For months, I’ve been trying to put my finger on why Sabrina Carpenter looks and feels sort of familiar in the celebrity world. I think I’ve got it – looks-wise, she’s really reminiscent of a young Hayden Panetierre. Gossip-wise, Sabrina is following an Ariana Grande path. Does that make sense? It makes sense to me. Anyway, it is arguably the “summer of Sabrina.” I would argue that Kendrick Lamar’s Drake-diss tracks were much more important to the summer music scene, but sure, Sabrina’s two singles have been everywhere in recent months. I prefer “Espresso,” which is super-catchy. “Please Please Please” annoys the crap out of me. So, Sabrina covers the latest issue of Variety and they did a pretty decent profile of her, introducing her to people (like me) who really don’t know much about her. Some highlights:

Her child-actor years: “I got an agent — the same one I have now — and he was very realistic. He said, ‘We’ll send you out for things — no promise that they’re even going to see your tape.’ But then, not to brag, I booked one of the first things I ever went for”: an episode of “Law & Order” in which Carpenter played a victim of abuse by a sex-trafficking ring — at the ripe old age of 11. “It was such a sad plotline. I was just fascinated by all of it. I had spent so much time with adults that I just knew how to talk to them. Now all my friends are my age, but when I was younger, I was always working with adults. I just always knew what to say and how to act.”

Her early albums, made when she was a kid: “For the people who love those early records and listen to them, I love you for that. But I personally feel a sense of separation from them, largely due to the shift in who I am as a person and as an artist, pre-pandemic and post-pandemic.”

The love triangle: On it, Carpenter references the narrative around a Gen-Z love triangle allegedly involving her and fellow Disney stars Joshua Bassett and Olivia Rodrigo. Although the full story has never been revealed, all three singers have released songs inspired by the situation — including Rodrigo’s 2021 breakthrough hit, “Drivers License” — and the ensuing scrutiny from fans and the media. For her part, Carpenter sings in “Because I Liked a Boy,” “Now I’m a homewrecker, I’m a slut / I got death threats fillin’ up semi trucks.” (She declines to discuss the situation further.)

Her friendship with Taylor Swift & getting permission to do a Skims campaign: “Taylor is a rock star! She’s just such a gangster with all of it. No matter what people are saying, everything that I’ve ever seen her tackle, she’s done so with grace. The posts about me having to ‘ask for her permission’ — no. She’s one of my best, best friends, and we grab dinner or text and catch up like you would with your best friend.” She nods to the mentorship she’s received from Swift and others as she grapples with her own rapidly rising fame. “It’s so cool for me to get a perspective on this whole process from her and the community of artists that I feel I’m close to — to get advice from them on stuff that you can’t just ask the internet. We’re always playing each other our [music], and whenever I start to think, ‘Maybe I’ll get on Twitter and say something about this,’ I’m always like, ‘Maybe I’ll write a song instead.’”

Dating Bary Keoghan, who stars in the “Please Please Please” video: “He loved the song. He’s obsessed with the lyrics, and I’m so grateful for that. I don’t want to sound biased, but I think he’s one of the best actors of this generation. So getting to see him on the screen with my song as the soundtrack made the video better and all the more special.”

Sabrina is a Taurus: “Barry’s a Libra, and so is my sister. They’re very different, but they have similarities. I tend to gravitate towards Leos as well… My dad’s a Capricorn, so maybe that’s not the direction for my future.”

[From Variety]

She’s 25 years old, in case you’re wondering. She comes across like so many former Disney actors – like she’s used to being the precocious kid in the room, the only kid surrounded by adults. I still say the Disney/child-actor system leads to a huge amount of dysfunction in adulthood, but I will also admit that it seems to be getting better? Like, Disney is no longer so strict with their image-maintenance of child stars and it’s easier for people like Sabrina and Olivia Rodrigo to just transition into adult stardom or adult music careers.

