In the 1860s, French scientist Louis Pasteur developed the process later named for him that made certain foods like milk safe to consume. Before pasteurization, one in four foodborne illnesses came from dairy. After pasteurization, bacteria, viruses, pathogens, et al. are eliminated or rendered useless, thus removing the risk of death and disease. So naturally, Trump’s nominee to direct the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is against it. RFK Jr. prefers drinking unpasteurized milk, often called raw milk. Not every state allows the retail sale of raw milk, and there’s a federal ban of its sale across state lines. California, the largest dairy producer in the country, does allow for the sale of raw milk, and has had over 500 herds infected with H5N1 bird flu virus. One such infected CA herd includes Raw Farm, RFK Jr.’s brand of choice. Their products are being recalled, and the CEO is predictably unhinged about the government infringing on people’s right to drink milk… contaminated with bird flu.

Raw Farm products have been recalled, the CEO is not handling it well: Last week, California public health officials announced a voluntary recall by Raw Farm LLC after detecting the [H5N1] virus in raw milk and cream at company bottling and storage sites. … Still, Raw Farm CEO and founder Mark McAfee questioned why California officials were asking him to pull his products from shelves, saying they were over-reacting since no one has yet gotten sick. “That’s because this is just the latest convenient platform to attack legal raw milk in California!” he wrote in an email to USA TODAY. “Protect consumers from what???”

There are no proven health benefits to raw milk: There’s little scientific evidence to support these [pro-raw milk] claims, said John Lucey, director of the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Dairy Research and a food science professor. “The short answer is no, there are no proven benefits,” he told USA TODAY. “You are being conned with these claims,” he said. “This is snake oil.” … Before pasteurization, people routinely were sickened and died from drinking raw milk, catching diseases like tuberculosis, and raw milk is still far more likely than pasteurized milk to contain bacteria like salmonella, E. coli and listeria. “I don’t have any time for farmers who want to put other people at risk for products they make on their farm, knowingly,” said Lucey, who grew up on a dairy farm.

More diseases linked to Raw Farm: In 2023 and 2024, more than 100 people fell ill from salmonella linked to raw milk from Raw Farm, the same company now at the center of raw milk recalls for bird flu. At least seven people were hospitalized, and 40% of cases were in children. … In a July 11 blog post, Raw Farm called the investigation the result of a “corrupt, biased agenda” including from the Food and Drug Administration and the media. “This is just the most recent of a long history of dirty tricks,” the post said. “If you see concerning and questionable headlines, please be very clear we are in a war zone with a corrupt system that hates raw milk.” Before that, the company’s products were linked to several outbreaks of E. coli, salmonella and campylobacter, according to the University of Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research.

The dirt on germs in raw milk: Bacteria and viruses that can make people sick are found throughout farms. Bacteria like E. coli are present in poop or in the dirt, so cows can lie down and get contaminated material on their udders, said Dr. Meghan Davis, an associate professor of environmental health and engineering at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Typically, the milking process has standards to wipe down udders and equipment before milking begins. But some bacteria can remain and contaminate the milk. Pasteurization kills these pathogens, but they can persist in raw milk.

[From USA Today]

“Protect consumers from what???” Oh nothing, just diarrhea, stomach cramps, vomiting, fever, or death. So if you’re like Mark Renton from Trainspotting and prefer to choose life, stick to tried and true pasteurized dairy. And don’t worry about Raw Food CEO Mark McAfee’s prospects: not only is raw milk fan RFK Jr. the nominee to run HHS, but he’s already invited McAfee to apply for a position at the FDA. RFK Jr. — the man whom 77 Nobel laureate scientists are begging the Senate to not confirm, and whose brain was an inhospitable living environment for a worm — tapping the farmer whose unsanitary working practices have led to cases of bird flu, salmonella, E. coli, and campylobacter, to work at the Food and Drug Administration. I’d be laughing at the farcical elements here — like McAfee deliriously ranting “we are in a war zone with a corrupt system that hates raw milk!” — if these preachings weren’t also so potentially lethal.

