Ben Keenan Just Can't Stop Talking

Ben Keenan
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Have you ever wanted to get all your news updates in one place, but you don't like to read and you can't afford cable? Welcome to "Ben Keenan Just Can't Stop Talking," the ultimate news show that brings you all the important things that are happening around the globe, from current events, to pop culture, to politics, to sports, and everything in between. Ben breaks down the news of the week via commentary in a fun way that both newcomers and news junkies, alike, can enjoy. Let's yap!

  1. Trump Is Crashing the Economy So Badly that 58% of Americans Think We're Already in a Recession

    04/09/2025

    Trump Is Crashing the Economy So Badly that 58% of Americans Think We're Already in a Recession

    Here's what happened April 8, 2025: At least 44 people died and more than 160 others were injured after a roof fell in at a nightclub in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, authorities say. Apparently this was an iconic nightclub with attendees that included politicians, athletes, performers, and more attending a merengue concert. In a massive escalation, Donald Trump has increased reciprocal tariffs on China to 104% after China didn’t remove their reciprocal tariffs on the US. For context, we get 16.5% of our imported goods from China, meaning that now, nearly 1 in every 5 items you buy will be DOUBLE the price it was yesterday. Thanks Trump. Democratic Senator from Oregon, Ron Wyden, announced a bipartisan resolution to end Trump’s global tariffs - cool, only 2 issues. 1. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson will NEVER bring this to a vote in the House, and 2. Even if he DID bring this up for a vote and it passed, Trump already said he would veto it. So what do we do now… The Denver Nuggets NBA team have fired their coach, Michael Malone, despite him being the winningest coach in franchise history and also winning the only championship in franchise history - THEN they also fired their GM, Calvin Boot. Recession core. In a new court filing, we learned that the IRS has agreed to share the personal information of undocumented taxpayers with ICE As of 12:45pm, the S&P 500 completely wiped out the full last year of gains, with a new Cygnal poll reporting that 58% of Americans believe that we are currently in a recession. And yet Trump’s disapproval number is still only like 55% - I need to speak to that 3% of folks that think we’re in a recession, but approve of Trump, expeditiously After filing for bankruptcy, Big Lots - the giant retail store - announces store reopenings and maybe it’s a me thing, but do I just not know what bankruptcy means. Shouldn’t they just be gone with no money? Texas’s Republican Attorney General, the notoriously corrupt Ken Paxton, has announced a primary challenge to Republican Senator John Cornyn. Now, while Ken Paxton becoming a Senator would be one of the worst things I could imagine for the Senate, the possibility of enough people hating him and the primary getting nasty could be a really good opportunity for Texas to elect a Democrat in a Blue Wave year…something to consider when looking at who could potentially run.

    6 min
  2. Nicki Minaj Was Named the Best Female Rapper of All Time by Billboard

    04/08/2025

    Nicki Minaj Was Named the Best Female Rapper of All Time by Billboard

    Here's what happened April 7, 2025: Off the back of Trump’s tariffs and the stock market absolutely PLUMMETING, China’s stock market opened before the US to the worst single-day crash since 2008. The S&P 500 is having its worst three-consecutive-days since October 1987. The DOW also dropped 1200 points at opening. And yes, we’re creeping close to a recession. Secretary of HHS RFK Jr. has come out in support of the MMR vaccine in order to control the spread of measles that HE HIMSELF caused through his anti-vax rhetoric. We have FINALLY gotten the first trailer of Wes Anderson’s new moving “THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME”, starring Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Tom Hanks, Benedict Cumberbatch, Scarlett Johanson and more Remember the Maryland father who was mistakenly sent to a prison in El Salvador by the Trump administration due to “administrative error”? And remember how a federal judge ordered that the Trump administration return this guy? Well, as you could’ve probably predicted, the Trump administration is appealing this decision to the Supreme Court. They ACTIVELY ASKING the Supreme Court to block this decision, meaning that they just f*****g leave a man they mistakenly deported there. Well anyway, the Supreme Court gave into Trump and stopped the ordered that would return the guy they mistakenly sent Speaking of the Supreme Court, they opted today to turn away a challenge to New York’s recently enacted gun restrictions, meaning that most provisions of the laws, including a ban on carrying concealed firearms in sensitive places, remain in tact Billboard has named Nicki Minaj the best female rapper of all time. After RFK Jr.’s come to Jesus moment about recommending the MMR vaccine, he NOW is saying he plans to tell the CDC to stop recommending flouride in drinking water. An American YouTuber has been arrested for visiting an off-limits island in the Indian Ocean and leaving a can of Diet Coke for the reclusive Sentinelese tribe - objectively funny. Less funny? In 2018, the tribe killed an American missionary who arrived illegally on the beach. Back to the Supreme Court, they lifted a court ordering blocking Trump from deporting Venezuelans under a rarely used 1798 wartime law called the Alien Enemies Act. The University of Florida beat the University of Houston to win the Men’s NCAA March Madness tournament And finally, Mercury Retrograde ended last night

