Giorgio Baldi is a celebrity-favourite restaurant. It’s Rihanna’s favourite restaurant. So there are paparazzi waiting outside all the time. Which tells you how good the food is – for celebrities to keep going back. Last night Gwyneth Paltrow, Demi Moore, and Jennifer Meyer went there for dinner. Th…

Regina King’s engaging, resonant historical biopic, One Night in Miami, is one of the early standouts of the Oscar race this year. It debuted at the Venice Film Festival, then played TIFF, kicking off a traditional Oscar campaign in a very non-traditional year (it will premiere on Christmas day in w…

Will Matthew McConaughey run for governor of Texas? If we’re getting celebrities to run in Texas, why not Andy Roddick? [Dlisted]
Rachel Maddow delivered a heart-wrenching monologue about the pandemic. Her partner, Susan, has the virus and Rachel has been caring for her. [Towleroad]
Maria Bakalova’s mom was sad after watching Borat. [OMG Blog]
Justin Bieber & Hailey Baldwin wore masks & grabbed lunch. [JustJared]
The latest What’s Your Drama podcast deals with gossip about Shawn Mendes. [LaineyGossip]
The Fug Girls are doing breakdowns of The Crown Season 4, episode by episode. This is their take on Episode 2. [Go Fug Yourself]
Even Fox News thought Rudy Giuliani’s press conference was bonkers. [Pajiba]
So is Real Housewives of Salt Lake City a hit? [Jezebel]
Pfizer wants emergency FDA authorization of their vaccine. [Buzzfeed]
Daisy Ridley wore a very Duchess Kate-esque outfit. [RCFA]

Philanthropist, actor and proud Texan Matthew McConaughey talks with “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert about the possibility of running for governor. https://t.co/AcTs8mVMVi pic.twitter.com/ILZHQox4Hh

— CNN (@CNN) November 19, 2020

Let’s talk about journaling. How do you feel about it? To be straight up, it has always felt super cheese to me, something you always see Insta “wellness” influencers talk about and as you know, that stuff repels me. So can we just call it what it is? Writing some sh-t down on paper. If we can frame…

Let’s talk about journaling. How do you feel about it? To be straight up, it has always felt super cheese to me, something you always see Insta “wellness” influencers talk about and as you know, that stuff repels me. So can we just call it what it is? Writing some sh-t down on paper. If we can frame…

As we now know, Amelia Hamlin and Scott Disick are happening. They were first seen together around Halloween, and this week they did their first coupled-up beach pap stroll. He’s 37 years old, a father of three and he has a history of substance abuse issues. Amelia is 19 years old and has been open about her eating disorder. I’m hoping that this doesn’t last. But here we are. When Sofia Richie took up with Scott when she was just 19 years old, her parents weren’t happy about it but they basically shrugged it off, and Sofia and Scott ended up being together for about three years. Will Amelia’s parents react differently? Lisa Rinna already ran to E! News to speak about it as an unnamed source.

How Lisa Rinna & Harry Hamlin are reacting to Amelia’s new relationship: “Harry and Lisa were sad to see Amelia and Mercer Wiederhorn split because they loved Mercer,” a source exclusively shared with E! News. “He was like family, but they understand.” As for Amelia spending time with Scott, the source said both parents “believe this is just a phase.”

An eyewitness describes Scott & Amelia’s pap stroll: Over the weekend, Scott and Amelia drove up to Santa Barbara again to spend the day on the beach near the Rosewood Miramar Beach Hotel in Montecito, Calif. “They took a walk and enjoyed the incredible weather,” an eyewitness shared with E! News. “Scott pulled Amelia in close and put his arm around her. Then they had lunch by the beach and were chatting and laughing. They enjoyed the afternoon and sat up on a balcony enjoying the view.” The eyewitness said the duo later drove back home where they stopped for dinner at Taverna Tony located near the Malibu Country Mart.

Scott isn’t super-serious about Amelia: “Scott’s having a good time,” the source shared. “He’s getting to know Amelia and enjoying her company. They are spending a lot of time together but it’s nothing serious. He’s having fun with it.”

Lisa can’t help herself: As a source explained, “Lisa’s Real Housewives of Beverly Hills co-stars’ eyebrows are definitely raised.” But as the Rinna Beauty founder once said, “It’s only true when it comes from my lips.”

[From E! News]

Back in the day, celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton and the K-J clan would get paid to “host” parties at clubs. I wonder if Scott Disick has found a new revenue stream: get photographed with a teenager, be in a weird relationship for some amount of time and make the girlfriend some kind of gossip “name.” Does he get a percentage of the photos he arranges? Or does Lisa Rinna just pay him a flat fee?

Scott Disick, 37, puts his arm around a bikini-clad Amelia Hamlin, 19 as the pair confirm their budding romance https://t.co/xi2plqQrSl

— Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) November 17, 2020

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.

