newyorkpost--2020-08-31--Spurs open door slightly for Nets’ Gregg Popovich dream scenario

With Gregg Popovich reportedly coveted by the Nets , Spurs CEO R.C .
Buford said he ’ s “ under the assumption ” that the five-time champion will stay in San Antonio .
Still , his statement offered no promises or guarantees .
The Nets ’ season ended with a first round playoff loss to defending champion Toronto , letting general manager Sean Marks ’ coaching search begin in earnest .
And while Jacque Vaughn is the interim coach and Clippers assistant Tyronn Lue a perceived co-favorite , Popovich is predictably viewed as a top priority .
Popovich is the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ run tied for the longest in league history .
But he ’ s also Marks ’ mentor .
The Nets GM won a ring with the Spurs in 2005 as a player and 2014 as an assistant coach .
Marks took over in Brooklyn two years later , and nine others with Spurs links have followed him .
It ’ s only natural that reports surfaced that Popovich is Marks ’ No .
1 priority in the Nets ’ coaching search .
When asked about the persistent rumors , Buford told CNBC that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Popovich is coming back .
“ Pop ’ s shown nothing other than how we ’ re going to build our team for next year , ” Buford said .
And when Popovich himself was asked earlier this month if he ’ d be back in San Antonio next season , he shot back , “ Why wouldn ’ t I ?
” Marks has publicly downplayed the talk of luring the 71-year-old Popovich .
“ Pop has a job , so I ’ ll say that , ” Marks said last @ @ @ @ @ @ @ obviously we all know he ’ s an amazing , amazing coach , and to be quite frank , an even better leader .
So , I ’ ll let Pop continue to coach for the Spurs .
He owes it to them and they owe it to him .
I ’ m sure he ’ s quite happy there.
” Vaughn acquitted himself well with a 7-3 record as interim coach , including a surprising 5-3 mark prior to the playoffs at the Orlando restart despite having a threadbare roster devoid of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dinwiddie .
Lue coached Cleveland to three straight NBA Finals and won the 2016 title with Irving .
He wants $ 7 million annually according to the Philadelphia Inquirer , and is a strong candidate if he doesn ’ t end up with the 76ers or Pelicans .
Still , no candidate can be stronger than Popovich .
The issue will be prying him out of San Antonio , where he ’ s been the past two dozen years .
The thing that ’ ll make gauging Popovich ’ s interest in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ franchise ’ s prime selling points — the relationship with Marks .
“ [ Marks ] is a great friend of the whole family , ” Popovich told The Post last year .
“ We ’ ve been rooting for his success and the success of their group since he went .
It ’ s obviously very positive and going in the right direction , and I couldn ’ t be more thrilled.
” The Spurs are in need of refurbishing , both their roster ( missing the playoffs for the first time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ AT & T Center being among the older areas that hasn ’ t undergone a recent facelift .
While Buford called Popovich the “ North Star ” guiding light in the Spurs ’ success , he did acknowledge the venerable coach won ’ t always be there for them .
“ Pop ’ s vision will be in play long after his presence , ” Buford said .
“ That doesn ’ t mean it ’ ll be him in there making those decisions , but we ’ ve all learned together , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ step away from a values-based , team-building aspect that focuses on culture and coming to work every day and working on it .
”

With Gregg Popovich reportedly coveted by the Nets, Spurs CEO R.C. Buford said he’s “under the assumption” that the five-time champion will stay in San Antonio. Still, his statement offered no promises or guarantees.
The Nets’ season ended with a first round playoff loss to defending champion Toronto, letting general manager Sean Marks’ coaching search begin in earnest. And while Jacque Vaughn is the interim coach and Clippers assistant Tyronn Lue a perceived co-favorite, Popovich is predictably viewed as a top priority.
Popovich is the dean of NBA coaches with a 22-year-playoff run tied for the longest in league history. But he’s also Marks’ mentor. The Nets GM won a ring with the Spurs in 2005 as a player and 2014 as an assistant coach.
Marks took over in Brooklyn two years later, and nine others with Spurs links have followed him. It’s only natural that reports surfaced that Popovich is Marks’ No. 1 priority in the Nets’ coaching search. When asked about the persistent rumors, Buford told CNBC that the Spurs are “under the assumption” Popovich is coming back.
“Pop’s shown nothing other than how we’re going to build our team for next year,” Buford said.
And when Popovich himself was asked earlier this month if he’d be back in San Antonio next season, he shot back, “Why wouldn’t I?”
Marks has publicly downplayed the talk of luring the 71-year-old Popovich.
“Pop has a job, so I’ll say that,” Marks said last month on WFAN. “And, obviously we all know he’s an amazing, amazing coach, and to be quite frank, an even better leader. So, I’ll let Pop continue to coach for the Spurs. He owes it to them and they owe it to him. I’m sure he’s quite happy there.”
Vaughn acquitted himself well with a 7-3 record as interim coach, including a surprising 5-3 mark prior to the playoffs at the Orlando restart despite having a threadbare roster devoid of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Spencer Dinwiddie.
Lue coached Cleveland to three straight NBA Finals and won the 2016 title with Irving. He wants $7 million annually according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, and is a strong candidate if he doesn’t end up with the 76ers or Pelicans.
Still, no candidate can be stronger than Popovich. The issue will be prying him out of San Antonio, where he’s been the past two dozen years.
The thing that’ll make gauging Popovich’s interest in the Nets easy is also one of the franchise’s prime selling points — the relationship with Marks.
“[Marks] is a great friend of the whole family,” Popovich told The Post last year. “We’ve been rooting for his success and the success of their group since he went. It’s obviously very positive and going in the right direction, and I couldn’t be more thrilled.”
The Spurs are in need of refurbishing, both their roster (missing the playoffs for the first time since 1997) and their infrastructure, AT&T Center being among the older areas that hasn’t undergone a recent facelift.
While Buford called Popovich the “North Star” guiding light in the Spurs’ success, he did acknowledge the venerable coach won’t always be there for them.
“Pop’s vision will be in play long after his presence,” Buford said. “That doesn’t mean it’ll be him in there making those decisions, but we’ve all learned together, and you’re not going to step away from a values-based, team-building aspect that focuses on culture and coming to work every day and working on it.”


newyorkpost--2020-08-30--St. Louis police officer dies after being shot in head by gunman

Two St. Louis police officers were shot in the line of duty Saturday , with one of them dying from his wounds Sunday , the department said .
The fallen officer , identified as Tamarris Bohannon , 29 , served with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department for over three years .
Bohannon was struck in the head after responding to a shooting in the South Grand neighborhood near Tower Grove Park , police said .
Another officer , who is 30 , was struck in the leg , treated and released from the hospital .
The officers were shot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The 43-year-old suspected gunman was taken into custody at about 5:30 a.m. Sunday after barricading himself inside a home for nearly 12 hours , authorities said .
St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson said she was “ heartbroken ” over Bohannon ’ s death .
“ This is a horrific reminder of the dangers our brave men and women willingly face everyday to keep us safe , ” Krewson said in a Sunday statement .
“ This is a terrible , senseless tragedy.
” St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department Chief John Hayden said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the line of duty since June 1 .
“ We ’ re trying to cope through a very trying summer , and it ’ s very difficult .
It ’ s very difficult , ” he said .

Two St. Louis police officers were shot in the line of duty Saturday, with one of them dying from his wounds Sunday, the department said.
The fallen officer, identified as Tamarris Bohannon, 29, served with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department for over three years.
Bohannon was struck in the head after responding to a shooting in the South Grand neighborhood near Tower Grove Park, police said.
Another officer, who is 30, was struck in the leg, treated and released from the hospital.
The officers were shot while searching for a reported gunshot victim.
The 43-year-old suspected gunman was taken into custody at about 5:30 a.m. Sunday after barricading himself inside a home for nearly 12 hours, authorities said.
St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson said she was “heartbroken” over Bohannon’s death.
“This is a horrific reminder of the dangers our brave men and women willingly face everyday to keep us safe,” Krewson said in a Sunday statement. “This is a terrible, senseless tragedy.”
St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department Chief John Hayden said eight of his officers have been shot in the line of duty since June 1.
“We’re trying to cope through a very trying summer, and it’s very difficult. It’s very difficult,” he said.
With Post wires


newyorkpost--2020-08-30--Mets’ meltdown resurfaces concerning Subway Series history

You know Brodie Van Wagenen is having a particularly bad ...

Luis Castillo’s ghost showed up uninvited to Yankee Stadium on Sunday.
It will take time for the Mets to determine if their seventh inning in Game 1 of a doubleheader reverberates as loudly as Castillo’s dropped pop-up more than a decade earlier in the Subway Series, but this epic bullpen meltdown — started by Jared Hughes and finished by Edwin Diaz in an 8-7 loss in eight innings — certainly won’t be forgotten. Only further polluting the day for the Mets, they lost the nightcap 5-2 in eight innings.
“It was a tough day for us,” Diaz said.
In the Mets’ first visit to the new Yankee Stadium, on June 12, 2009, Alex Rodriguez hit a pop-up that should have been the game’s final out. Rodriguez, in disgust, slammed his bat to the ground. But the second baseman Castillo, as he ventured into shallow right-center, dropped the ball, allowing two runs to score, including the game-winner.
The Mets collapsed in the weeks following the Castillo blunder, and then-general manager Omar Minaya retroactively pointed to that night at Yankee Stadium as the beginning of the end for their season.
Had the Mets managed to avoid squandering a five-run lead in the seventh inning in Sunday’s first game, they would have been playing for a chance to reach .500 in the nightcap — a significant step for a team that has been fighting uphill since the second week of the abbreviated season.
Gary Sanchez’s pinch-hit grand slam against Drew Smith in the top of the eighth inning in the nightcap (the Yankees were the visiting team) all but sealed the Mets’ Dog Day afternoon and early evening.
“We lost two games and they are definitely tough in a season like this, 60 games,” manager Luis Rojas said.
This Mets meltdown in Game 1 was more methodical than the Castillo flub, beginning with Rojas’ decision with a 7-2 lead to use Hughes for a third straight day over Smith, who had been recalled before the game. Maybe Rojas was vindicated somewhat by Smith’s implosion in the nightcap.
Andres Gimenez’s throwing error on Mike Ford’s grounder to third base in Game 1 was the opening the Yankees needed to begin their comeback. Hughes then recorded two outs before a walk, hit batter and two-run single by Luke Voit made it clear the game wasn’t quite over.
“Drew hasn’t been in games for a while and with the five-run lead Hughes can attack the zone,” Rojas said, explaining his decision to use Hughes over Smith. “On a third [straight] day his sinker can become heavy, he can get the grounders, so we went with him.”
Diaz was summoned to replace Hughes and unleashed a wild pitch that allowed a run before Aaron Hicks homered into the right-field seats. Diaz returned for the eighth and watched Gio Urshela deliver a two-out RBI single (with a runner on second base to begin the inning, per the extra-inning rules for this season) to win it for the Yankees.
Thanks to Luis Castillo, it wasn’t the most crushing loss for the Mets in the history of the regular season Subway Series. But if the Mets just miss the playoffs it could very well turn out that way.


