I genuinely believe that Buckingham Palace courtiers were a toxic blend of bored and petty, and they decided to organize a little counterprogramming for Prince Harry’s trip to Japan and Singapore this week. Basically, as soon as Harry arrived in Japan, the British media was suddenly full of stories about how the Royal.uk webmaster had removed Harry’s HRH-style from his page of achievements. Given how disorganized and racist Royal.uk is, it seems notable that they only completed that particular task this week. Plus, that story was packaged with quotes from King Charles’s biographer Robert Jobson, who basically admitted that the king will continue to play these games but he’s not going to do anything real, like remove the Sussex ducal title. So, these rancid people had their “fun.” But it’s not enough for the Mail:

Buckingham Palace’s decision to quietly cut Prince Harry’s HRH title from his website profile page last week was a ‘petty’ and ‘trivial’ move, that avoids the ‘big changes’ that really need to be made.

That’s the view of the Daily Mail’s Diary Editor Richard Eden, who was speaking on our royal talk show Palace Confidential.‘They should be going much further,’ he tells the programme.

‘What actually matters is that he’s still in the line of succession. God forbid if something was to happen to the Royal Family, he would become our king. That should end, he should be removed from the line of succession and he is still one of those counsellors of state that can stand in for the king… why not remove him? It’s ridiculous to be doing petty things to the website – deal with the big things and make the big changes that matter.’

[From The Mail+]

People always say that it would take an act of Parliament to remove royal titles, but what would it take to remove a prince from the line of succession? Especially when the prince has not been accused of a crime or done anything heinous. Harry literally prioritized his wife, his children and his mental health and the lunatics running the asylum over there are still trying to devise even more punishments. While I don’t pretend to understand the will of the British people, I kind of think it would go over like a ton of bricks if the king removed his own son from the line of succession. It would be especially bad considering Harry would be a much better king than his father or his brother. But again, what do I know.

Meanwhile, Harry’s Spare is still the #1 book of the year all across the UK, minus Northern Ireland. In Northern Ireland, the #1 nonfiction book was a cookbook. But everywhere else on Salt Island, people were reading Spare. Therein lies the problem for the Windsors, and why they’re still so hellbent on diminishing Harry.

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Getty, Avalon Red, Instagram.

Maybe I’m not “smart” enough to “get” Grimes, but I honestly believe that she’s just one of those people who memorizes random cool/tech phrases and just repeats them in interviews to sound smart. She’s not a moron (Elon Musk is though) but she’s also not as smart as she thinks she is. Grimes covers the latest issue of Wired and the interview is ridiculous. Not as ridiculous as that Vanity Fair cover story, but still mind-numbingly idiotic. In the first half of the interview, she talks about music and how she’s pro-AI, and then the second half of the piece is about her personal life, her two children (X and Y) with Elon Musk, and what she learned from being with Musk. Some highlights:

What she learned from Elon Musk: “I’ve got NDAs. It’s hard to talk about things very explicitly without saying things about other people’s lives who are very private….I learned from him, like, the best internship ever. People don’t like talking about Elon, but it was incredible to be right there watching all that SpaceX stuff happen. That’s a master class in leadership and engineering and makes you understand how rare it is to have a leader of that quality.

Musk holds people to high standards: “I know, the stuff on Twitter doesn’t make it look like that. He didn’t build the culture there. And the cultural fit has obviously been very intense. He holds his people to really high standards. Watching him, I understand how difficult it is to be a great general and do something of that magnitude. Elon has an old-world kind of discipline I really respect. And I think it rubs a lot of people the wrong way. They don’t want to be in that hardcore zone. If you’re not consenting to being in that hardcore zone, I get it. But he’s challenged me a lot. I learned a lot about running my own team and my own life. I’m now way tougher and smarter than I used to be.

What Elon learned from her: “Maybe to have more fun. I try to soften him up, to build family culture. And he steals a lot of my memes.

Whether she worries about her kids’ privilege, being the children of the richest man in the world: “A little bit. I think their life is gonna be pretty intense. Being Elon’s kid is not the same as being anyone’s kid. In my house, at least, I want it to be more of a crazy warehouse situation and a cool art space.