    9 min
  3. Trump Put Tariffs on Penguins & Now JPMorgan is Predicting a Recession, So That Sucks

    04/05/2025

    Trump Put Tariffs on Penguins & Now JPMorgan is Predicting a Recession, So That Sucks

    Here's what happened on April 4, 2025: So quick update on Trump’s tariffs we spoke about yesterday. Turns out when I said they were on every country, I misspoke - they’re on every country EXCEPT Russia, North Korea, Belarus, and Cuba. They’re even on the McDonald Islands, which is solely inhabited by penguins. Even the PENGUINS got higher tariffs than Russia did! Apple has added 8 new emojis to the newest update, including a tired face, a fingerprint, a purple splat, a shovel, an old spooky dead tree, a harp, a radish, and a flag of Sark, which is a self-governing island in the Channel Islands Robert Irwin - son of crocodile and snake person Steve Irwin - has entered the modeling game for an underwear brand called Bonds and let me tell you this guy is RIPPED. Good for him. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has announced that Hungary will withdraw from the ICC so he’s able to host Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu without having to arrest him for entering the country. As a reminder, the ICC has an arrest warrant out for Netanyahu over allegations of Israel committing war crimes in Gaza New Hampshire Democratic Congressman Chris Pappas announced his run for Senate to replace outgoing Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen. New York Democratic Mayor Eric Adams has decided that he’s going to skip the Democratic primary for the seat and instead run for re-election as an independent candidate. Subway has revealed a new footlong menu item: Doritos Footlong Nachos Australia has banned social media for kids under 16 years old - this will start December 10 and will impact platforms such as Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This law is the first of its kind in the world Kesha has announced her T**s Out Tour for this summer, with Scissor Sisters, Slayyyter, and Rose Gray.  The Pentagon’s acting inspector general announced that they’re now investigating Pete Hegseth’s use of a Signal chat for the Yemen bombing attack plans Disney’s live-action remake of “Tangled” has been paused after an underwhelming response to the live-action remake of Snow White with Rachel Zeigler. The 2025 VMAs are being broadcast by CBS for the first ever, instead of being broadcast by MTV. The Dow dropped more than 1600 points today due to Trump’s tariffs, marking the biggest wipeout of the stock market since 2020 and the first time ever that the Dow dropped more than 1500 points on back-to-back days. The NASDAQ is down 20% since Trump took office and he’s out golfing today, yet again. Make America Great Again, amirite Russell Brand has been charged with rape, indecent assault, and sexual assault by London’s Metropolitan Police. According to Variety, the charges relate to four separate women and incidents that took place between 1999 and 2005. The Democratic Party has launched what they’re calling “The People’s Cabinet” in order to counter messaging from the White House and Republicans. JPMorgan has officially stated that they predict a recession in 2025 so that sucks, and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell says that Trump’s tariffs will likely raise inflation and slow US economic growth, womp womp In a 2-1 decision, the North Carolina Court of Appeals has sided with the Republican who lost by 700something votes, ordering the State Board of Elections to recount the votes of 65,000. Eminem has welcomed his first grandchild Duke freshman men’s basketball player Cooper Flagg has been named AP Player of the Year Kombucha girl influencer and comedian Brittany Broski has released her debut original song, “The Sun” Ed Sheeran has released his new single, “Azizam” from his upcoming album “Play”  Trump announced an additional 75 day delay in the TikTok ban, saying that the deal “requires more work” - the new deadline is now June 19. The US Supreme Court has approved Trump’s freezing of millions of dollars in grants used to address teacher shortages in poor and rural areas. FKA Twigs cancelled her North America tour over visa issues

    15 min
  4. Trump Put Tariffs on Every Country in the World and FOR WHAT?!

    04/03/2025

    Trump Put Tariffs on Every Country in the World and FOR WHAT?!

