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The U.S. Open has a lot of thoughts about tennis — and women’s boobs.

On Wednesday, French tennis player Alizé Cornet walked onto the court of the U.S. Open and realized that her shirt was on backwards. Instead of running to the women’s locker room, Cornet took off her shirt in public and then put it on the right way.

Umpire Christian Rask then charged her with a code violation, prompting necessary amounts of outrage. 

At the time of the incident, temperatures at the U.S. Open in New York hovered in the mid-nineties. It’s possible that Cornet didn’t want to expend additional energy running off to the locker room.

Alternatively, it’s possible she just didn’t care about a couple of randos seeing her in a sports bra.

Either way, the incident sparked an outcry. Per CBS News, only the Women’s Tennis Association has a rule dictating where their players can and cannot take off their shirts. Men aren’t subject to the same regulations. Apparently, female nipples are such a threat to the general public that they need to be governed by a professional body.

UPDATE: Aug. 29, 2018, 3:31 p.m. PDT According to a statement from the WTA, the organization has “no rule” against of a change of attire on the court and said “Alize did nothing wrong.” 

The organization also said the violation came under “Grand Slam” rules, and notes the United States Tennis Association has since changed its policies. 

Here’s what Twitter had to say about it:

Earlier in the week, the French Tennis Federation ruled that Serena Williams couldn’t wear a black catsuit at the French Open. The catsuit was designed so that Williams, who has struggled with circulation problems since becoming pregnant, wouldn’t suffer any blood clots.

Sigh. Whether it’s on the court or off, people still love to regulate the female body in 2018. Meanwhile I saw, like, twenty exposed scrotum sacs while on a New York City beach last week, and nobody had a damn thing to say about it.

Let’s get to a place where all bodies can co-exist in peace.

Roger Federer continued his bid for a record sixth US Open title with a comfortable second-round win over France’s Benoit Paire.

The 37-year-old Swiss eased to a 7-5 6-4 6-4 victory in New York City in one hour 56 minutes.

Paire had not beaten the 20-time Grand Slam champion in six previous meetings and never looked like causing an upset.

Second seed Federer will play Australia’s Nick Kyrgios in the third round.

Kyrgios won 4-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 6-0 against France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert, fighting back from a set and a break down after being talked to by chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani.

Federer once dominated the men’s singles at Flushing Meadows, winning his five titles in a row between 2004 and 2008 in a run of 41 consecutive matches.

That success has slowed down in the past decade, with his only other final appearance ending in defeat by Novak Djokovic in 2015.

This year he says regaining the US Open title is one of his “bigger priorities”.

Asked whether the Federer of 2009 would beat the Federer of 2018 at Flushing Meadows, the Swiss said: “I really hope that this guy would win today just because I feel like I’ve improved many things over the years.

“I’m a more complete player than I was back then.”

Federer and sixth seed Djokovic, who is aiming for his third US Open title and 14th Grand Slam, are projected to meet in the quarter-finals this year.

Djokovic meets American Tennys Sandgren in the second round later on Thursday.

‘I played freer, he got frustrated’

While Federer was largely untroubled, there was a hint of danger in the first set which required him to dig deep to avoid any potential problems.

Federer let a break slip in the opening set as Paire fought back to level and then put the Swiss under pressure at 30-30 on his serve at 5-4, only for Federer to produce an accurate ace out wide for 40-30 on his way to a valuable hold.

Federer then broke in the next game when Paire produced a double fault on break point, enabling him to wrap up the set with a hold to love.

“It’s important to stay with your opponent. The first set can be so crucial, so it was definitely key to the whole outcome,” the Swiss said.

“I could play a bit freer, he got frustrated.”

Frustration began to turn to anger for Paire, who smashed three racquets in an extraordinary tantrum in Washington last month, as Federer took his serve in the fifth game on the way to the second set.

From that point there was no way back for the Frenchman.

Sen. John McCain’s 2008 running mate Sarah Palin and other members of the Arizona Republican’s failed presidential campaign were not invited to his funeral or other memorial services, according to multiple media reports. 