This week’s Variety cover story:

Summer of Sabrina Carpenter: Hitting No. 1 on the Charts, Getting Advice From ‘Best Friend’ Taylor Swift and What Barry Keoghan Really Thinks About Her Lyricshttps://t.co/sp9osTSpa3 pic.twitter.com/N7iCKRwVGq

— Variety (@Variety) August 6, 2024

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Nothing quite makes me feel as old as seeing my son go off to college, but seeing celebrity kids and viral Internet kids grow up is a close second. The Apparently kid, Noah Ritter, became a viral sensation in 2014 after a quick interview at the county fair in Wayne County, Pennsylvania. Noah, who was there with his Grandpa Jack, told WNEP-TV about his experience on the super slide, using the word “apparently” so many times it became a meme. He said, “And apparently, I’ve never been on live television before. I don’t watch the news, because I’m a kid and apparently Grandpa… just gives me the remote after we watch the Powerball.” He went on to say that he was “scared half to death” by the super slide. It was adorable and Noah is full of personality. Well Noah is now 15(!) and is still very close to his Grandpa Jack. The two went back to the Wayne County fair together to recreate his viral moment and talk about what they’re doing now, ten years after his instant fame. This news clip and story were so heartwarming to me! You can see the video below, and here’s People’s writeup:

Over the weekend, now-15-year-old Noah Ritter once again appeared on local Pennsylvania ABC affiliate WNEP to recreate his classic viral video at the Wayne County Fair.

On Sunday, Aug. 4, the outlet shared a video of the teen reciting a few of the iconic lines that he used to steal the show during his accidental monologue at the very same location a decade ago.

“And apparently, I’ve never been on live television before,” he said, imitating his 5-year-old voice. “Grandpa gives me the remote every time [sic] we watch the Powerball”

When asked how it feels to say those words into a WNEP microphone again all these years later, Ritter said that “it feels pretty good.”

“I feel nostalgic about it,” he added. “It makes me reminisce about being here in this exact spot 10 years ago.”

Ritter and partner in crime “Grandpa Jack” also reflected on the days that followed Ritter’s rise to fame, in which they frequently flew to California so Ritter could appear on The Ellen Degeneres Show.

Among the stars he met back in the day because of his hit video were Jennifer Garner, Sofia Vergara, Jim Carrey, Bryce Dallas Howard, and even Bill Clinton.

Ritter and his grandfather still post videos together on his YouTube channel, but the teen has less free time because of his busy high school schedule. “Now I’m juggling YouTube, school, football, track [and] a bunch of other stuff,” Ritter told WNEP. “I’m going into my sophomore year, getting ready to drive.”

[From People]

I didn’t realize that Noah had been on Ellen a couple of times and that he’d also been a child judge on the reality series The Toy Box (which I completely forgot about). This was just a quick news segment so they didn’t get into it, but it sounded like that time was grueling for him. His grandpa said that Noah had to film eight hours a day and get four hours of schooling. The show aired in 2017 and 2018, and Noah was on the only judge who appeared on both seasons, when he was aged seven to eight. How is that legal to do to a kid that age?!

Noah is involved in sports at school including football and track and is going to be in 10th grade next year. Grandpa Jack is now a widower and spends his time with Noah. They love watching movies together, which they review on Noah’s YouTube Channel. I watched their review for The Fall Guy, which I completely disagree with since I loved it and they disliked it, but it’s cute seeing them together. I’m so glad Noah is doing well and that he’s still best friends with his Grandpa Jack.

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One of the very first things that children are taught in school, at home, etc. is the “Alphabet Song.” Sung to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” the “Alphabet Song” is a classic tool for teaching the building blocks of literacy. In America, everyone knows it, it’s universal! Apparently, the latest trend in education is to teach a newer version of the song. This version breaks up the rhythm of saying the letters of the alphabet in a way that’s different than we’re used to. Instead of the usual rhyming scheme that contains the infamous “HIJK / LMNOP,” the new way of saying it breaks up the letters differently and eliminates the word “and” in between Y and Z. The new breakdown is as follows: “ABCDEFG / HIJKLMN / OPQ / RST / UVW / XYZ.”

An elementary school teacher has confirmed schools are teaching a different version of the “Alphabet Song” and why they are doing it. Alphabet knowledge and the understanding of letter forms, names and corresponding sounds represents the crucial foundation blocks of emergent literacy in children.

A 2004 longitudinal comparative analysis published in the Journal of Educational Psychology highlighted how a child’s knowledge of these letter names and sounds serves as an accurate predictor of their later reading and spelling abilities.

That’s what makes something like the “Alphabet Song,” sung to the familiar tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” such an important tool in starting to develop those skills and understanding. Rachel, an elementary school teacher from Atlanta, Georgia, who posts TikToks under the handle teacherrachelsorsel, is a keen advocate of the song’s use in her classroom.

