IKEA Monkey

Leslie Jones, a star of the all-female "Ghostbusters" reboot, was subjected to a storm of misogynist and racist messages on Twitter.

A month after an ongoing doping scandal led to Russia’s track and field athletes being barred from competing in the upcoming 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the International Olympic Committee says it is looking into its options for enacting a ban on the entire Russian team.

Today’s announcement comes in the wake of a new report from the World Anti-Doping Agency, which seemed to confirm previous allegations by a Russian whistle-blower that the country’s national athletic organizations had been involved in a government-aided campaign to fake results of drug tests.

IOC President Thomas Back calls the findings in the WADA report “a shocking and unprecedented attack on the integrity of sports” and says he plans to “take the toughest sanctions available.”

The IOC executive board says it has started taking disciplinary actions regarding alleged violations of the Olympic Charter and the World Anti-Doping Code by Russian Ministry of Sports officials and others mentioned in the WADA report.

Of more importance to the hundreds of millions who will tune in to watch the Rio games, the executive board says it is exploring the legal options with regard to a “collective ban of all Russian athletes” from these games, which are slated to begin Aug. 5.

The International Association of Athletics Federations — the worldwide governing body for track and field sports — suspended the Russian team from international competition in Nov. 2015. It reiterated that suspension in June, effectively banning these athletes from competing in Rio.

The IOC, saying it wants to balance the integrity of the games with individual athletes’ legal rights, is looking closely at an ongoing appeal regarding this Russian track and field ban. Several dozen Russian team members have argued to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that they should not be barred from competition. That decision is expected to come down on July 21.

In addition to the potential ban on the Russian competitors, the IOC executive board has chosen to press pause on its involvement in any sporting events in Russia, including the 2019 European Games 2019, which are organized by the European Olympic Committees.

No Russian sports officials — or any individuals implicated in the WADA report — will be granted accreditation by the IOC for the Rio games. So even if some of the athletes compete, the Ministry of Sport staffers will not be on the premises.

The WADA report has triggered a new IOC investigation into Russian athletes who competed in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Coaches and support staff will also be part of the probe, which could result in sanctions if any wrongdoing is found.

The IOC is asking for other related sports organizations to freeze their preparations for major events in Russia, and to actively look for alternative locations. This would include World Championships, World Cups or other major international competitions.

Taco Bell's Triple Double Crunchwrap features two layers of seasoned beef, nacho cheese, and crunchy tostada shell plus lettuce, reduced-fat sour cream, and tomatoes wrapped up in a hexagonally-folded flour tortilla and grilled.

It goes for $3.79 by itself in my area or for $5 as part of a Big Box meal, which also includes a crunchy taco, a Doritos Locos Taco, and a medium drink. I spent the extra $1.21 (which is a little less than how much a crunchy taco costs) for the box combo.

While the Triple Double Crunchwrap does indeed come with more filling than a regular Crunchwrap Supreme, despite the name, it doesn't appear to come with double the beef (the new Crunchwrap is good for 23 grams of protein versus 17 grams for the Crunchwrap Supreme).

Given that the Triple Double includes the same ingredients with only more of certain ones, the question then is: Whether it feels meatier, crunchier, or cheesier than the original?

My answer is: Not really. While the Triple Double does indeed look and feel more substantial than the Crunchwrap Supreme, it didn't taste notably beefier, cheesier, nor crunchier, although it was more filling. For the most part, it just felt like a larger Crunchwrap with the same enjoyable flavor profile courtesy of a classic combination of Taco Bell components.

It could possibly be crunchier if you're dining in, but after the short drive home, my two crunchy tostadas were only crunchy at the very edges. I wonder if either Crunchwrap would be better off with shredded cheese, given that there would be less moisture to soften the tostadas, or if the sour cream, lettuce, and tomatoes would render the difference moot.

Overall, Taco Bell's Triple Double Crunchwrap was very much as tasty as a Crunchwrap Supreme but didn't bring much more to the table other than more food to fill my stomach. It's a really nice value if you're a Crunchwrap Supreme fan (which I am) and grab the $5 combo.

Nutritional Info - Taco Bell Triple Double Crunchwrap
Calories - 700 (from Fat - 270)
Fat - 30g (Saturated Fat - 9g)
Sodium - 1550mg
Carbs - 85g (Sugar - 7g)
Protein - 23g

A female college student who competed on a boys water polo team at a Chicago-area high school said in a nationally televised interview that she was sexually assaulted by an opposing player during a game last year.