The former Alaska governor, campaign manager Steve Schmidt, adviser Nicolle Wallace and strategist John Weaver were all left off the guest lists for  McCain’s memorial services, Politico reported, citing three unnamed sources. 

“Out of respect for Sen. McCain and his family we have nothing to add at this point. The Palin family will always cherish their friendship with the McCains and hold those memories dear,” a source close to the McCain family told CNN and NBC News.

It was unclear who made the final decisions on the guest lists, Politico said.

“John McCain was my friend,” Palin tweeted Saturday after McCain died from brain cancer. “I will remember the good times. My family and I send prayers for Cindy and the McCain family.”

In another tweet Saturday, Palin said, “Today we lost an original. Sen. John McCain was a maverick and a fighter, never afraid to stand for his beliefs.” 

In McCain’s memoir, “The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations,” which published in May, he said he wished he had picked Democrat-turned-independent Joe Lieberman as his running mate instead of Palin. 

Palin told the Daily Mail that hearing reports of that excerpt was like a “gut punch,” although she said she attributed it to “ghostwriters.” 

More: Nation’s capital prepares a hero’s welcome for late Sen. John McCain

Politico reported that McCain became angry with Schmidt for his criticism of the decision to select Palin, even though Schmidt had been one of the advisers advocating her for the VP slot.

Schmidt and Wallace cooperated with the authors of the 2009 book “Game Change” (which was made into and HBO movie), which painted Palin in a very unflattering light. 

Weaver, the man behind McCain’s “Straight Talk Express,” left the campaign in 2007 when McCain’s primary run appeared doomed.

The move not to invite Palin did not sit well with some conservatives. 

“I don’t get that,” said “Fox & Friends” host Brian Kilmeade Thursday. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

“If she’s good enough to be VP, she’s good enough to be at the funeral,” one former aide told Politico. 

A memorial service for McCain was held Thursday in Phoenix before his body was flown to Washington, D.C. He will lie in state in the Capitol on Friday and a funeral service will be held at the National Cathedral on Saturday. He will be buried Sunday at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

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Image: Robert Alexander/Getty Images

Just a day after taking to Twitter to complain that Google search results are biased against him, President Donald Trump is once again going after the search engine, as well as Twitter and Facebook.

This time, he’s citing his very personal experience of having lost followers on social media as evidence of a broad scale anti-conservative bias.

While talking to reporters at the White House today, President Trump was asked a question concerning his tweets from Monday. He’d accused Google of offering “RIGGED” search engine results to anyone looking up the phrase “Trump News.” The president complained that Google was deliberately censoring “Republican/Conservative media” and showing search results that were critical of him from what he called the “Fake News Media.” 

“I think that Google and Facebook and Twitter, I think they treat conservatives and Republicans very unfairly,” said Trump before explaining how this hits close to home: “I could tell you that I have personal experience. I have a lot of people on the various platforms.” 

How many?

“160 million people. I have numerous platforms. That’s a lot of people,” said Trump upon being informed by White House social media director Dan Scavino of his total follower count across his accounts on various social media platforms. “But I can tell you when things are different. And all of a sudden you lose people and you say, ‘Where did they go?’ They’ve taken off.”

“Now, I don’t know if it happens to the other side,” he said. The president then specifically called out Google, Facebook, and Twitter for this alleged anti-conservative bias.

Leaving aside the fact that Trump is conflating a search engine with social media platforms, from personal experience, we can say without a doubt that yes, people on the “other side” — Democrats, liberals, progressives, leftists — have lost Facebook and Twitter followers at one point in time. 

Not only can people choose to follow and unfollow whomever they want on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms at anytime they like, we also have a very good example of this happening “to the other side” earlier this summer during the Twitter purge, when the site removed inactive accounts and fake profiles from users’ follower counts. When all was said and done, Barack Obama actually ended up losing many more followers than Donald Trump.

However, conservatives, backed up by the president of the United States, continue to accuse tech companies of unfounded bias. It’s something that’s really taken off in recent months, and doesn’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon. 

In fact, at the time of this post, Donald Trump tweeted out this latest criticism of Google.

