Didn’t the OG Catherine the Great overthrow her husband? I say this because the new cover of Tatler made me laugh, because that’s what they’re going for with this title, “Catherine the Great”, about Catherine of House Cambridge, evoking of course Catherine the Great of history, who plotted a coup ag…

With the relaxing of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions, visitors crowd the boardwalk on Memorial Day weekend in Ocean City, Maryland. REUTERS Photo by Kevin Lamarque pic.twitter.com/jTLCizWwr4

— Jim Bourg (@jimbourg) May 23, 2020

Happy belated Memorial Day. Memorial Day in the US, for anyone who doesn’t know, is a nationally observed holiday to honor those who have died while serving this country in the military. Many of those we honor died on the battlefield defending the rights and beliefs laid out in the Constitution of the United States of America. To honor those brave men and women this year, in the midst of a pandemic that has claimed the lives of almost 100,000 Americans, many flooded beaches, water parks and regular parks, without masks, not adhering to social distancing, and endangering everyone around them. The photos of the mass gatherings were met with disgust by many of us, including those currently risking their lives while serving their country: the frontline workers.

As states across the country begin reopening during the Memorial Day weekend, many are flocking to beaches, restaurants and bars in large numbers, despite pandemic warnings.

Beaches have seen an influx of visitors, as many people pack the beaches in Texas, Florida and more coasts while observing the summer holiday.

“I have never seen this many umbrellas,” Tiffany Mathers, 44, told the Tampa Bay Times after stopping by the Madeira Beach, which is located across the street from her home. “This is not social-distancing at all. There are way too many people.”

Mathers added that she felt awkward asking people to move further away from her to maintain social distancing when setting up towels and chairs nearby.

“I don’t want to be ugly to visitors,” she said, as many of the people she met on the beach appeared to have come in from out of town. “But I feel like we’ve been educated for too long about social-distancing for it to be this way.”

Similarly, a video shared by Scott Pasmore, an anchor for CNN affiliate KTVK, showed hundreds of people packing bars and pools while partying together at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.

“No covid concerns at the lake of the ozarks #loto,” Pasmore captioned the video, which was filmed at Backwater Jacks Bar & Grill in Osage Beach on Saturday.

The bar announced the launch of their summer party called “Zero Ducks Given Pool Party” on Facebook, sharing that they had “worked with and taken the advice of government officials and management teams and will be following social distancing guidelines.”

Dr. Stephen M. Hahn issued the warning on Twitter, writing that the deadly virus “is not yet contained.”

“With the country starting to open up this holiday weekend, I again remind everyone that the coronavirus is not yet contained,” he shared. “It is up to every individual to protect themselves and their community. Social distancing, hand washing and wearing masks protect us all.”

[From People]

I know how hard it is to figure all of this out. It would be terribly frustrating to head to a beach only to have to leave because there was no safe spot six feet from others in every direction. Nobody said reopening would be easy. But it will take cooperation and sacrifice from all of us. But, as witnessed in this article and by examples like this public ousting of a women in a Target who refused to wear a mask, people are starting to come together against those who think their indignation is enough to protect them against a virus that has killed close to 350,000 people worldwide.

Before my husband’s university locked down, his boss told the department to start preparing for COVID to get personal, meaning that eventually, we would all likely have a name we can put to a COVID death. Last week I was accused of Isolation Shaming because I didn’t think Amanda Stanton was setting the right example by bragging about driving from So Cal to Arizona for a haircut. Tomorrow, they will take a very dear friend off her ventilator to see if there is any hope of her breathing on her own, something she is not currently responding to. There is a Do Not Resuscitate order in place. She is unconscious and alone, unaware of the devoted hospital staff that surrounds her. So yeah, I might Isolation Shame on occasion. But I will also do my part of sticking to pandemic precautions so that I don’t ever again have to pray to a God I stopped believing in to save a good person from such a lonely death.

People pack Indiana beach on Memorial Day weekend https://t.co/OVSmlpGysb pic.twitter.com/yh3pNEaqzU

— WDRB News (@WDRBNews) May 25, 2020

No covid concerns at the lake of the ozarks? #loto pic.twitter.com/Yrb4UNM64u

— Scott Pasmore (@scottpasmoretv) May 24, 2020

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Photo credit: Twitter and Getty Images

Tatler’s cover story about the Duchess of Cambridge made me laugh out loud several times. What’s even funnier is that Tatler thinks they’re doing this important thing, which in their mind is Embiggening Kate, but what they’re really doing is making her sound like a lazy, bullying a–hole without a personality. It’s pretty funny. Also hilarious: Kate is good friends with several Tatler people and Camp Cambridge clearly gave Tatler the nod to run many anti-Meghan, anti-Sussex pieces over the past few years. But when all eyes are FINALLY on Kate, guess what? Even Tatler can’t really succeed at embiggening her. Some highlights:

Kate the Kingmaker: Popular with courtiers, who admire her fuss-free ability to ‘get the job done’, as well as with her loyal royal staff (no Sussex-esque turnover of assistants here), in the almost-decade since she joined ‘the Firm’, she’s more than proven her abilities as a royal consort. Indeed, she’s gone so far as to be dubbed ‘a kingmaker’ – surely one of the highest accolades given to a Princess.