In an interview with ESPN that aired over the weekend, Rebecca Dabrowski said a player...

J.Crew Factory’s clearance section has everything you need for a summer wedding, a trip to the beach, and ever occasion in between, and you can save an extra 50% on the already discounted prices today with code EXTRA50.

Read more...

For most of the 21st century, you have had a better chance of winning Megabucks or being elected president than of eating Kobe—or any Japanese-raised beef—in this country. Here's why, and how it's starting to change. Read More

A CTA train derailment is causing delays on the Blue Line and the Eisenhower Expressway where the train line meets the highway near the Illinois Medical District stop, according to reports. [ more › ]

Rupert Murdoch, along with his sons Lachlan and James, have reportedly decided to get rid of Roger Ailes, the 76-year-old head of Fox News who was recently sued by former host Gretchen Carlson for sexual harassment.

Read more...

The coming heat and humidity wave may be the worst the city's seen so far this summer. [ more › ]

Well, this is unfortunate. Jennifer Murphy, a beauty queen and former contestant on The Apprentice, made a godawful music video called “I Want to be Neenja.” Yes Virginia, it is as utterly mortifying as you think it is.

Read more...

Here is a theory: Jared Kushner blocked Chris Christie from becoming Donald Trump’s vice presidential nominee as revenge for his father.

Read more...

In the national shouting match over racism, discrimination, and American policing that we’ve conducted since the tragedies in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Falcon Heights, Minnesota, and Dallas, one refrain stands out from all the others in its oily tendentiousness. Barack Obama has made the racial divide worse.

If all your friends jumped off a cliff, would you too? What if your Pokémon took you there?

Bertolli's Chicken Portabella Ravioli frozen meal features chicken and mushroom ravioli in Alfredo sauce with baby portabella mushrooms.

A 9.3-oz package was $1.88 on sale.

The melted cheese shown on the box didn't come across here. It was either melted into the sauce or non-existent.

The ravioli was mostly tender with just a bit of firmness. Whether they had chicken in them was hit or miss and, on the whole, there wasn't all that much chicken going around. Some were filled a lot more than others. Besides the (sometimes present) chicken, each ravioli offered the graininess of ricotta and bits of mushroom.

The sauce was creamy with a good amount of mushrooms and an appropriate mushroom-y flavor, but was a little too thin in the consistency.

Overall, Bertolli's Chicken Portabella Ravioli was nice enough, especially if you like mushrooms. Not so much if you're looking for chicken.

Nutritional Info - Bertolli Chicken Portabella Ravioli (263g)
Calories - 420 (Calories from Fat - 190)
Fat - 21g (Saturated Fat - 12g)
Sodium - 930mg
Carbs - 39g (Sugar - 4g)
Protein - 19g

Chicago, we have some good news—we're getting a small but mighty puppy parade. [ more › ]

Trump Campaign Selects Mike Pence As Concrete Reminder That This All Really Happening

The installation has found a new home at the Royal Botanic Gardens in London.

7-Eleven's Buffalo Chicken Roller is described by the chain as "spicy, crispy & just a little cheesy." It's basically a hot dog-shaped roll of chicken with a Buffalo-sauce-flavored crispy shell.

I bought one for $1.49.

Essentially what you get here is a stick of finely-ground chicken that's somewhat moist and meaty. It feels a lot like a giant chicken nugget but is slightly more dense and seems meatier but not so tender (read: overcooked). There's bits of melted cheese here and there for a creaminess that worked a little as a stand in for bleu cheese or ranch dressing.

The shell was crispy and not all that oily. There's a decent Buffalo sauce flavor to it with the requisite tanginess and heat. Likewise, the heat is fairly moderate and never gets too uncomfortable.

Overall, I liked 7-Eleven's Buffalo Chicken Roller. It doesn't do anything particularly well but ticks off the right boxes for a nice enough crispy chicken stick with Buffalo-sauce flavor that works out rather well when you're in the area and just want to tame a quick meat craving. You can consider it a giant Chicken Fry.

Maybe white Republicans will listen to THIS guy.

TMZ cannot be bothered to fuck around with Jared Leto and his copyright infringement lawsuits. The gossip site responded this week to Leto’s suit, which he filed in December after TMZ ran a video of him slamming Taylor Swift.

