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The 2024 <keyword id="23488364" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nobel-Prize-in-Chemistry" source="keywords">Nobel Prize in Chemistry</keyword> honors breakthroughs that are revolutionizing our understanding of proteins, which are fundamental to biological processes. The <keyword id="23473694" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Royal-Swedish-Academy-of-Sciences" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences">Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences</keyword> has awarded the prestigious prize to three scientists: one half to <keyword id="22955998" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="David-Baker" source="keywords">David Baker</keyword> for his pioneering work in computational <keyword id="21969344" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="protein-design" source="keywords">protein design</keyword> and the other half jointly to <keyword id="20754534" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Demis-Hassabis" source="keywords">Demis Hassabis</keyword> and John M. Jumper for their groundbreaking contributions to <strong><keyword id="23487713" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="protein-structure-prediction" source="keywords">protein structure prediction</keyword></strong>.<br /><br />David Baker's research focuses on designing new proteins that do not exist in nature. His computational models allow scientists to create proteins with specific functions, unlocking potential advancements in medicine, biotechnology, and synthetic biology. On the other hand, Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper, co-creators of the AlphaFold project, have made significant strides in predicting how proteins fold into their three-dimensional shapes. This achievement has solved one of biology’s grand challenges, providing a tool that can potentially accelerate <keyword id="19932284" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="drug-discovery" source="keywords">drug discovery</keyword> and enhance our understanding of diseases.<br /><br />This year's award adds to a legacy of <keyword id="21736174" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="scientific-breakthroughs" source="keywords">scientific breakthroughs</keyword> recognized by the Nobel Prize. In 2023, Moungi G. Bawendi, Louis E. Brus, and Alexei I. Ekimov were honored for their work on quantum dots, tiny particles with vast implications for electronics and medical imaging.<br /><br />With a cash prize of 10 million Swedish kronor (approximately $900,000), the Nobel Prize, established by Alfred Nobel, continues to celebrate achievements that have the "greatest benefit to humankind." The Chemistry laureates will receive their awards in a ceremony on December 10, alongside the winners of other categories including Physics, Medicine, Literature, Peace, and Economic Sciences.<br />  <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="114046455" title="Love ChatGPT and Alexa? This year’s Physics Nobel Prize has been awarded to two scientists who made these AI technologies possible" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div><br />

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2024 shared by David Baker, Demis Hassabis, John M Jumper for work on protein

<ul class="summary-list"><li>I am too young to remember any of <keyword id="56589" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Michael-Jordan">Michael Jordan</keyword>'s illustrious <keyword id="6361805" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="NBA">NBA</keyword> career.</li><li>"<keyword id="9054791" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="the-last-dance">The Last Dance</keyword>" — <keyword id="56400" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="ESPN">ESPN</keyword>'s 10-part <keyword id="35012" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="documentary">documentary</keyword> series about Jordan and his <keyword id="250044" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Chicago-Bulls">Chicago Bulls</keyword> — provided me with an opportunity to understand His Airness' legacy far more intimately than I ever have.</li><li><strong style="color: #000000;">The series moved the needle for me and, I suspect, for many other <keyword id="36237" type="SPORT" weightage="60" keywordseo="basketball">basketball</keyword> fans in my same age range in that it made a compelling case that there is no heir apparent to Jordan's legacy.</strong></li><li>Jordan's greatness is unparalleled, and that isn't to say it's superior to <keyword id="112378" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="LeBron-James">LeBron James</keyword>' so much as it is unique, incomparable, and inimitable.</li><li>To me, declaring that James is more or less great when, in reality, he is a different brand of excellence altogether, is a futile exercise.</li></ul><p>Michael Jordan became a legend far before I showed up.</p><p>When I was born, Jordan was averaging 30.9 points per game on 49.5% shooting from the field. He was ramping up to compete for his fourth NBA championship in his first full season back in the league after his baseball hiatus, and he was well on his way to collecting the fourth MVP award of an already incredibly illustrious career.</p><p><div type="image" title="michael jordan young" height="900" width="1200" msid="75853151" hostid="261"></div></p><p>Four days before my grand arrival, Jordan dropped a whopping 53 points on the Detroit Pistons to set a United Center scoring record that wouldn't be broken until I was five years old. And five days after I was born, His Airness recorded a season-high 16 rebounds in a sensational 37-point performance on the road against the New Jersey Nets.</p><p>I was two years old when Jordan won his sixth NBA championship and played his last game with the Chicago Bulls. I had just turned seven when he walked off the hardwood for the final time. <div type="image" title="michael jordan.JPG" height="2041" width="1439" msid="75853153" hostid="261"></div></p><h2>I remember none of Jordan's basketball career</h2><p>Jordan's legacy was signed, sealed, and delivered before I even had a conscious understanding of what professional basketball was and how it influenced the culture around me. He was retired before I ever thought to sit down and watch an NBA game.</p><p><div type="image" title="michael jordan wizards" height="782" width="1043" msid="75853158" hostid="261"></div></p><p>Even so, Jordan was everywhere as I came of age. I knew he was important the same way I knew Babe Ruth was important: two legends of their respective games whose unprecedented levels of greatness rendered them myths in my mind. Ruth hit bombs and wore pinstripes. Jordan hit shots and wore — well, Jordans. That was about the extent of my knowledge on either matter.</p><p>Meanwhile, as I grew into a <keyword id="6356028" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="sports">sports</keyword> fan in my own right, I became aware that LeBron James was the heir apparent to Jordan's GOAT status. At long last, I thought Jordan had a worthy successor, playing his first NBA game just six months after Jordan ended his career for the third and final time.</p><p><div type="image" title="lebron james lakers " height="1000" width="1333" msid="75853160" hostid="261"></div></p><p>Still, I was witnessing greatness in real-time. A mammoth of a man with the finesse of a point guard, the touch of a sharpshooter, and the physical strength of a post player, James had no equal in my mind. Plus, I had always suspected that the tales I had heard about Jordan were a bit exaggerated. Jordan was a relic of a bygone era of basketball, I thought, and the people in my life who had witnessed his dominance firsthand were simply reluctant to hand over the reins.</p><p>So when I learned that ESPN was releasing "The Last Dance" — the 10-part documentary series about Jordan and his 1997-98 champion Chicago Bulls — I was looking forward to getting a feel for what prime Jordan entailed so I could formulate a more informed take on the infamous GOAT debate. </p><p><div type="image" title="michael jordan 1990" height="1125" width="1500" msid="75853162" hostid="261"></div></p><h2>Jordan's competitiveness struck me right away</h2><p>It's not that I didn't know that he was competitive. On paper, I knew it well. But there's quite a difference between what I gleaned from my dad's second-hand tellings and what I saw from the first airing of "The Last Dance."</p><p>Jordan wasn't just a competitor. He was a freak.</p><p><div type="image" title="michael jordan tongue.JPG" height="1091" width="1454" msid="75853164" hostid="261"></div></p><p>His intensity, tunnel vision, ambition, and stunning lack of nuance were so potent it was jarring. From scuffling with his brother, Larry, during childhood to catch his father's attention to <a href="https://www.insider.com/michael-jordan-danny-ainge-golf-63-point-playoff-performance-warning-2020-4">calling his iconic 63-point playoff performance against the Celtics in 1986</a>, Jordan put his unceasing thirst for dominance on full display just two hours into the series.