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The guy who's third in line to be Commander-in-Chief of this country is also well-equipped to hit the Bat-signal every now and again ... because he's got quite the movie resume.

Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont -- who was recently voted to become the new president pro tempore of the Senate, replacing Chuck Grassley -- has made cameos in a whopping FIVE Batman movies over the years, even in roles you might vaguely remember.

His appearances date back to 1995, when he first showed up in "Batman Forever," and the hits kept on coming from there ... he starred in 1997's "Batman & Robin," 2008's "The Dark Knight," 2012's "The Dark Knight Rises," and 2016's "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice."

Sen. Leahy also did some voice acting in the Batman animated series in the '90s, so the guy definitely has his spot reserved in Gotham's HOF. He often played politicians in his portrayals, which makes sense. That's kind of his day job.

As for how he got into it ... apparently, his son (an actor) told some Hollywood bigwigs back in the day that his dad was a HUGE Batman fan, so they hooked him up with a cameo ... and the rest is history. All his earnings from the films have been donated to charity.

A police officer gunned his SUV into a crowd in Tacoma, Washington Saturday night, running over at least one person ... and it was all caught on video.

There were about 100 people in a street blocking an intersection ... some were in cars doing donuts and allegedly street racing. Cops were called to the scene.

The crowd surrounded one of the police SUV's and began pounding on the windows and kicking the sides of the vehicle. The PD said in a statement the officer feared for his safety ... "the officer drove forward striking one individual and may have impacted others" as he tried to get out of the "unsafe position."

As the officer guns it, you see the SUV run over someone laying in the street. Someone who watched screamed, "Oh my God, oh my God."

At least one person was taken to the hospital. That person's condition is unknown.

DUSTIN POIRIER!!!!!

The Diamond just KNOCKED OUT Conor McGregor at UFC 257 -- and man, was that violent!!!!

McGregor seemed to be in control in Round 1 -- but Dustin took over in Round 2, obliterating McGregor with a series of shots before ending it with a strong right hook that sent Conor right to the mat.

Dustin avenged his 1st round loss to Conor when they fought in 2014 -- a fight Dustin has wanted to run back for years!!

Dustin's game plan was obvious -- he targeted Conor's legs hoping to wear the guy down ... and he did just that.

After the fight, Dustin called a 3rd fight with Conor -- and bragged he's the best boxer in the UFC.

Conor was respectful after the fight -- and offered an explanation for the loss.

"I just wasn't as comfortable as I needed to be," Conor said after the fight ... insisting he's been out of the Octagon too long to compete with the best in the world.

It was McGregor's first fight since January 2020 -- when he defeated Cowboy Cerrone in a 1st round knockout.

Before that, Conor got beat up by Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 in October 2018. He hadn't fought before that since Nov. 2016.

Here's the bottom line for Conor -- it would be hard for Khabib to be impressed enough by Conor's performance to warrant a rematch.

In fact, Khabib sent a tweet seemingly aimed at Conor after the fight -- basically saying Conor has strayed from what made him great.

"This is what happened, when you change your team, leave the sparring partners who made you a champion and sparring with little kids, far away from reality."

The Flaming Lips hopped on stage Saturday night for their long-awaited Space Bubble Concert, and gotta say ... it's awesome!!!

It went down in the band's hometown, Oklahoma City, and it did not disappoint. The band AND the crowd were all in their own, individual bubbles in a futuristic display that looked ... well, futuristic.

The Space Bubble Concert was originally scheduled for December, but there was a spike in coronavirus cases in Oklahoma so the band was forced to postpone.

Newly released body cam video shows a cop showing up to a mental health check ... and almost immediately tasing and then shooting a man to death.

It's a horrifying scene. As TMZ has reported, the incident went down on January 10 in Kileen, Texas, after a family called the mental health unit of the Sheriff's Dept., something they had done successfully the day before.

52-year-old Patrick Warren had been having episodes where he was acting erratically. On January 9, a mental health officer showed up, talked to Warren until he was calm and then took him to the hospital where he got checked out and returned home. The video (above) shows Warren calmly walking to the officer's car.

The following day, the family called again, but this time there were no mental health officers available. Enter Officer Reynaldo Contreras, who did anything BUT deescalate the situation.

Warren opens the front door and Contreras almost immediately threatens to tase him if he didn't get on the ground and quickly made good on that promise. Less than a minute later, Warren was fatally shot.

The family and their lawyer, famed civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, are calling for Contreras to be fired and charged with murder. Contreras is on administrative leave pending the results of the investigation.

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.

After feeling spurned by Donald Trump, Joe Exotic's officially moving on to the next POTUS ... and keeping the faith that President Biden will grant his freedom.

TMZ's obtained emails Joe's sent out to his team from prison, in which he expresses hopefulness that the new administration will come through with a pardon ... after failing to make Trump's last-minute list.

Exotic says he has more confidence in Biden regarding criminal justice and prison reform, and claims he watched a TV special on VP Kamala Harris ... leading him to believe she can "help clean up the corruption in the DOJ and other agencies."