In case you were wondering, no, Google did not censor Trump’s State of the Union addresses. 

England head coach Eddie Jones met with referees’ chief Tony Spreadbury last week to try to closer align officiating from club to international level.

Premiership referees last season favoured the attacking side, encouraging teams to keep the ball.

However England struggled in the Six Nations and on the summer tour of South Africa, where officials allowed defenders more leeway.

Spreadbury says Jones “wants a contest” at the breakdown in the Premiership.

“He was saying to me ‘if we have a contest, that will be great for us’,” Spreadbury said.

“I said that’s fine, but we will referee the laws of the game, and he accepts that. We also want a contest and we want to allow a contest.”

As well as speaking to the England boss, Spreadbury regularly canvasses the views of the Premiership coaches, and expects to see a slight tweak in how the game is refereed in the upcoming campaign.

“All the directors of rugby who have spoken to me in July and August say it is about getting people away from the ball but when there’s a good jackal let’s reward them,” Spreadbury added.

The new Premiership season starts on Friday night, as newly-promoted Bristol Bears host Bath at Ashton Gate.

“We’ll see how players react this weekend, and if there’s anything different in their approach to how they want to play the breakdown,” Spreadbury said.

‘Protect the game’s values’

RFU officials have also vowed to crack down this season on player behaviour, including appealing to the referee, goading the opposition, and brandishing imaginary cards.

They will also look to discipline unwanted involvement from “non-participants”, such as team medics and water-carriers.

“Pre-season we have given the clubs the message,” Spreadbury said.

“We met yesterday with all the members of the PGMOT [Professional Game Match Official Team].

“We presented to them about the game values, and want we want.”

The organizers of a Madden NFL gaming tournament where an introverted gamer “disconnected from the real world” went on a shooting rampage and killed two contestants should have taken better precautions to protect people, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday.

Gunman David Katz, 24, who had a history of mental issues, “concealed his weapon in his backpack within the venue, right under the nose” of the Jacksonville, Florida game bar supervisors and Electronic Arts Inc., makers of the hugely popular Madden video game, the lawsuit alleges.

Katz, of Columbia, Maryland, killed himself after fatally shooting two gamers and wounding 10.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Jacob Mitich, a Maryland man, college student, and avid gamer who was shot in Sunday’s assault but survived. Among the defendants named are the GLHF Game Bar, Chicago Pizza & Sports Grille, and Electronic Arts.

Mitich, who was shot in the leg, had noticed Katz at the tournament, appearing “disheveled, wearing the same clothes as the day before, wearing his sunglasses inside, and looking disconnected. Plaintiff heard from several other contestants that David Katz slept in his car the night before,” the lawsuit says.

Katz lost his match Sunday and was eliminated from the competition shortly before noon. Mitich described Katz after the loss as pacing around the room, asking where he could find certain gamers.

Minutes later, Katz went to his car, presumably to get a gun armed with a laser sight, and returned, the lawsuit says.

Katz used the laser pointer to open fire on one of Mitich’s friends.

Mitich “in terror and fear for his life . . . bolted from his chair and leaped over a fellow gamer, dropped his cellphone and scrambled past others until he found an exit,” the lawsuit says. “During the chaos, Mitich felt pain in his back and leg, and noticed blood on his pants. He continued running, jumped over a fence and found safety, where he eventually collapsed and passed out.”

In an exclusive interview with the Associated Press, Mitich said no one should experience the terror he did.

“We’re sitting there playing a video game, we shouldn’t have to worry about someone coming up behind us and shooting us,” Mitich said. 

Mitich and his attorney filed suit in circuit court in Duval County, Florida. 

A longtime Madden gamer, he and other elite e-sports players went to these kinds of events not only in hopes of winning money, but to catch up with their tribe of gamers.

When he met up with his friends on Friday night, they went to check out the tournament space at Chicago Pizza, the restaurant and bar inside The Landings waterfront mall in downtown Jacksonville.

“We were all laughing because of how small it was,” he said.

He and his friends went to Hooters that night, then went to the tournament all day Saturday. It was so crowded that they had to compete in groups of ten, and people couldn’t easily watch their friends play.