</p><p>The examples of Jordan's unfathomable competitiveness — and the seemingly inconsequential moments that served as his sources of motivation — piled up throughout the next eight episodes. He <a href="https://www.insider.com/michael-jordan-george-karl-snub-2020-5">torched the Seattle Supersonics because the head coach didn't say hello</a> while they were both at the same restaurant. <a href="https://www.insider.com/michael-jordan-poker-charles-barkley-scottie-pippen-magic-johnson-2020-5">He took the Dream Team to the cleaners</a> night after night while playing poker. He worked tirelessly to produce on the baseball diamond. Hell, <a href="https://www.insider.com/bulls-players-scared-of-michael-jordan-last-dance-2020-5">he terrified his own Chicago Bulls teammates</a>!</p><p><div type="image" title="michael jordan yells" height="1125" width="1500" msid="75853167" hostid="261"></div></p><p>I'd never seen anything like it. LeBron James has never been much of a trash talker; he lets his game speak for itself. But Jordan ran his mouth and, somehow, <em>always </em>managed to back it up on the court. It's otherworldly.</p><h2>His "clutch factor" helped his case, too</h2><p>I'm pretty sure I already knew this, but now it's indisputable; with the game on the line, I'm going with Jordan. Every time.</p><p><div type="image" title="michael jordan north carolina" height="1125" width="1500" msid="75853169" hostid="261"></div></p><p>He was doing it back in college, which, as a Duke alumna, was tough to swallow. His Airness secured North Carolina's come-from-behind national championship victory over Patrick Ewing and the Georgetown Hoyas in 1982. With under 20 seconds left and the Tar Heels down by one, a then-freshman Jordan rose up and sank an 18-foot jumper that, for many other athletes, would define a career.</p><p>But for Jordan, it was just the beginning.</p><p>There was "The Shot" over Craig Ehlo in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference opening round, in which Jordan sank a foul-line jumper with three seconds remaining to knock the Cleveland Cavaliers out of the playoffs. He did it again in 1993, this time hitting the game-winner from the elbow in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals to send the Cavs packing.</p><p><div type="image" title="michael jordan" height="1968" width="2500" msid="75853174" hostid="261"></div></p><p>He downed Karl Malone, John Stockton, and their mighty Utah Jazz in the first game of the 1997 NBA Finals with a tie-breaking, deep-two jump shot at the buzzer, only to outdo himself four games later. With the series tied at two games apiece, Jordan strung together a 38-point, seven-rebound, and five-assist masterpiece while battling flu-like symptoms in his legendary "flu game."</p><p>In storybook fashion, Jordan ended his Bulls career with one last clutch moment. He sent Bryon Russell to the deck with a fierce crossover and connected on a jumper from the top of the key in the final seconds of Chicago's Game 6 matchup against the Jazz in the 1998 Finals. Five seconds later, Jordan officially completed his second repeat and earned his sixth Finals MVP award.</p><p><div type="image" title="michael jordan.JPG" height="1290" width="812" msid="75853176" hostid="261"></div></p><p>And that's the thing about Jordan; his clutch moments always, <em>always </em>yielded hardware</p><p>I genuinely believe James gets a bad rap when it comes to his clutchness gene. He's had <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soXYntMDQec">plenty of game-winners, game-savers, and jaw-dropping finishes</a>, and he's practically lived in the NBA Finals with nine total appearances throughout his career. But his 3-6 record, once he gets there, pales in comparison to Jordan's 100% conversion rate in the Finals.</p><p>It's unfair to rest all of the blame for James' losses on just his shoulders, but it's impossible to overlook the fact that many of The King's most incredible moments afforded him little more than a dusty gap on the mantle. Jordan's trophy case, conversely, is filled to the brim.</p><h2>After watching "The Last Dance" in its entirety, I understand Jordan's legacy far more intimately than I ever have</h2><p>Jordan was the competitor of all competitors, the most clutch of the clutch, and the winner of all winners — not to mention the singular face of the game during his long reign. His greatness is unparalleled. And that isn't to say it's superior to LeBron's so much as it is unique, incomparable, and inimitable.</p><p><div type="image" title="michael jordan" height="3000" width="2087" msid="75853182" hostid="261"></div></p><p>And herein lies the crux of the greatest of all-time debate for me — Jordan and James boast two entirely different breeds of greatness. Jordan is boisterous and fiery, unrelenting, and in-your-face. James is poised and consistent, patient, and tenacious. Jordan's legacy was, and continues to be, pervasive; James' is enduring.</p><p>I still believe James is the more gifted basketball player of the two because, somehow, he has become the elusive master of all trades. Nobody has ever played every single position on the floor as fluently as LeBron. He can dribble, pass, shoot, block, lockdown, spot up. He can do it all.</p><p><div type="image" title="lebron james.JPG" height="1491" width="1987" msid="75853183" hostid="261"></div></p><p>But Jordan did what he did — compete, inspire, fight, and win — better than anyone else who's ever tried. Six championships, six Finals MVPs, five NBA MVPs, 14 All-Star Game selections, three All-Star Game MVPs, 10 All-NBA first-team selections, nine All-Defensive first-team selections, and 10 scoring championships speak for themselves.</p><p><div type="image" title="michael jordan" height="1125" width="1501" msid="75853186" hostid="261"></div></p><p>"The Last Dance" indeed moved the needle for me and, I suspect, for many other basketball fans in my same age range in that it made a compelling case that there is no heir apparent to Jordan's legacy. His greatness is irreplicable, plain and simple, and LeBron will never be what Jordan was.</p><p>But to me, declaring that James is more or less great when, in reality, he is a different brand of excellence altogether, is a futile exercise.</p><ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/diana-taurasi-understands-michael-jordan-competitive-mindset-2020-5">Basketball legend Diana Taurasi said Michael Jordan's win-at-all-costs mentality resonates with her</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/michael-jordan-daughter-jasmine-googled-dad-to-understand-basketball-legacy-2020-5">Michael Jordan's daughter, Jasmine, had to Google her dad to understand his basketball legacy</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/shaq-michael-jordan-nba-goat-would-average-45-points-today-2020-5">Shaq says Michael Jordan is 'the best player ever' and that he'd easily average 45 points in today's NBA</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/charles-barkley-michael-jordan-1993-nba-finals-the-last-dance-2020-5">Charles Barkley said facing off against Michael Jordan in the 1993 NBA Finals was 'the first time in my life that I felt like there was a better basketball player in the world than me'</a></li></ul>Read the original article on <a href="https://www.insider.com/the-last-dance-shifted-stance-jordan-lebron-goat-debate-2020-5">Insider</a>

'The Last Dance' was my first real look into Michael Jordan's greatness, and it's shifted my perspective on the GOAT debate

