photo

Kara Braxton, who won two WNBA championships during a 10-year career, has died at age 43.

“It is with profound sadness that we mourn the passing of 2x WNBA Champion Kara Braxton,” the WNBA said in a statement Sunday. “Our thoughts are with her family, friends, and former teammates at this time.”

No cause of death has been given.

Born in Jackson, Mich., along with twin sister Kim, Braxton played high school basketball at Jackson High for one season and at Westview High in Portland, Ore., for three seasons.

Braxton, a 6-foot-6 center-forward, played at the University of Georgia from 2001-2004, earning SEC freshman of the year and first-team all-conference honors in 2002. She averaged 15.4 points and 7.3 rebounds a game during her three seasons with the Bulldogs.

“Rest in peace Kara,” Georgia basketball posted on X.

Braxton was selected by the Detroit Shock at No. 7 overall in the 2005 draft. She spent 5 1/2 seasons with the team, winning the WNBA championship in 2006 and 2008 and earning her only All-Star nod in 2007. She also played for the Phoenix Mercury from 2010-11 and the New York Liberty from 2011-14, finishing with career averages of 7.6 points and 4.7 rebounds a game.

New York Liberty’s Kara Braxton grabs the ball between Indiana Fever’s Tammy Sutton-Brown, left, and Tamika Catchings on Sept. 17, 2011.

(Mel Evans / Associated Press)

“We mourn the loss of Kara Braxton, a former Liberty player whose presence and passion left a lasting impact on our organization and the women’s game,” the Liberty wrote Sunday on X. “Our hearts are with her family, friends, teammates, and all who were touched by her spirit. Her impact will not be forgotten.”

Braxton is survived by her husband Jarvis Jackson and two sons, Jelani Thurman and Jream Jackson.

Thurman, a tight end who played three seasons at Ohio State before transferring to North Carolina last month, posted a number of tributes to his mother on his Instagram Story, including a photo of her kissing him as a baby at a Shock media day photo shoot.

“imma miss my queen,” Thurman wrote to accompany another photo, which appears to show him as an older child wearing his mother’s No. 45 jersey to school.

Thurman also posted video of an interview from around the time Ohio State won the 2024 national championship in which he was asked what lessons he learned from his mother that helped get him to that point.

“Man, she taught me always go hard,” Thurman said. “There’s one goal, you know what you need to go to do.”

The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

We grew up with that line from “ABC’s Wide World of Sports” show.

But really, it’s the spaces in between, that can resonate and bring a sense of mortality to these world-class athletes.

As I witnessed these memorable events in this year’s Winter Olympics, I tried to keep in mind the frail dynamics of our collective psyche while performing against a spectacular backdrop of the Dolemites, or walking the historic, ancient streets of Milan.

There are dozens of photographers working at each event. They, like the athletes on the field of play, are in a competition.

Competing with each other to make the best image. Competing with the elements at outdoor venues, like bitter cold, rain, wind and snow. And most of all, competing with themselves to rise above their personal standard of what constitutes an outstanding photograph.

Witnessing what is probably an athletes greatest moment is both a thrill and an honor.

Here are some of the visual surprises.

Mikhail Shaidorov shows his metal as he takes a bite of the gold medal he won in the Men’s Single Skating Final.

French skier Laura Gauche sails against the backdrop of the Dolomites on her way to the finish line in the Women’s Team Combined Slalom.

Figure skater Ilia Malinin feels the pain of a bad performance during the finals for Men’s Single Skating at Milano Ice Skating Arena.

Megan Keller is mobbed by teammates after scoring the winning goal to beat Canada 2-1 in overtime in the Women’s ice hockey final.

Team USA are reflected in the ice during the Women’s Team Pursuit at Milano Speed Skate Stadium.

Swiss skier Melanie Meillard weeps in the arms of her teammate Janine Schmitt after missing a turn on her slalom run Women’s Team Combined Slalom.

Lindsay Vonn is airlifted off the mountain after crashing during the Women’s downhill Alpine skiing event.

USA skier AJ Hurt wags her tongue after a successful slalom run at the Women’s Team Combined Slalom.

Gloves were flying when Tom Wilson, left, of Team Canada engaged with Pierre Crinon, of Team France, at Milano Santa Giulia Ice Hockey Arena.

Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates practice before competing in the ice dancing free skate competition.

