As soon as Donald Trump was elected, he extended Secret Service protection to his favorite child, Ivanka Trump, and her family, which includes Jared Kushner and their children. Ivanka and Jared have the kind of Secret Service entourage one would expect for a First Lady or a VP, not the baby-whispering a–hole daughter. Javanka moved into a rented home in DC’s elite Kalorama neighborhood, and the Secret Service tried to make the property as secure as possible, but they ran into issues almost immediately because they needed to set up a command post and some facilities where the agents could use a restroom, sit down, get a briefing, etc. Instead, Jared and Ivanka refused to allow the agents access to the six-and-a-half bathrooms in their home. So the detail basically went on an expensive multi-year ordeal just so the agents assigned to Javanka could pee.

Many U.S. Secret Service agents have stood guard in Washington’s elite Kalorama neighborhood, home over the years to Cabinet secretaries and former presidents. Those agents have had to worry about death threats, secure perimeters and suspicious strangers. But with the arrival of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, they had a new worry: finding a toilet.

Instructed not to use any of the half-dozen bathrooms inside the couple’s house, the Secret Service detail assigned to President Trump’s daughter and son-in-law spent months searching for a reliable restroom to use on the job, according to neighbors and law enforcement officials. After resorting to a porta-potty, as well as bathrooms at the nearby home of former president Barack Obama and the not-so-nearby residence of Vice President Pence, the agents finally found a toilet to call their own. But it came at a cost to U.S. taxpayers. Since September 2017, the federal government has been spending $3,000 a month — more than $100,000 to date — to rent a basement studio, with a bathroom, from a neighbor of the Kushner family.

A White House spokesperson denied that Trump and Kushner restricted agents from their 5,000-square-foot home, with its six bedrooms and 6.5 bathrooms, and asserted that it was the Secret Service’s decision not to allow the protective detail inside. That account is disputed by a law enforcement official familiar with the situation, who said the agents were kept out at the family’s request.

[From WaPo]

The full WaPo story has details about how agents on the Javanka detail spent months stopping by the Obamas’ home to use the facilities set up by the Obama team. The agents also tried to make it to the Pences’ residence. There was a Porto-potty in front of the Javanka home for a short time before the neighbors protested. Finally, the solution was that the Secret Service had to rent a basement apartment across the street, just to pee. And while Jared and Ivanka’s spokesperson threw a fit to the Washington Post about this story, WaPo had the details from “two law enforcement officials,” both of whom said “the bathrooms inside the Trump/Kushner home were declared off-limits to the people protecting them from the beginning. One official did not know the reason for this restriction, while the other said it was instigated by the couple.”

People are comparing it to that plotline from The Help, where Bryce Dallas Howard’s character goes on a rampage about “the help” using the bathrooms of white people. I don’t know, I get the comparison and all, but mostly I just think this is Ivanka being a clueless a–hole and not understanding what the Secret Service needed to protect her. It’s all so wasteful and ignorant.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Donald Trump is losing everything. I guess that is what losers do, lose. After losing the election in November, all of Trump’s creditors have now started calling him for their money since he owes over $430 million. PGA has cancelled their 2022 golf championship at Trump’s golf course, Lehigh University has rescinded Trumps honorary degree, Twitter and Facebook have kicked Trump off of their platforms, Parler cannot be downloaded and Trump was impeached for the second time by the House.

To make matters worse, now Macaulay Culkin has thrown his support behind digitally replacing Trump in his cameo in Home Alone 2. Culkin responded to a tweet about a petition replacing Trump in Home Alone 2 with an older/current version of Culkin. The petition has received 654 signers so far and that number is still growing. Below are a few more details from The Guardian:

Culkin replied to a tweet that asked “petition to digitally replace trump in ‘home alone 2′ with 40-year-old macaulay culkin” with the single word: “Sold.” Culkin then followed up by responding “Bravo” to another tweet that contained a comic edit of Trump replaced by empty space.

Trump appears briefly in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York when Culkin, as its hero Kevin, asks him for directions to the lobby of the Plaza hotel, which Trump owned at the time. In an interview with Insider in December 2020, the film’s director Chris Columbus said that Trump “did bully his way into the movie” by insisting he get a role in the film in return for allowing shooting to take place in the hotel.

Columbus added that Trump’s cameo was a popular move: “When we screened it for the first time the oddest thing happened – people cheered when Trump showed up on screen. So I said to my editor, ‘Leave him in the movie. It’s a moment for the audience.’”