<ul class="summary-list"><li>RJ Barrett had an uneven rookie season and was left off the All-Rookie team.</li><li>In his second season, Barrett has made huge strides as a scorer and playmaker.</li><li>Barrett is just 20, and his growth indicates he could become a star and core piece for the Knicks.</li></ul><p><keyword id="111553" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="New-York-Knicks">New York Knicks</keyword> guard/forward RJ Barrett was straight-forward in his first media session this season about being left off the 2019-20 All-Rookie team.</p><p>"It bothered me a lot," Barrett told reporters. "Not going to lie. It bothered me a lot. I really don't understand why I wasn't on it. But it was motivation, motivation for next season. It was good to have an extra chip on my shoulder and just prove myself even more."</p><p>So far, Barrett has used that motivation to turn in an impressive sophomore season that has made him look like a core piece the Knicks can build around.</p><p>Barrett's rookie season was uneven. Taken with the third pick in the 2019 draft, behind fellow Duke star Zion Williamson and Ja Morant, Barrett's per-game averages looked good: 14 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists.</p><p>However, Barrett was also wildly inefficient, shooting just 40% from the field, 32% from three, and 61% from the free-throw line. He was just one of two players to post an eFG (a weighted stat that includes threes and free throws) of less than 45% while taking over 500 field goal attempts.</p><p>His inefficiency underwhelmed observers while others worried about his iffy shot selection and lack of vertical explosion.</p><p>But under new head coach Tom Thibodeau, with a better-fitting roster, Barrett is suddenly looking worthy of a top-three pick, with the potential to grow into a star, given his age and rapid development.</p><h2>Barrett is playing to his strengths and tweaking weaknesses</h2><p>In his second season, Barrett is making the most of the tools at his disposal:</p><ul><li>He has strength beyond most players his age.</li><li>He's a good ball-handler with some playmaking chops.</li><li>He's an iffy shooter and not explosive around the basket.</li></ul><p>This season Barrett has cut down on his pull-up jumpers and taken more catch-and-shoot attempts. He has developed patience on drives, learning to put defenders on his hip, slow his dribble, and use his strength to knock over defenders near the basket.</p><p>Through 44 games, Barrett is averaging 17 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists per game - modest improvements from last year. He's posting a 45-34-73 shooting line, which is improved but still below-average on the whole.</p><p>However, Barrett's progress in Year 2 also requires closer examination than just his overall stats.</p><p>Since January 1, Barrett is shooting 46.8% from the field and 38.8% from three. His average on the season has been weighed down by a stretch in December where he missed 21 straight three-pointers. Without that stretch - an outlier on the whole - he would be 50-of-124 from deep, 40.3% on the season, an excellent mark.</p><p>Fine-tuning his stroke has been a point of emphasis for Barrett, but he has also improved his accuracy by taking better shots. According to <keyword id="6361805" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="NBA">NBA</keyword> tracking data, just seven of Barrett's three-point attempts have been classified as "pull-ups." In 56 games last season, he took 37 such shots.</p><p>Instead, Barrett has mostly relied on catch-and-shoot threes, with an emphasis on corner threes.</p><p>Meanwhile, Barrett has quickly adapted to the size and length of NBA defenders. In his rookie season, Barrett would try to finish over defenders to no avail or end up taking wild, fade-away shots to get around opponents' contests.</p><p>He has learned to change his pace and use shifty dribbles before getting into defenders' bodies.</p><p>The above clip is borderline bullying. DeAndre Jordan is listed at 6-foot-11, 265 lb. At 6-foot-5, 214 lb, Barrett shouldered Jordan out of the way without getting called for a charge.</p><p>Likewise, Barrett uses his change-of-pace moves to poke and prod defenses while looking for passing angles. Barrett isn't much more than a decent playmaker at this point, but his ability to slow the game down and wait for windows to open is a promising development.</p><p>On defense, Barrett has the size and strength to guard three positions, and while he's not a lockdown, one-on-one defender, he moves his feet and makes good rotations.</p><p>In a 21-point, 5-rebound, 5-assist outing against the Washington Wizards on Tuesday, Barrett had a stellar chase-down block on Russell Westbrook.</p><h2>There's reason to believe Barrett can make the star leap</h2><div type="image" title="rj barrett knicks" height="1125" width="1500" msid="81692559" hostid="261"></div>Barrett's raw production shouldn't be ignored, either. Just 10 players have ever averaged 16-6-3 before turning 21. The active players to do it include LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and Williamson.<p>Barrett has made the leap from so-so rookie to valuable rotation player. The next leap will be the hardest.</p><p>Barrett will need to hit shots off the dribble to become a truly dynamic scorer, as the league's best scorers can. While his passing is a plus, the next step will be to make the less-obvious passes, skipping his first read to make the second one. His shooting has improved from all over the floor, but he'll need to become more efficient to become a nightly 20-point scorer.</p><p>There's reason to believe he can do those things. Members of the NBA world have been strangely low on Barrett's ceiling, given his age.</p><p>In December, former Grizzlies executive <a href="https://theathletic.com/2309038/2021/01/08/deandre-hunter-rj-barrett-2019-nba-draft-class/">John Hollinger wrote in The Athletic</a> that Barrett could become an "effective starter" even if he never develops into a good shooter - hardly overwhelming praise for a No. 3 pick.</p><p>In February, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deaaron-fox-and-ian-begley/id986595124?i=1000508253287">ESPN's Zach Lowe called</a> Barrett a "defensible" No. 3 pick and said it would take time to judge Barrett. But Lowe added: "Until those shooting numbers come up a little bit, I'm always going to be a little trepidatious to anoint him, like, a future, foundational, top-three guy on a championship team ... I'm not as excited by RJ Barrett Year 2."</p><p>Barrett is still just 20 years old, turning 21 in June. He's on his third coach in two years and, despite the Knicks' improvements this season still plays on an offense light on spacing.</p><p>His shooting percentages, assists, and rebounds have all jumped in Year 2, while his shot selection has improved, and his defense has remained steady. He is already the second-best player on a playoff contender. Making the jump into All-Star contention next season will be more challenging for Barrett, but his improvement this season indicates he's capable.</p>

Knicks' 20-year-old guard RJ Barrett suddenly looks like a star in the making after a disappointing rookie season

Mistakes by the US's top spies allowed China to turn a deadly mid-air collision into an intelligence coup

<p><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></strong></p><ul><li><strong>The Green Bay Packers' decision to cut wide receiver Jordy Nelson was one of the more surprising moves of the NFL offseason.</strong></li><li><strong>Aaron Rodgers expressed his surprise and disappointment with the move and was reportedly generally upset with the Packers for not consulting him on several team decisions.</strong></li><li><strong>In the months since, Rodgers has brought up Nelson's release several times, a hint that it still bothers him.</strong></li></ul><p><br>The Green Bay Packers made one of the more surprising moves of the NFL offseason when they released veteran wide receiver Jordy Nelson.</br></p><p>Nelson had spent ten years with the Packers, posting four 1,000-plus yard seasons and three seasons with double-digit touchdowns. However, after a mediocre season in 2017, the Packers decided to move on, hoping to get younger and faster at the position.</p><p>The decision has not seemed to sit well with Rodgers. When the Packers cut Nelson, Rodgers posted an emotional farewell.</p><p>Nelson eventually signed with the Oakland Raiders.</p><p>After Nelson was cut, Rodgers told&#xa0;<span>Milwaukee radio station <a href="http://1029thehog.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">102.9 The Hog</a> that the Packers made it "pretty clear" that players don't get a say in personnel decisions. Rodgers also may have been referring to the Packers' decision to fire quarterback coach Alex Van Pelt earlier in the offseason, something he had expressed frustration over not being consulted about during the offseason.</span></p><p><span>Yahoo reported in April that&#xa0;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/aaron-rodgers-packers-relationship-contract-talks-2018-4">sources close to Rodgers said he was frustrated</a>&#xa0;by some of the Packers' decisions in the offseason.</span></p><p><span>With OTAs now underway, the sting of losing his go-to receiver doesn't seem to have subsided for Rodgers.</span></p><p><span>On Tuesday, Rodgers was asked about rumors that the Packers could sign wide receiver Dez Bryant, who was cut by the Dallas Cowboys in the offseason. Rodgers said the Packers made it clear that they don't want older receivers, once again mentioning Nelson.</span></p><p>"We like young receivers, so I'm assuming that's the way they are going to keep going," Rodgers said (<a href="https://twitter.com/ZachHeilprin/status/999005854639841280">via Zach Heilprin of The Zone</a>). "I don't know why you'd cut Jordy and bring in Dez.</p><p>"But, he's a talented player. He's going to end up somewhere. If he ends up here, we'll obviously welcome him with open arms and get him up to speed as quick as possible."</p><p><span>While <a href="https://twitter.com/AaronNagler/status/996201805548871682">speaking at the Wisconsin High School Sports Awards</a> in May, Rodgers talked about what fuels him to continue playing. He said he would like to be so good into his 40s that the Packers can't move on, noting that doesn't always happen for other players like Nelson, among others.</span></p><p><span>"As you've seen here recently with Jordy, but even you go back a few years, whether it's Julius Peppers or A.J. Hawk or John Kuhn or Brett Favre," Rodgers said, "the fairytale ending of starting a career and ending it with the same organization rarely happens."</span></p><p><span>If nothing else, it showed Rodgers didn't necessarily see Nelson's release coming and that he doesn't want to suffer the same fate.</span></p><p>The Packers drafted three wide receivers this year and signed tight end Jimmy Graham in free agency. It's clear they'll have some work to do to make up for Nelson's absence in Rodgers' mind.<span></span></p><div>    </div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nba-referee-james-harden-step-back-jumper-travel-basketball-zach-zarba-2018-4">NBA ref explains why the James Harden step-back jumper isn't traveling</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div></hr>

