Could a blossoming kinship, forged in the fire of unceremonious dismissals on the same day, be developing between Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon? 

Maybe. That’s one of the big takeaways from Brian Stelter, who reports for Vanity Fair that the two men, in addition to retaining the same entertainment lawyer, have reportedly exchanged several texts in the last few days. The content of those messages isn’t yet known, but I have a feeling they hit the same notes as the statements the two men put out since getting canned: stunned, chaotic, and fuming.

At first blush, Carlson and Lemon don’t seem to share much in common. Carlson helmed one of the most racist, toxic, and hateful programs on cable TV, and is someone of genuine evil. Lemon, though irritating and sexist, during his career as one of CNN’s top personalities, is not. In fact, as Stelter notes in his report, Carlson and Lemon have bashed one another on air: Carlson has deliberately mispronounced Lemon’s name; Lemon once called Carlson’s claim that white supremacy is a “hoax” one of the “dumbest things” he’s ever heard.

But it’s hard to ignore the ominous nature of a potential relationship between the two scorned former anchors, who are all but certain to be plotting their paths back to prominence. That’s especially true when one of the few threads of commonality between Carlson and Lemon, in addition to their high-profile firings, is repeated accusations of misogyny.

Wolfsburg captain Popp may not make UWCL semi-final against Arsenal by Michelle

Arsenal v Wolfsburg will be the biggest match in women’s football on May 1st Bank Holiday. There’s talk that Wolfsburg could be without their captain and star player Alexa Popp for the trip to the Emirates. Apparently she hasn’t been back training two days before the big game versus Arsenal. This is a significant setback to Wolfsburg’s hopes of defeating Arsenal and advancing to the Champions League Final against Barcelona in Eindhoven. But it’s a good thing for the Gunners because they won’t have to worry about man-marking the “busy” Wolfsburg forward.

So, why might Popp be a big miss for Wolfsburg in that game?

The semi-final match between Arsenal and Wolfsburg is square. The opening leg was a 2-2 draw. Because of the draw, the second leg is now an open game in which whoever wins advances to the final. Both sides need someone to step up and do something magical to carry them (whoever it will be) to the final.

While Beth Mead, Vivianne Miedema, captain Kim Little, and vice-captain Leah Williamson are players Arsenal fans could look to for something magical, if they weren’t injured, Popp is exactly that for Wolfsburg fans. Her versatility as a full-back-turned-forward-turned-midfielder-turned-playmaker makes her a valuable asset. When she’s on the pitch, she is a real captain to her teammates, and Wolfsburg will miss that.

Balogun: Staying or Leaving? It seems he’s on his way out by Daniel O

The Manchester City loss seems to have opened Arteta’s eyes. The Spaniard has decided to be ruthless with his decisions. At this point, you are wondering, Ruthless! How?

Well, as per reports, Arteta has finally made some key decisions about players whose futures were uncertain. Of these decisions, Folarin Balogun’s future seems to have been decided. Caught Offside claim the in-form Arsenal striker is up for sale in the summer. The decision not to keep Balogun will shock many. While on loan at Stade de Reims, the Gunner has been on another level. In 31 games, he has managed 18 goals and two assists.

Looking at his numbers, many would have thought he ought to be on the 2023–24 Arsenal team. But it seems Arteta has thought it wise to sanction his sale. Arsenal could get a boost in their summer transfer kitty from his sale. On the other hand, Balogun could go to a place with guaranteed game time rather than warm the benches at Arsenal.

Did anyone expect Balogun to be a starter at Arsenal next season? I doubt many did. However, with his potential departure, Arsenal should make sure they get a capable replacement. They ought to go out there and sign that physical striker they’ve been crying about.

Arsenal fight for Champions League Final but what’s happening in WSL title race? by Michelle

Manchester City defeated West Ham 6-2 last weekend, moving them to second place in the Barclays Women’s Super League standings, behind Man United, dropping Chelsea to 3rd and Arsenal to 4th, albeit with both teams having games in hand over the Manchester clubs.

