Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN first reported the news and noted Bamba is expected to miss “significant time.”
The 20-year-old missed Saturday’s game with what the team described as a “sore lower left leg,” but it’s clear the injury is more serious.
Thus far in his debut season, Bamba is averaging 6.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game.
The Magic selected Bamba with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft after one fantastic campaign at the University of Texas.
In his one year with the Longhorns, Bamba put up 12.9 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.7 blocks per contest.
The seven-footer then impressed at the combine thanks to his long wingspan before turning heads in individual workouts as well.
Orlando is in the midst of a rebuild having gone six years without reaching the playoffs, but Bamba may play a big role in getting back to postseason contention.
He is already a strong defensive presence, and the potential is there for him to become a highly productive offensive player as well in the coming years.
Bamba joined a talented group of young players in Orlando that also includes Aaron Gordon and Jonathan Isaac.
While losing Bamba for any period of time could be detrimental to his development during the infancy of his career, the Magic do boast some solid depth in the frontcourt.
Nikola Vucevic and Khem Birch will see the bulk of the playing time at center if Bamba lands on the shelf, while Gordon will continue to play a big role at power forward.
Every game is important for the Magic when it comes to bringing their young talent along, which means getting Bamba back as soon as possible will be key in terms of Orlando working its way back toward relevancy in the near future.
One year ago, President Donald Trump pledged to halt the opioid epidemic and curtail illegal immigration, especially at the U.S.-Mexico border. The health of a nation, however relies not only on the leader but on the circumstances he or she inherits. Here’s a look at America’s well-being today.
1 Presidential approval is flagging
Trump’s approval rating is down 7 points since the last State of the Union, and recently, in the wake of the longest government shutdown in American history, clocked a record low of 40 percent. Presidential approval often declines during the course of any one presidency. Still, one thing has remained steady: a wide gap between Democrats and Republicans, who give the president an approval rating of 15 percent and 85 percent, respectively.
Trump’s Overall Approval Rating
2 There are more jobs and unemployment is low
During last year’s State of the Union address, Trump championed the creation of 2.4 million jobs and record-breaking lows in unemployment.
In 2018, the trend continued with unemployment rates dropping as low as 3.7 percent. Unemployment figures rose slightly after the recent government shutdown, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest report. The same report shows an addition of 304,000 jobs* last month, about 30 percent more than last year’s monthly average. Average hourly earnings increased 3.2 percent, or 85 cents, since last year.
Unemployment Rate
3 Monthly goods and services imports outpace exports
The monthly U.S. goods and services deficit swelled to $55.5 billion in October 2018, representing an 11.4 percent rise over the same time the year earlier. Trump often points to the large trade deficit as evidence the U.S. is losing on trade. But even with a rising deficit under Trump, U.S. unemployment has continued to fall. U.S. factory employment, for example, has risen during Trump’s two years in office, fed by the strong U.S. economic growth that began during the last years of the Obama administration.
U.S. International Trade Deficit
4 After years of decline, a slight uptick of apprehensions at the southern border
The number of apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border have more than halved since the Bush era. At its close, the Obama administration saw the fewest apprehensions in more than four decades. The Trump administration marks a slight increase with roughly 400,000 people apprehended since the start of Trump’s presidency.
Apprehensions at the Southwest Border
5 Drug overdoses at an all-time high, most of them from opioids
American life expectancy fell for the second year in a row from 2014 to 2016, a decline partially attributed to increases in suicides and drug overdoses. 2017 saw the highest rate of reported deaths due to drug overdose, with 21.7 deaths per 100,000 people, more than 70,000 total deaths. More than half, or 14.9 deaths per 100,000 people, were opioid-related. In addition, many drug overdoses go unreported, according to the CDC.
Drug Overdose Deaths
Per 100,000 people
Join POLITICO at 9 p.m. Eastern time for live video and analysis of President Trump’s 2019 State of the Union address.
Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced she will no longer prosecute pot possession cases regardless of the quantity or the offender’s criminal record. The State’s Attorney hopes this will improve police-community relations, and make it easier for the city to focus on fighting violent crimes, which has impacted the city at a high rate over the last three years.
It’s pretty easy to scare your mother, but this son has taken it to another level.
You may remember the “scare cam” trend, where people would record themselves… well, scaring their friends. But this shriek-filled video adds fresh life to a trend that was otherwise gasping for air.
Part of what makes this video so great is not only that this mom repeatedly gets so freaked out every time, but also the fantastic cackle it gets out of her son every time.