As we’ve seen over the past two week (more like the past five years), the Republican Party is just fine with all of Donald Trump’s fascism and criminality. It’s their brand, and their followers are fine with it too. Sure, there are a handful of Republicans who don’t like Trump personally (the Lincoln Project guys, the McCains), but Republican voters and elected Republicans were perfectly willing to sign up for Trumpism and all of the bullsh-t that entailed. Even in the past two weeks, they’ve been happy to play their little authoritarian games, pretending that Trump has some kind of case for winning the election, that maybe he could really pull it off and successfully disenfranchise millions of voters. Now two Republican senators are trying to put the fascism genie back in the bottle. Gently, though, because God knows they’re all terrified of hurting Dear Leader’s baby fee-fees.

Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse is strongly pushing back against President Donald Trump’s attempts to contest the election with lawsuits and claims of fraud, observing Thursday that Trump’s lawyers have “refused to actually allege grand fraud” in court. Sasse’s statement was perhaps the most pointed Republican rebuttal yet to Trump’s weeks-long refusal to accept the results of the presidential election. Republicans have mostly declined to criticize Trump’s ongoing effort to overturn the election, which included a press conference Thursday in which Trump campaign lawyer Rudy Giuliani baselessly alleged “massive fraud” in Michigan.

“Wild press conferences erode public trust. So no, obviously Rudy and his buddies should not pressure electors to ignore their certification obligations under the statute. We are a nation of laws, not tweets,” Sasse said.

Later Thursday night, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said the Trump campaign’s pressure tactics on election officials amount to an attempt to “subvert the will of the people.”

“It is difficult to imagine a worse, more undemocratic action by a sitting American President,” Romney said. Romney was the only Republican to support removing Trump from office during his impeachment trial.

Trump is set to meet with Michigan’s GOP statehouse leaders on Friday as the state moves toward certifying election results that currently show Biden leading by more than 150,000 votes. Sasse panned Trump’s chances of overturning the result in Michigan.

“When Trump campaign lawyers have stood before courts under oath, they have repeatedly refused to actually allege grand fraud — because there are legal consequences for lying to judges,” Sasse said. “President Trump lost Michigan by more than 100,000 votes, and the campaign and its allies have lost in or withdrawn from all five lawsuits in Michigan for being unable to produce any evidence.”

[From Politico]

I mean, sure, I’m not ANGRY that two Republican senators are at least in contact with reality. But let’s be perfectly clear: Mitt Romney and Ben Sasse are not profiles in courage. Neither one of them has the cojones to actually come out and say “this is criminal” or “this is sedition” or “this is absolutely crazy and Donald Trump needs to concede right now, today, because we cannot continue operating like this.” They still want to give themselves room to play footsie with the Trump base.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Katie Nicholl at Vanity Fair had a somewhat confused and tone-deaf story about The Crown and the Duchess of Cornwall several days ago. Nicholl claimed that Camilla was a fan of The Crown, and she planned to sit down with a big glass of wine and watch the fourth season, a season where she’s featured as the third person in Diana and Charles’ marriage. The rest of Nicholl’s coverage was just the talking points which – I believe – were issued by Clarence House, because Prince Charles is clearly freaking out about 15 years of careful media relations going down the drain via ten hours of Netflix binge-watching. But what of Prince William and Prince Harry?

Duchess Camilla might be willing to watch the latest series of the Crown, but Prince William and Prince Harry won’t be tuning in. While the princes are believed to have watched some of the previous seasons of the Netflix drama, sources say they will be giving the latest—and arguably most controversial series—a wide berth.

“Harry has seen the trailers for series four but I can’t see him watching it,” a source close to the Duke told Vanity Fair, while a friend of William’s said that he has “no desire” to watch a fictitious depiction of the breakdown of his parents’ marriage, as well as his baby years.

“The feeling is that the latest series would actually be quite sad for them to watch,” a well-placed source told Vanity Fair.

According to reports, the Queen, who has never watched the show but has followed the stories about it in the media, and Prince Philip are upset about the inaccuracies in the drama, in particular how family rows and relationships have been played out and presented as fact rather than a work of fiction.

[From Vanity Fair]

Yeah, I’m not surprised? I guess it’s interesting that Nicholl got the tip on this considering that the British media seems more focused on how Harry is a terrible person for signing on to a deal with Netflix. It shows maturity on his part – he knows from the trailers that this season would be quite painful to watch, so he’ll just skip it. And that’s it. Same with William. No one is forcing anyone to watch this show, and you’re not a terrible person if certain shows (about your damn family) aren’t your jam.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red, Backgrid, Netflix.

Fascist baby-whisperer Ivanka Trump has been awfully quiet these past two weeks, huh? CNN reported yesterday that Ivanka, a senior advisor to her father, “has pretty much removed herself from this,” “this” being the fascist ratf–king meltdown from her father. Sources claim that “Ivanka is well aware she has a business she might want to return to, or even a future political life.” Lolz. Almost on cue, the NY Times reports that New York state is moving ahead with all of their investigations into the Trump crime family’s financial f–kery, including all of these shady payments to Ivanka:

Two separate New York State fraud investigations into President Trump and his businesses, one criminal and one civil, have expanded to include tax write-offs on millions of dollars in consulting fees, some of which appear to have gone to Ivanka Trump, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The inquiries — a criminal investigation by the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., and a civil one by the state attorney general, Letitia James — are being conducted independently. But both offices issued subpoenas to the Trump Organization in recent weeks for records related to the fees, the people said. The subpoenas were the latest steps in the two investigations of the Trump Organization, and underscore the legal challenges awaiting the president when he leaves office in January. There is no indication that his daughter is a focus of either inquiry, which the Trump Organization has derided as politically motivated.

