A Thousand Words

photo credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

The fact that our current president always looks so awkward, so out-of-it, so downright strange, isn't even close to being the worst or most important thing about his presidency. (The fact that he makes up words in the middle of the night and tweets them out to the world isn't either.) But really, why does he always look so weird?

And one more thing: Look at the 'do, with that strange darkish ridge over and behind his left ear. Did POTUS get a little carried away with the hair product? Maybe. It looks like an outdoor event and without the protection of his trademark red cap, the president is at risk of a serious hairdo malfunction. Never forget:


photo credit: theodysseyonline.com

Jennifer Garner

Thursday afternoon update:
I was right - Jennifer Garner did not give an interview to People magazine and she's seriously annoyed about this cover story. From her Facebook page:

It has been brought to my attention that there is a People magazine cover and article out today that appear to be coming from me. It isn't unusual for me to receive calls from loved ones thinking I forgot to tell them I am pregnant--with twins!--(Geez Louise), but those are so ridiculous they're easy to ignore.

This isn't a tragedy by any measure, but it does affect me and my family and so, before my mom's garden club lights up her phone, I wanted to set the record straight: I did not pose for this cover. I did not participate in or authorize this article.

While we are here, for what it's worth: I have three wonderful kids and my family is complete.

Have a beautiful day,

Love,

Jen

And here's the magazine's response, according to the Washington Post:

“People covers Hollywood stars beloved by our audience, and our story on Jennifer Garner is fair and truthful. To be clear, it does not include rumors and does not say she’s pregnant. We wish her well.”  (Read it here.)

Original post:
Issue dated June 12, 2017: Jennifer Garner


A Celebrity Divorce cover, although once again, based on the teaser article at people.com, the story is a "write around" featuring anonymous quotes from an "insider" and "sources," but not an actual interview with Jennifer Garner. Three of my guessing game guesses got sidebar/topline stories: Dead Celebrity Gregg Allman, Emmy Rossum's wedding and the Manchester bombing victims.

Tweeting The Trump

Two tweets diverged in an iPhone screen, and I - I screenshotted the one less coherent. And that has made all the difference. pic.twitter.com/Y7NEzs7QIX

— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) May 31, 2017

Covfefe? By morning the tweet was deleted and @realDonaldTrump sent out another one:

Who can figure out the true meaning of "covfefe" ???  Enjoy!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2017

No, She's Not Engaged To Whaboom: Episode 2

Wednesday morning update:
A few more thoughts. While watching the episode I was struck by Rachel's comments during the first group date, which made it appear that she was disappointed in how the date was going. She said they were great guys, but the conversations were a little mundane, but "for some reason we can't turn the corner" into romance. She said she's old-fashioned, wanting a man to make the first move and that she's "not getting the romantic aspects that I need and I want."

I don't remember any lead, Bach or Bach'ette, ever being that direct about not connecting with their suitors. It's possible that Rachel is just more direct (or more honest) than past leads but I wondered if there could be another reason. I looked at the men's ages, and at 25, Dean appeared quite a bit younger than Rachel, who was 31 when the show was filmed, but ironically, it was with Dean that she felt the most romantic connection. Fred is 27 and the rest were 30-32. Could it be something else?

I debated whether or not to write about this but I'm just going to go for it. In general during the first two episodes, race and interracial dating has been a non-issue. If it was discussed up to this point the producers have chosen not to show it, but I do find myself wondering if race was one of the reasons Rachel and her guys weren't connecting. Of the eight men on the date, five were white - Dean, Jack, Jonathan, Blake and Lucas. She connected with Dean but with the other four it just wasn't happening. Jonathan (the doctor) brought a doll to their one-on-one conversation and explained that many people wipe too hard. Blake spent his time complaining about Lucas, and Lucas spent his time being Whaboom. Jack tried to flirt with her but never went in for a kiss.

