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In mid-July, Twitter users were greeted with a bizarre, suspicious message from the tweets of many major figures on the platform. Some of these individuals included Elon Musk, Joe Biden, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Kanye West, as well as a few prominent companies, such as Apple and Uber. Unbeknownst to the legitimate owners of these accounts, Twitter users were directed to send Bitcoin to a specific wallet address, along with the implication that anyone who did so would get double their money back in return.

This, of course, was a complete hoax. Known as the “I Am Giving Back Hack,” Twitter became the target of a massive, widespread security breach that gave the attackers full control over the afflicted accounts. While the scam was largely ineffective, setting off internal alarm bells – particularly for anyone who knew better after losing a fortune on RuneScape as a kid – the perpetrators managed to scrape together six figures worth of dough from the scam before being located and accosted by law enforcement.

The Blue-Check Blackout

Interestingly enough, there’s one thing that all of the affected accounts had in common, and that’s the little blue checkmark (we know … it’s actually a white checkmark with a blue background) next to their name, denoting Twitter’s verified accounts. The Twitter team did not treat this as mere coincidence, and opted to temporarily disable all verified accounts until the security fiasco was sorted, a decision which certainly didn’t fail to raise some eyebrows.

That brief moment where Twitter halted access to any verified accounts became the sole moment in Twitter history where only non-verified accounts could roam free. It was, in essence, a blue check French Revolution, an apt comparison as the hack happened only a day after France’s Bastille Day, the annual celebration of the Revolution.

Some verified accounts took desperate measures, going so far as to create secondary, non-verified accounts and even spelling out their “tweets” by retweeting letters and words from pre-existing Tweets, typically one letter or word at a time. The majority of verified users – now locked out of their accounts – simply opted not to tweet at all. The silence was deafening (though quite humorous).

A Tense History with Blue Checks

To say that the verification system on Twitter has its fair share of infamy would be somewhat of an understatement. Particularly among self-defined “counterculture” individuals, a sea of blue checks represents nothing short of a loosely defined “elite establishment.” This dichotomy, whether accurate or not, is such a powerful force that a non-negligible percentage of the unverified majority allowed such a division to shape their interactions on the website, sometimes even their entire worldview.

The Outline published an article in 2017, noting that the term “blue check” is used derogatorily. “‘Verifieds’ or ‘blue checks’ are the elite, the establishment,” they said. As such, that little blue check can be – and often is – a point of controversy within a certain subset of Twitter users. In these cases, the term “blue check” is often derogatory, coupled with undertones of elitism and snobbery.

With this in mind, it’s no wonder that many Twitter users rejoiced during the blue-check blackout; for them, this moment was their Bastille, a moment of time when the unverified overcame “the power” of the blue checkmarks. While the situation itself is certainly minor and melodramatic in comparison (not to mention short-lived), the reaction to the blackout is evident of a culmination in a long-standing cultural divide on the platform.

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Kristin Urquiza isn’t running for the House of Representatives or the Senate. She isn’t a governor or up-and-coming mayor. But her speech on the first night of the Democratic National Convention was one of its most moving.

Kristin lost her father, Mark, in June to COVID-19. In her speech, she shared how it wouldn’t have happened if President Trump and his “mouthpieces” spoke honestly about the seriousness of the pandemic.

“He had faith in Donald Trump,” she said. “[He] listened to him, believed him and his mouthpieces when they said that coronavirus was under control and going to disappear; that it was OK to end social distancing rules before it was safe and that if you had no underlying health conditions.”

Kristin Urquiza speech at the Democratic Convention | Joe Biden For President 2020

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Mark went out to a karaoke bar in May, right after the state of Arizona prematurely reopened businesses, and contracted COVID-19. He was placed on a ventilator and died June 30.

“After five agonizing days, he died alone in the ICU with a nurse holding his hand,” she said.

Dealing with the death of a family member is devastating for anyone, but for the Urquiza family it was even worse because they couldn’t comfort him while he was in the hospital.

Kristen said goodbye to him over Facetime.

“One of the last things that my father said to me was that he felt betrayed by the likes of Donald Trump,” Urquiza said. “And so, when I cast my vote for Joe Biden, I will do it for my dad.”

Urquiza belives that Trump didn’t cause the virus, “but his dishonesty and his irresponsible actions made it so much worse.”

“The coronavirus has made clear that there are two Americas: the America that Donald Trump lives in and the America that my father died in,” she said.

Trump’s False Statements on COVID-19 Testing, A Supercut | NowThis

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Kristen’s testimony was powerful because it proves that there are real-world consequences when people in power lie.

Trump has been one of the most dishonest politicians in recent history. As of July 2020, The Washington Post has counted Trump lying over 20,000 times. Even though it’s blatantly obvious to most people in the country that he shouldn’t be trusted on any issue — let alone a deadly pandemic — there are millions who still take his word as gospel.

A recent poll by NBC News found that “58 percent of Americans say they don’t trust what Trump has said about the pandemic, while 31 percent say they do trust his comments.”

