Ron Hoppes

[alex guarnaschelli @guarnaschelli]

OMG

[Ron Hoppes @rlhrag]

@TheTennisLetter We love you Iga. Ignore the haters.

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

In 2014, five kids danced barefoot on a dirt road in Kampala while a friend filmed it on a phone. Five days ago those same Ghetto Kids performed the World Cup final halftime show with Shakira in front of one of the biggest TV audiences on earth. The origin story is better than the highlight.

The barefoot clip was set to Eddy Kenzo's "Sitya Loss." Kenzo had no idea the video existed until a friend showed him. It pulled 8 million views, he put the kids in the official version, and in 2015 he won a BET Award. One phone video changed two careers at once.

The part that gets skipped in every retelling is the man standing behind them. Dauda Kavuma was orphaned as a child and lived on those same Kampala streets. He became a math teacher, and in 2007 he started a foundation to house and school kids going through what he went through. That was seven years before anything went viral. The structure existed before the luck arrived.

Today the foundation feeds, houses, schools, and provides medical care for 60 orphaned or vulnerable children. Dance is the funding engine. French Montana's "Unforgettable" video, a golden buzzer on Britain's Got Talent in 2023, world tours. Every booking flows back to Katwe.

Even the Shakira invite followed the same mechanism as 2014. She saw a clip of them improvising choreography to her Zootopia 2 song and reached out herself, with no agent or casting call in between. Twelve years of posting dance videos, and twice the right person happened to press play.

Kavuma built the home first and got famous second. Most people wait for the break before doing the work. He did the work for seven years assuming the break would never come.

[Adam Parkhomenko @AdamParkhomenko]

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

Zendaya was 16 in this clip. Three years of hip hop training in a crew called Future Shock Oakland starting at age eight. Her partner Val Chmerkovskiy said later she was the most naturally gifted celebrity he'd ever worked with. She had the highest judges' scores all season.

She lost. Kellie Pickler took the Mirror Ball. Zendaya told W Magazine she's "still harboring a little animosity" about it 13 years later.

At that point her entire career earnings totaled roughly $140,000. Three seasons of Disney Channel's Shake It Up. Her mom was a house manager at a Shakespeare theater in Orinda. Zendaya helped seat patrons and sell raffle tickets.

From this dance floor: Spider-Man Homecoming at $300K. No Way Home pushed her to $2 million upfront plus $10 million in bonuses. Two Emmy wins for Euphoria. A renegotiated contract to $1 million per episode. Challengers paid her $10 million. Lancôme, Bulgari, Valentino, Louis Vuitton. $40 million net worth at 29.

The 16-year-old who lost a dance competition on ABC made more from a single Spider-Man bonus check than her first five years in Hollywood combined.

[City of Philadelphia @PhiladelphiaGov]

The certified best! @RdgTerminalMkt has just been named the #1 Public Market in America by @USATODAY.

The wins keep coming for our amazing city. Congratulations Reading Terminal!

[Positive Prayers 🙏 @PositivePrayers]

@AMAZlNGNATURE Sneaky gibbon takes caretaker's radio.🐒🤣

[Seattle Seahawks @Seahawks]

Mucho más que un artista.
Una voz que representa a millones.
Gracias Benito.

[BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ @mmpadellan]

BAD BUNNY: 135.4 million viewers

KID ROCK: 5.7 million sad clowns

WINNER: AMERICA 🇺🇸

[Elmo @elmo]

That Bunny was AMAZING. Elmo thinks he should be called Good Bunny! Elmo loves you, Mr. Good Bunny! ❤️🎶🐰

[Ana Navarro-Cárdenas @ananavarro]

Nothing can take away my joy and pride, today.

[Ron Filipkowski @RonFilipkowski]

VA Senate president responds to Ted crying about VA’s redistricting, which should add 4 new Dem seats.

[L. Louise Lucas @SenLouiseLucas]

You all started it and we fucking finished it.

[Shannon Watts @shannonrwatts]

In defense of Texas’ redistricting, Ted Cruz filed a court brief defending the state’s new maps, arguing that redistricting is an "inherently political" decision that should be left to the state legislature.

[Joakim 🌹🇳🇴🇪🇺 @joakial_]

Donald Trump: “Why can’t we have some people from Norway?”

As a Norwegian, here is my answer:

In Norway, we have permanent employment guaranteed by law, collective wage agreements, and strong unions.

In the US, you can lose your job overnight, without any reason.

In Norway, you can be sick without being financially punished.

In the US, getting sick can mean losing both your pay and your job.

In Norway, we have the right to paid holiday, leave, and a secure pension.

And healthcare and education are free.

In the US, much of this is up to your boss—if you are lucky.

And this is not a coincidence.

It is the result of ordinary people standing together, organising, and fighting for these rights.

So no thanks, I am not moving to get worse rights.

I will stay and defend the working life we have built here.

[Gavin Newsom @GavinNewsom]

Fixed it for you:

American taxpayers will bail out farmers thanks to Trump’s taxes.

[Don Winslow @donwinslow]

This is @BrendanCarrFCC

He likes to act tough.
He likes to threaten.

IMO: All I see is a scared, weak little boy with no ethics.
An embarrassment. A coward. A fool. A child.

[Rick Wilson @TheRickWilson]

Awkward

[Gavin Newsom @GavinNewsom]

This aged well.

[Scott Dworkin @funder]

The Democratic governors of OR, CA, and WA have formed a West Coast Health Alliance in response to the Trump regime’s “destruction of the CDC.”

In a joint statement, they wrote: “The CDC has become a political tool that increasingly peddles ideology instead of science ... California, Oregon, and Washington will not allow the people of our states to be put at risk.”

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green announced his state will also join the coalition, and a similar alliance is forming on the East Coast—led by Massachusetts.

More here: https://t.co/e50KYDgfZK