It's possible there was a lot more to each of these interactions than what was shown during the episode, but still, I'm wondering. Is it also possible that these white guys just didn't know how to be romantic with a black woman? Or, and I say this respectfully and with no intent to offend, is it possible that on some level they just aren't comfortable being romantic or initiating a kiss with her? Would they have behaved differently with a white woman? There's no way to know and I'm not looking for trouble. It'll be interesting to see how the rest of the season plays out.

Tuesday afternoon update: I've said many times now that gaining enough followers to make money shilling products on Instagram is now one of the main reasons for going on this show. With that in mind, I'm going to keep track of the numbers for some of the key players on Rachel's season. In a post dated February 1, written during Nick's season, Rachel had 41,100 followers. Today she has 540,000. Here are the numbers for some of her suitors:

Bryan 11,500
Peter 35,700
Eric 6,438
Jonathan 761
Kenny 8,147
Dean 18,400
Josiah 5,433
Blake E 6,551
Lucas/Whaboom 12,100

Also, Sharleen Joynt has posted her recap at Flare (read it here,) including a new top four: Peter, Bryan, Dean, Josiah

Original post:

I am against spoilers but I think I owe it to #Bachelornation to let you know @TheRachLindsay isn't engaged to Whaboom #TheBachelorette

— Robert Mills (@Millsy11374) May 30, 2017

Breathe a sigh of relief, Rosebuds. ABC executive Robert Mills promises that Rachel is not engaged to Whaboom. In my post from yesterday I linked to an interesting story at The Hollywood Reporter (read it here) that lays out Lucas's history of going on reality shows, and it certainly looks like Blake is right - Whaboom isn't here for the right reasons. But wait... It was carefully not mentioned during last night's episode, but Blake was on one of those previous shows too, with Lucas. That may be the real source of their animosity, but I confess I had a perverse thought as I watched. What if Blake and Lucas are really playing an elaborate long con, secretly teaming up to create drama and tension and basking in the attention it brings. After all, the over-the-top weirdness is getting Lucas a lot of screen time, but complaining about it is getting *Blake* a lot of screen time too. Just a thought...

"Listen, I'm a pro wrestler, I know all about white dudes acting crazy." Kudos to Kenny for the quip of the night. Even though I'm so not into professional wrestling, Kenny's growing on me. He's definitely on my "could be the next Bachelor" list.

Peter and Copper go on a date with Rachel and there were lots of sparks between the two humans, but the best part of the date for me was, of course, Copper. I cringed when I saw him walking around on his injured leg but it didn't seem to be bothering him, and Peter entered into the spirit of things at the Doggie playdate. Copper also got lots of Twitter love:

Me running into Peter's arms #TheBachelorette pic.twitter.com/uDfqNoR1xa

— Michelle Collins (@michcoll) May 30, 2017

photo credit: Michael Yada/ABC

DeMario did not get a lot of Twitter love, in fact Bach Nation was dumping on him pretty hard as his sordid little story played out. We had a clue that he wasn't here for the right reasons in Episode 1, when one of Rachel's friends tried to warn her about him, but Rachel didn't listen, choosing instead to give him a chance. Big mistake Rachel. Big mistake. As usual when the show pulls a stunt like this, I see the hidden hand of producers, in making sure Lexi was able to speak to Rachel, that a camera was right there to film it all and in letting DeMario come back the next day. And Chris Harrison's blog is up at Yahoo, in which he specifically makes a point of saying that he had never met Lexi before in his life, which is a pretty good indication that he and other producers had indeed met and talked to her at length before she was ever allowed to appear on camera.

