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Mini stories:
- Things really heated up between President Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu over the weekend… President Biden gave an exclusive interview to MSNBC after the State of the Union address, where he said that Netanyahu was QUOTE “hurting Israel more than helping Israel” END QUOTE. And obviously he is not the only person who feels this way… But he IS something with a much more direct line of contact with Netanyahu, and insight into his decision making. And as an additional reminder, Ramadan began on Sunday evening… Creating more tension than usual in the war zone.
- Haitian gangs
Things have reportedly escalated in Haiti… The gangs have been successful in taking over the airport. The three day state of emergency has now been extended to over a month.
+US embassy has also been evacuated, due to the safety concerns for our personnel. They airlifted any non-essential personnel from the island, and military presence has grown in order to protect the remaining staff.
+Haiti’s main port also announced it was suspending operations on Thursday, due to all the vandalism caused by the gangs.
+Experts have said that the US should not meddle in this… That Henry, the Prime Minister, was not elected by the people, and we should allow for him to fall if that is the will of the Haitian people. And turns out that Henry had tried to fly back to Haiti on Tuesday, but couldn’t. He tried to land in the neighboring Dominican Republic, but they said they had not been provided with the necessary flight plans… A little strange. So Henry landed in Puerto Rico instead. Closer than Kenya. But he still has not spoken out about the violence ensuing back in his besieged homeland.
Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State… a very busy man these days… He will have quite the book to write one day… He HAS spoken to Henry, however, and reportedly reinforced the US commitment to backing him up. That said, a prominent gang leader nicknamed Barbecue, has said vowed that if Henry does not step down, there will be a civil war and potentially a quote unquote “genocide.” Barbecue’s words, not mine.
- Oscars – stars and snubs
As you guys may have already heard, the Oscars were Sunday night and Oppenheimer CLEANED UP. That said, I wanted to discuss some of the bigger moments of the night.
+So you guys know I was very invested in Lily Gladstone from Killers of the Flower Moon… I really thought she MADE that film… Carried it on her back, tbh. I haven’t stopped thinking about her character since I watched it… She was powerful – someone that will stick with you. BUT, Emma Stone, who is a PHENOMENAL actress, won Best Actress over Lily… And it WAS heart wrenching. That said, I did not see Poor Things, the film Emma starred in, prior to the Oscars so I WILL be watching that ASAP to see if I feel she rose above the impact of Lily Gladstone’s Molly… We shall see.
+Da’Vine Joy Randolph won her first Oscar and gave a touching, tearful speech… It truly felt like a Cinderella moment with her in a pale blue with her hair blonde and being the belle of the ball! She Is a fan favorite and just someone a lot of people were rooting for. That said, America Ferrera was up for the same award, and a lot of people obviously connected with her in her role as Barbie, particularly in the monologue that has gone viral on viral on the internet… Speaking the contradictions of the female experience out loud. So I am sure there are those ho were bummed that she did not win for that role, especially given that Barbie was passed up for bigger awards like Best Director and Best Actress.
+And that brings me to, the Ken of it all… So I would say that despite the fact that Barbie was passed up for Oscar wins, Ryan Gosling STOLE THE SHOW in his performance of I’m Just Ken… He was in a hot pink, glittering suit. The whole performance ended with hot pink fireworks exploding.He serenaded Margot Robbie from the seat behind her, which essentially became the meme of the event. And it IS kind of strange how a film can be SUCH a cultural phenomenon, and yet not seen as worthy of even ONE award. But maybe that’s the point. Anything too feminine, anything too pink, fluffy, and glittery, will always be seen as frivolous… No matter what an impact it makes, or how successful it is.
+Jimmy’s political ending
So we didn’t know he was headed this direction, but I legit spit out my wine at the punch line… He said “I just got a review and uhm, ‘Has there ever been a worse host that Jimmy Kimmel at the Oscars? His opening was that of a less than average person trying too hard to be something which he is not and never can be. Get rid of Kimmel’ — See if you can guess which former President just posted that to Truth Social. Anyone? Well, thank you President Trump, thank you for watching, I am surprised you’re still up! Isn’t it past your jail time?” LOLLL and that was the end of the Oscars!
