Protesting in Dover, P.F. Chang's at the mall, hot chocolate guide
It's Thirsty Thursday. Did I just make that up? Nah, it's a bar thing, right? Or do I just need more coffee.
It definitely is Throwback Thursday, which means two stories about … kid stuff.
Crayola is bringing back 8 'fan-favorite' retired crayon colors. Here's what's returning.
Girl Scout cookies final: Vote for the best cookie in our poll
Another thing kids love is hot chocolate. Keep reading for our winter guide to finding the good stuff, plus how to make it at home.
We continue to work hard on our pre-Super Bowl coverage, which we will be serving up for you up 'til kick off and beyond.
Be sure follow Martin Frank's NFL coverage and to sign up for our Eye on the Eagles newsletter.
And now, more news …
Protesters in Dover join nationwide movement against President Trump and Project 2025
About 150 people in Dover joined in protests planned in state capitals across the country Feb. 5 against President Donald Trump and Project 2025, reports Ben Mace.
The protests were organized by the 50501 Movement with a goal of '50 states, 50 protests, 1 day.'
The 50501.info website offered 'information on activities supporting the free expression of regular Americans' dissatisfaction with the embrace of Project 2025 by our government,' with announcements of protests in each state.
Learn more here.
Also worth your time …
Local news:Police charge Bridgeville man with 2023 killing at house party
Entertainment:Cool Delaware things to do in February 2025 for Eagles fans, Valentines, mystery buffs
Dining:P.F. Chang's announces Christiana Mall opening date after over 2 years
Shopping: Pottery Barn will open in Rehoboth's Tanger Outlets on Friday
News Quiz:Do you remember the headlines from this week? Test your news IQ
Gallery of the day: Eagles Super Bowl pep rally 'Road to Victory' tour stops in downtown Wilmington
Sports:Blue Hens bulk up for Conference USA move with these high school recruits, transfers
Open Call to Arts, Cultural Groups
Every Sunday we pass the mic to arts and cultural groups throughout the First State, affording them the opportunity to tell our readers about upcoming events, seasonal plans, fundraising efforts, volunteer opportunities, collaborations and so much more.
This week's Open Call is hosted by Delaware Theatre Company.
Upcoming Open Call columns will feature Southern Delaware Chorale, New Light Theatre Company and Music School of Delaware.
If you know a group that would like to be included, please email me at tpaolino@gannett.com for details.
Random Acts of Kindness
We are happy to introduce our new monthly column, Random Acts of Kindness by Krys'tal Griffin: 'Whatever possessed them to be so kind?': Delaware man recounts strangers who helped him
Do you know someone who made a difference to someone when they really needed it? Is there a Good Samaritan you'd like to see highlighted, someone who offered a kindness, that made a difference for you, or made someone's life a little better in Delaware? Random Acts of Kindness aims to share these stories. If you know someone deserving of a story, email Krys'tal Griffin at kgriffin@delawareonline with as much information as you can provide.
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This is your morning briefing. We strive to make it engaging, useful and informative.
Thank you to our readers who support us as subscribers, making our local coverage of your community possible. Check out our Subscribers Guide.
