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Democracy is on the ballot next week, and it's going to lose ... so says Bill Maher, in a get-real moment for a sinking institution called the United States government.

The "Real Time" host cut to the chase Friday night, saying all the handwringing about the importance of voting rings hollow, because a slew of election deniers are going to be elected -- like it or not -- and they're going to set the table for what's to come, which is the unraveling of democracy.

Bill waves the white flag over democratic rule, saying Biden will not be a lame duck, he'll be a "crippled duck" when he goes against the Donald Trump/Kari Lake ticket in 2024. As for Biden's chances ... Bill says zilch. Even if he wins the vote, it won't matter because the secretaries of state and other government officials will see to it that actual votes don't really matter.

As for trying to change people's minds so they reject Trump and other like-minded politicians, Maher says HA!  He points to the January 6th Committee, which Rep. Jamie Raskin said would expose Trump for who he is ... well, apparently that happened and people liked what they saw, because Trump's approval rating went up.

As Bill said, politicians become dictators not with weapons but by elections ... Hitler, Mussolini, Putin -- they assume power and never let go.

Not a great scenario, but Bill seems to be saying the light of democracy is dimming and will soon be snuffed out ... partly because lots of us never bothered to learn or truly care about the elements of democracy that made this the greatest country on Earth.

A U.S. military pilot was juggling lots of balls as he flew over the Mediterranean ... cutting a path that looked like a 6th grade joke.

The KC-135 aerial tanker was cruising over the ocean between Lebanon and Cyrus. The flight tracker showed an oval image, then 2 smaller circles. It's unclear why the pilot was making what looked like erratic moves, but whatever his intentions ... it's kinda hilarious!

Air Force Captain Ryan Gross -- not the pilot -- concedes, "While these adjustments and movements appear to create a vulgar outline, there was no intent by the pilots or the units to do so."

Another Air Force honcho says they're talking to the crew about the movements, but there was nothing untoward.

This has happened in the past, and sometimes it was intentional -- a gag, if you will.  A couple of Navy pilots drew a similar flight pattern back in 2017, and they got a wrist slap.

Nike is pressing pause on its endorsement deal with Kyrie Irving ... and now his signature shoe is being shelved.

The shoe giant announced Friday it was suspending its business relationship with the NBA star, explaining ... "At Nike, we believe there is no place for hate speech and we condemn any form of antisemitism."

Nike also says it will no longer launch the Kyrie 8 basketball shoe, adding ... "We are deeply saddened and disappointed by the situation and its impact on everyone."

As you know ... Kyrie's faced a ton of backlash ever since tweeting out a link to an antisemitic film last week.

Nike isn't the first to come down on Irving. The Nets announced Thursday they were suspending him at least 5 games after he refused to outright apologize for promoting the film. The Nets said Kyrie will not be allowed to play for the club again until he "satisfies a series of objective remedial measures that address the harmful impact of his conduct."

The point guard finally issued a lengthy mea culpa on his social media after being suspended, but folks are questioning his sincerity.

It's one thing for a football team to destroy its opponent, but NEVER like this.

IMG Academy out of Bradenton, FL, scored 96 points at the end of the first half. It's opponent, West Toronto Prep -- clearly not prep-ared -- scored zippo.

The humiliation was just too much to bare ... officials called it a game.

Here's the thing ... WTP seemed to be getting its groove on, because IMG scored 57 points at the end of the first quarter, and only 39 points at the end of the second. So things were looking up?

In all, IMG scored 5 TD's, 4 defensive TD's, 3 safeties, etc ... it was a mess.

Fans of R&B and soul music could be livin' it up in a pretty monumental home ... if, of course, you can cough up a ton of cash for Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown's former pad.

The 8,022-square-foot property is out in Alpharetta, GA ... hitting the market last Thursday for $1.9M -- a big chunk of change for this piece of music history.

The entrance is pretty dramatic ... fit with huge iron doors and a sweeping staircase. There's also a library, a terrace upstairs, a mahogany bar and a spa outside.

It's got the obligatory resort-style swimming pool, too ... and those views around the property are fit for legends like Whitney and Bobby.

Whitney bought the place back in 2003, ponying up $1.38M ... she sold the spot 5 years later at a loss for $1.349M. It sold just days after Whitney and Bobby finalized their divorce.

Bravo also shot Bobby's 2005 reality show, "Being Bobby Brown," at the GA property ... so the home's got some screen time under its belt, too.

Kyrie Irving has had multiple opportunities to squarely apologize for blasting out that antisemitic film, and what's Drake got against Meg Thee Stallion? So we gotta ask ...

The Astros and Phillies are duking it out in the World Series -- but the players wouldn't have gotten to this point without the passionate support from their lovely partners -- so let's meet them!

Astros ace Justin Verlander's wife, Kate Upton, needs no introduction -- the SI swimsuit model has been by JV's side for the Astros' previous three World Series appearances.

Houston's third baseman Alex Bregman and his wife, Reagan, hope they have another reason to celebrate in a few days ... after welcoming their first child, Knox, in August.

Zach Wheeler has been having quite the season -- and his wife, Dominique, has been cheering for the 32-year-old every step as he tries to help the Phillies secure a championship.

