Last year, country bro Jason Aldean released an ode to guns, cops and small-town lynchings. The song is “Try That In A Small Town.” He filmed the video at the site of an infamous lynching and the lyrics are simply a threat: that the good ol’ boy rednecks will murder you in a small town if you do or say anything they don’t like, especially if you’re simply existing as a person of color. The American right-wing instantly embraced this dumbf–k song and they tried so hard to make it sound like Aldean was being martyred for his beliefs (his beliefs = lynchings are awesome). Well, funny story, I guess? You know how a white Republican guy got an AR rifle and shot up Donald Trump’s small-town Pennsylvania rally? Yeah, well, Aldean dedicated this horrible song to Trump:

Proudly right-wing country star Jason Aldean was quick to comment on Saturday’s assassination attempt on Donald Trump, dedicating his highly controversial song “Try That in a Small Town” to the former president during a concert in Nashville. The song and particularly its video have been accused of bearing racist overtones.

Aldean, who has long been a vocal Trump supporter, told the audience, “President Trump’s a friend of mine so I want to send this next song out to him. We all know what’s going to happen come November, so it’s all good,” he said to cheers, referencing the upcoming presidential election. “Just goes to show you there’s a lot of bullsh-t in the world, and that’s kind of what this song right here was about, so this one goes out to the pres.” Aldean also posted a reverent message for the former president on his Instagram account.

[From Variety]

Again… a white Republican from a small town shot up Trump’s rally, which was also being held in a small town. The song is about good ol’ boys lynching big-town city folk, people like… Donald Trump, who was literally born and raised in New York. For Aldean, it’s not that deep though. It just shows you that Aldean always meant that it’s “okay” to lynch people of color and Donald Trump agrees with that too.

Rhetorically very funny because a guy from a small town shot him, a guy from the big city, which is the very threat outlined in the song. https://t.co/gFHkZwOq7P

— Brenden Gallagher (@brendengallager) July 15, 2024

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Getty.

Following the Princess of Wales’s successful appearance at the Wimbledon men’s final, there’s a sudden rash of speculation about when Kate will be seen again. As everyone knows, her Sunday appearance was only the second time she’d been seen in public this whole year. As royal-gossips know, the Wimbledon men’s final is usually Kate’s last public event before her summer holidays, which can sometimes last for three months. Trust me when I say that it’s completely asinine to claim that Kate will be seen again anywhere before October. Probably November. That’s what Katie Nicholl’s sources are saying as well:

Kate Middleton’s appearance at Wimbledon on Sunday delighted tennis and royal fans, but it may be some time before we see Kate in public again.

According to royal sources, Prince William and Princess Kate are planning to spend most of the summer “below the radar” at their Norfolk bolthole now that Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis are out of school and Kate continues her course of preventative chemotherapy.

While Kensington Palace would not give details on the family’s plans for the summer, a royal source confirmed that the Wales family are now “on summer break.” Sources close to the family say that although they will not be traveling abroad this summer while Kate undergoes treatment, they are excited to visit King Charles and Queen Camilla in Scotland next month.

Sunday’s appearance at Wimbledon is likely to be Kate’s last official engagement until later this year.

[From Vanity Fair]

“They will not be traveling abroad this summer…” They say that like it’s a new thing, when really, Kensington Palace has claimed for years that William and Kate spend all of their downtime in Norfolk. When they’ve actually jetted off quietly to various overseas vacations. Half of which we’ve never even heard of, because the British media selectively keeps their secrets. Anyway, yes, Kate’s summer holiday began as soon as she got in the car and was driven away from the All-England Club. That’s how it traditionally works for Kate. I wonder if she’ll even bother to make the trek to Scotland. I also wonder what excuses, if any, we’ll be given in the fall when someone bothers to ask where Kate is and whether she’ll be seen in public again before Christmas.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Donald Trump has chosen his running mate, and the announcement came on the first day of the RNC. Traditionally – not that any of this is traditional – the running mate announcement would have happened long before the RNC, because it would have gifted the Trump campaign with at least 72 hours of media coverage. It’s hilarious because Trump is too much of a narcissist to let anyone pull focus AND he was also too lazy to give this any kind of real consideration. Well, it was never going to be Nikki Haley or Tim Scott, but I thought there was a decent chance Trump would pick my state’s governor, Glenn Youngkin. The reason why Trump passed on Youngkin is probably because Youngkin is an idiot who can’t get anything done – his MAGA agenda is dying on the vine because Virginians made sure that Democrats took back control of the state house and senate last year. Still, I was worried, because Virginia really is a purple state now and it would have been a huge mess.