The Packers cut the 32-year-old receiver who was Aaron Rodgers' favorite target 2 months ago, and Rodgers still doesn't seem to be over it

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>World Red Eye</span></p><p class="caption">Diplo and Shaquille O'Neal at "Shaq's Fun House" in March.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/shaq">Shaquille O'Neal</a> spoke to Business Insider about renting out the Atlanta Braves' baseball stadium for a Super Bowl event he's putting on called "Shaq's Fun House."</strong></li><li><strong>O'Neal also discussed his experience in music and DJ-ing, and his career after retiring from the NBA.</strong></li></ul><p> </p><p>In March, NBA legend <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/shaq">Shaquille O'Neal</a> hosted a lineup of musicians, carnival acts, and food vendors at a private Miami Music Week event he called "Shaq's Fun House."</p><p>"Shaq's Fun House" will return in February as a public event to coincide with the 53rd Super Bowl in Atlanta. O'Neal has rented out the concourse of the Atlanta Braves' SunTrust Park stadium for the event and enlisted performers like Migos, Tiesto, Diplo, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/t-pain-talks-school-of-business-show-startups-fuse-2018-10">T-Pain</a>, and Cirque Du Soleil, along with a list of food vendors including STK and Waffle House. </p><p>O'Neal and the event's partners, Medium Rare founders Joe Silberzweig and Adam Richman, spoke with Business Insider about putting on "Shaq's Fun House," which they're billing as "part music festival, part carnival, part circus." </p><p>Shaq also touched on his history of DJ-ing and rapping, his retirement from the NBA, and his contentious working relationship with NBA analyst Charles Barkley. </p><p>Tickets for "<a href="https://t.co/wn7STkFOvr">Shaq's Fun House</a>" are on sale now. </p><p><em>This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.</em></p><p><strong>John Lynch: Your team has billed this event as "part music festival, part carnival, part circus," each of which could be a good time on its own. But why combine those three into one event?</strong></p><p><strong>Shaquille O'Neal: </strong>Because it's never been done before. Two things that bring people together are sports and music, and I've dominated both. And everyone knows that the Shaq brand is all about fun. I've been to a lot of Super Bowl parties, and, you know, they're all the same. I wanted this one to be different because I live in Atlanta. Atlanta's my town, and the first one I did in Miami was <em>epic</em>. Diplo, Aoki ... Gronk when he jumped on my back and almost broke my back. We want to recreate that fun here. So I'm renting out the Battery, which is SunTrust Park, the Atlanta Braves' stadium, and we're just going to have a great time. Again, it's going to be food by STK, Waffle House. Cirque Du Soleil's Mystére is going to be there. </p><p>It's just something that really hasn't been done before. With me, when Joe and Adam were talking about it, they just asked, "Well, what are the things you like to do?" I was like, "I like to eat. I love to go to a circus. When I'm in Vegas, I love to go to Cirque Du Soleil shows." And they were like, "That's it! That's it! That's what we're going to do." So the first one we created last year, and like I said earlier, it was epic.</p><p><strong>Lynch: In March, you had this at Miami's Music Week. This time, you're coinciding it with the Super Bowl. Why the Super Bowl as an event, instead of having it at a larger music festival or something along those lines?</strong></p><p><strong>O'Neal:</strong> Well, the Super Bowl, it's always going to bring in a hundred million people. Everyone likes to party, and you just have to present people with the best party. Before I met Adam and Joe, when I was a NBA player, I held the title of the best party-thrower in the world. I once rented out the Miami Zoo, the whole zoo, and brought it to my house in Miami. And it was epic. I did a "Scarface" party in Miami. Al Pacino wasn't there, but his best friend was there. And the whole cast of "Scarface" was there. I've been doing parties since 1992, and now I'm just back. Now, I'm doing it bigger, and I'm doing it funner.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Medium Rare</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><strong>Joe Silberzweig: </strong>Just to chime in, you know, Shaquille's brand is larger-than-life and over-the-top, and there's nothing <em>bigger</em> than the biggest sports and entertainment weekend of the year, which is the Super Bowl. And it's so fitting for his brand and how we approach the "Fun House" concept. Really that's what makes this event so unique is it's Shaquille's DNA in every vertical. Adam and I work with him to bring his vision to life, whether that be on the music side, with Migos, Tiesto, and Diplo, artists that he loves, or on the food and beverage side, working with STK and Waffle House. Picking out carnival rides, whatever it may be. It's really all his magic touch. And that's what brings the event together so well.</p><p><strong>Adam Richman: </strong>To add to that, we saw such a big market opportunity around the Super Bowl. There's been tons of parties around the Super Bowl. Maxim, Playboy. These events have existed 10, 15 years. We feel it's really stale and boring, and the question was, how do we do something different? How does Shaquille really bring his party magic to the Super Bowl and do something that's never been done before? And we're really bringing the fun back. That's the attitude here. It's not a concert. You said it before: there's three things going on here. It's a music festival, it's a circus, it's a carnival. We don't just want to be one of those things, we want to be all three and really do something different, not just one of these boring concerts that everyone has "been there done that" a hundred times.</p><p><strong>Lynch: Although it is a solid lineup, music-wise. You've got Migos performing, and a lot of people were wanting to see them perform at the halftime show. It's in Atlanta this year, they're from Atlanta. Shaq, do you think the NFL missed an opportunity there, though you guys are sort of taking advantage of it?</strong></p><p><strong>O'Neal: </strong>I definitely think that they should have had Migos. Atlanta has been dominating the hip-hop scene for many years. They should have had like a 15-minute segment of all Atlanta hot-shots, to at least come and do one song. But yes, I definitely think that's a missed opportunity. Migos is the hottest thing around right now. It's a missed opportunity. But when they miss, Shaq will get the rebound, baby.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Tomorrowland</span></p><p class="caption">Shaq, DJ-ing at the Tomorrowland music festival.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><strong>Lynch: <em>[Laughs] </em>You're also DJ-ing at this event. I was wondering, what draws you to that as a form of creative expression? What do you like about DJ-ing?</strong></p><p><strong>O'Neal: </strong>I've been doing it since high school and college, '89. I actually DJ-ed in college to get extra money to buy food and all that. When I got to the NBA, I got away from it and started rapping, but the last ten years I've been doing parties, and I've been doing corporate events. It's just fun. Like I said, music and sports really brings people together. Listen, when you're at a party and you play a song that everybody loves, it brings people together. I have a playlist for when I do my corporate work that's called "White Boy Classics." They love it. [<em>S</em><em>ings emphatically</em>] "Shot through the heart, and you're to blame / Darling you give love..." Man, they just go crazy. You should see Adam and Joe dancing on tables. </p><p><strong>Lynch: <em>[Laughs] </em>You know, kids these days might not know that you've got a platinum-certified rap album, with '93's "<a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/2oPRn2Dp9Ytk3A4JCp5Gqw?si=SRxi5B7PTEulJUcgd-bGFA">Shaq Diesel</a>." How does your music from the '90s hold up to you? Do you ever go back and listen to it?