We'd be remiss if we didn't mention Jose Altuve, the fiery, talented second baseman for the Astros, and his wife, Giannina (aka Nina), who've been married since they were teenagers.

Win or lose, Wheeler's teammate, Aaron Nola, will have reason to be happy -- the 29-year-old flame-throwing righty is reportedly marrying his fiancée, Hunter Harrington, next month.

Phillies right fielder Nick Castellanos is quickly becoming a fan favorite in Philly for his brilliant defense -- making his wife Jess extremely proud of her hubby.

Big Baby DRAM is one of several celebs Drake's lyrically dragging on his new "Her Loss" collaborative album with 21 Savage -- but he sees the sniping as a well-timed blessing in disguise.

The track "BackOutsideBoyz" features Drake rapping "Tried to bring the drama to me, he ain't know how we cha-cha slide..." -- picking the scab on the "Cha Cha" vs. "Hotline Bling" swagger jacking controversy from many years ago.

DRAM tells TMZ Hip Hop ... their issues turned physical in 2017, when he confronted Drake at a Coachella party -- this was a couple years after Drake had used the template from his "Cha Cha" hit to create "Hotline Bling."

After getting escorted outside, DRAM says "15 of Drake's bodyguards" were ready to pummel him, and did just that!!! While he ended up seeing pink hearts, yellow moons and green clovers ... DRAM considers himself lucky that an artist of Drake's stature is clearly threatened by him.

Which brings us to the "Her Loss" shots ... which DRAM's not losing any sleep over because it comes just as he's making a musical comeback.

DRAM says he's excited about the release of his upcoming album, "What Had Happened Was..." -- his first project since re-adopting his stage name after changing it to his gov't name, Shelley, for a stint.

The switch-up could be credited to DRAM wanting to distance himself from his 2nd breakout hit, the Lil Yachty-featured "Brocolli" ... but he's confident his new tracks will help him get over all his industry drama ... Drake included.

DRAM says he's in love mode, and doesn't pretend to be a fighter ... but he's still gonna need that 1-on-1 fight with Drake to fully bury the hatchet.

Some celebs say it takes a village to run their star-studded lives, but for power couple Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner, all they need is each other ... and of course a strapping pair of boots. Tread lightly as you see if you've got what it takes to locate the trendy changes in the two shots!

The buttoned-up couple recently took an afternoon for themselves and took a stroll through one of the most fashion-forward neighborhoods in the world. Can you see through the pair's stunner shades and find the differences?

Elon Musk is giving his justification for sending thousands of Twitter employees packing ... he says the bird app was hemorrhaging money.

Papa Elon broke his silence Friday night on the mass layoffs that happened earlier in the day at Twitter, claiming he had no choice but to cut folks loose ... he says the social media service was losing over $4 million a day.

As you know ... Elon recently bought Twitter for a staggering $44 billion, with the help of loans from Wall Street banks and big-time investors, including at least $10 million from Diddy. So he's got to find ways to cut costs.

Elon says the folks who were laid off were offered 3 months of severance pay, which he says is "50% more than legally required."

As we reported ... Twitter lost about half its staff in the cuts, with roughly 3,700 people being let go from the company.

Elon fired off a chilling memo to Twitter's workforce Thursday, informing them layoffs were coming ... and employees fired back with a preemptive lawsuit.

Musk has been on a firing spree since inking the deal to buy Twitter last month ... promptly giving pink slips to a slew of top execs.

Laid off Twitter employees are now sharing their stories on social media ... ironically posting goodbyes on Twitter.

Xscape fans started freakin' out after noticing a promo for an upcoming tour featured 3 ladies, not 4 ... but we're told it's not a sign the group is splitting up -- even if LaTocha has chosen to take a step back from the gals.

A source close to the group tells TMZ ... LaTocha is still part of Xscape, despite what fans are noticing online. She made the call herself to put some space between her and the group.

We're told Xscape shot a new Bravo show, which is set to come out in March ... and the issues began once they decided to do a small tour.

Sources say LaTocha was originally part of the tour ... until her husband got into it with the promoter. She asked the rest of the group to not use the guy, but they said no way ... choosing to keep moving forward, which is when she backed out.

LaTocha even asked her bandmates not to use the group name since she'd be MIA -- like when they went by Xscape 3 after group member Kandi took a break ... but no dice.

Megan Thee Stallion's lawyer says hip hop artists -- like Drake, apparently -- who side with Tory Lanez in the shooting case are gonna look like fools, and he adds there's already plenty of evidence backing her up.

Meg's lawyer, Alex Spiro, joined us Friday on "TMZ Live" to remind everyone ... she's the victim here, but instead of fellow artists having her back, he says too many are calling BS.

Alex strongly believes prosecutors have built a case that proves Meg is telling the truth about Tory shooting her in the foot back in 2020 ... and, for that reason, he says Meg's doubters are gonna be eating crow.

As we reported, Drake is apparently the latest to say the H-Town Hottie is lying about getting shot in the foot while in an SUV with Tory.