newyorkpost--2020-08-31--Sienna Miller and Lucas Zwirner split

Sienna Miller and Lucas Zwirner split

Click to email this to a friend ( Opens in new window ) Click to share on Twitter ( Opens in new window ) Click to share on Facebook ( Opens in new window ) Sienna Miller and Lucas Zwirner have split up , sources exclusively told Page Six .
There had recently been buzz in the art world and Hollywood that the couple — who were reportedly engaged — had called things off .
A source told us that Miller broke off the relationship with Zwirner , who is nine years her junior , though it ’ s unclear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Zwirner ’ s gallery , in New York and London , did not respond to multiple calls and e-mails seeking comment on Monday .
Zwirner reportedly popped the question back in January .
At a portrait studio at the Sundance Film Festival that month , where the actress debuted her latest film , “ Wander Darkly , ” co-starring Diego Luna , Miller was photographed sporting what looked like an engagement ring .
Various paparazzi pics captured her wearing the ring as recently as July .
But the very private pair never publicly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dating .
Miller , 38 , has been engaged twice before : to Jude Law and actor Tom Sturridge , with whom she remains friendly and shares a daughter .
She ’ s also been romantically linked to indie director Bennett Miller and actors Balthazar Getty , Josh Hartnett and Rhys Ifans .
Zwirner , 29 , is the scion of his father ’ s powerhouse art gallery , David Zwirner , and he oversees its publishing house .
Sources said that the relationship between Miller and Zwirner had previously hit a rough @ @ @ @ @ @ @ They were most recently photographed together last month , running errands .
During their courtship , New York party people had clocked Miller and Zwirner around town when they were clearly deeply smitten .
They also attended the starry wedding of Ellie Goulding and Caspar Jopling together last year , as well as a pre-Met Gala event .
But a source said that if they ’ ve parted ways for good , Miller would bounce back , adding , “ She is awesome .
”

Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Sienna Miller and Lucas Zwirner have split up, sources exclusively told Page Six.
There had recently been buzz in the art world and Hollywood that the couple — who were reportedly engaged — had called things off. A source told us that Miller broke off the relationship with Zwirner, who is nine years her junior, though it’s unclear why.
Zwirner reportedly popped the question back in January. At a portrait studio at the Sundance Film Festival that month, where the actress debuted her latest film, “Wander Darkly,” co-starring Diego Luna, Miller was photographed sporting what looked like an engagement ring. Various paparazzi pics captured her wearing the ring as recently as July.
But the very private pair never publicly confirmed the engagement after a year of dating.
Miller, 38, has been engaged twice before: to Jude Law and actor Tom Sturridge, with whom she remains friendly and shares a daughter. She’s also been romantically linked to indie director Bennett Miller and actors Balthazar Getty, Josh Hartnett and Rhys Ifans.
Zwirner, 29, is the scion of his father’s powerhouse art gallery, David Zwirner, and he oversees its publishing house.
Sources said that the relationship between Miller and Zwirner had previously hit a rough patch before they purportedly got engaged.
They were most recently photographed together last month, running errands.
During their courtship, New York party people had clocked Miller and Zwirner around town when they were clearly deeply smitten. They also attended the starry wedding of Ellie Goulding and Caspar Jopling together last year, as well as a pre-Met Gala event.
But a source said that if they’ve parted ways for good, Miller would bounce back, adding, “She is awesome.”
Reps for Miller in London and New York had no comment. A rep for Zwirner’s gallery did not get back to us.


newyorkpost--2020-08-31--The Nets have a third-star dilemma

The Nets have a third-star dilemma

With Gregg Popovich reportedly coveted by the Nets , Spurs CEO ...

With the Nets going into win-now mode as soon as Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving suit up next season, many have opined that they’ll search for a third star. But the growing sentiment around the league appears to be that — with those two on the roster — Caris LeVert is close enough to make them a contender.
Durant even seems to think so himself.
“[LeVert] is definitely better than I thought. He’s different,” Durant said on the Play for Keeps podcast. “He can score that thing. He can pass it, strong, he’s quick.
“His thing is about being efficient, and I think that’s what you’re seeing. The shots he’s taking now, it’s like all in his lane. It’s not a lot of 3s. A lot in the midrange, getting to the cup. I think his IQ is what surprised me the most for the game.”
The rest of the NBA saw what LeVert did during his emergence in the bubble. He averaged 25 points, 6.7 assists and five rebounds during the restart, and bumped that to 20.3 points, 9.5 assists and six boards in the playoffs.
While Stan Van Gundy told The Post that the high-usage LeVert might be best suited coming off the bench, he’s reached a level where the Nets might not need a big offseason move to contend.
“FYI- Brooklyn has their 3rd star- Caris LeVert,” tweeted former Nets assistant GM Bobby Marks, now with ESPN.
Locked up to a three-year, $52.5 million deal that kicks in next season, LeVert is the Nets’ most valuable trade chip. Trying to land a star like Bradley Beal — likely a fool’s errand — would start with him, and include picks and other players.
“If you can get him you take him. You do that,” an Eastern Conference scout told The Post. “[But] if you’re not able to do that and you do have KD and Kyrie you should still be one of the contenders in the East, one of the best teams in the conference. Other than Beal …”
The scout trailed off for emphasis. And his point was valid.
With Durant leaving Golden State for Brooklyn, Big 3s have been replaced by Dynamic Duos (the Lakers, Clippers, Houston, etc). The Nets should have that.
And the Nets’ third-star options are limited. New Orleans’ Jrue Holiday is 30, under contract for $25.3 million next season and can opt out after that. Indiana’s Victor Oladipo came back from a horrible right knee injury to average 14.3 points (worst since his rookie campaign) on career-low shooting splits of 39.4 percent and 31.7 from 3.
So is upsetting a roster before Durant and Irving have played a second together wise? Or even needed?
“KD and Kyrie should make you an instant contender in the East, especially with the other parts, Caris, [Spencer] Dinwiddie, [Joe] Harris,” Jalen Rose told The Post. “I like to gauge success based on realistic expectations. And for me if you have a healthy KD and Kyrie in the East, you should be able to go toe-to-toe with the Bucks and the Celtics and the Raptors.”
Rose called LeVert his “little brother,” and said while a bona fide star like Beal would put the Nets squarely in the title mix, he doubted that Wizards owner Ted Leonsis or GM Tommy Sheppard would let him go.
“You already have him under contract. That was the question mark: Can you resign Bradley Beal with John Wall injured at his number? And he committed to stay, so you’re not going to go trade him after he just averaged 30 points this year,” Rose told The Post. “I love Sean Marks, played with him in Phoenix. And Tommy Sheppard, he was in Denver when the Nuggets drafted me. I’ve known both of those gentlemen for a long time, got a lot of respect for them. But if you watch the Wizards, you’re not taking those phone calls.”


newyorkpost--2020-08-31--Deivi Garcia could make an even bigger Yankees impact

The Hall of Fame isn ’ t preparing room for Deivi Garcia just yet , but the 21-year-old right-hander is the betting favorite to get a second big-league start against the Orioles on Friday night in Camden Yards where the Yankees and Birds play a doubleheader .
Promoted from the alternate site in Scranton on Sunday as the “ 29th ’ ’ man for the twin bill against the Mets , Garcia went six innings , didn ’ t allow a run , gave up four hits and fanned six in his first taste of the big leagues .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ general manager Brian Cashman said of Garcia ’ s outing against a formidable lineup in which he retired the first nine Mets and 12 of the initial 13 .
“ He looked very comfortable and he looked like he belonged .
It didn ’ t look like it was his first time.
” Ever since Garcia blossomed last year at Single-A Tampa and Double-A Trenton he has been a guy who has been talked about a lot inside and out of the organization .
“ We have asked a lot of him at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ Cashman said .
“ After seeing some of his performances in spring training , 1.0 , 2.0 we saw a better version of Deivi Garcia [ Sunday ] which is one we envisioned but just not at this level .
Obviously , that was the question.
’ ’ Of course , Aaron Boone has seen plenty of young arms dominate a big-league lineup in their debut simply because of the unknown factor .
There might have been a little bit of that against the Mets but it was good enough to get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can help the Yankees down the stretch .
“ Very possible .
A lot of times , especially in championship runs sometimes you get contributions from unexpected places or sometimes from somebody coming up for the first time in their big-league career and having an impact , ’ ’ Boone said .
“ Our game is littered with stories of people coming up and impacting September runs and things like that .
’ ’

The Hall of Fame isn’t preparing room for Deivi Garcia just yet, but the 21-year-old right-hander is the betting favorite to get a second big-league start against the Orioles on Friday night in Camden Yards where the Yankees and Birds play a doubleheader.
Promoted from the alternate site in Scranton on Sunday as the “29th’’ man for the twin bill against the Mets, Garcia went six innings, didn’t allow a run, gave up four hits and fanned six in his first taste of the big leagues.
“Composed and a strike-thrower,’’ general manager Brian Cashman said of Garcia’s outing against a formidable lineup in which he retired the first nine Mets and 12 of the initial 13. “He looked very comfortable and he looked like he belonged. It didn’t look like it was his first time.”
Ever since Garcia blossomed last year at Single-A Tampa and Double-A Trenton he has been a guy who has been talked about a lot inside and out of the organization.
“We have asked a lot of him at his stage of his development,’’ Cashman said. “After seeing some of his performances in spring training, 1.0, 2.0 we saw a better version of Deivi Garcia [Sunday] which is one we envisioned but just not at this level. Obviously, that was the question.’’
Of course, Aaron Boone has seen plenty of young arms dominate a big-league lineup in their debut simply because of the unknown factor. There might have been a little bit of that against the Mets but it was good enough to get Boone dreaming a bit about how Garcia can help the Yankees down the stretch.
“Very possible. A lot of times, especially in championship runs sometimes you get contributions from unexpected places or sometimes from somebody coming up for the first time in their big-league career and having an impact,’’ Boone said. “Our game is littered with stories of people coming up and impacting September runs and things like that.’’


newyorkpost--2020-08-31--LeToya Luckett details hard times following Destiny’s Child exit

LeToya Luckett said that she slept in a car and lived on microwave noodles after leaving hit girl group Destiny ’ s Child .
Luckett was part of the world-famous group , which launched Beyoncé , through the release of its blockbuster second album , “ The Writing ’ s on the Wall.
” But she exited in 2000 amid a nasty battle with the band ’ s manager , and Bey ’ s father , Mathew Knowles .
Speaking on Instagram Live on Sunday , Luckett said that because of the group ’ s early success , she hadn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also found herself struggling to build a new path in show business .
“ I was staying at people ’ s houses … I slept in a car in LA while I was making my first [ solo ] album .
Not a lot of nights , but a few.
” Luckett , who was 18 at the time of her 1999 exit , also said she had an extended stay in a hotel and ate Oodles of Noodles to survive — “ cooking them on a coffee pot at the hotel.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ role in the 2010 movie “ Preacher ’ s Kid ” finally “ got me out of the hotel.
” In 2018 , Beyoncé and Luckett reunited when Luckett attended the singer ’ s “ On the Run II ” tour stop in Arlington , Texas , according to photos of the meeting .

