I Didn't Say It ...

Pete Buttigieg, Transportation Secretary, explaining why he regularly appears on Fox News Entertainment:

“The reason I do it is because I think it’s important … to meet people where they are, and recognize that I can’t be mad at somebody for not embracing our message if they’ve literally never heard it. The more one-sided the news network is, the less likely [its viewers] will have heard [Democratic messages], unless I literally go there and share it. And I think it’s especially true in this election, because I know a lot of folks who watch Fox News and count on Fox News [and] I want [Fox News viewers] to at least have heard that, maybe more often than they would have [otherwise]. I know veterans who watch Fox News. I want to ask them to consider the difference between a ticket, led by somebody who faked a disability, getting a doctor’s note, taking advantage of him being a teenage multimillionaire so that he wouldn’t have to go to Vietnam … compared to, a ticket led by the administration that delivered the PACT Act that made sure that veterans who I served with in Iraq and Afghanistan [and were exposed] to burn pits, get the cancer treatment that they need. I always visualize people who I know who I disagree with and who are just maybe tuning in. I don’t think they’re going to see me on Fox for five minutes and see the light and suddenly become liberal Democrats. But I know that we’re having a healthier conversation if they’ve at least heard what somebody like me has to say. Well, you know, each of us has different kind of tactical decisions about where we go and how we do it, but I’m proud to speak on Fox News and other conservative outlets on behalf of this campaign because I believe in this campaign, and I think it’s especially important in places where certain arguments—not even arguments, just certain facts—might not otherwise be aired. I imagine most viewers of Fox News are sincerely unaware that immigrants are no more likely to commit a crime than somebody who was born here, because that’s just not a fact that gets mentioned on their airways very often. So to the extent they’re willing to invite me on there, I think it’s important for me to take the opportunity to share it.”

Again, simple common sense; Pete also does not denigrate the Fox viewers, even if they vehemently disagree because there may be hope that someone listening might change their mind about the Democrats and the Republicans.

photo

Sigourney Weaver, actor, accepting the Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award at the Venice Film Festival, after a reporter asked about how the character of Ripley contributed to the empowerment of women, including Kamala Harris:

"I love that question because we're all so excited about Kamala and to think for one moment that my work would have anything to do with her rise makes me very happy, actually, because it’s true. I have so many women who come and thank me. It's been difficult since 2016 and we’re all very grateful about her. What I appreciated about what [Alien writers] Walter Hill and David Giler wrote and how [director Ridley Scott] put it together was that my character was a person, not a woman, and they're two of the very few writers who can write a script where it's just a person. If you don't have to see her being girly or womanly or any of these other ideas, which are all great [because] women can be everything, but I got to play really what I realize now [was] the everyperson part. She's all of us. She is what you become when you have to find the ingenuity and don't even have time to be brave or anything else and I think of the women all over the world who are on the front lines of climate change and all these crises: It's the women who are taking care of their families, of their children, who are often doing the work. They're on the front lines. I take my inspiration from what I see as an actual woman. We were not getting our due and to me women were always so capable. We are everything so the idea the film world was using the pie and we were like this [raising and widening her arms], Walter and David loved strong women, felt women were strong. That's the funny thing. I'm always asked why I play strong women and I always think, 'What a weird question' because I just play women. Women are strong and they don't give up. You want to know why? We can't. We have to do it."

I do know that it was the first times we saw a strong, determined woman leading the way in a science fiction film and becoming the hero and the savior.

photo

Tom Cotton, GOP senator, on The Felon’s proposal to have the government or insurance companies cover IVF treatments.

“Well, all Republicans, to my knowledge, support IFV in the Congress. And there’s no state that prohibits or regulates IVF in a way that makes it unaccessible [sic]. It is expensive for many couples, I understand that. So it’s something I’m open to that most Republicans would be open to. I think we’d have to evaluate the fiscal impact, whether the taxpayer can afford to pay for this, what impact it would have on premiums. But in principle, supporting couples who are trying to use IVF or other fertility treatments – I don’t think is something that’s controversial at all.”

Oh Tom, you f**king liar.

In June 2024, Tom Cotton and 46 fellow Senate Republicans voted against expanding access to IVF. Today, Cotton calls that bill “ridiculous messaging.”

