Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Dec 10, 2021

"Sopranos" star JAMIE-LYNN SIGLER's ex-husband was sentenced yesterday to 11 and a half years in prison and nearly 2.5 million in fines for putting together a $300 million pump-and-dump stock scheme. ABRAXAS DISCALA, now 50 years old, was convicted three years ago of artificially inflating shares of unstable stocks, then selling them to unwitting investors before the stock prices crashed. Jamie-Lynn is no longer married to Discala, they were only married for three years, divorcing in 2006.

Three movies opening today in theatres... A football flick called "National Champions," "Being the Ricardos," about LUCILLE BALL and DESI ARNAZ (played by NICOLE KIDMAN and JAVIER BARDEM), and Disney's brand-new version of STEVEN SPIELBERG's "West Side Story." In the latest version, RACHEL ZEGLER stars as Maria.

Like you really care: The folks at the Pantone Color Institute have nominated their annual color of the year. They say a periwinkle blue hue with a violet-red undertone will be a color which helps people emerge from their COVID-19 quarantine, and give them new ways to interact, conduct business and live their lives. Sure.

Forbes magazine has named RIHANNA, BEYONCÉ and TAYLOR SWIFT to their 2021 list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women. They weren't in the top-10 --Rihanna was #68 and got the award because of her success with Fenty Cosmetics and lingerie line Savage x Fenty along with her successful albums. Down the list a bit was Beyoncé, at #76, for picking up more than $250 million on her tour with JAY-Z and her albums as well. And Taylor Swift was a couple of positions back at #78. MacKENZIE SCOTT made #1 on the list for her philanthropic work, and VP KAMALA HARRIS was in at the #2 spot on the list.

And some good news: The Texas Department of Public Safety reported yesterday they seized enough fentanyl crossing the border this year that would have killed 200 million people if it had made it across. The 886 pounds of fentanyl would equal 200,790,522 lethal doses according to the department. The CDC says despite the seizures, there were an estimated 100,306 drug deaths in the 12 months running through April --a 29% rise from last year. Not good.