Rachel, who asked that her surname not be included, told Newsweek: “When kids are first learning to read, they haven’t yet developed the ‘alphabetic principle,’ which is understanding that those squiggles we call letters each have different names and spell sounds. Songs make learning ‘sticky,’ so the alphabet song is a helpful way to introduce, learn, and practice the beginnings of this concept.”

Now in her fifth year as a first grade teacher, Rachel specializes in structured literacy, literacy intervention, and dyslexia so, when she saw a tweet doing the rounds explaining that the way kids sing the “Alphabet Song” had changed, she was perfectly placed to explain exactly why in a video posted to her TikTok account.

The original post, shared by a user writing under the handle mostly_cheese, read: “My 5-year-old twins have informed me I sing the alphabet wrong. Tune is the same, but the new rendition their teacher prefers breaks down as follows:
ABCDEFG / HIJKLMN / OPQ / RST / UVW / XYZ.”

“One of the first assessments I do when I work with a struggling reader is to have them write the alphabet for me,” she said. “So many of them sing the song to help them get through all of the letters, and let me tell you the amount of kids that get so stumped when they hit ‘LMNOP’ is baffling.”

Rachel noted many kids also struggle with letters at the end of the alphabet because of the “and” between y and z in the traditional song and that represents a fundamental flaw in the old version of the song.

“If students aren’t hearing all of the letter names, there is something missing conceptually,” she said.

When Rachel attempted to explain this on her video, she said many commenting said that the problem was down to the fact kids were not “enunciating all the letters” but she rejects that notion.

“Kids are still developing phonemic awareness, which is the ability to hear, isolate, and manipulate individual sounds in language,” she said. “Even a perfectly enunciated traditional alphabet song may still be confusing to kids.”

Ultimately, when it comes to the new version of the song versus the old, in her experience most kids are “flexible” when it comes to learning. “Kids are really receptive to this practice, and when you explain why the change was made, the majority of kids I work with say ‘Oh that makes so much sense.’ Even kids who don’t necessarily struggle hear this version and explanation and understand the need for the change, noting peers or siblings that say ‘Ellamenoh’ for LMNO!” she said. “If kids were taught a more developmentally appropriate version in the first place, some of this early intervention and reteaching may not be needed.”

Though she noted many commenting on her video insisted they had “turned out fine” despite learning the old version of the song, she is firmly in favor of this more effective approach.

“While learning the alphabet song does not equate to reading, rapid automatic naming of all letters is a strong early predictor of literacy skills. If kids are struggling with the alphabet, then of course they are going to struggle with reading,” Rachel said. “Making changes to the way we teach foundational skills is extremely helpful to lay the groundwork for the trickier parts of teaching and learning reading.”

[From Newsweek]

So…thoughts on the new version of the song? Not to sound like a fuddy duddy but it sounds so weird to me! I suppose if you sing anything with enough repetition, it will catch on, but did it really need to be changed? I can get behind some of the other changes made in schools, like describing sitting with your legs crossed on the ground as “criss cross applesauce” but the ABC song is a GD generational staple! I am all for progress in the classroom to keep up with the times, though, especially if a previously unaddressed, widespread issue is finally getting the attention it deserves. Teachers out there, was “LMNOP” really f-cking kids up that much? Isn’t this where visual learning also comes into play? I would love to hear if there is more on-the-ground educational value behind this change. If there is, then I will adjust my alphabet song reciting accordingly.

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Jenny Slate wore Rodarte to the It Ends With Us premiere. This is bad, but why is the theme “clashing patterns” AND florals for the promotion? [RCFA]
Who will play Tim Walz on SNL? [Buzzfeed]
Taylor Swift unsurprisingly leads the VMA noms. [Hollywood Life]
Zendaya & Robert Pattinson in a movie together? Yes! [LaineyGossip]
Kit Harrington is back! He attended the Industry premiere. [Go Fug Yourself]
Italian swimmer Thomas Ceccon is so, so pretty. [Socialite Life]
Elon Musk is such a f–king idiot. [Pajiba]
Charli XCX mashed up with Fleetwood Mac. [OMG Blog]
Charles Barkley is back… after he announced his retirement. [Just Jared]
Netflix is discontinuing their basic digital plan. [Seriously OMG]
Evangelical nutjobs like Jill Duggar are still freaking out about the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony. These people are awful. [Starcasm]

