Leftist protesters gathered outside Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, where the NFL’s Super Bowl LX was being played, to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Video footage posted to X by TMZ showed a huge crowd of protesters with signs that said, “ICE Out Of Our Communities,” “Stop Violence, Deport ICE,” and “California is 27% Foreign-born. ICE – STOP the Cleansing.”
Protesters were also seen “waving ‘Anti-ICE’ and ‘Anti-Trump’ flags,” according to TMZ:
Waving “Anti-ICE” and “Anti-Trump” flags, people marched along the street accompanied by officers on horseback.
In the clip, you ca hear the chants of “Si se puede” and “F**k ICE.”
While NFL chief security officer Cathy Lanier has previously stated that there were “no planned ICE enforcement activities,” for Super Bowl LX, the outlet noted that “sources” said “ICE may be present at the Super Bowl but only in a security role.”
Breitbart News reported in January that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “confirmed” that ICE agents would “conduct enforcement operations” at the Super Bowl.
Turning Point USA’s “All-American” Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday was met with praise.
The show, featuring Kid Rock, Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice and Gabby Barrett streamed on YouTube at the same time as the Super Bowl halftime show with Bad Bunny took place.
Many praised the alternate show, with millions tuning in — with numbers soaring to as high as 5 million viewers tuning in to the livestream on YouTube.
However, some called it “underwhelming,” while others criticized Kid Rock’s vocal ability.
Kid Rock headlined the Turning Point USA “All-American” Super Bowl halftime show.(Gary Miller/Getty Images)
COUNTRY STAR GAVIN ADCOCK BACKS KID ROCK’S PATRIOTIC ALTERNATIVE TO SUPER BOWL HALFTIME SHOW
Turning Point USA’s “All-American Halftime Show” also took a moment to pay tribute to founder Charlie Kirk.
The tribute took place as Kid Rock finished up a song, and read: “In remembrance of Charlie Kirk,” alongside photos of Charlie’s wife Erika and their children.
Kacey Musgraves slammed Kid Rock as she took to X to share her thoughts.
The country singer wrote about Bad Bunny’s Halftime show: “Well. That made me feel more proudly American than anything Kid Rock has ever done.”
However, Jake Paul took to X two hours prior the halftime show to slam Bad Bunny.
Jake Paul slammed Bad Bunny ahead of the halftime show.(AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
NFL’S ROGER GOODELL BELIEVES BAD BUNNY ‘UNDERSTANDS’ SUPER BOWL LX PLATFORM IS MEANT TO UNITE AMID ICE OUTCRY
Paul, who lives in Puerto Rico, denounced the Puerto Rican singer’s halftime show and told fans they “have power” to use their voices.
“Purposefully turning off the halftime show. Let’s rally together and show big corporations they can’t just do whatever they want without consequences (which equals viewership for them),” Paul wrote to X.
Adding: “You are their benefit. Realize you have power. Turn off this halftime.”
Bad Bunny performed during halftime of the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game.(AP Photo/Morry Gash)
BAD BUNNY’S SUPER BOWL HALFTIME SHOW IGNITES TRUMP’S FURY, DIVIDES VIEWERS
Paul called Bad Bunny “a fake American citizen performing who publicly hates America.”
“I cannot support that,” Paul said.
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One person simply wrote on X: “TPUSA halftime show was much better. Thank you to all the artists who supported this great event.”
Another called the alternate show “awesome,” with another X user said that the artists “are killing it.”
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“Really good, patriotic and very moving,” a tweet about the show read.
They added: “I wasn’t sure if I’d like it but glad I tuned in, all the musicians were amazing.”
Lee Brice also performed at the alternate halftime show.(Ivan Apfel/Getty Images)
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Another wrote: “I heard the Bad Bunny show was garbage, Not surprising.”
However, some were critical of the Turning Point show, putting into question Kid Rock’s vocal skills.
“Anyone who thinks Kid Rock can still sing are just deaf. Both were cringe but to say the TPUSA halftime show was better is just nonsense,” a person wrote on X.
Someone else slammed Turning Point USA: “Bad bunny NFL halftime show will forever be better than the trashiest turning point halftime show.”
Sarah Sotoodeh is an associate entertainment editor for Fox News Digital.
Sir Keir Starmer is fighting for his political survival as calls for him to step down grow, after the resignation of his top aide over the Peter Mandelson scandal.
The embattled prime minister is expected to face the Parliamentary Labour Party today amid anger over his appointment of Lord Mandelson as ambassador to the US, despite knowing that his links with Jeffrey Epstein continued after the financier’s conviction for child sex offences.
It comes after chief of staff Morgan McSweeney announced he would step down on Sunday amid the fallout from the Mandelson row.
Mr McSweeney said the decision to appoint Lord Mandelson to the role “was wrong”, before saying, “I advised the prime minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice”.
Starmer’s top aide is gone: Is the PM next?
Downing Street ‘reeling’
Sky’s political editor Beth Rigby said that, according to two Downing Street senior sources, Mr McSweeney was initially “in two minds” about stepping down.
“As early as this morning [Sunday], he wasn’t planning to resign, necessarily,” she said, adding that the sources also told her the gravity of the situation made it clear that his resignation was “inevitable”.