[From The Guardian]

I mean the hits just keep on coming, Trump and his cronies keep on losing and I am here for it. Trump is also big mad and petty. He won’t even concede that he did NOT win an Emmy for The Apprentice. Donnie just refuses to accept defeat even when it is slapping him in the face with a ten pound weight. All the rats are jumping the sinking Titanic. They believe Donnie was a demigod that could never fall. They were all wrong and are paying for it.

I loved that Macaulay is on board for replacing Trump in such an iconic movie. I am sure Trump is balling up his tiny fists and having a sh*t fit that the little kid from Home Alone is cancelling him. Let everyone turn against him and hang him out to dry. All I can say is 2021 ain’t having the bullsh*t and our girl Karma is swift. Donnie’s desperation has become great theatre and we are only in the first two weeks of 2021. At this point the only thing I want to see now besides Donnie being escorted from the White House, is Donnie in an orange jumpsuit behind some metal. I for one will not miss the orange man and I hope that all the pain and trauma Donnie has caused over his lifetime will make him the most infamous president in history. Since Donnie craves celebrity and praise so much, the irony of his name and image being scrubbed from film would be a sort of sweet justice.

Sold.

— Macaulay Culkin (@IncredibleCulk) January 13, 2021

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photos credit: Avalon.red and via Instagram and Twitter

In December we talked about the fact that Post Malone was establishing himself as a Croc design genius. His collaborations with the soft clog company have been wildly successful, selling out within hours of being released. So far, he’s launched five collections with who knows how many more to come. Part of Post’s promotion for his lines is to give away several thousands of pairs to fans prior to the shoes official release. At the time of his last launch, I wondered if there might be a reissue of the Post Malone X Crocs Duet Max Clog II, given its popularity. Not yet, but Post did have another giveaway. This time, it was 10,000 pairs and they were all sent to front line workers at 70 different hospitals through the organization Musicians on Call.

Frontline workers across the country are getting their hands on some Crocs many others cannot.

Musicians on Call, an organization which brings live and recorded music to the bedside of patients in health care facilities, has announced that Grammy-nominated artist Post Malone is gifting 10,000 pairs of his sold out Duet Max Clog II Crocs to frontline workers at 70 hospitals across the country.

The nonprofit shared photos of some of the workers with the hard to come by shoes on their social media accounts.

[From CNN]

*Insert clap gifs* Ultimately, it’s the comfort of the Croc footwear that’s important because these poor frontline workers are on their feet all freaking day. They received some designer, sold out and frankly, very cute footwear. We should definitely show support for those working in the battle against COVID. It must mean the world to these folks to receive items that they can not only use, but maybe wouldn’t indulge in for themselves. Like with Caroline Benzel and her dog Loki passing out care packages, special treats to make this tragic time a little better. And in the case of Post’s Crocs, it’s a lot more than a little something because no one else can get their hands on them. These pairs were likely being held for something else, probably industry-promotion related, and Post and Crocs made the decision to redirect them to a more worthy recipient – good for them. Post has not responded to requests for comment yet. Everything about COVID sucks, but it’s nice to see who steps up in time of crisis.

Also, this Musicians on Call group sounds amazing.

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Dolly Parton is the hero we need. Last year she donated $1 million to research that helped develop the Moderna covid vaccine. Her Imagination Library sends a million books a month to children all over the world. Along with being an angel of mercy, Dolly is a badas* country girl from Tennessee who can make men cry when she sings acapella. Let’s just say I am fan. I grew up listening to Dolly at home and watching her in 9 to 5 and I have always felt that people didn’t give Dolly her due. Until now.

Lawmakers in Nashville are hoping to pass a bill to honor Dolly at the capitol by commissioning a statue in her likeness. The statue would be erected on capitol grounds. The lawmakers stated that the commission would be paid for from a separate account coming from donations and gifts. Below are more details from Nashville 4 News:

According to the bill, it reads:

The state capitol commission, at regularly scheduled meetings, shall develop and implement a plan for the commissioning of a statue of Dolly Parton, to recognize her for all that she has contributed to this state

The commission shall solicit input from the public and other interested parties for purposes of developing the plan, including proposed design concepts for the statue.

The Dolly Parton statue would reportedly be paid for through a separate account within the state general fund financed by gifts, grants, and other donations received from non-state sources.

“Dolly Parton is a kind decent and compassionate, for us all. She speaks to us through her songs and through her actions and she is the best example of what a leader should be today,” Representative John Windle, who introduced the bill told us today.

When we asked about who would pay for the statue, he says that state funds will not be used.

“This will be funded by private funds and certainly I won’t name who they are but several people are from music row that we all know their name have all offered to write a check and pay for it tomorrow,” Windle says.