</strong></p><p><strong>O'Neal: </strong>I go back and listen to it. Lyrics-wise, it still holds up. And again, whenever I do business, I'm big on the team concept. I realized I probably couldn't do that by myself, so I went out and said, "Let me get Notorious B.I.G. Let me call Jay-Z and Nas, B-Real and Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, DJ Quik, Eric Sermon and Redman. Let me give these guys a call and see if they would do it." And the funny thing about all of them is that, when I first made the call, everybody was like, "Oh, you're a basketball player," but then soon as I got in the studio and showed them, they were like, "Man, let's do it. Let's do it." And it was fun.</p><p><strong>Lynch: You retired from the NBA in 2011, but you haven't retired in any other sense of the word since then. You've stayed busy with commercials, commentary - all that you're doing. Do you ever envision what your real retirement will look like or plan that out?</strong></p><p><strong>O'Neal: </strong>My real retirement will be when I run for sheriff in 2024 and win, and I call all my partners and say, "You know what, it's been real, but now I have another duty to do. Protect the communities and keep people safe. Don't call me every again. I love you. Bye."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Shaq in his final NBA season.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><strong>Lynch: Do you think 2011 was the right time to get out of the league, in retrospect?</strong></p><p><strong>O'Neal: </strong>That year, I was obviously very old. Older. And you know, I didn't feel right as an entertainer scoring eight or nine points. That's not the Shaq that people know and love. When I got my career-ending injury, for some people it would have been, "Oh, I'm not done. I'll rehab and come back." For me it was, "Thank you very much. Now it's time to do something else." We expect fans to pay all this money for us to go out and perform, but if you're going to pay all this money, I'm going to give you a great show. That's what I always wanted to do. So my last year, in Boston, when I was averaging eight, nine points, I didn't feel like The Shaq at all. So, when I got my career-ending injury, I was happy.</p><p><strong>Lynch: If your prime were today, do you think you'd evolve your game at all to fit the small ball, stretch-fives of today's league?</strong></p><p><strong>O'Neal:</strong> If my prime were today, I wouldn't need to evolve. They would need to evolve around me. You've got big guys shooting jumpers, that's just telling me one thing: that you don't like the contact. If you don't like the contact, and I'm the contact-bringer, you're already out your game. And then people always say, "Well, you have to defend." If you shoot 10 threes, you're not Steph Curry. See what I'm saying? If you shoot 10, it might be a game where you hit seven out of 10, but you're not going to do that on a consistent basis. And if you're bumping with me, then if you shoot, your arms and legs are going to be tired, and that's going to bring your percentage down even more. And people say, "Oh, you'd step out." I'm not stepping out of nothing. I'm staying in the paint. I'm averaging 50. I'm going to make all these big guys cry, and complain, and quit, like I did when I played before, and I'd average 45 without free throws today. These soft, cupcake puppies in the league they got now.</p><p><strong>Lynch: One last thing, you know, a lot of us have to deal with difficult coworkers. But you've got a uniquely difficult coworker in Charles Barkley, who you've had <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/shaquille-oneal-reignites-beef-with-charles-barkley-with-barkley-sucks-chants-during-dj-set/">a contentious relationship</a> with. Are you tired of him at all, or how are you putting up with him?</strong></p><p><strong>O'Neal: </strong>Like I always tell people when it pertains to the Kobe relationship or the Charles Barkley relationship, the key word is "respect." You could say what you want to say. I can say what I want to say, but you better respect me, and I'm sure you feel the same way. So as long as you have respect, the team will always thrive. Once you have disrespect, the team will no longer thrive. Everyone knows Charles is opinionated. I'm opinionated, but we respect each other and love each other. I consider him more of an annoying big brother, and we have that dynamic that works really good for us.</p><p><strong>Lynch: Are there any two teams that you'd like to see in the Super Bowl, since you've got this event coincided with it? </strong></p><p><strong>O'Neal: </strong>Oh, I'd like to see my Cowboys there. How about Patriots and the Cowboys? I love Tom Brady. Yeah. That'd be a good one. </p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/avengers-endgame-trailer-breakdown-easter-eggs-hidden-details-2018-12">Hidden meanings in the 'Avengers: Endgame' trailer</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Shaq explains why he's renting a baseball stadium to throw a Super Bowl party that's 'part music festival, part carnival, part circus'

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/charlie-kirk">Charlie Kirk</a>, the president and founder of the conservative advocacy group Turning Point USA, is rapidly becoming one of the most prominent figures on the right today.</li><li>Kirk's organization is popular among young conservatives but has been tied to several controversies and faced accusations of racial bias.&#xa0;</li><li>Thousands of young Trump supporters flocked to Turning Point USA's annual Student Action Summit in West Palm Beach, Florida, last week.</li><li>Kirk sat down with INSIDER in December to discuss some of the criticism directed at Turning Point USA, and also why he thinks Trumpism is winning over young people.&#xa0;</li><li>"The idea of Trumpism is rooted in a philosophy that's been ignored over the last 20 or 30 years," Kirk said.</li></ul><p>WEST PALM BEACH, Florida - Charlie Kirk thinks of himself as the "luckiest 25-year-old in America."</p><p>Kirk, the president and founder of the conservative advocacy group Turning Point USA, is rapidly becoming one of the most prominent figures on the right today.</p><p>He's met with and been retweeted by President Donald Trump, gained notoriety by trying to bring Kanye West over to the right, has a close friendship with Donald Trump Jr., makes regular appearances on Fox <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news">News</keyword>, and has a Twitter following of over 825,o00 that seems to be growing by the minute. </p><p>Thousands of young Trump supporters flocked to Kirk's annual Student Action Summit in West Palm Beach, Florida, last month to hear a slew of conservative thinkers, politicians, and media personalities offer their views on the state of the country and the future of conservatism.&#xa0;</p><p>The four-day event included speakers most Americans would recognize, such as Trump administration figures Donald Trump Jr. and Wilbur Ross - but also prominent conservative media personalities Dennis Prager, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/candace-owens-the-left-hates-america-and-trump-loves-it-2018-12">Candace Owens</a>, and Tucker Carlson, as well as "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/08/opinion/intellectual-dark-web.html">Intellectual Dark Web</a>" rock stars Jordan Peterson and Dave Rubin.</p><p>Kirk's nonprofit is popular among young conservatives, but has been tied to several highly public controversies and <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/a-conservative-nonprofit-that-seeks-to-transform-college-campuses-faces-allegations-of-racial-bias-and-illegal-campaign-activity">faced accusations of racial bias.</a></p><p>Kirk sat down with INSIDER on the third day of the conference to discuss some of criticism directed at Turning Point USA and also why he thinks Trumpism is winning over young people.&#xa0;</p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong>: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/young-trump-supporters-told-the-left-hates-america-and-destroys-everything-turning-point-usa-2018-12">Thousands of young Trump supporters are gathered in Florida to hear a simple message: the left hates America and 'destroys everything it touches'</a></em></p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><h2>'Obviously we reject any foreign adversary using any content'</h2><p>A recent <a href="https://www.axios.com/senate-reports-russian-interference-2016-election-9d0daca6-1e2d-4617-9295-f8eec61c1719.html">report from researchers at </a><a href="https://www.axios.com/senate-reports-russian-interference-2016-election-9d0daca6-1e2d-4617-9295-f8eec61c1719.html">New Knowledge</a>, which was requested by the Senate Intelligence Committee, found Russians agents seeking to influence the 2016 US presidential election via social media <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/russia-used-turning-point-usa-memes-to-wage-a-propaganda-war">routinely shared content created by Turning Point USA.</a></p><p>Kirk said he was not supportive of the Russians using Turning Point USA's content to further a propaganda war, but he said the organization "can't control who uses our stuff."</p><p>"Obviously we reject any foreign adversary using any content. Russia is an enemy of the state," Kirk said. "And we can't control who uses our stuff, obviously. Our content is seen by hundreds of millions of people a week. These foreign actors should be totally denounced and we denounce them."</p><p>When asked whether there's something about the nature of Turning Point USA's content that might have led the Russians to share it, Kirk said, "I don't know, probably not."</p><p>"I mean, we publish hundreds of pieces of content every week. I don't know what's going through their head. They're enemies of America, so how should I try to impose my perspective upon them?" he said.</p><p>Here are some examples of memes shared on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/turningpointusa/photos/?ref=page_internal">Turning Point USA's Facebook</a> page amid the 2016 presidential campaign season:</p><h2>The 'Professor Watchlist' and free speech</h2><p>A self-declared free speech absolutist, one of the more incendiary projects Kirk's organization has launched is the <a href="https://www.professorwatchlist.org/">"Professor Watchlist."</a></p><p>"The mission of Professor Watchlist is to expose and document college professors who discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom," <a href="https://www.professorwatchlist.org/about-us/">the project states on its website.</a></p><p>When asked whether keeping a list of professors whose views he doesn't agree with might undermine or contradict his push for free speech on campuses, Kirk became visibly annoyed.</p><p>"How did I know you were going to ask that? Every journalist. It's literally the same question," he said.</p><p>At that point, Kirk asked his staff to start filming the interview. He vehemently rejected the notion he's working to stifle free speech among leftists on college campuses.</p><p>"Where did I ever say I want to prevent anything? Show me one time ... I've ever said they shouldn't be allowed to talk," Kirk said.</p><p>Kirk added: "Is it watchlist or is it blacklist? Is it watchlist or is it hit list?"</p><p>The Professor Watchlist's website states Turning Point USA will "continue to fight for free speech and the right for professors to say whatever they wish" but adds that students, parents, and alumni "deserve to know the specific incidents and names of professors that advance a radical agenda in lecture halls."</p><p>Kirk said the purpose of the watchlist is "exposure" and "more speech."</p><p>"I'm doing journalist's work. I'm doing what you're supposed to be doing," he added. "How is that anything but speech?"</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><h2>'Have you ever seen a conservative shout down a liberal speaker on campus?'</h2><p>Kirk also contended that it is primarily left-wing groups or people who are working against free speech on college campuses.</p><p>"Have you ever seen a conservative shout down a liberal speaker on campus? Isn't that kind of strange though that the left does that every day and conservatives don't?" he said.</p><p>Though it's true left-leaning groups have protested and shouted down conservative speakers on college campuses and in many cases have successfully demanded they be disinvited or otherwise deplatformed, there are also examples of conservative hecklers shutting down speakers.</p><p>In October 2017, for example, pro-Trump activists interrupted a Q&amp;A with <a href="https://reason.com/blog/2017/10/16/whittier-college-speakers-trump-shutdown">California's Democratic Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Assembly Leader Ian Calderon</a>. In a more extreme case, an Orange Coast College professor who expressed disdain for the president received so many death threats she was forced to flee the state.&#xa0;</p><p>Jeffrey Sachs, a political scientist at Canada's Acadia University, documented all the cases in which <a href="https://niskanencenter.org/blog/there-is-no-campus-free-speech-crisis-a-close-look-at-the-evidence/">a professor was dismissed for political speech</a> in the US between 2015 and 2017. Sachs' analysis found liberal professors were fired more often for political speech than their conservative counterparts.&#xa0;</p><p>Despite the general concern about the policing of speech on college campuses among those on the right, some conservatives have vehemently criticized Turning Point USA's approach.</p><p>John Hardin, the director of university relations for the Charles Koch Foundation, <a href="https://www.charleskochfoundation.org/news/washington-post-free-speech/">in August said</a>, "Instead of supporting groups that put professors that they disagree with on watch lists, we support folks who take those professors to lunch, who co-teach with those professors and who collaborate with those professors."</p><p><span>Sarah Ruger, the director of Free Speech Initiatives for the Charles Koch Institute, described the Professor Watchlist as "truly McCarthyism 2.0" - a reference to Republican Sen. Joe McCarthy's infamous efforts to expose alleged communists in the 1950s.</span></p><p><span>"It's a platform that exists to put the names and the profiles of self-identified progressive professors out there and encourages conservative students to intimidate them," <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2018/08/01/daily-202-koch-network-warns-of-mccarthyism-2-0-in-conservative-efforts-to-harass-professors/5b611a871b326b0207955e90/?noredirect=on&amp;utm_term=.3b0db2ec59c1">Ruger told The Washington Post of the watchlist.</a>&#xa0;"If there's anything political tribes can agree on today, it's that they all want to censor someone. They just disagree on who should be silenced. That's entirely antithetical to who we are."</span></p><h2>'I support ... Islamic groups to be wrong about Israel'</h2><p>Much of Kirk's concern regarding free speech on campuses seems to be centered around the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.</p><p>He said Turning Point USA supports the right of pro-Palestine campus groups who condone BDS to speak, but that it still seeks to "shut down" resolutions supporting BDS in student governments at colleges and universities across the US.&#xa0;</p><p>"We're trying to prevent a boycott, divestment, sanction, which is anti-free speech. So we're fighting the anti-free speech measures," Kirk said. "You understand, they're trying to say, 'We're trying boycott Israel, we're trying to divest from Israel and put sanctions on Israel,' which in essence is a targeted attempt to go after the singular Jewish state. So we say, 'No, that is anti-free speech.' We're trying to kill the resolution."</p><p>Though <a href="https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-speech/rights-protesters/laws-targeting-israel-boycotts-fail-again-court">federal courts have held</a> that state laws in Arizona and Kansas prohibiting boycotts against Israel are in violation of the First Amendment, fourteen other states still have such laws on the books. Kirk fervently denied allegations his organization's efforts to thwart BDS are in any way anti-free speech.&#xa0;</p><p>"I support Students for Justice for Palestine to speak. I support the Muslim Student Association to speak. I support ... Islamic groups to be wrong about Israel. 100%," Kirk added.&#xa0;</p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong>: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/turning-point-usa-conference-students-islam-college-campuses-2018-12">Young Trump supporters told they need to fight terrorism on college campuses by 'exposing Islam' because all Muslims are 'radical'</a></em></p><h2>'We live in a broken culture'</h2><p>Turning Point USA claims to have a presence on <a href="https://www.tpusa.com/">over 1,000 college campuses across the US,</a>&#xa0;and Kirk is confident young people are becoming more attracted to conservatism and Trumpism.&#xa0;</p><p>"We live in a broken culture," Kirk said. "Where the conservative movement is making gains really quick and where the left is really struggling right now is that we are offering remedies for a broken culture."</p><p>Kirk pointed to young men having an "identity crisis," as well as the opioid epidemic, suicide rates, and divorce rates as some of the signs that Americans face a "broken culture."</p><p>"Where conservatives win, it's being able to have remedies to that broken culture," Kirk said. "It's not even about <keyword id="6358883" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="politics">politics</keyword>, it's just about making these cultural observations and saying this is what we stand for and this is who we are and I think the left is getting away from that. Because I think they're actually endorsing things that are very, very dangerous."</p><h2>'The idea of Trumpism is rooted in a philosophy that's been ignored over the last 20 or 30 years'</h2><p>Kirk seems to believe that even if Trump is not reelected in 2020, Trumpism will live on.</p><p>"The idea of Trumpism is rooted in a philosophy that's been ignored over the last 20 or 30 years, which is that Washington, DC, has grown far too powerful, that the wealthiest counties in America are all clustered around Washington, DC, that we've become way too coastal-focused, and that middle America has been suffering," Kirk said.&#xa0;</p><p>He added: "What Trump is bringing back is the sense that we can again be and we are becoming again the world superpower in every single capacity."</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>Kirk said he is not happy with all aspects of the Trump presidency, and was somewhat critical of the president's cabinet choices.</p><p>"I think less Goldman Sachs the better," Kirk said, but contended Trump has "changed the mechanics of politics."</p><p>In some ways, Kirk seems to believe Trumpism has supplanted Republicanism.&#xa0; &#xa0;</p><p>"What does 'a Republican' mean anymore?" Kirk asked. "Is it Paul Ryan? Is it Mitt Romney?"</p><h2><span>'I think we should be the Kentucky basketball of immigrants'</span></h2><p>Kirk routinely expresses solidarity with the president and his positions on Twitter, especially on the topic of immigration.</p><p>In his more recent tweets, Kirk has <a href="https://twitter.com/charliekirk11/status/1076547932902572032">denounced Democrats</a> for not giving Trump the funding he wants for a border wall, praised Trump's decision to withdraw US troops from Syria, and expressed approval for the president "holding the line" in relation to the government shutdown.</p><p>Kirk's tweets often touch on undocumented immigration, which he's described as a <a href="https://twitter.com/charliekirk11/status/1076470772942671872">"serious threat"</a> to the US.</p><p>He told INSIDER that his perspectives on immigration are "originally informed"<span> by the "Judeo-Christian construct."</span>&#xa0;</p><p><span>Kirk said he's not against immigration or accepting refugees, but that he doesn't like people who "are border jumpers that cut in line."&#xa0;</span></p><p><span>"I don't think you'll find a lot of conservatives that don't want to be generous and benevolent, but you have to balance that with wisdom and self-restraint," Kirk said as he explained his position on immigration. "There has to be limitations. We live in a world of finite resources."</span></p><p><span>He said the US should focus on bringing in the "best, brightest, most operational" immigrants.&#xa0;</span></p><p><span>"I think we should be the Kentucky basketball of immigrants," Kirk added.&#xa0;</span></p><p><span>He also defended the president's characterization of a caravan of Central American migrants as an "invasion," noting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the caravan contained violent criminals.</span></p><p><span>Kirk said, "Is that really what we want?"&#xa0;</span></p><p><span>In a November 1 <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2018/11/01/myth-vs-fact-caravan">news release</a>, DHS said, "There are over 270 individuals along the caravan route that have criminal histories, including known gang membership."&#xa0;</span></p><p><span>But fact-checkers have <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/11/09/trump-administrations-fuzzy-math-criminals-caravan/?utm_term=.dbb6861f7a43">expressed skepticism</a> over the vague nature of the DHS statement, and experts have contended migrants heading to the US from Central America are more often than not <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/09/opinion/trump-caravan-migrants-criminals.html">running away from violent crime rather than contributing to it.</a> </span></p><h2><span>If Don Jr. 'wants to be president, he could be president'</span></h2><p>Kirk's loyalty to Trump extends to the president's children.&#xa0;</p><p>He has a particularly close relationship with Trump Jr., describing him as a "good friend." Kirk said their relationship began in August 2016, not long after the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio.&#xa0;</p><p><span>"He's a good friend. He's a patriot. One of the best Americans that I could possibly imagine. He's been helpful, he's dedicated, he's loyal, he's terrific," Kirk said of Trump Jr.&#xa0;</span></p><p>Kirk believes Trump Jr. could one day become president if he "wants to."</p><p>"<span>I've seen the man do things that you just don't see people in politics do," Kirk said of the president's son, including feeling bad about not taking enough selfies with people after big events.&#xa0;</span></p><p>"If [Trump Jr.] wants to be president, he could be president," Kirk said, adding, "I would help him in every possible way I could."</p><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/msnbc-host-chris-hayes-president-trump-china-trade-war-2018-12">MSNBC host Chris Hayes thinks President Trump's stance on China is 'not at all crazy'</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Meet Charlie Kirk, the 25-year-old free speech warrior and BFF to Trump Jr. who's rapidly taking over the conservative movement

12. A Wrench in Tesla

<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>The Economist</span></p></div><p></p></div></div><br /></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">A few weeks ago Helen Yovanna Mata, a 16-year-old Honduran girl, turned up at Corinto, a scruffy crossing on the border with Guatemala, with a backpack and a few papers. Two of the papers were death threats scribbled in scratchy ballpoint, another was a school document validating her story. </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">One of the notes said: "We're not kidding. You now have seven days [to leave]. We don't want to hurt you, but you have to believe us. Death." It was signed "M18", the name of a violent Central American street gang. Honduran officials let her through to Guatemala, her first stop on an arduous journey north to the United States. No one knows if she got there.</span></p>
<p>Rising numbers of children are following in Helen's footsteps. Corinto is abuzz with wiry, menacing men carrying dirty wads of banknotes who arrange for coyotillos--local kids turned people-smugglers--to lead migrants without passports through the subtropical hills into Guatemala.</p>
<p>Since early this year, the vast majority of those migrants have been youngsters themselves, sometimes travelling alone, sometimes accompanied by their mothers.</p>
<p>At night, when the coyotillos get to work, hordes of them walk up the back lanes, mothers cradling babies in arms, teenage girls with pink backpacks. They travel in such numbers that the village dogs howl.</p>
<p>Over 1,300 miles (2,090km) north of Corinto, on the Texan side of the Rio Grande, a lone man is fishing. The Mexican side, less than 100 yards away, is more festive: dozens of children are splashing in the shallow water and a party barge floats by, blaring music.</p>
<p>A couple of US Border Patrol agents assess the scene. They spot several jet skis on the Mexican side as belonging to people-smugglers. And they point to a small group standing under a tree. "Black clothing in the summer?" says one. "Everyone else is in shorts, beach attire."</p>
<p>The Rio Grande Valley is now the hottest spot for illegal crossings of the 2,000-mile border between the United States and Mexico. And an increasing number of border-jumpers are children travelling without their parents.</p>
<p>The number of unaccompanied children caught crossing has surged to about 52,000 so far this fiscal year, which started in October, up from 15,700 in fiscal 2011. Most of them have come not from Mexico, but from Central America (see map). Of the youngsters caught so far this fiscal year, 15,000 are from Honduras, more than double last year's number and five times the 2012 tally. (Plenty more get nabbed earlier in the journey: Fernando Lezama, the chief migration official in Corinto, says up to 5,000 unaccompanied Honduran kids have been deported from Mexico so far this year.)</p>
<p>The sudden influx of children into the United States has nearly overwhelmed the agencies that must deal with it. Detention facilities for children who cross the border illegally are horribly overcrowded. On June 5th Breitbart Texas, a conservative news site, published leaked photos showing dozens of children crammed into bare rooms. Barack Obama speaks of an "urgent humanitarian situation".</p>
<p>The White House blames the influx on instability in Central America. A report by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in March, based on interviews with around 300 Central American under-age detainees in the United States, put gang violence and domestic abuse high among the causes of flight--along with a desire to be reunited with relatives in America.</p>
<p>The stories of those back in Corinto support that explanation. Marisa Najar, a single mother travelling with her two children, ten and six, and a 15-year-old niece, Faviana, set out this month with 25 other Honduran friends and neighbours.</p>
<p>Twice they reached Mexico before being deported, on one occasion riding "The Beast", an infamous cargo train, part of the way from Arriaga, in southern Mexico. Faviana recalls the moment when gangsters on the train started counting the children. "They wanted to kidnap us or rape us," she says matter-of-factly. The migrants hopped off and took a bus towards Mexico City, but were caught and sent home.</p>
<p>Faviana has left her unwed mother and six siblings behind because of street violence. She has not been to school for four years because, she says, gangs threaten to kill girls like her. Her uncle and aunt were recently murdered. Her mother is so poor, some days the family goes without food.</p>
<p>Rape is a word she uses frequently; it happens all around her. But she hopes to reach the United States to go back to school. "I have always wanted to be a doctor," she says. Her aunt, Ms Najar, has no home or job. She struggled to pay for books to keep her ten-year-old son, Zagdi, at school. When asked why he wants to go to America, Zagdi throws back his thin shoulders and says: "To work."</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&amp;ALID=2C0408TC5CEQU&amp;PBC=2C0BF1I3K5MC:2C04082YZKITJ:2C0408TC5CEQU">Reuters</a></span></p><p class="caption">Children at a immigration center use the phones to call their parents.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<h3>WHY NOW?</h3>
<p>El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala have had shockingly high murder rates for years, however. The reason so many of them have decided to leave at once is a widespread rumour that Mr Obama's administration has relaxed the barriers against children--and their mothers if the children are young enough--entering the United States.</p>
<p>A leaked border-agency memo based on interviews with 230 women and children apprehended in the Rio Grande Valley concluded that they had crossed the border mainly because they expected to be allowed to stay.</p>
<p>Migrants talk of a "permiso" (permit) to stay in the United States, although this may be a misunderstanding of the American immigration procedure in which many children are put in the care of family members while waiting for deportation hearings.</p>
<p>Some Hondurans conspiratorially say they think America is preparing for war; that's why they are letting more youngsters in. Others blame Facebook: it is easy for relatives in the United States to show the trappings of prosperity.</p>
<p>Who started these rumours is moot. The Obama administration blames unscrupulous people-smugglers trying to drum up business. What is clear is that misinformation runs rampant. Zagdi has convinced his group of fellow travellers that there will be permisos until October 1st, saying he heard it on television. No one sees fit to disbelieve him, or check his facts.</p>
<p>On June 20th the White House dispatched Vice-President Joe Biden to Central America to squash the rumours. Granted, in 2012 Mr Obama ordered that many illegal immigrants brought to America as children should have their deportation proceedings deferred. But that applies only to those who arrived before 2007. Mr Biden stressed that there was no "open-arms" policy. "We're going to send the vast majority of you back," he said.</p>
<p>Like many rumours, however, this crop has some grounding in truth. America deported 370,000 people in fiscal 2013, a huge increase on earlier years. Yet since there are an estimated 11.7m illegal immigrants in America, even a deportation machine running at high speed must be selective. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) prioritises the removal of adults with criminal records rather than children with none.</p>
<p>Whereas the United States is allowed rapidly to send illegal Mexican child migrants back across the border, it is required to treat those from Central America differently. Under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorisation Act of 2008, moreover, border agents cannot hold children for more than 72 hours. They must be given a court hearing before they are either deported or allowed to stay.</p>
<p>Since there are around 5,000 immigration cases pending for every qualified judge, that can take years. While the child migrants wait, around 90% go to stay with a relative already in the United States, says the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), a think-tank.</p>
<p>They may start school, make friends and perhaps learn to swing a baseball bat. Those who don't have family in the United States are cared for by foster families or put into residential facilities, which are already full. In Lawrenceville, a 1,400-strong town in Virginia, the federal government is trying to convert a disused university campus into accommodation for 500 children.</p>
<p>The customers at Crazy Joe's, a beer garden in the Texan border town of Mission, have seen the changes in migration close up. In previous years, migrants and smugglers were usually young men with backpacks, darting through the brush to the safety of a waiting car. "Those ones hide, and they run," says Sarah Garcia, the owner.</p>
<p>The new ones do the opposite. For the past three weeks, migrants have been turning up at Crazy Joe's every other day. None of them was trying to avoid being spotted. A group of boys, all claiming to be 16 or 17 years old, asked Ms Garcia for directions to Austin, to Virginia, to New York. A family with a baby accepted some ibuprofen and nappies. Most of the new arrivals, Ms Garcia says, want her to call the Border Patrol.</p>
<p>People-smugglers have changed their behaviour, too. They used to charge $3,000 per adult for three attempts at crossing. As the chances of getting an adult across have fallen because of tighter controls, the odds of getting a child in (for the same $3,000 payment) have stayed the same. In some cases children have floated across the Rio Grande on rafts in full view of agents on the banks, says Doris Meissner of MPI.</p>
<h3>DRACONIAN POLICIES, PERVERSE EFFECTS</h3>
<p>If the explanation for the influx is complicated, the <keyword id="6358883" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Politics">politics</keyword> of it are brutally straightforward. Republicans blame the president. "Children are pushed into the hands of criminals," fumed Ted Cruz, a Texan senator, "because the Obama administration has made it clear to the world that any child who arrives, regardless of whether they are granted formal legal status, will be permitted to stay." Mr Obama, he added, showed "an outright refusal to enforce the law". John Boehner, the Speaker of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, has called for the National Guard to be sent to the border, though what they would do there is not clear.</p>
<p>It is hard to see what will reverse the flow. The White House has promised more help to Central American countries and more immigration judges, but not much else. As elections approach, hardliners will call for yet more spending on border security, even though the militarisation of the border may have contributed to the crisis.</p>
<p>The surge in child migrants comes as the total number of people crossing the south-western border illegally has fallen sharply. In fiscal 2000, 1.6m people were apprehended by border-patrol agents. By 2013 that number had fallen to 415,000.</p>
<p>This partly reflects America's economic doldrums and greater opportunities in Mexico. But it is also harder to get in than before. A study in 2008 found that a would-be migrant who kept trying was almost certain to succeed eventually, so illegal immigrants would regularly go home to see their families, secure in the knowledge that they would be able to return.</p>
<p>Now they tend to stay put. Stricter border enforcement thus keeps families apart, and gives migrant parents a powerful incentive to send for their kids.</p>
<p>In this environment, however, the prospects for comprehensive immigration reform, which might allow more temporary workers to move back and forth across the border, are not looking good. The Obama administration's messages of discouragement may put some migrants off.</p>
<p>But Ms Najar, her family and friends are all the more eager to set off again before the door shuts for good. "We have faith that we will make it. If we don't, it is God's will that we should remain in this hell of a country."</p>
<p></p>

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