Ben and Jen

There are currently five stories about Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner's divorce at people.com. Any guesses for what will be on the cover of the magazine this week?

Blogging The Bach'ette: Gentlemen, Everything Is About To Change

Wednesday morning update: A "Bachelorette" Virgin Tries To Make Sense of the Show. Ken Tucker is a Critic-at-Large at Yahoo TV, and apparently prior to Monday night he had never watched The Bachelorette (or presumably any of the other shows in the franchise.) His verdict is hilarious; you can read it here. It starts with this:

My editor suggested that I look at an episode of The Bachelorette, a show I’ve never seen before but I’m told is popular in some circles. So I tuned in to ABC on Monday night. From what I could gather, it’s a show about a young American girl, Kaitlyn, living in a big castle in Ireland, where she has seven or eight guys working for her — flattering her, trying to keep her from crying whenever they’re not crying themselves, and doing everything possible to get her to give them a rose, which seems to be used in The Bachelorette as a form of currency or status.

Original Post:
Thus sayeth our host Chris Harrison on last night's hot mess of a Bachelorette episode. Where to start?

Shawn. He's proclaimed on a couple of previous episodes that Kaitlyn had told him he was "the one." That sounded like wishful thinking to me, simply because it's against the rules of the show. Suspense about the outcome must be maintained to the very end or else there's no show. Apparently, however, she did meet with him secretly early on and say those magic words. Big mistake, Kaitlyn. Big mistake. On the other hand, Shawn, get it together. As we've said to Britt and every other previous contestant who's expressed annoyance when they don't get every rose, Haven't you ever watched the show? This is how it works. Here's how former Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky explains it at her blog:

I totally get why Shawn was upset when he didn't get the group date rose, but he needs to understand that Kaitlyn probably wanted to give it to him but couldn't. If she gave the group date rose to the guy she wanted to every date, Nick and Shawn would get every single group date rose. There would be no show because most of the guys would want to leave. Put yourself in her shoes, do you REALLY think it would take 3 months to narrow down a group of 25 guys to, let's say, the top 3? Absolutely NOT! You do that the very first night. The rest of the "journey" is just going through the motions and trying to be as fair as possible to the guys that are there that you don't have a connection with. Could a guy surprise you along the way that you didn't initially have strong feelings for, yeah. But it's not super likely.

The two-on-one date. Joe and JJ had to endure the dreaded two-on-one date and once again I'll defer to Ali for some behind-the-scenes scoop on how things really work: 

The 2-on-1 date is pointless in my mind. It’s a Bachelor/ette staple so I guess it is here to stay, but the Bachelor/ette would never take people they actually like on this date. Has anyone ever gone on this date and ended up being the final one? Absolutely not. You would never put someone you really care about through this. I think Joe surprised Kaitlyn on this date and she ended up liking him a little but he’ll be gone by the next episode. I'd bet my last slice of pizza on it. And I love my pizza. (Note to future contestants: if you get assigned the two-on-one, you're toast.) 

This time around? JJ was toast. Kaitlyn and Joe sail away on a weird little boat while JJ stands there, alone and forlorn, pondering his fate and thinking wistfully of Clint. He won't be alone for long, however. According to People, he (and Tanner) will surface again on Bachelor in Paradise. 

Now, finally, after an hour and 15 minutes, we get to what should have been last week's rose ceremony. Jared, Joe and Nick have roses from dates, Ben H, Cupcake Chris and Shawn get roses during the ceremony and Ben Z and Tanner have to take a moment to say their good-byes. In his blog this morning, Chris Harrison says he's sure we haven't seen the last of Ben Z. Is he headed to Paradise too? Could he be the next Bachelor?

And then there were six...

Now for the really big change. Chris H makes his way to Kaitlyn's room. First, he sits there listening intently and pretending not to know that Kaitlyn and Nick did it in San Antonio. (The camera crew was right outside the bedroom door, the microphones were on and a cameraman recorded Nick's walk of shame the next morning. Are we really supposed to believe Mr. Harrison didn't know what happened?) Then he drops the bombshell and informs our Bachelorette that the whole structure of the show is going to change. The usual pattern, going all the way back to Alex Michel in season one, is that the six remaining contestants are culled down to four, resulting in the episode known as Hometown Dates, followed by Fantasy Suite dates for the final three, followed by the final two meeting the Bachelor/ette's family.