Manchester United then defeated Aston Villa 3-2 yesterday in the last bloody minute, putting them on 47 points, 9 points ahead of our Gunners. And Man City play bottom-of-the-table Reading at Academy Stadium tomorrow, with an easy win expected for City, taking them to 44 points, 6 points above our Gunners. Arsenal are only 2 points behind Chelsea, but the Blues have a game in hand over our Gunners.. it’s all VERY CONFUSING!! This is the WSL table Top 4, as things currently stand before Man City v Reading on 30th April:

Man United still have 3 WSL games to play, as well as FA Women’s Cup Final 14th May:

7th May Man United v Tottenham – I predict +3 points for United

Mikel Arteta’s insistence on sticking to one playing style is hurting Arsenal. They say you can’t do the same thing repeatedly and expect different results. Rio Ferdinand and Joleon Lescott (ex-Man City stars) wonder why Arteta insisted on employing the same failed tactics against Manchester City.

Arsenal have already met Manchester City three times this season. They have lost these games. The most recent defeat came on Wednesday night, when they lost 4-1. Arsenal’s game strategy failed again, as it had the previous two times. Arteta should have come up with a different plan for their meeting this week, but he did not. Guardiola was the one who made changes to his system.

“Pep talked about his philosophy; he had to change it from a winning philosophy,” the ex-City defender Joleon Lesccot told the Mirro. “He said we went to the Emirates and I wasn’t happy; they won, and he had to change something.

“Mikel Arteta’s faced Pep three times this season, and they’ve lost every time, and he hasn’t changed.”

Rio Ferdinand also had complaints about Arsenal’s tactics against Manchester City. He questioned why Arteta didn’t tweak things after seeing the Citizens dominate over his team. On Rio’s part, he doesn’t understand why Arteta stuck to his initial game plan even though it failed.

On Friday, Montana joined an alarming number of states to ban gender-affirming health care for minors when its Republican governor, Greg Gianforte, signed a bill that had been condemned as “unconscionable” by the state’s first openly transgender lawmaker.

Gianforte, who catapulted to the national spotlight in 2017 after body-slamming a Guardian reporter, signed the legislation despite protest from his nonbinary son, David Gianforte.

“For my own sake, I’ve chosen to focus primarily on transgender rights, as that would significantly directly affect a number of my friends,” David said in a statement that was read to his father last month. Referring to the proposal to restrict transition health care for kids and separate legislation to expressly define sex as binary in Montana code and ban drag performances from public spaces. David added, “I would like to make the argument that these bills are immoral, unjust, and frankly a violation of human rights.”

According to an email exchange seen by the Montana Free Press, the governor expressed a willingness to discuss the issue and hear his son’s concerns. But the subsequent conversations, both in email and in person, don’t appear to have swayed Gianforte from approving the bill to block transition health care for minors.

While speaking out against the anti-LGBTQ bills earlier this month, Zooey Zephyr, the state’s first and only openly trans lawmaker, said she hoped that the next time supporters of the bill prayed, they would see “blood on [their] hands.” The remarks prompted the state’s GOP to ban Zephyr from speaking or voting from the floor. 

Gabriel Jesus hasn’t been himself in the last few weeks. He hasn’t been as influential as he was in his initial Arsenal days. This has left many questions about Arsenal’s strike. Many are starting to believe Jesus isn’t the long-term solution to Arsenal’s attack. There are speculations that Arsenal will be keen to recruit a top striker in the summer. Could Lois Openda be this?

According to the Mail, Arsenal have their eyes on him. The Lens striker is having a superb maiden season in Ligue 1. In 32 games, he’s managed 17 goals and three assists. His brilliant season has seen him attract a lot of interest in his services. He’s only been on the French side for a year, but it seems he isn’t going to stay there for long. However, Arsenal will have to buy him at a hefty price, as he still has four years until his current deal expires.

So why is Openda a striker Arsenal could break the bank for? He is young (23 years old), he is dominant, and almost every top club wants him. Other than that, at the start of April, his teammate, Adrien Thomasson, hinted at why after Len’s 2-1 win over Strasbourg.
“He’s so quick! It’s a real weapon for us,” he said via ligue1.com. “But even when he doesn’t have the ball, he keeps opponents busy and helps us move up the pitch; he’s very important to us.”

I am in favour of Arsenal signing another striker. Gabriel Jesus’ fans can crucify me in the comments section, but if Arteta sees fit to sign Openda, we can trust him. His signings have, at most times, been on point.