A third source also told Rigby that he and the prime minister decided it was the right moment to move on in “a mutual understanding”.
Read more: Lonely Starmer looks like he doesn’t know his own mind Who is the prime minister’s departed chief of staff?
But despite the resignation, Rigby said Number 10 is “reeling” as the scandal “rips through the heart” of the Labour government.
She added that the indication within Downing Street is Sir Keir will “press on” and not step down over the affair.
Read more from Beth Rigby: When the No 10 operation goes into freefall, it’s nearly impossible to stabilise
Image: Pic: Thomas Krych/Story Picture Agency/Shutterstock
Starmer ‘mortally wounded’
One Labour MP, speaking anonymously to Sky political reporter Faye Brown, offered scathing criticism of the departing aide, saying that they “won’t be shedding a tear that he’s gone”.
“He’s the very worst of our party,” they added. “Every decision he’s taken is to bolster himself and wage a war of factionalism.
“The PM should have sacked him just as he should have with Mandelson. The buck ultimately stops with the PM.”
The MP then said that Mr McSweeney’s resignation might not save Sir Keir’s premiership, adding: “All this has done has bought him a little more time, but he’s mortally wounded and it’s not if, it’s when he goes.”
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Two unnamed Cabinet ministers have been quoted by The Times as saying Sir Keir was “weaker” and “could stand down at any moment”, a claim Downing Street said was “categorically untrue”.
Union chiefs have also heaped pressure on the Labour leader, with Maryam Eslamdoust, the general secretary of the Labour-affiliated Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association, telling The Telegraph: “There’s no case for waiting until May, given the scale of defeat we are facing at these critical elections. It’s time to elect a new leader.”
McSweeney’s statement analysed
By contrast, Patrick Hurley, the Labour MP for Southport, said the prime minister has his “full support” and believes Mr McSweeney’s resignation was a “turning point” for the party.
“I’m grateful to the prime minister for getting a grip on the fact that he’s been badly advised on a range of issues over the last 18 months,” he told Sky News.
“This is now a turning point and an opportunity to refocus on what the public want, and the promises we made when we were elected in 2024.
“The prime minister has my full support and I am sure the whole Parliamentary Labour Party will now collectively raise our game and deliver the positive changes the country needs.”
Starmer was ‘misled and betrayed by Mandelson’
Files released earlier this week suggest Lord Mandelson may have shared confidential information with Epstein after the financial crash, when he was the business secretary in Gordon Brown’s government.
Lord Mandelson quit the Labour Party and resigned from the House of Lords following the revelations, though he still holds the title of being a “lord”, as removing that requires legislation.
His representatives have been contacted for comment. He has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein, and said he regrets maintaining a relationship with him and apologised to the sex offender’s victims.
Social media is on trial in Los Angeles. What happens next could change the way they operate.
Inside LA’s superior court, a landmark trial is getting under way. Social media companies are being accused of being addictive by design, a bit like tobacco and cigarettes were in the 1980s.
They’ll face around 22 “bellwether” lawsuits, i.e. test cases, with lawyers considering the testimonies of more than 1,500 people when launching the action.
Image: Shares in Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta tumbled after the closing bell. AP file pic
Opening statements for the first lawsuit will start on Monday, with Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg among the tech execs expected to testify.
Over the years, people have tried to sue the owners of Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat for online harm, but they’ve largely failed.
Often, social media companies will rely on a defence called Section 230 of America’s Communications Act, which protects online platforms publishing third-party content.
It says they’re not responsible for content posted by users on their platforms.
Could Jools’ Law force social media change?
So what makes this court case so different?
For the first time, social media companies will face a trial by jury.
Those jurors won’t decide whether specific content on the platforms was harmful. Instead, they’ll decide whether social media companies were negligent when they created and tweaked their products to encourage people to spend more time on them.
Image: Social media companies are on trial in Los Angeles over accusations they harmed young people’s mental health.File pic: iStock
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A feature expected to come up, for example, is “infinite scrolling”, whereby your social media feed never ends, no matter how long you spend watching it.
The plaintiffs allege that Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat “have rewired how our kids think, feel, and behave”, according to the class action master complaint.
TikTok accused of ‘bullying’ and union busting
If the jurors decide the companies were negligent when creating their products, they’ll then also need to decide whether that negligence led to the significant harm of a young person.
In this case, that person is known as KGM, a Californian 19-year-old who says she suffered anxiety, depression and body image issues after using Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube as a child.
TikTok and Snapchat have already settled out of court with her, leaving just Meta and YouTube on trial.
This is a “bellwether” trial, meaning it is being used as a test case to see how much compensation victims could be due in future litigation against social media companies.
If the tech companies lose, they could be forced to change the designs of their platforms.
Will UK ban social media for under-16s?
Although TikTok and Snapchat settled for this case, they’ll be involved in the future cases.
The head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, will also testify during the trial.
The tech companies say there’s no clear link between tech use and addiction, and that there needs to be strong proof that they significantly harmed young users.
In a blog post, Meta said this kind of legal action against them “oversimplifies” the “complex issue” of teenage mental health.