Whether she was disturbed by Elon’s tweets: “I don’t want to talk about this too much. But take the trans thing. After that, we had a big, long conversation. I was like, “I want to dissect why you’re so stressed about this.” Getting to the heart of what Elon says helps me get to the heart of what other people’s issues are, because it’s this über guy situation. And it came down to pretty much every way that you transition can cause fertility issues. I was like, OK, you don’t hate trans people, you hate woke culture. I get that it can be annoying, and you have concerns about the fertility thing. So let’s figure it out, because there’s a lot of fertility tech that could be innovated that would help trans people have kids, which would be great and would solve a lot of problems. He’s just on Twitter, and he’s unhappy with woke people, and the arguments happened.

Whether or not she’s woke: “Probably not. I don’t know what the term means. I think we need to change the discourse. The more people you can convince that this dichotomy is silly, and an out-of-date fight, the better. The root cause of this is people not resolving mental health stuff the right way. And not educating people on screen time where they get hooked on dopamine spikes.

[From Wired]

I’m sorry??? “And it came down to pretty much every way that you transition can cause fertility issues. I was like, OK, you don’t hate trans people, you hate woke culture.” So Elon Musk joined the trans-bashing MAGA cult because he believes (and Grimes believes) that it’s all about “fertility,” and fertility issues in general or specific to transitioning are a “woke culture” issue. My head is spinning with the hurricane of fallacies here. First off: Elon’s need to make everything about procreation is really unsettling. Give a guy an emerald mine and suddenly he’s talking about how it’s every billionaire’s duty to populate the earth and dictate transgender people’s fertility levels. And “I don’t know what the term means”… lmao.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid and cover courtesy of Wired.

At this point, the standard operating procedure for royalists is to acknowledge, in a roundabout way, that Prince William is the problem, generally and specifically with regards to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. While King Charles is a dogs-t father and a horrendous grandfather, I buy that he is more than open to making some kind of peace with Harry and Meghan. Would he actually go out of his way to achieve peace? No. He wouldn’t. But he’s more conciliatory than William, who is full of rage. Speaking of, royal commentator Nick Bullen has some thoughts about the “entrenched” feelings between Harry and the Windsors. Even Bullen says, in that particularly roundabout way, that William is the problem.

On Harry’s trip to Asia: “I’m sure everybody managed those diaries to make sure there was no crossover whatsoever,” True Royalty TV co-founder Nick Bullen told Fox News Digital. “Harry hasn’t even been going to old friends’ weddings. So, those moments where they might bump into each other aren’t happening, let alone the choreographed moments.”

On Will & Kate’s summer plans: “William and [his wife] Kate [Middleton] are going to be spending time at Balmoral this summer,” said Bullen. “They’re going to be staying up in a cottage that was a favorite of the queen’s when she was alive. William and Kate have taken it over with their children for this summer. So, it’s nice to see the traditions are continuing.”

Charles is eager to make peace with the Sussexes: “I’m told that the king continues to reach out to Harry and Meghan and that the door is always open,” said Bullen. “I think, probably, he more than anybody, wants to repair the relationships. We all know things are still very tense between William and Harry, but I think the king does want to repair [things]. … There is probably an open invitation to visit the king whenever they can. And he would love to see them. Look, he’s the king. He’s not going to be able to make it to California very often. They don’t have official roles. They don’t appear to have a 9-to-5 job. So, I would say they’ve probably got the ability to make a visit to Scotland should they wish, and I’m sure the king would have them there.”

William & Harry’s beef: “I think there is so much water under the bridge between William and Harry that how they intend to find that common ground is beyond most royal commentators. I think there needs to be a brokerage from another person. There almost needs to be an intervention. It requires both parties to be willing to come to the table. But I think it’s going to be very difficult to see how this is going to happen. People have such entrenched views. [During] the coronation, the seating plan was carefully worked out [so] that they wouldn’t have to have an interaction. … I think it will require big apologies from both sides. But whether they’re going to come or not, I think it’s pretty unlikely.”