    Here's everything that happened April 2, 2025: Actor Val Kilmer died at 65 years old The results are in for the mayoral race in Aurora, IL, the state’s second-largest city - Incumbent mayor Richard Irvan, who ran for governor as a Republican in 2022 and has aligned himself closely with Trump, was defeated by his Democratic challenger, John Laesch. Democrats have successfully flipped this city from having a Republican mayor to a Democratic mayor. Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow has announced she’s running for Senate in Michigan Glen Powell has come out with a new line of condiments called Smash Kitchen  Nintendo has announced a new game, “Mario Kart: World”, which will be coming exclusively to the Nintendo Switch 2 Former Biden Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra (yes, he held the role right before current Secretary RFK Jr.) announced that he’s running for Governor of California In an exclusive story from POLITICO, Trump has told his inner circle, including members of his Cabinet, that Elon Musk will soon be stepping back from his current role as governing partner, ubiquitous cheerleader and Washington hatchet man. Apparently Amazon is going to make a bid to buy TikTok in the US. In another potential play here, Trump is also considering a deal where ByteDance continues to own the algorithm and just leases it to TIkTok and whoever ultimately ends up owning it in the US. Oh and then also the founder of OnlyFans decided to put in a bid to buy TikTok, as well, which I mean… It’s been confirmed that influencer Jake Shane has been cast in the upcoming Season 4 of Hacks Melinda French Gates, the ex-wife of Bill Gates, has revealed in an exclusive to PEOPLE that she’s dating again and very happy in a new relationship NBA star Carmelo Anthony has been notified that he’s been elected into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2025 There is apparently a Hawk Tuah documentary in the works about the Hawk Tuah girl herself, Hailey Welch Trump announced that starting at midnight, he’s implementing what he calls “reciprocal tariffs” on ALL imports into the US with a baseline tariff of 10% on all countries, to allegedly promote US manufacturing, but what we’ll get are higher costs and trade wars. Oh and the stock market TANKED right after this announcement and 2025 recession odds jumped to 50% on Polymarket

    11 min
  5. A Cisgender Woman Got Fired by Walmart After a Man Thought She Was Trans

    04/01/2025

    A Cisgender Woman Got Fired by Walmart After a Man Thought She Was Trans

    Here's everything that happened on March 31, 2025: The Trump administration pulled research funding for research to protect pregnant women from domestic violence, citing that research as a DEI initiative. Megan Fox gave birth to her and Machine Gun Kelly’s first kid together, a daughter, which is Megan’s 4th kid (the other 3 are boys with her ex-husband, Brian Austin Green), and this is Machine Gun Kelly’s second. Tanner Adell, one of the Black women Beyonce featured on her Cowboy Carter album, has released her new single “Going Blonde”  Utah has officially become the first state to ban fluoride in public drinking water, DESPITE pushback from dentists who say this move will lead to medical problems. Apparently Elon Musk has bought Twitter from himself, saying that his AI company, xAI has bought X (aka former Twitter) France’s far-right political leader Marine Le Pen has been found guilty of embezzling European Union funds. A French judge ruled that she is now, effective immediately, barred from seeking public office in France for five years - she will also be sentenced to four years in prison, and will receive a fine of 100,000 euros YouTube is officially worth $550 billion, making it what analysts call, “the new king of all media” New England Patriots QB Joshua Dobbs is now engaged to his fiancee, Jocelyn Lara, who he’s been dating since the summer of 2021. Miley Cyrus has released the title track off her new album, “Something Beautiful” The Governor of Missouri just signed a law that ends the city of St. Louis’s ability to run its own police force. The city’s police are now controlled by the government of the state of Missouri. Retired NFL star (and former Seahawks cornerback) Richard Sherman says his house was robbed at gunpoint last night while his family was home. A cisgender woman was fired from her job at Walmart after a customer thought the woman was a trans woman. Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, has taken the Senate floor for a standing filibuster, where he will speak for as long as physically possible, in order to disrupt the normal order of the Senate to lift the voices of Americans who are being harmed and not being heard in this moment of crisis of Trump and Elon Musk completely disregarding the rule of law, he said.