Darren N

In a wide-ranging interview with the Wall Street Journal, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito seethed against criticisms of the high court, appeared to mock the abortion pill, and suggested he knew who leaked the draft majority opinion overturning Roe v. Wade. 

“I personally have a pretty good idea who is responsible,” Alito said, declining to name names, “but that’s different from the level of proof that is needed to name somebody.” He then claimed, without providing any evidence, that the leak was an effort to protect abortion rights.

In January, the official investigation into the leak announced that it could not identify a person responsible. But speaking to the WSJ, Alito continued to push unfounded theories that the leak was a left-wing project aimed to “intimidate the court,” before moving on to complain that the leak endangered his life, as well as the lives of other conservative justices on the court.

As for the abortion pill mifepristone, which has been at the center of an incredibly consequential legal battle after a Trump-appointed judge suspended its FDA approval, Alito could barely contain his contempt. “Mifestiprone? However you pronounce the word,” he said. 

All in all, Alito’s comments—unusually loquacious, derisive, and conspiratorial for a Supreme Court justice to air publicly—sure make him sound like someone auditioning to replace Tucker Carlson. That or they’re simply typical of the kind of man, who, shortly after the Dobbs decision, publicly bragged about authoring the opinion to strike down the constitutional right to an abortion. As my colleague Stephanie Mencimer wrote last year, Alito has a particular track record of intellectual condescension and a stunning lack of empathy, characteristics we’ve seen in many of his rulings. Still, even against that history, these new remarks stand out.

Lia Walti: Arsenal are “mentally very strong” and “really hard to beat” by Michelle

Lia Walti looked back on Arsenal Women’s remarkable comeback in the UEFA Women’s Champions League, where our Gunners managed to secure a 2-2 draw against Wolfsburg on their home turf last week.

Despite conceding two goals in the first half-hour, Arsenal showed great resilience and fought back to turn the game around. This result puts Arsenal in a solid position for the second leg, which will take place at Emirates Stadium on May 1st. The capacity at Emirates is 60,704 and there are only 3,000 tickets left – so Arsenal Women will definitely set a new UK attendance record for a Champions League game, and they may even sell out Emirates for the first time ever!

Reflecting on Arsenal‘s 2-2 draw at Wolfsburg last week, Lia said:

“We came here to get as good a result as possible. After being 2-0 down, it was such an incredible shift from the team to come back from that. We did it today for all the girls who have to sit at home and watch us, who got injured in the last months.

The Preis der Nationalgalerie 2024, which is administered by Berlin’s Nationalgalerie and awarded every two years, will for the first time go to four artists. The winners are Pan Daijing, Daniel Lie, Hanne Lippard,and James Richards, who will each produce a new work that will go on view at Berlin’s Hamburger Bahnhof in April. The jury consisted of directors of four collecting institutions: Cecilia Alemani, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Kasia Redzisz, and Jochen Volz, alongside representatives from the Hamburger Bahnhof.

“The new format of the award takes up the idea of ​​the exhibition as a collective exchange and aims to expand the collection through the purchase of the four new productions,” the museum said in a statement.

The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa and the Sobey Art Foundation have announced the long list for the annual Sobey Art Award, which comes with $100,000. The long list is divided into five regional categories—Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, Prairies & North, and West Coast & Yukon—with five artists in each. Among the 25 selected artists are Alan Syliboy, Barry Ace, Michèle Pearson Clarke, Wally Dion, Marigold Santos, Justine A. Chambers, and Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill. The short list will be announced in June, with a winner chosen in November. The full list can be accessed on the NGC’s website.

The inaugural K21 Global Art Award, which was established by the Friends of K20K21 in cooperation with Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, has gone to South African interdisciplinary artist Senzeni Mthwakazi Marasela. Friends of K20K21 has acquired work by the artist totaling 70,000 euros, which will go on permanent loan to the Kunstsammlung.

In a statement, K20K21 director Susanne Gaensheimer said, “Marasela is an artist and a feminist who has achieved so much to give a voice and a visibility to the life and struggles of women living in post-apartheid South Africa. Her work is not only about women and not only about specitic context of South Africa—it captures the emotions and the experiences of something far greater and far more universal.”