[From Fox News]

What continues to amuse me is that there’s this sense in the UK and among British commentators that some kind of rapprochement NEEDS to happen, that the brothers cannot simply hate each other forever, that some things are simply unforgivable and there’s no coming back. This entire industry and the entire monarchy institution simply bet everything on Harry crawling back to them at some point and agreeing to their terms. What is so unprecedented to them is that A) he doesn’t want to come back and B) he doesn’t need to come back. That’s why they’re still fussing over “what can be done, someone needs to stage an intervention!” I agree that William needs an intervention though.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

The big news today over in Britain is that Buckingham Palace announced twenty-one new “honorary appointments” for working royals. All of the appointments are to military positions, because there are so many military units left patronless these days. It’s been a problem for years now, but the issue has been exacerbated by the Duke of York’s perversions, the Sussexit, QEII’s death and the chronic laziness of the heir and his wife. Suddenly, the Windsors find themselves without enough working royals to fill all of the military and charity patronages. Which might explain the Telegraph’s rather pointed coverage of the military patronage announcement:

Today’s announcement from Buckingham Palace of 21 new honorary appointments in the Armed Services for “working members” of the Royal family, chiefly concern those regiments, corps and units formerly headed by Elizabeth II. That said, some roles have been passed to other members of the Royal family by their present holder, the King, presumably to maintain tri-service balance.

Clearly, part of the much larger current review and redistribution of the late Queen’s patronages, which numbered at her death in excess of 600 organisations, these armed services patronages, for that is in effect what they are, have been much easier to deal with than those in the charity and other sectors, such as the patronage of Sunningdale Ladies Golf Club and the Royal Caledonian Curling Club.

However, the task cannot have been entirely easy – particularly when trying to make personal royal links to the units – by the absence from the working royal roster of the Sussexes, the Duke of York and his daughters. Add to that the increasing age and infirmity of the Duke of Kent and Princess Alexandra, who are both notably absent from the list. Indeed, it can’t be long before the Kents’ military roles come up for review and replacement, most notably the Duke’s Colonelcy of the Scots Guards, for which post the Duke of Edinburgh is the most likely candidate.

Some of the new appointments are obvious, others less so. The new Queen, who is not – unlike her late mother-in-law – particularly noted for her religiosity, surprisingly takes on only one new job to add to her existing three colonelcies. She has been made Patron of the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department. This is hardly an onerous task, since chaplains are distributed among the whole of the Army. Unless, of course, she is planning to meet all of them individually.

The Princess Royal’s only new job, Deputy Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, must have been an easy call given her strong links to Scotland and her existing appointments with the regiment’s 1st and 6th Battalions. The same is true of the helicopter pilot, the Prince of Wales, who assumes the role of Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps, and the Duchess of Gloucester’s appointment as Colonel-in-Chief of the Adjutant General’s Corps, of which she has been Deputy Colonel-in-Chief since 1992.

Less obvious are some of the other jobs. Indeed, the attempt in the Buckingham Palace announcement to make personal links are at times somewhat strained, if not entirely absent. The Prince of Wales is not particularly associated with Mercia but is now Colonel-in-Chief of its eponymous regiment.

… And while on the subject of the newly-created Duke of Edinburgh’s colonelcies, surely the Palace knows that he is Colonel, not Colonel-in-Chief, of the London Guards as stated in the announcement. Still on the subject of accuracy, guardees the length and breadth of the land must be harrumphing over their kippers at seeing the King described as “Colonel-in-Chief of the Household Division”, when no such appointment exists. He is, of course, ex officio Colonel-in-Chief of all the regiments of the Household Division, but that’s not the same thing. Standards are clearly slipping at the big house.

[From The Telegraph]

I guess I’ve developed an ear for the nuances of British bitchery, because I snort-laughed a few times: “The new Queen, who is not – unlike her late mother-in-law – particularly noted for her religiosity” and “He is, of course, ex officio Colonel-in-Chief of all the regiments of the Household Division, but that’s not the same thing. Standards are clearly slipping at the big house.” LMAO. They also seem to be hitting King Charles and Buckingham Palace for not working faster to redistribute all of QEII’s 600-plus patronages, and I agree – it’s been a year, surely they should be further into the process. But the problem is as the Telegraph notes – too few working royals. Please, this is so funny.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Remember how excited people were for Jennifer Lawrence’s “raunchy” sex-comedy, No Hard Feelings? Well, it made about $85 million worldwide, which is pretty decent for a stand-alone R-rated comedy. It’s not a franchise, it was an original script, and the film starred an Oscar-winning actress. One of the reasons why the film got so much buzz is because… Hollywood rarely makes those kinds of movies anymore. The mid-budget – or even low-budget – comedy, with an original script and no merchandising tie-ins, nothing based on a game or a toy or a comic book. In the ‘80s and ‘90s, those kinds of comedies came out every other week. Some were middling, but some were great. And they just disappeared into thin air over the past ten-to-fifteen years. Well, Adam DeVine has a theory about that.

