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Bill Maher for President??? Some folks are talking about it, and now a United States Senator is saying it's not the craziest idea in the world.

We got South Dakota Senator John Thune Monday at Reagan National Airport, and although he laughed out loud at first, he pivoted and said not only did Bill have the right to run ... he might even have an edge because celebrity matters in the world of presidential politics.

This all started a week ago, when Maher mused on 'Real Time' that Democrats are angry at him for criticizing the party but Republicans are now suggesting he throw his hat in the ring.

Fox News anchor Dana Perino suggested it a while back, and now Senator Thune is telling Bill ... if you wanna run, go for it. But, he offered a warning -- presidential politics is a rough and tumble business, so buyer beware.

A coupe of things ... first, Maher doesn't want to run. He called the "movement" "goofy s***," so he's keeping his night job.

Beyond that ... Maher is not criticizing Democrats because he wants them to lose ... it's the opposite. He's criticizing the Dems because he thinks they've done "goofy s***" and they're gonna lose to the Republicans if they don't get with the program.

Pete Davidson haters are going to love this ...

The comedian was pummeled by ex-New England Patriots star Jerod Mayo for an ad about food waste ... and it's all pretty hilarious.

The spot -- a Hellmann's Super Bowl LVI ad -- was released Monday ... showing Mayo hitting a whole bunch of people who were on the verge of throwing away perfectly usable food.

Mayo sacked a man with bread, a woman with potatoes, an elderly woman with chicken, and then a man with spinach.

Finally, the 6-foot-1, 250-pound former linebacker (who now coaches on Bill Belichick's staff in New England) confronted Pete at a house party.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Pete said to Mayo as the ex-football player charged in ... "Mom's already tackling food waste, Mayo!"

Jerod appeared to leave ... but then he came back and speared Pete to the floor.

"I get it," Pete said while on the ground after Jerod apologized for the hit. "I'm very hittable."

Emmanuel Macron is in Moscow trying to smooth over the whole Ukraine crisis with Vladimir Putin -- but based on the room they're sitting in, there's gonna be a lot of yelling.

Peep this photo of the French and Russian presidents -- almost literally worlds apart -- at the Kremlin Monday. The talks were held at this absurdly long table, and while it's hard to imagine how they even heard each other ... neither looks too happy to be there.

The image hardly instills confidence they can find a peaceful resolution to the ominous situation on the Ukraine border ... where Russian troops have mobilized, seemingly ready to invade at the drop of a hat.

Remember, this is Putin’s turf ... so, presumably, he’s the one who suggested they come to this supersized table. Perhaps he didn’t realize how it’d look to the outside world -- or, on the flip side, he knew exactly how this would play, optically ... and did it on purpose.

Either way, it’s pretty crazy to see. The U.S. isn’t sitting this out BTW -- President Biden met up with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday to discuss the very same thing, trying to give diplomacy another chance before things escalate further.

Shanna Moakler may soon be part of the I’m-engaged crowd again -- joining the likes of her own ex, Travis Barker, no less -- that is ... if her current BF is doing what we think he is.

Check out these photos of Matthew Rondeau perusing the shelves of a Tiffany and Co. in Thousand Oaks over the weekend ... where it sure looked like he was getting ready to pop the question.

As you see, it appears he’s giving engagement rings the once over -- check out the fat rock he's checking out ...

So, on the heels of Valentine’s Day is Matthew ready to pop the question? The timing is interesting ... as you know, Travis and Kourtney recently got engaged and Shanna's certainly thrown some shade their way.

To be fair Shanna may not be involved in the timing of this ...  she's currently shooting "Big Brother," so she may not even have a clue as to what's happening outside the BB house.

Shanna and Travis were married for 4 years back in the 2000s, and they share two children together ... Alabama and Landon. She’s been dating MR on and off since 2020.

Shawn Mendes is going on a cleanse in Hawaii ... with a sexy shaman and what appears to be an exotic plant medicine blown straight up his nose.

Check out these photos of SM sitting down to meditate with a woman on a remote beach in Hawaii ... possibly using a healing and cleansing medicine found in the Amazon. Shawn sits cross-legged as the woman leans in and blows into a pipe shoved up one of his nostrils.