So who did Trump choose? J.D. Vance, the author of Hillbilly Elegy and Ohio’s junior senator. Vance won his Senate seat in 2022 – he’s barely been in DC for a year and a half. I barely paid attention to the Hillbilly Elegy mess, but I know that a lot of genuine Appalachians were mad about how Vance (an outsider from the Ohio suburbs) lied and tried to claim their stories as his own and twist their stories to a reductive and racist narrative. Vance is currently known as one of the most craven political operators in the modern Republican era. Circa 2016, Vance was loudly anti-Trump, criticizing Trump in multiple interviews and even referring to Trump as “America’s Hitler.” Then Vance quickly figured out the scam, and he changed his tune when he realized that the only way to run as a Republican is to supplicate oneself to America’s Hitler.

Something I find sort of exciting is the fact that Vance has a lengthy history of saying wildly misogynistic things and taking deeply anti-woman, anti-choice stances. This is true of Donald Trump as well, but the media shows no interest in focusing on an adjudicated rapist, serial predator and good friend of Jeffrey Epstein. But Vance’s entrance on the national stage will hopefully be the jolt this election cycle needed, because this election is (imo) fundamentally about women and women’s rights. I need women to take a good hard look at Vance and his history. I can tell the Biden campaign is excited about this too – I’ve already gotten a dozen campaign emails where they’re amplifying the sh-t out Vance’s own words.

Also, just a reminder: Donald Trump encouraged (incited) his unhinged cult members to hunt down and hang his last vice president.

Fox host to Trump VP contender JD Vance: You said you never liked Trump, called him a ‘terrible candidate,’ said you’re an ‘idiot if you voted for him,’ called him ‘America’s Hitler,’ a ‘cynical a**hole,’ and more pic.twitter.com/2TjoNWqNsR

— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) June 18, 2024

JD Vance says women should stay in violent marriages “for the sake of their kids” pic.twitter.com/zqM15Aqhvm

— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) July 15, 2024

JD Vance is against no-fault divorce, supports a national abortion ban, and voted against IVF access.

He wants the government in people’s lives and dictating decisions they can make for themselves, their health, and their families. pic.twitter.com/yeZSGI3VCa https://t.co/rgyvjwlEYu

— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) July 15, 2024

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Rest in peace to Shannen Doherty, who passed away at the age of 53. I got so sad thinking about how both Brenda Walsh & Dylan McKay are both gone now. [Just Jared]
Richard Simmons and Dr. Ruth also passed away this weekend. [Pajiba]
Scarlett Johansson is really not delivering any good fashion right now. [Go Fug Yourself]
Spotlight on model Matty Carrington. [Socialite Life]
Lainey on the Sussexes, Serena Williams & the ESPYs. [LaineyGossip]
Don’t Brownie Batter Blizzards advertise themselves? [OMG Blog]
Hannah Dodd wore Ralph Lauren to Wimbledon. [RCFA]
It only took one push for Peta Murgatroyd to give birth. [Seriously OMG]
What’s the latest drama on RHOC? [Starcasm]
No, I’m sorry, these Donald Trump photos are insane. [Hollywood Life]
I didn’t know that Robert Duvall refused to do The Godfather III after a salary dispute. But… he took issue with how much Al Pacino made? [Buzzfeed]

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All I’ll say is that the vibes on this one are very strange. On Saturday night, Donald Trump was making a rare public appearance at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. In the middle of his speech, shots rang out. New agencies say the shooter, a 20-year-old registered Republican named Thomas Matthew Crooks, got off as many as eight rounds from an AR-style rifle. Trump was hit… in the ear. One Trump supporter is dead, as is Thomas Matthew Crooks.