Kate champions children: ‘Kate knows what the country needs and wants. Championing how to raise your children is perfect,’ one friend points out, of the Duchess’s ability to appear like a down-to-earth parent during recent Zoom appearances and podcast interviews.

The workload post-Sussexit: ‘Of course she’s smiling and dressing appropriately but she doesn’t want this. She feels exhausted and trapped. She’s working as hard as a top CEO, who has to be wheeled out all the time, without the benefits of boundaries and plenty of holidays.’

Her stoic personality: ‘It’s why she is so well suited. She keeps her head down because the prize of being queen is so great. She models herself on the Queen and now speaks like the Queen.’

Carole is the brains: Kate’s mother Carole, is noted as a close confidante and influence, particularly as she herself is so ambitious. A friend of Donna Air, Kate’s younger brother James Middleton’s ex, alleges, ‘Carole is the masterminding force between those girls.’

The Sussexes threw children under a bus! A friend of the Cambridges speaking to Tatler magazine revealed: ‘William and Catherine really wanted to be hands-on parents and the Sussexes have effectively thrown their three children under a bus.’

Kate can’t make the school run! The insider went on to call Meghan and Prince Harry ‘so selfish’ for their behaviour, adding that their decision would have profound impacts on the Cambridge’s family life. They explained: ‘There goes their morning school runs as the responsibilities on them now are enormous.’

The fight between Kate & Meghan during the wedding fittings: ‘It was a hot day and apparently there was a row over whether the bridesmaids should wear tights or not. Kate, following protocol, felt that they should. Meghan didn’t want them to.’ The royal went on to ‘put Meghan in her place’, reprimanding her for speaking down to Kensington Palace staff.

Kate is ruthless: One insider added: ‘In the palace, you hear numerous stories of the staff saying so-and-so is a nightmare and behaves badly but you never hear that about Kate.’ Kate, whose manners are described as impeccable, is also said to have a ‘ruthless survival streak’ that makes her ‘well suited’ to the House of Windsor.’

[From Tatler]

“She feels exhausted and trapped. She’s working as hard as a top CEO” is AMAZING. Kate works like a CEO, in that she mysteriously disappears for weeks and months at a time, shows up to events in button-covered prairie cosplay and then smiles vaguely for 20 minutes once a week. SHE WORKS AS HARD AS A CEO, people. And she does so “without the benefits of boundaries and plenty of holidays.” LMAO. How is this supposed to help Kate again? Also, William and Kate literally orchestrated a campaign to bully the Sussexes out of the country, and now the Cambridges are super-bitter about how the Sussexes abandoned them? That will never stop being hilarious to me. And all of the breast-beating about Harry and Meghan throwing children under the bus! Yes, it’s so unlike William and Kate orchestrating a racist smear campaign against Meghan when she was pregnant and in the months following Archie’s birth. GMAFB.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red and Backgrid.

A post shared by Doja Cat (@dojacat) on Apr 1, 2020 at 7:10pm PDT

I have a question for all of the ‘90s girls in the comments: when you first heard Doja Cat’s “Say So,” did anyone else think of The Cardigans’ “Lovefool”? Similar beat, similar disco-lite vibe and I swear to God, Doja Cat’s voice sounds remarkably similar to The Cardigans’ lead singer Nina Persson (sidenote: I looked this up and I’m not the only one who thinks this). Anyway, this is just a reminder that for most of us not paying attention to the minutiae of pop music, Doja Cat only really became a big pop culture thing recently, over the past year, really. Of course she’s been around the music industry for a lot longer (she’s 24) and of course like so many 20-somethings, she grew up on the internet. Which means that the whole “nothing is ever really deleted” thing has happened to Doja Cat.