Adam Devine appeared on Theo Von’s “This Past Weekend” podcast during his press tour for Netflix’s “The Out-Laws” and shared his theory that Marvel movies and other superhero films killed the traditional Hollywood comedy. The “Workaholics” and “Pitch Perfect” alum noted that because Marvel movies rely so much on humor (see the “Ant-Man” and “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchises, for instance), they ended up becoming Hollywood’s new de facto comedy films.

“You watch comedies nowadays and you’re like, this is not a f–king comedy,” Devine said. “Where are the jokes? Where are the bits? There’s still good [comedy] shows, but movie comedy…it’s hard. My theory: I think Marvel ruined it. I feel like superhero movies ruined comedies because you go to the theater and you expect to watch something that cost $200 million to make, and comedy movies aren’t that. So you’re like, ‘Why would I spend the same amount of money to go watch a little comedy in the theater if I can spend that and watch something that is worth $200 million?’ And they still make those movies kind of funny, like, ‘Oh my god, is that raccoon talking? This is hilarious!’ Which it is, but it’s not a real comedy.”

“Every studio used to put out several comedies a year,” Devine noted. “And there were like 45 comedies in the theater per year. So every week or so, there’s a new comedy in the theaters. Now, last year, there was like 6 or 7. It’s crazy.”

[From Variety]

I don’t think DeVine is wrong, per se, but his theory is missing the bigger picture. Yes, some of those Marvel films function as “buddy-comedies” just with a massive budget. But the larger issue is that with the success of those comic book films and the Star Wars films, Hollywood simply decided that they wouldn’t “gamble” on a moderate-budget original comedy when they could make a bigger gamble on a film which had a “built-in audience.” The same thing happened with rom-coms – instead of making comedy or romantic-comedy theatrical releases, all of that kind of thing has moved to streaming.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

This Dan Wootton story continues to be unofficially embargoed in almost all of the British media outlets. Byline Times has just published their eighth exclusive exposé, and as of this moment, only the Guardian is doing any kind of follow-up reporting. Last week, we did hear that the Mail has suspended Wootton following what sounds like an ass-covering internal investigation. The Sun is also conducting an investigation, only they hired a neutral third-party to look into the claims raised by Byline. Wootton still appears on GB News and he’s still trying to influence Britain’s right-wing political system. Meanwhile, Byline’s reporting just gets worse and worse:

Dan Wootton met young male reality TV stars through his work as a prominent showbusiness journalist and then privately propositioned them to do photo shoots at his home for “underwear brands” in an “abhorrent abuse of power”, Byline Times can reveal.

Among those Wootton targeted over an eight-year period between 2011 and 2019 – during which he was working for The Sun, ITV and the Daily Mail – were The Only Way is Essex star Kirk Norcoss, Big Brother contestant JJ Bird, and an X Factor singer who was just out of his teens. Each had first encountered Wootton – today a star presenter on GB News – as a result of their involvement in the television industry, on which it was his highly-paid job to report and through which he enjoyed a powerful media influence.

Wootton was on his first day as a columnist and feature writer for the Daily Mail in December 2011 when he approached Big Brother series 11 contestant JJ Bird, then 25, and who is today a boxing trainer having also been a pro-fighter. Mr Bird, who refused Wootton’s offers, is among the first group of people in the public eye to discuss their interactions with Wootton.

He told Byline Times: “Dan told me he was an amateur photographer and was ‘working with underwear brands’. He invited me to a test shoot at his flat with a fee attached. At that time, I was trying to fund my boxing career and develop my career in entertainment. Dan was a big name in the world of showbiz journalism who had the power to do that – plus anything where I was going to receive payment would obviously have been very useful. Looking back now, it was a complete abuse of his power and position and he should not have been offering to do that kind of thing.”

[From Byline Times]

I don’t want to delve too deep into Wootton’s sexual pathology, but it’s clear that Britain’s media culture has an unsettling “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy when it comes to powerful men preying on boys and much younger men. The fact that no one said anything and Wootton operated like this for years, while simultaneously running dozens of kompromat, blackmail and catfishing schemes – it’s just so shocking.