Will Rachel let DeMario come back on the show? My guess? No. Not only is she in total "take no BS" mode but the remaining men would probably break out in a riot. At this point, I don't even see DeMario on BIP. (You can read more about DeMario in an interview with Glamour magazine that was done the day before filming began. Read it here.)


photo credit: ABC

What was Kareen Abdul Jabbar doing on the Bachelor? He explains at The Hollywood Reporter:

Five months ago, I wrote an article for The Hollywood Reporter titled “How the Bachelor and Bachelorette Franchise Are Damaging Romance in America.” I said this: “As entertaining as these shows are (and they really are compelling fun), there is an insidious darkness beneath the fairy tale pabulum they are serving up.” On the plus side, I called them “entertaining” and “compelling fun.” But I also objected that “The real crime is the lack of intellectual and appearance diversity, which leaves the contestants as interchangeable as Mr. Potato Head parts.” Mostly, I complained that by limiting themselves to only one specific body and intellectual type, they were promoting a form of romance porn that created a superficial fantasy ideal that inevitably would lead to dating disappointment for viewers influenced by the shows. I also observed that African-American contestants, though always a part of the dating scrum, were predictably cut loose after an appropriately polite "we don't see color" period of time. I didn't think anyone was to blame or that there was a racist conspiracy. It was just a consistent occurrence that reflected contestants' comfort zone.

Then along came Rachel Lindsay. Making it to the semifinals of The Bachelor before Nick Viall tearfully decided (weren't all his decisions tearful?) to cut her loose, Rachel distinguished herself as intelligent, athletic, playful, witty and emotionally mature. She also happened to be black.

After my article appeared — and while Viall’s Bachelor season was being broadcast with Rachel still in the mix — the producers of The Bachelor/Bachelorette franchise called me up to tell me that the upcoming Bachelorette would feature a black woman. There were three black women among the remaining contestants, and though the producers wouldn’t reveal whom it would be, clearly Rachel had been a standout. They then asked me if I would like to come on the show and run the men through some basketball drills that would reveal some of their character traits to Rachel. As a fan of the shows, I naturally agreed. (Read the article here.)

So who got roses this week and who was sent home brokenhearted? We don't know because the dreaded "To Be Continued" card popped up right as Rachel was about to speak to DeMario. Very annoying and Bach Nation was not happy on Twitter but we should all probably just get over it. I'm thinking that TBC is the new default, with every episode ending with some kind of suspense and rose ceremonies taking place at the beginning of the following week. 

In my previous post I said that Whaboom has 15 Instagram followers, but it looks like he has more than one account, or perhaps there are already some parody accounts popping up, because I found another Insta account (Lucas.Yancey) that looks like it's probably now his primary feed, and it currently has 12,000 followers. I also found an account for DeMario (demariojackson_) that has 3,569 followers. Here's his most recent post: 

Tune in tonight to see if I balled hard enough to win Rachel's heart. ❤️🏀🌹8|7c on ABC. #TheBachelor #TheBachelorette #DWantsARose #GiveDARose #TeamDemo #TeamD #RachelLovesD #FollowTheWhistle #TYBG #HiMom #DenzelTheLion #KB24 #MambaMentality

A post shared by DeMario Jackson 🌹 (@demariojackson_) on May 29, 2017 at 4:46pm PDT

He posted this Monday night, just as the show was airing, clearly trying to pretend that none of the bad stuff happened. Obviously he can't spoil a major plot point of the episode, but really, DeMario? #RachelLovesD? You're kidding, right? 

In other Bach franchise news, Ben and Lauren broke up, leaving four franchise couples who are engaged but not yet married: Kaitlyn and Shawn, JoJo and Jordan, Carly and Evan, and Nick and Vanessa. I've said that I expected Nick and Vanessa to be done by June 1, which is two days from now but at least publicly they appear to be hanging on. Stay tuned. 

At Arlington

This is Arlington. Not a rally. Just now. pic.twitter.com/Mz8CGJYUi0

— drstef (@drstef) May 29, 2017

Let The Journey Begin: Episode 1

Update: According to The Hollywood Reporter, Whaboom guy, aka Lucas Yancey, and Blake E have a history, having appeared on a previous reality show. Read about it here. (Yancey currently has 15 Instagram followers; Blake E (full name Blake Elarbee) has 6,451.)