Photo credit: IMAGO/hoo-me.com/MediaPunch/Avalon and via Instagram/RFK Jr. and Raw Farm

For decades, ever since the birth of pop music really, it’s generally acknowledged that music stars are not making bank from selling their music, but rather from touring. Music sales are complicated and everyone gets a cut, especially nowadays in the Spotify/streaming era. An artist can be streamed tens of millions of times and they’re only making a small fraction of what they should earn. Tours are much more profitable and straightforward, organized by the artist and their team. Profitable not just from ticket sales, but from the ultra-lucrative merchandising. Well, I don’t know the exact breakdown, but Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour blew every record to smithereens, from ticket sales to merchandising.

For the last 21 months, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour has been the biggest thing in music — a phenomenon that has engulfed pop culture, dominated news coverage and boosted local economies around the world. Now we know exactly how big.

Through its 149th and final show, which took place in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Sunday, Swift’s tour sold a total of $2,077,618,725 in tickets. That’s two billion and change — double the gross ticket sales of any other concert tour in history and an extraordinary new benchmark for a white-hot international concert business.

Those figures were confirmed to The New York Times for the first time by Taylor Swift Touring, the singer’s production company. While the financial details of the Eras Tour have been a subject of constant industry speculation since tickets were first offered more than two years ago — through a presale so in-demand it crashed Ticketmaster’s system — Swift has never authorized disclosure of the tour’s numbers until now.

The official results are not far from the estimates that trade journalists and industry analysts have been crunching for months. But they solidify the enormous scale of Swift’s accomplishment. Just a few months ago, Billboard magazine reported that Coldplay had set an industry record with $1 billion in ticket sales for its 156-date Music of the Spheres World Tour — a figure that is just half of Swift’s total for a similar stretch of shows in stadiums and arenas.

According to Swift’s touring company, a total of 10,168,008 people attended the concerts, which means that, on average, each seat went for about $204. That is well above the industry average of $131 for the top 100 tours around the world in 2023, according to Pollstar, a trade publication. The biggest single night’s attendance was in Melbourne, Australia, on Feb. 16, 2024, with 96,006. And Swift’s eight nights at Wembley Stadium in London, which she played more than any other venue, drew 753,112 people — about as many as live in Seattle.

As gigantic as they are, the figures revealed by Swift’s company are only part of the overall business that has surrounded the tour. They exclude her extraordinary merchandise sales, for example, a product line so in demand that Swift opened stadium sales booths a day early in some markets to sell T-shirts, hoodies and Christmas ornaments to fans, ticketed or not.

[From The NY Times]

“Phenomenon” gets thrown around a lot, but holy sh-t, the Eras Tour was a phenomenon, as is Taylor herself. Think about how she did this too – she dropped Midnights as her relationship with Joe Alwyn was coming to a close, she announced the tour and the sales went through the roof, and she just committed nearly two full years of her life to all of this. AND she released another album in the middle of it, not to mention cycling through Matt Healy and starting up with Travis Kelce. It’s also amazing that Taylor had a great team around her and there were zero catastrophes. I mean, yeah, there was a terrorism threat in Europe and there were climate issues, but none of that was her fault or her team’s fault. Over $2 billion in ticket sales alone. Probably that much in merch sales too. Seriously, congrats to Taylor and her team.

Additionally, People Magazine had an exclusive about the bonuses Taylor hands out to her tour crew. It looks like Taylor’s touring production company decided to confirm a lot of news after her last Eras concert, right? People Mag says that Taylor “gave out $197 million in bonuses to everyone working on her tour — including truck drivers, caterers, instrument techs, merch team, lighting, sound, production staff and assistants, carpenters, dancers, band, security, choreographers, pyrotechnics, riggers, hair, make-up, wardrobe, physical therapists and video team.” So, she gave out bonuses which were just shy of 10% of the total ticket sales. Say there were 1000 people working to ensure the tour ran smoothly – that’s roughly $200K per person just in bonuses, in addition to their salaries.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.

Time Magazine will release their Person of the Year cover on Thursday. Last year’s POTY was Taylor Swift, which ended up being a really good choice? Taylor was honored and she gave them an in-depth interview about her life and her amazing 2023. On Monday, Time’s editor revealed their POTY shortlist for 2024. The ten-person shortlist includes: Kamala Harris, Kate Middleton, Elon Musk, Yulia Navalnaya, Benjamin Netanyahu, Fed chair Jerome Powell, Joe Rogan, Claudia Sheinbaum, Donald Trump and Mark Zuckerberg. You read that correctly – the Princess of Wales was shortlisted alongside Elon Muskrat, Orangina and Alexei Navalny’s widow. The situation in Syria broke too late in the process for them to include the now-deposed and possibly dead Bashar al-Assad. As for Kate… here’s her POTY shortlist blurb:

The Princess of Wales made international headlines this year and stirred a conversation about privacy and health for public figures. In January, Kate Middleton was hospitalized for two weeks for a “planned abdominal surgery” and Kensington Palace said she would be out of the public eye until Easter. But after conspiracy theories circulated online in March about Middleton’s whereabouts, the royal put the rumors to rest by revealing that she had been diagnosed with cancer. In September, Middleton announced that she had completed her chemotherapy treatment. Middleton was previously on the TIME100 list of Most Influential People in 2013, and one of the runners-up for Person of the Year in 2011.

[From Time]

I mean… people have short memories and everyone has recency bias, but the first three months of the year were f–king wild when it came to Kate-gate or the Kate Missington saga. There was so much chatter, so many conspiracies, so many profoundly strange things happening all at once. The Mother’s Day photo fiasco, which hijacked Oscar night (and the day after) as photo agencies issued an unprecedented kill order on a palace-released photo. Don’t forget the staged photos with a Kate double, published in The Sun. Then the bizarre bench video which some believed had been manipulated. That strange TMZ photo-op where Kate rode shotgun with her mom. And don’t forget William’s bizarre behavior either. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kate was a major POTY contender, but yeah… they’ll probably go with Elon or Joe Rogan. Those two really altered the course of history (for the worse).

Also: royalists are trying to make this into a “win” for Kate because something something Meghan. Like… POTY isn’t necessarily a good thing or an honor. If Kate wins, it means that she had a big year for going missing while the palace completely bungled their comms.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, The Sun, Kensington Palace.

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Jay-Z’s legal troubles could not have come at a worse time for his family. This week was supposed to be about Blue Ivy Carter, Jay-Z and Beyonce’s oldest kid. Blue Ivy got a Disney job – she has voiced a character in Barry Jenkins’ Mufasa: The Lion King. Beyonce did voice work too, she voiced Nala and Blue voiced Kiara. Last night was the big premiere event and this was supposed to be the big headline for the Carter family this week, all eyes on Beyonce and Blue, all eyes on the wholesome Carter family, right? And then Jay-Z is being sued for raping a minor in 2000, alongside Sean Combs.

Jay-Z went to the premiere, and the Carters posed together, and Beyonce and Blue did solo photos (Bey and Jay also did solo photos). Whatever you think of Jay-Z, please leave Bey and Blue out of it. Especially Blue. I cannot believe how tall she is at 12 years old!

Beyonce’s mom Tina Knowles also attended the premiere. Before the premiere, fans noticed that Tina “liked” at least one Instagram about Jay-Z getting sued. People were like, damn, that’s messy as hell. Tina then released a statement claiming that she had been hacked. Mmhm. I wonder if Solange is going to pop out and say something. Incidentally, I’ve seen a lot of Beyhivers say sh-t like “she should have left him in 2016.” She literally made her most profound work of art about how she almost divorced him but decided to stay with him.

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Getty.

Last week, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down in Manhattan by a masked shooter. The shooter shot Thompson using a silencer, and the shooter then left the scene on a bicycle and disappeared in Central Park. The NYPD swore up and down that they had leads, but it took them three days to find the shooter’s backpack, which was full of Monopoly money. Basically, I think most people sort of believed that the investigation would limp along for months, because the NYPD kept publishing various photos of white guys wearing different jackets and claiming that they were all the same shooter. Anyway, we were wrong? The NYPD really was investigating and they found the guy. Well, they found a guy and he does seem to fit some kind of profile. They arrested a guy improbably named Luigi Mangione inside of a Pennsylvania McDonald’s. He was carrying a gun and Luigi seems to have written some kind of manifesto.

A 26-year-old Maryland native has been arrested on gun charges and for questioning in connection with last week’s killing of a health insurance executive in Midtown Manhattan that prompted a manhunt up and down the East Coast, the New York Police Department said.

The man being questioned was identified as Luigi Mangione, the police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, said at a news briefing on Monday afternoon. Mr. Mangione is scheduled to appear in court in Blair County, Pa., at 6 p.m. Monday for a preliminary arraignment on gun charges, according to court officials.

He was arrested in a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa., after an employee recognized him and called the authorities at about 9:15 a.m. The police had shared a steady stream of photos of the man believed to be the gunman since the shooting.