Some days, I genuinely wonder if the overwhelming hatred, transphobia and bigotry we see in this country boils down to hatred of women and the “need” to oppress women at every level. It’s a throughline, that’s all I’ll say. I bring that up because one of the first big attacks from the Trump-Vance campaign on Governor Tim Walz was that… as governor, Walz mandated free tampons and pads in public schools. The Trump-Vance campaign is calling him “Tampon Tim.” Get it? Because it’s insulting to say that a man tries to provide a service to menstruating public school students. It’s all funny to them, that people menstruate. It’s a political jab to them. They think this is a winning strategy.

As part of their effort to portray Tim Walz, the new Democratic vice-presidential candidate, as a far-left liberal, the Trump campaign attacked the Minnesota governor on Tuesday for signing a bill last year that provides access to menstrual products for transgender students.

At issue is broadly inclusive language in the law, which states that products like pads, tampons and other products used for menstruation “must be available to all menstruating students in restrooms regularly used by students in grades 4 to 12.” Republican state lawmakers in Minnesota had tried — and failed — to amend that bill so that it would apply only to “female restrooms,” though some Republicans went on to vote for the final version of bill. Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, said in an interview on Tuesday on Fox News that the law, among other policies seen as supportive of transgender rights, was “a threat to women’s health.”

“As a woman, I think there is no greater threat to our health than leaders who support gender-transition surgeries for young minors, who support putting tampons in men’s bathrooms in public schools,” Ms. Leavitt said. “Those are radical policies that Tim Walz supports. He actually signed a bill to do that.”

State Representative Sandra Feist, a Democrat and the chief author of the bill, said in an interview that it was important for her and the student activists who pushed for the change that transgender students were able to access menstrual products without having to ask for them.

“I actually received emails,” Ms. Feist said. “From trans students, parents, teachers, librarians, custodians from across the country, talking about how they were — or that they knew — trans students who faced these barriers and needed these products, and how much it meant to them that they would have that access, and also that we were standing up for them.”

[From The NY Times]

This is like the “Walz ensured free school lunches” thing – it’s about equality and supporting the community and supporting young people. The legislators of Minnesota listened to young people and educators who said they needed this and they made it happen. Kids need access to pads and tampons in school. It’s a global issue, not just a national issue – period poverty is such a fundamental issue, the United Nations and multiple NGOs are all trying to tackle it and have been for years. It’s one of the issues at the heart of girls’ education globally. And the Trump campaign is like “hahaha Tampon Tim, it’s funny that kids have periods.”

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Ever since President Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, the vibes have been immaculate. I know there’s been a ton of work happening behind the scenes to ensure that the vibes are immaculate, to ensure that the Harris-Walz campaign is a juggernaut and a freight train, but damn, it’s been amazing. Yesterday, Kamala Harris chose Minnesota’s Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. Democrats across the board love this pick. Meaning, Walz is someone whose folksy demeanor and relatable background appeals to working-class Dems and center-right Dems. Walz’s actual policy background appeals to liberal and progressive Dems.

On Tuesday, Harris and Walz did their first rally together, at a jam-packed arena in Philadelphia, where they were introduced by another VP contender, Pennsylvania Governor Shapiro. I’m glad she didn’t choose Shapiro – and I’ll write more about that in another post – for various reasons, but mostly I’m happy that Democrats have such an effective and popular governor in Pennsylvania for hopefully years to come. Once Walz and Harris came out, they brought down the house and gave us an excellent preview of why the Trump-Vance campaign has been sh-tting themselves for weeks.

“Thank you for bringing back the joy.” This is wonderful. The Harris-Walz campaign doesn’t have to run to the right or the left – their positions and policies are supported by the majority of America, meaning this campaign gets to run an overwhelmingly positive, forward-looking campaign in the final three months of the cycle. Which isn’t to say that Walz didn’t land some very effective punches at Trump and Vance. People are going crazy about Walz’s dig on Vance the alleged couch f–ker (many are saying): “I can’t wait to debate the guy. That is, if he’s willing to get off the couch and show up.” Well well well!

