‘South Park' to Take on ICE in New Episode
The first episode of the wildly popular animated series 27th season savaged President Donald Trump by putting him in a deteriorating romantic relationship with Satan — who the creators previously paired with Saddam Hussein — and endowing the president with a miniscule manhood. And the show's continuing to poke at the twice-impeached commander in chief, his policies and supporters.
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A promo for the the second episode, which airs on Aug. 6, promised more of the same mockery when the teaser arrived July 29. The teaser once again depicts the president with reluctant lover Satan, but this time also involves ICE as well as a woman who appears to be Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Comedy Central revealed on Tuesday (Aug. 5) that the episode is titled 'Got a Nut,' with the description explaining that Mr. Mackay — South Park Elementary's counselor — has lost his job and is 'desperately' trying to 'find a new way to make a living.' (That's him pulling up his face mask while in what appears to be an ICE truck in the promo.) One of the images released from the episode Tuesday also shows a gun-toting woman resembling Noem in an ICE vest.
The cable and streaming network also reported that the first episode of season 27, 'Sermon on the 'Mount' — which ended with an internet-breaking PSA of Trump trudging across a desert — was the top telecast across all cable, racked up its biggest season premiere share on Comedy Central since 1999, up +68% vs. last season's first episode, attracted nearly 6 million cross-platform viewers across Paramount+ and Comedy Central and trended on X for over 12 hours, five of them at No. 1.
The Trump White House slammed the South Park season 27 premiere the day after it aired. 'The Left's hypocrisy truly has no end – for years they have come after South Park for what they labeled as 'offense' [sic] content, but suddenly they are praising the show,' spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement to Variety, claiming that the long-running animated comedy continues to 'hit record lows' and that it 'hasn't been relevant in 20 years.'
Parker and Stone's production company, Park County, is also slated to release, Like That, a live-action movie starring rap superstar Kendrick Lamar in March 2026.
South Park airs Wednesdays on Comedy Central at 10 p.m. ET, and streams on Paramount+ the next day.
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Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Republicans look to make a U-turn on federal commitment to electric vehicles for the Postal Service
WASHINGTON (AP) — A year after being lauded for its plan to replace thousands of aging, gas-powered mail trucks with a mostly electric fleet, the U.S. Postal Service is facing congressional attempts to strip billions in federal EV funding. In June, the Senate parliamentarian blocked a Republican proposal in a major tax-and-spending bill to sell off the agency's new electric vehicles and infrastructure and revoke remaining federal money. But efforts to halt the fleet's shift to clean energy continue in the name of cost savings. Donald Maston, president of the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association, said canceling the program now would have the opposite effect, squandering millions of dollars. 'I think it would be shortsighted for Congress to now suddenly decide they're going to try to go backwards and take the money away for the EVs or stop that process because that's just going to be a bunch of money on infrastructure that's been wasted," he said. Beyond that, many in the scientific community fear the government could pass on an opportunity to reduce carbon emissions that contribute to global warming when urgent action is needed. Electrified vehicles reduce emissions A 2022 University of Michigan study found the new electric postal vehicles could cut total greenhouse gas emissions by up to 20 million tons over the predicted, cumulative 20-year lifetime of the trucks. That's a fraction of the more than 6,000 million metric tons emitted annually in the United States, said professor Gregory A. Keoleian, co-director of the university's Center for Sustainable Systems. But he said the push toward electric vehicles is critical and needs to accelerate, given the intensifying impacts of climate change. 'We're already falling short of goals for reducing emissions,' Keoleian said. 'We've been making progress, but the actions being taken or proposed will really reverse decarbonization progress that has been made to date.' Many GOP lawmakers share President Donald Trump's criticism of the Biden-era green energy push and say the Postal Service should stick to delivering mail. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said 'it didn't make sense for the Postal Service to invest so heavily in an all-electric force." She said she will pursue legislation to rescind what is left of the $3 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act allocated to help cover the $10 billion cost of new postal vehicles. Ernst has called the EV initiative a 'boondoggle' and "a textbook example of waste,' citing delays, high costs and concerns over cold-weather performance. 'You always evaluate the programs, see if they are working. But the rate at which the company that's providing those vehicles is able to produce them, they are so far behind schedule, they will never be able to fulfill that contract," Ernst said during a recent appearance at the Iowa State Fair, referring to Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Defense. 