“He was sitting there eating,” Joseph Kenny, the Police Department’s chief of detectives, said at the briefing.

Mr. Mangione was carrying a gun, a silencer and false identification cards similar to those they believe the killer used in New York, according to one of the law enforcement officials and a person briefed on the investigation. Mr. Mangione showed the police the same fake New Jersey identification that the man believed to be the gunman presented when he checked into a hostel on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on Nov. 24, a senior law enforcement official said. The gun appears to be a so-called ghost gun, assembled from parts that may have been made from a 3-D printer, Chief Kenny said.

Mr. Mangione was also carrying a handwritten manifesto that criticized health care companies for putting profits above care, according to two law enforcement officials.

He was born and raised in Maryland, and has lived in San Francisco and Honolulu, the police said. Mr. Mangione attended Gilman School in Baltimore, a private high school, where he wrestled and graduated in 2016 as the class valedictorian. He earned both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in engineering at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated in 2020. His major was in computer science, and he minored in mathematics. He has not been charged in connection with the killing.

[From The NY Times]

Like many 20-somethings, Luigi has an extensive digital footprint and people are already doing deeper dives into his Twitter account (where he seems right-wing but not exactly MAGA) and his Goodreads account (where he apparently read the Unabomber’s manifesto and gave it four out of five stars). What else… Luigi has been charged now and he’s being held without bail. They also released one of the most thirst-trappy mugshots I’ve ever seen in my life!! And yes, the Italian-American community is now locked in and following this story closely. *Italian hand gesture*

The mugshot of Luigi Mangione has been released. pic.twitter.com/VVVzdrMYoO

— Pop Base (@PopBase) December 9, 2024

Me finding out they arrested a man named Luigi Mangione as the alleged UCH assassin pic.twitter.com/pD3CqcXd5q

— Lolo (@LolOverruled) December 9, 2024

Social media photos of Luigi.

Donald Trump and Prince William met at the British embassy in Paris on Saturday. There are different reports about the length of their meeting – the NY Post claims they spoke for nearly two hours, but Trump actually disputes that. Trump said that they met for like thirty minutes, which sounds much more reasonable and believable. It’s wild that we’re getting Trump (a lunatic) to fact-check anything, but here we are. Anyway, Trump spoke to the NY Post about his meeting with William and it sounds like it really was a meeting of the unhinged and oblivious.

Donald Trump gushed about Prince William’s after their meeting in Paris over the weekend — and said he had “a great talk” with the future king.

“He’s a good looking guy. He looked really, very handsome last night,” the Trump exclusively told The Post. “Some people look better in person? He looked great. He looked really nice, and I told him that,” he added.

Trump and William met up Saturday as dignitaries from across the world flocked to the City of Light to celebrate Notre-Dame cathedral’s re-opening after it was devastated by fire in 2019. They chatted for nearly two hours in the gilded Salon Jaune at the UK Ambassador’s Residence, where William sported the grizzled beard he’s taken to sometimes wearing. In a golden tie, Trump smartly matched the parlor’s wallpapering.

“I had a great talk with the prince,” Trump said.

“I asked him about his wife and he said she’s doing well. And I asked him about his father and his father is fighting very hard, and he loves his father and he loves his wife, so it was sad,” Trump said. “We had a great talk for half an hour, a little more than half an hour. We had a great, great talk.”

[From The NY Post]

This is shade, right? “Some people look better in person? He looked great.” The question mark is killing me, because William really does NOT look good in photos. He used to be photogenic, more than twenty years ago. But now? The cameras wince. As for the part about Charles “fighting very hard,” this is how the BBC massaged that statement:

“And I asked him about his wife and he said she’s doing well,” the president-elect said. “I asked him about his father and his father is fighting very hard, and he loves his father and he loves his wife, so it was sad.”

The reference to the King “fighting hard” was described by royal sources as being about his efforts to continue living actively, rather than a health update. The King has been receiving cancer treatment, but has wanted to keep focusing on his work, with overseas trips expected for next year.