Photos courtesy of GB News and AvalonRed.

Do you think the Duchess of Sussex gives much of a thought to the Princess of Wales whatsoever at this point? Let me put it another way: do you think Meghan thinks of Kate with anything other than pity? I still think about how Meghan referenced Kate in the Oprah interview and it was clear that there was some sympathy, even pity there. That bothered Kate and it bothered everyone else in the UK – that Meghan didn’t idealize Kate or think Kate was admirable. Even in Prince Harry’s Spare, Kate is a pitiful figure who gets irrationally angry about Meghan’s “baby brain” comment. All of which to say, I don’t believe this story, but I guess it’s worth discussing:

Meghan Markle is reportedly upset that her sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, still hasn’t apologized for the way the Duchess of Sussex was treated when she was a working member of the royal family. The “Suits” alum feels Middleton and her husband, Prince William, have “never been held accountable” for their actions, a source told Closer magazine (via the Mirror), adding that the pair “never apologized and have seemingly got away with it.”

The source added that Markle was “convinced” people would sympathize with her following the release of her and husband Prince Harry’s Netflix documentary, “Harry & Meghan.”

“That hasn’t happened,” the source claimed. “This isn’t how she envisioned things would turn out, but Meghan knows the truth and will tell anyone who will listen that Kate had an edge to her.”

A spokesperson for Markle did not reply for comment.

[From Page Six]

Accountability would be nice and I believe Kate has “an edge” – the edge of a bully, the edge of a Karen, the edge of a passive-aggressive a–hole. But yeah, I just don’t even think Meghan is hung up on this anymore, if she ever was. It’s also weird to assume that tens of millions of people watched the Netflix docuseries and came out of it without any sympathy for Meghan? Anyway, what a weird story – Kate and William have made it clear for three years that the Sussexes live rent-free in their heads, now we’re supposed to believe that Meghan wanders around Montecito, telling people that Kate is unpleasant?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

Back in April, we were briefly obsessed with the idea that Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell cheated on their respective partners while filming a romance in Australia. Glen’s three-year relationship with Gigi Paris ended the moment people noticed how flirty Glen and Sydney were together. Sydney’s fiance Jonathan Davino didn’t seem to go away, although he definitely gave off the vibe of someone who would stick around, even if his fiance cheated on him. Anyway, that was months ago and the rumors died down. Now Sydney is addressing some of it in her Variety cover story, which she did pre-strike as part of her Emmy Award campaign (for Reality). Some highlights:

All of the gossip about her life: “Sometimes I feel beat up by it,” Sweeney says pensively. “It’s hard to sit back and watch, and not be able to stand up for yourself.” Her study of the industry has yielded crucial insights: Never respond to the rumors, and always find a connection back to the project. “I’ll see my uncle comment on things and I’m like, ‘You gotta stop.’ But it’s so hard, because I grew up in a small town, and they don’t get the business of it all. Just like Reality, it was all these tabloids and headlines, but no one knew the actual story.”

She never had a plan B: “I was going to five to 10 auditions a week, and not getting a single callback. I always believed that if you have a plan B, you’re prepared to fail. No matter how hard or how long it was going to take, I was just going to keep working at it.”

Just as she found work, her parents divorced and filed for bankruptcy. “My parents sacrificed so much to support my dream, and they lost so much during it. I just felt a responsibility to show them that it was worth it,” she says. Did the sacrifices her parents made contribute to these crises? “I’ll never know,” she says. “I think as a kid, as the eldest, I feel a responsibility. They’ll say no, or they’ll say yes, depending on what fight it is. But I’ll always feel responsible. But that’s OK.”

Her mother’s infamous birthday party: Photos of the celebration showed guests in what appeared to be Blue Lives Matter garb and MAGA-styled red caps later revealed to read “Make Sixty Great Again.” “There were so many misinterpretations. The people in the pictures weren’t even my family. The people who brought the things that people were upset about were actually my mom’s friends from L.A. who have kids that are walking outside in the Pride parade, and they thought it would be funny to wear because they were coming to Idaho.”