“Narrowing the challenges faced by teens to a single factor ignores the scientific research and the many stressors impacting young people today, like academic pressure, school safety, socio-economic challenges, and substance abuse,” said the post.
Trump’s social media: What is going on?
In a statement to Sky News, Google also rebuffed the claims.
“Providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work,” said Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda.
“In collaboration with youth, mental health and parenting experts, we built services and policies to provide young people with age-appropriate experiences, and parents with robust controls.
“The allegations in these complaints are simply not true.”
The DWP has confirmed that Personal Independence Payment (PIP) will rise by 3.8 per cent in the 2026/27 financial year – here are the new weekly payment rates
Linda Howard Money and Consumer Writer and Ashlea Hickin Content editor
03:05, 09 Feb 2026
Find your new PIP payment as DWP confirms proposed new PIP payment rates for 2026/27(Image: Lorado via Getty Images)
The Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ) has announced that disability benefits, including Personal Independence Payment ( PIP ), Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Attendance Allowance will rise by 3.8 per cent for the 2026/27 financial year. The updated weekly payment rates will take effect from April 6, 2026.
PIP is presently valued at between £29.20 and £187.45 per week, with payments typically made every four weeks which translates to awards ranging from £116.80 to £749.80. A 3.8 per cent uplift will see payments increase to between £30.30 and £194.60, equating to £121.20 and £778.40 every four-week payment period.
The Scottish Government has also announced that devolved benefits such as Adult Disability Payment (ADP), Child Disability Payment, Pension Age Disability Payment (PADP), Carer Support Payment and Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance will similarly increase by 3.8 per cent in April.
PIP payment rates 2026/27
PIP comprises two components – daily living and mobility. From Monday, April 6, PIP will be paid at the following weekly amounts, reports the Daily Record.
Daily Living component
Enhanced: £114.60 (from £110.40)
Standard: £76.70 (from £73.90)
Mobility component
Enhanced: £80.00 (from £77.05)
Standard: £30.30 (from £29.20)
PIP payment combinations 2026/27
Those receiving PIP may be granted the lower rate of one or both elements, the higher rate of one or both elements, or a combination of the lower or higher rates of each component.
Before April, the DWP will send letters to all claimants outlining their updated payment rates.
There are eight potential awards, which are outlined below.
Single component award only
You might receive either the lower or higher daily living or mobility component:
Standard daily living only – £76.70 per week, £306.80 per pay period
Enhanced daily living only – £114.60 per week, £458.40 per pay period
Standard mobility only – £30.30 per week, £121.20 per pay period
Enhanced mobility only – £80.00 per week, £320.00 per pay period
Lower rate for daily living and mobility
If you’re receiving the lower rates of both components, your new payments are projected to be:
Standard daily living and standard mobility – £107 per week, £428 per pay period
Higher rate for daily living and mobility
If you’re receiving the higher rates of both components, your new payments are projected to be:
Enhanced daily living and enhanced mobility – £194.60 per week, £778.40 per pay period
Lower rate of one component and higher rate of the other
If you’re receiving the lower rate of one component and the higher rate of the other, your new payments are projected to be:
Standard daily living and enhanced mobility – £156.70 per week, £626.80 per pay period
Enhanced daily living and standard mobility – £144.90 per week, £579.60 per pay period
Bear in mind, PIP and all disability benefits are exempt from tax and don’t impact the benefit cap.
Sitting opposite me, looking me dead in the eye, my patient swore blind that he had stopped drinking. Very convincing he was, too, as he detailed how he hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol in months.
The only problem was that his blood tests told a rather different story. His liver function was through the roof. When I gently pointed this out, he paused, before saying: ‘Well, maybe the odd glass of wine with dinner.’
After further probing, it transpired that the ‘odd glass’ was a bottle and a half. Every night.
I wasn’t shocked. Not because I’m cynical but because I know, from experience, that patients lie to their doctors all the time.
Research by online pharmacy MedExpress in 2024 revealed that 73 per cent of Britons said they had lied to medical professionals.
It’s a staggering figure, especially once you consider that 45 per cent of those surveyed believed that their dishonesty had delayed their diagnosis or treatment. .
And it’s not just alcohol people lie about, although that’s certainly the big one.
People also mislead about taking their medication, how much they exercise (or rather, don’t), what they eat, whether they smoke and about their sex lives and sexual health.
Doctors nearly always know, or at least have our suspicions that our patients are not being entirely honest. We are trained to pick up on inconsistencies
Bowel habits are another topic people often gloss over. Although I don’t condone it, I understand why. These are personal, sometimes embarrassing subjects.
Nobody wants to confess that they haven’t been to the gym since 2019, that they’ve been skipping their blood pressure tablets or suffer frequent bouts of constipation.
The reality is that we doctors nearly always know, or at least have our suspicions that our patients are not being entirely honest. We are trained to pick up on inconsistencies.
If someone tells me they barely drink but their blood results suggest otherwise, that’s a red flag. If someone claims to be taking their medication religiously but their condition isn’t improving in the way it should, I have questions.
I see diabetic patients who swear they never touch anything sweet, then their HbA1c blood test comes back revealing that can’t possibly be true.