LeToya Luckett said that she slept in a car and lived on microwave noodles after leaving hit girl group Destiny’s Child.
Luckett was part of the world-famous group, which launched Beyoncé, through the release of its blockbuster second album, “The Writing’s on the Wall.” But she exited in 2000 amid a nasty battle with the band’s manager, and Bey’s father, Mathew Knowles.
Speaking on Instagram Live on Sunday, Luckett said that because of the group’s early success, she hadn’t gone to college, and also found herself struggling to build a new path in show business. “I was staying at people’s houses … I slept in a car in LA while I was making my first [solo] album. Not a lot of nights, but a few.”
Luckett, who was 18 at the time of her 1999 exit, also said she had an extended stay in a hotel and ate Oodles of Noodles to survive — “cooking them on a coffee pot at the hotel.” She tearfully said that landing the lead role in the 2010 movie “Preacher’s Kid” finally “got me out of the hotel.”
In 2018, Beyoncé and Luckett reunited when Luckett attended the singer’s “On the Run II” tour stop in Arlington, Texas, according to photos of the meeting.


newyorkpost--2020-08-31--Jason Witten: Jason Garrett will help Giants’ Daniel Jones ‘tremendously’

Dressed to match his brothers in pajamas with a blue ...

Jason Witten spent 12 seasons when Jason Garrett was either his offensive coordinator or head coach, so he is the right man to deliver a message about the man for Giants fans.
“You’re gonna be really proud to have him as your offensive coordinator,” Witten told The Post.
“He’s one of them — hard-working, determined, lunch-pail-type guy, brings it every day. Don’t be fooled because he’s an Ivy Leaguer. He is very fair, very honest, a man of integrity, and he’s gonna find ways to affect the defense within his scheme, and play to his players’ strengths over and over and over again.
“It’ll be a real exciting experience for him. So much comes across a desk of a head coach, that you get pulled away from football a lot of times. I was around there for a number of years and I experienced him as a coordinator early on with Wade Phillips [as the head coach]. I have so many fond memories of his ability within the scheme and adjustments in the game plan to give us a lot of confidence and allowed us to have success as a group.”
Witten is a Raider now, but he will one day enter the Hall of Fame as a Cowboy. During those 12 seasons, Witten caught 963 passes and 45 TDs. He caught most of them from Tony Romo and Dak Prescott — which tells him that Garrett and his system will be a bonanza for Daniel Jones.
“It’s built for the quarterback’s eyes, that system,” Witten said. “And I think any young quarterback likes the fact that this system is something that Jason played in, and then he’s seen a lot of quarterbacks have success in that. And then, just the track record, he had Tony in ’07, which Tony had started nine, 10 games prior to that, and went on and had a really successful career. He took Dak Prescott as a rookie, and you saw what Dak has done in his first four years in the NFL, so for Daniel Jones, I think he would be ecstatic.
“That’s all you can ask for as a player is that your coach is doing everything that he possibly can to put you in the best situation you can be in, and I think that’s ultimately what Jason does. He does it with the system, but he also does it within game of, ‘OK this is what they’re doing, how do we combat that, what adjustments are we gonna make?’ I think that’ll help Daniel tremendously.”
Garrett won’t have the formidable offensive line that he had in Dallas, but that won’t stop him from riding Saquon Barkley the way he rode Ezekiel Elliott.
“Jason had a little bit of success as a play-caller early on when our offensive line wasn’t full of first-rounders,” Witten said. “I think he’s gonna find ways to get him in space, get him downhill, and I think the other thing for Saquon is just as a receiver, he’s gonna find ways to get him the ball in open space through the passing game that will obviously play to his strengths because he’s such a dynamic athlete in open space. The rare combination of being able to putting him between the tackles, getting on the perimeter, misdirection runs, all that. I think the biggest thing is just finding ways to use him in the passing game to get him the ball in open space will be the biggest area that Saquon will benefit from having a play-caller like Jason.”
In his 2018 rookie season, Barkley rushed 261 times (for 1,307 yards) and caught 91 passes. Elliott has exceeded 300 carries in three of his four years and caught a career-high 77 passes in 2018.
“He wants to run the football, and he believes in the play-action game that comes off of that,” Witten said. “His system is not one that’s just gonna be a new scheme every week. It’s gonna be the fundamentals and the techniques — let’s get really good at these handful of things, and then impose that week in and week out by dressing it up and doing different things. I think he’s got a really good feel of ‘OK, this was our plan, and now we’re seeing something different,’ and adjusting in-game.
“And to me as a veteran player, that’s the main thing you look for in a play-caller, his ability to kinda adjust to what the defense is trying to do. And your ability to get to that, before the end of the half or before the end of the game and not wait till the next day and say, ‘Ah well, if we knew they were gonna do this, we would have done that.’ And I think within his numbered system offense, it allows you to move a lot of different guys around because once you learn the number system you can kinda play anywhere in the offense.”
Of course this can be a career year for tight end Evan Engram if he can stay healthy.
“Evan’s an extremely talented player, and I can tell you from playing in that system they’re gonna get the playmakers the football, and find a number of different ways to do that,” Witten said. “First off, it starts with when you want to run the football, the numer one thing that comes off of that is the play-action passing game. And for a tight end, that’s the No. 1 thing, because a lot of times when you do play-action, it doesn’t really affect the corners on the outside, it really affects the linebackers in the underneath coverage. And that’s really where the tight end kinda makes his hay, and so I think that’ll be really exciting for him.
“And then his ability to move him around, and play a number of different positions, will allow him to get a lot of different looks and to feature his playmaking ability. Last year [Cowboys TE] Blake Jarwin and some of those guys really shined just from the ability to move you around, having a strong running game, I think the tight end benefits tremendously from that style of offense.”
Garrett will be an invaluable resource for Joe Judge.
“He’s a really good person, his character is such that he’s gonna communicate that way and be a sounding board for the head coach, not trying to be the head coach,” Witten said. “I think he’s just got a really good way about him from that standpoint of he’s been a backup quarterback, he’s been an offensive coordinator before. He’s seen a lot, and he has a good way of being able to communicate that in the right tone, in the right way to a young head coach. If you take the idea and you run with it, great. If you take it and you don’t do it, his feelings not gonna be hurt, or anything from that standpoint.
“He communicates in a good way that a lot of the what-ifs, and how do you handle certain situations? Which I think Joe’s done a really good job of that being a young head coach walking into a situation of a pandemic and how you do that with a young football team. Everything that I’ve seen, he’s got a plan and he’s a bright person, but I’m sure there’s been times, and there will be over the course of a season, that he can lean on Jason.”
Garrett will never go into a game and not feel prepared.
“He takes a lot of pride in everybody being on the same page, there’s a saying he had — ‘If we’re all wrong, we’re all right,’ meaning like as long as we’re communicating it, we’re gonna be able to execute, but we can’t be doing our own thing,” Witten said. “I think that’s where that system really thrives, I think his ability to kinda communicate that so you go into the game and you have a lot of confidence that you’re gonna attack the weaknesses of the defense, and when you have success, it just continues to build from there.”
The Giants have been all wrong for too long. This time, Jason Witten believes they got it all right.


newyorkpost--2020-08-31--Abraham Lincoln impersonator busted on child porn charges

A well-known Abraham Lincoln impersonator from Illinois is behind bars for allegedly possessing a child pornography video and patronizing a prostitute .
George Buss , 63 — who spent decades portraying the nation ’ s 16th president at public events around Freeport and across the country — was arrested at his home on Friday as the result of a six-month long investigation , the Rockford Register Star reported .
The arrest came a day before Buss was set to take part in an annual reenactment of the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debate in Freeport .
A mugshot from the Stephenson County Sheriff @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Abe ’ s iconic short beard — but no top hat .
Prior to taking his Lincoln-lookalike act on the road , Buss was a teacher at Freeport High School , and once was a member of the district ’ s Board of Education , according to WIFR in Illinois .
He ’ d often visit schools for his performances , and was the official Lincoln reenactor at an annual reading of the landmark 1863 Gettysburg Address at Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania .
Buss was one of two men busted in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , 22 , of Leaf River , was charged with two counts of disseminating child pornographic video and prostitution .
Authorities haven ’ t yet said how the two cases are linked or released details on the charges .
Buss was ordered held Monday on $ 200,000 bond in Stephenson County Jail , according to jail records .
He ’ s scheduled to appear in court next on Sept. 10 .

A well-known Abraham Lincoln impersonator from Illinois is behind bars for allegedly possessing a child pornography video and patronizing a prostitute.
George Buss, 63 — who spent decades portraying the nation’s 16th president at public events around Freeport and across the country — was arrested at his home on Friday as the result of a six-month long investigation, the Rockford Register Star reported.
The arrest came a day before Buss was set to take part in an annual reenactment of the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debate in Freeport.
A mugshot from the Stephenson County Sheriff’s Office showed Buss sporting Honest Abe’s iconic short beard — but no top hat.
Prior to taking his Lincoln-lookalike act on the road, Buss was a teacher at Freeport High School, and once was a member of the district’s Board of Education, according to WIFR in Illinois.
He’d often visit schools for his performances, and was the official Lincoln reenactor at an annual reading of the landmark 1863 Gettysburg Address at Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania.
Buss was one of two men busted in connection with the probe.
Tyler Dotson, 22, of Leaf River, was charged with two counts of disseminating child pornographic video and prostitution. Authorities haven’t yet said how the two cases are linked or released details on the charges.
Buss was ordered held Monday on $200,000 bond in Stephenson County Jail, according to jail records. He’s scheduled to appear in court next on Sept. 10.


newyorkpost--2020-08-31--VMAs 2020 ratings drop 5% to 6.4M viewers across platforms

She really did this wedding Justice .
Supreme Court Justice Ruth ...