The rumors that she had an affair with Glen Powell: “It’s a rom-com. That’s what people want! Glen and I don’t really care. We have so much fun together, and we respect each other so much; he’s such a hard worker, and I’m a hard worker. We’re excited for the press tour, and I literally just left ADR with him. We talk all the time like, ‘That’s really funny.’” In a media environment that’s outside even a gifted actor’s control, there can be a certain pleasure in leaning into the narrative. “They want it. It’s fun to give it to ’em.”

She wants to find a balance between her career & family: “I always thought I’d have a kid by now. I always wanted to be a young mom. I love acting, I love the business, I love producing, I love all of it. But what’s the point if I’m not getting to share it with a family? The time will come, and I’ll have four kids. And they will come with me everywhere and be my best friends.”

On Madame Web: “I think it’s different from what people expect a superhero movie to be. Quote that! That’s a quote, because the tabloids will pick up everything else we talk about.”

[From Variety]

Much has been made about the fact that Sydney is the rare hot Hollywood commodity who is NOT a nepo baby, and I think you can see that here – Sydney is very much about the grind, the hustle, what’s next, how do I leverage my power, will I have time to have a family, all of the stuff that nepo babies don’t even think about, frankly. As for what she says about Glen Powell – I learned in this piece that Sydney put the film (Anyone But You) together and she produced it. Meaning, even if Glen and Sydney are not boning, they’re going to play up those rumors throughout the promotion to help sell the movie. (And I do think they were boning.)

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images, Instagram. Cover courtesy of Variety.

In April, ProPublica released a shocking report on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. ProPublica had extensive documentation that Justice Thomas took millions in undisclosed gifts and travel from a top Republican donor named Harlan Crow. None of this is some tricky ethical quagmire – for years, Thomas has broken federal law in his failure to disclose to gifts AND by receiving the gifts. Well, funny story: it’s so much worse than that. ProPublica just published a new report, once again with extensive documentation, about Thomas also receiving millions in gifts, vacations and private-plane flights from other GOP-affiliated billionaires.

During his three decades on the Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas has enjoyed steady access to a lifestyle most Americans can only imagine. A cadre of industry titans and ultrawealthy executives have treated him to far-flung vacations aboard their yachts, ushered him into the premium suites at sporting events and sent their private jets to fetch him — including, on more than one occasion, an entire 737. It’s a stream of luxury that is both more extensive and from a wider circle than has been previously understood. Like clockwork, Thomas’ leisure activities have been underwritten by benefactors who share the ideology that drives his jurisprudence. Their gifts include:

At least 38 destination vacations, including a previously unreported voyage on a yacht around the Bahamas; 26 private jet flights, plus an additional eight by helicopter; a dozen VIP passes to professional and college sporting events, typically perched in the skybox; two stays at luxury resorts in Florida and Jamaica; and one standing invitation to an uber-exclusive golf club overlooking the Atlantic coast.

This accounting of Thomas’ travel, revealed for the first time here from an array of previously unavailable information, is the fullest to date of the generosity that has regularly afforded Thomas a lifestyle far beyond what his income could provide. And it is almost certainly an undercount. While some of the hospitality, such as stays in personal homes, may not have required disclosure, Thomas appears to have violated the law by failing to disclose flights, yacht cruises and expensive sports tickets, according to ethics experts.

Perhaps even more significant, the pattern exposes consistent violations of judicial norms, experts, including seven current and former federal judges appointed by both parties, told ProPublica. “In my career I don’t remember ever seeing this degree of largesse given to anybody,” said Jeremy Fogel, a former federal judge who served for years on the judicial committee that reviews judges’ financial disclosures. “I think it’s unprecedented.”

The New York Times recently surfaced VIP treatment from wealthy businessmen he met through the Horatio Alger Association, an exclusive nonprofit. Among them were David Sokol, a former top executive at Berkshire Hathaway, and H. Wayne Huizenga, a billionaire who turned Blockbuster and Waste Management into national goliaths. (The Times noted Thomas gives access to the Supreme Court building for Horatio Alger events; ProPublica confirmed that the access has cost $1,500 or more in donations per person.)

The total value of the undisclosed trips they’ve given Thomas since 1991, the year he was appointed to the Supreme Court, is difficult to measure. But it’s likely in the millions.