Original post:
Welcome Rosebuds! We're back for the 13th season of The Bachelorette, with possibly the coolest Bach'ette ever in the person of Rachel. Thoughts:

Engaged. Rachel has broken the recent pattern and stated that, yes, she's engaged. If I remember right, back in the early days of the show the Bachelor or Bachelorette would confirm their engagement but at some point the show decided to try and create more suspense about the outcome and forced the lead to act coy. Not this time - Rachel's engaged, at least for a while, although I would says there's almost no chance she actually marries her current fiance. It's just not the nature of this beast.

Heartbroken? At the start of the show, as always, Our Host Chris Harrison recaps Rachel's journey, emphasizing how heartbroken she was when Nick sent her home. Nope, not buying it. Rachel may have slipped into the show's version of Stockholm Syndrome and convinced herself that she was in love with Nick, but I doubt it.

And no doubt Nick really liked her, but I'm now convinced that ABC was looking at Rachel as the new Bachelorette from the first moment she applied to be on the show. Again, I'm not saying that Nick didn't care for her, I'm sure he did, within the construct of the show. But I'm almost certain producers strongly suggested he give her the first impression rose and keep her on the show at least through Hometowns. The show has taken enormous heat for its lack of diversity and was almost certainly actively looking for a charismatic black woman who could be the Bachelorette. Plus, in 2016 Channing Dungey, an African American woman, was named President of ABC Entertainment Group. I've never seen it specifically stated but my bet is that Ms. Dungey wanted this to happen sooner rather than later, and voila. All of a sudden there was Rachel, a star ready to be born. She was never going to end up with Nick.

Men to watch. Every season Harrison comes out with a list of five "men to watch." Given that the season has completed filming and the outcome is known, at least to him, are there any clues in the list? I did a little googling and looked at his list of 5 from Desiree, Andi, Kaitlyn and JoJo's seasons. For Desiree and Kaitlyn's seasons, his list of 5 did not include the eventual winner. For Andi and JoJo, it did. An every-other-year pattern? List the winner in even-numbered years? For what it's worth, here's Harrison's List of 5 to watch this time around:
DeMario, Kenny, Bryan, Dean, Fred



The current issue of People, featuring Rachel in the top left corner and with a nice story inside, also has a list of five to watch:
Kenny, Bryan, Lee, Josiah, Peter

Former Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky and former contestant Sharleen Joynt, writing after viewing the premiere episode, each provided their top four, meaning who they think will win:

Ali's top 4: Bryan, Josiah, Peter, Eric
Sharleen's top 4: Kenny, Bryan, Josiah, Peter

Bryan


Kenny


Josiah


Peter


Bryan, who got the first impression rose, is the only name on all four lists; Kenny, Josiah and Peter are on three out of the four. They may not necessarily end up being the final four, but I wouldn't bet against it. If Rachel is engaged to one of them, is one of the other three first in line to be the next Bachelor? Almost certainly.

Rachel's posse. I liked the gathering of girlfriends from Nick's season. Corinne, Alexis, Whitney, Raven, Jasmine, Kristina and Astrid may not have had the most insightful advice for Rachel but they seem to genuinely like her, and each other. They're probably candidates for BIP too, and a few more minutes in the spotlight can't hurt. (And FYI, Corinne now has 755,000 Instagram followers, Raven has 725,000 and Rachel has 528,000. Nick has 1.3 million)

A Bachelorette blog? In past seasons each Bachelor and Bachelorette (or a ghost writer) has written a blog at People.com. So far I haven't seen one for Rachel. Chris Harrison is still writing his blog at Yahoo but he's just phoning it in, with frothy nuggets of insight like "the first night always has some really fun moments" and "these men are here for Rachel." He also tries to make us believe this:

Rachel and Copper the dog came into The Bachelorette looking for someone they could share a life with, and we were equally determined to make that happen for her, which is why Rachel got to meet 31 men, the most in Bachelorette history! 

