You Might Want to Rethink

We got another UFO sighting on our hands here in L.A., folks -- but this one stands alone, as it offers some the best clear shots we've seen of what appears ... well, you make the call.

An eyewitness shot these photos last Saturday while heading south on the 101 Freeway, just outside of Thousand Oaks as she was approaching Westlake Village around sunset. We're told she was on her phone when she saw this thing hovering in the sky, flying in the same direction she was heading ... with a group of lights trailing behind it.

The eyewitness says she shot three consecutive photos as quickly as she could, and as you can see ... the unidentified object appears to have changed positions, both tilting ever so slightly and moving to a new spot in the sky. We're told this UFO was only visible for a few seconds, before it literally vanished into thin air. We know ... far-fetched, right?

That's what we thought too -- but we've been assured these photos are NOT altered, and they show what they show. We were skeptical -- thinking these could've been tweaked in Photoshop -- so we had one of our art gurus take a closer look to see what she thought.

Turns out, our own photoshop wiz seems to agree ... these don't look like fakes.

Our graphic artist tried an experiment with stock images of "glowing discs," "UFO's" and "flying saucers" ... to see if the images could be manipulated in a similar fashion as the tipster's photos. She concluded it would be hard to cut/paste these images with the exact angles of the tipster's images. So, these photos do appear to be legit ... or at the very least, probably not photoshopped.

We also reverse image searched these pics, BTW, and couldn't track down ANY that were exactly the same -- so again, it lends credence to the idea these were taken on the spot, without being doctored after the fact.

So, where does that lead us in the end??? Welp, depends on what you want to believe. On its face, this looks to be a straight-up UFO sighting. IF that is in fact the case -- who woulda thought Hollywood had it right all along in its depictions?!?

Some Chinese officials have rolled out a whole new way to test for COVID-19 -- and it entails bending over and spreading 'em ... something we can now see in a test run.

You might've heard of this by now, but you haven't seen it quite like this -- check out this video of a Chinese health official demonstrating how their new anal swabbing method works ... doing the deed on none other than a life-size dummy, who is oh-so-compromised.

The doll -- which is weirdly wearing pajamas for some reason -- is bent over with its heinie out in the air and its arms spread out, almost like it was getting checked for weapons at a prison intake session or something. Eventually, the scientist goes in.

The guy dips the swab in a saline solution -- standard practice for this methodology -- and then inserts the cotton-end into the hole. He gets in there pretty deep -- an inch or so give best results, they say -- and then gives it a nice little twist for good measure before pulling out and putting in a plastic sample tube.

No big, right?!? Eh, not exactly ...

While some Chinese experts insist the anal swab test is much more accurate at detecting the 'rona -- a lot of people aren't too happy about the surprise screenings they're being subjected to at airports in parts of northern China, including in the country's capital of Beijing.

Word is this is NOT a country-wide mandated test, but it seems like some provinces and whatnot are running it on their own terms as they see fit -- and folks don't appear to have much of a say in the matter. If they suspect someone's exposed, they can request it.

They can either administer it to you on the spot, or they'll let you keep your dignity and sometimes let you do a self-test in the privacy of a room, before they cut you loose.

A friend of 'Bachelor' Matt James body-shamed one of his contestants -- Victoria Larson -- but she doesn't really seem to care all that much ... if anything, she's almost excusing it.

We got Victoria Friday night in Bev Hills and asked her about Matt's golfing buddy making a remark about her body in a surfaced clip that was apparently shot after his season wrapped. The guy's name is Jerry, and he seemed to be trying to distract Matt.

Shortly after the clip was posted, Victoria wrote ... "Cute... I love my body :)" and later posted a body shot of herself in a bikini, to silence the haters. Plus, she threw up a meme of men commenting on beautiful women's bodies ... almost as commentary.