The singer seems to be in the middle of a sacred ritual using a legal shamanic medicine called Rapé made from medicinal plants, seeds, trees and leaves ... with tradition calling for it to be blown through a bone or bamboo pipe.

The mixture is said to re-align and open chakras, release any sicknesses or negative thoughts, clear the mind and ground one's emotions ... and it supposedly works best in a quiet place while sitting upright and cross-legged.

SM turning to shaman rituals is interesting ... considering he's only a few months removed from his split with Camila Cabello after dating for more than a couple years.

After the meditation session, Shawn and his shaman also chatted over coffee and went for a hike along the cliffs ... with lots of laughs and smiles.

The guy's been going all in on nature in Hawaii ... even going shirtless and breaking out a walking stick.

Billie Joe Armstrong says one of his prized cars and a bunch of band gear were stolen recently, most likely by some real "American Idiots" ... and now we've learned cops are on the case.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ that between Friday night and Saturday morning, the suspects entered a commercial business in Costa Mesa, CA. Cops say the vehicle that was stolen was a white, two-door 1962 Chevrolet Nova.

Other than the car, police say the unknown individuals also took two electric guitars and an amp -- quite the haul to walk away with.

Not only did Armstrong ask his followers to help him track down the Chevy, but police are urging anyone with information on this burglary to contact the Costa Mesa Police Department.

New Orleans Saints star Alvin Kamara was arrested for Battery in Las Vegas after allegedly beating someone up in a nightclub Saturday night.

The 26-year-old running back was taken to Clark County jail and booked on a charge of battery resulting in serious bodily injury.

Las Vegas Metro PD say officers were dispatched to a local hospital at 5:50 PM on February 5th for a person who reported getting "battered" at a local nightclub.

After investigating, cops determined Kamara was allegedly the guy who doled out the beating. They were able to track down the 5x Pro Bowler on Sunday and take him into custody without incident, according to police.

Alvin was in Vegas for the Pro Bowl ... and actually played in the game on Sunday, catching 4 passes (6 targets) for 23 yards.

Jail records indicate Kamara is still behind bars ... and will appear in court on Monday.

In Nevada, Battery W/ Substantial Bodily Injury is a felony. If convicted, AK could face several years in prison.

Story developing ...

T-Pain is posing an interesting question about Joe Rogan -- what exactly are people angry about ... perceived harmful content in general, or is the outrage strictly personal?

The singer dished his thoughts about the ever-evolving Rogan saga this weekend in L.A. -- while celebrating the release of his new track, "That's Just Tips," at Nightingale. He says ... yeah, Rogan's use of the n-word is ugly and perhaps even worthy of "cancelation."

In the same breath, TP also acknowledges what Spotify has confirmed -- namely, that JR isn't going anywhere ... and in T's mind, the reason for that is cold, hard cash.

Fact is, Rogan was an expensive buy for the streaming giant -- $100 million, to be exact -- and it's precisely because of that, from T-Pain's POV, that they won't get rid of him. As he puts it, they have to get every cent they spent out of Joe.

With all that said, T-Pain also wonders if the same energy people have for Joe Rogan at the moment is merely selective -- because he says, if folks are truly perturbed by what they consider dangerous rhetoric, why not nix a lot of raps songs too???

An Olympic athlete at the 2022 Games in Beijing says the food she's been given during her quarantine period has been so bad, she's in physical pain and cries every day.

Russian biathlete Valeria Vasnetsova made the claims on her Instagram page earlier this month ... attaching a photo of some unappealing food that she says she was given while in COVID-19 isolation at a local hotel.

The picture appears to show a plate of plain pasta, some meat, a few potatoes and a sauce ... none of which looks incredibly appetizing.

In her comment on the picture ... Vasnetsova trashed the food as inedible, and claimed the meal was what she was receiving for "breakfast, lunch and dinner for five days already."

"My stomach hurts," Vasnetsova said. "I’m very pale and I have huge black circles around my eyes. I want all this to end. I cry every day. I’m very tired."

Vasnetsova added that the lack of nutrition in the food has caused her to drop weight ... saying, "my bones are already sticking out."

According to the Associated Press, things have improved for Vasnetsova following her complaints ... the outlet reported Russian biathlon team spokesperson Sergei Averyanov said Vasnetsova was getting delivered better meals over the weekend, including salmon and cucumbers.