[From News 4 Nashville]

Dolly has been a beacon of hope and a light in darkness. I will never forget Dolly in 9 to 5 nor how gracious she was when Whitney Houston reimagined “I Will Always Love You.” One of my favorite videos of Dolly is when she was teaching Patti LaBelle how to make music with her long nails. As an adult, my favorite Dolly song is “Jolene.” That song hits you the feels.

Dolly, definitely deserves this honor. He is a stand up kinda gal with hardly a lick of scandal in the 6 decades that she has been around. I’ve never heard anyone say a bad thing about Dolly which leads me to believe that she really is a gloriously, big haired, country gal gem and I love her for it. As far as helping the state of Tennessee, I believe Dolly was instrumental in making Nashville the country music capital of the U.S. I am sure there are many other charitable things that Dolly has done that have greatly impacted Tennessee that we don’t know about. With that being said, I think that for every confederate statue that is removed in the south, a statue of Dolly Parton or women like her should be erected in its place. Anyways, if this bill passes, I think I may take a trip to honor the goddess Dolly while visiting a dear friend, after I get my vaccine of course. I have always wanted to visit Nashville.

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I don’t think Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is as “evil” as Mark Zuckerberg. Which isn’t to say that Dorsey is a good person or anything, but there have been many moments where I understand the arguments Dorsey’s made about why certain people get suspended or put on probation, and why other people (or bots) are able to spread disinformation. I guess I’ll defend Dorsey if he continues to grow and evolve Twitter’s policies and if he continues to take “deplatforming Nazis and fascists” to new and exciting heights. So while liberals are tenuously happy about social media companies finally deplatforming terrorists, obviously Republicans are super-concerned about “censorship” and “the First Amendment.” And it is for them that Dorsey decided to spell out where he is with Twitter’s suspension policies.

On the day when President Donald Trump became the first occupant of the Oval Office to be impeached twice, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey spoke out to say that threats to physical safety and the company’s desire to foster “a more peaceful existence on earth” were among the reasons for the social media company’s permanent ban of Trump from the platform. In a Twitter thread on Wednesday, Dorsey said the company was forced to act after long-simmering concerns about the potential for politically motived violence were realized in the horrific siege of the U.S. Capitol by far-right extremists and white supremacist groups on Jan. 6.

“We faced an extraordinary and untenable circumstance, forcing us to focus all of our actions on public safety,” Dorsey wrote. “Offline harm as a result of online speech is demonstrably real, and what drives our policy and enforcement above all…It’s important that we acknowledge this is a time of great uncertainty and struggle for so many around the world. Our goal in this moment is to disarm as much as we can, and ensure we are all building towards a greater common understanding, and a more peaceful existence on earth.”

In a nod to the roiling political tensions across the country, Dorsey made a point of stating “I do not celebrate or feel pride in having to ban @realDonaldTrump from Twitter, or how we got here.”

Twitter and other Big Tech giants are caught in the vise grip of the culture wars at present with pressure from all sides to contain the spread of hate and extremist groups online. At the same time, Trump and other conservatives are leveling accusations of censorship at the steps taken by Twitter, Google, Amazon and Apple to limit the information hosting and networking capabilities of niche social platforms a la Parler that have been favored by the far right. Dorsey acknowledged criticism that Twitter’s enforcement policies against hate speech and other problematic posts have been inconsistent over the years.

“Yes, we need to look at how our service might incentivize distraction and harm. Yes, we need more transparency in our moderation operations. All this can’t erode a free and open global internet,” he wrote. Moreover, he conceded that there is danger in private companies flexing great power over the nation’s communications infrastructure. Dorsey lamented that the Trump ban “sets a precedent I feel is dangerous: the power an individual or corporation has over a part of the global public conversation. The check and accountability on this power has always been the fact that a service like Twitter is one small part of the larger public conversation happening across the internet,” Dorsey wrote. “If folks do not agree with our rules and enforcement, they can simply go to another internet service.”

[From Variety]

“The check and accountability on this power has always been the fact that a service like Twitter is one small part of the larger public conversation happening across the internet.” This is true – if you’re a Nazi and you just got suspended from Twitter, there are other places to go to spread and foster hate. And that’s the larger problem, beyond Dorsey’s qualms, which frankly will look quaint when all is said and done. I don’t think private companies need to apologize for doing more than the American government to protect people from terrorism and fascistic threats. The larger conversation we’re having about speech and censorship and deplatforming hate are all great conversations to have, and they’re important conversations to have. But in the very immediate sense, Dorsey (and other social media executives) understood the very real threat coming from Trump and his Nazi army and they reacted how they should, especially since Trump was STILL threatening people even after he incited a terrorist attack, and since those social media sites were being used to plan additional attacks.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

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