    10 min
  6. Black Democratic Senator Cory Booker Just Beat Segregationist Strom Thurmond's "Longest Speech" Record

    04/01/2025

    Black Democratic Senator Cory Booker Just Beat Segregationist Strom Thurmond's "Longest Speech" Record

    Here's what happened on April 1, 2025: New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker’s standing filibuster officially broke the record of 24 hours and 18 minutes, held by segregationist Strom Thurmand to protest the passage of the Civil Rights Act ,standing himself for 25 hours and 4 minutes The Trump Administration admitted in a court filing that it had mistakenly deported a Maryland father to a notoriously dangerous prison in El Salvador due to “administrative error”, but due to him already being in El Salvador, they’re unable to bring him home. US Attorney General Pam Bondi has directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione in the alleged killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO. Steve Kornacki and his election-time khakis are leaving us. Sort of. NBC News confirmed today that Steve will be leaving his election analysis at MSNBC and will be moving to NBC News and NBC Sports as parent company Comcast prepares to spin off the bulk of its cable networks into a new stand-alone entity. Tinder launched something new called The Game Game, where users can test their flirting skills with an AI. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that Israel eliminated tariffs on American goods. According to the Washington Post, Mike Waltz - the same guy who added the Editor  from The Atlantic to the Yemen bombing group chat - has ALSO been using Gmail for government communications The Republican won in Florida’s 6th Congressional District to replace Mike Waltz, but this is a 19 point shift towards the Democrats since Trump won this in November by 33 points. The Republican won in Florida’s 1st Congressional District to replace Matt Gaetz, but much like the other race, Jimmy Patronis only won by 13 points, while Trump won by 37 points in November. Once again, this is a 24 point shift towards the Democrats. Brad Pitt is set to reprise his role in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” in a new movie at Netflix directed by David Fincher and written by Quentin Tarantino. The Democrat won in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race where Elon Musk personally spent $19.44M to try and influence the result. This preserves the liberal 4-3 makeup of the Wisconsin Supreme Court

    11 min
  7. Apparently There Weren't Enough White Performers in Kendrick Lamar's Superbowl Halftime Show

    03/28/2025

    Apparently There Weren't Enough White Performers in Kendrick Lamar's Superbowl Halftime Show

    Here's everything that happened on March 27, 2025: A US judge ruled that extreme heat in Texas prisons is unconstitutionally cruel, but stops short of requiring air conditioning… You can now pre-order pints of breast milk-flavored ice cream from the company called Frida. RFK Jr. has announced that he’s going to slash 10,000 jobs from the Department of Health and Human Services, drastically reducing the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), and the NIH (National Institutes of Health) Kesha has announced her new album, called “.”, will release on July 4th Keir Starmer, Prime Minister of the UK, announced last year that knife crime in Britain was at epidemic level and that he’d like to crack down on sales of these weapons once and for all. Today, he announced that ninja swords will be banned by this summer The president at the University of Michigan announced that it will end all DEI initiatives campus-wide, including closing the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, discontinuing the DEI 2.0 Strategic Plan, and ending the use of diversity statements in faculty hiring. The Sundance Film Festival will relocate to Boulder, Colorado in 2027, endings its decades-long run in Park City, Utah The White House decided to officially withdraw Elise Stefanik’s nomination for Ambassador to the United Nations to avoid losing another ruby red seat to a Democrat. The FCC (aka the Federal Communications Commission, the people who oversee TV…basically) have said that they received 125 complaints about Kendrick Lamar’s halftime performance during the Super Bowl, focusing on the lack of white performers.  Chris Brown…yes, apparently he’s still relevant…announced a new tour called the Breezy Bowl XX Stadium World Tour across Europe and North America, which will feature Summer Walker and Bryson Tiller. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced that the NBA is now exploring a European league after the Board of Governors meeting, adding, “It's early days. Literally nothing has been agreed upon yet.” Apparently they’re exploring game times that reflect the current FIBA and Euro format of 40-minute games, while looking at existing facilities, but also potentially new state of the art arenas in cities that are well-known, successful and have notable basketball history, with 16 teams total (12 legacy and 4 rotating). Ok the Yemen bombing group chat has gotten juicier - according to the WSJ, two US officials said that Israel provided senior Trump administration officials with sensitive intelligence from a human source in Yemen on a key Houthi military operative targeted in an attack described by national security adviser Mike Waltz in an unclassified Signal chat. Beyonce was snubbed by the 2025 American Country Music Awards, despite having taken home multiple awards at the Grammys, including Best Country Album and Album of the Year. So we previously talked about how influencer and party girl Alix Earle’s podcast, “Hot Mess” was leaving Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper’s Unwell podcast network. Well, Alix Earle announced that her podcast is being paused for the foreseeable future and Alex Cooper PROMPTLY responded with a “Hi I see your comments, Alix not being able to podcast has nothing to do with Unwell. Idk why she can’t/what’s going on. Unwell gave her everything back she owns her IP.” 76-year-old King Charles III experienced side effects after receiving a medical treatment for his cancer and was briefly in the hospital for observation Scientists announced that they have the first known recordings of the sounds a shark makes - which apparently only lasts 48 milliseconds. AND NO, it’s not just the sound of the Jaws theme song A Texas board has denied the parole for Yolanda Saldivar, who was convicted for killing music icon Selena in 1995