As fired up as she seemed at the time, Victoria was NOT nearly as enthusiastic to shut down the body-shaming in our clip ... like we said, she almost chalked it up to "boys will be boys" or "locker-room talk." She didn't use those words exactly, but the sentiment was there.

Watch for yourself ... she tells us she actually doesn't think it was Jerry -- the dude who made the comment -- who shamed her, and she gets that in a competitive environment, sometimes you say things to throw your opponent off. Hmmm ... okay.

She went on to write off all the talk of it as "noise" ... and when we asked if she hoped Matt himself had learned his lesson, and if the franchise would try to get more inclusive ... Victoria was careful not to cast a stone, actually praising Matt and dodging the question.

It's interesting ... Matt was silent in the moment when his buddy made the body comment about Victoria, but was later quick to condemn it during an appearance on "The Real." He said he needed to surround himself with better friends, but he didn't seem all that bothered by it in real-time.

"Sex and the City" star Jason Lewis got into a heated argument with his neighbor after the actor was caught firing a weapon to scare some feral cats away, but the gun wasn't loaded with bullets.

Jason was clearly upset over cats that were abandoned after one of his neighbors died this past September. Another neighbor has been feeding the felines every day, but according to the neighbor, Jason was pissed off because the cats were pooping in his yard.

The neighbor apparently caught Jason shooting in the vicinity of the strays, and that triggered a heated argument.

Jason explained he was shooting grains of rice in the direction of the cats, not to hurt them but rather to show them he means business. That did not sit well with the neighbor.

Jason, who also appeared in "90210" and "Charmed," told the neighbor he didn't aim for the cats but rather shot in their general direction to scare them. The neighbor says it's undermining her efforts to get the cats to trust her so she can find them new homes.

Jason tells TMZ, "Everyone who knows me knows my love of animals. I've tried for months to work with a person who is coming into the neighborhood and feeding a large group of feral cats in an effort to relocate them as they have been filling the yards with fleas and waste."

Congresswoman Cori Bush may have moved her office away from Marjorie Taylor Greene, but she's anything but afraid of her ... rather Bush has given Greene an ultimatum.

Bush vented her anger toward her white supremacist colleague Friday night on Joy Reid's show ... incredulous that Greene is somehow equating mask-wearing to the Black Lives Matter movement.

The Congresswoman describes the confrontation they had in one of the tunnels connected to the Capitol, when she implored Greene to put on a mask.

But, that was only the beginning. You hear the frustration in Bush's voice as she describes how all of the rules and conventions have been shattered now that members are verbally attacking their colleagues and their staff in the hallways. She's also livid some members are carrying guns onto the House floor.

As we reported, Greene has embraced calls for the assassination of Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton ... again, something that's hard to fathom.

An ex-Northwestern cheerleader is suing the school -- claiming she was pressured to present herself as a "sex kitten" to please the fan base ... and subjected to sexual harassment and assault in the process.

The woman behind the suit is Hayden Richardson -- who cheered for the Wildcats from 2018 to 2020.

But, Hayden claims her run with the squad wasn't all pom-poms and backflips -- instead she describes a living nightmare in which she was "subjected to a hostile environment including groping, harassments, and sexual touching by older alumni and intoxicated football fans" ... and the school did nothing to stop it.

Richardson -- who says she's a Truman Scholar -- claims in her suit she was "encouraged by her coach and the University to suppress her intellect and instead flaunt her body as if she were just a commodity."

She continues, "the University forced its cheerleaders to behave in a degrading and demeaning manner intended to entice and captivate wealthy donors."

In her suit, Richardson says she complained about specific acts of sexual assault, sexual harassment and exploitation to the cheer team's head coach ... but the accusations were not taken seriously.

Richardson says she felt she was made to feel like a "sex object for fans and alumni donors" -- and if she didn't comply, she was afraid she would be cut from the team and lose her cheerleading scholarships.

Richardson says in her suit ... "at every home game, the cheerleaders were instructed to saunter around the tailgating lots as if they were Victoria’s Secret models on a runway, unsupervised, in their skimpy cheerleading uniforms."