Some then admit they only followed the diet in the week before the blood test, not realising that HbA1c measures the damage done to red blood cells by sugar over the previous three months.
If a patient tells me they exercise regularly but they’re breathless walking from the waiting room to my consulting room, something doesn’t add up.
Sometimes it’s body language. A slight hesitation, a glance away, a vague answer where a specific one was needed. We are not interrogators, but years of clinical experience teach you to read people.
What concerns me far more than the lying itself, though, is why people do it and how damaging it can be.
I might attribute symptoms to one cause when the real culprit is something the patient hasn’t told me about. I might prescribe a medication that interacts badly with something they’re secretly taking, or fail to screen for a condition because I’ve been given false reassurances.
In the worst cases, a lie can delay a diagnosis.
So why do people do it? Fear of judgment is a big factor. Many patients assume their doctor will think less of them, lecture them or write them off if they admit to bad habits, especially if they’ve been warned about them in the past. I promise you, we won’t.
We genuinely do not have the time or inclination to judge. We’ve seen and heard it all before and very little surprises us.
There’s something deeper going on, too. As a psychiatrist, I recognise that much of this dishonesty is driven by denial, one of the most powerful and primitive defence mechanisms we have.
Denial isn’t simply about deceiving your doctor, it’s about deceiving yourself, too. If you don’t say something out loud, if you avoid it altogether, then on some level it feels less real.
The obese patient who insists they eat healthily and never snack isn’t just lying to me, they’ve told themselves that story so many times they half believe it. The heavy drinker who says it’s ‘only a couple’ has re-framed reality to make it tolerable. This is entirely human and we all do versions of this in our daily lives.
But in a medical setting, it can be dangerous. Denial keeps people from confronting problems that need confronting. It delays treatment. It can, in extreme situations, even cost lives.
So, next time you see your doctor, I implore you to be honest. Not because lying is wrong but because your health will depend on it. We are on your side and we want to help. But we can only do that if we know what we’re actually dealing with.
The consulting room should be the one place where you don’t have to put on an act. So please take advantage of that and tell us the truth.
My fears for Bea and Eugenie
I can’t help feeling sorry for the Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie as the Epstein files continue to reveal the true extent of their parents’ appalling behaviour. The sisters are said to be ‘aghast’ and ‘mortified’
I can’t help feeling sorry for the Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie as the Epstein files continue to reveal the true extent of their parents’ appalling behaviour.
The sisters are said to be ‘aghast’ and ‘mortified’. Beyond the shock, there is the shame. And shame is one of the most corrosive emotions there is.
It is not the same as guilt. Guilt says ‘I did something bad’. Shame says ‘I am bad’.
What makes this so psychologically cruel is that Beatrice and Eugenie have done nothing wrong, yet they are carrying the shame of their parents.
This is something I see regularly at work: Children absorbing a sense of disgrace that belongs to a parent.
It can be damaging to identity and self-worth.
But nobody should maintain a relationship purely because of a blood tie, especially if doing so causes real pain. Loyalty has its limits.
Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is walk away.
Have we been failing to spot autism in girls? A landmark study suggests we have.
By tracking 2.7million people born between 1985 and 2022, the Karolinska Institute in Sweden found that while boys were far more likely to be diagnosed with autism in childhood, girls caught up during adolescence.
By the age of 20, the diagnostic rate between the sexes was almost equal.
Girls tend to be better at ‘masking’, mimicking their peers in social situations to fit in, which can conceal the very traits clinicians look for.
As a result, many girls and women are misdiagnosed with anxiety, depression or personality disorders.
I have seen women in their 20s, 30s, sometimes older, finally getting an autism diagnosis after years of feeling that something was different about them.
A new study analysing 19million cancer cases in nearly 200 countries has found that 38 per cent of cancers are attributable to 30 lifestyle factors.
Smoking is the biggest preventable cause but infections, such as HPV, account for one in ten.
Dr Max Prescribes… The Examined Life by Stephen Grosz
Through case studies, psychoanalyst Stephen Grosz reveals how self-deception shapes our lives in ways we rarely acknowledge
This beautifully written book by psychoanalyst Stephen Grosz draws on his 25 years of clinical practice to explore the stories we tell ourselves and, crucially, the ones we hide from.
Through short case studies, he reveals how self-deception shapes our lives in ways we rarely acknowledge. It’s very relevant to my main piece: the lies we tell our doctors are often the same lies we tell ourselves. This will make you consider your own blind spots.
“What’s your name?” Catherine O’Hara asked me, leaning forward in the booth. “What’s your story?”
I was standing in a swanky restaurant in New York City wearing a black dress short enough to satisfy management, my hands clasped behind my back in case a manager appeared. I had just broken the most important rule of the job: Never acknowledge a celebrity.
Three months earlier, I had dropped off my resume anywhere I could in hopes of securing a job that would supplement what my $35-a-week publishing intern stipend wouldn’t get me, which was, of course, everything but my subway fare.
I was hungry in every sense of the word. By the end of the day, I was offered three serving jobs and took them all. One was at this legendary restaurant continuously full of rock stars, Oscar-winning actors and models.