    10 min
  8. Chappell Roan Casually Announced She's Dating Someone

    03/27/2025

    Chappell Roan Casually Announced She's Dating Someone

    Here's everything that happened on March 26, 2025: Singer Maren Morris announced that her fourth studio album, “DREAMSICLE”, will be released May 9 Donald Trump announced that he’s looking to set up some sort of government compensation fund for the January 6 criminals that he pardoned So the overperformance of Democrats in special elections across the country continued last night, with Democrat James Malone winning a State Senate election in Pennslyvania, flipping a Republican seat in a district Trump won by 15 points in November, meaning the district moving 17 points to the left in 5 months. Additionally, there was a NYC Council special election where the Democrat, Simcha Felder, won by nearly 82% of the vote. Trump won this heavily Orthodox Jewish council district with 83% of the vote in November. And now the Democrat won it with nearly the same number - that’s a 160% swing towards the Democrats FKA Twigs has postponed several of her North American Eusexua Tour dates due to visa issues, including stops in Chicago, Toronto, and NY. However, she’ll be fully in action for both weekends of Coachella So you know how Donald Trump put notable vaccine conspiracy theorist RFK Jr. in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees our vaccinations? And then how RFK Jr. SWORE that he isn’t banning vaccines, but instead just wants to study them - just asking questions - well, RFK Jr. hired vaccine skeptic David Geier to conduct the analysis of the correlation between vaccines and autism. Notably, according to the Washington Post, Geier and his father have published papers claiming vaccines increase the risk of autism - which is a theory that has been studied for decades and scientifically debunked ALREADY… After a couple days of lying that The Atlantic’s Editor in Chief, Jeffrey Goldberg wasn’t on the group chat where they were talking about Yemen, then saying actually he was but there wasn’t any classified information, and then saying he actually snuck his way on, Jeffrey Goldberg - the reporter on the chain - officially released screenshots of the ENTIRE text thread.  Lady Gaga announced her new tour for her album Mayhem, called “The Mayhem Ball” - she will be stopping in only 5 US cities, Vegas, Seattle, New York, Miami, and Chicago, then hitting Toronto in Canada and a bunch of Europe stops In a surprise ruling, the Supreme Court upheld a Biden-era rule from the ATF (aka the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) that regulated ghost guns under the Gun Control Act. This reverses the 5th Circuit court decision that said the ATF rule was invalid, and that at least some of the build-at-home gun kits satisfy the language of the Gun Control Act. Influencer Remi Bader, known for her body positivity and realistic try on hauls, offically broke her silence today revealing that she had bariatric surgery. Chappell Roan revealed on Call Her Daddy that she’s dating someone A Scooby-Doo live action series is officially moving forward at Netflix, picking up the show for 8 episodes Renee Zellweger has joined the cast of Only Murders in the Building Season 5 Former Impractical Jokers star, Joe Gatto, has canceled his tour and voluntarily begun in-patient care at a treatment facility following recent allegations against him of sexual assault and harassment Joe Jonas announced that he will release his new album, “Music For People Who Believe In Love” on Friday, May 23rd Donald Trump announced new 25% tariffs on all cars not made in the US, which will definitely impact automakers in the US who get parts from outside the US Kansas announced a measles outbreak with 10 cases reported

    10 min
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About

Have you ever wanted to get all your news updates in one place, but you don't like to read and you can't afford cable? Welcome to "Ben Keenan Just Can't Stop Talking," the ultimate news show that brings you all the important things that are happening around the globe, from current events, to pop culture, to politics, to sports, and everything in between. Ben breaks down the news of the week via commentary in a fun way that both newcomers and news junkies, alike, can enjoy. Let's yap!

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