USA skater Amber Glenn weeps after completing an imperfect routine in the single skating short program.

USA skaters Eunice Lee and Corinne Stonnard crash in the Women’s 3,000m short track speed skating.

French skater Adam Siao Him Fa performs a flip during the finals for Men’s Single Skating.

Medals and a selfie for Italy, Korea and Canada at the Women’s Team Short Track Speed Skating finals.

The Swiss Women’s ice hockey team leaves their equipment on the ice while celebrating an overtime win over Sweden in the bronze medal match.

“How to Make a Killing” boasts an opening so strong that it buys enough audience goodwill to coast through nearly its entire running time. That’s priceless in a screwball murder movie in which everyone’s soul is for sale.

Death row inmate Becket Redfellow (Glen Powell) is four hours away from execution. A priest (Sean C. Michael) solemnly arrives to take his final confession and finds the condemned man lounging in a sleeping eye mask, griping that his last meal served him the wrong flavor of cheesecake. “Kill me now,” Becket quips.

This will be a tale of crime and punishment told in flashback, rewinding to Becket’s mother, an heiress excised from an eleven-figure fortune for giving birth as an unwed teenager. And it will be, as Becket insists, “a tragedy.”

But while the story’s framework is familiar, what gives this intro sequence zip is Powell’s sly nonchalance, the little bounce he makes on his cot when Becket pivots to give the flabbergasted priest his full attention. He has ours, too. Powell has yet to find his perfect role (this one’s close) but his confidence is why the industry is convinced that he’s the reincarnation of a classic leading man: Tom Cruise or Cary Grant if we’re lucky, or at least Bugs Bunny.

Writer-director John Patton Ford’s morally bleak comedy is itself a reincarnation of the 1949 British caper “Kind Hearts and Coronets,” which egged on an exiled sire as he avenges himself upon his royal family by murdering everyone between himself and dukedom. The 21st century American privilege that Becket is chasing in the remake doesn’t rely on formal titles. He wants cold hard cash, plus a couple of private islands, planes and ultra-luxury yachts. Besides, he’s already got a first name that sounds like a last name, signifying the American upper crust.

This Dickensian vengeance setup gives us an awful lot of people to murder, all caricatures of the elite. The original “Coronets” offed a posh feminist who scattered political leaflets across London from a hot air balloon, Ford spins that passé joke into a gag where Becket’s spoiled cousin (Raff Law) hovers in a helicopter sprinkling money over a pool party and then for good measure, cannonballs into the water to stuff bills in the crowd’s open and appreciative mouths. (For his next trick, perhaps Ford will remake Terry Southern’s outlandish satire “The Magic Christian,” which has a scene like that but five times filthier.)

Lore goes that when Alec Guinness received the “Coronets” script with an offer to play four of the ill-fated tycoons, he wrote back greedily and said, “Why not eight?” To our good fortune, Guinness did play all eight, even the suffragette. “How to Make a Killing” shares the wealth, giving cameos to a very funny Zach Woods as the scion who fancies himself a hipster artist (he takes photos of the unhoused) and Topher Grace as the Redfellow who found faith or, rather, a more sanctimonious spin on grift as a megachurch pastor. Likening himself to Jesus, Grace’s bleached blond huffs, “Don’t hate on me just because my dad’s a big deal.”

There’s a tease of real-world critique in how the preacher has decorated his office with framed photos of himself with various presidents and drug-runners, alluding to the inescapable suspicion that the world is run by a powerful club whose only admissions requirement is a bank balance with plenty of zeros. The jabs stop at allusions — they’re entertaining but as thin as a communion wafer. Still, I guffawed when Becket popped back into his present-day cell to poke fun at his audience, the Catholic priest: “The last thing the Church wanted was an investigation,” he says with a smirk. “I’m sure you know all about that.”

Like his lead character, Ford himself had to ascend in clout to direct this script, which he launched on the Black List in 2014. He instead made his debut with the much-smaller 2022 indie “Emily the Criminal,” which starred Aubrey Plaza as an art student desperate to pay off her student loans. His heart is with the strivers who find that our K-shaped economy makes it impossible to go straight.

Yet he hasn’t cracked whether the corpses in “How to Make a Killing” are victims themselves. The rich Redfellows get dispatched one by one in scenes that are fun but empty — neither cathartic nor comic, simply boxes to be checked off to great big poundings of thunder and harpsichords.