If this was really all about finding a husband for Rachel, we would never have seen the whaboom guy, the tickle monster and Kyle (who's 26 and got eliminated the first night.) Rachel says she's engaged so the process worked, more or less, but some of the bozos ABC trotted out Monday night are clearly there strictly for entertainment purposes.

I'm writing this on Monday afternoon just a few hours before Episode 2. According to the online episode guide, Peter gets the first one-on-one date, Kareem Abdul Jabbar shows up, some other stuff happens and "one bachelor betrays Rachel." Wow. What could that be???


photo credit: americandisposal.com

That's it for now, Rosebuds. I hope everyone's having a lovely Memorial Day week-end! Meet me back here soon, same Bach time, same Bach channel!

This Day In History, 1917: John F. Kennedy Is Born

photo credit: National Review

She wanted to make sure that the point came clear and went on: "There'll be great Presidents again--and the Johnsons are wonderful, they've been wonderful to me--but there'll never be another Camelot again.

"Once, the more I read of history the more bitter I got. For a while I thought history was something that bitter old men wrote. But then I realized history made Jack what he was. You must think of him as this little boy, sick so much of the time, reading in bed, reading history, reading the Knights of the Round Table, reading Marlborough. For Jack, history was full of heroes. And if it made him this way--if it made him see the heroes--maybe other little boys will see. Men are such a combination of good and bad. Jack had this hero idea of history, the idealistic view."

But she came back to the idea that transfixed her: "Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot--and it will never be that way again."

From an article in the December 6, 1963 edition of Life magazine, two weeks after the assassination. Journalist Theodore H. White had gone up to Hyannis Port for an interview with Jackie. She talked about the motorcade, and putting her wedding ring in the coffin, then she set out to create a myth. One of the most intriguing things about the Kennedy narrative is that the Kennedy administration was never called Camelot while JFK was alive. Jackie started it during that interview with White. (Read the entire story here.)

White knew what she was doing, as Sally Bedell Smith spelled out in America's Queen:

"She put it so passionately that, seen in a certain light, it almost made sense," White recalled. "I realized it was a misreading of history, but I was taken with Jackie's ability to frame tragedy in such human and romantic terms. There was something extremely compelling about her.  All she wanted was for me to hang this Life epilogue on the Camelot conceit. It didn't seem like a hell of a lot to ask. So I said to myself, Why not? If that's all she wants, let her have it. So the epitaph of the Kennedy administration became Camelot--a magic moment in American history when gallant men danced with beautiful women, when great deeds were done and the White House became the center of the universe." (Smith notes that this quote is from a Theodore White interview with C. David Heymann in A Woman Named Jackie.)


photo credit: Wikipedia

There are lots of interesting things being written about President Kennedy on his 100th birthday, here's some of what I've been reading:

From Politico Magazine: JFK at 100, by Jeff Greenfield
From the LA Times: JFK Wasn't The Greatest President, But He Was A Hell Of A Politician
From U.S. News & World Report: JFK At 100: The Man Behind The Legend
From Time: See How JFK Created a Presidency for the Television Age


photo credit: JFK Library

By-the-way, do you know what you'll be doing on June 14, 2046? Me neither, but if I'm still around, and I hope I am, I'm certain I will not be commemorating the 100th birthday of our 45th president.

The Guessing Game

Update #3: The stabbing in Portland, Oregon

Update #2:
Kimye: Their 3rd wedding anniversary
Tiger Woods: A DUI arrest

Monday morning update: It's not just Camilla who has a new interview out. Will People put William on their cover?