During my interview, the manager had ignored my flimsy (both in substance and content) resume and assessed my body instead. My waist. My chest. My legs. He said they had a place for me as a cocktail server in the private lounge where the windows were tinted, the tables were low and loungy, and the only clientele allowed in were ultra-wealthy patrons and celebrities.
The manager told me to show up later that night for my first training shift and emphasised that the dress code was all black, dresses only, hemlines not to exceed the end of my fingertips when my arms were hanging by my sides.
“We prefer the skirt to graze your first knuckles,” he said, making a fist and pointing to the ridged top of his hand to make his point.
I was 22, fresh out of college, and ready to do whatever it took to become a writer. If I can make it here… I thought.
When I walked in for my first shift, I was surprised to see a friend from college working at the host stand. Back in Colorado, he’d been a boisterous theater kid — lanky with bright blue eyes and flamboyant energy. Now he looked hollowed out — dark under the eyes, less “youthfully thin” and more underfed. He seemed tired and nervous, and his eyes flicked around as if we might get in trouble for hugging.
The author celebrating her first story being accepted for publication in 2011 — a year before she decided to move to New York City.
The server I was assigned to shadow approached the host stand to retrieve me. She was gorgeous, waifish, and in place of the air of sadness my college acquaintance had, she’d built a bitter bubble of sarcasm around herself.
She walked me quickly through the labyrinthine back-of-house, dodging catcalls from her co-workers and managers deftly. She listed off rules as I struggled to keep up. Three of them stuck out.
1. We were required to try everything on the menu, which perked me up as a hungry, broke person used to only eating family meal slop before a shift.
2. We were a “pooled house,” which meant the managers gathered and then divvied up our tips (after shaving a cut).
3. We were not allowed — under any circumstances — to reveal that we recognised a celebrity. We were to treat everyone as an anonymous guest. Asking for an autograph, a photo, or even announcing that you were a fan of anyone famous would result in immediate termination.
Perhaps this last rule sounds easy enough to follow, but during my first training shift, Jay-Z, Adam Sandler and Mariah Carey were among our guests.
I lasted one month at this restaurant. Long enough to eat my way through the menu and gather enough celebrity run-in anecdotes to last a lifetime. My cocktail party stories suddenly involved run-ins with Bill Belichick, Jon Bon Jovi, Jonah Hill and Josh Hartnett, among many, many others. But not even these exciting encounters could make up for the depleting atmosphere of working in a place where every staff member was a hopeful singer, model, actor or artist.
After my first shift, I witnessed the server who was training me earn over $1,000 in tips — then walk out the door with only $220 after management’s cut. When I asked about the tip breakdown, my manager was finishing a line of cocaine in his windowless basement office. His explanation made little sense, but he laughed at my confusion, and I left his office feeling dejected and violated.
However, what really convinced me that I couldn’t survive there long was when I realised that my co-workers all seemed to be struggling with disordered eating. Years earlier, after my dad had died suddenly of a heart attack, I’d developed my own eating disorder — a coping mechanism that came with consequences. I’d slowly healed in college, partly thanks to a tight circle of wonderful friends. Now, without them and being surrounded by behaviours that I instantly recognised as potentially damaging, I felt my anxiety rising in a new — though disturbingly familiar — way.
During my work shifts, my trainer-server and I worked through the restaurant’s menu, each night picking something new for me to try, and we’d sit on the back staircase (there was no break room) while she explained the dish to me. No matter what it was — tuna on crispy rice, a black truffle pizza, half a roast chicken on a mountain of garlic mashed potatoes — she refused to have a bite.
“No way. I’m trying to be an actress,” she told me. “I wouldn’t even eat a cucumber here. They put sesame oil on everything.”
She joked about it — “I don’t eat, really. None of us do.”
Though I wasn’t attempting to make it as an actress, I still began to leave food on the plate, uneasy about doing so, but also worried she might have a point. She was putting her goals first. Hunger as discipline. Emptiness as a badge of ambition. Maybe fed girls didn’t make it in NYC.
The author right after she moved to New York City in 2012.
By the time I walked in for my last training shift on a Sunday night, I was thinner, my spirit was beaten down, and I was worried about the road I seemed to be headed back down.
I was also still broke. I’d trained for seven shifts at $10 an hour, and I was relieved when my trainer asked me to take this shift alone. The managers were nowhere to be found, as usual, and she wanted to meet up with her boyfriend — a musician who was always cheating on her. The restaurant was slow, she told me I now knew what I was doing, and, best of all, she would let me take all of the tips I made home.
At nearly 9 o’clock, three women walked in: two women I’d never seen before and the one and only Catherine O’Hara. I froze. My mind flashed to O’Hara’s squiggly sideburns in “Beetlejuice.” Her iconic “Kevin!” in “Home Alone.” The dozens and dozens of times my sister and I had watched “Best in Show.” All of the characters she’d played that shaped my sense of humour. My sense of joy. How could I possibly serve her without telling her I loved her?
They sat in a window booth with Catherine in the centre. When I went to greet her party, her friends enthusiastically interrupted to tell me they were taking her out for her birthday. She shook her head sheepishly, embarrassed and amused.
“We’ve been friends forever,” she told me. “They don’t let me get away with anything.”
As a writer, I try to avoid cliches, but reader, her eyes truly sparkled with life and kindness.