The 2020 VMAs were a hot mess.
Ratings are in for the annual awards show, which went on Sunday despite the challenge of social distancing. According to Variety, the show drew 6.4 million viewers across all ViacomCBS platforms during the simulcast, a 5% drop from 2019. That number includes the pre-show, main event, post-show and encores; no figures were available for only the two-hour primetime broadcast.
By comparison, last year’s event — including the two-hour primetime show itself, hosted by comedian Sebastian Maniscalco — drew an audience of 6.8 million for all programming. The 2019 primetime event itself attracted 4.9 million total viewers.
The MTV production, which saw performances from Miley Cyrus, BTS and others, was the first major awards show of the COVID-19 pandemic. It attempted to pull off a “live” event — but lacked the energy of years prior by a wide margin.
Hosted by “Hustlers” actress-singer Keke Palmer, statues went out to artists including The Weeknd, who won video of the year for “Blinding Lights,” and Lady Gaga, who picked up the most Moon Persons with five awards.
But the mood was somber amid the death of “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman — not to mention the ongoing toll of the pandemic and the unrest brought to light by Black Lives Matter protestors. ABC aired “Black Panther” commercial-less Sunday evening to honor the late actor, which may have diverted viewers from the awards.


newyorkpost--2020-08-31--Star Jones co-hosting virtual Joe Biden/Kamala Harris fund-raiser

Click to email this to a friend ( Opens in new window ) Click to share on Twitter ( Opens @ @ @ @ @ to share on Facebook ( Opens in new window ) Star Jones is co-hosting a @ @ @ @ @ and Sen. Kamala Harris on Tuesday — and sent out an e-mail Monday asking friends @ @ @ @ @ Kamala ” at the event .
“ I ’ m writing to encourage you to @ @ @ @ @ years , Sen. Kamala Harris , ” the former “ View ” host wrote .
@ @ @ @ @ co-hosting with singer Andra Day and “ other longtime friends and supporters.
” Harris is @ @ @ @ @ event .
Tickets start at $ 2,800 .
Supporters who fork over $ 100,000 can @ @ @ @ @ private pre-event reception with Harris .

Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Star Jones is co-hosting a virtual fundraiser for Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris on Tuesday — and sent out an e-mail Monday asking friends to “max out for Kamala” at the event.
“I’m writing to encourage you to support my friend of 30 years, Sen. Kamala Harris,” the former “View” host wrote. She said she’s co-hosting with singer Andra Day and “other longtime friends and supporters.”
Harris is expected to speak at the event. Tickets start at $2,800. Supporters who fork over $100,000 can join and participate in a private pre-event reception with Harris.


newyorkpost--2020-08-31--Jets rookie not content to be the ‘other’ Lamar Jackson

This was not the NFL Scouting Combine experience that Lawrence ...

The Jets rookie cornerback began to realize what was going on when he would Google his name and another football player’s face would show up. It was only after he entered more details about his life — like his hometown or his college — that he could find his own image and what was being written about him.
“That’s when I knew, ‘Damn, I’m going to be in the shadow of this Lamar Jackson forever,’ ” cornerback Lamar Jackson said last week.
Every rookie in the NFL is trying to make a name for himself. For Jackson, an undrafted cornerback out of Nebraska, that will be especially difficult.
The “other” Lamar Jackson is coming off an MVP season with the Ravens, is featured on the cover of “Madden 21” and looks like he could be one of the faces of the NFL for the next two decades. The Jets’ Jackson is trying to make the team.
The 22-year-old has been running with the second team during practices in training camp. He is a long shot to make the roster when the Jets cut down to 53 players this weekend, but has a good chance of being kept on the practice squad.
As for the famous player he shares his name with, Jackson has a good outlook on it. He did not mind getting questions from a reporter on it and knows it is something he has to accept.
“He’s the quarterback, he’s the MVP, he’s the Heisman Trophy winner. He’s great,” Jackson said. “Me, as a football player, me being a corner, of course I want to be the one that can stand my name. I want to be the one who can say I’m the Lamar Jackson, I’m the best. But with my situation I’d be ignorant if I actually did that or if I actually tried to convince somebody of that. So, I just take the back seat and just have fun with it.”
Jackson himself was once a quarterback. Growing up in Elk Grove, Calif., he played quarterback before ending up on defense at Nebraska. There he became a three-year starter and had three interceptions last year to go along with 40 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and 12 pass breakups.
The draft experts projected Jackson to be a third-day pick but he did not hear his name called. Jackson said he was “distraught.” At 6-foot-2 and 208 pounds, Jackson is a big corner. His 40 time of 4.59 seconds may have hurt him in the draft. Jackson is not sure what happened. But he now uses it as motivation.
“When it comes to why I didn’t get drafted, that’s one of the things I’m going to have to live with. That’s one of the things I have to stomach,” Jackson said. “At the end of the day, they let me get my foot in the door and now it’s up to me to stay here and prove to everybody that I belong. It created a big chip [on my shoulder]. I think that’s what I needed to just push, push, push when times get hard or the days get long.”
Submit questions on your favorite New York teams to be answered in an upcoming mailbag
Once the draft was finished, Jackson had offers from several teams. His agent steered him toward the Jets because he saw an opportunity for him with the team and one of his other clients had a good experience with coach Adam Gase in Miami.
Jackson knows his margin of error is slim as an undrafted player. One bad practice could get him cut. But he is determined to make it. Jackson said he had a tough upbringing as the son of a single mother. He is the oldest of five children and sees himself as his siblings’ role model.
“I’m setting the footprint,” Jackson said. “I just graduated from college. I’m doing a lot of stuff that no one, even myself, expected me to do. It’s pressure, but it’s not really pressure. It’s a good feeling to know that I’m doing more than what was expected from me. I’m the backbone of my family and I’m doing something different and not just being a statistic. I’m punching through the sky and showing whatever you can do if you put the work in and you put the time in, you can do it.”
As far as his siblings are concerned, there is only one Lamar Jackson and it does not matter how many trophies the Ravens quarterback wins.
“I don’t know when there will be a time when I’m the more famous or I’m the more popular Lamar Jackson,” Jackson said. “As long as I’m doing what I need to do and my people are proud of me, it’s just a name and we can be great together.”


newyorkpost--2020-08-31--62-year-old caretaker fatally shot at his Brooklyn church

The Yankees entered Monday with a talented , injury-riddled roster .
And ...

A 62-year-old Brooklyn church caretaker was fatally shot on Monday night at the house of worship where he selflessly served, police sources and witnesses said.
The victim, identified by church members at the scene as Edward James, was shot in the torso about 5:10 p.m. in front of Glorious Church of God on the corner Halsey Street near Marcus Garvey in Bedford-Stuyvesant, police and sources said.
James, affectionately known in the neighborhood as “Swaine,” was taken to Kings County Hospital and pronounced dead, police said.
The suspected shooter, who may have targeted James, is believed to be a man in his 30s who fled the scene on foot, sources said. A motive wasn’t immediately clear.
The victim, who had a family and children, was a fixture at the church, his friends at the scene told The Post.
“He was an icon of the church,” said Ronald Stewart, 72, a deacon in the church.
A church musician recalled seeing James regularly sprucing up the outside of the building.
“Always out here taking care, sweeping. Doing everything to upkeep the house of the lord,” the musician, 42-year-old Ron Stewart, said.
Darius McNeil, 32, also a church musician, added of James: “He was our family. We may not have been blood, but he was family.”
Witnesses said they heard three shots go off on the usually quiet block.
“We’re just in shock at what happened. This is a quiet area. So to hear something happened here in the church, it’s unbelievable,” said a witness who identified herself only as Mary.
“We saw the body on the stretcher on the stretcher all bloody, a hole in his back. It is sad,” she said.


newyorkpost--2020-08-31--Why Yankees came away empty-handed at MLB trade deadline

October matters .
Even when it is preceded by no games ...

The Yankees entered Monday with a talented, injury-riddled roster. And that’s still what they had after Monday’s trade deadline.
General manager Brian Cashman said he explored numerous deals and was looking for starting pitching, but came away empty-handed — in part because he was still looking toward 2021 and beyond.
“Without a doubt, the effort was to try to get — whether it was a controllable starter moving forward or even a short-term starter — to continue to give ourselves a better chance,’’ Cashman said Monday. “But the price tag associated was usually a subtraction of an impactful player that was currently playing a role or anticipated to play a very important role for this franchise in the present or immediate future.”
So the likes of Lance Lynn of the Rangers and San Francisco’s Kevin Gausman stayed put, while another potential Yankees target, outfielder Starling Marte of the Diamondbacks, went to the Marlins.
That leaves the Yankees betting their injured stars will get — and stay — healthy in time for them to make a postseason run.
“I’m very comfortable not doing what was being asked of us, but you’ve got to go through those motions,’’ Cashman said.
Cashman and Co. have had to count on some players who might have seemed expendable if the team was at full strength, whether that’s Clint Frazier in the outfield, filling in for Aaron Judge, or Deivi Garcia bolstering their rotation with his impressive MLB debut Sunday.
Without mentioning individual players, Cashman made it clear his focus wasn’t simply on 2020.
“The names that were necessary to execute certain things are names we are going to rely on in the present, as well as the future — and that means the near future,’’ Cashman said. “We feel we have a team that can compete for a title this year when we’re at full strength and we feel we will have a team that can compete, as well, going forward next year and beyond for the same reason.”
Cashman and Aaron Boone were hopeful left-hander Zack Britton would return from his hamstring injury in the coming days and Gleyber Torres could also be back before too long.
The outfield situation is a bit murkier, with Aaron Judge (calf) out for at least a few more weeks and Aaron Hicks dealing with cramped calves on Sunday — although Boone said again Monday Hicks was OK.
Asked if he was taking a “leap of faith” in terms of the team’s health considering their continued issues, Cashman said, “Leap of faith or not, I believe for us to be what we’re capable of being, we need those guys to come back, anyway, whether I made an addition or not. Because I can’t acquire something on the level of a Gleyber Torres or Aaron Judge, anyway.”
Boone also remained confident in what his team already had.
“We look forward to this now being past us and we can get on with it and I think everyone in our clubhouse knows what we’re capable of,’’ Boone said of the deadline before the Yankees began their series against the first-place Rays in The Bronx.
“It’s important to continue to get guys to trickle back in,’’ Boone said. “We feel we have a group capable of being a championship team and that continues to be our goal, even as we weather through a time that’s been a little bit difficult for us. … Certainly, when we’re whole, feel like we have a special group.”