[From BBC]

How dare royal sources presume to put words in Trump’s mouth?? Trump claimed William spoke about Charles “fighting hard,” we should assume that William absolutely shivved his father privately and spoke about Charles’s poor health. It’s wild to see Buckingham Palace try to manage a story based on Trump’s own words too.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

For months now, it’s just been headline after headline and lawsuit after lawsuit about and against Sean Combs. Combs is facing dozens of civil suits for his years/decades of rape, abuse and assault. He’s also facing federal criminal charges, and he’s currently in jail in New York as he awaits trial. Over the past year, since Cassie sued Combs and he quickly settled with her, there has been a big movement online to suggest that everyone who ever partied with Combs is guilty of the same crimes, or that they had knowledge of those crimes. There’s been a lot of focus on Jay-Z and Beyonce – Jay and Sean Combs were close friends/co-moguls – but up until now, no one had any story or any evidence of Jay-Z knowledge of or involvement with Combs’ crimes. Well, now a Jane Doe has accused Jay-Z of raping her when she was 13 years old, in the year 2000, at Combs’ house.

Jay-Z, the star rapper and entrepreneur whose real name is Shawn Carter, was accused in a lawsuit Sunday of raping a 13-year-old girl in 2000 allegedly along with Sean “Diddy” Combs. The anonymous accuser, identified only as “Jane Doe,” said the assault happened after she was driven to an MTV Video Music Awards after-party. The federal lawsuit was originally filed in October in the Southern District of New York, listing Combs as a defendant. It was refiled Sunday to include Carter. Texas-based attorney Tony Buzbee, who filed the suit, did not comment.

Carter called the allegations “idiotic” in a lengthy statement Sunday evening and alleged that Buzbee was engaged in unprofessional behavior.

“These allegations are so heinous in nature that I implore you to file a criminal complaint, not a civil one!! Whomever would commit such a crime against a minor should be locked away, would you not agree?” Carter said in a statement to NBC News. “These alleged victims would deserve real justice if that were the case.”

Buzbee has filed several lawsuits in recent months — all have withheld their complainants’ names — accusing Combs of assault and rape. This is the first suit in which he has named another high-profile defendant. Before the lawsuit was refiled Sunday, “Carter received a letter from Plaintiff’s counsel requesting a mediation to resolve this matter,” Buzbee wrote in the suit. In response to the letter, which NBC News has seen, Carter filed his own lawsuit against the accuser’s attorneys, Buzbee wrote in the suit.

“You have made a terrible error in judgement thinking that all ‘celebrities’ are the same,” Carter added in his statement Sunday. “I’m not from your world. I’m a young man who made it out of the project of Brooklyn. We don’t play these types of games. We have very strict codes and honor. We protect children.”

“My only heartbreak is for my family,” Carter said in the statement. “My wife and I will have to sit our children down, one of whom is at the age where her friends will surely see the press and ask questions about the nature of these claims, and explain the cruelty and greed of people. I mourn yet another loss of innocence. Only your network of conspiracy theorists, fake physics, will believe the idiotic claims you have levied against me that, if not for the seriousness surrounding harm to kids, would be laughable,” Carter added.

[From NBC News]

In case you didn’t catch the backstory on the legal actions, Buzbee went to Jay-Z’s lawyers and asked to settle this privately, meaning they wanted Jay-Z to give them a financial settlement with an NDA. Jay-Z refused and he’s already countersuing Buzbee and the client, claiming that this is all a blackmail attempt. Jay is also saying that what he’s being accused of is so heinous, he doesn’t know why it’s a civil lawsuit and not a criminal action. I’m including Jay’s full statement (posted to Roc Nation’s social media) below. Compare this with the Cassie-Sean Combs situation – Cassie also tried to settle things privately with Combs before she filed her lawsuit. Combs refused to settle, and he made a lot of noise for 24 hours, threatening to fight Cassie in court. Then he settled. It does not sound like Jay-Z is going to give one inch though. (And yes, it’s bonkers for a 55-year-old man to refer to himself as a “young man.”)

pic.twitter.com/jl8sgOllCM

— Roc Nation (@RocNation) December 9, 2024

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

On Saturday, Prince William went to the Notre Dame reopening ceremony in France, and in addition to that appearance, William met privately with Donald Trump. Both Trump and Dr. Jill Biden attended the reopening, and William was apparently supposed to meet privately with Dr. Biden as well, but that meeting was canceled due to the weather (I think that’s Britspeak for Dr. Biden canceled with a vague excuse). But Trump arrived at the British embassy in the rain, and he did two photo-ops with Peg. First, they greeted each other in the embassy lobby, then they invited cameras in for a quick photo-op in one of the state rooms.