Not this time. Kaitlyn will have to split the herd in half. Three stay and go directly to the Fantasy Suite, three are going directly home. Wow. He then goes to drop the same bombshell on the guys. Double wow. He also informs them that there will be three one-on-one dates before the next rose ceremony, starting right now. The date card goes to Cupcake, and for anyone familiar with the ways of this show, it's obvious that Cupcake's number is up. First, if he made it to the end and is now engaged to Kaitlyn, or if he was in line to possibly be the next Bachelor, there's no way the show would be calling him Cupcake. It just doesn't fit. Second, Kaitlyn is so not into the date. As they're enjoying their helicopter ride over beautiful Ireland, and it really is spectacular, she says in voiceover, "He has no idea what I have in store for him." On the surface she's referring to their romantic picnic, but clearly, like JJ, Cupcake is toast and it doesn't take long before Kaitlyn is flying away in the helicopter and Cupcake is pulling a full Mesnick. It's been sweet, Cupcake and you've got great teeth, but this is good-bye.

And... scene. Meet me back here next week, Rosebuds, same Bach time, same Bach channel.  

Kasich Will Run

Tuesday afternoon update: Chris Christie has officially thrown his hat into the ring. I haven't seen any revised top ten lists yet, but Jonathan Bernstein says he's ninth out of nine: 

Of the nine Republican presidential candidates I consider viable, I have New Jersey Governor Chris Christie -- who makes his bid official Tuesday -- as dead last. (Read the article here.) 

Tom Moran, at the New Jersey Star-Ledger Editorial Board, isn't a fan:

My testimony amounts to a warning: Don't believe a word the man says.

If you have the stomach for it, this column offers some greatest hits in Christie's catalog of lies.

Don't misunderstand me. They all lie, and I get that. But Christie does it with such audacity, and such frequency, that he stands out.

He's been lying on steroids lately, on core issues like Bridgegate, guns and that cozy personal friendship with his buddy, the King of Jordan. (Read the story here.) 

I've updated the list below. 

Days until Election Day: 496

Original Post: 
Politico is reporting that Ohio governor John Kasich will officially enter the race for president on July 21, leaving Scott Walker as the lone potential candidate who hasn't "announced to announce." Read it here. In other political news, Donald Trump is still mad at the folks at Univision and has banned them from one of his golf courses; Chris Christie's candidate website is live, at chrischristie.com. 

Declared GOP Candidates

1. Ted Cruz (March 23) 
2. Rand Paul (April 7)
3. Marco Rubio (April 14)
4. Dr. Ben Carson (May 3) 
5. Carly Fiorina (May 4) 
6. Mike Huckabee (May 5) 
7. Rick Santorum (May 27)
8. George Pataki (May 28)
9. Lindsey Graham (June 1) 
10. Rick Perry (June 4) 
11. Jeb Bush (June 15)
12. Donald Trump (June 16) 
13. Bobby Jindal (June 24) 
14. Chris Christie (June 30)

Possible Republican Candidates
John Kasich (Announcement July 21)
Scott Walker

Officially Not Running
Rob Portman (Dec 2)
Paul Ryan (Jan 12)
Mitt Romney (Jan 30)
Rick Snyder (May 7)
John Bolton (May 14) 

Mike Pence (May 20) 

Days until Election Day: 498

Hypocrisy

I've been trying to decide what to write about Bristol Palin. Bristol is famous because of her mother, and blog readers know that Sarah Palin is one of my favorite blog topics and not because I admire her. Sarah Palin occupies a strange place in the nexus of pop culture and politics and it's been fascinating to watch her evolution from rising young governor to rock star VP candidate to reality TV wanna-be to D-list-and-fading-fast celebrity. Sarah really isn't very important anymore, which she may not completely understand and almost certainly doesn't fully accept, and the last few weeks, in particular, have to have been excruciating for her.

2015 got off to a bad start for the former governor when she delivered a speech at the Iowa Freedom Summit that was, to put it mildly, not well received. Sarah and her speech were mocked, ridiculed and laughed at and that was by Republicans. (The Democrats had two words: "Thank You.") There was a bright spot in March when she announced Bristol's engagement to former Marine and Medal of Honor winner Dakota Meyer but it's been downhill from there.