newyorkpost--2020-08-31--Florida man known as ‘the Antifa hunter’ gets prison over racist threats

A Florida man who called himself “ the Antifa hunter ” was sentenced to three years and five months in federal prison on Monday for racially-motivated interference with an election and cyberstalking .
Daniel McMahon , 32 , of Brandon , Fla. , pleaded guilty in April to using social media to threaten black activist Don Gathers , so as to deter him from running for city council in Charlottesville , Virginia .
He also admitted that he threatened to sexually assault the young autistic daughter of a North Carolina woman who protested against white nationalists .
The two victims @ @ @ @ @ @ @ terror and harassment campaign McMahon waged against people who opposed his white supremacist beliefs , federal prosecutors said .
“ This defendant weaponized social media to threaten and intimidate his perceived political enemies and propagate a violent white-supremacist ideology , ” said US Attorney Thomas T. Cullen of the Western District of Virginia .
The FBI found evidence of McMahon ’ s harassment campaigns on his computer , showing that he operated under several pseudonyms , including Jack Corbin , Pale Horse and Dakota Stone .
He also dubbed himself “ the Antifa @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leftist protest movement opposing fascism and extreme right-wing ideology .
Under the name Jack Corbin , he posted messages on social media targeting Gathers .
After the FBI notified Gathers of the threats , the activist announced he wouldn ’ t run for office , to which McMahon responded “ Hail Victory !
, ” prosecutors said .
Following McMahon ’ s Sept. 2019 arrest , the North Carolina woman called federal prosecutors to report that McMahon had sent her hundreds of threatening messages on Facebook , including some detailing how he would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ autistic minor , and that he ’ d tried to extort information about another counterprotester .
He also did a Google search for the term “ sex with autistic girls ” a day before his arrest , according to a court filing .
“ Only a deeply disturbed individual would do this , a monster , ” the woman wrote in a statement read at the sentencing hearing in Virginia .
“ I will never feel completely safe about my child again.
” The woman ’ s statement said McMahon methodically “ cultivated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in her community of anti-racist activists .
“ There is seemingly nothing that Daniel McMahon will not do in the name of white supremacy , ” she wrote .
All told , the FBI found 278 files on McMahon ’ s computer with the word “ owned ” in the title , signaling that he had targeted that victim to his satisfaction .
He compiled 35 gigabytes of data that he could “ weaponize ” against his targets — which included a woman whose child had died that McMahon attempted to extort for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The contents of his computer also revealed a disturbing obsession with racially motivated violence , including images of neo-Nazi James Fields ramming his car into people protesting the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville , killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer .
He also kept a folder of photos of dead black men , including a lynching victim , and had saved graphic images of Trayvon Martin , after the black Florida teenager was gunned down by neighborhood watch member George Zimmerman in 2012 .
Defense attorney Jessica Phillips had asked for her client @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and a half in prison and credit for time served since his arrest , saying he made “ bad choices ” but is remorseful and took full responsibility for his crimes .
US District Judge Norman Moon instead imposed the maximum sentence on McMahon , calling his conduct “ as egregious as it could be.
” “ It may not have been physically violent , but it couldn ’ t have been more violent to one ’ s mental health or feeling of well-being , ” the judge said .

A Florida man who called himself “the Antifa hunter” was sentenced to three years and five months in federal prison on Monday for racially-motivated interference with an election and cyberstalking.
Daniel McMahon, 32, of Brandon, Fla., pleaded guilty in April to using social media to threaten black activist Don Gathers, so as to deter him from running for city council in Charlottesville, Virginia.
He also admitted that he threatened to sexually assault the young autistic daughter of a North Carolina woman who protested against white nationalists.
The two victims were targeted as part of an online terror and harassment campaign McMahon waged against people who opposed his white supremacist beliefs, federal prosecutors said.
“This defendant weaponized social media to threaten and intimidate his perceived political enemies and propagate a violent white-supremacist ideology,” said US Attorney Thomas T. Cullen of the Western District of Virginia.
The FBI found evidence of McMahon’s harassment campaigns on his computer, showing that he operated under several pseudonyms, including Jack Corbin, Pale Horse and Dakota Stone.
He also dubbed himself “the Antifa hunter,” in reference to the leftist protest movement opposing fascism and extreme right-wing ideology.
Under the name Jack Corbin, he posted messages on social media targeting Gathers. After the FBI notified Gathers of the threats, the activist announced he wouldn’t run for office, to which McMahon responded “Hail Victory!,” prosecutors said.
Following McMahon’s Sept. 2019 arrest, the North Carolina woman called federal prosecutors to report that McMahon had sent her hundreds of threatening messages on Facebook, including some detailing how he would sexually assault her daughter, a severely autistic minor, and that he’d tried to extort information about another counterprotester.
He also did a Google search for the term “sex with autistic girls” a day before his arrest, according to a court filing.
“Only a deeply disturbed individual would do this, a monster,” the woman wrote in a statement read at the sentencing hearing in Virginia.
“I will never feel completely safe about my child again.”
The woman’s statement said McMahon methodically “cultivated a culture of fear and chaos” in her community of anti-racist activists.
“There is seemingly nothing that Daniel McMahon will not do in the name of white supremacy,” she wrote.
All told, the FBI found 278 files on McMahon’s computer with the word “owned” in the title, signaling that he had targeted that victim to his satisfaction.
He compiled 35 gigabytes of data that he could “weaponize” against his targets — which included a woman whose child had died that McMahon attempted to extort for information about antifascists, prosecutors said.
The contents of his computer also revealed a disturbing obsession with racially motivated violence, including images of neo-Nazi James Fields ramming his car into people protesting the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer.
He also kept a folder of photos of dead black men, including a lynching victim, and had saved graphic images of Trayvon Martin, after the black Florida teenager was gunned down by neighborhood watch member George Zimmerman in 2012.
Defense attorney Jessica Phillips had asked for her client to receive a sentence of a year and a half in prison and credit for time served since his arrest, saying he made “bad choices” but is remorseful and took full responsibility for his crimes.
US District Judge Norman Moon instead imposed the maximum sentence on McMahon, calling his conduct “as egregious as it could be.”
“It may not have been physically violent, but it couldn’t have been more violent to one’s mental health or feeling of well-being,” the judge said.
With Post wires


newyorkpost--2020-08-31--Brock Lesnar is no longer under contract with WWE

Roman Reigns is becoming everything he used to hate and ...

Brock Lesnar is a free agent.
The pro wrestling and MMA star’s contract with WWE ran out as the two sides were unable to reach a new deal, sources confirmed to The Post. PW Insider was first to report the news. The former UFC heavyweight champion has been a mainstay – thought part-time – with the company since he returned for a second stint in 2012 after a four-year run in MMA.
Lesnar’s last match was at WrestleMania 36 in April, when he lost the WWE championship to Drew McIntyre. The 43-year-old Lesnar’s merchandise has been taken down from WWE Shop, but he still remains on the “Monday Night Raw” roster on the company’s website and not the alumni section. Lesnar’s real-life friend and on-screen advocate is now managing Roman Reigns in storyline.
The multiple-time WWE champion has teased a return to the UFC in past free agency stints, last fighting for the company in 2016 when he beat Mark Hunt at UFC 2000. The victory ended up being overturned after a positive drug test. The former NCAA champion was called out by Jon Jones in 2017 and confronted Daniel Cormier in the octagon in 2018, but nothing came of those instances. UFC President Dana White said last year he consider Lesnar retired from MMA.
This would seem like the perfect time for him to return to the UFC or again use it as leverage against WWE. Jones is making the move to heavyweight and current champion Stipe Miocic is being hailed as the best-ever in the division. There is always an outside chance All Elite Wrestling, backed by the billionaire Khan family, makes a run at Lesnar, but it would be hard to see WWE letting him land with another wrestling promotion.
One current wrinkle in all of this is Lesnar lives in Saskatchewan, Canada. He would be required to quarantine for 14 days upon reentering the country under its current guidelines if he leaves to work an event in the U.S.
WWE and announcer Mauro Ranallo mutually agreed to part ways, the company announced Monday. Ranallo had been working the company’s NXT brand, where Stu Bennett (formerly known as Wade Barrett) had filled in for him recently.


newyorkpost--2020-08-31--Cardi B wanted Lizzo to be in the ‘WAP’ video

Click to email this to a friend ( Opens in new window ) Cardi B revealed that she really wanted @ @ @ @ @ infamous “ WAP ” video .
“ I ’ m cool with Lizzo and everything @ @ @ @ @ ve been sending DMs to each other and all that .
But she was on @ @ @ @ @ t in town .
I was like , ‘ Oh my gosh , ’ because @ @ @ @ @ about how I want to see Lizzo and everything , ” she told Hot 97 @ @ @ @ @ important to me to include different women that are different races and come from different @ @ @ @ @ powerful and influential.
” The song and its video — which made headlines when it @ @ @ @ @ its risque lyrics — featured Megan Thee Stallion , Kylie Jenner , Normani and Doja @ @

Cardi B revealed that she really wanted Lizzo to appear in the infamous “WAP” video.
“I’m cool with Lizzo and everything. Like, we’ve been sending DMs to each other and all that. But she was on vacation and she wasn’t in town. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh,’ because I had a whole vision about how I want to see Lizzo and everything,” she told Hot 97.
“It was so important to me to include different women that are different races and come from different backgrounds, but are so powerful and influential.”
The song and its video — which made headlines when it debuted in August because of its risque lyrics — featured Megan Thee Stallion, Kylie Jenner, Normani and Doja Cat.