Several days ago, people began posting a years-old video of a chat Doja Cat had with about a dozen people. Some of the people might have been known white supremacists, and you can hear Doja making racist remarks, and there’s anecdotal evidence that she was quite chummy with known Red Pill dudes or something. It’s complicated, but I believe that she did some or all of what she’s being accused of:

SAY IT AINT SO! Hold up! ??After coming under fire for using homophobic slurs, #DojaCat is trending AGAIN! ????? This time over video chats which resurfaced online showing her engaging in racists calls. #Doja we need answers ???

A post shared by HOLLYWOOD UNLOCKED (@hollywoodunlocked) on May 22, 2020 at 5:20pm PDT

So “Doja Cat is cancelled” was trending on social media throughout the Memorial Day holiday. On Sunday, Doja Cat made a statement and an apology:

“I want to address what’s been happening on Twitter,” she began. “I’ve used public chat rooms to socialize since I was a child. I shouldn’t have been on some of those chat room sites, but I personally have never been involved in any racist conversations. I’m sorry to anyone I offended.”

“I’m a black woman. Half of my family is black from South Africa and I’m very proud of where I come from.”

Doja went on to explain an old song that recently resurfaced called “Dindu Nuffin,” a title that The Source writes is in reference to “a stylized pronunciation of ‘didn’t do nothing,’” and a “phrase people in the Alt-Right spaces of the internet use to describe black victims of police brutality.” She explained that the song was in “no way” tied to anything outside of her “personal experience,” and that it was written in response to “people who often used that term to hurt me.” According to Doja, her intention was to “flip” the term’s meaning, but admits that it was a “bad decision” to use it in her music.

“I understand my influence and impact and I’m taking this all very seriously,” she added. “I love you all and I’m sorry for upsetting or hurting any of you. That’s not my character and I’m determined to show that to everybody moving forward. Thank you.”

[From Complex]

I don’t really have anything to add – I really don’t know much about Doja Cat beyond this controversy, although from what I gather, she also got in trouble (internet trouble) for using homophobic slurs. Has she been problematic this whole time? Or was this all just some innocent mistake? F–k if I know.

A post shared by Doja Cat (@dojacat) on May 24, 2020 at 8:10pm PDT

Photos courtesy of Instagram.

Over the holiday weekend, TMZ posted new photos of Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas taking a walk with his kids on Saturday. At first only TMZ had them so I suspect they paid a premium. None of the other major outlets posted those over the weekend, but they’re available for the plebe subscribers now, which is how we got them. Incidentally, that’s the same photo agency that had the exclusives of Ben and Ana on a beach in Costa Rica. I wonder how they also knew to be there when Ben and Ana stepped out for the first time with his kids.

Of course there are multiple stories about how Ben is introducing Ana to his kids. They spent the night at Ben’s house when Ana was there too. I wonder if this is all storyboarded out by a team of people, because we last heard that Ana admires Ben so much for somehow juggling a career and co-parenting. Now she’s meeting his kids, how sweet. US, People and ET Online all had sourced quotes about this.

“He wants the kids to spend time with her so they can get to know her,” the source says, adding that Affleck is “very serious” about the Cuban star, who he met on the set of their upcoming erotic thriller, Deep Water. – From US Magazine

The source says Affleck, 47, is “very serious” about 32-year-old girlfriend de Armas. “He wants the kids to spend time with her so they can get to know her,” the source adds. “They are very happy together.” the source says Affleck “continues to work on co-parenting” with Garner. “Ben and Jen work together at that” – From two stories on People

“Ben and Ana are happy together and have enjoyed spending time with his family,” a source tells ET.

“He and Jen continue to work together on co-parenting,” the source added of Affleck’s ex-wife, Jennifer Garner, 48. “They make it work.” – From ET Online

[From US, two stories on People and ET Online]

Consider how open Ben and Ana have been about their relationship and how much regret he’s expressed, for years, about making his romance with Jennifer Lopez so public. Here he is involved with another celebrity who also likes the spotlight. He definitely seems like someone stuck in a pattern. We remember what’s next and maybe he’ll be able to avoid that this time.

At first I thought that Ana was socially distancing from Ben’s kids but there are several photos of her touching Samuel, 8. Also the newest photos of Ben and Ana are exclusives so we don’t have them, but you can see them on JustJared. The Daily Mail points out that Ben dyed his beard.

photos credit: Backgrid

Dear Gossips, Bong Joon-ho and Parasite won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival a year ago, kicking off the film’s run to the Oscars, where it would eventually go on to make history and take the Best Picture Oscar. We know that now. But back then, much of the focus in Cannes was on Quentin Ta…

Dear Gossips, Bong Joon-ho and Parasite won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival a year ago, kicking off the film’s run to the Oscars, where it would eventually go on to make history and take the Best Picture Oscar. We know that now. But back then, much of the focus in Cannes was on Quentin Ta…

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Before Memorial Day, Joe Biden had not done any public events or been seen in public since March. He took the pandemic lockdown seriously, and he had a makeshift studio built in the basement of his Delaware home, so he could video-conference with campaign staffers and do interviews and such. I find all of that extremely… responsible. He’s a public figure and he was trying to lead by example. He’s still trying to lead by example.

