
Travon Free works to make 'Two Distant Strangers' more thought-provoking than triggering
CNN
Travon Free cut his teeth as a Hollywood comedy writer drafting jokes for some of late night's biggest names. His latest project, though, a 32-minute short starring rapper Joey Bada$$, might employ Free's comedy voice but the subject is no laughing matter.
In "Two Distant Strangers," Free's first Oscar contender, a Black man named Carter (Bada$$) perpetually repeats the same day. It starts off well enough; Carter wakes up beside a beautiful woman and excitedly plans to return home to his dog. But Carter never gets the chance. His day ends with him being killed by a police officer who chooses lethal force in every iteration of their interaction.
Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani bitterly clashed over age and experience Thursday in the final debate before New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, as Cuomo warned that electing the progressive state assemblyman is unprepared for the job and Mamdani hammered the former governor over scandals during his time in Albany.

On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security posted a striking graphic on its official X account. Uncle Sam, a symbol of American patriotism, is depicted nailing a poster to a wall that reads, “Help your country… and yourself.” Written underneath the poster is the sentence, “REPORT ALL FOREIGN INVADERS,” and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement hot line.