- Princess Kate apologizes, in a bizarre series of events
OK so prior to the recent events we are going to get into today, people were already suspect that Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, was literally MISSING. I don’t give too much breath to these types of rumors or conspiracies… Because 99% of the time, they are just that, a rumor or conspiracy that turns out to be completely untrue. Kate gave a reasonable explanation for her absence, and then, like she said she would be, she began laying low. Nothing about that gives me a red flag. But the internet felt otherwise. So let’s discuss a little of the background that led up to this current PR fiasco.
+First off, the cheating scandal. So for YEARS at this point, it’s been rumored that there has been an affair going on between Prince Williams and Lady Rose Hanbury… Their next-door neighbor… Only, because these are ESTATES they are probably acres away from one another. But in Prince and Princess land, they’re next door because their estates ABUTT one another’s. Anyhoo- just like with his father’s cheating scandal, Rose is not the beauty that Kate is… However, she IS much more high born than Kate, in terms of the British hierarchy. I just wanted to note all of this because it will become relevant later.
+So then, as we have covered on this show, Kate told the public that she had undergone abdominal surgery and would need to lay low until Easter. This is unusual for the royals but also understandable, because no one really knew what kind of surgery we were talking about here.
+But that is when people believed she “went missing.” And internet sleuths… Particularly on TikTok, were FULL ON investigating. But guys, back in the day, there was seriously a similar theory about Paul McCartney. And he was very much alive and well, living on a sheep farm for a while. And more recent, Tiffany Dover, a nurse underwent a similar situation in the wake of COVID-19 after she fainted on a news coverage of the vaccines… anti-vaxxers literally stalked the woman trying to prove she was dead, when in reality, she is very much alive and just wants to be left alone, after trying multiple times to show the press she was alive and well. It’s almost impossible to satisfy people who think someone is dead… If the person DOES appear, they often claim its a look alike or a doctored photo etc… But THIS is where the royal family did themselves ZERO favors…
That brings us up to the present, when a photo was posted of Kate Middleton and her children, to the Prince and Princess of Wale Instagram page. Now, if this had simply been an old photo, it wouldn’t have squashed rumors, but it wouldn’t have caused SUCH a stir. But instead, it appears the photo was badly photoshopped in MULTIPLE places. Whatsmore, Kate also appeared WITHOUT her wedding ring… Something, in the wake of all these cheating rumors, you would think the palace would be EXTRA wary of. Kate quickly apologized via an online post (*or someone did FOR her*) claiming that SHE was the one who experimented with the photoshop and because she is an amateur photographer, it turned out badly… This simply added fuel to the fire, as it seems like probably the most messy and UNLIKELY explanation possible.
The internet sleuths ALSO pointed out that a puff piece about “who is Lady rose Hanbury?” Popped up in The Independent. The ytout her fashion sense, that she is a former model, that she “discovered” Kate Moss, her vacations with Tony Blair, and more. They even legit listed the tuition at her boarding school… Very strange. It’s almost like she wanted to say, I wasn’t POOR before I married a Lord! But they did name Kate Middleton as a “close friend” of Rose’s and mentioned her husband as well. So maybe the piece was designed to SQUASH the affair rumors? But it had just about the opposite effect.
People likened it to when Princess Diana was making her exit from the Royal Family, and then Prince CHARLES (obviously now he’s King Charles) was trying to do everything he could to build up CAMILLA in the press! But it was a losing game because Diana was, well, DIANA. She was the People’s Princess. And although Kate may not have the same warmth or as fearless social causes, she is certainly a favorite among the current royals, and I doubt if anyone could eclipse her, even if they tried.
I think all of this could be quelled by the end of the month at Easter when. Kate makes a speech or two with her husband by her side… OR, it could definitely go the other way where Kate, I doubt is actually disappeared… But may be taking private time to mourn the loss of a relationship, rather than the loss of a kidney or something as she had told the public. These are certainly bizarre and unprecedented times for the royal family.
And that, is the News Du Jour!
Today, I wanted to leave you guys with the quote:
“Laughter is an instant vacation.”