Biden made his first appearance in two months at the Delaware Veteran’s Memorial Park. He and Jill Biden laid a wreath at the memorial. They both wore somber, respectful black ensembles, and both wore black face masks. Joe Biden even wore his aviator sunglasses, which I can’t do! I can’t wear glasses or sunglasses when I’m wearing a mask, everything fogs up. But Biden somehow looked kind of cool. Not according to Fox News’ Brit Hume, who tweeted this:

This might help explain why Trump doesn’t like to wear a mask in public. Biden today. pic.twitter.com/9l1gw1ljBE

— Brit Hume (@brithume) May 25, 2020

Donald Trump retweeted it and the usual suspects were falling all over themselves to agree with Hume. Because apparently to these ancient old MAGA types, it’s not very masculine to care about pandemics or public safety or your own health. This too is toxic masculinity. Besides, I think Biden looks good in that black mask. He looks like he’s about to have a guest-star arc on Watchmen.

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Photos courtesy of Getty.

Homeschooling parents, how are you doing? Going bonkers? I think that’s fair. I couldn’t suddenly homeschool children during a pandemic, and I respect all of you trying to keep up with lessons and such. Here in America, the “school year” has already been cancelled, and various states are grappling with whether or not to do any kind of summer schooling. My guess is that most states will start the “new school year” in late August/early September no matter what though. In Britain it’s different, because they organize school years and semesters differently, and there’s a possibility that some or many schools will reopen in June for a final month of classes, then there will be a summer break, then the new term will begin in August or September. So where do the royals stand?

Kate Middleton and Prince William may keep Princess Charlotte at home next month when school reopens. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are reportedly keen to keep their eldest two children together to continue their lockdown routine.

While Princess Charlotte, who is in reception, could go back to school as part of the phased return to classes, Prince George is in year 2 – not one of the groups expected to be brought back under government advice. The Times today reported Kate and William were considering keeping the family together during the coronavirus lockdown. Both Charlotte, five, and George, six, attend Thomas’ school in Battersea, Southwest London, which is this week expected to make a final decision over the return of classes.

Primary schools in England are due to reopen on June 1 at the earliest on condition that coronavirus infections continue to drop. Ministers hope to bring back Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 on that date. The remaining primary school pupils could return on June 22 for a month before terms end.

[From The Sun]

“Reception” is what I assume Americans would call kindergarten. That’s Charlotte’s age – she just turned 5 years old three weeks ago, so it’s some kind of nursery school/kindergarten. I wonder what the Cambridges will choose to do, especially with a lot of eyes on them. Many parents will take their lead from the Cambridges, I would assume. Meanwhile, Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall have a similarly-aged kid in school, 6-year-old Mia. Mike said this week that he and Zara plan to send Mia back to school whenever the school reopens:

Mike Tindall has described homeschooling his daughter Mia, 6, as ‘nice but also frustrating’, in a candid interview about life in isolation. The former England rugby player, 41, who also shares Lena, 1, with Zara Tindall, 39, said the little girl could be ‘brilliant’, but admitted he felt children were less likely to ‘listen to their parents than others’.

Mike revealed that they were currently planning to send Mia back to school on the 1st June in line with government guidelines opening the doors to reception, year 1 and year 6 pupils next month, but admitted he was keeping a close eye on developments.

The father-of-two said they have hardly seen their neighbour Princess Anne, who has been busy with charity work, and said the WhatsApp group they share with the Cambridges and the Sussexes ‘hasn’t been that active’, revealing that ‘everyone is just getting on with it’.

Speaking to the Telegraph, Mike said: ‘Zara still has hopes that the horses will get back, they still need training and working on, so I get to be a teacher in the mornings which is sometimes really nice, sometimes really frustrating.I don’t think any child is a great home schooler because they definitely listen to other people better than they listen to their parents.’

And admitting he can get frustrated, he continued: ‘Mia enjoyed it the first week because it different being around Mum and Dad all the time. But then ultimately it’s the same people who are telling her off or telling her what to do and I think she gets bored of that. ‘

Explaining that the plan is currently for Mia to go back to school on the 1st June, Mike admitted there was no ‘ideal situation’, but said he felt it was important for children to have ‘some independence’.