'For now,' she added, "gas-powered vehicles — use some ethanol in them — I think is wonderful.' Corn-based ethanol is a boon to Iowa's farmers, but the effort to reverse course has other Republican support. Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, a co-sponsor of the rollback effort, has said the EV order should be canceled because the project "has delivered nothing but delays, defective trucks, and skyrocketing costs.' The Postal Service maintains that the production delay of the Next Generation Delivery Vehicles, or NGDVs, was 'very modest" and not unexpected. 'The production quantity ramp-up was planned for and intended to be very gradual in the early months to allow time for potential modest production or supplier issues to be successfully resolved,' spokesperson Kim Frum said. EVs help in modernization effort The independent, self-funded federal agency, which is paid for mostly by postage and product sales, is in the middle of a $40 billion, 10-year modernization and financial stabilization plan. The EV effort had the full backing of Democratic President Joe Biden, who pledged to move toward an all-electric federal fleet of car and trucks. The 'Deliver for America' plan calls for modernizing the ground fleet, notably the Grumman Long Life Vehicle, which dates back to 1987 and is fuel-inefficient at 9 mpg. The vehicles are well past their projected 24-year lifespan and are prone to breakdowns and even fires. 'Our mechanics are miracle workers,' said Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union. 'The parts are not available. They fabricate them. They do the best they can.' The Postal Service announced in 2022 it would deploy at least 66,000 electric vehicles by 2028, including commercial off-the-shelf models, after years of deliberation and criticism it was moving too slowly to reduce emissions. By 2024, the agency was awarded a Presidential Sustainability Award for its efforts to electrify the largest fleet in the federal government. Building new postal trucks In 2021, Oshkosh Defense was awarded a contract for up to 165,000 battery electric and internal combustion engine Next Generation vehicles over 10 years. The first of the odd-looking trucks, with hoods resembling a duck's bill, began service in Georgia last year. Designed for greater package capacity, the trucks are equipped with airbags, blind-spot monitoring, collision sensors, 360-degree cameras and antilock brakes. There's also a new creature comfort: air conditioning. Douglas Lape, special assistant to the president of the National Association of Letter Carriers and a former carrier, is among numerous postal employees who have had a say in the new design. He marvels at how Oshkosh designed and built a new vehicle, transforming an old North Carolina warehouse into a factory along the way. 'I was in that building when it was nothing but shelving,' he said. 'And now, being a completely functioning plant where everything is built in-house — they press the bodies in there, they do all of the assembly — it's really amazing in my opinion.' Where things stand now The agency has so far ordered 51,500 NGDVs, including 35,000 battery-powered vehicles. To date, it has received 300 battery vehicles and 1,000 gas-powered ones. Former Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in 2022 the agency expected to purchase chiefly zero-emissions delivery vehicles by 2026. It still needs some internal combustion engine vehicles that travel longer distances. Frum, the Postal Service spokesperson, said the planned NGDV purchases were "carefully considered from a business perspective' and are being deployed to routes and facilities where they will save money. The agency has also received more than 8,200 of 9,250 Ford E-Transit electric vehicles it has ordered, she said. Ernst said it's fine for the Postal Service to use EVs already purchased. 'But you know what? We need to be smart about the way we are providing services through the federal government,' she said. 'And that was not a smart move.' Maxwell Woody, lead author of the University of Michigan study, made the opposite case. Postal vehicles, he said, have low average speeds and a high number of stops and starts that enable regenerative braking. Routes average under 30 miles and are known in advance, making planning easier. 'It's the perfect application for an electric vehicle," he said, 'and it's a particularly inefficient application for an internal combustion engine vehicle.' ____ Associated Press writer Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report. Susan Haigh, The Associated Press Effettua l'accesso per consultare il tuo portafoglio
The Verge
15 minutes ago
- The Verge
Teenage Engineering did it again
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 94, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, did you hydrate today, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I'm visiting LinkedIn way too much because of Mini Sudoku, looking at the fake texts in Apple's marketing materials, marveling at tiny doodles on microchips, listening to Taylor Swift's New Heights podcast episode, learning about model railroad power debates, reading about the death of expertise, catching up on my favorite HGTV home renovation show, and watching a very good drumline. I also have for you some durable cables, a great new Alien show, a strange RPG, and more. (As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What do you want to know more about? What awesome tricks do you know that everyone else should? What app should everyone be using? Tell me everything: [email protected]. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, forward it to them and tell them to subscribe here.) This week I'm featuring Soren Iverson, who you may recognize as the person who posts unhinged design concepts on social media like an iOS app icon filling up based on how many notifications the app has. Whenever these cross my feed, I nearly always cackle. I expected him to bring some of that chaos on his actual homescreen, but I was surprised to learn that his homescreen is even more minimal than mine — which inspired me to make mine a little less busy, too. The phone: iPhone 15 Pro The wallpaper: A black screen. I try to make time on my phone intentional, I call, text, or take notes most frequently. Everything else I bury as a more intentional action I have to take so that I'm generally more focused. The apps: Phone, Messages, Notes I also asked Soren to share a few things he's into right now. Here's what he said: Here's what the Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you're into right now as well! Email [email protected] with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we'll feature some of our favorites here every week. For even more great recommendations, check out the replies to this post on The Verge, this post on Threads, and this post on Bluesky. 'Buying a bunch of Ubiquiti gear for the new house that totally isn't overkill.' — SorryAboutYourCat 'Model railroading. Been holding off converting to DCC from DC hoping a well designed modern alternative will appear, but it's the same over priced out of date market it's always been.' — RoboticsRob 'I've been playing Merge Maestro way too much. It's a fun match game with Super Auto Pets-like emoji artwork. Free-to-start on mobile with a $2 price for the entire game.' — Dominick 'Reading: The Next Conversation by Jefferson Fisher. Playing: Dishonored for the first time. Watching: Mr. Robot and Murderbot (does this count as a theme?) Rabbit hole: Home Assistant and generally reducing my digital footprint (I say as making this public post).' — Omega86 'Just got to watching The Penguin, and it's a really fun gangster romp set in Gotham. I've mostly tired of the superhero stuff, but I'm always a sucker for good origin tales, and this really delivers. And the secret is, it's really about Sofia Falcone and her war with her patriarchal mob family. Cristin Milioti is fantastic in the role.' — verge_user_m573tv18 'UFO 50 just came out on the Nintendo Switch. I've been following the podcast Eggplant: The Secret Lives of Gamers, which is going through each of the 50 games in a book club-like format, with just one game a week.' — -goobers 'I, like many other people, watched Barbarian recently on Netflix. It's leaving on August 31st. The director's new movie, Weapons, just came out. Highly, highly recommend Barbarian. It's fun to go in blind, and even if you've seen the trailer, you'll still be spared some of its great twists. There's more humor in it than you might expect, and the gruesome aspects aren't over-the-top.' — Cameron Google is about to kick off the 2025 gadget season with its Pixel launch event on August 20th. I'd love to hear from you all: Are you planning to upgrade anything this year, and if so, why? What are you hoping Apple, Google, and others will announce? Or are you going to keep holding onto your gear? See you next week! Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Jay Peters Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Installer Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Tech
San Francisco Chronicle
16 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
European leaders to join Ukraine's Zelenskyy for White House meeting with Trump
KYIV (AP) — European and NATO leaders announced Sunday that they'll be joining President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington for crucial talks with President Donald Trump, rallying around the Ukrainian leader after his exclusion from Trump's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The remarkable move — with one European leader after another announcing that they'll be at Zelenskyy's side when he travels to the White House on Monday — was an apparent effort to ensure that the meeting goes better than the last one in February, when Trump berated the Ukrainian president in a heated Oval Office encounter. 'The Europeans are very afraid of the Oval Office scene being repeated and so they want to support Mr. Zelenskyy to the hilt,' said retired French Gen. Dominique Trinquand, a former head of France's military mission at the United Nations. 'It's a power struggle and a position of strength that might work with Trump," he said in a phone interview. The European leaders' presence at Zelenskyy's side, demonstrating Europe's support for Ukraine, could potentially help ease concerns in Kyiv and in other European capitals that Ukraine risks being railroaded into a peace deal that Trump says he wants to broker with Russia. It wasn't immediately clear whether all or just some of them would be taking part in the actual meeting with Trump. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on X that she will take part in the talks, "at the request of President Zelenskyy.' The secretary-general of the NATO military alliance, Mark Rutte, will also take part in the meeting, his press service said. The office of President Emmanuel Macron announced that the French leader will travel on Monday to Washington 'at the side of President Zelenskyy' although it didn't immediately specify that he'll be in the meeting. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will also be part of the European group, but the statement from his office likewise didn't specify that he will be in the talks with Trump. The grouped trip underscored European leaders' determination to ensure that Europe has a voice in Trump's attempted peace-making, after the U.S. president's summit on Friday with Putin — to which Zelenskyy wasn't invited.
