The death penalty is visceral revenge and doesn’t work. Why should we have the death penalty? Why do we punish people?

U.S. Supreme Court justices on Wednesday leaned toward reinstating convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's death sentence for his role in the 2013 attack that killed three people and wounded more than 260 others.

The court's conservative majority appeared sympathetic during arguments in the case toward the Justice Department's challenge to a 2020 lower court ruling that upheld Tsarnaev's conviction but overturned his death sentence.

The three liberal justices asked tough questions of the government but it appeared unlikely that enough of their six conservative colleagues shared their concerns for Tsarnaev to prevail and secure a new trial to determine whether he should get a sentence of life in prison or death.

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This month, after causing an online stir with photos of his toddlers wearing anti-President Biden T-shirts on Instagram, country superstar Jason Aldean doubled down: “I will never apologize for my beliefs or my love for my family and country,” he wrote in a follow-up post.. A couple days later, he posted a news story to his 3.5 million followers about California Gov. Gavin Newsom instating coronavirus vaccine mandates in schools. “You gotta be kidding me! People in California should be outraged and people everywhere else better start standing up and speaking out NOW. This is not how America and being free works,” the caption stated.

But in the past year and a half, country music fans have watched as many Nashville stars with large and influential platforms stayed silent in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd in police custody, even as celebrities from every other corner of the entertainment industry weighed in on racial equity.

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Jason Nathanson on Squid game and the Hollywood strike

The union representing Hollywood crews announced today that its members will go on strike on Monday if they can’t reach an agreement on a new contract.  The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees represents about 60,000 film set workers nationwide and a strike could cripple an industry.  The Korean thriller "Squid Game" has officially become Netflix's biggest ever series launch with 111 million users viewing it in its first 28 days, knocking Bridgerton (82 million) off the top spot.

Why are the RS retiring brown sugar? Check out the lyrics

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90-year-old William Shatner blasted into space this morning, reaching the "final frontier" aboard a ship built by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin company.  Shatner and three fellow passengers hurtled to an altitude of 66.5 miles (107 kilometers) over the West Texas desert in the fully automated capsule, then safely parachuted back to Earth in a flight that lasted just over 10 minutes.   The blastoff brought priceless star power to Bezos’ spaceship company, given its built-in appeal to baby boomers, celebrity watchers and space enthusiasts. Shatner starred in TV’s original “Star Trek” from 1966 to 1969, back when the U.S. was racing for the moon, and went on to appear in a string of “Star Trek” movies.  “I hope I never recover from this," an emotional Shatner told Bezos after they landed. 

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Ozzy Osbourne's hot tip to stay Covid free: Hail Satan...

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Former Cobb's SF booker and owner, Tom Sawyer, agrees with Chip on this one. Some callers don't see it that way.

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What’s the difference between Jon Gruden and Dave Chappele? Nuthin.

WaPo's Features Reporter Sonia Rao joins the conversation. 

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exactly ZERO people acording to new numbers out. Chip has details. Callers have doubts.

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- and that's just in August... Why? ABC's Andy field has more.

Plus: your calls on Baseball.

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It's why baseball is so great and also, doomed.

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