She adds ... "They were expressly told to split up and flirtatiously mingle with extremely intoxicated fans alone and were not provided any security."

There's more ... Richardson says she was often groped on her breasts and buttocks by scummy fans who insisted they just wanted to take a picture.

Richardson says she complained multiple times but the school failed to properly address the issues -- and as a result, she's suffered "emotional pain, mental anguish, and loss of educational opportunities."

Northwestern issued a statement in response to the lawsuit -- saying the university "is committed to fostering an environment in which all members of our community are safe, secure and free from discrimination or harassment of any form."

Robinhood conspired with the big Wall Street hedge funds to screw over the everyday folks who are suddenly striking it rich with investments like GameStop ... according to a new lawsuit.

The free-trading app just got hit with a class action lawsuit filed in federal court ... one day after Robinhood barred retail investors from continuing to buy stock in several companies in the battle between Reddit bros and hedge fund managers.

Melvin Capital and Citadel, 2 massive hedge funds, are also being sued ... as the suit claims they were shorting companies like GameStop and losing a lot of money as the stock prices went up. The allegation is the fund conspired with brokerages like Robinhood to block the purchase of certain stocks in order to stop their financial bleeding.

In the suit, filed by Larry Friedman and obtained by TMZ, a group of retail investors claims Robinhood's move to shut down buyers caused prices to plummet in favor of the big hedge fund investors ... while seriously hurting the finances of the little guys in the process.

The suit claims the problem isn't limited to Robinhood and the hedge funds -- Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade are also being sued.

The little guys are going after the Wall Street fat cats for at least $5 million in damages.

Cops say a fan in Cleveland heckled LeBron James so aggressively during the Cavs vs. Lakers game Monday night ... they were forced to boot him from the arena in an intense confrontation.

According to a police report, obtained by TMZ Sports, cops claim 49-year-old Joseph Bilgen was holding up offensive shirts and screaming profanity at LeBron and others during the big game.

Of course, with LeBron returning to his home state and playing the Cavs ... emotions were high -- and according to the report, several Cleveland players and employees, including GM Koby Altman, reported the fan to security.

Cops say they were informed the guy had held up shirts with offensive writing on them ... including, "Lebron is a racist," "La B**w J*b," and "Lebron is a narcissist."

Officers say when they confronted Bilgen about the inappropriate shirts and actions ... he became so combative -- security told officers he would have to be removed from the arena.

Bilgen, though, did not go quietly according to the report ... an officer says the man told him to "go f*** yourself" repeatedly, and at one point, even put his hands on the cop.

The report states as Bilgen was leaving, he then held up a shirt that read, "Gloria Goes West. Starring LBJ as king narcissist."

In the report, officers say that when a female security guard took the shirt from him, Bilgen grabbed her arms and struck her in her left side.

Officers say they were eventually able to boot Bilgen from the arena after several more minutes of struggling near the exits. Bilgen, according to Cleveland.com, was NOT arrested.

No charges have been filed against Bilgen, either, per Cleveland.com.

Just weeks before the country went into lockdown because of COVID, the cast of "Little Women: Atlanta" got in one last hurrah, which left a cast member bloodied and slashed.

The brawl went down in February of last year at Nouveau Bar & Grille. The initial fight pitted Amanda and Andrea against Abira. Ms. Juicy initially tried to act as peacemaker, but that went to hell quickly.

Unclear what started this and, for that matter, most fights on the show. Someone spit on someone and that was pretty much all she wrote. Glasses started flying, conking Juicy on the noggin, and leaving a big gash and a bloody mess. She ended up taking a trip to the ER where she got a CAT scan and stitches.

As we first reported ... Abria started clowning the twins over their plan to get in the rap game. As true 'Little Women' fans know ... they've been at each other's throats for some time ... but things really took a turn for the worse during their hangout that night.

Ja Rule is going nuclear on Robinhood for shutting down retail investors in the GameStop stock craze ... and he thinks the free-trading app revealed its true colors.

The rapper, and apparent day trader, tells TMZ ... Robinhood made a big mistake when it blocked customers from buying more stock in companies like GameStop, AMC and BlackBerry -- and as a result, he's having second thoughts about sticking with the service.

The way Ja sees it ... Robinhood rigged the system against everyday folks who were taking on Wall Street's establishment and winning, so it's time for retail investors to take their trades elsewhere.

While Ja's steaming about the Robinhood setback, he might want to take some stock advice from Jordan Belfort, who's suggesting a different way for normies to win in the market.

As we reported ... Robinhood says it will allow trading Friday for GameStop and all the other securities it blocked Thursday, but only for "limited buys" as it continues to monitor the situation.

But, listening to Ja go off, it sounds like Robinhood won't be able to mend fences that easily.

Jordan Belfort's all for the little guys getting rich, and taking on Wall Street's establishment -- but he warns they're going about it the wrong way, and might get burned.

Let's face it, the "Wolf of Wall Street" understands what the subreddit, WallStreetBets, is doing more than just about anyone, but Thursday on "TMZ Live" he told us they should be investing their money into winning companies ... not failing ones like GameStop, BlackBerry or AMC.

If you've seen the movie, you know Jordan infamously battled stock-shorting hedge fund managers ... and made a fortune doing it. He says the Reddit guys are basically doing what he did, but with the benefit of the Internet.

But, here's the irony ... the Wolf says he gets why Robinhood and other online platforms are stopping normies from trading the junk stocks -- it comes down to liability. When the little guys start losing their shirts, or homes, Jordan says they'll start suing ... and Robinhood's trying to dodge that.

Rita Ora went to expensive extremes to hold her 30th birthday soiree during lockdown in London -- paying almost $7,000 to make it happen ... TMZ has confirmed.

The British singer was already in hot water for the November event she held at Casa Cruz because it violated London's lockdown, but this new detail's coming out because of an upcoming court hearing.

According to law enforcement ... one of Rita's reps offered a manager at Casa Cruz $6,829 for the joint to host the party. The manager told police he wanted to "facilitate" the occasion because he was "greedy" after his staff had been furloughed.

The manager also told police only 7 guests were supposed to show up ... according to The Sun, which first reported the story.

Of course, we already know almost 20 showed up for the bash ... which became a PR nightmare for Rita. As we reported, she eventually apologized for breaking the country's COVID restrictions, admitting it was a "serious and inexcusable error of judgement."

A local government official tells us there's a hearing scheduled to decide whether the restaurant's license will be revoked or if other measures will be taken against Casa Cruz following the incident. They are NOT investigating Rita's payoff.

An Idaho woman showed up to a city council meeting dressed in what she described as Muslim attire, as an example of the lengths she says she goes to just to avoid wearing a mask.

This went down Monday in the city of Lewiston, where council members opened the meeting with public comments ... which brought forth a throng of angry citizens, many of whom were griping about local mask mandates and restaurant shutdowns, claiming it was illegal.

Eventually, this woman -- who ID'd herself as Katie Dugger -- stepped up to the podium ... wearing a bright purple headdress that she later said she got in Peru, but apparently used in public to get out of putting on face covering.

Watch for yourself ... it's bonkers. Basically, Dugger says in order for her to go to school in-person, this is what she has to wear to get by without any hassle, passing herself off as a Muslim. She even wraps the fabric around her face like a burka, to bring her point home.

She isn't using the religious liberty argument ... she claims her aversion to mask-wearing is all about childhood trauma 🤷🏽‍♂️.

Capitol Police officers are furious with their Police Chief for apologizing to lawmakers for the Capitol riots ... while still failing to talk to them about what went down January 6, and what to do if something similar happens again.

Sources within the Capitol Police tell TMZ ... neither acting Police Chief Yogananda Pittman, nor any of the other USCP higher-ups have directly addressed the officers who were on duty during the insurrection to say sorry to them for the lack of preparedness.

Even worse, we're told upper management has not clearly communicated to the officers what's being done -- or should be done -- to thwart another coup attempt at the Capitol.

According to our sources, cops want to hear from their leaders, "This is what went wrong, and this is what we need you to do next time" ... but so far, nothing.

Instead, Chief Pittman issued an apology to Congress on Tuesday, admitting that her department was not well enough prepared for the terrorist attack. She added they knew armed militia groups and white supremacists would be protesting, and there was a strong potential for violence and that Congress was the target.

We're told the feeling among the police officers is ... USCP management cares more about the image of the agency and getting the media off its back than taking care of its force, and Pittman's apology lends more proof.

Our sources say there's also not much internal support for Pittman as police chief, especially because she was the head of intelligence during the Jan. 6 riots ... and cops involved that day feel she let them down.

We broke the story ... Capitol Police officers were also incensed by the lack of direction before President Biden's inauguration, and a lack of clarity in the use of deadly force.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is under fire for old Facebook activity that suggests she was onboard with the killing of Democrat lawmakers ... but she's brushing most of it off as "fake news."

The newly-elected Congresswoman from Georgia has a ton of posts, likes and replies/comments that were still active of late, and dug up by several outlets, including CNN, which say she either co-signed or outright called for the execution of folks like Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton ... just to name a few.

One such post from 2019, before she ran for office and was elected, reportedly shows she liked a comment that read, "a bullet in the head would be quicker" in response to someone speculating how to remove the House Speaker. Screenshots seem to prove ... it's legit.

There are other posts Rep. Greene reportedly liked about FBI agents getting killed ... because they were apparently part of the "deep state" working against Trump.

Her sights were also set on Hillary, it would seem -- she reportedly mentioned her in a couple different posts over the years. In one such case, she agreed with someone on a conspiracy theory about a "hit" Hillary supposedly ordered on a woman who'd seen heinous child-killing content on Anthony Weiner's laptop, and in another ... looping in Obama too.

Somebody reportedly once asked if "H & O" -- apparently referring to Hillary and Obama -- ought to be "hanged" ... to which Greene reportedly replied, "Stage is being set."

In light of all these old posts coming to light, Rep. Greene is commenting, but in a very defiant, Trump-like way.

She writes, "Fake News CNN is writing yet another hit piece on me focused on my time before running for political office. I will never back down to the enemy of the American people and neither should you." Greene goes on to say different people have managed her accounts for her at different points -- and while acknowledging some posts were legit, not everything she engaged online represents her views.

Donald Trump moving to Mar-a-Lago has become worrisome, especially for Dems in the county, who say they fear a Trump effect ... and they're gearing up for a fight.

Believe it or not, Palm Beach County -- which obviously encompasses Palm Beach itself, where DT now lives -- is actually a pretty blue-leaning area ... but top dogs in the party say they're worried 45's influence will seep into their local politics and elections, for the worse.

Palm Beach County Democratic Party Secretary Sophia Nelson tells TMZ ... Trump's presence could be a game-changer in the political landscape, and it's something she and the rest of her cohorts will have to actively monitor in the coming months, and even years.

She says, for now, most Republican politicians -- who make up a minority in the county with an 80/20 split -- are pretty reasonable, and have no problem working across the aisle. But, Nelson warns that could quickly change with fringe GOP candidates who might run for local office going forward, emboldened by the arrival of their hero.

Nelson says she and others have already seen changes in town, especially near Trump properties, where upwards of 100 supporters have been gathering daily to show their love since Trump's arrival last week. She calls them "verbally violent."

As for what Nelson and the Dems plan to do about it ... more outreach, more grassroots campaigning and more voter registration, which she says will be key in fortifying their stronghold and pushing back against any wave Trump might create from here on out.