spanberger, 44, said in a video on Monday. Our country and our commonwealth are facing fundamental threats to our rights, our freedoms and to our democracy." Continue reading...

Memo gives glimpse of intense internal opposition to Biden's strategy in the war, in which he has maintained support for Israel

Agents for Naomi Biden opened fire after they saw saw trio breaking window of unmarked Secret Service SUV in WashingtonSecret Service agents protecting Joe Biden's granddaughter opened fire after three people tried to break into an unmarked Secret Service vehicle in the nation's capital, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press.The agents, assigned to protect Naomi Biden, were out with her in the Georgetown neighborhood late Sunday night when they saw the three people breaking a window of the parked and unoccupied SUV, the official said. The official could not discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke to the AP on Monday on the condition of anonymity. Continue reading...

Shooting happened after argument between two people who did not know each other, police sayOne child was killed and four other people were wounded in a shootout that erupted between two strangers at a Texas flea market on Sunday evening, according to police.Officers responded to a call of shots fired at Cole's Antique Village and Flea Market in Pearland - about 17 miles (27km) south of Houston - at 5.34pm, the local police department posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. The victims were taken to hospitals, where one of them - a minor - died.The Associated Press contributed reporting Continue reading...

The Palestinian viewpoint is legitimate and vital as Israel continues to unleash carnage on GazaIn these past few sleepless weeks, I have seen images and videos that will haunt me forever. Palestinian parents carrying their children's charred and dismembered bodies in plastic bags to makeshift morgues; whole families, across three generations, crushed under the homes they built; exhausted doctors working desperately by torchlight and operating on patients without anaesthetic; one of the oldest churches in the world, sheltering the displaced, bombed. So far more than 10,000 Palestinians have been reported killed - more, after one month, than the number of civilians killed in Ukraine after two years of war.The Israeli war machine is always horrifically ruthless. But this time we are witnessing a level of violence not seen since the 1948 Nakba - during which about 70% of the Palestinian population was forcibly displaced and more than 500 communities were wiped out completely. Indeed, for nearly four weeks the Israeli regime has cut off power and limited access to the internet, reducing contact with the outside and meaning the full scale of its assault has been hidden from the world. Some Palestinians in Gaza are still managing to maintain some communication by charging phones in cars and using power from what solar panels are left. Among them are Palestinian journalists - at least 32 media workers have been killed since Hamas's offensive on 7 October - who are risking their lives to show us the devastation that is being wrought upon them.Yara Hawari is a senior policy fellow at Al Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network Continue reading...

Former UN ambassador's planned investment comes as she battles to emerge as the clear alternative to Donald TrumpNikki Haley's presidential campaign will reserve $10m in television, radio and digital advertising across Iowa and New Hampshire beginning in the first week of December, a massive investment designed to give the former UN ambassador an advantage over the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, at a critical moment in the GOP nomination fight.Details of the advertising plans, which represent the Haley campaign's first official advertising reservation, were obtained by The Associated Press ahead of a public announcement expected on Monday. Haley's planned investment, as of now, is more than five times larger than DeSantis's current advertising reserves for the same time period, according to the media tracking firm AdImpact. Continue reading...

WHO confirms Gaza's largest hospital is without power, putting patients including infants at risk. Plus, the book club that spent 28 years reading Finnegans Wake

The former home secretary is a dangerous loudmouth, but she speaks for a party that has been marching rightwards for yearsThe home secretary, queen of the anti-woke, is gone, again. Her grandstanding infuriated many colleagues, yet most of them share the same sinking life-raft of current Tory thinking. I wouldn't use her words," each minister says, but they share her thoughts. Reshuffle from what to what?The tide is going out on the conservatism they were bred on, the last ripples of Thatcherism that nurtured them leaving them marooned. Suella Braverman's backers, such as the Daily Mail, Telegraph and Sun, which 20 years ago seemed to have a direct line to the beating heart of Tory middle England, are now adrift and floating out to sea with them. Continue reading...

The Harlem rap vets behind It Is What It Is are breathing fresh life into a hoary format with their chemistry, editorial freedom and unpredictabilityTV sports talk in America is a broken record. Every day brings the same warmed-over topics (Dallas Cowboys), the same personal triggers (LeBron James), the same stale mix of sportswriters (Skip Bayless) and ex-jocks (Michael Irvin) shouting over each other across the basic cable divide. Only one show manages to cut through the noise without really raising its voice.In late February an online-only production called It Is What It Is premiered on YouTube to little fanfare - a jarring setup for two hosts who are so far from understated. On one side of the dais, there's Ma$e (government name: Mason Betha), the shiny suit-wearing star who hijacked the pop charts in the mid-90s with the Notorious BIG. On the other there's Cam'ron (Cameron Giles), the neon-palette style icon who went platinum with Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella team. The notion that two rap legends from Harlem could settle into fresh careers as hot-take artists is a twist few would've seen coming in 50 years of hip-hop. Continue reading...