As for his feelings about Trump ... Exotic says he always looked up to him for being a straight-shooter and never backing down, but that all changed after January 6.

Exotic feels disdain for Trump, he says partly because 45 ended up just hiding out in the White House after the riot ... never saying a word about the people who died.

Long story short ... it seems Joe is all pro-Joe now, and even claims in his emails to have new evidence in his case that he hopes the Biden administration will consider.

Erin Hershey, a soap actress famous for "General Hospital," didn't want her kids tuning into Joe Biden's inauguration ... telling a teacher she'd never let them "watch a criminal."

Erin's got a daughter in elementary school in California, and after the little girl's teacher sent an email to parents Wednesday inviting kids to skip class to watch Inauguration Day, she replied with some nasty comments about the new Prez.

According to the email chain, obtained by TMZ, Erin blasted this out to the teacher and her fellow parents ... "Why watch a criminal on television? I’d never do that to my children. But thank you."

Another parent then rushed to the teacher's defense in the email chain, thanking her for considering the families who wanted to watch the historical moment and drawing Erin's ire by writing, "no matter the person taking office, we are lucky to be able to watch moments like this."

Erin quickly responded with another reply all, saying ... "I don't think we are lucky at all to watch a flat out joke."

Urban Meyer, listen up ... Brett Favre tells TMZ Sports the Jaguars should NOT draft Trevor Lawrence #1 overall -- and instead, take DeVonta Smith!!

"I don't know if Jacksonville, in my opinion, I don't know if quarterback is their immediate need," the NFL legend says ... "I would take DeVonta Smith."

It's a scorching hot take from Favre -- most believe Lawrence is the NFL draft's best QB prospect since Andrew Luck in 2012.

And, nearly everyone involved in the draft process has already pegged the Clemson superstar to be Jacksonville's pick in their mock drafts.

But, Favre says he'd go with the Alabama wideout regardless ... explaining the Heisman Trophy winner is just different.

"I think you go with a guy like that," Favre says. "Nothing against Trevor Lawrence but I think you can find a free agent guy or a guy in the latter rounds or mid-rounds in the draft."

"But, you just don't find a guy like a -- this guy could be a Jerry Rice. He could be different. A Randy Moss. A total game-changer."

The take sounds very similar to Quinnen Williams' -- the Jets star told us just a few weeks ago he's hoping his New York squad takes Smith over a QB as well.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' inauguration playlist is taking Brooklyn rapper Kota the Friend's career to new heights ... and he's also giving thanks to Lupita Nyong'o.

Kota the Friend's camp tells TMZ ... the independent rapper was blindsided when his track, "Lupita's Interlude," was the first song in the official inauguration playlist, and now he's reaping the benefits of a presidential shoutout.

Ever since Kota was included on the 46-song playlist alongside the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Led Zeppelin and Stevie Wonder, his collab with Lupita has enjoyed a huge spike in listeners on Spotify and Apple Music, with streams increasing over 90% to 2.5 million total.

Not bad for a Kota song that doesn't even feature his vocals ... it's just 1 minute of Lupita reciting a spoken word poem about things that mean everything to her. The track's the interlude to Kota's 2020 album, "Everything."

Kota's reps say he's also getting lots of eyeballs on social media ... over 10,000 new Instagram followers, over 11,000 new likes on his Facebook page and over 13,500 new followers on Spotify.

Hey, it helps to have a ticket with 81 million votes on your side.

Hidden within this eye-catching photo is an English actor who got his start acting in British films.

This famous fella has gone on to star in many more projects, and is most known for his roles in, "The Holiday," "Sherlock Holmes," "The Young Pope," and several others. He even received a BAFTA Award back in 2000 for his performance in the film "The Talented Mr. Ripley."

The Oklahoma elected official who introduced a real-life bill to establish an official hunting season for Bigfoot says he's getting called "stupid" ... who'd a thunk it?!?

OK State Rep. Justin Humphrey, the lawmaker who drafted up the Bigfoot bill, tells TMZ ... he's getting tons of backlash from believers and non-believers alike.

Rep. Humphrey says he's been flooded with calls, emails and Facebook notifications from Bigfoot deniers, calling him an "idiot" and cussing him out. He says folks are telling him they'll NEVER vote for him and they're gonna make sure he loses his next election.

The Bigfoot non-believer beef -- the proposed bill is a big waste of time because sasquatches don't exist and there are more important things for lawmakers to worry about.

Rep. Humphrey tells us Bigfoot believers are annoyed with him too, but they're laying off the verbal attacks and keeping it civil. He says these folks don't want anyone disturbing Bigfoot or the forests where he supposedly lives.

BTW ...the lawmaker says the bill's not calling for Bigfoot's death ... rather, it's asking for someone to catch the creature, and he's hoping for a $25,000 reward for the first trapper.

Oklahoma's infamous for its Bigfoot sightings, particularly in the southeastern and southern parts of the state, which Humphrey reps ... but he tells us he's seen no evidence Bigfoot exists, aside from some mysterious photos.

Rep. Humphrey says the point of his bill is to generate revenue with tourism, hunting licenses and tags, encouraging folks to enjoy the outdoors after spending more time inside due to the pandemic. But, it seems like most folks didn't read between the lines.

No one circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills and their famous fans ... so here are the biggest celeb backers showing off their team spirit ahead of the AFC Championship game!!

Of course, Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes are set to face off in an epic showdown between the Bills and Chiefs on Sunday ... with the winner punching a ticket to the Super Bowl.

From Chad Michael Murray to Wolf Blitzer to Summer Sanders, the boys in red, white and blue have some familiar faces rooting them on for the big game.

Other big members of the infamous Bills Mafia include Jason Tartick, Christopher McDonald, Robbie Amell, and Jordan Burroughs ... who may or may not have smashed some tailgate tables at some point in their lives.

Child star JoJo Siwa just confirmed she's part of the LGBTQ+ community -- but isn't quite ready to label herself with a letter just yet.

The former 'Dance Moms' star published a lengthy video Saturday, which pretty much hit the point home that she had, in fact, come out after much speculation these past few days. She says she's gotten tons of support, and has never been happier in her life to be her true self.

At one point, one of JoJo's fans asks how she identifies in terms of sexual orientation ... and she says she doesn't know yet. That's interesting to note, because everyone assumed she'd come out as gay ... mostly due to her own wardrobe, which literally had the word printed on.

JoJo showed off a shirt she received the other day, which reads ... BEST. GAY. COUSIN. EVER. Many took that as signaling, not to mention her lip-syncing to Gaga's "Born This Way."

It's a big deal, BTW. JoJo -- who's 17 years old -- has a massive audience with kids, so this is gonna reach them in some shape or form. Many think it'll help children be more comfortable with owning their sexuality, since one of their on-screen heroes now has.

One of the Capitol insurrectionists had plans to kill Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ... according to the Department of Justice.

The DOJ revealed new charges against Garret Miller of Texas, alleging he posted online death threats against the New York congresswoman the day of the siege, including one tweet that simply read, "Assassinate AOC."

That's terrifying, considering Rep. Ocasio-Cortez herself said she felt her life was on the line that day, and that she didn't know if she'd live to see tomorrow. Turns out, she was on to something ... at least according to authorities.

In addition to the alleged AOC threat, the DOJ says Miller also threatened the officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt. He said the officer "deserved to die" and that he wouldn't live long, because it was "huntin season." The feds say he was posting a ton before and during the attempted coup, and was saying things like, "civil war could start" and "next time we bring the guns."

In addition to the new death threats charges, Miller faces charges of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted buildings or grounds without lawful authority, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, obstructing or impeding any official proceeding and certain acts during civil disorder. He's one of several rioters who've been rounded up.

Interestingly, Miller said on social media that he wanted to implicate himself in the siege, and was not shy about copping to the deed ... based on screenshots the feds attached as evidence. AOC herself latched onto his stupidity when she heard about this guy.

She took to Twitter -- where a lot of his activity was captured, including his own footage of himself from inside the Capitol that day -- and wrote, "'Just wanted to incriminate myself a little' Well, you did!"

Justin Bieber is looking back at his tumultuous teenage years with humility -- reminiscing on how much he's changed since getting arrested for DUI, and everything else in between.

Bieber posted a photo of himself getting hauled off by cops in Miami in 2014, when he was arrested on suspicion of DUI, resisting arrest and driving without a valid license. Cops say he was drag racing in the streets, and later blew below the legal limit for people under 21.

He was 19 at the time, and in his caption ... Justin says he's come a long way since then, mostly due to the grace of God. He writes, "7 years ago today I was arrested, not my finest hour. Not proud of where I was at in my life. I was hurting, unhappy, confused, angry, mislead, misunderstood and angry at god."

He adds, "I also wore too much leather for someone in Miami. All this to say God has brought me a long way. From then til now I do realize something.. God was as close to me then as he is right now. My encouragement to you is to ‘let your past be a reminder of how far god has brought you."

JB finishes by saying, "Don’t allow shame to ruin your “today” let the forgiveness of Jesus take over and watch your life blossom into all that God has designed you to be. LOVE YOU GUYS WITH MY WHOLE HEART"

It's true, Justin was going through a lot back then. Right around the time he was busted for DUI -- which was later reduced to reckless driving and resisting arrest after the Biebs copped a plea -- he got nailed for egging his neighbor's house.

Bieber was charged with vandalism and ended up copping a plea. The egging was also the subject of a lengthy lawsuit that dragged on for years, which was ultimately settled.

There were other bumps in the road -- namely, him getting sued by a photog, which resulted in Bieber sitting for an infamous deposition where he gave tons of lip. He's had several paparazzi run-ins in Hollywood, figuratively and literally with cars of his and otherwise.

He also peed in a mop bucket in 2013, and randomly shouted "F*** Bill Clinton." His legal woes go on and on, but as far as criminal arrests ... he's just got the DUI to look back on.