Vasnetsova is far from the only athlete to complain about quarantine conditions at the Games ... there have been several others from countries all around the world who have griped about the living conditions.

Elizabeth Vargas' enraged ex told her she'd be the first, among many, to die as heavily-armed police waited outside and readied the SWAT team for her recovery.

TMZ got this video from inside the former-'RHOC' star's home Tuesday as her ex, Ryan Geraghty, barks at her ... "I'm taking you out, and then everybody else. They can shoot me if they want. I don't give a f**k anymore, I've got nothing to lose."

It's an especially chilling statement because, we're told, armored vehicles and SWAT officers had gathered outside Liz's home Newport Beach home at this point.

Clearly irked that Elizabeth had gotten the police involved, Geraghty says, "Bring the big boys, how f**king dare you."

TMZ broke the story, cops got Vargas out safely, and Geraghty was eventually arrested after an hours-long standoff. Vargas had originally called the cops to report Geraghty for extortion, but things took a turn for the worse when he showed up armed, and made his way inside her house.

We've also obtained footage from after the arrest, showing a police drone making its way through the home to make sure things were clear before SWAT does a final check.

Elizabeth was outside NOBU in Malibu just 24 hours after the ordeal, and told a photog she was happy to be alive ... and was considering buying a gun.

Peng Shuai gave her first non-Chinese run interview about her apparent disappearance last year, insisting all is well ... but it sure sounds like she had a gun held to her head.

The ex-tennis star and women’s doubles champ did an interview this weekend with French outlet L’Equipe in Beijing -- where the 2022 Winter Olympics are currently being held -- and during the sit-down, she once again denied ever accusing any Chinese government official of sexual assault, while also downplaying speculation that she’d vanished shortly thereafter ... even though both definitely seem to have happened on the face of things.

When asked about the initial allegation she’d posted on the Chinese social media app Weibo, Peng is quoted as saying it was “an enormous misunderstanding,” while also flat-out rejecting she’d ever even made such a claim -- despite clear evidence she, in fact, had ... via screenshots of her quickly-deleted statement at the time.

Shuai says, “Sexual assault? I never said that anyone made me submit to a sexual assault.” But when pressed about the world having seen the OG post and asked why she’d deleted it, PS answered ... “Why? Because I wanted to.”

You'd think they'd ask why she posted it in the first place, but apparently ... no such follow-up question was allowed, and they moved on to other topics.

We should mention ... although this interview was done with a publication that wasn’t state-run by the Chinese government, they still very much had a hand in how this was playing out -- as Shuai is said to have been accompanied by a Chinese Olympic official during the chat and the questions were submitted ahead of time, on the condition they print her remarks verbatim ... according to L’Equipe.

Shuai thanked everyone who expressed concern for her when she appeared to have vanished from public view after posting that claim -- but then said this ... “I never disappeared. It’s simply that many people, like my friends and among them, those from the IOC, sent me messages and it was completely impossible to respond to so many messages.”

In addition to all this, the IOC also announced that its Prez, Thomas Bach, had had dinner with Shuai in Beijing ... noting she appeared okay. The IOC, however, refused to weigh in on whether they felt she was under duress or not ... insisting it wasn’t their place to do so.

Spotify has called out Joe Rogan for "incredibly hurtful" comments, but they are holding firm ... he still has a place on its platform.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek wrote a memo to staff, saying, "There are no words I can say to adequately convey how deeply sorry I am for the way The Joe Rogan Experience controversy continues to impact each of you."

Ek then zeros in on Joe, saying, "Not only are some of Joe Rogan's comments incredibly hurtful -- I want you to make it clear that they do not represent the values of this company. I know this situation leaves many of you feeling drained, frustrated and unheard."

It seems the comments are directed at Rogan using the n-word -- the full word -- on his podcast, although the COVID controversy may well be part of it.

And then, Ek pivots, explaining, "While I strongly condemn what Joe has said and I agree with his decision to remove past episodes from our platform, I realize some will want more."

Now the support ... "And I want to make one point very clear -- I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer. We should have clear lines around content and take action when they are crossed, but canceling voices is a slippery slope."