As part of the @heads_together campaign, The Duke of Cambridge has been interviewed on mental health for British GQ: https://t.co/0J4hU5T83D pic.twitter.com/0Hv7HuekhO

— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) May 29, 2017

Original post:
What will be on the cover of People this week? I have several possibilities on the list so I'm publishing early, if anything else catches my eye I'll add an update. Current guesses:



Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall: A new interview. Two royal covers in a row would be unusual but the interview is pretty interesting and she doesn't do them that often. (Read it here.)
Dead Celebrity: Roger Moore and/or Gregg Allman
The Manchester Attack: The victims or Ariana Grande
Sean Spicer: A mean diss by the president, does he still have his job?
The Montana Politician: Greg Gianforte body slammed reporter Ben Jacobs, got elected anyway
Lance Armstrong: Engaged
Star Wars: The 40th anniversary of the first movie
Ben Stiller: Getting a divorce
Duggars: A daughter got married, a son is engaged (ick)
Zbigniew Brzezinski: Father of Mika, National Security Adviser to President Carter, died May 26
Celebrity Weddings: Miranda Kerr and/or Emmy Rossum
Sean Hannity: Like Bill O'Reilly before him, he's losing advertisers due to controversy. Is he about to quit (or get fired)?

Still Having Fun

How much do I love this picture? The current and most recent presidents were both in Europe this week-end and once again Obama looks like he's having a lot more fun.

 
photo credit: fox40.com

Is He Asleep?

Monday morning update: Apparently POTUS was wearing a small earpiece that couldn't be seen in the video.

White House says that Donald Trump wears an ear piece in his right ear for translation https://t.co/kquwUeSi6k

— James Landale (@BBCJLandale) May 27, 2017

Original post:
From the Diplomatic Correspondent for the BBC:

A short clip that sums up this G7 summit: look who has chosen not to hear a translation of his Italian host's speech #G6 pic.twitter.com/6pXbBlfvof

— James Landale (@BBCJLandale) May 27, 2017

This Day In History, 1977: Star Wars Opens

photo credit: boredanddangerous.wordpress.com

May the force be with you...

Why?

TRUMP/EU/BRUSSELS-052517sdc-TUESDAY, May 25, 2017- President Donald Trump and President Emmanuel Macron of France gripped hands firmly as they posed for pictures before the start of meeting at the U.S. embassy in Brussels.  #donaldtrump #emmanuelmacron #france #brussels #handshake

A post shared by Stephen Crowley (@crowleygraph) on May 25, 2017 at 4:56am PDT

Why does our president always look so out-of-place, so uncomfortable? Why, to be blunt, does he frequently look like such a slob?

This picture is from the Instagram feed of NY Times photographer Stephen Crowley and I disagree with his caption. Trump is not gripping Macron's hand firmly, his fingers are sticking out as if he's not sure how to shake hands at all. The whole image is just strange.

Update: Apparently it really was an awkward meeting. From Axios, quoting a White House pool report:

The two presidents, each wearing dark suits and blue ties (Trump's was thick and royal blue; Macron's was skinny and navy) sat in antique cream-upholstered arm chairs, with two American and French flags behind them. They shook hands for an extended period of time. Each president gripped the other's hand with considerable intensity, their knuckles turning white and their jaws clenching and faces tightening.

Pippa's Wedding (And Rachel)

Issued dated June 5, 2017: Pippa Middleton's Wedding


People goes with Pippa's wedding as the main cover story, no surprise, although Pippa herself isn't the focus. Bachelorette Rachel, who has ended the "suspense" and announced that she is indeed engaged, gets a topline tease.

A Thousand Words

photo credit: Vatican pool/AGF/Rex/Shutterstock


photo credit: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

The Guessing Game

Wednesday morning update:
I'm struck by this picture. Ivanka (and Jared, who's there but not in the picture) aren't there as White House staffers, they're there as family members. Wonder how Don Jr. and Eric feel about that.


photo credit: L'Osservatore Romano/Pool photo via AP

And yes, I have to snark. Melania skipped the sunnies to meet the Pope, but in most of the pictures I've seen from this trip she's in full Jackie O mode. Wouldn't you love to know how she really feels about all this? I've said before that it can't be fun being married to that man, in fact I think it would be wretched soul-destroying indentured servitude. I'd probably cover up with sunglasses (and scowl a lot) too.