Former President Donald Trump says he was shot in the ear after a gunman perched on the roof of a nearby building opened fire at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday — a harrowing incident that the FBI called an assassination attempt.

The shooting, which set the country on edge on the eve of the Republican National Convention, left one spectator dead, two others critically injured, and sparked chaos at the event. As the former president spoke, shots crackled and Trump, hand to his ear, dropped to the ground where he was surrounded by agents before behind hustled off the stage into a waiting car amid the screams and confusion of the crowd.

The shooting, which is being investigated by the FBI overseen by the Justice Department’s National Security Division, as well as the U.S. attorney’s office in Pittsburgh, comes amid a heightened threat environment.

The Secret Service, in a statement, said that a shooter “fired multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside of the rally venue” after which agents “neutralized the shooter, who is now deceased.” The shooter fired as many as eight rounds from an AR-style rifle while perched on a rooftop adjacent to the venue and was 200-300 yards away at the time of the shooting, law enforcement sources told ABC News. It was “surprising” that the suspected gunman was able to get off as many shots as he allegedly did, law enforcement said, adding that the gunman was a “very determined attacker.”

[From ABC News]

I’m including some footage below. I’ll choose my words carefully… before all of this, I would have never believed that the Secret Service would allow their primary to lift his unprotected and already-bloody head and raise a fist to his supporters just seconds after gunfire. The Secret Service agents who covered Trump on the stage gave him enough space to do all that before they even had a handle on who was shooting, whether the shooter had been neutralized or whether there were multiple shooters. It’s odd, that’s all I’ll say.

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Getty.

Last Thursday, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended the ESPYs and Harry received the Pat Tillman Award for Service. He made a beautiful speech and even graciously acknowledged Pat Tillman’s mother Mary, who issued a nasty statement about Harry to the Daily Mail a week prior to the ESPYs. ESPN also put together a really special package on the Invictus Games, and you could just tell that it was a major moment for Invictus and exposing the games to several new audiences. The ESPYs also got their best ratings in five years, and I think partial credit should go towards the decision to feature the Pat Tillman Award package within the first hour of the show. People really were tuning in for Harry, for Serena Williams and for women’s basketball players. Additionally, the videos online of Harry’s speech and the Invictus package have all got millions of views across many platforms.

All of this is good news, of course. The British media’s latest tantrum blew up in their faces once again. Meghan and Harry looked like glamorous humanitarians and Invictus got major exposure on network television in primetime. So of course the British media is still desperately clinging to their f–ked up storylines. The Mail’s Amanda Platell wrote a completely offensive column about how Harry had been nominated for the award for “his relatively brief war record and his role in creating The Invictus Games for injured veterans.” Two tours in Afghanistan is now a “brief war record.” And he FOUNDED the Invictus Games. Platell also claimed it was “brazen” of Harry to reference the bonds between mother and son “after he has spent so much of the past four years breaking the bond between father and son with his petulant attacks on the Royal family.” LMAO. Platell then bizarrely claims that Diana would never have “let Harry trash his own family. And, I’m also certain she’d have seen through mesmerising Meghan Markle in five minutes, recognising her for what she is, a social climbing, money-hungry minx.” In fact, Diana enjoyed trashing the Windsors herself. And the Meghan sh-t is so f–king tired, have they no shame? Jesus.

That wasn’t all – Kate Mansey at the Times wrote an exhaustive screed to prove the British media’s new hypothesis that the Sussexes are “faltering” or “flopping” in America. Because apparently they watched the clip of Harry receiving several standing ovations at the ESPYs and they thought “no, the British audience will believe us when we say that Harry and Meghan are struggling!” Mansey called the award a “publicity crisis for Prince Harry” and wondered aloud: “Yet many are beginning to wonder whether Harry’s popularity across the Atlantic is beginning to wane. If so, can he claw it back?”

An observer based in Hollywood said: “The tide has turned. People in America have been welcoming but they won’t like the way they’ve treated the late Queen and now the King. Mostly, people I speak to say they either don’t like the Sussexes, or don’t care.”

If you’re running a multi-media company, of course, the “don’t care” factor could prove to be the most damaging.

Yet Team Sussex does have reason to remain cheerful. The couple will no doubt be buoyed by some of the voices coming out of support of the couple.

Jake Wood, a US marine and previous winner of the Pat Tillman Award, came to Harry’s defence. While cautious to say that Mary Tillman was entitled to defend her son’s legacy, Wood said he found Harry to be a worthy recipient because of his service in the Army and dedication to helping veterans.

In Britain, the captain of Team UK for the Invictus Games, said that Harry’s sporting competition had “saved lives” by giving hope and purpose to veterans. Stephen Hooper, 40, told The Daily Telegraph: “We wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t for him being there, creating this environment for us. And I can honestly say it’s probably saved lives. It’s bettered lives, it’s saved lives. To have him there, to at least just say a thank you, it means an absolute huge amount. He doesn’t sit in the shadows, he fully injects himself, he wants to be part of it and I think that’s fantastic.”

Yet no amount of praise will counteract the icy blast directed towards the Sussexes from the Windsors back in Britain. On his last visit, the King’s aides were baffled by Harry’s claims that his father was too busy to see him. Those within the Palace have such a faint dotted line into the Sussexes’ office that it was said to be far from clear what Harry’s plans were in the first place. As for his brother, there is no longer any hope that a meeting will take place in the short term.

By the end of the month, the board of the Invictus Games is expected to decide the location of the 2027 games, choosing between bids from Birmingham and Washington DC. At the moment there’s no obvious sign which location would give Harry a better reception. After being given the cold shoulder by his father and brother the last time he was in London, it seems unlikely that either of them will rush to give the games their seal of approval. The Royal British Legion is behind the UK bid and, rightly, some previously untold stories of triumph over adversity will be heard.

And if there’s one thing Hollywood likes, it’s a plucky underdog overcoming the odds to succeed: the ultimate American dream. If the Sussexes are well advised, Harry will realise that the American dream can only be achieved through hard work. If he wants a career as a popular media personality in the US, he could do to well to start the hard graft of winning the public’s trust all over again.

[From The Times]

“An observer based in Hollywood” means a British tabloid reporter based in LA. “The tide has turned. People in America have been welcoming but they won’t like the way they’ve treated the late Queen and now the King.” These dumbf–ks still don’t understand Americans and I’m getting so sick of these awful people Britsplaining what Americans think or feel.

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Getty, screencap courtesy of ESPN.

Last night, Prince William took Prince George to the EURO final in Berlin. The final was between England and Spain. Let’s just say… it’s never coming home! Yeah, Spain won. King Felipe also attended the final and he was seated in the same VIP section as William and George. There were photos of Felipe and William talking, and some hilarious photos of Felipe celebrating Spain’s second goal while William looked like he was having a breakdown.

Even funnier is the fact that William couldn’t run out on his FA President obligations this time, like he did at the EURO final in 2022. After England lost to Italy in 2022, William refused to go down to the pitch and hand out medals or congratulate the Italian team. He was such a huge f–king baby and sore loser, and Italy clocked him for it. Well, because Felipe was there and because William got so much criticism for being a sore loser the last time, William had to go down to the pitch and help hand out the medals. None of the England players wanted his commiseration or his attempts to touch them. Meanwhile, the Spanish players were warmly hugging King Felipe, and they let Felipe hold the trophy and celebrate with them, creating some instantly iconic photos.