Senior Afghan politicians, including former President Hamid Karzai, and a Taliban delegation held ‘fruitful’ talks about the adoption of a new constitution, interim government and women rights at a meeting in Moscow.
“We are exchanging our views. So this is the first step which we are taking towards peace and inshallah (God willing) in the future we will have more meetings,” said the head of the Taliban delegation, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai.
The two-day talks marked the first time the Taliban officially met with high-level representatives, although none of them were part of the government and many were its political opponents.
“We understand that the government in Kabul needs to be part of these negotiations, we wish that they would have been here today,” said Karzai, adding it’s an issue that the Taliban and the government have to resolve.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani dismissed the Moscow talks saying the Afghans attending carried no negotiating authority.
“Where is their executive power?” he asked in an interview with Afghan broadcaster Tolonews.
“Let hundreds of such meetings be held, but these would only be paper (agreements) unless there is an agreement by the Afghan government; Afghanistan’s national assembly and Afghanistan’s legal institutions,” he said.
‘We don’t want to go back’
The United States said it made progress in its negotiations with the Taliban last month after six days of discussions in Doha.
Ghani was also excluded from those talks but said the US negotiator has kept him fully informed of progress.
In Moscow, human rights advocate Hawa Nooristani and former parliament member Fawzia Koofi, were the first women to take part in any recent Taliban meetings.
“When they (the Taliban) were in power, they would not even let women leave their homes,” Koofi said.
Afghan women are now guaranteed parliament seats, many hold high-level jobs, own businesses and attend school and university.
Koofi urged the Taliban to “listen” to the Afghan people and to adapt to the current Afghan society.
“We have come a very long way and we don’t want to go back.”
The Taliban indicated they want to change the current Afghan constitution they see as invalid because they say it was imported from the West.
“The sovereignty and establishment of an Islamic system conforming to our religious and Afghan values is our legal right,” said Stanekzai.
Stanekzai said the Taliban also has a position on women’s rights.
“The policy of the Islamic Emirate is to protect the rights of women in a way that neither their legitimate rights are violated nor their human dignity and Afghan values are threatened”.
Powerful ex-governor Atta Mohammad Noor suggested one way for a peace process to move forward is to form an interim government that includes the Taliban.
“The interim government will help find a way for a transparent election,” he said, referring to presidential elections scheduled for July.
“It will also help the political factions including the Taliban take part in the process,” Noor said.
Ghani has rejected what he called rumours of an interim government and promised the election would be held on time.
“Ashraf Ghani’s political opponents are trying to equate his government’s unpopularity with illegitimacy,” Ahmed Shuja Jamal, an Afghan analyst based in Washington DC, told Al Jazeera.
“The Ghani government may be unpopular, but it retains its de jure status as the representative entity for the country authorised to conduct foreign affairs.
“Sidelining the government will make it less likely that a peace deal will be struck and, if it is struck, it will be less likely to prove effective.”
Violence continued
The Taliban has repeatedly refused hold direct talks with Ghani calling his goverment “US puppets”.
“The Afghan government is the core of peace talks,” senior Ghani advisorZiaulhaq Amarkhiltold Al Jazeera.
“As long as the core party is not involved in the peace process, no progress or major breakthrough will be made in such meetings.”
He accused the Afghan delegates in Moscow of using the talks to further their own political aims.
As the Moscow were under way, violence across the Afghanistan continued.
The Taliban killed at least 47 security forces and policemen in separate attacks in the northern Kunduz, Baghlan and Samangan provinces.
“Both the US and the Afghan domestic political opposition are giving the Taliban what they always wanted: Talks with the US and with Afghan political elite minus engagement with the Afghan government,” Shuja, the analyst said.
“Right now, the Taliban are winning.”
Afghan peace talks show promise, but who is talking to whom?
Even though Kristaps Porzingis is saying all the right things now, the Dallas Mavericks reportedly weren’t high on his list of preferred destinations.
Per Marc Stein of the New York Times, Porzingis and his agent/brother Janis Porzingis, gave the New York Knicks a small list of teams he wanted to play for prior to being traded Thursday:
“Janis Porzingis provided the Knicks with a list of four teams he and Kristaps had deemed acceptable trade destinations.
“The Nets and the Los Angeles Clippers were among those teams, but Dallas was not on the list. The Knicks, meanwhile, were told Porzingis was prepared to leave the team and continue his knee rehabilitation in Spain if he was not moved by this week’s league trade deadline.”