I saw a lot of people criticize William for all of this, and while I understand why, I kind of have to defend William a little bit? He’s literally doing his job. Should he wipe the sh-t-eating grin off his face when he’s meeting with an adjudicated rapist & white supremacist? For sure. But as Prince of Wales, this is exactly what he’s supposed to do – soft diplomacy, get some face time with world leaders, do these photo-ops and brief private meetings. William isn’t negotiating a treaty here, and he’s not wearing a f–king MAGA hat. It’s not William’s fault that dumbf–k Americans voted for this piece of sh-t. Now, all that being said, William is definitely trying to make himself look very important, and he sent his minions out with a full-throated embiggening campaign. He’s a 42-year-old big boy taking big-boy meetings!

Kensington Palace sources often like to refer to the role of the Prince of Wales as an “apprenticeship” for the top job. And there’s been plenty of talk over the past two years about Prince William’s efforts to position himself as a global statesman. But the Prince’s meeting with Donald Trump in Paris on Saturday suggests not only that his training period is over, but that he has passed with flying colours. This tete-a-tete at the British ambassador’s residence was no box-ticking exercise. The Prince was scrambled at very short notice to woo a US president-elect whose fast approaching four-year term will have significant foreign policy implications for the UK.

The details surrounding this hastily arranged diplomatic mission remain hazy but it appears clear that as soon as Mr Trump announced his intention to travel to Paris, the Government identified an opportunity that could not be wasted and calls were duly made to the palace. That the King’s diary was already “locked in” was not a great concern; his son could travel in his place. For the Prince of Wales is no longer seen as a young royal merely waiting in the wings. He has emerged as a global statesman in his own right.

“He is extremely comfortable in doing this,” a well-placed palace source acknowledged. But in this game, nothing is taken for granted. The Government is acutely aware of the potential pitfalls of the coming presidency. Soft diplomacy is critical. A second state visit has not been ruled out. The Prince knows all too well what is at stake. His aides, on Saturday, acknowledged that the Paris meeting was “extremely important”.

“As his presence at the Notre-Dame ceremony says, representing the UK is really important,” one source said as the Royal party made its way to France. “But obviously the United States is an incredibly special partner to the nation. One of the things that he’ll definitely be talking to both Flotus Jill Biden and president-elect Trump about is that special relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States and it being so important to us as a nation.”

William has always been keen to support his father however he can, no less so as Charles continues to undergo weekly cancer treatment. But aides are also aware that optics is everything. There is always one eye on that future role, whenever it may come.

“Knowing the job that the Prince of Wales will have in the future, having a strong partnership with the leader of the US as a close ally and partner to the UK is, of course, extremely important,” the source said.

Many observers remarked how comfortable Prince William was in France earlier this year, when he took part in the D-Day anniversary celebrations, standing shoulder to shoulder with 25 other world leaders. Aides say such engagements do not phase him, that he is “very comfortable in his own skin” and was “looking forward” to his conversations with Mr Trump.

[From The Telegraph]

Sources also told the Telegraph that William went into the Trump meeting with the Starmer government’s full backing. Which I also believe, although I think it’s funny/weird that they’re pointing it out. It would be a huge scandal if William decided on his own to fly to Paris and meet with Trump without consulting the government, you know? Of course Peg had the full support of the government – William is at best an empty suit who got coached on what to say and how to behave. “He is extremely comfortable in doing this” – is that why he regularly begs important leaders to do photo-ops with him? Like at the United Nations last year, when he tried to milk his quick photo with the UN Secretary General, or when he told everyone he was taking meetings at the UN?

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Last week, Prince Harry appeared at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit and gave several updates about his life and work. He spoke about his lawsuits against the British tabloids, he said that he loved raising his kids in America and he has no plans or desire to go back to the UK. He shrugged off the “concerns” about his marriage and he made fun of the trolls who spread rumors about his marriage. You would think that since there are videos of Harry saying all of this and it’s 100% authentic, it would change all of the make-believe storylines in the British tabloids. You would be wrong. The tabloids mostly ignored Harry’s own words in favor of their latest storyline, all based on a German documentary called Harry: The Lost Prince. German journalist Ulrike Grunewald spent months trying to stalk the Sussexes in Montecito and she came out of all of it believing many Deranger conspiracies. Shocking! Well, that documentary is the basis for this story – apparently, Harry and Meghan are not popular in Montecito because they don’t wander around the neighborhood, begging for people to pay attention to them.