That evening they stayed out late, and on Sunday, everyone rolled into the tournament area around ten. He recalled Katz, who had won previous tournaments, as a loner. 

“He didn’t like to communicate, he was antisocial,” said Mitich. “The previous year he’d won Buffalo Bill club series. I didn’t think he had a reaction to winning or losing.”

Then it was Mitich’s turn. It was Round Two, which meant he was advancing in the tournament. His friend, Taylor Robertson – a 28-year-old West Virginian known in the esports community as “Spot Me,” after his twitter handle @spotmeplzzz – stood behind and watched.

Mitich made one play on offense and almost scored.

“Pop pop pop. I thought it was a balloon. I didn’t know what it was,” he said. He heard someone say the word, “shooter,” and that’s when he ran. Katz was the shooter.

Robertson was right behind him, or so he thought.

Mitich’s injuries weren’t life-threatening – he was released from the hospital that night and flew home Monday morning. His friend Robertson, however, had been fatally shot.

Mitich’s attorney, James Young with Morgan & Morgan in Jacksonville, said the lawsuit alleges negligence. There was no off-duty officer for the event, which drew more than 100 people, he said. The mall had a private security guard, and she was spotted in the pizza place before the shooting, but Young said it’s unclear where she was during the shooting.

On Wednesday, Jacksonville fire inspectors shut down Chicago Pizza. A city code violation report says the restaurant didn’t have a permit to hold the Madden NFL 19 tournament. Also, The Florida Times-Union reported that the restaurant’s last approved building layout was submitted in 2009. Fire inspectors said the layout was altered without approval to create the GLHF Game Bar, the room where the tournament took place.

The restaurant’s voicemail was full on Thursday, and a message on Facebook wasn’t returned. When reached for comment, a spokeswoman for The Landing didn’t directly respond to the allegations, saying instead that the company is cooperating with authorities.

Young said the suit also is seeking relief from Electronic Arts Inc., the game developer, to provide safe spaces for tournaments. The lawsuit said Electronic Arts failed to provide security, screen the gamers, inform local law enforcement about the tournament or tell the gamers anything about the venue. Similar claims about security were made against other defendants.

Electronic Arts didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment, but in a statement earlier this week, CEO Andrew Wilson said they were cancelling all scheduled Madden qualifier events “while we run a comprehensive review of safety protocols for competitors and spectators. We will work with our partners and our internal teams to establish a consistent level of security at all of our competitive gaming events.”

Four days after the shooting, Mitich is hoping to begin college a week late. But memories of his friend Robertson haunt him.

“His life ended watching me play Madden,” Mitich said.

CONTRIBUTING: Associated Press

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Teslas are well known for their acceleration, but flying?

A Canadian man caught some serious air after speeding over a railroad crossing in Barrie, Canada, on Tuesday at around 8 p.m. local time. A security camera happened to catch the incident, and holy crap.

The 46-year-old driver “became airborne and crashed over 100 feet into the opposing lane,” according to Barrie Today. The Tesla skidded after landing, and eventually hit a tree in a parking lot. Considering Teslas are, you know, not supposed to fly, it’s not surprising that the four-door vehicle, which appears to be a sedan, was totaled. The exact model was not released. 

Global News reports that the driver of the vehicle was charged with dangerous driving, and was treated at the hospital for minor injuries along with a passenger. Thankfully, no other vehicles were involved. 

Teslas are relatively heavy cars thanks to the electric battery, so it’s safe to say that the vehicle’s impressive acceleration capabilities did help the vehicle go airborne, though given the charges it appears that police are blaming the driver.

Here’s what the driver saw before liftoff: 

Image: screenshot/google maps

A Redditor who claims to live in the area said it’s quite easy to get airborne on the tracks: “I live near here and you literally just need to be going 30 to get air. The guy is a moron.”

Taylor Swift has been notoriously press-shy this album cycle, but she’s certainly not reluctant to open up to her fans. Eight months after dropping Reputation, the 28-year-old has finally spoken out about the inspiration behind the chart-topping album. In doing so, she acknowledged that lead single “Look What You Made Me Do” duped fans into thinking her new music was all about bitterness and grudges — when that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“[I] think there was a bit of a bait-and-switch that happened with this album when we put out ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ and we’re like, ‘Guys, this album is gonna be one thing.’ And when the album came out, it’s legitimately an album about finding love throughout all the noise,” she told a small group of fans during an intimate show in Chicago on Wednesday night (August 29).

Swift went on to describe the journey at the center of Reputation, which dovetails into self-reflection about what really matters in life.

“It starts with the noise and how that makes you feel, and how it makes you feel when people are saying things about you that you feel, like, aren’t true and living your life sort of in defiance of that,” she said. “In defiance of your reputation. And then, sort of, in the middle of the album you kind of realize ‘how much do I really value that?’”

She added, “If you can find something real in spite of a bad reputation, then isn’t that what matters the most to you? And doesn’t it matter the most to you that you know who your real friends are now?”

That emphasis on genuine relationships is all over Reputation — take, for instance, the hater-blasting anthem “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things,” in which Swift sings, “Here’s a toast to my real friends / They don’t care about the he said, she said.” Then there’s the vulnerable ballads “Delicate” and “Call It What You Want,” which are all about treasuring and protecting a relationship that’s almost frighteningly sacred.

Swifties are certainly skilled at reading between the lines when it comes to Taylor’s music, but hearing the singer herself open up about them is always a treat. Aside a letter she wrote in the Reputation liner notes, this is one of the only times Swift has actually shared her insight about the album. Here’s hoping it won’t be the last!

Watch highlights as Sam Curran hits 78 as England are bowled out for 246 on day one of the fourth Test against India at Southampton.

MATCH REPORT: England bowled out for 246 despite Curran’s 78

WATCH MORE: ‘A quality innings’ – Curran reaches 50 with huge six

WATCH MORE: ‘A horrible dismissal’ – Jennings ‘completely deceived’ by Bumrah

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A horrific collision between a Greyhound bus and a semi-truck on an interstate in New Mexico killed at least four passengers and sent dozens of others to area hospitals, authorities reported Thursday.

Preliminary information indicated the semi was headed east when it blew a tire, sending the rig across the median and into oncoming traffic where it smashed into the bus, New Mexico State Police said. 

Television footage of the crash site on Interstate 40 showed the front of the bus had crumpled after impact. The truck was on its side with debris scattered over the highway and a nearby median.

Passing motorists described a chaotic scene with passengers on the ground and people screaming.

Eric Huff was heading to the Grand Canyon with his girlfriend when they came across the crash.

Huff said the semi’s trailer was upside down and “shredded to pieces,” and the front of the Greyhound bus was smashed, with many of the seats pressed together. Part of the side of the bus was torn off, he said.

“It was an awe-inspiring terrible scene,” he said

Truck driver Santos Soto III shot video showing the front of the Greyhound sheared off and the semi split open, with its contents strewn across the highway.

He saw people sobbing on the side of the road as bystanders tried to comfort them.

“I was really traumatized myself, because I’ve been driving about two years and I had never seen anything like that before,” Soto said.

“I’m a pretty strong person and I broke down and cried for at least 30 minutes,” he added.

Greyhound said the bus was heading from Albuquerque to Phoenix with 47 passengers.

“We are fully cooperating with local authorities and will also complete an investigation of our own,” Greyhound spokeswoman Crystal Booker said in a statement.

The crash occurred near the town of Thoreau. It forced the closure of the westbound lanes of the interstate and traffic was backing up as travelers were diverted.

More than 33 patients have been transported to local area hospitals with injuries, some are said to be in critical condition, ABC News reported, quoting authorities.

Christopher Jones said he got to the accident site just after the crash.

“I saw the tractor trailer flipped upside down the driver of the tractor trailer was on the shoulder just sitting there. So I grabbed my medical kit and grabbed a bunch of my gloves and got out there and just started helping people and it was a pretty rough site,” Jones told ABC News.

Jones, who said he used to be a volunteer firefighter and EMT, described the scene as “one of the hardest” he’s ever had to see.

CONTRIBUTING: Associated Press

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