Surely, I thought, the film will figure out how it feels by the time it offs a Redfellow who’s merely ordinary-terrible: Bill Camp’s drunken, cowardly banker. But it doesn’t and the real victim of the indecision is Powell, who is rarely given a reaction to play. (Guilt? Rage? Glee?) He needs to give us an extra hint how he’s feeling — as an actor, Powell is so slick that even his regular smile comes across phony. I’d say he couldn’t be sincere if he tried, except Powell actually does try for one scene and the bleary, terrified look in his eyes is devastating.

While the promise of that gangbusters opening sequence goes a tad unfulfilled, “Killing” has two strong twists and plenty of reasons to enjoy the romp. I suspect that the movie might be too smart for its own good, or perhaps hemmed in by a cynicism that, everywhere we look lately, it appears that crime does pay. As Becket says early on, “We’re all adults here.” Ford sees all the wrong moves and isn’t sure-footed in choosing the right one, even though I think he has. Today’s crowd wants to smash Marie Antoinette’s cake and eat it, too.

At least along the way, there’s a playful love triangle between Julia (Margaret Qualley), the privileged nightmare who’s had Becket wrapped around her pinky finger since grade school, and Ruth (Jessica Henwick), a humble school teacher. Both characters stake out their polarized corners — the rich bitch versus the sweetheart — with Qualley somehow always arranging her legs to be seductively horizontal in her too-few scenes. Henwick is saddled with the more prosaic role and dialogue (“It’s scary to dream small,” she says). Nevertheless, her presence is so compelling that we root for Ruth every time she’s onscreen.

I’m glad that Ford is part of today’s guillotine crew making capers about economic inequality. But the best shot in the movie shows his promise as a romantic comedian: Becket and Ruth bump into each other in the rain and just as they make eye contact, the sun comes out and they share a smile. It’s a tiny moment of magic that gives you hope that these young lovers can work it out. Better still, it even gives you hope for humanity, even if the movie’s overall forecast for society is stormy.

1

2

3

1. Yoshiki Ideguchi, who traveled from Tokyo, watches at Dodgers spring training at Camelback Ranch in Arizona Monday. (Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times) 2. Children lean against a fence and wait to greet players during Dodgers spring training at Camelback Ranch in Arizona on Monday. (Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times) 3. A fan holds a World Series bobblehead while waiting to greet players at Dodgers spring training at Camelback Ranch in Arizona on Monday. (Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

The world’s best basketball players are in the Los Angeles area this weekend for NBA All-Star weekend. It is first time the annual midseason festival is being held at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, the recently-opened home of the Clippers. Festivities started Friday and included the celebrity all-star game, during which one team of celebrities was coached by NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo and the other was coached by actor Anthony Anderson. Team Giannis got the win 65-58, led by an MVP performance from “How to Get Away with Murder” star Rome Flynn. The dunk contest, three-point contest and skills challenge were showcased on Saturday. This year’s dunk contest participants included Carter Bryant of the Spurs, Jaxson Hayes of the Lakers, Keshad Johnson of the Heat and Jase Richardson of the Magic. The three-point contest featured eight players, including five All-Stars. The Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard, who isn’t playing this season while recovering from a torn Achilles, managed to win the three-point contest.

Fans cheer are illuminated by Intuit Dome lights as they cheer during all-star festivities Saturday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

1

2

3

1. The Spurs’ Carter Bryant moves the ball between his legs in midair before dunking during the all-star dunk contest on Saturday. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times) 2. Dodgers star Mookie Betts is welcomed to the court during the celebrity all-star game by the Clippers cheerleaders at the Kia Forum in Inglewood on Friday. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times) 3. Celebrity Keegan-Michael Key laughs with teammates during the all-star celebrity game at the Kia Forum in Inglewood on Friday. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

Team Vince Carter celebrates as Philadelphia 76ers guard VJ Edgecombe wins the Rising Stars game most valuable player honors Friday at the Intuit Dome.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

Smoke fills and lights are deployed during the NBA All-Star events Saturday at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

1

2

3

1. Magic guard Jase Richardson completes a reverse dunk during NBA All-Star dunk contest Saturday at the Intuit Dome. (Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times) 2. Pelicans guard Jeremiah Fears (0) rises up for a lay up while being guarded by Wizards guard Kyshawn George (18) during the final of the NBA rising stars game at Intuit Dome on Friday. (Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times) 3. Lakers forward Jaxson Hayes throws up peace signs as he introduced before the NBA all-star dunk contest Saturday at the Intuit Dome. (Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

The Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard competes in the NBA All-Star three point contest on Saturday at the Intuit Dome.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

Actor Rome Flynn holds up a trophy and smiles after winning NBA All-Star celebrity game MVP honors at the Kia Forum Friday.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

But in a message, released as part of the latest batch of the Epstein files, headed “draft statement” sent by a “G Maxwell” to Jeffrey Epstein in 2015, she wrote: “In 2001 I was in London when [redacted] met a number of friends of mine including Prince Andrew. A photograph was taken as I imagine she wanted to show it to friends and family.”

Controversial director Brett Ratner, whose documentary “Melania,” about the first lady, premiered last week, found himself in the headlines once again over his alleged ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

A photograph, part of the trove of files released Friday in the Department of Justice’s investigation into Epstein, shows Ratner sitting on a couch with his arms wrapped around a woman, whose identity is concealed. She is sitting next to Epstein and a second woman, who is also redacted in the photo and is sitting at the far end of the couch next to the disgraced financier. It is unclear where the photo was taken or when.

The filmmaker is among several prominent individuals from the worlds of entertainment, technology, politics and business — including L.A. Olympics boss Casey Wasserman — who have turned up among the millions of files that the Justice Department has released.

Epstein died by suicide in 2019 in Manhattan Correctional Center while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Ratner’s name also surfaces in a number of emails contained in the released files in which Epstein discusses his attempts to connect with the director and descriptions in which their social circles overlap.

It is not the first time Ratner turned up in Epstein’s orbit. In December, his photo appeared in an earlier batch of files the department released.

In the undated photograph, Ratner is seen seated, hugging a shirtless Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modeling agent and an Epstein associate.

Brunel died of an apparent suicide in 2022 in a French prison while awaiting trial on charges that he had raped a minor.

Ratner has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.

A spokesperson for the director did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

During a Monday appearance on “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” Ratner said that the recently released photograph was taken about 20 years ago. He said that the woman he is hugging was his then-fiancée, whom he declined to name, and that she had invited him to an event where the picture was taken.

“I’ve never been in contact with Jeffrey Epstein before that photo and never in contact with him after,” he said on the show.

Among the emails in which Ratner is mentioned, in December 2010, Epstein discusses a dinner he is having at “7:30” in which he says that he has invited Ratner but has not yet heard back.

In December 2010, it was widely reported that Epstein hosted a dinner at his Manhattan townhouse just months after he finished serving a prison sentence and house arrest for soliciting a minor for prostitution. The dinner was attended by a number of boldfaced names including Woody Allen and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew.

A year later, Epstein’s assistant appears to email Ratner saying, “Jeffrey would like to speak with you regarding [redacted] could you please give us a call.” It is unclear whether Ratner followed up.

In another heavily redacted email from 2018, Epstein writes to someone saying: “Hi I’m Jeffrey. brett Ratner thought we should meet.” He follows up with a second email asking whether Ratner had spoken to this person yet.

During the Cannes film festival in 2012, celebrity superpublicist and ubiquitous presence on the awards circuit Peggy Siegal emailed Epstein that she was sitting with Ratner about to watch a Roman Polanski documentary, adding that “Brett says ‘hi’ and he loves you!”

In other gossipy emails Siegal sent to Epstein, she cites Ratner in her listing of which power brokers and celebrities are in attendance at various parties and who is staying on whose yacht in St. Barts (Ratner, she wrote, was staying with his business partner, the Australian billionaire James Packer).

Siegal’s relationship with the convicted pedophile came under renewed scrutiny in 2019 after Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges, particularly as she helped facilitate his return to society following his prison sentence.

“Had I known that he had been accused of abusing underage girls, I would not have maintained a friendship with him,” she told the Hollywood Reporter.

Siegal could not be immediately reached for comment.

On Nov. 1, 2017 — the day The Times published its investigation in which six women accused Ratner of sexual misconduct — Epstein emailed lawyer Reid Weingarten: “brett ratner now oy.”

Ratner’s career was derailed nine years ago after The Times published detailed allegations against the director made by multiple women who accused him of harassment, groping and forced oral sex. Actor Olivia Munn claimed that Ratner masturbated in front of her when she delivered a meal to his trailer on the set of the 2004 film “After the Sunset.”