It reminds me of what happened at the Women’s World Cup final last year, which was also between Spain and England, with the same result. Queen Letizia flew to Australia for the final and the Spanish team embraced her and wanted to party with her in victory, and they let her hold the trophy too. It was even more notable because FA President William was too lazy to attend that final. He didn’t want to cut his vacation short to fly to Australia.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Back in May, Kansas City Chiefs’ kicker Harrison Butker gave the commencement address at Benedictine College’s graduation. Butker’s speech was awful – he called IVF, surrogacy and abortion part and parcel of “degenerative cultural values” stemming from the “pervasiveness of disorder.” He told all of the female graduates that they’ve been fed “diabolical lies” about careers and living independent lives, and that they should all immediately get married and start having babies. What should have been a celebration of and for the graduating class of 2024 turned into a Christofascist lecture from an incel-adjacent numbnut.

Well, Harrison Butker attended the ESPYs last week, even though it was hosted by Serena Williams, a woman who prioritized her career over marriage and babies until she was well into her 30s. He attended the ESPYs even though the achievements of female athletes were being celebrated alongside the achievements of male athletes. Jesus wept, as did Harrison Butker. But the hardest part of Butker’s night was when Serena, Venus Williams and Quinta Brunson stood on stage and clowned on him:

“So, go ahead and enjoy women’s sports like you would any other sports, because they are sports.” – Venus Williams

“Except you, Harrison Butker. We don’t need you.” – Serena Williams

“At all. Like, ever.” – Quinta Brunson #ESPYS pic.twitter.com/RhvxfiHUWN

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 12, 2024

It was great. I loved the reaction from the audience, and it’s even sweeter knowing that Butker was in the room when they said this. Well, on Friday, Harrison Butker released a statement about that part. He is very upset about what the Black women said about him! Why were they even allowed to speak? Don’t they have to wait for their husbands to give them permission to open their mouths? (Wait until he finds out that Venus isn’t even married!) This was the dumbass statement Butker gave to NBC Sports:

“I thought Mrs. Williams was a great host and applaud her for using her platform to express her beliefs on a variety of topics,” Butker said, via NBCNews.com. “Sports are supposed to be the great unifier and at an event dedicated to celebrating a diverse group of men and women who have accomplished great feats, she used it as an opportunity to disinvite those with whom she disagrees with from supporting fellow athletes.”

Butker’s attempted pivot to victim isn’t as adroit as he had hoped, even without the extra “with.” He disinvited himself. Serena Williams and Quinta Brunson were merely acknowledging it. Looking at it more broadly, Butker didn’t use the situation as an opportunity to explain that his words from May were in some way misunderstood or misinterpreted. His acknowledgment that Serena Williams is someone “with whom she disagrees with” tends to confirm that he said what he meant and he meant what he said.

[From NBC Sports]

That was NBC Sports editorializing and basically calling Butker a whiny little turd. “She used it as an opportunity to disinvite those with whom she disagrees with from supporting fellow athletes.” Serena told a misogynist that women athletes don’t need his attention, time or support. It was an excellent clapback by Serena for all of the dumb and divisive sh-t Butker said in his commencement address. “Sports are supposed to be the great unifier.” Graduation ceremonies are also supposed to be a unifying experience, but Harrison Butker chose to use his platform to denigrate the young female graduates and their professional and personal aspirations. (Sidenote: Serena is tight with Taylor Swift, who is dating Butker’s Chiefs teammate Travis Kelce… this could get even messier.)

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.

In October 2021, Alec Baldwin accidentally killed his coworker Halyna Hutchins on the New Mexico set of Rust. He was rehearsing a scene with what he thought was a prop gun with no live ammunition. Apparently, the armorer handed him a real gun with live ammunition, and the whole thing went sideways, killing Halyna and injuring Joel Souza. For years, there’s been back-and-forth about what to call this legally – manslaughter, murder, negligence, or a complete accident. For what it’s worth, I thought the armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was at fault (and she’s already been convicted of involuntary manslaughter) and that Alec Baldwin was guilty of – at most – criminal negligence as the producer of Rust. But even then, it seemed like a pretty difficult case to try. Which is why there was so much back-and-forth about the charges. Last year, the New Mexico prosecutor dropped the involuntary manslaughter charges… and then a short time later, the charges were brought back. The trial was about to begin next week. But now the case has been dismissed:

In a stunning turn of events, the judge in Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter trial dismissed the case Friday, agreeing with the actor’s lawyers that prosecutors hid evidence that may have been linked to the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the Western movie “Rust” in 2021.

“There is no way for the court to right this wrong,” said 1st Judicial District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer. “The sanction of dismissal is the only warranted remedy.” The dismissal was with prejudice, meaning the involuntary manslaughter case against the actor cannot be filed again.

Baldwin, 66, sobbed and put his face in his hands as Sommer announced her decision. He then embraced his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, as lawyers and spectators started filing out of the courtroom. Baldwin could have been sentenced to up to 18 months in prison if the jurors had unanimously agreed he committed the felony. The actor was rehearsing a scene at the Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe County on Oct. 21, 2021, when the prop revolver he was holding went off, killing Hutchins, 42, and wounding director Joel Souza. The actor had pleaded not guilty. He claims that he was not aware the revolver contained a live round and that it discharged accidentally after he followed instructions to point it toward Hutchins.

Baldwin’s lawyers asserted that the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office took possession of live rounds of ammunition as evidence but did not record them in the official case file or reveal their existence to the actor’s defense team. Kari Morrissey, the special prosecutor in the case, insisted the disputed ammunition was not linked to the case or hidden from Baldwin’s lawyers. Morrissey said after the ruling that she was disappointed by the court’s dismissal and disagreed, but respects the decision.

“I believe the importance of the evidence was misconstrued by the defense attorneys,” Morrissey told reporters outside court.

[From NBC News]

So, the case was dismissed on a technicality. It would have been difficult to get a conviction anyway, in my opinion, and this whole situation has gotten pretty ridiculous. Halyna Hutchins’ death was an absolute tragedy and it should have never happened. There was absolutely no reason for any actor to handle a real gun with live ammunition. But I always thought that the drive to criminally charge Baldwin was partially politically motivated and partly because he’s… Alec Baldwin, you know? There was so much hesitation to say: this was a god-awful accident on Alec’s part.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Three weekends ago, Princess Anne tangled with a horse and the horse won. She was walking alone on her estate, Gatcombe Park, when something happened with a horse. Anne’s family likely found her unconscious on the ground, bleeding from a significant head injury. She spent five days and nights in the hospital and she’s been resting and recuperating at home ever since. But on Friday, Anne finally did a public event. Now we know why they had to hide her away for weeks too – she had significant bruising and probably a lot of swelling on her face. You can still see the bruising too – she probably had two black eyes, at least that’s what it looks like to me. Poor Anne.

Princess Anne is speaking out about her health for the first time since she sustained a concussion and minor injuries in a horse-related incident at her country home.

On July 12, the Princess Royal, 73, marked her return to royal duties, making her first public appearance since she was hospitalized last month.

During her visit to the Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) National Championships at Hartpury University and Hartpury College in Gloucestershire, Anne shared that she “can’t remember a single thing” about the incident, which is believed to have been caused by an impact from a horse’s head or legs.

Helena Vega Lozano, chair of RDA UK, shared that as soon as Anne exited the car, she stated, “I can’t remember a single thing about it,” reported the Daily Mail.

Despite her recent health setback, King Charles’ sister appeared to be in her element in the equestrian setting, where she joined RDA supporters in the arena, presented awards and met winners.

[From People]

I remember there was one point, circa 2020, where Queen Elizabeth II suddenly looked and seemed quite frail and there was no going back. That’s sort of what this feels like too – all of a sudden, Anne seems mortal and she seems a bit unsteady. They let her sit down for part of this event too, which is nice. I wonder if her memory loss is much more significant than not remembering what happened to her. In any case, I predict that Anne’s schedule will be whittled down for the next three months or so until they figure out if there’s been any lasting damage.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.