Cubs acquire Daniel Murphy from Nationals

In an effort to fortify their offense, the Cubs acquired nemesis second baseman Daniel Murphy of the Nationals on Tuesday. Murphy, slowed by injuries this season, batted .529 with four home runs and six RBIs against the Cubs in the 2015 National League Championship Series with the Mets and is a lifetime .325 hitter with nine home runs and 22 RBIs against the Cubs.
The left-handed hitting Murphy, 33, would help an offense that has scored three runs or fewer in seven of their last 10 games, including four in their past four games.
It also could mean that Javier Baez would play more at shortstop and third base with Addison Russell struggling at the plate and coping with a swollen knuckle on his left middle finger and slugger Kris Bryant recovering from left shoulder inflammation.

'Mile 22' Review: Mark Wahlberg Anchors A Convoluted Action Thriller

Opening tonight via the standard advance-night screenings, STX Entertainment’s Mile 22 is another one of their “old-school movie star cast to type” star vehicles that they would like to see become their stock and trade. In this case, it’s another Peter Berg-directed action drama for Mark Wahlberg. It’s their fourth film together in under five years, but it’s the first one that isn’t a true-life historical tragedy.
As always, the whole “Mark Wahlberg: movie star” situation is one that must be viewed through a new-fangled lens. It was just 6.5 years ago when Wahlberg was opening stuff like Contraband to $25 million on his name alone. And Lone Survivor opened with $35m in January 2014.

WWE legend Jim 'The Anvil' Neidhart dies at 63

Former World Wrestling Entertainment personality Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart has died at the age of 63, WWE confirmed Monday morning.
Neidhart died after hitting his head in a fall at his home, the Pasco Sheriff's Office told ESPN. They told ESPN he "succumbed to his injury."
Neidhart was best known as a tag-team wrestler alongside his brother-in-law, Bret Hart. The pair won two WWE World Tag Team Championships together.
Neidhart's daughter, Natalie, currently performs for WWE's Raw brand under the name "Natalya."
"Neidhart last competed in WWE in 1997 but his legacy lives on today through his daughter, Natalya, who displays her father’s signature charisma and toughness every time she steps in the ring," WWE said in a press release confirming Neidhart's death.
"WWE extends its condolences to Neidhart’s family, friends and fans."
Fellow retired performer Ric Flair was among those who also offered their condolences on social media.
"My Good Friend Jim Neidhart, A World Class Athlete And A Man Among Men. Rest In Peace," Flair wrote.

Nicki Minaj’s Album Premiere Was a Weird, Wild Ride

Nicki Minaj debuted her new album Queen on Friday in an impressively unpredictable broadcast on Apple’s Beats 1 radio show. Though scheduled to begin an hour before Queen hit streaming services, the rapper started the program 23 minutes late, “exhausted and delusional” due to lack of sleep. Over the next two hours, she was baffling one moment and uproarious the next, simultaneously “so emotional” about her album release and fiercely dismissive of her detractors — as far as album rollouts go, it was a fitting end to Minaj’s, which featured a series of singles that didn’t make the final tracklist, a series of delayed release dates and a Twitter poll to ask when the album should come out. In between playing the new songs, Minaj dispensed relationship advice and sex tips, promoted her upcoming tour with Future and her clout on social media. She also took the time to correct her fans’ spelling (accept vs. except) and pay homage to some rappers, especially older MCs who prioritize lyricism, while harshly (and hilariously) dissing others. Here are the five best takeaways from the broadcast:

Minaj needs to swear.“We’re part of history,” Minaj assured her listeners during the pre-Queen portion of her Beats 1 broadcast. “This is the first show that Apple has let someone come up here and curse on because I told them my anxiety would skyrocket too much if I couldn’t fucking curse!”

Google Doodle Celebrates Mary G. Ross. Here's What to Know About the First Native American Woman Engineer

Today’s Google Doodle celebrates the 110th birthday of Mary G. Ross, the first Native American woman engineer. Over the course of her five-decade career, Ross achieved many firsts and made major contributions to the aerospace industry. Here’s what to know about the trailblazer, born on Aug. 9, 1908, who opened the doors for future female engineers in the field. Who Was Mary G. Ross? Great-great granddaughter to Chief John Ross of the Cherokee Nation, Mary G. Ross was born in the small town of Park Hill in Oklahoma. Raised with the Cherokee value of learning, Ross pursued a path considered nontraditional for women. After receiving a degree in math from Northeastern State College, Ross taught math and science until she returned to school to earn her master’s in math from Colorado State College of Education.