Soon, they were my only table. I folded napkins a short distance away from them and watched the three friends enjoy each other’s company — and one of everything from the starter section, plus a burger, the tuna and the chicken. They shared a bottle of wine and giggled like girls.
Over the course of their meal, I realised that in just a few weeks, the restaurant I stood in had distorted what success should look like, but no one could extinguish the aura of true success that radiated off Catherine. She had “it” — that thing I’d come to NYC to prove I had, too, and “it” wasn’t thinness or ambition at all costs, or even talent, though of course she had that, too. It was her sense of self — how she held herself and confidently, yet humbly, moved through the world — that no one could rival… or take away from her.
By the time I dropped the chocolate soufflé off, their table held the last lit candle in the restaurant.
I placed the dessert in front of Catherine, and then I took a breath.
“I’m not supposed to bother our famous diners,” I said, “but I just have to tell you how much your acting means to me and my sister. ‘Best in Show’ is our favourite movie, and your character is my favourite.”
“Me?” she said, genuinely incredulous. “Your favourite!”
“I’m sorry to bother you. I just had to say something. Happy birthday.” I quickly turned away, mortified.
“It was her sense of self — how she held herself and confidently, yet humbly, moved through the world — that no one could rival… or take away from her.”
“Wait,” she called after me, “What’s your name? What’s your story?”
She insisted that I join them in their booth and asked what kind of artist I was.
“Every server in this city has an interesting story,” she said, gesturing her spoon toward me, her mouth full of birthday soufflé, and the trio’s attention now fully, yet comfortably, on me.
I told her all about my dream to be an author and about the short story I was working on.
“What if one of the characters dies?” she riffed, delighted.
Were we collaborating? I could hardly breathe.
I was glad to have refused their offer of a bite of soufflé because the manager suddenly appeared from his basement lair, and I immediately popped out of the booth.
“I’ll just grab you the check,” I said, with my arms behind my back again, in an attempt to look professional. She winked at me as I walked away.
She paid the bill herself, though her friends tried, and though my tip out didn’t reflect it, she left me 100% on their $400 bill and a note that read, “I know your day will come. Keep writing.”
The manager wouldn’t let me keep the receipt, but I didn’t need it.
Catherine had given me something invaluable that night. Her kindness has always stayed with me. She showed me a different way to be an artist — to be a person. She chose passion, curiosity, individuality and humility in an industry that often made that feel impossible.
I never went back to the restaurant again after that night. I left before the thinness of the place convinced me I had to disappear to deserve a future. There were plenty of other workplace cultures ahead of me that would also try to normalise self-erasure as ambition, but years later, when I sat down to write this essay just days after Catherine O’Hara’s death, I could still clearly conjure that moment with her. Thanks to her, I still try to follow my appetite, to seek fullness and to believe, even on my hungriest days, that my day will come.
Sammi LaBue is the founder of Fledgling Writing Workshops (“Best Writing Workshops,” Timeout NY) and basically obsessed with the feeling of having an idea and writing it down. Her latest project is a recently finished memoir written in collaboration with her mom titled “Bad Apples.” Some of her other essays can be found in BuzzFeed, Slate, Literary Hub, The Sun, Glamour and more. To follow her writing journey and find opportunities to write with her flow, visit fledgling.substack.com.
Do you have a compelling personal story you’d like to see published on HuffPost? Find out what we’re looking for here and send us a pitch at pitch@huffpost.com.
Republican congressman Tim Burchett is going viral for telling a strange story about his old pet rabbit after being asked about Super Bowl halftime performer Bad Bunny.
“Dude, I wouldn’t know if Bad Bunny walked up here and asked me if he could borrow my cell phone,” the Tennessee rep told a TMZ reporter in Washington in a video released on Saturday. “I really don’t know who he is.”
Burchett proceeded to tell the story of his own “bad bunny,” a Flemish giant rabbit named Flop, mating with another Flemish rabbit called Caramel.
“Put ‘em together, phew, it’s true what they say about rabbits,” Burchett continued. “My nephew was like, ‘Uncle Tim, what’s Flop doing to Caramel?’ And I [said], “Go back in the house, dude. It’s not my job to give the sex talk here.”
“And then about a week later, Flop died of a heart attack, so what do you know?” Burchett concluded with a chuckle. “I guess he died doing what he loved.”
Rep. Tim Burchett is going viral for telling a story about mating rabbits when asked about Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show (Getty Images)
The video spread widely online, eliciting a mix of laughter and mild concern.
“Some of y’all ain’t ever been around old southern men and it shows,” Twitch streamer Jordan Powell wrote on X. “Felt like I was listening to an uncle.”
Writer Brandon Streussnig, in a presumably satirical X post of his own, wrote that it “rocks how most of our sitting government is just always sundowning in public and we gotta just deal with it.”
While Burchett’s antics around the Super Bowl performance were light-hearted, if strange, many of his MAGA contemporaries are furious about the selection of Bad Bunny.
The Puerto Rican superstar, real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, sings mostly in Spanish and has criticized the Trump administration’s deportation crackdown.
During a recent Grammys acceptance speech, Ocasio lauded immigrants who pursued their dreams and called for an end to mass ICE raids.