He’s a typical lying ReTHUGlican.

photo

Elise Stefanik, GOP Representative from New York, lying about The Felon’s campaign stop at Arlington Cemetery:

“Look at this past week … this was the three-year anniversary of those 13 service members in Afghanistan, now 13 Gold Star families. And you have Kamala Harris’s campaign politicizing this, not mentioning their names, not taking accountability for that catastrophic decision. She was the last person in the room advising Joe Biden and yet they’re criticizing [The Felon]’s invitation from those families at Arlington. Kamala Harris is a disgrace and we need to make sure she never becomes commander in chief.”

What Elise—who, let’s face it, is the GOP lapdog for the men—isn’t telling you is that the timeline for the withdrawal from Afghanistan was set in place by The Felon, who then used those deaths as a reason to stand on the graves of dead soldiers as a five-time draft dodger and smile while giving us all the thumbs up.

Also, ask Elise and any other Republican including The Felon where they were on the first anniversary of these soldier’s deaths … or the second anniversary. And you’ll realize they showed up this year because it’s an election year and they want to campaign on the dead bodies of soldiers.

photo

Kamala  Harris, Democrat for President, on The Felon’s tasteless display at Arlington:

“As Vice President, I have had the privilege of visiting Arlington National Cemetery several times. It is a solemn place; a place where we come together to honor American heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service of this nation. It is not a place for politics. And yet, as was reported this week, [The Felon]’s team chose to film a video there, resulting in an altercation with cemetery staff. Let me be clear: the former president disrespected sacred ground, all for the sake of a political stunt. This is nothing new from [him]. This is a man who has called our fallen service members ‘suckers’ and ‘losers’ and disparaged Medal of Honor recipients. A man who, during a previous visit to the cemetery, reportedly said of fallen service members, ‘I don’t get it. What was in it for them?’ This is a man who is unable to comprehend anything other than service to himself. If there is one thing on which we as Americans can all agree, it is that our veterans, military families, and service members should be honored, never disparaged, and treated with nothing less than our highest respect and gratitude. And it is my belief that someone who cannot meet this simple, sacred duty should never again stand behind the seal of the President of the United States of America. I will always honor the service and sacrifice of all of America’s fallen heroes, who made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of our beloved nation and our cherished freedoms. I mourn them and salute them. And I will never politicize them.”

And that’s how a President responds.

photo

I Ain't One To Gossip But ...

If you have so much money that you pull a stunt like this, maybe you should think of giving away most of your coins, m’kay?

Realtor, and Shark Tank judge, Barbara Corcoran threw herself a 70th birthday party and the theme of the party was funeral chic. To that end, Babs bought, or maybe rented, a coffin so she could celebrate her own funeral. Party … party? … guests arrived at a Fifth Avenue penthouse to find Corcoran lying in a coffin in a red gown with flowers on either side of her and a cardboard cutout of her as a nun.

Like I said, those coins could have been put to better use.

photo

Again, not a surprise to loyal ISBL readers, but I simply loathe Oprah Winfrey … and not just because she thinks avocados are too expensive, so she bought herself an avocado grove.

Oprah, because when she isn’t talking about food, is talking about herself, is revealing why she “stepped away” from being a 60 Minutes correspondent … the producers asked her to tome down her, ahem, Oprah-ness. I guess they were annoyed that, during the opening credits, she would bellow:

“I’m Oprah Winfrey. I’M OPRAH. WINFREY. OPRAAAAAAAAAAAAH! WINFREYYYYYYYYYYYY!”

Yeah, I don’t blame ‘em.

photo

Tori Spelling has dodged a bullet and will not, apparently, be arrested for being a deadbeat after all.

That bench warrant, which was issued for her arrest at the beginning of April, has been dropped. April warrants bring May … deposition?

Tori and Dean McDermott are fighting with City National Bank over some failed payments on a $400,000 loan–they still owe more than $250,000—and Spelling was supposed to show up to a court hearing to deal with the mess, but she said she was busy in Israel promoting children’s clothes with her BFF Jennie Garth.

But next week Tori will be deposed about all of her financial problems, her assets, and her income. A creditor will then comb through all of Tori and Dean’s bad choices and figure out how to make the billionaire’s deadbeat daughter and son-in-law pay their debts.

Fingers crossed that Luke Perry-less 90210 reboot gets a green light cuz Tori really needs the coins … for her debt, or for bail.

photo

I always thought Ricky Schroder was one of the few child stars who made it into adulthood without being a screw-up, but it appears that maybe Ricky waited until he was an adult before going off the deep end.