Original post:
What will be on the cover of People magazine this week? My (few) guesses:

Pippa's wedding: There's already been a massive amount of coverage online, but People does love a celebrity wedding, especially with all the cute pictures of the royals.
Dirty Dancing: The remake airs tomorrow night. My opinion is that some things shouldn't be messed with and the remake can't possibly stand up to the original. The original isn't Citizen Kane but it's a fave movie for lots and lots of people. Plus I read somewhere that compared to the original, which is an hour and 40 minutes long, the TV version is two hours and ten minutes, *before commercials.* They've obviously added a lot of story, which could possibly not be a good thing, not to mention how annoying all the commercial breaks will be.
TV Remakes (Will and Grace, Dynasty, Roseanne, etc.): Doesn't anyone have any original ideas anymore?
Taking The Show On The Road: Donald, Melania, Ivanka and Jared are representing our country in Saudi Arabia, Israel, Italy and a few other places. Will People break their streak of no Trumps on the cover? Or maybe they'll go with a story about Don Jr. and Eric, who can't be happy to see Ivanka, in particular, swanning around, flying on Air Force One and being treated like royalty, while they're banished to wherever it is that they're banished to.

This Day In History, 1969: The View From Apollo 10

Shrouded in clouds today in 1969, this image was taken by the crew of Apollo 10 as they began their lunar journey. From 36,000 nautical miles away, this full disk view of our home planet shows the crew’s vantage point from space. The crew members on Apollo 10 were astronauts Thomas P. Stafford, commander; John W. Young, command module pilot; and Eugene E. Cernan, lunar module pilot. Astronaut Young remained in lunar orbit, in the Command and Service Module (CSM) "Charlie Brown", while astronauts Stafford and Cernan descended to within nine miles of the lunar surface, in the Lunar Module (LM) "Snoopy". Credit: NASA #nasa #space #moon #earth #home #homeplanet #astronauts #apollo #apollo10 #tbt #throwbackthursday #Thursday #picoftheday #spacecraft #spacepic #otd #history #nasahistory #spacehistory

A post shared by NASA (@nasa) on May 18, 2017 at 3:29pm PDT

The Line

Every now and then I blog about the line of succession to the presidency. (Previous examples here and here.) It's on my mind again today, for some reason (ha ha) so here we go. The first five people currently in the line of succession are:

1. Vice President Mike Pence
2. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan
3. President pro tem of the Senate Orrin Hatch
4. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
5. Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin

Just something to think about on a slow news day... 

Council? Councel?

Update #2: In the interest of fairness, I'll note that the president has now issued a corrected tweet:

With all of the illegal acts that took place in the Clinton campaign & Obama Administration, there was never a special counsel appointed!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2017

Update: I'm not the only one having fun with words this morning:

@teddygoff @PaulBegala I figured with council/counsel he had a 50% chance of getting it right. He surprised me with councel. Did anyone have that in their pool?

— Ian McCellan (@IanMcCellan) May 18, 2017

 Original post:

With all of the illegal acts that took place in the Clinton campaign & Obama Administration, there was never a special councel appointed!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2017

He's still having trouble with the word "counsel." Previous example here.

What He Said

This is what President Obama said when he spoke to Coast Guard Academy graduates in 2015:

President Obama at the Coast Guard Academy in 2015: "That’s why confronting climate change is now a key pillar of American global leadership.  When I meet with leaders around the world, it’s often at the top of our agenda -- a core element of our diplomacy.  And you are part of the first generation of officers to begin your service in a world where the effects of climate change are so clearly upon us.  It will shape how every one of our services plan, operate, train, equip, and protect their infrastructure, their capabilities, today and for the long term."