Republicans from President Trump down have slammed Bad Bunny’s selection as the performer, given the Puerto Rican superstar’s past criticisms of the administration and its immigration agenda (Getty)
“Hate gets more powerful with more hate,” he said. “The only thing that’s more powerful than hate is love. So please, we need to be different. If we fight, we have to do it with love. We don’t hate them. We love our people. We love our family and there’s a way to do it, with love, and don’t forget that.”
Last year, following an ICE raid in Puerto Rico, Bad Bunny called immigration agents involved “motherf***ers” and “sons of b****es.”
The conservative advocacy group Turning Point USA is hosting what it calls its own “All-American Halftime Show” featuring Kid Rock.
When Ocasio’s selection was announced, conservatives raged at the choice, with President Trump calling it “crazy” and “ridiculous.”
Conservative advocacy group Turning Point USA is hosting an alternate ‘All-American Halftime Show’ featuring Kid Rock (Getty Images)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, meanwhile, threatened to station ICE agents outside the Super Bowl.
The Puerto Rican singer has at times made light of the opposition to his upcoming performance, telling viewers when he hosted Saturday Night Live last year that they had a few months to learn Spanish before his performance.
Bad Bunny has said concerns about immigration raids factored into his decision not to tour the mainland U.S. and instead do a residency in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.
Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, who will also perform during the Super Bowl, called on ICE agents to quit their jobs and warned Trump would “drop them” during a weekend concert in the lead-up to the big game.
“This goes out to all the ICE agents, wherever you are,” Armstrong said at a FanDuel and Spotify party in San Francisco on Friday night. “Quit your s***ty ass job. Quit that s***ty job you have. Because when this is over, and it will be over at some point in time, Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller, JD Vance, Donald Trump — they’re gonna drop you like a bad f***ing habit.”
The Buffs’ Jade Masogayo makes a shot and draws a foul from TCU’s Kennedy Basham on Sunday in Boulder. (AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Fast break
Why the Buffs won: They had one of their most efficient offensive performances of the season, hitting 49.2% of their shots from the field, 88.9% from the free throw line and committing just eight turnovers.
Three stars:
1. CU’s Jade Masogayo: Scored a season-high 23 points while hitting 9-of-10 free throws. Also had three rebounds and two assists.
2. TCU’s Olivia Miles: Tied her season high with 31 points, and also had five rebounds and two steals.
3. CU’s Logyn Greer: The freshman had one of her best games, with 17 points and five rebounds.
Up next: The Buffs will play at Houston on Wednesday (5:30 p.m. MT, ESPN+).
After missing a free throw with 58.3 seconds to play Sunday, Colorado’s Jade Masogayo couldn’t help but think back a week.
On Feb. 1, Masogayo missed five consecutive free throws in the final three minutes of regulation during a tight game at Kansas that the Buffs eventually won in overtime.
Fortunately for her and the Colorado women’s basketball team, there wasn’t a repeat of the previous Sunday.
Masogayo was clutch down the stretch this time around and converted a three-point play with 2.1 seconds left to lift the Buffaloes to an 80-79 upset of No. 14 TCU at the CU Events Center.
The senior forward, who finished with a season-high 23 points, tied the game with a layup while drawing a foul. She then stepped to the line and hit what proved to be the game-winning free throw.
“I said, ‘This going in right here, right now,’” she said. “’I don’t got no other choice. This going in right now.’”
TCU star Olivia Miles, who scored 31 points, hit the side of the backboard with a last-second 3-point attempt, sparking a CU celebration after its second win over an Associated Press ranked opponent this season.
“I mean, wow,” CU head coach JR Payne said. “What a resilient group we have here to take a team like that down the stretch, down eight two separate times. Our execution and aggressive mindset and ability to make big plays, so many people made big plays tonight.”
Masogayo in particular. She was fouled with 58.3 seconds to go and the Buffs trailing 76-74. She missed the first shot, though.
“Yeah, definitely on the one that I missed, I was pretty much taken back to Kansas,” Masogayo said.
She was 8-for-8 at the line against Kansas before going 1-for-7 in the last 3:29 of the fourth quarter that day, which led to the game going to overtime.
BOULDER , CO – FEBRUARY 8: Zyanna Walker (1) of the Colorado Buffaloes drives on Taylor Bigby (1) of the TCU Horned Frogs during the fourth quarter of the Buffs’ 80-79 win at the CU Events Center in Boulder, Colorado on Sunday, February 8, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
“I was just telling myself on the line, like, ‘Jade, we’re not going to do this again,’” she said. “’Like, come on, let’s just finish it.’ That was pretty much my mentality.”
She finished this time, hitting the second one, then tying the game with two free throws with 24.2 seconds left and winning it with her free throw at the 2.1-second mark. She went 9-for-10 at the line for the day.
“Jade was obviously incredible down the stretch,” Payne said.
It was hardly a solo effort.
Freshman Logyn Greer had her best game in Big 12 play, scoring 17 points and pulling down five rebounds. She had 10 of her points in third quarter, after CU had fallen behind by eight.
