Seth Meyers on drones: ‘We’re all losing our mind’
Late-show hosts talk the surge in meme coins and the brouhaha over drone sightings in New Jersey.“America’s obviously in a very fraught political moment,” said Seth Meyers on Wednesday’s Late Night.“There’s been an outpouring of rage over the state of American healthcare, our government is rapidly descending into oligarchy as billionaire wealth soars, the cost of everything from childcare to housing to food remains high, and the incoming administration threatens to harass journalists and jail its opponents.“But I am happy to report that the fourth estate, America’s independent press, is rising to the occasion with bold, truth-telling – and I’m just fucking with you, they’re obsessed with drones,” he continued, referring to feverish coverage of what appear to be small commercial drones in the sky over New Jersey.“It’s just as the prophecy foretold: when the apocalypse comes, it will start in New Jersey,” Meyers joked.
“The government is devolving into a personal autocracy controlled by a corrupt felon and a handful of billionaires who are drawing up plans to enrich themselves and punish their enemies, and all anyone wants to do is talk about a toy you can get at Best Buy for like 40 bucks,” he added.Cable news sought obvious explanations for the drones – they are widely sold, and New Jersey recently relaxed a law over flying them at night, as one expert explains on CNN.“All this clip proves is that drones are incredibly common and are used in virtually every aspect of modern life,” said Meyers.“Would it shock you if some dipshit decided to start flying them at night to freak people out? Especially in New Jersey, a state whose motto is ‘I’m just bustin’ balls.’”Republicans, meanwhile, sowed conspiracy theories.
On a podcast,Nancy Mace, South Carolina representative, pinged between theories that the drones were from foreign actors or even “outer space”,“In one clip, she managed to sound like a whole rack of supermarket tabloids,” Meyers laughed,“Is it aliens? Is it Russia and China? Are Brad and Jen getting back together?“Somehow the suggestion that it’s aliens is not even the craziest part of that clip,” he added,“You think Russia or China lost a nuclear warhead and it’s in New Jersey? Did they lose it at a poker game in New York City?“Look, I get it,We’re all losing our minds,” Meyers concluded.
“But we’ve got to stay focused,”On the Late Show, Stephen Colbert also took on the story of the week,“It’s that special time of year where we deck the halls, put presents under the tree and look to the sky in hope of catching a New Jersey drone,” he quipped,“Where do they come from? Where do they go? Where do they come from, cotton-eye drone?” he added,“At this point, citizens, we still don’t know.
But after weeks of feverish speculation, last night we finally heard from the president, sort of.”While waiting for board Air Force One – and partially drowned out by the plane in the dark – Joe Biden assured the public that there was “nothing nefarious, apparently” about the drone sightings.“Nothing nefarious … apparently? Doesn’t exactly inspire confidence,” said Colbert.“Also, Joe, if you’re trying to reassure an anxious nation, maybe don’t do it in the spookiest lighting humanly possible.“The drones are a nothingburger – unless you ask Republicans, who thinks it’s very suspicious that there’s nothing suspicious,” he continued before a clip of mace devolving into conspiracy theories, including aliens.
“Yes, obviously the drones could be aliens, who are all famously obsessed with New Jersey,” Colbert laughed.
Woolworths says it has more than 40 competitors in Australia – we went looking for them
Australia’s biggest supermarket chain, Woolworths, has described the sector as “fiercely competitive”, naming dozens of retailers it says it is vying with for a share of the grocery market.The country’s other dominant supermarket, Coles, describes competition as “generally strong” and accelerating.The claims have been made amid growing calls for government-backed measures to increase competition and help alleviate cost-of-living pressures.In its submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission inquiry, Woolworths provided a list of more than 40 competitors, ranging from a specialist cheesecake maker to newsagents and online delivery services, as proof of the robust conditions it says it faces.Guardian Australia decided to test that claim by buying and pricing groceries from those stores, and checking for accessibility, to see whether they are really viable alternatives to the major chains
UK house price predictions for 2025: with pay rising and rates falling, they’ll just keep going up
It’s been a bumpy ride for the housing market in recent years, after Liz Truss’s disastrous mini budget of September 2022 created a surge in borrowing costs that have cost many households dearly.But despite elevated mortgage and rent costs, the market this year has turned out to be “surprisingly resilient”, according to Nationwide building society. Experts had expected house prices to stay flat or fall, but average prices are expected to have risen by more than 3% in 2024, after falling by 1.4% in 2023.Looking ahead to the new year, house prices are predicted to grow at a similar or slightly faster rate in 2025 – before accelerating to as much as 5
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When Jorge Rivera-Herrans released part of Epic: the Musical last Christmas, he managed to push Taylor Swift off the top of the US iTunes album charts. So there is a lot at stake when the final instalment of his musical retelling of the Odyssey is released on Christmas Day.Rivera-Herrans’s project has already been an extraordinary success, with more monthly listeners on Spotify (1.6m) than veterans such as Morrissey, Liam Gallagher, or the Sex Pistols, and 119m plays on the platform in the past 28 days alone.“I wanted to have sword fights and the ocean, and I wanted to have gods and monsters, and spells and love and lust and revenge,” he told the Observer
The god illusion: why the pope is so popular as a deepfake image
For the pope, it was the wrong kind of madonna.The pop legend, she of the 80’s anthem Like a Prayer, has stirred controversy in recent weeks by posting deepfake images on social media which show the pontiff embracing her. It has fanned the flames of a debate which is already raging over the creation of AI art in which Pope Francis plays a symbolic, and unwilling, role.The head of the Catholic church is used to being the subject of AI-generated fakery. One of the defining images of the AI boom was Francis in a Balenciaga puffer jacket
Oleksandr Usyk v Tyson Fury II: unified heavyweight championship – live reaction
And Oleksandr Usyk has done it! The Ukrainian has retained his unified heavyweight champion with a unanimous decision over Tyson Fury. All three judges handed down scores of 116-112.Fury leaves the ring without giving an interview. But his promoter Frank Warren is there to speak for him after Usyk is finished.“How could Tyson only got four rounds from this fight?” Warren says
Rickey Henderson, baseball’s greatest leadoff hitter and ‘Man of Steal’, dies aged 65
Rickey Henderson, baseball’s greatest leadoff hitter and the all-time stolen base king, died Friday in Oakland at the age of 65 after battling pneumonia, multiple sources confirmed on Saturday.Henderson’s career was a testament to speed, power and charisma. Over 24 seasons, he racked up a record-breaking 1,406 stolen bases, 2,295 runs scored, and 81 leadoff home runs. A 10-time All-Star, two-time World Series champion, and 1990 American League MVP, Henderson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot in 2009.“My favorite hero was Muhammad Ali,” Henderson said during his induction speech in Cooperstown, New York
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