Read more...

Remember that time when John Cena was off Raw for, like, six months due to injury and how, despite Vince McMahon’s serious concerns, the Earth continued to revolve around the sun and gravity didn’t suddenly stop working? Yeah, well, that sh*t’s over now: John Cena’s health meter is fully recharged and he is officially up for every single possible media appearance and viral video.

With Cena’s ESPYs hosting debut kicking off mere hours from now, he managed to find a few minutes in his day to sit down with SNL breakout Leslie Jones, who he has enlisted as his new life coach. (Hmm, I wonder where he got that idea from …)

The Ghostbusters star helps prep the 15-time world champion for the ESPYs by running him through a whole host of “what-if” scenarios, including a poorly timed joke about the Toronto Blue Jays and Draymond Green getting into a fight in the audience. (Heads up, comedy writers: I think Mr. Green might miss this year’s ceremony.) Regardless, it’s pretty funny, and if you were a fan of seeing Cena’s posterior in Trainwreck, you get a little bit of that here too.

So yeah, Leslie Jones might not be the perfect life coach, but on the plus side, John, if you just stick with it for eight weeks or so, you just might end up with an Intercontinental Championship title opportunity by default. It’s the one belt you’ve never held in WWE, dogg! Ride this one out for your legacy.

Ryan said at a town hall that while he doesn't agree with every issue, "on balance ... the good clearly outweighs the things I don't agree with."

Today in Dallas, the city held a memorial service for the five officers killed by Micah Johnson last week. The service was attended by Barack and Michelle Obama, among others. It was, as you would expect, a somber affair for everyone—everyone except George W. Bush, who was ready to fucking party.

Read more...

During two separate discussions of Black Lives Matters protests on Tuesday, Donald Trump claimed that people have called for moments of silence for Micah Johnson, the gunman who killed five police officers in Dallas and injured nine others, without specifying who or where.

Read more...

The U.S. Olympic track & field trials continue to pace the sports periphery, and here’s a clip from today’s javelin event for the heptathlon qualifying. This is Utah State’s Chari Hawkins—a former MWC champion in the event—struggling mightily. Given that it’s javelin, it could have gone worse.

Read more...

It’s still unclear how a medium-sized bear got inside a Colorado woman’s Subaru and locked the door, but it’s nice to know that said animal was rescued from his vehicular prison by helpful sheriff’s deputies who had the good sense to get the whole thing on camera.

“How’d you get in there, bear?” a deputy asks in a video posted on YouTube that shows the bear hanging out inside the Subaru Outback around 9 a.m. on Tuesday. The car belongs to a 17-year-old who bought it recently and is using it to drive to her summer job, KGW.com reports (warning: link contains video that autoplays).

“She screamed from downstairs,” she said. “She said, ‘Annie, there’s a bear in your car.’ And I thought that she meant that it broke a window, and I was like, ‘okay, that’s life.’ But, no she actually meant that it was in my car.”

Officials believe the bear got in through an unlocked door that closed after he was inside the vehicle. Though he was discovered just before 9 a.m., deputies say it seems he’d been in there for a while, based on the moisture on the windows, KGW.com reports.

He spent his time on the inside ripping apart the upholstery and the ceiling, though no windows were broken.

“He looked like a dog inside the car just jumping back and forth from front to back,” said one deputy. “He just demolished the car.”

The bear seemed pretty pumped to get back to the wild, making a run for it as soon as the back hatch was popped open.

In the meantime, deputies are warning campers at a nearby campground to be cautious after the incident.

“Bears are unpredictable,” the deputy said. “And they’re starting to realize how to do a lot of human activity.”

Bear stuck inside Subaru rescued by Colorado deputies [KGW.com]

A think tank study of thousands of incidents where law enforcement interactions turned forceful concluded blacks are much more likely to be involved than other groups. The Center for Policing Equity report, released Friday, found the average rate of using force among blacks to be 3.6 times as high as among whites, and 2.5 times as high as the overall rate.

He promised to stay in Chicago this summer... just not there, apparently. [ more › ]

When I was young, Payless was my happy place. I would find cool shoes that no one else had, and my mom would happily purchase them. So, with an extra 20% off clearance items when you use the code ZZCLEAR, you’ll end up paying single digits for awesome shoes. There’s no reason not to get a pair, or five.

Read more...