On May 18, Sarah had to announce that Bristol's wedding, scheduled for May 23, had been called off. On June 24, Politico announced that Fox News was not renewing Palin's contract, which generated headlines like "Sarah Palin is No Longer News" (Vanity Fair,) and "The Sarah Palin Era is Over" (Salon.) Finally, this past Thursday, Bristol announced that she was, again, pregnant without benefit of wedlock. Thoughts:

Why is this news? Because even fading D-list celebrities make news sometimes, especially when there's conflict, controversy or scandal involved. Ever since Sarah Palin quit her job as governor she and her family have courted fame and fortune via reality television, books, speeches and social media. If you watch closely, which I admit I sometimes do, it's easy to discern a huge disconnect between their so-called conservative, traditional family values posturing and the reality of the way they actually lead their lives. Just as the Duggars learned, when your brand is built on purity (or "abstinence,") and in particular when you spend your time telling others how to live, you'd better be practicing what you preach. If it comes out that you're not, you're going to be excoriated.

Why announce it? In her blog post Bristol asked for privacy and one might ask why, if she's so determined to be private, did she feel the need to make the announcement at all? How hard can it be to just keep your head down and hide out up in Wasilla? Unfortunately, the family's relentless pursuit of fame has come back to bite them. They are, in fact, famous, and my understanding is that both the National Enquirer and RadarOnline were pursuing rumors of a pregnancy, which apparently wasn't completely secret in Alaska. Bristol made the announcement herself before the tabloids could do it for her.

Who's the daddy? So far, Bristol hasn't said. Given that she was engaged to Meyer from mid-March to mid-May and was living with him in Kentucky during the weeks prior to the wedding, the obvious guess is that he is, but she didn't say so in her announcement. (Although Dakota and I will not be getting married, we are committed to raising this child, blah, blah, blah...) Again, one might make the case that it's nobody's business but theirs, but once you've courted the spotlight and enjoyed the good parts of being famous, that spotlight can't be turned off at will. My guess is that all the tabloids are scrambling to get the full scoop and be the first to name the father, especially if it turns out it's not Meyer.

Speaking of Dakota Meyer, what's really going on here? I admit, I'm curious. A surprise engagement to be followed by a quickie wedding two months later seemed a little strange. Then in the week before the wedding it came out that Meyer had been married before and kept it secret, followed by news that the wedding was off. Bristol insisted at the time that she had known all about the first marriage but if so, why was the wedding cancelled? Then came the pregnancy announcement with its conspicuous lack of an identified father. The whole thing is just strange.

When Bristol got engaged to Levi Johnston for the second time, back in 2010, I said that things were getting weird up in Wasilla and it's true again now. I've also said before that I'd love to know what Senator McCain really thinks about all this, and that's true again now too. Stay tuned. This story's not over.

A Day To Remember

This Is How A President Spends His Time

Friday morning update: Usually when a headline talks about a celebrity's "bump" that celebrity is assumed to be with child. (No, this isn't about Bristol Palin, but I reserve the right to snark about her in a later post.) Right now I'm referring to a story at Politico with this headline: "Trump Bump Terrifies GOP," and they're referring to his rising poll numbers. It starts with this:

All jokes aside, the Republican Party is officially afraid of Donald Trump.

He has virtually zero chance of winning the presidential nomination. But insiders worry that the loud-mouthed mogul is more than just a minor comedic nuisance on cable news; they fret that he’s a loose cannon whose rants about Mexicans and scorched-earth attacks on his rivals will damage the eventual nominee and hurt a party struggling to connect with women and minorities and desperate to win. (Read the article here.) 

Let's start a running list of all the creative ways writers are describing Mr. Trump: 

Big glitzy doofus (Salon)
Loud-mouthed mogul/minor comedic nuisance (Politico) 

Original Post:


Should a presidential candidate spend his time thinking about beauty pageants? Probably not, at least not out loud, but that's not stopping The Donald.

Because of the obnoxious comments about Mexicans in his announcement speech last week, Spanish-language station Univision is declining to air the upcoming Miss Universe pageant, of which Trump is a part owner. The Donald is not happy:

Mexican gov doesn't want me talking about terrible border situation & horrible trade deals. Forcing Univision to get me to stop- no way!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 25, 2015

Univision wants to back out of signed @MissUniverse contract because I exposed the terrible trade deals that the U.S. makes with Mexico.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 25, 2015

I love Mexico but not the unfair trade deals that the US so stupidly makes with them. Really bad for US jobs, only good for Mexico.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 25, 2015

Could this campaign get any more entertaining? Yes. Oh yes. The first debate is only six weeks away.

Batter Up!

Politico is reporting that Chris Christie will officially join the presidential race on Tuesday, June 30. I've updated my list below, you can read the story here.  

Declared GOP Candidates

1. Ted Cruz (March 23) 
2. Rand Paul (April 7)
3. Marco Rubio (April 14)
4. Dr. Ben Carson (May 3) 
5. Carly Fiorina (May 4) 
6. Mike Huckabee (May 5) 
7. Rick Santorum (May 27)
8. George Pataki (May 28)
9. Lindsey Graham (June 1) 
10. Rick Perry (June 4) 
11. Jeb Bush (June 15)
12. Donald Trump (June 16) 
13. Bobby Jindal (June 24) 

Possible Republican Candidates
Chris Christie (Announcement June 30)
John Kasich
Scott Walker

Officially Not Running
Rob Portman (Dec 2)
Paul Ryan (Jan 12)
Mitt Romney (Jan 30)
Rick Snyder (May 7)
John Bolton (May 14) 

Mike Pence (May 20) 

Days until Election Day: 501

Channing Tatum

Issue dated July 6, 2015


Channing Tatum and a bunch of hot guys half-dressed is the main cover story this week, and unlike many cover articles where it's clear that no one at People actually talked to the celebrity in question, this time they did with "The People Interview," which strikes me as just a bit pretentious. And, really, when the other headline screams "Channing Tatum Bares All!" why exactly is he wearing a T-shirt? Shouldn't he be naked from waist up too? Asking for a friend...

Kaitlyn gets her third cover appearance in six weeks and there's coverage of the Charleston incident as well. No comment about Kendall Jenner and her beauty secrets.

Lucky 13?

Bobby Jindal has announced that he's running for President, bringing the number of declared Republican candidates to 13; aides to Chris Christie are saying that his official announcement "could" come as early as next week.

In other candidate news, something to consider. A question: Is this man our next president?



Answer, thankfully: When pigs fly. Simon Maloy at Salon.com has some thoughts about The Donald, which I'm posting because the words "big glitzy doofus" need to be disseminated as widely as possible:

There’s a tendency among voters to confuse “rich” with “good at business,” and “good at business” with “capable of managing the largest economy in the world.” This confusion is at the heart of the Trump brand, which is based on relentless, soul-withering self-promotion of Donald Trump: super-rich business genius. As Matthew Cooper notes at Newsweek, that image holds a certain appeal for the white working-class voters who’ve decamped to the Republican Party as manufacturing jobs have disappeared or moved overseas. If you’re an unemployed factory worker who’s frustrated over outsourcing and a persistent lack of economic opportunity, the big glitzy doofus who makes grandiose promises about his job-creating abilities (and who promises to punish China and Mexico) might not seem so outrageous at first glance.

Read the article here.

Declared GOP Candidates

1. Ted Cruz (March 23) 
2. Rand Paul (April 7)
3. Marco Rubio (April 14)
4. Dr. Ben Carson (May 3) 
5. Carly Fiorina (May 4) 
6. Mike Huckabee (May 5) 
7. Rick Santorum (May 27)
8. George Pataki (May 28
9. Lindsey Graham (June 1) 
10. Rick Perry (June 4) 
11. Jeb Bush (June 15)
12. Donald Trump (June 16) 
13. Bobby Jindal (June 24) 

Possible Republican Candidates
Chris Christie
John Kasich
Scott Walker

Officially Not Running
Rob Portman (Dec 2)
Paul Ryan (Jan 12)
Mitt Romney (Jan 30)
Rick Snyder (May 7)
John Bolton (May 14) 

Mike Pence (May 20) 

Days until Election Day: 502

Blogging The Bach'ette: Kaitlyn And Nick

Wednesday morning update:
Kaitlyn's decision to have sex with Nick is big news, at least among people who are interested in Reality TV, and not everyone approves. Kaitlyn herself is clearly feeling defensive, and like many Bachelors and Bachelorettes before her, she may be dismayed at the way ABC is choosing to present (and promote) her activities. From her blog at People.com:

Should I have had sex with Nick in that moment? Probably not my best idea, but intimacy is important to me and I don't believe the act is wrong. I got lost in the moment and maybe I shouldn't have made that choice. Hindsight is 20/20. I can't help but wonder if I waited a couple weeks and did that in the fantasy suite and didn't talk about it, would I be getting this kind of backlash? 

...It's hard reliving my choices now because people are VERY opinionated and this has been all I have talked about for over a month now. But I'm also honest and that comes with owning my decisions. The reason I didn't want Nick to go tell the guys was because that was a private moment that I felt I should share if I wanted to. (Read the article here.)  

Sharleen Joynt, who was on Juan Pablo's season, provides some background about what happens on the show: 

So, as a former contestant, I implore you, the viewer, to think outside the box. How much producer involvement was there? How many marionette strings were pulled? ...How many whiskeys would need to be all-too-conveniently placed in your hand before you made a decision you might not have made sober? (And, side note: since you know you removed your mics once behind closed doors, did they use booms or hidden microphones to record you? (Read the article here.) 

It wouldn't surprise me if this story is on People's cover this week, probably as a sidebar. I'm guessing the Charleston murders will be the main story and if so, I'm really, really hoping People chooses to feature the victims and not the killer. 

Original Post:


I missed a significant part of the show last night because, once again, Chicagoland was experiencing severe weather and local news kept breaking in with information about tornadoes. I had moments of thinking I'm a horrible person because I was seriously annoyed by the interruptions. On the other hand, between following along on Twitter in real time and reading some of the recaps I had a pretty good sense of what happened on the show. I also watched the second half of the show on my cable TV service this morning. Thoughts:

Ian's breakdown. Here, as transcribed in all its glory by Lauren Piester at E Online, is Ian's exit speech:

"I really think the right decision was made. Kaitlyn's shallow. I just don't think she's nearly as complex as I am. I'm too deep a thinker, I'm too self-aware. I'm very different than every single other person that's here. I went to Princeton, Deerfield, and that's what I have to offer. I'm an interesting guy, a guy that's had a lot of different experiences. I'm not lame, like the others guys. I'm way glad to be out of there."

"God, I've missed that. I've just missed having conversations with people about life rather than about sex. I'm tired of talking about farts and people's bowel movements. I'm being punished for being an intellectual. They didn't teach cheesy movie quotes at Princeton! I have to have original thoughts. I don't find that women have trouble relating to me because I'm too deep.

"Seeing how badly Kaitlyn has been at the Bachelorette, I feel like I know what it takes to be the Bachelor. I understand that she's trying to divide up her time, but for that reason you have to be deep. I feel like I'm destined to be the bachelor and destined to find love on this show. If I was made Bachelor, I think they would come out of the woodworks, man. I think they'd be like, oh s—t, I wanna go out with that guy. He's so deep. Oh man, I need to have some sex."

You can read the entire recap here. 

The Rose Ceremony. Ian's already gone, Joshua of the alien haircut, which was predictable, and Justin are the roseless ones this week. That leaves the Bens, Cupcake Chris, Jared of the very strange facial hair, JJ-who-probably-should-have-left-with-Clint, Joe from Kentucky, Shawn-who-got-the-First-Impression-Rose, Tanner (who?) and of course, Nick. Chris Harrison returns to tell them that, finally, they're leaving the country and heading for Dublin, Ireland. Poor Joshua had to listen to the cheering as he gave his final interview. Come on producers, that's just mean.  

Nick. Oh Nick. He got the first one-on-one date, which as everyone knows, ended behind closed doors in Kaitlyn's suite and was strange, even by the standards of this very strange show. Prior to actually watching the episode, I had wondered if K and N really, really went all the way in her room. It seemed possible that this was just more of ABC's creative editing, but no, they really did it, apparently with microphones still on and a cameraman filming just outside the door the whole time. Really? Scenes of that closed door, complete with moaning sounds from Kaitlyn, were intercut with Shawn and Jared's conversation about the process and how much they don't like Nick. The whole thing seemed manipulated and not one bit romantic. As K and N were having their sexy time together, did they just forget their mics were on? That there was a cameraman just outside the door? (Although it's possible the closed door shot was filmed separately and one recap I read suggested that the moans weren't really from Kaitlyn either.)



Nick was shown doing the walk of shame in the hallway outside Kaitlyn's room, complete with his tie on, and Kaitlyn was shown having some morning after regrets. Not about the "act" but about how it will affect dynamics of the group. Obviously if everyone had just kept private things private the show could have continued along the usual path, but ABC has heavily teased the fact that Kaitlyn "confesses" to the rest of the guys, although that didn't happen last night.   

Anyway, the whole thing was strange, possibly fueled by too much Irish Whiskey, but it created lots of drama and that's pretty much the point. 



The group date. The producers really do appear to be running out of fun ideas for group dates. The one this week consisted of six men delivering "eulogies" as Kaitlyn was laid out in a coffin with a flask of whiskey in her hands. It wasn't as morbid as it sounds, again possibly fueled by whiskey, but it was still a headscratcher. Shawn is still fretting about Nick and said the following in his "eulogy": "Kaitlyn, I was absolutely devastated when I heard you took your own life, but I understand. I would've done the same thing if I had to spend the entire day with Nick yesterday." Kaitlyn burst out laughing and everyone thought it was cute, but we the audience have information the guys don't have, namely that less than 24 hours prior, Kaitlyn and Nick were getting naked together. Yikes. Jared gets the rose and they enjoy a concert by the Raspberries and some slow dancing. The clock is ticking on the episode and not only was there no rose ceremony at the end of the show but we didn't even get to the third date, which presumably will be the dreaded two-on-one/one-guy-is-definitely-going-home-date, featuring JJ and Joe. 

Finally, Shawn. End-of-episode breakdowns really are the new normal and this week it's Shawn. Did Kaitlyn really sit on his bed for seven hours and tell him he's "the one"? Within the conventions of how this show operates that seems almost impossible but he appears to believe it. Based on the "Next week on The Bachelorette" tease, everyone, truly everyone, is in tears next week. Meet me back here, Rosebuds, same Bach time, same Bach channel, to see how all this weirdness turns out. 

He Filed The Papers

From Politico:

Nearly a week after announcing he was running for president, Donald Trump has made it official and filed his paperwork with the Federal Election Commission.

The one-page statement of candidacy was hand-delivered to the FEC on Monday. Trump had 15 days to send the document to the agency.

Read the story here. 

Days until Election Day: 504

Selling It

There was a fun segment on Good Morning, America this morning, about saving money on pet-care expenses. The reporter mentioned a couple of apps, suggested grooming your dog yourself instead of going to a doggy salon, and twice mentioned Amazon Prime as a good source of discounted items, even after the $99 annual fee.

After the segment, one of the anchors teased an upcoming story then we went to a commercial. Can you guess what the commercial was for? That's right, Amazon Prime.

So when the reporter in the story recommends using Amazon Prime for dog supplies, is that objective information for consumers, or is it a commercial disguised as objective information? I don't know for sure but I'd bet that Amazon paid a fee for their placement in the story as well as for the commercial time. In other words, the story was really a commercial.

When Harry Met Cressy

Sunday morning update:
Issue dated August 16, 1982


Today is Prince William's 33rd birthday and of course Writing The World extends warmest birthday greetings to His Royal Highness. Read People's account of his christening here.

Original Post:
Are Prince Harry and Cressida Bonas secretly back together? Tom Sykes at The Daily Beast thinks it's possible, saying that "sources have told The Daily Beasts [meaning him] that Harry is still secretly dating Cressida." (Read the article here.)

I've been thinking about Harry and it occurred to me that he turns 31 in September, the exact age at which his father got engaged to Lady Diana, and there had been serious fussing about how old Charles had allowed himself to get as a single man. 

Harry's position in life is different, of course. He's not the heir to the throne, in fact, with the birth of Princess Charlotte he's now a distant fifth in line. He's also not, as far as we know, having a torrid affair with a married woman. He is, apparently, a little lonely and longing for the joys of being a husband and father, telling a reporter in May: “Of course I would love to have kids right now but there’s a process that one has to go through and tours like this are great fun, hopefully I’m doing all right by myself, it would be great to have someone else next to me to share the pressure, but you know, time will come and whatever happens, happens.”

Harry and Cressida were an item up until last year when they very publicly broke up. Prior to the break-up, I wrote an optimistic post about how much fun they were as a couple: 

Things will be much more interesting, sartorially and otherwise, if Prince Harry actually marries current girlfriend Cressida Bonas, pictured below. Unlike Kate, who always looks well-put-together and, as my mother would say, "ladylike," Cressy's fashion sense is, shall we say, more creative. Even in the waity-Katey days we never saw Kate looking like this. And we know that Harry likes to shed his clothes and party every now and then. The thought of these two free spirits teaming up and setting out to see the world and meet the subjects is enough to make a royalty-watcher tingle, so c'mon Harry, find a nice ring, get down on one knee and pop the big question to Cressy. Your prim and proper family needs some hot new blood!

For the sake of royalty watchers, and bloggers everywhere, I fervently hope Sykes is right. Harry and Cressy belong together! 

A Woman In Space

Issue dated June 20, 1983


On This Day In History: In 1983, Dr. Sally Ride became the first American woman to get shot into space.

Because I Have To

Wednesday afternoon update: Chris Cillizza at The Fix shares some thoughts in a post titled "Why no one should take Donald Trump very seriously, in one very simple chart." Here's the chart:

And here's what Cillizza has to say:

... Trump is both extremely well known and extremely disliked by the members of the party he is running to represent.

You cannot and do not win anything when your numbers look like Trump's. I can't say it any more clearly than that. There's nothing you can say or do -- not that Trump would ever even consider going on an image rehabilitation tour -- to change how people feel about you. Republicans know Trump. And they really, really don't like him.

Trump, of course, knows this. His goal is attention, not winning. And in truth, even that would be fine if Trump had an issue (or issues) that he cared about and wanted to draw attention to via his presidential bid. He doesn't. He just says stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. And it's not clear that he's spent more than the five seconds before he speaks thinking about what he's going to say.

Read the article here. 

Original Post:


This is The Donald's grand entrance to his announcement event yesterday, accompanied by his wife.

George!

Issue dated June 29, 2015


Prince George gets the main cover story, the third royal cover in six weeks. Rachel Dolezal and Joyce Mitchell are featured in sidebar stories, although neither is mentioned by name.

The Guessing Game

I've stopped doing regular Guessing Game posts but it's early Wednesday morning and I'm pondering who might get the People cover this week. Possibilities:

Jeb, Hill and/or The Donald: There was big news in primary politics this week. Jeb Bush made his candidacy official, Hillary did her first big event in New York City and Donald Trump did what many people, including me, thought he would never actually do. He officially declared that's he's running for president. At 62, 67 and 69 years old, respectively, all three of these potential presidents are outside of People's primary demographic, but still, they were all over the news in the last few days.

Their Spouses: A fun twist would be to do a story about potential first spouses Columba Bush, Bill Clinton and Melania Trump. Mrs. Trump, in particular, would probably drive some magazine sales at the grocery store check-out counter. I haven't fully researched the subject but I feel pretty safe in saying that she's the first politician's wife to attend her husband's presidential announcement in a strapless dress. She's a former model from Slovenia who's 24 years younger than the Donald. That's a bigger gap than wife #2 Marla Maples, who was only 17 years younger than Trump; on the other hand, Melania's managed to stay married to him for 10 years now, while Marla got the boot after six. That's Mrs. Trump on the far right in the top picture; that's The Donald's Hair in the second picture.  



Royalty: There are cute new pictures of Prince George from the Trooping The Colour ceremony this week-end, along with a historically significant picture of the Queen with all three of her direct heirs. (Do the math: if Prince George, who turns 2 next month, lives as long as his great-granny, he'll still be the King of England in the year 2102.) Michelle, Malia and Sasha Obama, along with their granny Marion Robinson, had tea with Prince Harry yesterday. And in Sweden, hot Prince Carl Philip married a former reality TV star who is now called Princess Sofia. Two days later the prince's older sister, who is married to an American, gave birth to a son.

Rachel Dolezal: A very strange story with many layers. As I write this, the biggest headline at people.com is "Rachel Dolezal Reveals Her Hair Secrets (Spoiler: It's A Weave)" and they've had other stories about her as well. If those stories have gotten enough clicks, we'll see her on the cover, regardless of whether or not People has actually interviewed her.

Joyce Mitchell: The woman who helped two very nasty killers escape from a prison in New York.

He's Running

Update #3: Here for the right reasons! From Alyssa Rosenberg at the Washington Post:

So if Trump was going to run for president, a move that requires NBC to look at whether he can continue hosting “The Celebrity Apprentice” in light of equal-airtime rules, the 2016 cycle isn’t a bad time to do it. And to be honest, he’s hardly alone in using the campaign cycle to fuel a media career. Long-shot candidates such as Mike Huckabee and Ben Carson are probably in the race in part to boost book sales, radio appearances and their Fox News relevance. Trump may be splashier and trashier than other contestants who are playing a similar game, but in a way, there’s something valuable and clarifying about his presence in the race. Most of the campaign is entertainment and self-aggrandizement, whether the contestants are, in reality television parlance, “there for the right reasons,” or not.

Yes, it's possible I'm having a little too much fun with the whole "Donald for President" thing today. 

Update #2: More about the paperwork, from slate.com:

As part of Tuesday’s launch, Trump was expected to release a short summary of his financial assets, providing a rare peek at a net worth that he claims is nearly $9 billion. It will be difficult to verify that number, however, until Trump files his paperwork with the FEC—something that may never happen. Under federal election law, presidential candidates must file a personal financial disclosure form within 30 days of announcing their candidacies. They can, however, request up to two 45-day extensions, which are typically granted. That means Trump could drop out of the race after turning the first two GOP debates into glorified commercials for himself without having to provide an official snapshot of his finances, or having to give up his lucrative NBC gig.

On Tuesday, Trump said he won’t need the extensions. “We’ll be filing right on time,” he promised, adding that he was eager to show just how successful he is. “No one’s going to know,” he said he told himself while making his decision, “unless I run.”

Update #1: This is going to be entertaining and I'll continue to post whatever Trump tidbits are making me smile at any given moment. To start, from Politico:

Unlike the kick-off acts of the more deliberate candidates, where regular Americans are placed in closest proximity to the candidate, and the press is shunted to the back of the room, supporters were kept upstairs while area closest to Trump was reserved for hundreds of reporters and television cameras.

Original Post:
Twitter had some fun when The Donald made it official, more or less: (I said more or less because he still hasn't filed the FEC-required paperwork to really, truly officially become a candidate. FWIW, in his statement, Trump claimed he intends to file said paperwork, with "no extensions." We'll see.)

This announcement is why Republicans live in fear of Trump on a debate stage. http://t.co/RMafz6LYuS

— Chris Cillizza (@TheFix) June 16, 2015

Unlike everyone else running for president, Donald Trump is not pretending he is like you.

— Amanda Terkel (@aterkel) June 16, 2015

Important reminder...Currently qualifies for first GOP presidential debate in Ohio: Donald Trump. Does not qualify: the Governor of Ohio.

— Scott Conroy (@ScottFConroy) June 16, 2015

Mr. Trump, your logo is all wrong. Try "The Donald!!" The first name plus an exclamation point makes all the difference.

— Larry Sabato (@LarrySabato) June 16, 2015

On @NewDay this morning I confidently - and wrongly - predicted The Donald would not run. Guess I underestimated God's Democratic leanings

— Paul Begala (@PaulBegala) June 16, 2015

Donald Trump is the car accident candidate. You shouldn't look but you can't help it. http://t.co/pnGfrz2nsy pic.twitter.com/28Zz5JPrVT

— Chris Cillizza (@TheFix) June 16, 2015

Twitter can barely contain its glee over Donald Trump's rich, luxurious run for president http://t.co/lBK2hXpG5B pic.twitter.com/SMsaJBY0E4

— Salon.com (@Salon) June 16, 2015

Today the people are @PolitiFact must be in heaven--and working overtime. #Trump™

— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) June 16, 2015

Donald Trump haiku: I have many websites. I have them all everywhere. I hate the Chinese.

— Amanda Terkel (@aterkel) June 16, 2015

The Democratic National Committee had some fun too, issuing the following statement:

 “He adds some much-needed seriousness that has previously been lacking from the GOP field, and we look forward hearing more about his ideas for the nation.”

Yes, The Donald is now on my list:  

Declared GOP Candidates

1. Ted Cruz (March 23) 
2. Rand Paul (April 7)
3. Marco Rubio (April 14)
4. Dr. Ben Carson (May 3) 
5. Carly Fiorina (May 4) 
6. Mike Huckabee (May 5) 
7. Rick Santorum (May 27)
8. George Pataki (May 28
9. Lindsey Graham (June 1) 
10. Rick Perry (June 4) 
11. Jeb Bush (June 15)
12. Donald Trump (June 16) 

Possible Republican Candidates
Chris Christie
Bobby Jindall (Announcement June 24) 
John Kasich
Scott Walker

Officially Not Running
Rob Portman (Dec 2)
Paul Ryan (Jan 12)
Mitt Romney (Jan 30)
Rick Snyder (May 7)
John Bolton (May 14) 

Mike Pence (May 20) 

Days until Election Day: 510