Prince Harry declared this week that he has no plans to return to the UK because his family are so happy in Montecito. The Sussexes’ A-list neighbour Katy Perry has agreed to perform at the Invictus Games while friends Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry are also among other supporters living in the celebrity-heavy enclave of California.

But it appears that not all locals are happy with the couple, with one claiming the Duchess of Sussex is more aloof than her husband, who is ‘jolly’ but not fully involved with the locals either. Neighbours and locals in Montecito have spoken about the couple’s life there – and admit they don’t often see them, unless Harry is on his bike followed by his security team. There are also questions about their ‘elitist’ lifestyle.

Richard Mineards, one of their near-neighbours, has said they are not an ‘asset’ to the wealthy community. ‘I personally don’t think that Meghan is an asset to our community… She doesn’t really go out or get involved with the community, he said. ‘Harry has to a certain extent, because he’s quite jolly…but Meghan doesn’t seem to get seen anywhere…. And you don’t see him either.’

Mr Mineards was speaking to a new German documentary, called ‘Harry: The Lost Prince’. There are also reports that they are planning to send Archie and Lilibet to a ‘prestigious’ private school, which will test how much they will get involved with their community.

Royal commentator Duncan Larcombe said: ‘They are the public couple that claim to crave privacy and that I suppose would involve the local community. But when you have young children, they all mix with other young children at schools or nurseries. Are they going to play the role of just another parent?’

[From The Daily Mail]

The part about the private school is gross – those entitled royal reporters still think they “own” Harry, Meghan, Archie and Lili. What f–king business is it of Duncan Larcombe? Those kids will go to American schools and it’s not the Mirror’s business or the Mail’s business or anyone else’s. Same with the neighbor sh-t – the whole reason why rich people move to Montecito is to get away from paparazzi, the industry and the party circuit. I have no doubt that Harry and Meghan have many friends in California, but they probably keep to themselves most of the time. And? Again, why is this a major story in the Mail?? Also: the Mail doesn’t want to acknowledge the Sussexes’ attendance at a bookstore opening in Santa Barbara just a few months ago?

Photos courtesy of Archewell, Backgrid.

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Remember when the Duchess of Sussex re-wore a red Carolina Herrera dress to a hospital gala in LA and it brought down the United Kingdom? The British media spent WEEKS obsessing over Meghan’s red dress and what it meant to them personally, and how much they despised the dress, and how no one paid attention to the dress and yet the dress was as iconic as Princess Diana’s revenge dress! It was bonkers. Well, guess what? They are still talking about that fakakta dress.

Social media is abuzz with users critiquing the Duchess of Sussex’s wardrobe since she quit as a working royal – with countless videos on YouTube about her ‘fashion fails’. While many still praise Meghan’s glamorous wardrobe, she was recently criticised over her red Carolina Herrera gown – with its plunging neckline, daring front slit and ill-fitting bodice – which she wore to the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles gala last month.

Fashion stylists dubbed the altered £4,730 poppy red dress one of her biggest ‘fashion faux pas’ and said it was inappropriate for the event, which started early at 5.30pm. One TikTok user said: ‘The Carolina Herrera number she chose was so inappropriate for a children’s event that it can only be described as shockingly revealing. We’re talking bare shoulders, arms and even a flash of leg that should have been reserved for a late-night adult dinner party, not a wholesome charity gathering for kids. It’s almost comical that a dress that cost so much can end up looking so tacky. It might look better on somebody else but on Meghan it looks like it was made for a different body type with better posture.’

But Meghan is not the only royal who has struggled dressing for her body shape.

[From The Daily Mail]

What’s driving me crazy is that I don’t even think this dress was Meghan’s best look, but I love the dress simply because it made all of those people collectively lose their minds. What was it? The fact that she looked so young and free? That she wore something other than beige? That her hair was loose and beachy? That she looked effortlessly sexy, even in a not-great dress? It’s been two months and they’re still crying about it, to the point where they’re quoting a random TikTok?? As for that TikToker’s criticism… it was a gala and people were dressed in evening-wear. Most women were dressed similarly to Meghan. It was not a “charity gathering for kids,” although some kids were there. This person is trying to make it sound like Meghan wore a negligee to visit sick kids at the hospital. My god.

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