What were her contributions to aerospace?

In 1942, Lockheed Missiles and Space Company hired Ross as mathematician. But after a manager recognized her talent, Ross was sent to UCLA to earn a classification in aeronautical engineering.

Sam Dekker takes his place with LeBron James on an epic Cleveland billboard

Former Clippers and Rockets forward Sam Dekker

made a splash across social media on Tuesday when he tweeted a Photoshopped image of himself on a billboard that once housed LeBron James’ famous “We Are Witnesses” poster in Cleveland.

Bachelorette Runner-Up Blake Faces Becca: ‘I’m Never Going to Apologize for How Hard I Love’

For the first time since Becca Kufrin ended her relationship with Blake Horstmann, the two came face-to-face — and he had some questions.

During the season 14 Bachelorette finale on Monday, Bachelor Nation watched as Kufrin sent Horstmann home and gave her final rose to Garrett Yrigoyen. Although Horstmann has come to terms with the fact that his relationship with Kufrin is over, he wanted clarity on their split.“I just wanted in that moment, I wanted her to know how madly in love I was with her for quite some time. It didn’t change anything, but I did love her,” Horstmann told host Chris Harrison before Kufrin was welcomed to the After the Final Rose stage and embraced her for the first time.

YouTube, Apple, Facebook and Spotify escalate enforcement against Alex Jones

This post has been updated with a statement from Google, which owns YouTube.

Apple, Facebook, YouTube and Spotify took their most aggressive steps yet to penalize conspiracy theorist and prominent right-wing talk show host Alex Jones for violating their hate speech policies.

Late Sunday, Apple stripped the majority of podcasts published by Jones’s website Infowars from iTunes and its podcast apps. “Apple does not tolerate hate speech, and we have clear guidelines that creators and developers must follow to ensure we provide a safe environment for all of our users,” the company said in a statement to The Washington Post. “Podcasts that violate these guidelines are removed from our directory making them no longer searchable or available for download or streaming. We believe in representing a wide range of views, so long as people are respectful to those with differing opinions.”

Trump Mocks LeBron James’s Intelligence and Calls Don Lemon ‘Dumbest Man’ on TV

President Trump lashed out at the basketball star LeBron James in a scathing attack on Twitter on Friday night after Mr. James criticized the president in an interview on CNN.

In a wide-ranging interview with Don Lemon, an anchor on CNN, Mr. James spoke about a school for at-risk children that he recently helped open in his hometown, Akron, Ohio, in a partnership between his philanthropic foundation and the city’s public schools. During the interview on Monday, he also said Mr. Trump was using sports to divide the country.

Kourtney Kardashian Shares a Cryptic Message About Controlling Anger Amid Feud With Sister Kim

Keeping calm. Kourtney Kardashian shared a cryptic post to both Snapchat and Instagram Stories on Saturday, August 4, about controlling one’s anger in the wake of her very public feud with sister Kim Kardashian.

Capturing a shot from what appeared to be a religious book, theKeeping Up With the Kardashians star underlined one passage in particular: “Be quick to listen, slow to respond, and slow to become angry.”

The reality vet, 39, spoke about her fractured relationship with Kim in an interview with E! on Friday, August 3, admitting there is still some underlying tension between them. “Honestly, I think it’s ongoing. I’ve been really working on myself a lot and I think through my growth, I’m better at expressing myself,” she said. “I think in the past I’ve always been great at, like, not being emotional. I think that I’m better now at expressing my feelings. … It’s a lot of communication instead of letting things go back into the way that they were. It’s definitely a process and you’ll see it throughout the season.”

Suffield, Conn. Employee Investigated After Delay in Reporting Suspected Child Abuse

A Town of Suffield employee is being investigated after reporting an incident of suspected child abuse or neglect that happened last month. According to town officials, the Parks and Recreation employee learned of the incident of suspected child abuse or neglect on July 3.The employee reported the incident to the Director of Parks and Recreation on Friday.

Investigan Empleado de la ciudad de Suffield, Connecticut después de retraso en la denuncia de sospecha de abuso infantil 

Un empleado de la ciudad de Suffield está siendo investigado después de informar sobre un incidente de sospecha de abuso o negligencia infantil que ocurrió el mes pasado. Según el funcionario del pueblo, el empleado de Parques y Recreación se enteró del incidente de sospecha de abuso o negligencia infantil el 3 de julio. El empleado informó el incidente al Director de Parques y Recreación el viernes.