Among the revelations was that Mr. Trump reduced his taxable income by deducting about $26 million in fees to unidentified consultants as a business expense on numerous projects between 2010 and 2018. Some of those fees appear to have been paid to Ms. Trump, The Times found. On a 2017 disclosure she filed when joining the White House as a presidential adviser, she reported receiving payments from a consulting company she co-owned, totaling $747,622, that exactly matched consulting fees claimed as tax deductions by the Trump Organization for hotel projects in Hawaii and Vancouver, British Columbia.

Alan Garten, general counsel for the Trump Organization, said in a statement that “this is just the latest fishing expedition in an ongoing attempt to harass the company. Everything was done in strict compliance with applicable law and under the advice of counsel and tax experts. All applicable taxes were paid and no party received any undue benefit.”

[From The NY Times]

Basically, Ivanka worked for Trump Org and was being paid by that company, and she was also funneling millions of dollars to a consulting firm – which likely just existed on paper – she also owned. Yeah, financial crimes mostly bore me to tears, but the relevant part is that ‘Vanka isn’t going to be able to stick her tail between her legs and hide out in Palm Beach. She’s going be the centerpiece in so many criminal cases and civil lawsuits when all is said and done.

Oh, and Ivanka can tweet out bulls–t too, daddy! Imagine being Ivanka Trump and thinking you have any kind of moral, ethical, political or legal high ground.

This is harassment pure and simple. This ‘inquiry’ by NYC democrats is 100% motivated by politics, publicity and rage. They know very well that there’s nothing here and that there was no tax benefit whatsoever. These politicians are simply ruthless.https://t.co/4dQoDzQlRX

— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) November 20, 2020

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red, Ivanka’s social media.

The CDC has issued new guidelines for Americans ahead of the Thanksgiving holidays. They’re recommending that you don’t eat inside with people you don’t live with, that you don’t travel, and that if college students come home they should be wearing masks around other family members. Any returning family member who hasn’t quarantined for 14 days should wear a mask. Cases are spiking all over the US and the numbers are dire.

“CDC is recommending against travel during the Thanksgiving Day period,” Dr. Henry Walke, Covid-19 incident manager for the CDC, told reporters in a conference call.

“Right now, especially as we are seeing exponential growth in cases and the opportunity to translocate disease or infection from one part of the country to another leads, to our recommendation to avoid travel at this time.”

“The reason that we made the update is that the fact that over the week we’ve seen over a million new cases in the country,” Dr. Erin Sauber-Schatz, the CDC’s lead for Community Intervention and Critical Population Task Force, said during the briefing….

“What is at stake is the increased chance of one of your loved ones becoming sick and then being hospitalized and dying around the holidays,” Walke said…

“One of our concerns is people over the holiday season will get together and they may actually be bringing infection with them to that small gathering and not even know it,” Walke said.

“We received lots of questions from the American people about college students or people that were coming home for the holidays that are family members or are a household member, so further clarifying that the safest way to celebrate Thanksgiving this year is at home with the people in your household,” Sauber-Schatz said.

“People who have not been living in your household for the 14 days before you are celebrating should not be considered members of your household and so you should take those extra precautions, even wearing masks within your own home.”

Families can also ask college students or other people who would normally be loosely considered household members to quarantine as much as possible for 14 days before arriving.

Safer gatherings can be held outside as much as possible, the CDC recommends. People can wear masks when together, and place chairs and furniture farther apart.

People who do travel should wear masks, keep their distance from others and wash their hands or use hand sanitizer frequently, the CDC said.

[From CNN]

Read the CDC’s guidelines for small gatherings. There are so many things to consider like frequently disinfecting surfaces, limiting contact with food and utensils and making sure there’s enough ventilation. You’re not supposed to sing or shout, especially indoors, and of course you’re not supposed to hug or get near anyone you don’t live with. Everyone should wear a mask when not eating or drinking, even outdoors.

Eating outside is still dangerous too. Why do that? Just skip Thanksgiving this year and Zoom people you don’t live with. Now is not the time to f’ck around with the virus and hang out eating. Buffet style food is not safe either. I don’t understand why people can’t see that and just skip the group holidays this year. It’s riskier now more than ever and the least we can do is keep our friends and family safe.

On a more positive note, a lot of people are realizing that turkey is useless and are instead baking chicken for Thanksgiving. I asked my son if he wanted to do this, but he said he really likes turkey so I got us some breasts to cook.

photos credit: Askar Abayev, Karolina Grabowska and Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels