The Obama’s have been living it up since leaving the White House. Private islands, Palm Beach mansions and for several weeks now they’ve called Tahiti home. But this weekend they took to the sea with some special friends.
This weekend Michelle and Barry joined Oprah, Bruce Springsteen and wife Patti, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson aboard David Geffen’s Mega Yacht. Not to shabby.
According to Travel + Leisure mag, “They went for lunch on Vanilla Island, made a stop at Le Taha’a Island, and will continue on to Bora Bora. The trip will end at the Brando, a luxury resort where Obama has stayed for the past three weeks while working on his White House memoirs.”
Here we see Barack getting a snap of his best gal Michelle on the deck of the yacht named “The Rising Sun”.
Barack takes Michelles picture
David Geffen’s Mega Yacht, The Rising Sun
Tom Hanks (center), Bruce Springsteen (left) and their wives Patti and Rita Wilson (huddled next to Barack and Michelle) all posed for a snap
The group all settled down for lunch beneath a large umbrella after climbing on board
A photo posted by Caitlyn Jenner (@caitlynjenner) on
Caitlyn Jenner attended events adjacent to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this week. She announced that she would be going to Cleveland ahead of time, almost as if she was hoping for a speaking slot at the RNC. Which isn’t going to happen on Mike Pence’s watch, you know. So Caitlyn just had to be RNC-adjacent at an American Unity Fund Q&A session, where she talked about her long-standing love of all things Republican, even though the GOP would much rather refer to her as Bruce and discriminate against every part of her life. Some assorted quotes from Cait’s Q&A session.
Coming out as Republican: “It was easy to come out as trans. It was hard to come out as Republican.”
She’s a Republican because her dad serves in the military: “And if my dad knew what was going on in this country when he fought so hard, I think he’d be very disappointed. Because of that, I feel like our best hope to get back to a constitutional government… is a Republican Party… I’m not giving up on this country. I’m not giving up on this constitution. I want jobs for everybody.”
North Carolina’s bathroom laws: “I haven’t used a men’s room in a year and a half. I follow the rules. I never flush a feminine product down the toilet.”
How she came out to her kids: “God said, ‘Let’s give this one the soul of a female and see how he does.’”
Changing hearts & minds: “I think the Republican Party needs to understand. They need to know people who are trans.”
What she wants to tell Trump: “I would tell Donald that there are people out there that have been marginalized for so many years… It’s about the next generation coming up. We have to provide a safe environment for them.”
I know Caitlyn is a Republican because of the way she talks about why she’s a Republican. It’s the same vague, illogical, superficial, uninformed way that many die-hard Trump voters talk about why they’re voting for Trump. Because “freedom” and “my dad was in the military” and “making America great” and “the Constitution or whatever” and “you know, like, freedom.” In what way was George W. Bush’s administration MORE of a “constitutional government” than Barack Obama’s administration? Do Republicans believe that no active-duty military personnel or veteran has voted Democrat, ever?
It’s a big day for the Cambridges! Prince William and Duchess Kate will be hosting the Obamas at Kensington Palace this evening. Prince Harry will be there to save the dinner, because let’s be honest: the Obamas love Harry. This dinner was added to the Cambridges’ schedule shortly after Will and Kate returned from their “whirlwind” and poorly-received India-Bhutan tour, likely in the hopes of making Will and Kate look “busy” and “not workshy.” Because those headlines still exist, especially following William’s prickly interview with the BBC this week.
The Daily Mail reported that William’s office specifically left the door open for journalist Nicholas Witchell to ask the “workshy” questions. A source said: “After recent criticism, William’s team took a calculated decision to promote his image. That’s why the ducking royal duties question was allowed. Before, it would have been off limits.” The problem, perhaps, is that if you’re going to open yourself up to that line of questioning, you better have better answers than “pity poor me, I want to spend time with my family!” One of the Guardian’s columnists was openly mocking William, calling him “Darth Workshy” and mocking his “three-hours a week” gig as a pilot. The Daily Mail’s Jan Moir also picked apart William’s interview in a piece called “Wills must work much harder to win our love.” Some highlights:
Boom. I mean, Moir’s piece reads like our comment section, but it’s just further proof (in what is becoming a mountain of evidence) that the tide has really turned with William… and perhaps to a lesser degree, Kate. It does feel like William is getting the brunt of it, which is as it should be. He’s the one who is convinced he’s some sort of PR genius. He’s the one scheming away for ways to avoid work. He’s the one who comes across as “arrogant” and “spoiled.”
Last thing – Us Weekly had an extremely unfortunate write-up about how William and Kate were able to have an in-hotel “spa day” during their tour of India. They apparently spent several hours getting royally pampered, complete with soothing wraps and massages. I’m so glad they were able to have a little mini-vacation within their taxpayer-funded vacation, you guys.
The Daily Mail reported yesterday that Kelly Rutherford’s final ditch appeal to the Monaco custody ruling awarding sole custody to her ex husband, Daniel Giersch, has been denied. A US Court of Appeals has ruled that they would not hear the case. This was thought to be Kelly’s last attempt to regain custody of her children after years of litigation, with several courts denying jurisdiction over the case. She’s tried multiple legal strategies to get her case heard at various levels, including petitioning the White House, which was denied as it was an ongoing court case and prior to that trying to make a federal case out of it, which was also dismissed.
Kelly has spoken on Capitol Hill, likening her case to international parental abduction when she’s the only one who has ever kept the children against court orders (although to be fair she hadn’t abducted them yet at that point, she’d only threatened to do so several times), and she also started her own nonprofit “Children’s Justice Campaign” to bring awareness to her case and get celebrities on her side. She’s continually used the press to further her agenda, with Vanity Fair publishing a pro-Kelly article just this summer.
At this point even celebrity-friendly People Magazine has called this a predictable outcome, however, and they even quote a NY lawyer who says this is all Kelly’s doing. “Kelly Rutherford has only herself to blame,. She is the reason why she lost custody of these kids.” To those of us with even a mild amount of interest in this case, that pretty much sums it up.
Kelly hasn’t directly responded to losing custody, but she has posted several Instagram messages which allude to the issues she’s having. To me this suggests that some kind of gag order is in force, because she never seems to pass up an opportunity to play the victim.
As we covered yesterday, Sarah Palin jump-started some kind of insane and stupid fight with PETA because she posted some Facebook photos of her son Trig standing on their dog, Jill Hadassah. The controversy wasn’t limited to PETA, by the way. People commented on Palin’s Facebook page, and all of the internet, basically saying that parents should teach their children that it’s not okay to stand on animals. PETA did make a statement, basically saying the same thing. Which led to a magnificent word salad Facebook post from Palin, attacking PETA. This is the dumbest controversy, and Sarah Palin is milking it for everything. I guess she wanted some attention? In any case, Palin scored an invite to spew her brand of crazy on the Today Show this morning. Here’s the video:
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Sarah Palin’s still got a bone to pick with PETA. The Fox News contributor lashed out at the animal rights group yet again Tuesday on Today, beginning by reiterating “there was no harm at all” done to dog Jill Hadassah when 6-year-old Trig stood on the pup’s back.
The labrador retriever is “a strong, trained dog,” said Palin, noting that the service canine “really, really love(s)” her Trig, who has Down syndrome. She explained Monday in a statement to NBC News that Jill “was born and trained [by the Puppy Jake Foundation] to help those with challenges most of us will never understand”—like those faced by her special needs son.
The former governor of Alaska pointed out once again that Ellen DeGeneres, PETA’s Woman of the Year in 2009, posted a similar picture of a young child standing on a dog. “The outcry there was ‘oohs’ and ‘has’ and [that’s] sweet,” Palin said. She also took issue with New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, PETA’s Man of the Year for 2014. “He had just—doggone it!—he killed a groundhog when he dropped it last year on Groundhog Day!”
“It’s absolutely hypocritical that [PETA’s] double standards apply to, I don’t know, perhaps a constitutional conservative,” Palin added.
When asked whether mentioning that President Barack Obama admitted to having eaten dog as a child was a “cheap shot,” Palin replied emphatically, “Heck no…President Obama, too many of the far left radicals who are part of the PETA, they look at him as, I don’t know, their messiah! I think he as a child, probably the same age as Trig, did much worse than just use the dog as a stepping stool.”
Palin, who said said she agrees with “what I hope is the true meaning of [PETA’s] mission—respecting God’s creation and critters,” was asked whether she’d consider “smok(ing) the peace pipe” with the organization. This got a laugh out of the mom of five, who said she didn’t think most PETA members “would put up with what I believe in,” including practices like hunting and eating meat.
“But, I believe there would be mutual respect and support if we can both agree that, yeah, God’s creation here is really precious, very sacred and we should do all we can to conserve,” she said.
[From E! News]
“It’s absolutely hypocritical that their double standards apply to, I don’t know, perhaps a constitutional conservative.” ??? Girl, is your word salad being written by Joel and Ethan Coen?! She had to drag Bill de Blasio into it, and every other liberal dog-stander, groundhog killer and animal-eater. This whole thing makes no sense, but maybe I’m the crazy one because I’m looking for logic in an Sarah Palin interview. She’s just trying to get some attention.
This is just a quickie since the photos have just come in! Duchess Kate met with NYC’s First Lady, Chirlane McCray, just a short time ago and they went to the Northside Centre for Child Development in Harlem. I have to say, Mrs. McCray looks amazing here. That color is beautiful on her! Kate decided to go for a mod look with this black-and-cream Goat coat. Goat showed this coat as part of a pantsuit, just FYI. Kate loves to show off her legs, I’m just saying. Here’s video of Kate’s arrival:
While at the Northside Center, Kate helped to wrap Christmas presents.
Meanwhile, William was already in Washington DC to meet Pres. Obama (again, they’ve met before). There’s video of William and Pres. Obama together in the Oval Office. William seems pretty relaxed here – it’s like Obama is the uncomfortable one. Apparently, William told the president that “he forgot to check” to see if Prince George was a boy or girl when he was born. Weird.