newyorkpost--2020-08-31--Will fans watch politicized games and other commentary

“ With their boycott of games ” to “ protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha , Wis. , ” NBA and MLB athletes might have crossed a bridge too far , warns City Journal ’ s Steven Malanga .
“ Fans who were already watching less sports may react negatively to being lectured by wealthy athletes who regularly walk off the job ” — especially given “ the increasing habit of NBA players and coaches of criticizing the US and its citizens , even while many gave a pass to China — one of the league ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crackdown on Hong Kong dissidents.
” Nearly six months of lockdown have “ left fewer eyes on the street and growing worries about safety ” in downtown Minneapolis , Eric Roper and Maya Rao report for the Minneapolis Star Tribune — concerns that “ boiled over last week after rioters broke windows and looted businesses along Nicollet Mall , following false rumors police had killed a black man downtown.
” After months of seeing “ fewer cops , more harassing pedestrians and fights breaking out daily on Nicollet Mall , ” resident Vanessa @ @ @ @ @ @ @ moving my business out to the suburbs.
” Condo listings are soaring and rents sagging .
“ It ’ s heartbreaking to hear the helicopters .
It ’ s heartbreaking to hear the sirens day in and day out , ” says black resident Suzanne Bengtson .
The area ’ s City Council member , Lisa Goodman , warns that looters “ are ripping away at the whole fabric of the city by this lawless behavior.
” 2020 journal : Why the RNC Was a Success “ The Republican National Convention was a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at The Washington Post , because it gave “ millions of reluctant voters ” permission to vote for President Trump .
Voters know it ’ s “ in their economic self-interest ” to back him , but they ’ ve been told repeatedly by Democrats he ’ s a racist .
So the RNC featured black speakers attesting to Trump ’ s achievements for African Americans , a “ side ” of him most Americans never see .
Republicans made a “ sustained , four-day push for African-American votes ” and those of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ I have done more in three years for the black community than Joe Biden has done in 47 years , ” declared Trump , and “ the best is yet to come.
” That , cheers Thiessen , was “ exactly the message ” reluctant voters needed to hear .
“ If there were an epicenter of the shift in our political parties , ” Salena Zito writes in the Washington Examiner , “ Mahoning County , Ohio , would be it.
” Once solid , blue-collar Democratic territory , Mahoning stunningly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2016 .
Why ?
“ A combination of automation , technology and bad trade deals .
.
.
left a scarred landscape not just stripped of factories , but of homes , barbershops , churches — and hope.
” But whereas pro-business , libertarian-minded Mitt Romney got crushed by President Barack Obama there in 2012 , President Trump made gains four years later ( while still coming short of winning the county ) .
In 2020 , “ Republicans plan on making the shift whole ” — and , in doing so , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ parties , with Democrats now representing the upscale and the educated while the GOP emerges as the new home of the working class of all races .
Radical trans activist and author of “ In Defense of Looting ” Vicky Osterweil “ must have been overcome with joy when rioting and looting broke out in the wake of George Floyd ’ s death , ” snarks Ben Sixsmith at Spectator USA .
Yet what she stands for is no joke : “ Osterweil is the classic sort of leftist who attempts to wrap @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as to ennoble it.
” And Osterweil is misogynistic to boot , claiming in her book that “ as a mode of struggle , riots are marked by many characteristics traditionally defined as feminine : not driven by rational argumentation or ‘ proper ’ political dialogue.
” Her arguments in favor of looting are so lousy , Sixsmith admits , they make “ me think she might be an undercover conservative trying to make the left look bad .
”

Sports desk: Will Fans Watch Politicized Games?
“With their boycott of games” to “protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis.,” NBA and MLB athletes might have crossed a bridge too far, warns City Journal’s Steven Malanga. “Fans who were already watching less sports may react negatively to being lectured by wealthy athletes who regularly walk off the job” — especially given “the increasing habit of NBA players and coaches of criticizing the US and its citizens, even while many gave a pass to China — one of the league’s biggest new markets — during its crackdown on Hong Kong dissidents.”
Riot beat: Killing Downtown Minneapolis
Nearly six months of lockdown have “left fewer eyes on the street and growing worries about safety” in downtown Minneapolis, Eric Roper and Maya Rao report for the Minneapolis Star Tribune — concerns that “boiled over last week after rioters broke windows and looted businesses along Nicollet Mall, following false rumors police had killed a black man downtown.” After months of seeing “fewer cops, more harassing pedestrians and fights breaking out daily on Nicollet Mall,” resident Vanessa Rybicka says, “I’m moving my business out to the suburbs.” Condo listings are soaring and rents sagging. “It’s heartbreaking to hear the helicopters. It’s heartbreaking to hear the sirens day in and day out,” says black resident Suzanne Bengtson. The area’s City Council member, Lisa Goodman, warns that looters “are ripping away at the whole fabric of the city by this lawless behavior.”
2020 journal: Why the RNC Was a Success
“The Republican National Convention was a resounding success,” applauds Marc Thiessen at The Washington Post, because it gave “millions of reluctant voters” permission to vote for President Trump. Voters know it’s “in their economic self-interest” to back him, but they’ve been told repeatedly by Democrats he’s a racist. So the RNC featured black speakers attesting to Trump’s achievements for African Americans, a “side” of him most Americans never see. Republicans made a “sustained, four-day push for African-American votes” and those of Americans who care about racial justice. “I have done more in three years for the black community than Joe Biden has done in 47 years,” declared Trump, and “the best is yet to come.” That, cheers Thiessen, was “exactly the message” reluctant voters needed to hear.
Conservative: A Window Onto Realignment
“If there were an epicenter of the shift in our political parties,” Salena Zito writes in the Washington Examiner, “Mahoning County, Ohio, would be it.” Once solid, blue-collar Democratic territory, Mahoning stunningly shifted close to the Republican column in 2016. Why? “A combination of automation, technology and bad trade deals . . . left a scarred landscape not just stripped of factories, but of homes, barbershops, churches — and hope.” But whereas pro-business, libertarian-minded Mitt Romney got crushed by President Barack Obama there in 2012, President Trump made gains four years later (while still coming short of winning the county). In 2020, “Republicans plan on making the shift whole” — and, in doing so, making permanent the realignment of the two parties, with Democrats now representing the upscale and the educated while the GOP emerges as the new home of the working class of all races.
Culture critic: The Case for Looting?
Radical trans activist and author of “In Defense of Looting” Vicky Osterweil “must have been overcome with joy when rioting and looting broke out in the wake of George Floyd’s death,” snarks Ben Sixsmith at Spectator USA. Yet what she stands for is no joke: “Osterweil is the classic sort of leftist who attempts to wrap enough pretty language around violence and destruction as to ennoble it.” And Osterweil is misogynistic to boot, claiming in her book that “as a mode of struggle, riots are marked by many characteristics traditionally defined as feminine: not driven by rational argumentation or ‘proper’ political dialogue.” Her arguments in favor of looting are so lousy, Sixsmith admits, they make “me think she might be an undercover conservative trying to make the left look bad.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board


newyorkpost--2020-08-31--By dumping mentally ill prisoners, homeless on streets, de Blasio hurts everyone

Upper West Side restaurateurs struggling to survive COVID say the ...

Walls riddled with bullet holes. Blood and empty casings on the streets. Syringes and open-air shooting galleries. Addicts walking around in a daze. Emboldened criminals menacing frightened residents. These are the results of the reckless anti-law-and-order policies enacted by many of my colleagues and our mayor.
Compounding these crises are a pair of related issues: an  epidemic of untreated serious mental illness and the emptying of the correctional facility on Rikers, which brings untreated inmates to your doorstep.
New Yorkers struggling with mental-health issues are people with problems, not problem people. They are a vulnerable group in need of compassion and treatment. Simply moving them around doesn’t help anything. When officials don’t properly care for the mentally ill, they only increase public animosity against them. And other vulnerable groups — especially seniors and children — pay a price, too.
A CVS and a Walgreens store in my district have been robbed repeatedly since the city opened a homeless shelter in Glendale. Homeless, often mentally ill people stand around these and other local businesses and harass customers, demanding money with threats. Seniors are afraid to go to their pharmacies and grocery stores.
There are delivery services available, yes, but not every senior can afford the added cost or understand how to use the online systems. It’s already too hard for our seniors to get the medication they need because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the cost of drugs and insurance issues. They now also worry about getting harassed or attacked by untreated substance abusers and/or repeat violent offenders.
Seniors, who have spent their lives paying taxes, raising families and contributing to our city, shouldn’t have to live in fear.
Nor should children. A man in my district was reported to the police and to my office for masturbating in public for two hours, in plain view of children. Men have been seen washing themselves nude in the park. A stairwell near the shelter has frequently been reported as a favorite place for untreated drug users to shoot up. Substance abuse is a devastating and common form of mental illness that often leads to homelessness and crime. Repeat offenders are let back out, rather than being treated in a secure facility — like the one on Rikers Island.
Despite the huge price tag and smoke-and-mirrors p.r. of Co-Mayor Chirlane McCray’s ThriveNYC, we are failing our mentally ill, and it’s destroying our city. The billion-dollar price tag for Thrive might be justified if there were a single metric that suggested it worked. As I found out when I repeatedly asked, there isn’t.
There is nothing compassionate about withholding the treatment they need from the mentally ill. But releasing mentally ill inmates onto the street without making sure they’re treated takes a special form of folly.
Despite attempts to dismiss protests against jails, halfway houses and shelters in our neighborhoods as mere “NIMBY” syndrome or even racism, the truth is that everything the protesters feared has come to pass: crime, harassment, public drug use, indecent exposure and a degraded quality of life. Our community boards have been ignored, while policy is dictated only by slogans that fit on lefty agitprop posters.
The rush to empty out Rikers needs a rethink, stat.
Rikers Island inmates were often treated for their afflictions in the island’s modern Program to Accelerate Clinical Effectiveness units. These can be made more effective with more funding that would still be a drop in the fiscal bucket compared to the construction and operation of neighborhood jails — not to mention the Thrive boondoggle.
The mayor supported increased funding for these units in his executive budget before “Close Rikers” became a social-justice-warrior battle cry.
That’s why my bill in the City Council would establish a task force to study the cost of renovating Rikers Island, compared to projected cost of building neighborhood jails and other such out-of-Rikers programs.
Rebuilding the island’s facilities and instituting new programs for inmates could potentially save the city billions of dollars, as well as provide mental-health treatment, instead of putting them on the streets untreated. I see no benefits to closing Rikers Island and no harm in considering the cost of improving it.
Let’s start by examining and improving the mental-health facilities on Rikers Island.
Our communities clearly oppose new community jails and similar facilities. Rikers Island already exists. Effective mental-health care can unite the city and make us all safer.
Robert Holden represents the 30th District, covering parts of Queens, in the City Council.


newyorkpost--2020-08-31--Cuomo admits ban on NYC indoor restaurant dining may send people to NJ

Restaurants in New Jersey will be able to open for ...