Last week Ricky was arrested for felony domestic violence … for the second time in one month … and now he’s sitting in jail for ALLEGEDLY hitting his girlfriend.

It seems police were called at 12:43 AM for a domestic incident at the NYPD Blue and Silver Spoons star’s home and shortly thereafter he was arrested for felony domestic violence … just 30 days after the LA County Sheriff’s Department made the exact same arrest on April 2nd. During that  incident, Ricky ALLEGEDLY “punched his girlfriend in the face as she tried to leave their home”.

A couple of years ago Schroder’s wife filed for divorce, and sought custody of their remaining minor child, after 24 years of marriage.

Even more telling, Schroder hasn’t worked in the last two years. Apparently, all his time has been … has been … devoted to getting divorced and hitting his girlfriend?

photo

I love celebrities who dish the dirt and so I am swooning over Anjelica Huston who gave an interview to Vulture and spilled a lot of tea.

She talks about how she gave up on her friendship with Penny Marshall over air conditioning, baseball hats and coke:

“Her habits conflicted with mine. She stayed up all night smoking cigarettes in subzero temperatures. Her rooms were freezing. Like air-conditioned, way up. She stayed up all night, followed QVC for beanbag dolls and stuff. She had this collection of sports memorabilia. She had a sort of museum in her basement full of signed baseballs and Lakers shirts. I just couldn’t relate. And also, frankly, she took a lot of coke.”

She spills the tea about ex-flame Jack Nicholson being a coke-head …not so much of a surprise, but still:

“[Jack] never took overt amounts. He was never a guzzler. I think Jack sort of used it, probably like Freud did, in a rather smart way. Jack always had a bit of a problem with physical lethargy. He was tired, and I think probably, at a certain age, a little bump would cheer him up. Like espresso.”

Don’t tell that to Starbucks … lest they come up with the Double-Bump Latte.

She also made excuses for Roman Polanski raping a thirteen-year-old girl in the 70s:

“Well, see, it’s a story that could’ve happened ten years before in England or France or Italy or Spain or Portugal, and no one would’ve heard anything about it. And that’s how these guys enjoy their time. It was a whole playboy movement in France when I was a young girl, 15, 16 years old, doing my first collections. You would go to Régine or Castel in Paris, and the older guys would all hit on you. Any club you cared to mention in Europe. It was de rigueur for most of those guys like Roman who had grown up with the European sensibility.”

I had no idea rape was a “European sensibility.” And she also thinks Polanski, who fled this country to avoid prosecution, should be allowed back:

“My opinion is: He’s paid his price, and at the time that it happened, it was kind of unprecedented. This was not an unusual situation. You know that movie An Education with Carey Mulligan? That happened to me. It’s about a schoolgirl in England who falls in love with an older dude, Peter Sarsgaard. My first serious boyfriend I met when he was 42 and I was 18.”

Oh, Angelica, an 18-year-old dating an older man is quite different than a thirteen-year-old being raped. But then she goes back in to dish about Oprah … and I die:

“[Oprah] never had me on her show, ever. She won’t talk to me. The only encounter I’ve had with Oprah was when I was at a party for the Academy Awards, a private residence. I was talking to Clint Eastwood, and she literally came between us with her back to me. So, all of the sudden I was confronted with the back of Oprah’s head.”

And that had to be a huge head.

Finally, she dogs Bill Murray:

“He was a sh-t to me on Life Aquatic. The first week I was there, we were all in this little hotel, and he invited the entire cast to go and have dinner, except me. And everyone came down for dinner, a little dog-faced about my not being invited, and they were all like, ‘Oh, you know, we don’t really want to go.’ That was worse than anything.”

A lot of that was messy and crazy and rape-y, but the dish on Murray and Oprah kinda made my day. As does this last story …

photo

Remember those drama kids from North Bergen High in New Jersey who staged a theatrical production of Alien as their class play that was so well-done the production went viral? 

Well, over the weekend, Alien [the movie] star Sigourney Weaver, who was stunned by the idea of the pay and their efforts, that  she went to see it.

And came backstage to congratulate them.

And posed for pictures with them.

Class act, Miss Weaver.

photo

I Ain't One To Gossip, But.....