Ek says his company will invest $100 million "for the licensing, development, and marketing of music and audio content from historically marginalized groups."

Philadelphia Eagles safety Anthony Harris just made an 11-year-old fan's dream come true ... when he escorted her to a daddy-daughter dance in Texas after her father passed away last year.

Audrey Soape -- a huge Harris fan -- tragically lost both her dad and grandpa recently ... so her mother reached out to the safety in hopes of having him step in to escort her to the school event.

Of course, Audrey's mom, Holly, knew it was a long shot ... but after the Eagles were eliminated from the playoffs, Harris' schedule opened up -- and he came through for Audrey!!

"I just asked if he would come, if he'd be willing to come," Holly said, according to local reports. "And he said, 'not only will I come, I want to make sure she feels like a princess.'"

Audrey said she got the big news a week before the dance was set to take place ... and she was nervous she'd mess up while dancing with Anthony.

But, judging by the pics -- taken by Vember Photo -- of the event, it was a massive success ... and Harris succeeded in making the night extra special for her by paying for her dress, shoes, and make-up.

On top of that, the 30-year-old also had a car with a driver come to the house and pick her up!!

Harris told NBC 10 in Philadelphia he was "just trying to be a human ... Trying to take off the helmet, trying to take off the cape of what I do professionally and just show some sympathy for that family and try to show some support there."

Crikey!!! Robert Irwin, son of the beloved "Crocodile Hunter," almost had a croc turn the tables on him ... as he narrowly avoided getting eaten while attempting to feed it.

Steve Irwin's kid was in the crocodile enclosure at Australia Zoo with Casper ... the 12-foot leucistic (nearly white) saltwater crocodile that was not-so-friendly as handlers tried to see if it was comfy in a new habitat. Rob wanted to see how Casper would react during a feeding ... a sort of audition for a new show.

Well, he got a big reaction, but not the ending he wanted -- Casper started snapping and lunging toward Rob, but completely ignoring the food that was thrown at him. Rob had to pull the ripcord, yelling "Bail, bail, bail!!!" ... as the team rushed in to help him to safety.

Comedian Heather McDonald fell hard during a show in Tempe, Arizona, but it was no joke ... it was a medical emergency.

Eyewitnesses tell TMZ ... the former "Chelsea Lately" star was headlining the sold-out show, when she delivered her second joke ... "I'm vaxxed, double vaxxed, boosted ... and flu shot and shingle shot and haven't gotten COVID and Jesus loves me most."

As soon as she delivered the joke, she just collapsed and hit her head on the floor. Everyone thought at first it was all part of the act, but it was not. She was conscious, but clearly, all was not well. An EMT and a nurse happened to be in the audience ... they rushed up on stage to provide first aid.

The 911 call came in as a seizure, but no one really knows yet. An ambulance came and paramedics tended to Heather.

Heather tells TMZ ... she felt somewhat dizzy when she was on stage and then just collapsed. She says it's never happened to her before.

She passed on the ambulance ... she says her sister-in-law -- who was in the audience -- took her to the hospital.

Heather says she got a cat scan as well as other tests, but so far it's unclear what caused her to faint. She says her head really hurts and she's very tired.

Ever the trooper, she says she feels horrible about abruptly ending the show.

Heather tells us she never had COVID and, as she said in her set, she's fully vaxxed and boosted.

We wish her well.

If Rihanna and A$AP Rocky need any help coming up with a name for their new baby, there's another rapper who has them covered -- Remy Ma.

We caught up with the rapper/mommy leaving Won World Studios in NYC, and she suggested Rihanna and Rocky name their baby something that starts with the letter 'R' ... like their names.

Hmm ... now what name would Remy suggest??? 🤔

As far as Rihanna being a new mom in the music biz, Remy says she can absolutely have it all ... ya know, a great career, a new baby, a family, etc.

As a mom of a 3-year-old, Remy says sometimes it's hard but women can do everything … "We wear all the hats. We run things. We run the world, as Bey says." She adds ... when you love something -- like your family and your career -- ya just make it happen.

And if RiRi needs any examples ... she gives a nod to herself and Cardi B.

Unless you've been comatose recently, you know by now ... Rihanna and A$AP are expecting their first child together.