Bernadette Hogan, Julia Marsh, Rachel Green, Bruce Golding

Now we’re the bridge-and-tunnel crowd!
Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio both slammed the door Monday on reopening city restaurants for indoor dining — even as New Jersey announced reduced-capacity seating there will start Friday.
Cuomo acknowledged that his position put hard-hit Big Apple eateries at a “competitive disadvantage” with their rivals in the Garden State.
“I understand that people can go through the tunnel, go over the George Washington Bridge and go to a restaurant in New Jersey, where they can’t do that in New York City,” he said during a virtual news conference from Albany.
But Cuomo said the risk of a second wave of coronavirus cases — combined with the looming flu season — meant he wouldn’t budge on outdoor dining only, even though restaurants in surrounding Westchester, Long Island and upstate have been allowed to operate at 50 percent capacity since June.
“I want as much economic activity as possible. We also want to make sure the infection rate stays under control. That is the tension,” he said.
About 1,300 of the city’s 25,000 restaurants and bars have shut down amid the COVID-19 crisis, according to city Comptroller Scott Stringer, and officials have said 160,000 of 300,000 workers are unemployed.
De Blasio — who last week described restaurant dining as “obviously a very optional activity” — predicted nothing would change until there’s some “huge step forward” in stemming the virus, possibly in the form of “a vaccine in the spring that will allow us to get more back to normal.”
“Is there a way where we can do something safely with indoor dining? So far, we have not had that moment, honestly,” he said.
Meanwhile, Cuomo’s budget director, Rob Mujica, said there was “no specific metric” on what needed to happen.
Mujica said officials were “trying to come up with guidelines” but faced problems because the city’s restaurants and bars “are licensed together.”
Andrew Rigie of the NYC Hospitality Alliance rejected the notion that both types of businesses had to all reopen at the same time.
“There’s more than 25,000 eating and drinking establishments in the city of New York, and approximately half of them don’t have liquor licenses — because they don’t serve alcohol,” he said.
“So if their concern is alcohol, then immediately open the restaurants that don’t have liquor licenses.”
Raymond Lau, manager of the Dim Sum Palace on Manhattan’s famed “Restaurant Row,” said, “It would be unbelievable to wait for a vaccine.”
“With winter coming, it’s so hard to dine outdoors. Right now, we are surviving, but if they are going to defer the indoor dining, we can survive only three or four months,” he said.
Elias N., co-owner of the Galaxy Diner in Hell’s Kitchen, said that although the restaurant can serve 65 people inside, there are only 15 seats outside and “it only fills up on Saturday and Sunday.”
“After October, no one will sit outside,” he said.
“As a human being, this is very bad. Even now I am afraid to pick up a plate even with gloves. I am an old guy. I am ready to retire and go to the Greek Islands.”
In Brooklyn, Travel Bar co-owner Mike Vacheresse, said, “We were able to pay half rent from April through July, but now we have to repay that money.”
“Without a break in rent, and with winter coming, I don’t know how we will continue. We are probably doing 20 percent of our sales right now,” he said.
“And the thing is that the public perception now is that we are doing fine because we have five tables up front with people sitting at them, but that is a fraction of what we do.”
Megan Rickerson, 34, owner of the Someday Bar on Atlantic Avenue, said, “I can’t pay rent. I can’t pay my staff. I can last a couple months, maybe three.”
“Outdoor dining is not a savior by any means,” she said.
“Between drug use and homeless people harassing customers, customers don’t want to wait to dine outside. And there are cars flying by at 40 mph.”


newyorkpost--2020-08-31--1999 Woodstock Doc in The Works at Netflix

Netflix is developing a docuseries focused on the infamous Woodstock ’ 99 music festival , a four-day event designed to celebrate the 30-year anniversary of the original Woodstock festival of 1969 that ended in fiery chaos , sources tell Deadline .
The project , which we hear has started production , hails from Raw , which produced the Netflix documentary Don ’ t F**k with Cats and Fear City : New York vs .
The Mafia , released last month , and BBH Entertainment , the development arm of the global creative agency BBH , which co-produced the 2019 Depeche @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
According to sources , the series will delve deep into the culture that created Woodstock ’ 99 and tell the real story behind how three days of peace , love and music went down in flames .
Featuring unseen archive footage and intimate testimony from people behind the scenes , on the stages and in the crowds , the series aims at telling the untold story of a landmark musical moment that shaped the cultural landscape for a generation .
Woodstock ’ 99 drew more than 400,000 people over four days in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , an event marred by oppressive heat , violence and allegations of sexual assault .
But the worst came on the fourth day during the Red Hot Chili Peppers ’ festival-closing set when candles from the production were used to set fires to sections of the plywood “ Peace Fence ” erected to keep non-ticketholders from entering and a melee erupted with festival-goers looting ATMS and destroying vendor tents .
It ended with dozens of arrests and thousands injured .
MTV covered the festival extensively , with live coverage of the entire weekend @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with a documentary about another music festival that did not go down as advertised with the 2019 Fyre : The Greatest Party That Never Happened .

Netflix is developing a docuseries focused on the infamous Woodstock ’99 music festival, a four-day event designed to celebrate the 30-year anniversary of the original Woodstock festival of 1969 that ended in fiery chaos, sources tell Deadline.
The project, which we hear has started production, hails from Raw, which produced the Netflix documentary Don’t F**k with Cats and Fear City: New York vs. The Mafia, released last month, and BBH Entertainment, the development arm of the global creative agency BBH, which co-produced the 2019 Depeche Mode concert/documentary film Spirits In the Forest.
According to sources, the series will delve deep into the culture that created Woodstock ’99 and tell the real story behind how three days of peace, love and music went down in flames. Featuring unseen archive footage and intimate testimony from people behind the scenes, on the stages and in the crowds, the series aims at telling the untold story of a landmark musical moment that shaped the cultural landscape for a generation.
Woodstock ’99 drew more than 400,000 people over four days in July 1999 in Rome, New York, an event marred by oppressive heat, violence and allegations of sexual assault. But the worst came on the fourth day during the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ festival-closing set when candles from the production were used to set fires to sections of the plywood “Peace Fence” erected to keep non-ticketholders from entering and a melee erupted with festival-goers looting ATMS and destroying vendor tents. It ended with dozens of arrests and thousands injured.
MTV covered the festival extensively, with live coverage of the entire weekend available on pay-per-view.
Netflix had success with a documentary about another music festival that did not go down as advertised with the 2019 Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened.


newyorkpost--2020-08-31--Hailey Bieber explains how she helped her husband Justin’s skin troubles

Click to email this to a friend ( Opens in new window ) Hailey Bieber has lifted the mask on her pop star husband ’ s skin struggles .
“ Justin was struggling a bit with acne .
I tried to help him clear that and get that under control and it is working .
It ’ s gone , and he ’ s really happy , ” she told Elle online .
She added , “ I give him all of the tips that I use personally , and I ’ ve given him products that I use .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ your skin hydrated .
It ’ s taken him a while , though.
” She did admit some beauty “ backlash.
” “ My husband usually has way longer lashes than I do , and I get really annoyed , ” she said .
Hailey also dished about their life in quarantine , and revealed she has taken dermatology courses .
“ I find it interesting , and I really care about my skin and what goes into it , ” she said .
We can only imagine a beauty line is soon @ @ @

Hailey Bieber has lifted the mask on her pop star husband’s skin struggles.
“Justin was struggling a bit with acne. I tried to help him clear that and get that under control and it is working. It’s gone, and he’s really happy,” she told Elle online.
She added, “I give him all of the tips that I use personally, and I’ve given him products that I use. I’m always big on keeping your skin hydrated. It’s taken him a while, though.”
She did admit some beauty “backlash.” “My husband usually has way longer lashes than I do, and I get really annoyed,” she said.
Hailey also dished about their life in quarantine, and revealed she has taken dermatology courses. “I find it interesting, and I really care about my skin and what goes into it,” she said. We can only imagine a beauty line is soon to follow?


newyorkpost--2020-08-31--R. Kelly was nearly stabbed with a pen during jailhouse beatdown: lawyer

The inmate who recently attacked R. Kelly in his Chicago jail cell has “ F–k the Feds ” tattooed to his face and tried to stab the disgraced R & B artist with a pen , court records showed Monday .
The “ Ignition ” crooner was sleeping in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center last Wednesday when the “ violent ” inmate crept in and started “ stomping on [ Kelly ’ s ] head , repeatedly , ” according to a motion filed by Kelly ’ s attorney Steven Greenberg asking the court to release him on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had “ an ink pen with him that he was going to use to stab Mr. Kelly ” but others grabbed him before he could use it .
“ This is an inmate that never should have been anywhere near Mr. Kelly , an individual who is charged with the most violent of crimes , and one who plainly has no respect for the rules , he has the phrase ‘ Fu** The Feds ’ tattooed on his face , ” Greenberg ’ s motion went on .
Greenberg said Kelly “ mostly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ own safety ” but jail officials placed him in solitary confinement following the attack because it was the only way he could be protected .
It ’ s not clear if Kelly is still in solitary confinement .
The inmate who attacked the singer was allegedly upset over recent lockdowns caused by pro-R Kelly protests outside of the jail , Greenberg said .
“ To-date , there have been at least a half-dozen of these displays of support outside of the MCC , always peaceful , ” the attorney wrote in the motion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ needlessly promoted animosity towards Mr. Kelly .
Notably , the institution does not go into lockdown during other , violent , downtown protests or during citywide looting.
” Kelly ’ s legal team has repeatedly petitioned the courts to release him on bail as he awaits trial on a series of child sex abuse charges but all of those requests have been denied .
Following the attack , Greenberg took up that fight again Monday and proposed having the artist live in an apartment with his girlfriend close to the courthouse and with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ judge presiding over the case are yet to file responses to the motion .