Additionally, after the Harris campaign confirmed her choice of Tim Walz, ActBlue had one of its biggest donation days in history, with $2.5 million in donations in ONE HOUR. They raised around $10 million in about five hours. Insane.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

This situation has now become insanely complicated, so I’m just going to do a broad-strokes summary of how we got here. MyKayla Skinner was an Olympic gymnast who won a silver medal in Tokyo. She’s now retired and having babies, and she’s also a self-styled influencer type with a very glossy social media. Before the Paris Olympics – and after she watched the US Olympic trials – she decided to chime in on the current state of Team USA’s gymnastics squad. She said sh-t like “Besides Simone [Biles], I feel like the talent and the depth just isn’t like what it used to be…A lot of girls don’t work as hard….The girls just don’t have the work ethic.” She also made some disgusting comments about why “the girls” don’t have a work ethic – she thinks it’s because the coaches can’t be mean and aggressive towards girls and women anymore, thanks to… safety measures put into place after Larry Nassar and all of the horrendous sh-t that went down at the Karolyi Ranch.

The thing is, Simone Biles has spent years, alongside Nassar’s hundreds of victims, trying to get accountability and huge changes from US Gymnastics. It’s worked too, and there have been huge changes and Simone deserves a lot of credit. After MyKayla’s bonkers YouTube video, she got a ton of backlash and she ended up deleting the video and she made an apology. Simone and some of the other gymnasts took a couple of minor swipes at her and then they headed to Paris, where Team USA won gold in the team competition. Afterwards, Simone posted a photo with the team and wrote “lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions.” A pitch-perfect subtweet, she didn’t even mention MyKayla’s name or tag her.

Well, guess who’s in her feelings and begging Simone Biles to stop cyberbullying?? This is one of the most thin-skinned Karen things I’ve ever f–king seen in my life. While death threats and threats of harm are always unacceptable, in the immortal words of Katt Williams, you shouldn’t have been talking sh-t. Simone had every right to clapback on MyKayla. Simone had every right to go even further – what MyKayla said and suggested about the coaches needing to be more “aggressive” with little girls and young women was despicable. It went against everything that Simone and the Nassar survivors have been painstakingly removing from the sport. And to address Simone personally? GMAFB.

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A post shared by MyKayla Skinner (Harmer) (@mykaylaskinner2016)

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, MyKayla’s IG.

Thoughts on Cate Blanchett’s Canadian tuxedo? It’s Brandon Maxwell! [RCFA]
They’re making a movie called Killing Gawker? And Ben Affleck is attached to play Hulk Hogan? Who’s playing Peter Thiel? [JustJared]
I loved that Simone Biles & Jordan Chiles “bowed down” to Rebeca Andrade at the Olympic medal ceremony. What a moment!! [Hollywood Life]
I maintain that the balance beam was cursed or damaged! [Buzzfeed]
Julia Stiles is still around! [LaineyGossip]
What’s going on with House of the Dragon? [Jezebel]
Vince Vaughn is possibly a better version of Joe Rogan. [Pajiba]
More on Zac Efron’s hospitalization. [Socialite Life]
Simone Biles was all about gymnastics from a young age. [Seriously OMG]
Gillian Anderson explains why she kissed David Duchovny first at the Emmys, back in the 1990s. Her answer is funny. [OMG Blog]

Quick question: does anyone else think that Tim Walz looks like a jolly, fulfilled version of Dick Cheney? Walz really has some Cheney angles. Anyway, congrats to all of us, because Kamala Harris has chosen Tim Walz as her running mate. He’s a two-term governor of Minnesota, a former Congressman and a former public school teacher. He and his wife Gwen have two children, Hope and Gus, and they have one cat and one dog. Which reminds me… if Kamala wins, do you think she and Doug will get a dog or cat? They better. Here’s how WaPo announced Harris’s selection:

Vice President Harris has chosen Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate, opting for a former high school teacher and Midwestern Democrat to complete a newly assembled presidential ticket, according to three people familiar with the pick, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a decision that is not yet public.

The choice of Walz, 60, creates a ticket that many Democrats have said would be politically beneficial. Harris, 59, who is Black and Indian American and spent much of her career in deep-blue California, chose from a list of finalists populated by White men, including Walz, who have represented more competitive swaths of the country.

The selection culminates an increasingly intensive process in recent days, as the Harris team narrowed down the prospects and various factions of the Democratic Party lobbied for their favorites. On the weekend, Harris interviewed three finalists: Walz, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly.

Compared with some of the other prospects who Harris considered as potential running mates, Walz is less well-known and has faced less scrutiny on the national stage.