There is another view of Drake's verse on "Circo Loco," which is that he was really rapping about thick women (stallions), in general, lying about getting "shots" for BBLs ... AKA Brazilian butt lifts.

Meg definitely didn't take it that way, and clapped back on Twitter shortly after his album dropped Friday -- calling out Drake and other rappers for ganging up on her simply because she said "one of y'all homeboys abused her."

Boxing star Shakur Stevenson is back in the public eye for the first time since Takeoff's tragic murder ... but he did not speak about the events that went down that night.

TMZ Sports broke the story ... Shakur was standing inches away from the Migos rapper just moments before he was fatally shot twice in Houston.

Stevenson went silent on social media in the days following the shooting -- aside from a tweet honoring his friend, saying, "R.I.P Takeoff 🙏🏾"

On Thursday, Shakur returned to his usual routine by joining the "Spit Bucket Podcast" to talk boxing ... and he seemed pretty composed throughout the interview.

The topic of Takeoff was not brought up ... probably for a couple reasons.

One, there is an active investigation into what went down that night ... and there may not be much Shakur can get really discuss at this time.

The other -- the incident literally happened just days ago ... and it's understandable to consider Shakur isn't mentally ready to talk about it.

Drake wasn't only going after Megan Thee Stallion on his new album ... Serena Williams' husband was also name-dropped -- getting called a straight-up "groupie" in a new song.

The OVO rapper released his 16-track joint album, "Her Loss," with 21 Savage on Friday ... and the superstar's hubby, Alexis Ohanian, might not be a fan of a certain track called "Middle of the Ocean."

Here's what he says around the 3:35 mark:

"Sidebar, Serena, your husband a groupie
He claim we don't got a problem but
No, boo, it is like you comin' for sushi"

Fans went crazy over the bars on social media -- one person called Drake petty and another said Ohanian deserved it, as he's seemingly taken subtle jabs at the rapper in the past.

Remember, Drake and Serena were a thing back in the day -- TMZ Sports obtained pictures of them kissing in a fancy restaurant in 2015 ... before Ohanian was in the picture.

Drake also went to Williams' Wimbledon match in 2018 ... cheering her on from the crowd.

FYI, this ain't the first time Drake has mentioned Williams in his lyrics -- in his "Worst Behavior" song from 2013, he talks about the tennis legend:

"I'm with my whole set, tennis matches at the crib
I swear I could beat Serena when she playin' with her left."

Williams and Ohanian have not responded to Drake's diss ... but Meg did call him out for targeting her in the "Circo Loco" track.

Happy Friday, everyone!!!

Shaq has advice for Kanye West -- get your affairs in order before commenting on his ... after Ye took a shot at O'Neal on social media.

The interaction started when Kanye tweeted ... "Shaq is in business with Jamie Salter. Jaimie first said he's 50/50 with David Beckham and 50/50 with Shaq. I said "Jamie . . . There’s no such thing as 50/50 in business . . . Who has the extra 1 percent for the control and voting rights."

Ye continued ... "Jamie then said he's actually got the 51 percent on both those deals   We as the creators and talent get so caught up in our vanity that we don’t read or understand the fine print  Like Dave Chapelle said, we need to stop giving up control over our own names and our likeness."

Jamie Salter is a Canadian billionaire ... and his company, Authentic Brands Group manages Shaq's name and likeness. Jamie previously said ABG bought 50% of Shaq's future earnings. The company also owns more than 50 brands, many very large. O'Neal is one of the company's largest shareholders.

The tweet didn't sit well with Shaq, who responded to Kanye, writing, "Believe me you don't know me like that. Worry about your business, and to quote the once great Kanye west " I got more money than you, so why would i listen to you" take my advice get your family business in order. Have a great day brother."

It all seemingly started when Shaq (and Charles Barkley) ripped Kyrie Irving for publicizing the controversial film, "Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America!" Shaq said the NBA superstar was "not conscious" and didn't care who he offended.

Naturally, West took issue with Shaq's criticism of Irving, writing on Twitter, "They make us bully ourselves because of our business alignments."

Ye has evidently taken a liking to 30-year-old Kyrie ... showing support for the Nets hooper by posting a photo of him on social media.

Both men have been accused of being antisemitic.

Cops are trying to piece together the argument that escalated to the point of gunfire in the fatal shooting of Takeoff, and the triviality of the whole thing is just mind-boggling.

Law enforcement sources tell us ... angry words were exchanged between Quavo and others after he lost in a dice game at the bowling alley. We're told they took the argument outside, and somehow they begin jawboning over who could beat who at basketball.

That lines up with video obtained by TMZ, in which you hear Quavo become increasingly frustrated ... talking about basketball and assuring the group he'd win.

From there is when things hit a breaking point ... Quavo begins to walk away and then, our sources say, a punch was thrown. Suddenly, at least 10 shots ring out. It appears multiple weapons were fired, striking 3 people -- Takeoff fatally.

No arrests have been made, and cops haven't publicly named a suspect. However, in another video obtained by TMZ, you see one man in the group holding and then raising his gun. Cops tell us he's currently a person of interest.

Takeoff's Migos groupmates have not yet made public statements about his death.