The inmate who recently attacked R. Kelly in his Chicago jail cell has “F–k the Feds” tattooed to his face and tried to stab the disgraced R&B artist with a pen, court records showed Monday.
The “Ignition” crooner was sleeping in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center last Wednesday when the “violent” inmate crept in and started “stomping on [Kelly’s] head, repeatedly,” according to a motion filed by Kelly’s attorney Steven Greenberg asking the court to release him on bail.
Greenberg alleged the inmate also had “an ink pen with him that he was going to use to stab Mr. Kelly” but others grabbed him before he could use it.
“This is an inmate that never should have been anywhere near Mr. Kelly, an individual who is charged with the most violent of crimes, and one who plainly has no respect for the rules, he has the phrase ‘Fu** The Feds’ tattooed on his face,” Greenberg’s motion went on.
Greenberg said Kelly “mostly remains in his cell… to ensure his own safety” but jail officials placed him in solitary confinement following the attack because it was the only way he could be protected. It’s not clear if Kelly is still in solitary confinement.
The inmate who attacked the singer was allegedly upset over recent lockdowns caused by pro-R Kelly protests outside of the jail, Greenberg said.
“To-date, there have been at least a half-dozen of these displays of support outside of the MCC, always peaceful,” the attorney wrote in the motion.
“These unnecessary institutional lockdowns have needlessly promoted animosity towards Mr. Kelly. Notably, the institution does not go into lockdown during other, violent, downtown protests or during citywide looting.”
Kelly’s legal team has repeatedly petitioned the courts to release him on bail as he awaits trial on a series of child sex abuse charges but all of those requests have been denied.
Following the attack, Greenberg took up that fight again Monday and proposed having the artist live in an apartment with his girlfriend close to the courthouse and with electronic monitoring.
The government and the judge presiding over the case are yet to file responses to the motion.


newyorkpost--2020-09-01--NYPD Chief Chaplain Rabbi Alvin Kass assaulted in attempted mugging

NYPD Chief Chaplain Rabbi Alvin Kass was mugged on the Upper West Side early Tuesday morning , sources told The @ @ @ @ @ , was on his morning walk when he was attacked around 5:45 a.m. near West @ @ @ @ @ .
The suspect demanded money , with a brief scuffle ensuing and then the attacker @ @ @ @ @ rabbi — the longest-serving member of the NYPD who ’ s served as top chaplain @ @ @ @ @ and hurt his shoulder .
He refused medical attention at the scene .
Kass was @ @ @ @ @ West Side four years ago , while power walking on Riverside Drive between West 83rd @ @ @ @ @ He suffered minor injuries .
“ They didn ’ t say a word , didn @ @ @ @ @ ” Kass said at the time .
“ They just started running .
”

NYPD Chief Chaplain Rabbi Alvin Kass was mugged on the Upper West Side early Tuesday, sources told The Post.
Kass, 84, was on his morning walk when he was attacked around 5:45 a.m. near West 107th Street and Riverside Drive.
Police said the suspect said he was hungry and demanded money, rifling through Kass’ pockets and grabbing his wallet.
The wallet fell to the ground and the attacker fled with nothing.
The rabbi — the longest-serving member of the NYPD, who’s been top chaplain for 54 years — fell and hurt his shoulder, sources said.
He refused medical attention at the scene.
Kass was also mugged on the Upper West Side four years ago, while power walking on Riverside Drive between West 83rd and West 84th streets. He suffered minor injuries.
“They didn’t say a word, didn’t take anything,” Kass said at the time. “They just started running.”


newyorkpost--2020-09-01--Bronx shootout caught on video leaves innocent bystander hurt

An innocent bystander was wounded when two shooters exchanged fire this week during a wild gun battle caught on surveillance video .
The footage , released by cops late Monday , shows a light-colored Dodge pulling up on White Plains Road near St. Ouen Street in Wakefield around 3:30 a.m. Sunday .
A man is shown walking up to the car before he and someone inside started firing at each other .
At one point , the shooter on foot falls back , and so does another person behind him — apparently the bystander — who is blurred out and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ frame .
The car drives away , and the shooter gets up and runs off , the video shows .
The bystander , a 31-year-old man , was taken to Montefiore Medical Center in stable condition , cops said .
The shooters remained at large Tuesday morning .
The gunman on foot is described as around 5-foot-11 , between 18 and 24 years old , last seen wearing a face mask , a black hoodie , black sweatpants , and black and white sneakers .
Cops want to speak to another man , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the beginning of the clip .
He ’ s described as 5-foot-8 , also between 18 and 24 years old , seen wearing an unzipped black hoodie , and a black baseball cap with the letter “ P ” .

An innocent bystander was wounded when two shooters exchanged fire this week during a wild gun battle caught on surveillance video.
The footage, released by cops late Monday, shows a light-colored Dodge pulling up on White Plains Road near St. Ouen Street in Wakefield around 3:30 a.m. Sunday. A man is shown walking up to the car before he and someone inside started firing at each other.
At one point, the shooter on foot falls back, and so does another person behind him — apparently the bystander — who is blurred out and only appears in the corner of the frame.
The car drives away, and the shooter gets up and runs off, the video shows.
The bystander, a 31-year-old man, was taken to Montefiore Medical Center in stable condition, cops said.
The shooters remained at large Tuesday morning. The gunman on foot is described as around 5 feet 11, between 18 and 24 years old, last seen wearing a face mask, a black hoodie, black sweatpants, and black and white sneakers.
Cops want to speak to another man, who is shown walking with the gunman at the beginning of the clip. He’s described as 5 feet 8, also between 18 and 24 years old, seen wearing an unzipped black hoodie, and a black baseball cap with the letter P.


newyorkpost--2020-09-01--Homeland Security chief Chad Wolf confirms probe into funding of rioters

Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf confirmed an investigation is underway into the funding of the rioting taking place amid racial justice protests and unrest nationwide .
“ This is something that I have talked to the AG personally about , ” Wolf told Fox News ’ Tucker Carlson on Monday night , saying that the department is focused on “ targeting and investigating the head of these organizations , [ and ] the individuals that are paying for these individuals to move across the country .
“ What we know , Tucker , is that we have seen groups and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the country , ” he continued .
After telling the story of the RNC member who saw protesters on the plane to DC , Trump was asked by the network for details .
“ I ’ ll tell you some time .
It ’ s under investigation right now , ” he said Monday night , also confirming the probe .
President Trump said that he believes “ some very stupid rich people ” are financing the unrest taking place amongst racial justice protests nationwide .
Speaking to Fox News during a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ made the remarks while discussing the violence and looting that has overrun cities like Portland , Ore. , Kenosha , Wis. and elsewhere in the wake of the mass uprising against police brutality .
Referencing the final night of the Republican National Convention last Thursday , where an violent group walking with demonstrators in Washington DC began accosting prominent guests as they left the festivities , the president told a story from an attendee who flew to the event .
The attendee , according to Trump , traveled to DC “ on a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the plane it was almost completely loaded with thugs wearing these dark uniforms , black uniforms with gear and this and that.
” The president declined to identify the RNC attendee who told him the story , but promised he would reveal it “ sometime.
” “ This person was coming to the Republican National Convention and there were like seven people in the plane [ with ] this person , and then a lot of people were on the plane to do big damage .
This is all happening , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that “ people you ’ ve never heard of , people in the dark shadows ” may be facilitating much of the violence and looting in the streets .
“ The money is coming from some very stupid rich people [ who ] have no idea that if their thing ever succeeded…they will be thrown to the wolves like you ’ ve never seen before.
” Videos posted to social media showed Sen. Rand Paul ( R-Ky. ) and his wife , Kelley , being confronted by dozens of protesters as they tried @ @ @ @ @ @ @ President Trump ’ s GOP convention speech .
DC Metro Police could be seen struggling to keep the angry mob back .
Former Federal Reserve nominee Stephen Moore also said he was attacked , saying he found himself in “ a very dangerous situation.
” After Paul and his wife were attacked , during which they both said they feared for their lives , the Kentucky senator called on the Justice Department to look into who was funding organized riots .

Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf confirmed an investigation is underway into the funding of rioting taking place amid racial justice protests and unrest nationwide and has sent a letter to the Portland mayor urging him to request federal assistance so DHS agents could quell the violence.
“This is something that I have talked to the AG personally about,” Wolf told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson on Monday night, saying that the department is focused on “targeting and investigating the head of these organizations, [and] the individuals that are paying for these individuals to move across the country.
“What we know, Tucker, is that we have seen groups and individuals move from Portland to other parts of the country,” he continued.
After telling the story of the RNC member who saw protesters on the plane to DC, Trump was asked by the network for details.
“I’ll tell you some time. It’s under investigation right now,” he said Monday night, also confirming the probe.
In an effort to take on the unrest in Portland specifically, Wolf sent a letter Monday to Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler urging him to “prioritize public safety” by requesting federal assistance so his agents could quell the violence.
“I urge you to prioritize public safety and to request federal assistance to restore law and order in Portland,” Wolf wrote in the letter, obtained by Fox News.
“We are standing by to support Portland. At the same time, President Trump has made it abundantly clear that there will come a point when state and local officials fail to protect its citizens from violence, the federal government will have no choice but to protect our American citizens,” the letter continued.
Wolf explained in the letter that local law enforcement have made 255 arrests and declared 23 riots and unlawful assemblies since July 31.
“Despite this,” Wolf wrote, “you have stood by passively, arguing that the nightly violence ‘will ultimately burn itself out.’ The evidence demonstrates otherwise.”
President Trump said that he believes “some very stupid rich people” are financing the unrest taking place amongst racial justice protests nationwide.
Speaking to Fox News during a wide-ranging interview Monday evening, the commander-in-chief made the remarks while discussing the violence and looting that has overrun cities like Portland, Ore., Kenosha, Wis. and elsewhere in the wake of the mass uprising against police brutality.
Referencing the final night of the Republican National Convention last Thursday, where an violent group walking with demonstrators in Washington DC began accosting prominent guests as they left the festivities, the president told a story from an attendee who flew to the event.
The attendee, according to Trump, traveled to DC “on a plane from a certain city, and in the plane it was almost completely loaded with thugs wearing these dark uniforms, black uniforms with gear and this and that.”
The president declined to identify the RNC attendee who told him the story, but promised he would reveal it “sometime.”
“This person was coming to the Republican National Convention and there were like seven people in the plane [with] this person, and then a lot of people were on the plane to do big damage. This is all happening,” the commander-in-chief continued.
The president added that “people you’ve never heard of, people in the dark shadows” may be facilitating much of the violence and looting in the streets.
“The money is coming from some very stupid rich people [who] have no idea that if their thing ever succeeded…they will be thrown to the wolves like you’ve never seen before.”
Videos posted to social media showed Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and his wife, Kelley, being confronted by dozens of protesters as they tried to walk back to their hotel after President Trump’s GOP convention speech.
DC Metro Police could be seen struggling to keep the angry mob back. Former Federal Reserve nominee Stephen Moore also said he was attacked, saying he found himself in “a very dangerous situation.”
After Paul and his wife were attacked, during which they both said they feared for their lives, the Kentucky senator called on the Justice Department to look into who was funding organized riots.