A post shared by Pete Souza (@petesouza) on May 17, 2017 at 11:52am PDT

And this is what Donald Trump said at graduation this morning:

"Never, ever, ever give up. Things will work out just fine. Look at the way I've been treated lately, especially by the media. No politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse or more unfairly. You can't let them get you down. You can't let the critics and the naysayers get in the way of your dreams. ... I guess that's why we won."

Pippa's Dress?

Is this Pippa Middleton's wedding dress? Could be. British papers are breathlessly keeping track of all the preparations. Another tidbit? The glass tent:



Read more at the Daily Mail website.

It's The Obamas! (Again)

Issue dated May 29, 2017: Barack and Michelle Obama


I had the former president on my May 8 Guessing Game list, thinking a story might be tied to the Profile in Courage award or the new biography by David J. Garrow. There's nothing about that in the teaser story currently posted at people.com, and don't be fooled by the headline language. The story quotes "two friends" and a "third source close to Obama" anonymously, and has an on-the-record quote from David Axelrod, but it's clear that the magazine didn't actually interview the Obamas themselves.

Still, it's a positive story and I can't help wondering how the current president will feel about this nice publicity for his predecessor. I continue to be intrigued by the fact that, other than a cover story the week after the election, with a picture of Donald standing alone, there have been exactly zero mentions of the Trumps on the cover of People since he was elected president. No Melania, no Ivanka, no "Eric's wife is pregnant," no tiny little sidebar stories about Barron or Tiffany. Nothing. And this is the second Obama cover since the election:

Anyway, Trump isn't having a good week, to put it mildly, and he's said to be dreading his first big international trip, which gets underway Friday. So many minefields, such a bright spotlight, so many opportunities to screw up and look stupid with the whole world watching. I don't know if Trump reads People or not, but the vision in my head is of an enraged president, flinging the magazine against a wall and saying words the Washington Post can't print.

And just because I can, I'll include a few pictures of the current first couple, looking a whole lot less affectionate than Barack and Michelle.


photo credit: independent.co.uk


photo credit: telegraph.co.uk


photo credit: nymag.com

Who Are These Men, Anyway?

Tomorrow the most dramatic reveal ever! #thebachelorette

A post shared by Chris Harrison (@chrisbharrison) on May 16, 2017 at 7:15pm PDT

The Guessing Game

Update #2 A few more possibilities:
A Bachelor break-up: Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell have ended their relationship
Sarah Huckabee Sanders: Daughter of Mike Huckabee, in the spotlight filling in for White House press secretary Sean Spicer
Calista Gingrich: Wife of Newt, said to be the new U.S. Ambassador to The Vatican. Given their marital history, it's a bit of a head-scratcher
James Hewitt: Princess Diana's lover, in critical condition in a London hospital
Barron Trump: Moving to the White House this summer, will attend a private school in Maryland

Mid-morning update:
Abby Wambach: Marries blogger/activist Glennon Doyle Melton

Original post:
What will be on the cover of People this week? Not too many guesses right now, including a couple of repeats:

Powers Boothe: Dead Celebrity. I remember him as Rayna's father on Nashville
New Miss USA: A scientist, some controversy with her pageant answers
Timeless: NBC time-travel show, initially cancelled, then un-cancelled
President Kennedy: May 29th is 100th anniversary of his birth
Pippa Middleton: Her wedding is this Saturday, royal niece and nephew Charlotte and George are in the wedding party. I'm kind of surprised People hasn't covered this story more than they have, although it's possible they're waiting for after-the-fact pictures.
New Movies: Alien: Covenant opens May 19, followed by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and (yikes) Baywatch on May 26.
The Bachelorette: Rachel's season starts a week from today; as I've said before I'm expecting a huge promotional press from ABC. A cover story now would be a break from the usual pattern of featuring the happy couple at the end of the season, but I'm sure the network and producers would love to see a big cover story about the first black Bachelorette right as her season starts.