⭐ Get out:These museums offer cocktails, culture after hours to help beat the winter blues
🍳Comfort food: Sick of Starbucks and Dunkin'? Here's where you can get fresh hot chocolate in Delaware
🐕 Just for fun:Puppy Bowl 2025 stars pups that have a lot of dog in them. How to watch the fun
🧩 Brain teaser: Get sweet on Mahjongg Candy
✈️ Get away: Great Wolf Lodge launches $25 flash sale. Plus, more indoor water parks near Delaware
🥾 Get moving: February's full moon to come days after a meteor shower. What to know, how to watch
🛠️ Problem solved:Bend your knees: How to safely clear your snowy driveway
💗 Give back: Delaware woman finds her purpose giving back to foster children. Here's her story
And now, more news we don't want you to miss …
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Atlantic
32 minutes ago
- Atlantic
Why South Park Struck a Nerve
Over the course of its nearly 30-year run, South Park has deployed toilet humor, ruthless political commentary, and profane asides to eviscerate wide swaths of people. No one is spared—celebrities, religious groups, foreign governments, and a variety of ethnicities have all been fair game. The series gained instant notoriety upon its 1997 debut thanks to this approach, and it hasn't let up since. But when South Park, which airs on Comedy Central,returned last week following an extensive hiatus, it was to a political moment that some satirists have found harder to work with. In the past, President Donald Trump's second term would have been an obvious target for South Park, low-hanging fruit to tackle in a flashy, long-awaited premiere; the show has mocked the surreality of contemporary politics before. (A 2016 episode depicts a local elementary-school teacher, Mr. Garrison, triumphing in an election over Hillary Clinton; he soon adopts a Trump-style blond comb-over.) Yet in a Vanity Fair interview last year, the show's co-creator Matt Stone said that reflecting previous presidential elections had been a 'mind scramble' for him and his co-creator, Trey Parker, and they didn't care to tackle the specter of the 2024 campaign in South Park 's then-forthcoming season. 'I don't know what more we could possibly say about Trump,' Parker said. Parker and Stone's solution to the quandary of Trump-era satire, it seems, is to use the president as something of a Trojan horse for mocking another subject entirely—and a way to dramatically up the stakes while doing so. Trump is not a bull's-eye in the episode, titled 'Sermon on the 'Mount,' despite numerous shocking jokes that might suggest as much: an AI-generated video of Trump's genitalia addressing the camera, and a recurring gag involving the president cozying up in bed with a grumpy Satan, prodding the devil into coitus. Rather, he is a high-profile conduit for the show's true target: Paramount, Comedy Central's parent company. Paramount's investment in South Park is clear: The same week that the outrageous premiere aired, the company paid Parker and Stone a reported $1.5 billion for 50 new episodes and the streaming rights to the show. But the expensive deal also came days after Paramount canceled the popular Late Show With Stephen Colbert for what the company claimed were financial reasons. The timing fueled speculation about the company's motivations; two weeks prior, Paramount had agreed to settle a lawsuit with Trump for $16 million over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris last fall. As some reports have pointed out, both the settlement and the Late Show cancellation—which Colbert referred to on air as 'a big fat bribe'—came amid Paramount's bid for federal approval of its merger with the media company Skydance. These details fueled 'Sermon on the 'Mount,' which in a dense 22 minutes mashes up industry-focused satire with jokes about people's growing trust of AI and the cultural decline of 'woke' terminology. South Park reimagines the Paramount events as a community issue; in the episode, Trump sues the titular town for $5 billion, after local parents disagree with his administration's bringing religion into schools. While publicly protesting, the townspeople are joined by Jesus himself, who reveals through clenched teeth that even he's embroiled in a lawsuit against Trump. He urges them to hold their complaints, lest they face serious consequences: 'You really wanna end up like Colbert?' he hisses. The scene is a thinly veiled, relentless prodding at Paramount's allegiances, as well as the chilling effect Trump's actions have created. This approach stretches across the bulk of the episode. Further twisting the knife is a parody of 60 Minutes that portrays its journalists as constantly hedging to avoid displeasing the president: The segment opens with a ticking bomb, in lieu of a clock, as a voice-over shakily announces, 'This is 60 Minutes. Oh, boy. Oh, shit.' An anchor then nervously introduces a report of South Park's protest against the president, who, he is quick to add, 'is a great man; we know he's probably watching.' South Park isn't breaking new ground in criticizing its parent company. The sitcom 30 Rock featured frequent jokes-slash-metacommentary about NBC throughout its seven seasons, including about the network's own late-night-host drama; The Simpsons has ridiculed Fox constantly over the years. Even Barbie, for all its pink-colored wholesomeness, embedded jabs about Mattel; the movie's creative team publicly spoke of their successful bid to get certain gags into the box-office-dominating film, and a Mattel executive later heralded the jokes at the company's expense. But what feels, frankly, so punk rock about Parker and Stone's approach is how big of a swing they took in biting the billionaire hands that are feeding them. By making Trump a vehicle for addressing the close-to-home Paramount drama, South Park 's creators did something canny: They transformed a politically layered scenario—one involving the show's parent company and America's leadership at the highest level—into a storyline that was both pointed and accessible to a wide audience. Instead of focusing on entertainment-industry satire, Parker and Stone feature Trump heavily—and, in a first, use his actual face over a tiny animated body. The bluntly provocative characterization, which went viral, helped the episode reach some viewers that otherwise may not have been as attuned to Paramount's recent decisions. As such, Parker and Stone managed to attract attention from audiences across party lines. Those who were ticked off by the president and delighted in his portrayal cheered the episode, while the White House issued a statement writing off the show as a 'desperate attempt for attention.' In an ironic twist, the town of South Park follows in Paramount's footsteps toward the episode's end. Jesus persuades the town's parents to settle with Trump, warning that 'if someone has the power of the presidency and also has the power to sue and take bribes, then he can do anything to anyone.' The townspeople's attorney then talks Trump down from $5 billion to $3.5 million—'That's not so bad!' coos one parent. The mayor concurs: 'We'll just have to cut some funding for our schools and hospitals and roads, and that should be that!' In so closely linking Paramount's actions with Trump's bullying tactics, the episode manages to not just poke at the network's decision to settle in lieu of defending its properties in court. It also suggests that there's still potent satire to be wrung from the contemporary political maelstrom—and that South Park is willing to push the buttons of more than one powerful institution while doing so.
Business Insider
2 hours ago
- Business Insider
A 'South Park' episode that mocked Trump and CBS attracted almost 6 million viewers and broke a 26-year-old audience record
The season premiere of 'South Park' got almost 6 million viewers across platforms, Paramount said. Titled "Sermon on the Mount," it mocked President Donald Trump, CBS, and parent company Paramount. The White House told BI the episode was "a desperate attempt for attention." The premiere of the animated series' 27th season attracted 5.9 million viewers across Comedy Central and Paramount+ in its first three days, Paramount said Wednesday. The show also garnered its biggest audience share for a linear premiere since 1999 and its best season premiere rating since 2022. It was the "most social episode" in South Park history and the most discussed program on television the night it aired, a press release from Paramount said. The episode aired just hours after creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker inked a reported $1.5 billion deal with Paramount to extend the series. That didn't stop them from criticizing their new corporate partner. Titled "Sermon on the Mount," the episode depicted Trump in bed with a cartoon Satan, joked about his genitalia, and ended with a deepfake of a naked Trump wandering the desert in a parody PSA. It also mocked CBS' abrupt cancellation of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" and Paramount's $16 million settlement with Trump. The episode also turned inward, using its plot to critique Paramount directly. At one point, Jesus — a recurring character in the show — tells a classroom that he's present "because of a lawsuit and the agreement with Paramount," warning students that "South Park is over" if they don't keep quiet. "You guys saw what happened to CBS? Well, guess who owns CBS? Paramount," he says. "You really want to end up like Colbert?" After it aired, a White House spokesperson told Business Insider that the episode was "a desperate attempt for attention." In a separate statement, another spokesperson said, "No fourth-rate show can derail President Trump's hot streak."
Business Insider
2 hours ago
- Business Insider
A 'South Park' episode that mocked Trump and CBS attracted almost 6 million viewers and broke a 26-year-old audience record
A "South Park" episode that mocked President Donald Trump, CBS, and parent company Paramount Global drew record ratings, Paramount said. The premiere of the animated series' 27th season attracted 5.9 million viewers across Comedy Central and Paramount+ in its first three days, Paramount said Wednesday. The show also garnered its biggest audience share for a linear premiere since 1999 and its best season premiere rating since 2022. It was the "most social episode" in South Park history and the most discussed program on television the night it aired, a press release from Paramount said. The episode aired just hours after creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker inked a reported $1.5 billion deal with Paramount to extend the series. That didn't stop them from criticizing their new corporate partner. Titled "Sermon on the Mount," the episode depicted Trump in bed with a cartoon Satan, joked about his genitalia, and ended with a deepfake of a naked Trump wandering the desert in a parody PSA. It also mocked CBS' abrupt cancellation of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" and Paramount's $16 million settlement with Trump. The episode also turned inward, using its plot to critique Paramount directly. At one point, Jesus — a recurring character in the show — tells a classroom that he's present "because of a lawsuit and the agreement with Paramount," warning students that "South Park is over" if they don't keep quiet. "You guys saw what happened to CBS? Well, guess who owns CBS? Paramount," he says. "You really want to end up like Colbert?" After it aired, a White House spokesperson told Business Insider that the episode was "a desperate attempt for attention." In a separate statement, another spokesperson said, "No fourth-rate show can derail President Trump's hot streak." Trump himself shrugged off the mockery, quoting his own media mantra: "If you get ratings, you can say or do anything."