[From The Daily Mail]

For the longest time, Mike has been the most authentic “middle class” or “working class” voice in the royal family. He rather famously shut down speculation that he would ever approve of sending his kids off to boarding school, and he seems to want Mia and Lena to have a completely normal upbringing at home, perhaps even going to local schools rather than fancy private schools. This seems in line with that.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Backgrid and Avalon Red.

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From where I sit, the UK’s pandemic lockdown was just as messy as America’s lockdown. The American federal government – the Trump administration – is in a permanent state of chaos, and with that vacuum of leadership it was left to states and localities to make their own decisions about locking down. States on the East and West Coasts were locked down by March 15-17. Other states followed within the next week. The UK didn’t lockdown until March 23, but once they finally did it, they did it “right” – nothing half-assed, they just locked down everything. And it was during that strict lockdown that Boris Johnson’s right-hand man Dominic Cummings f–ked up royally. Cummings was the architect of Brexit, and he’s been called the virtual co-prime minister alongside BoJo. Cummings also had the coronavirus around the same time as BoJo. Only Cummings decided to travel 260 miles across England while he was suffering with symptoms of the virus:

Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced a torrent of calls on Saturday to dismiss his most influential adviser, Dominic Cummings, after reports that Mr. Cummings had visited relatives in northern England while he was ill with the coronavirus — a violation of Britain’s lockdown rules. Mr. Johnson appeared determined to stand by Mr. Cummings, an enigmatic figure who helped mastermind his election victory last year and the Brexit campaign that resulted in Britain’s departure from the European Union.

But the reports that Mr. Cummings had driven to his parents’ house in Durham in April when the government was urging people to stay home — particularly those with symptoms of the virus — set off a political tempest, with critics accusing him of flouting the rules that apply to everybody else.

“The British people do not expect there to be one rule for them and another rule for Dominic Cummings,” said a spokesman for the opposition Labour Party, who added that he had “breached the lockdown rules.” Confronted by reporters outside his home on Saturday, Mr. Cummings said, “I behaved reasonably and legally.” Asked whether his decision had been “a good look,” he replied: “Who cares about good looks? It’s a question of doing the right thing. It is not about what you guys think.”

[From The NY Times]

Over the weekend, there was a growing chorus of journalists, politicos and average British citizens demanding that BoJo fire Cummings. Initially, BoJo told the media that Cummings had “no alternative” than drive 260 miles while sick with the virus against government guidelines. BoJo said Cummings acted “responsibly, legally and with integrity…I think he followed the instincts of every father and every parent, and I do not mark him down for that.” There’s also some question about whether Cummings even informed Johnson that he was leaving London to make this jaunt, and no one has answered the question about whether Cummings actually traveled an additional 30 miles to visit another town while he was still sick or infectious. Then, just as everything was getting extra crazy, Cummings thought it would be a good idea to hold a press conference. He’s only an aide!

Boris Johnson’s embattled chief aide has refused to apologize for driving across England during lockdown, amid a scandal over his movements that has overshadowed the UK government’s coronavirus response.

“I don’t regret what I did,” Dominic Cummings told reporters on Monday after Downing Street took the extraordinary step of putting the special adviser in front of the media to respond to the saga. Cummings was repeatedly pressed to say sorry to the British people for traveling 260 miles across England and staying at a house on his parents’ property, at a time when the public was being urged not to leave their homes. But he said that he thought making the journey was “the best thing to do,” and blamed media reports for creating “a very bad atmosphere” around his London home. And he insisted that another drive he made to the town of Barnard Castle, several miles from his parents’ home, was so that he could test his eyesight and make sure he was healthy enough to then drive back to London — an explanation that was immediately questioned by opposition politicians.

A central charge of the government’s critics, which include several lawmakers within Johnson’s Conservative party, is that Cummings was allowed to interpret the rules as he saw fit when the public was not given the same leeway. They have argued that his actions undermine the government’s lockdown, and violate Johnson’s repeated message that people must stay at home to “save lives and protect the NHS.” But Cummings claimed that “the rules made clear that if you are dealing with small children there can be exceptional circumstances.” The guidance urges people to self-isolate in one place if sick with symptoms, and stresses that parents of young children should “keep following this advice to the best of your ability,” adding: “However, we are aware that not all these measures will be possible.”

[From CNN]

So Cummings won’t apologize, won’t offer his resignation and Boris isn’t going to fire him. And all of the outrage about this is just being hyped by the media. Got it. I mean… how did this dude get so powerful? I would have thought that post-Brexit, he wouldn’t be able to get hired for anything.

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Photos courtesy of Getty.