Stein noted the Knicks tried to trade Porzingis to the Utah Jazz for Donovan Mitchell and to the Sacramento Kings for De’Aaron Fox, but they were turned down.
Knicks president Steve Mills told MSG Network’s Rebecca Haarlow on Sunday that Porzingis informed them he wasn’t going to sign an extension with the team.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported after the trade that Porzingis had yet to decide on his future with the Mavericks.
Per Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, Porzingis intends to sign his one-year qualifying offer with the Mavericks this offseason.
During his introductory press conference Monday, Porzingis seemed reluctant to answer when asked if he would sign a long-term extension with Dallas, hesitating before owner Mark Cuban jumped in:
Porzingis did say he and the Mavs are “on the same page.” The 23-year-old is unlikely to play this season while rehabbing his torn ACL. He averaged a career-high 22.7 points per game last season before injuring his knee last February.
A group of Trump supporters including Former Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo (left), Brian Kolfage (second from left), Kris Koback (middle), and former Sheriff David Clarke convened in McAllen, Texas to discuss a new plan for building a wall along the southern U.S. border. | Photo courtesy of Brian Kolfage
Steve Bannon, Kris Kobach and Erik Prince are among the backers of an improbable effort to start building a border wall without federal funding.
It could have been an outtake from a hard-right reboot of “Ocean’s 11” for the Trump era: a gathering of some of President Donald Trump’s most notorious and outspoken supporters, who descended last week on the Mexican border town of McAllen, Texas.
In what amounted to a kind of #MAGA field trip, former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, former Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach, former Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, baseball legend Curt Schilling, and former Sheriff David Clarke convened to discuss a new plan for building a wall along the southern U.S. border. Blackwater founder Erik Prince phoned in from South Africa.
Story Continued Below
With Congress refusing to pony up the $5.7 billion Trump has demanded for the project, his allies now are plotting to kick things off with private money and private land.
The idea, which began in December as a Florida man’s quixotic online crowdfunding campaign, is becoming something more, well, concrete. Big name Trump supporters like Bannon, a former Trump campaign and White House strategist, have flocked to the project. And they have initiated talks with the Israeli firm that constructed that country’s border fence with Gaza, the group told POLITICO. They expect to hold a town hall in Tucson, Arizona, as soon as Friday and to visit the border in Laredo, Texas, next week.
The new details come as Trump, who reportedly blessed the project in a conversationlast month with Kobach, one of the country’s most prominent advocates of restrictionistimmigration policies, is expected to renew his demand for a border wall in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night.
Organizers insist they are serious about developing a large-scale infrastructure project, one that could supplement — and trim the cost of — Trump’s proposed federal wall. Whether they can achieve anything close to that remains an open question.
“Look, it’s evolving,” said Bannon, whose involvement in the project has not previously been reported.
“Do we have a billion dollars right now? No. But can we raise one or two hundred million dollars? No doubt about it,” added Bannon, whose compatriots have formed a nonprofit group, We Build the Wall, that grew out of the original crowd-funding campaign.
Still, the endeavor has the air of political theater.
Bannon told POLITICO that his team is studying whether their wall could be constructed from the hemp-based building material hempcrete. “Do you understand the irony of using hempcrete to keep out marijuana?” Bannon said. The group has already entered into a partnership with the Kansas-based America’s Hemp Academy to supply the material if it is ultimately selected for use, according to organizers.
“What these individuals are doing is a great political stunt, but it’s not going to make the country safer,” said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, a Washington-based, pro-immigration advocacy group. Noorani argued that border security resources would be better deployed at ports of entry.
But even Noorani conceded that the private wall scheme had one advantage over Trump’s border wall proposal: It requires the consent of private landowners, rather than government seizure of their land through eminent domain.
Leon Fresco, a former deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Office of Immigration Litigation, said he was skeptical the effort could make a meaningful dent in migration patterns. He noted that a single mile of border wall could cost millions.
“Twenty million dollars to $30 million is not going to get you very far,” he said. Private wall-building efforts could also run into problems with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior Department, said Fresco, now a partner at the Washington office of Holland & Knight
“They have the right to be skeptics,” said Brian Kolfage, a triple amputee Iraq war veteran who started the online GoFundMe campaign in December. “It’s something that’s never been done, and it’s a very big project, but we’re going to give it our all.”
About two-thirds of the 2,000-mile border, or roughly 1300 miles, is owned privately or by states, according to a 2015 Government Accountability and Oversight report, which did not offer a more detailed breakdown. Bannon said the group has identified roughly 250-400 miles of privately owned land that the project will target.
After consulting with experts, including representative of the Israeli fencing firm Magal Security Systems, the group believes it can build a mile of wall for $1.5 to $2.5 million, excluding the cost of land, Kolfage said.
Organizers said they plan to use traditional political fundraising methods, like direct mail and email campaigns, to get from the $20 million raised so far to the projected multi-billion-dollar cost of constructing hundreds of miles of wall.
The group plans to promote the wall plan at the annual CPAC political gathering, which begins at the end of February. They are also considering following that with a bus tour and more town halls on the border, Kolfage said. From there, actual construction could be only weeks away. “We should be turning dirt on this thing by 1 May, 1 June at the latest, according to our experts,” he said.
Kolfage said he expects the beginning of construction to spur more fundraising, especially if the group can demonstrate competence to potential mega-donors. “Once we break ground, it’s going to open up a whole new can of worms,” he said.
Kobach suggested raising $100 million for over 30 miles of wall could be achievable in the project’s first year.
The former Kansas secretary of state, who served as vice chair of Trump’s abortive and much-maligned voting fraud commission, said he expected to remain in touch with the president and other federal officials about the project. He said the goal was not to replace but to supplement a federal wall-building effort, and to channel pent-up demand for a barrier, which was a signature 2016 Trump campaign promise.
“Oftentimes people will just wait for the government to do it,” Kobach said. “In this case the need is so urgent that they say they want to do it right now.” The White House did not respond to a request for comment about Kobach’s account of his conversation with Trump about the project.
The effort began when Kolfage, an operator of conspiratorially mind right-wing websites, began a GoFundMe site dedicated to raising private donations for the Treasury Department to fund Trump’s proposed border wall.
But that approach quickly came to look like a dead end. Even if citizens donate funds to the Treasury, Congress would still need to approve their use for a wall. So Kolfage and company switched tacks, forming We Build the Wall to fund a private construction effort on private lands.
Behind the scenes, Bannon has lent the project his connections and star power. Bannon got to know Kolfage after Facebook shut down pages the veteran maintained there last year, and Kolfage turned to Bannon for help. Kolfage said he began flying to Washington for meetings about the wall project facilitated by Bannon in late December.
While Bannon’s involvement had been secret, Prince, Kobach, Clarke, Tancredo and Schilling all serve on the nonprofit’s board. Each of them brings colorful credentials to the mix: Prince, the brother of Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos, has performed extensive private security work in the Middle East, Asia and elsewhere. Clarke, a former sheriff of Milwaukee County known for his signature black cowboy hat, has a reputation for espousing extreme law-and-order views on the conservative media and conference circuit. Tancredo made his name as a five-term Congressman with constant calls for tighter border security. And Schilling has pivoted from a storied major league pitching career to a failed video game start-up to hosting a podcast for Breitbart News.
Last week, the group convened for the first time in Texas.
There, they encountered groups of migrants crossing the border to seek asylum. Tancredo said he was surprised that the migrants were “Completely, totally unconcerned about being confronted by us,” and instead were eager to find the Border Patrol so that they could request asylum.
Organizers also conferred with representatives of Magal Security Systems, which built a border barrier between Israel and the Gaza strip. In the weeks following Trump’s 2016 election, Magal publicly offered itself as a natural candidate to build Trump’s proposed wall. Kolfage said he expects to formalize a consulting deal with the firm this week. Magal did not respond to emails requesting comment.
As it pursues its wall, the group has formed several committees, including on site selection, building and fundraising, Tancredo said.
But the ragtag effort remains relatively informal, he said: “I got the impression nobody had a particular title.”
What do you get when you cross awkward high school students, sex, and enterprising young people looking to solve their classmates’ problems?
You get Netflix’s Sex Education, a breakout success that’s been capturing the hearts and minds of just about everyone who’s had a chance to watch it. The tale of a “socially awkward high school virgin who lives with his sex therapist mother” has to be seen to be believed, especially the dynamic duo that is Otis Milburn and Maeve Wiley. Together, the two students set up a therapeutic sex therapy clinic to help other students learn to deal with sexual dysfunction in their lives.
If it sounds dry or boring, you’ve got it all wrong — it’s actually a hilarious and raw look into the lives of young adults and their struggles with their sexual identity. It’s like crossing your favorite sitcom with the deliciously raunchy Big Mouth, another Netflix original. Plus, it’s got Gillian Anderson (yes, Scully from The X-Files), too!
That’s why it’s no surprise that some of your favorite celebs have been hitting social media singing the show’s praises. Can you guess who’s been big on Sex Education? We’ve got some of them below.
KJ Apa
The Riverdale star is a noted Sex Education fan, opting to binge on the series on Super Bowl Sunday rather than keep his eyes on the big game. Apa posted a quick snap to his Instagram Story showing off his TV screen with Sex Education‘s Emma Mackey as Maeve Wiley prominently displayed. “@sexeducation over Super Bowl,” he wrote. Not difficult to see where his priorities lie. Then, Apa took to Twitter to share his thoughts on one of the show’s plot developments. Yep, he’s into it, alright.
Hailee Steinfeld
Actress and singer Hailee Steinfeld took to Twitter to profess her love for the series at the beginning of February, fresh from a lengthy binge, having just completed the show for, presumably, the first time. “Can’t wait for season 2,” she gushed, tagging Asa Butterfield, who portrays Otis. The Bumblebee star sure isn’t shy about showing love for the show.
Sophie Turner
Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner (and soon-to-be sister-in-law to Nick Jonas) appreciates great comedic timing and relatable story lines when she sees them. Turner posted a quick snap of herself posing by a poster of Otis, tagging the actor in a show of appreciation for Sex Education — and her fellow Brit, Butterfield.
When even celebs can’t get enough of a show, you know there’s got be some magic going on, right? If you haven’t already binged your way through the series for a laugh-filled weekend, we recommend doing so.
You’ll want to keep up, especially since it’s already been renewed for a second season. Eight new episodes are on the way, and while there’s no release date for them just yet, there is an announcement to tide us over until we can return to Moordale Secondary for another semester.
In the meantime, better figure out which Sex Education couples you’re shipping.
Mashable’s short documentaries feature compelling individuals, innovations, and movements from around the world.
Mashable Video
Take a look inside the unique history and sound of the signature instrument of the famous Blue Man Group. Mashable sat down with Blue Man Mark Frankel to discuss the show’s enduring appeal and the introduction of the latest pipe instrument that will wow audiences.
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In Ape Out, you play as an ape who’s trying to get out. It’s unique. It’s jazzy. It’s thrilling.
I played a preview build of Ape Out, navigating my way through two “discs,” which act as sorts of worlds and contain a handful of levels that increase in difficulty as a percussive jazz track pushes you forward through heavily guarded rooms, sporadic drum beats encouraging a fast pace of movement as satisfactory cymbal crashes punctuate every kill.
The two discs I played began similarly: You, an ape, are trapped behind glass with a rifle-toting human standing guard. You have to punch your way through and make your way out of whatever building you’re in. The first, a sort of research facility, the second, a high rise.
There are two moves in Ape Out – punching and grabbing. The first, punching, sends humans flying across rooms, popping in a burst of red blood like a splash of paint when they hit a wall or another person.
With a grab, you can guard yourself from the enemies shooting at you from head on, allowing you to progress, at least for a moment, or pull a steel door off its hinges to act a shield down a narrow hallway.
Image: devolver digital
Ape Out’s aesthetic is as stark as its soundtrack, with bold colors and top-down point of view. Instead of giving you an advantageous look into the next room like with Hotline Miami, it actually narrows your vision. You can’t really see what’s coming around any given corner, which adds a high level of tension.
Slowing down is not really an option.
But what really builds a tremendous amount of tension is the jazz drumming that paints the backdrop of every moment of gameplay. The staccato beats of the soundtrack never let you relax as you race through rooms, break through glass, rush down floors, and try to kill guards before they shoot you.
Three shots and the ape is dead, or one explosion if the guards with bombs get too close.
Running through a portion of the first building when the lights turn out is eerie and intense.
Image: devolver digital
Although you’re a huge ape with incredibly powerful fists, you’re pretty vulnerable. The only way to not die all the time is to move quickly and either kill guards within two seconds of them spotting you or try to run for cover and move in on them from another angle.
It’s a fast game. Slowing down is not really an option because you need to keep up your speed to take care of threats quick enough.
There’s a fantastic primal feeling that comes with being an ape just trying to find freedom while taking down armed captors.
Image: devolver digital
The preview of Ape Out I played was a nice blend of intense and satisfying, and the soundtrack behind everything brings it all together.
Ape Out busts out on PC and Nintendo Switch on Feb. 28.
Daily Trends Hunter 