Desiree Wooten energized the Buffs with 12 first-quarter points before finishing with 19. Zyanna Walker had 15 points and four steals while locking down on defense.
Anaelle Dutat and Tabitha Betson combined for just six points, but those all came in the fourth quarter, cutting TCU’s eight-point lead to four.
“Lots of different people made winning plays tonight, offensively and defensively,” Payne said, while praising the defensive efforts by Dutat, Walker and Betson. “Just great team effort. I’m really, really happy about this one.”
CU led by 11 in the first quarter and never trailed in the first half. Then, TCU’s Donovyn Hunter and Miles got hot, sparking a 13-5 surge to start the third quarter.
Miles drilled a 3-pointer with 5:46 to play in the third to put the Horned Frogs up 47-39, prompting Payne to call a timeout. The TCU senior was hit with a technical foul for taunting, though, and CU capitalized. Wooten hit the ensuing two free throws and Walker a quick jumper to slice the deficit to 47-43 in just nine seconds.
“We thought we could get a four-point swing out of it, and we did,” Payne said. “So that was really important. Good execution by the team.”
TCU got the lead back to eight, 74-68, with 6:55 to go, but Dutat and Betson hit some big shots, while the Horned Frogs lost two of their key players in the paint. Marta Suarez, a 6-foot-3 forward who finished with 20 points, fouled out with 4:02 to go. Then, 6-foot-7 Clara Silva fouled out with 58.3 to go.
That all helped CU, sparked by a lively crowd of 2,240, to close the game on a 10-3 run over the last 2:35.
“I thought the energy in the arena was so good,” she said. “I think anyone that comes to watch us play sees that it’s really fun. It’s a really fun couple of hours. So, I just hope we can really get great crowds the last few games.”
BOULDER , CO – FEBRUARY 8: Desiree Wooten (3) of the Colorado Buffaloes drives on Clara Bielefeld (16) of the TCU Horned Frogs during the fourth quarter of the Buffs’ 80-79 win at the CU Events Center in Boulder, Colorado on Sunday, February 8, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Notable
CU’s previous ranked win came against then-No. 19 Iowa State, 68-62, on Jan. 14. … The Buffs have 18 wins against AP Top 25 teams under Payne, including 15 in the past five seasons. … TCU leads the conference in scoring defense, allowing just 55.3 points per game. CU was the first team to reach the 80-point mark against the Horned Frogs in regulation. Only Utah scored more overall, beating TCU 87-77 in overtime on Jan. 3. … The Buffs were just 4-of-19 from 3-point range in the previous two games, but went 4-for-6 in the first quarter Sunday and finished 6-for-13.
TORONTO – Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic believes that the future belongs to Scottie Barnes.
Rajakovic was effusive in his praise for Barnes after the Raptors all-star scored 25 points and had 14 rebounds in Toronto’s 122-104 rout of the Indiana Pacers on Sunday afternoon. Barnes also surpassed former Raptors all-star Pascal Siakam — now on the Pacers — for the fifth most double-doubles in Toronto history with 103.
“Scottie is defensive player of the year. He’s an all-star. He’s going to be a Finals MVP. He’s going to be an MVP one day,” said Rajakovic.”Write down the date I said that.”
Barnes could only chuckle at Rajakovic’s prediction.
“That’s my coach, man. He’s always supporting us. He’s always got our backs,” said Barnes. “That’s Darko for you.”
Barnes helped Toronto blow the game wide open in the third quarter, scoring 13 of his points and grabbing eight rebounds in the period. He also had four assists, two blocks and a steal in the third.
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The Raptors dominated the period, making 60.7 per cent of their field-goal attempts and all six of their free throws, outscoring Indiana 44-26 in the quarter.
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Barnes said he tried to step up after rookie centre Collin Murray-Boyles left the game in the first quarter. Murray-Boyles aggravated a sprain in his left thumb when another player hit his hand.
“I just do what the game demands of me,” said Barnes. “Obviously, Collin wasn’t there so I needed to rebound more, we needed some rim protection.
“Going where the game demands. I was feeling a little bit like I was going downhill, attacking.”
Trayce Jackson-Davis made his Raptors debut after being traded to Toronto by the Golden State Warriors on Thursday. He had 10 points and 10 rebounds in 15 minutes of play.
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Jackson-Davis said it has been an easy adjustment for him so far.
“You could see during the game, they’re hyping me up every time I made a play, giving me a lot of confidence, and so I’m happy to be here. I’m happy to be a part of the team,” said the 25-year-old centre. “One of the assistant coaches came up to me and said ‘at the end of the day, it’s just basketball, just go out there and play.’
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“So that’s what I did.”
Although it was a solid debut, Rajakovic wanted to wait before commenting on Jackson-Davis’s performance.
“I don’t want to pass judgment. (…) I just want to let him be. I want to coach him. I want to help him. I want to to build him and see where we go,” said Rajakovic. “I don’t want to, based on one good game or bad game, to pass any judgment on him.
“I want to see a chunk of 10 to 15 games and see how he grows with us.”
The Raptors (32-22) are fifth in the Eastern Conference and will host the Detroit Pistons (38-13) on Wednesday. It’s the last game for both teams before the NBA’s all-star weekend.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 8, 2026.