A second-term governor and chair of the Democratic Governors Association, Walz does not hail from a traditional battleground state — Minnesota has supported a Republican presidential candidate only once since 1960. But Walz’s credentials as a military veteran and gun owner who previously represented a Republican-leaning, rural part of Minnesota in Congress could help Harris appeal to working-class White voters who have turned away from Democrats and helped fuel Donald Trump’s political rise.

[From WaPo]

WaPo mentions several times that Walz isn’t widely known outside of Minnesota, but the selection of Walz shows that he was more than willing to introduce himself on a national stage and to do so on his terms. Out of all of the men on Harris’s shortlist, Walz did the most to publicly audition for Harris and the party, repeatedly appearing on cable news shows and playing up his happy-warrior Democratic credentials and making Democratic Party arguments in a folksy, regular-guy way. Notably – for Washington – Walz is not a product of elite Ivy League schools either. He went to state schools and public schools. Walz is going to do very well on the national campaign trail, and his selection is very popular with unions too.

Here is your Vice Presidential pet report. Reported VP pick Tim Walz has a dog named Scout and a cat named Afton. pic.twitter.com/X5H7Dcroav

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) August 6, 2024

Photos courtesy of Tim Walz’s Instagram.

Here are some photos of King Charles in Scotland over the weekend. He attended the Mey Highland Games. He wore a kilt and appeared to be having a wonderful time. Charles and many of the royals have already started their summer holidays. Princess Anne and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh all made appearances at the Paris Olympics, but those appearances are cutting into their holidays. Prince William and Kate haven’t been seen in nearly a month and they’re reportedly in Norfolk.

All of which to say, no one from the Windsor clan made any move to meet with the families of the Southport stabbing last week. Three little girls were killed at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class. The assailant was born in Wales, but misinformation spread like wildfire across social media and the British media. Basically, every racist in Britain has decided to use the murder of these three little girls to stage some of the biggest riots Britain has seen in decades. The violence is going one way – white nationalists are attacking people of color, they’re setting fire to hotels and causing a massive amount of destruction.

Rioters set fire and broke into hotels used to shelter asylum seekers in northern England on Sunday, as the country grapples with the worst social unrest it has seen in years.

The violence was triggered by the stabbing of three young girls in Southport, northwest England, earlier in the week. The far right has seized on and spread a wave of disinformation, including false claims the attacker was an immigrant, to mobilize anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant protests. Police say the suspect was born in Britain.

Footage geolocated by CNN shows protesters on Sunday vandalizing and setting ablaze two Holiday Inns in northern England: one in Tamworth, which had previously been criticized by a local politician for housing asylum seekers, and another in Rotherham.

In Tamworth, protesters threw projectiles, smashed windows, and started fires, injuring one police officer, according to local authorities. Meanwhile in Rotherham, protesters threw wooden planks, used fire extinguishers against officers, set fire to objects near the hotel, and smashed windows to gain entry to the building, police said.

The Rotherham hotel at the time was “full of terrified residents and staff,” according to a statement by Assistant Chief Constable Lindsey Butterfield.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has condemned the weekend’s violent protests, which saw at least 147 people arrested since Saturday night. Those involved in violence will face the full force of the law, he warned.

“People in this country have a right to be safe and yet, we’ve seen Muslim communities targeted, attacks on mosques, other minority communities singled out, Nazi salutes in the street, attacks on the police, wanton violence alongside racist rhetoric. So no, I won’t shy away from calling it what it is: Far-right thuggery,” Starmer said from Downing Street on Sunday. Turning to the violent scenes in Rotherham, Starmer described “marauding gangs intent on law-breaking” and emphasized that violent rioters do not “represent our country.”

[From CNN]

What a way for Starmer to start his government, right? Downing Street has been trying to manage the crisis and I completely understand why the riots and hate crimes are a purely political issue, and an issue which should be managed by Downing Street. That being said, the Windsors’ silence is very loud, isn’t it? While the palaces issued statements about the Southport stabbing, no one from the Windsor clan met with the families of the murdered girls? Not one “let’s all come together” statement from the king amid mass rioting and a surge of violent hate crimes and arson? It reminds me of when Londoners staged a Black Lives Matter march… which was attacked by white nationalists, all while QEII threw herself a birthday parade in Windsor.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.