Trump’s reckless dishonesty makes him an accomplice to the deaths of tens of thousands of people, one of them being Mark Urquiza.

In early February, Trump claimed the virus would weaken “when we get to April, in the warmer weather.” Later that month, he said it would “disappear” one day, “like a miracle.”

In June, he claimed the virus was “fading away” and in July it was “under control.”

Kristin Urquiza will long be remembered for putting a face to the COVID-19 pandemic. Let’s hope that her tragic story will make those in power think a second time before lying about serious, life-or-death issues.

In the trailer, Khloé is undergoing COVID-19 testing, which then cuts to sister Kim Kardashian telling a family member via Facetime: “I’m super worried that Khloé is so sick.” 

The celeb family is also shown communicating with each other via Zoom calls. At this time, it’s unclear if the mother of one did test positive for the virus, but audiences will definitely find out when the second half of Season 18 of KUWTK returns.

Aside from Khloé’s health scare, the trailer also revealed that her on-again-off-again boyfriend Tristan Thompson will also be featured in the upcoming season. In one clip, the mother of 2-year-old daughter True asked the basketball star: “Why couldn’t you be that when we were together?”  

Will the upcoming season show the couple’s reconciliation?

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Popcorn Duets refers to a series of TikTok duets featuring two singers each taking turns singing every other word or every other syllable in a set of lyrics. The social trend became popular in early August 2020 after popular music TikToker jmko_music created his own Taylor Swift song variation of the challenge inspired by TikToker stupidsri’s popcorn duet video released in late July.

Origin

On July 30th, 2020, TikToker stupidsri created the first Popcorn Duet by only singing every other syllable of “Halo” by Beyonce (shown below). The video gained over 162,300 likes in 20 days.

Spread

On July 31st, 2020, popular TikToker jmko_music posted a Britney Spears variation with the caption, “is this the new way of singing on tiktok 😂 got the idea from @stupidsri” (shown below, left). The video garnered over 937,900 likes in 19 days. The next day, TikToker jmko_music uploaded another popular variation that received over 1.7 million likes in 18 days (shown below right).

On August 5th, many other singers on TikTok started their own Popcorn Challenge videos. That day, brandondavis_music accumulated over 452,400 likes for his country version of the challenge (shown below, left). The next day, TikToker katiesgj uploaded the most popular duet with jmko_music acquiring over 8.9 million likes in 13 days (shown below, right).

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The show has officially moved to MSNBC’s 1 p.m. ET time slot, but Sunday’s Meet the Press — which is also hosted by Chuck — remains unchanged. 

When the 48-year-old took on the role of Meet the Press moderator in 2014, TV’s longest-running program was in bad shape. “I’m a custodian of this seat. It’s a privilege,” Chuck said at the time, but stressed that he didn’t want the show to end with him occupying the chair.

Over a span of three years, NBC’s former chief White House correspondent managed to get Meet the Press back up to No. 1 following a 43 percent drop in viewership during David Gregory’s tenure as host.

“There is no one with a bigger passion for politics than Chuck,” President of NBC News Deborah Turness stated after the father of two joined the MTP team. “His unique ability to deliver that passion with razor sharp analysis and infectious enthusiasm makes him the perfect next generation moderator of this beloved broadcast.”

She added, “Chuck will ensure that Meet the Press is the beating heart of politics, the place where newsmakers come to make news, where the agenda is set.” It sounds like weekends are his time to shine. 

MTP Daily airs weekdays at 1 p.m. ET on MSNBC.

Louis DeJoy, the controversial postmaster general appointed by President Donald Trump, announced on Tuesday that recent policy changes blamed for slowing down the mail would be suspended.

The decision comes shortly after DeJoy, who has been accused of kneecapping the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) in an effort to discourage mail-in voting on behalf of Trump, was ordered to testify on Friday at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing. A House hearing is also slated for Monday.

DeJoy has promised not only to expand a task force on election-related mail but has vowed that such mail will be delivered “on time and within our well-established service standards.”

Retail hours ahead of the election will not be changed, DeJoy added, and mail-processing facilities will not be closed.

DeJoy also stated that mail-sorting machines and blue mailboxes would not be removed either.

Nationwide outrage was stirred earlier this month after documents showed that the USPS planned to remove hundreds of mail-sorting machines to cut costs, although it appears such plans were in motion before DeJoy was appointed.

Trump, who has spent weeks making false claims about mail-in voting and the election being “rigged,” appeared to change his tune on Monday when he tweeted “SAVE THE POST OFFICE.”

The president even openly admitted last week that he opposes giving additional funding to the USPS amid the coronavirus pandemic in order to make delivering mail-in ballots more difficult.

The fiasco, based on legitimate and verified concerns, has also led to widespread conspiracy theories online about mailboxes being secretly removed across the country. Nearly all of the claims cited years-old images of mailboxes that were actually being repaired.

It is true, however, that numerous mailboxes in states including Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Montana have been removed in recent weeks.