At the time, the director’s attorney Martin Singer rejected the women’s claims, saying that his client “vehemently denies the outrageous derogatory allegations that have been reported about him.”

Ratner’s agents at WME dropped him, as did his publicist, and projects were put on hold. Ratner parted ways with Warner Bros.

“I don’t want to have any possible negative impact to the studio until these personal issues are resolved,” he said in a statement.

In 2020, Ratner became embroiled in another Hollywood sex scandal, involving British actor Charlotte Kirk.

In a sworn court declaration, Kirk said she was victimized by then-Warner Bros. Chief Executive Kevin Tsujihara, Ratner, Packer and Millennium Films CEO Avi Lerner, stating that the men “coerced me into engaging in ‘commercial sex’ for them and their business associates.”

Singer, who represented the men, “categorically and vehemently” denied any wrongdoing on the part of his clients.

“Melania” is the first film Ratner has directed since he was largely exiled from Hollywood. The documentary has received harsh reviews from critics, who have also questioned the $75 million Amazon paid to distribute and market the movie. However, during its opening weekend, it grossed a better-than-expected $7.1 million at the box office.

JOE Swash and stepson Zach put on a dapper display as they posed for snaps before attending the TV Choice Awards tonight. 

Zach, 17 – the eldest child of 44-year-old Joe’s wife Stacey Solomon – scrubbed up in a navy suit, white shirt and striped tie. 

While the former EastEnders star opted for a black suit which he teamed with a low-cut black T-shirt. 

He captioned his upload: “Zach & Me off to represent the Solomon Swash’s tonight at the @tvchoicemagazine awards. 

“Proud to be your +1 Zachy. Love you boy.”

But eagle-eyed fans were quick to notice Joe was trying his best to minimize the height difference between him and Zach – by standing on his tip toes. 

FLYING SOLO

Inside Stacey Solomon’s plans to protect £7m fortune and strict rule for Joe

NO JOE-KE!

Stacey Solomon takes swipe at Joe Swash after admitting she ‘can’t look at him’

One wrote: “The tiptoes haha love your relationship with all the kids.”

Another said: “Joe on his tippy toes.”

Someone else wrote: “Joe on your tip toes is cracking me.”

And a fourth added: “Love how Joe is trying to be taller than Zach.”

Stacey is also mum to 13-year-old Leighton from a previous relationship while she and Joe share Rex, six, Rose, four, and Belle, two.

Joe is dad so son Harry, 18, from his relationship with ex Emma Sophocleous.

Last month The Sun told how Stacey is desperate to get fans back on side after a flood of negative backlash over her ‘out of touch’ posts.

A source revealed: “The bottom line is Stacey is no longer relatable. 

“People think she flaunts her wealth and moans all the time – now Stacey’s being advised to rein it in and shut her mouth or risk ruining everything she’s worked so hard for.

“The plan is for Stacey to go back to basics and remember who her audience is. No more bragging about expensive holidays and keeping in mind not everybody is in her position.”

Nicki Minaj, who revealed in 2018 that she was brought to the United States as an “illegal immigrant” from Trinidad and Tobago when she was 5 years old, flashed a Trump gold card Wednesday after an event formally launching the president’s IRA-style savings accounts for children. Her citizenship paperwork, she said on social media, was being finalized.

“Residency? Residency? The cope is coping. … Finalizing that citizenship paperwork as we speak as per MY wonderful, gracious, charming President,” the “Bang Bang” rapper, 43, wrote Wednesday on X, including a photo of the Chucky character flipping his middle finger. “Thanks to the petition. … I wouldn’t have done it without you. Oh CitizenNIKA you are thee moment. Gold Trump card free of charge.”

That post mentioning the card, which delivers citizenship in the United States for those who pay $1 million, may have referred to multiple petitions arguing that the rapper — real name Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty — should be deported to Trinidad and Tobago, where she was born before being raised in Queens, N.Y. A previous post contained a photo of the gold card and the single word “Welp …”

“I came to this country as an illegal immigrant @ 5 years old,” the rapper wrote on Facebook in 2018, posting a photo from the first Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” period of immigration enforcement when migrant children were being separated from their migrant parents at the country’s southern border.