[From ProPublica]

You can read more at the ProPublica link – this kind of blatant criminality is shocking, and it’s shocking that no one reported it before now. Thomas has been on the Supreme Court since the early ‘90s! Three decades of five-star vacations, rides on private jets, shady real estate deals and on and on. Where were the reporters on the SCOTUS beat? The only thing I’ll say in Justice Thomas’s defense is that he’s such a morally bankrupt hack that he would have voted in these Republican donors’ favor anyway, without the gifts. It’s not so much a quid pro quo or an explicit bribe – these donors are simply rewarding him for always voting in a way that aligns with their interests.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.

The faces we see on screen often become like family. So, when we lose them due to natural or unexpected death, it truly is a tragedy.

Although only just over halfway through the year, death has already affected so many sports, television, and music stars alike.

It is important to reflect on the positive impact these stars had on our lives and others, for even though they may be gone, they are not lost from our memories.

Doris Day

Doris Day was an adored actress and singer in the 50’s and 60’s. Some of her most famous works included Pillow Talk, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Calamity Jane, and Love Me or Leave Me. Miss Day died on May 13 at age 97 due to natural causes. Her girl-next-door-image, as well as her animal activism work with the Doris Day Animal League, will always be remembered.

Grumpy Cat

This social media-loving cat, who’s real name was Tardar Sauce, died at age 7 on May 14. This lovable cat met his fame 7 years ago when his photo was shared on Reddit in 2012. His owner captioned “Meet Grumpy Cat” and from then the image went viral. His meme-loving face was all over social media and even featured on the front of a New York Times magazine. It just goes to show you that the celebrities we love come in all shapes and sizes.

Peter Mayhew

There is no way to forget Peter Mayhew; both for his world-renowned role as Han Solo’s sidekick Chewbacca in the Star Wars saga and for his incredible 7 foot 3 inch stature. There’s no way not to miss an individual as unique and talented as Mayhew. Mayhew was 74 and died on April 30; a date that Star Wars fanatics will never forget.

Luke Perry

Luke Perry, otherwise known as Dylan McKay from television series Beverly Hills 90210, unexpectedly lost his life on March 4 when he suffered a massive stroke. He was 52 years old. The teenage heartthrob will be missed in the hearts of many, and Leonardo DiCaprio seeks to honor Perry’s kind soul, as he prepares to play the role of McKay in the new 90210.

 Cameron Boyce

One of the more recent and tragic deaths of 2019 was that of Disney-Channel star Cameron Boyce. He died on July 6, at the age of 20, due to a seizure in his sleep from an ongoing medical condition. His mother has shared how Cameron will always be remembered as the kind, loving, funny spirit that he always was.

Gloria Vanderbilt

Gloria was a talented woman who considered herself an actress, fashion designer, artist, and author. She was born straight into her fame however, into one of the wealthiest families in America. The Vanderbilt name was commonly associated with their jeans empire, and later Gloria remained in the spotlight with her son, Anderson Cooper’s, television fame. Gloria Vanderbilt died on June 17 at the age of 95. She lived a full and successful life that continues to live on, especially through her family.

Carmine Caridi

This famous actor made his presence in some of the most famous films of all time including Murder She Wrote, The Money Pit, and Starsky & Hutch, as well as The Godfather Part II and III. Caridi died on May 28 at age 83. His presence on the big screen will be forever missed.

Niki Lauda

Niki Lauda was a world-famous car-racing champion who had won the Formula One three times in his life. Lauda died on May 21 at the age of 70. His tenacity will always be remembered, especially for his participation in the world championship in 1976. During this time, Lauda was horribly burned in a crash in the German Grand Prix, but after a brief recovery, returned to the race, only to be narrowly beaten by James Hunt. His strength and passion for the sport are truly admirable.

Tim Conway

Tim Conway will always be remembered for his incredible ability to make co-stars of The Carol Burnett Show roll with laughter. He was witty, fun, but it wasn’t until his appearances on The Steve Allen Show and McHale’s Navy that he became world famous. Conway also made several television guest appearance such as on 30 Rock, and Spongebob Squarepants. He actually received an Emmy for his role on 30 Rock. Tim Conway died on May 14 at the age of 85, but his laughter provoking soul will forever love on.

These are only a few of the faces we have lost in 2019, and like all the others, their memories will outlast on the screen and in our hearts.

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