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Some small investors who have been blocked from making money on the Robinhood platform apparently still have enough money to hire a pilot to send a message -- "Suck My Nuts Robinhood."

The banner flew in the skies above San Francisco ... where the Robinhood headquarters are located.

The message, which is dripping in anger, is an above-earth response to the company's decision to restrict the trading of 50 stocks, including GameStop, AMC and BlackBerry.

Residents of San Fran saw the banner Friday afternoon, much to the delight of many ... especially those who now can't play the same game people on Wall Street have been playing for decades. Remember the late '90s ... when tech stocks were skyrocketing WAY beyond their worth?

The free-trade app got hit with a class-action lawsuit ... one day after Robinhood barred retail investors from continuing to buy stock in companies on the verge of collapse. It became an epic battle between Redditers and hedge fund managers.

Brian Williams put his dry-wit on full display to troll House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's meeting with Donald Trump -- and viewers never saw it coming.

The longtime anchor teed up the gag by earnestly telling his guests -- Baratunde Thurston and Bill Kristol -- that he'd obtained exclusive video of the highly criticized Thursday meeting between Rep. McCarthy and Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

What he ended up rolling, though ... was an iconic clip from the Oscar-nominated film, "Jerry Maguire."

The clip alone would've been funny, given the context, but Williams -- who clearly has late-night talk aspirations -- continued to sell the joke with his deadpan style ... claiming he thought it was going to be a vid of the meeting, and "someone’s gonna be, of course, in big trouble."

Trouble is a good word to describe how many anti-Trump folks feel about the Mar-a-Lago meeting between the former President and the House Minority Leader.

McCarthy's taking heat because 2 weeks ago he criticized Trump for inciting the Capitol riots, but now appears eager to work with him -- a sign Trump still has major power with the GOP.

The GameStop stock battle between retail investors and hedge fund managers has resulted in Robinhood unlisting the stock and several others ... and people are pissed.

As of Thursday morning ... Robinhood customers can no longer buy Gamestop stock on the free-trading app, thereby blocking members of the WallStreetBets forum on Reddit. Of course, that group of investors sparked the resurgence of GameStop's stock.

It also aimed to do the same for AMC, Nokia, BlackBerry, Naked Brands and a few other stocks ... but Robinhood's unlisted those too!

In making the move, Robinhood emailed customers warning of "the current volatile market conditions." The notice stated, "It’s as important as ever to be an informed investor," and included links to its investment resources.

Of course, this has infuriated customers who believe this is market manipulation favoring the hedge funds that have shorted stocks like GameStop... and hurting retail investors who are backing them.

As one person on Twitter put it ... "The free market is only free until rich people lose money."

As we reported, GameStop's stock price has surged to $350 this week -- after starting the year at $19 -- thanks to the backing of retail investors encouraged by the WallStreetBets group.

By Robinhood blocking trading on Thursday, the general feeling among the public is that the financial services company is siding with the hedge fund people on Wall Street ... and screwing over the little guy.

This could get ugly.

Two men accused of having gay sex in Indonesia were savagely beaten with canes after neighbors reported them to police, and the punishment -- under Islamic law -- is tough to see.

The men, both in their 20s, were flogged 77 times each by Sharia police in the country's conservative Aceh province, where a huge crowd gathered to watch the lashing ... carried out by officers wearing robes and masks.

Pleas for mercy and cries of pain could not save the men ... and the lashes continued even after one officer's cane shattered on impact with one man's back. Sharia police only paused the punishment to allow the men a drink of water ... then the caning resumed.

Both men were arrested back in November, when police say officers, tipped off by locals, broke into a rented room and found the pair having sex. They served 3 months in prison, so their original 80-lash sentence was reduced by 3.

The Aceh province is the only part of Indonesia where gay sex is illegal ... and public flogging is a common punishment in the province, which started using Sharia law back in 2001.

SpaceX is proving rocket launches never get old, because its latest mission had the precision of ... well, the Rockettes.

The spacecraft shook the ground Sunday at Cape Canaveral in Florida. The mission hurled a bunch of small satellites from both the government and private sectors. There was also SpaceX's Starlink broadband satellite.

The launch was originally set for last month, but was postponed for various reasons. It was scheduled to blast off Saturday, but Mother Nature had other ideas.

What's really amazing ... this is the 5th time the booster was used to rocket SpaceX payload into orbit. It made a perfect, bullseye landing. Really incredible.

The Nashville police officers who were on scene just minutes before the massive blast walked right by the RV that exploded and devastated the downtown area, and you hear one of them say, "Good spot for a bomb."

Body cam from the Christmas Day explosion was just released, and you hear the 2 cops talking as they pass the RV. One of them says, "That building that it's next to [AT&T] houses all the hard lines for phones throughout the southeast." The other cop says, "Makes sense. Good spot for a bomb."

TMZ first reported, the RV at the scene looked identical to the RV at the home of Anthony Quinn Warner that you can see on Google Maps from last year.

Exactly one minute after the end of that conversation the bomb explodes, decimating the area. One of the shocking things ... the officers don't really react when they hear the bomb go off ... they just go about their job.

You then hear a police dispatcher ordering an immediate roll call, to see if all the officers are safe.

Authorities have confirmed the identity of the Nashville bomber -- it's who everyone thought it might be, and his fate is also sealed ... the guy's a goner.

The U.S. Attorney for Tennessee made the revelation Sunday at a presser, saying 63-year-old Anthony Quinn Warner is, indeed, the man they believe detonated a bomb in an RV that was camped out in front of the AT&T building in downtown Nashville early Christmas morning.

He also said Warner died at the bomb site, and that human tissue discovered -- and later analyzed by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation -- matched Warner's DNA profile.

As for the RV ... officials say that, too, also belonged to Warner. They linked the VIN number to him. It appears the vehicle had been in his possession for a while, as it had been seen parked at his property as recently as last year. Neighbors also ID'd it in interviews.

Still no word on motive -- although there's speculation he might've been paranoid about 5G tech, but that hasn't been confirmed. The feds also say they can't link his act to any type of ideology they've picked up on in the early days of their investigation. As a result, they aren't dubbing it as terrorism just yet.

Fortunately, Warner himself is the only fatality from the bombing ... which is pretty miraculous considering how big it was. A few people were injured, but not critically.

The moments leading up to the explosion add an extra layer of unease as the why continues to be a mystery ... Warner had an alarm blaring for several minutes telling people to evacuate, and then right before his bomb went off -- cops say he played Petula Clark's "Downtown."

Surrounding businesses were decimated in the blast -- not to mention other damage to public property -- and several shopkeepers are looking for help as they navigate next steps.

The Nashville bomber made a game out of his terror plot ... he not only amplified his 15-minute warning to authorities, he wanted the area to reverberate with a classic song that has a connection to the area.

Authorities and others in the area heard the song, "Downtown" by Petula Clark blaring from the RV that eventually exploded, wreaking havoc in Nashville's downtown area.

A police spokesperson who clearly was unfamiliar with the song by butchering the singer's name -- he's got an excuse because he's too young to know the tune -- said the song is all about shining lights and such.

As we reported, authorities are looking at a person of interest ... 63-year-old Anthony Quinn Warner, who had an RV that looked just like the one that exploded and has not been seen since the bombing. He's also the right age to know the song, which became a massive hit in 1964.

There's another verse -- the opening one, actually -- that could be more telling ... "When you're alone and life is making you lonely you can always go, downtown."

The Nashville bomber may have had a motive that had nothing to do with hurting people ... it seems the FBI believes he may have been paranoid over 5G technology.

As you know, one of the structures damaged was the AT&T building. The person of interest authorities are honing in on -- 63-year-old Anthony Quinn Warner -- may have feared 5G was being used to spy on Americans ... this according to a report by the NBC affiliate in Nashville.

The FBI interviewed a Nashville real estate agent who had hired Warner to do IT for him. Agents asked the realtor if Warner had mentioned anything about his feelings toward 5G technology, but he had not.

As we reported, Warner had an RV on his property that was similar to the one carrying explosives that detonated Xmas Day in the business district of Nashville, knocking out AT&T service.

There's another interesting turn ... Warner apparently had conveyed the property to a 29-year-old woman last month ... this according to the NY Post. He transferred title without charging her a penny. The woman told The Post she had no knowledge of the transfer.

The Nashville explosion that rocked downtown sent shards of glass and rubble flying all about in neighboring businesses -- including this one ... which was just a few short yards away from the blast.

TMZ has obtained new video captured from inside a sports bar named Buffalo's -- which sits at 2nd Ave and Commerce Street ... literally right down the block from where the RV in question blew up in a ball of fire. It's clear from this clip -- the impact was absolutely immense.

The security footage from inside shows 4 different angles from within the building -- all of which documented the moment shock waves from the explosion came roaring through their building early Christmas morning ... sending window fragments and debris in every direction.

The apparent bombing seems to have been orchestrated to go down in the wee hours -- right before 6:30 AM, based on what we're seeing here -- which is fortunate for the Buffalo's team ... because it doesn't look like anyone was inside yet. If they were, they would've almost certainly been seriously injured, or possibly killed by the explosion or flying debris.

Of course, there are reports of 3 injuries -- but, thankfully, none of them critical. Law enforcement has identified one person of interest, and agents are at his home now investigating ... but so far, nobody is in custody. It's likely the suspected bomber is dead.

As for Buffalo's ... they're especially in need of some help right now. Not only were they struck hard by the pandemic and new COVID measures in Davidson County, but their staffers have also been affected by natural disasters from earlier this year -- and now, this mess.

They got a GoFundMe set up to help hold over hourly employees' living expenses as upper management figures out the next steps. Any and every little bit helps, we're sure.

The person who intentionally set off a massive explosion in Nashville has apparently died -- because authorities say they aren't actively searching for anyone who might be directly responsible ... which would be standard operating procedure if they were alive.

Cops and federal official held a news conference Saturday with an update on where things stood after an RV blew up in downtown and caused devastating damage ... and the main takeaway here is that there's no manhunt underway for the culprit, which is telling.

Considering law enforcement came out early and said this appeared intentional means somebody's to blame -- and there's no way in hell cops and agents wouldn't be pounding the pavement if they thought the person who did this might still be walking free.

Tie that with the fact that officials have also said it looks like they've found possible human remains at the scene -- that leads one to believe that the culprit was blown to smithereens.

Here's another thing that makes us think the bomber is a goner ... he was referred to as the "ultimate Scrooge" by the U.S. Attorney there -- that's not the tone one takes when your man is on the run.

Now, cops have said they're pursuing over 500 tips for possible leads about others who might've been involved ... and there's a report there is one person of interest. A raid's going down at a Nashville-area home, where neighbors apparently saw a similar looking RV parked in recent weeks.

There've been no reported arrests ... just a lot of speculation. Cops say there are no more active threats they're aware of either -- which also points to the fact this was probably a successful suicide bombing, and an isolated incident.

The how and why are still unknown -- but law enforcement is scrambling for answers.

Just like ol' times in Murdock, Minnesota, where a "whites-only" church just got approval to open its doors.

It's true ... The Asatru Folk Assembly applied and was granted a conditional use permit to preach its pre-Christian messages. The Church, which formed in Northern Europe, operates openly to exclude anyone but white people.

The Murdock City Council approved the permit this month, but not without protest. There's a petition drive opposing the Council's move and it has 50,000 signatures, though clearly not just from the town. Murdock has a population of 280.

Many locals have also protested, saying they support the growing Latino population in the town and favor them over the views of the church.

A neo-Nazi t-shirt is being hawked online, with a message bemoaning that more Jews were not exterminated during the Holocaust.

The shirt is emblazoned with letters and numbers ... "6MWE" -- that's code for 6 million wasn't enough.

It's important to note these do not seem to be Holocaust deniers ... they're actually acknowledging that 6 million Jews were savagely murdered, but they feel like the Nazis could have done more.

The logo has a resemblance to the Proud Boys logo, but it's unclear exactly who's behind this disgusting display.

If you saw an extra bright star in the sky Monday evening, you're not alone -- our Solar System's 2 biggest planets crossed paths ... closer than they've been since the year 1226!!!

Monday's winter solstice -- the longest night of the year -- happened to coincide with a rare celestial occurrence star-gazers call the Great Conjunction, when Jupiter and Saturn align in their respective orbits around the sun ... only this time, they got extra cozy in space.

While Jupiter will pass Saturn every 20 years, the last the gas planets appeared as together as they do this right now was some 800 years ago. That time, they nestled up too close to the sun, so hardly anybody could see. Now, they're crystal clear in the night sky.

It's a rare, cool thing ... one that's colloquially been called the "Christmas Star" -- y'know, from the Bible and all. The planets might look conjoined to the naked eye, but even then -- they're about one-tenth of a degree apart from our vantage point.

Up there, though, they're really hundreds of millions of miles apart. Still, there's no way you could've missed their closest point Monday if you looked to the southwest shortly after sunset ... assuming weather conditions allowed for a peek. Tons of folks snagged photos too.

Jupiter and Saturn will remain in close proximity for the remainder of the month, but after that, they'll drift back apart to their usual distance.

Some Boston cops were excited about pepper-spraying people protesting police brutality ... unloading on them almost like warriors ... and it was apparent, some of them were nervous that body cams were recording their actions and their words.

The incident went down in June, in the wake of George Floyd's death. Protesters were in the Boston Commons area, where cops attempted to disperse the crowd.

You see and hear a cop armed with pepper spray saying, "I got a little left. I wanna hit this asshole."

Shortly thereafter, you see a demonstrator with hands up, but a cop levels the protester with a billy club to the chest.

You hear other cops say, "Start spraying the f*****rs." There was even talk among the cops of using vehicles as weapons.

At the beginning of the video, you hear one of the cops say "I'm f***ing hitting people with the car," and then a fellow cop whose body cam is recording the conversation, quickly and nervously walks away and then announces, "This thing is on." Then the story changes and the cop says "I didn't hit anybody."

The body cam video, which was just released, has triggered an internal affairs investigation.

Connie Chung just went scorched earth on some huge names in news ... saying working with Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer was "not unlike what Tonya Harding did to Nancy Kerrigan."

Chung was on "The Originals" podcast for L.A. Magazine and dished about her time as an anchor at ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN. She said, "When I got to ABC news, I joined with Both Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer there and I thought, "Oh, this is going to be great. It'll be three women who get along."

Chung says it couldn't have been further from the truth, claiming her fellow anchors big footed her out of the best interviews ... per ABC news execs.

She was famously paired with Dan Rather as co-anchors of the "CBS Evening News," and says teaming up with Rather was right out of "Psycho."

And, there's more. Connie, who's been married to Maury Povich since 1984, frequently appeared on David Letterman's show. There was a lot of chatter they were flirting with each other, although Connie says, "I had this thing for him, and he had a thing for me, and I really think it was inexplicable in that respect." But, then she went on to say, "And yet, I really didn't have a thing for him. Do you know what I mean?" Sorta.

She went on to say Dave's "a dark, unhappy sort of, I don't mean he's unhappy. He is a kvetch ... He's anti-social is what he is."

Chung also had harsh words for Hugh Grant ... she had a cameo in "The Undoing." She says, "He was not very friendly. I had interviewed him right after 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' for his next movie. So when I saw him I said, 'Oh hi. I interviewed you ... do you remember? And he said, 'No."

We reached out to reps for Dan, Diane, Barbara and Dave ... so far, no word back.