The photo showed children on padded floor mats with silver Mylar thermal blankets, walled in by chain-link fencing. “I can’t imagine the horror of being in a strange place & having my parents stripped away from me at the age of 5. This is so scary to me. Please stop this. Can you try to imagine the terror & panic these kids feel right now?”

In 2020, she said in a Rolling Stone interview that she thought Trump was “funny as hell” on “Celebrity Apprentice” but was bothered by the images of children taken from their parents.

President Trump talks with rapper Nicki Minaj in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday at an event launching the Trump Accounts savings and investment program for children.

(Jose Luis Magana / Associated Press)

“I was one of those immigrant children coming to America to flee poverty,” Minaj told the outlet. “And I couldn’t imagine a little child going through all of that, trying to get to another country because they didn’t have money in their country, or whether you’re fleeing from war … and then being taken away from the one person that makes you feel comfort. That is what really raised my eyebrows.”

At the time, she said she would not “jump on the Donald Trump bandwagon.”

But Minaj has since come around to support the president in his second term, even calling herself his “No. 1 fan” in remarks Wednesday. “And that’s not going to change,” she said.

“The hate or what people have to say, it does not affect me at all. It actually motivates me to support him more, and it’s going to motivate all of us to support him more,” Minaj said. “We’re not going to let them get away with bullying him and the smear campaigns. It’s not going to work, OK? He has a lot of force behind him, and God is protecting him.”

The president introduced her as “the greatest and most successful female rapper in history,” a title that’s accurate going by record sales and overall presence on the Billboard Hot 100. (Of course, Missy Elliott and Ms. Lauryn Hill might want to have a conversation.)

“I didn’t know Nicki, and I’ve been hearing over the years she’s a big Trump supporter, Trump fan,” POTUS continued. “And she took a little heat on occasion because her community isn’t necessarily a Trump fan.”

Trump said Minaj was among those stepping up, along with people including Dell Computers Chief Executive Michael S. Dell, and donating “hundreds of thousands of dollars” of her money to the new accounts. In addition to her generosity, POTUS was definitely a fan of Minaj’s long, painted, pointy pink manicure. He chuckled as he told the audience, “I’m going to let my nails grow, because I love those nails. I’m going to let those nails grow.”

In December, before Christmas, the rapper also appeared onstage with conservative activist Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk, who was slain in September at Utah Valley University. Minaj took the opportunity at the Phoenix conference of Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA, to praise Trump and mock California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Minaj, a Christian, praised Trump at the time for standing up for Christians being persecuted in Nigeria and elsewhere.

“I have the utmost respect and admiration for our president,” Minaj said. “I don’t know if he even knows this but he has given so many people hope that there is a chance to beat the bad guys and to win and to do it with your head held high.”

She also declared onstage that there was “nothing wrong with being a boy.”

“How about that?” she continued. “How powerful is that? How profound is that? Boys will be boys, and there is nothing wrong with that.”

Then Minaj read aloud some of her social media posts mocking Newsom, calling him “Newscum” and “Gavie-poo” and criticizing his advocacy on behalf of “trans kids.”

It’s not as if the “Starships” rapper hid the ball about being harsh when she said in 2023 that she was willing to “be cussing out” certain people at certain times.

“When I hear the word mean, I think about the core of who the person is,” she told Vogue. “I always tell people that the difference between being mean and being a bitch is that bitch passes. Bitch comes and goes. Mean is who you are. I could be the biggest bitch, at the height of my bitch-ness, but if the person I may be cussing out at that time needs something from me, I’m going to give it to them. I have to be able to look in the mirror and be OK with myself.”

Trump accounts for children, a new type of IRA for U.S. citizens who are younger than 18 on Dec. 31 of the year an account is opened, are part of the “Big Beautiful Bill” of tax breaks and spending cuts that was signed into law last summer.

For children born during the second Trump administration, calendar years 2025 through 2028, the accounts will be seeded with $1,000 from the U.S. Treasury when a parent submits a form to the IRS to open the account. Additional pre-tax contributions of up to $5,000 a year are allowed but not required, and a parent is the custodian of the account until the child turns 18. Withdrawals for education, housing or business will be taxed as ordinary income.

Minaj is married to Kenneth Petty — who served four years in prison after being convicted of attempted rape in New York in 1995 — and the couple has one son. Nicknamed “Papa Bear,” the tot was born in 2020, about five years too soon to qualify for that $1,000.