Crack is wack, and it looks like it might be back.
Fans in England are storming the box office demanding refunds for the latest string of Whitney Houston off-key, scratchy, disjointed concerts there.
Houston, suffering from exhaustion or laryngitis or allergies or mallady-of-the-day, had reviewers reaching for the Thesaurus to describe the horrendous performance she gave in Birmingham:
"Houston, we have a problem."
Houston was "panting more than John Prescott running for the bus," a reference to a well-known, rotund, politician from Wales.
Her Birmingham concerts were first canceled because of respiratory issues--the crack pipe wouldn't light? And then when she finally rescheduled, there were constant water breaks and long chats with the audience so Whitney could catch her breath.
Take a listen to it today:

All in all awful. And sad.

It used to be the voice.

Someone is looking for a part in the sequel.
Avatar star Sigourney Weaver believes James Cameron didn't win the Oscar for Best Director because, wait for it, it's rich, he isn't female. She thinks the Academy wanted to make history by giving Kathryn Bigelow, the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Director, the grand prize. Of course, Siggie Weaver puts it in her own words:
"Jim didn't have breasts, and I think that was the reason. He should have taken home that Oscar. In the past, Avatar would have won because they [the Oscar voters] loved to hand out awards to big productions, like 'Ben-Hur.' Today it's fashionable to give the Oscar to a small movie that nobody saw."
Or maybe to a small film that's just plain, um, I dunno, better?
Siggie? I'm certain you'll be in the sequel so there's really no need to French kiss Cameron's ass.

What do you do when your career is officially over?
Well if you're Steven Seagal, you allegedly drug young girls and turn them into your own personal sex slaves. At least that's the story one young lady is telling.
Kayden Nguyen has filed a $1 million lawsuit against Steven for sexual harassment, claiming she was hired as Seagal's executive assistant last year, to perform mundane secretarial tasks for the has-been actor, but, allegedly, Seagal had other, um, tasks in mind.
According to court documents, Kayden discovered Seagal "had been keeping two young female Russian 'Attendants' on staff who were available for his sexual needs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week." When one attendant quit, Kayden was hired to fill the void; or for Seagal to fill her, um, void.
Yeah. I went there. Sue me.
On her first day on the job, Seagal allegedly began by "pushing his hands under her shirt and attempting to fondle her bare breast.” Kayden claims the next morning he then allegedly “forcibly held her legs apart” and “forced his hand down her pants…” The suit then alleges--sheesh so many italics--that a third assault took place several hours later when “Seagal forcibly lifted Ms. Nguyen’s blouse, forced his head on her bare chest and attempted to suck her breasts and nipples. He stopped only when she ran.”
After just three days of, ahem, work, Nguyen left his employ.

A sex slave for Steve Seagal. So many things wrong there.

Tiki Barber is built like a brick s**thouse. A hot brick s**ithouse. But apparently--I've grown weary of allegedly--he's drinking from the same cup as one Tiger Woods or one Jesse James.
See, Tiki and the missus have split up. But the day after he announced that he was leaving his wife, his college sweetheart, who is eight month's pregnant with twins, stories popped up that Tiki's torch was being lit by another, one Traci Lynn Johnson.
Traci Lynn, a former NBC intern--and Tiki works at NBC now--was his assistant at the network when he blogged at the Olympics, and she also travels with him. She had the seat next to him when he hosted a Travel Channel documentary screening, and even posted a picture of herself on her MySpace--Seriously? There are still people on MySpace?--page in a Giants jersey with Barber's number on it.
Still, no one is copping to an affair, and Barber's announcement that he was leaving the mother of his two--soon to be four--children is the typical blabblahblah:
"After 11 years of marriage, Ginny and I have decided to separate. This decision was a painful one, but we are moving forward amicably and will continue to work together to raise our children with the love and dedication they have always known."
Still, if it is true that he's a cheater, Barber, who always seemed like a nice guy, a nice hot guy, also looks like a hypocrite who said this about his father cheating on his mother:
"I don't give a %$#&* that the relationship didn't work. Not only did he abandon her, I felt like he abandoned us for a lot of our lives. I have a hard time forgiving that."
Pot.Kettle.Alleged Cheater.

Oh Oprah.
Kitty Kelley has written one of her "unauthorized" autobiographies on the Big O, and, while some say O has been an O-pen book about her life, there are some secrets she doesn't want y'all to know.
Like, she wasn't as poor as she made herself out to be.
One of O's cousins, Katherine Carr Esters told Kitty Kelley:
“Where Oprah got that nonsense about growing up in filth and roaches I have no idea. I’ve confronted her and asked, ‘why do you tell such lies?’ Oprah told me ‘that’s what people want to hear. The truth is boring.’”
And Kelley also writes about the rumors that swirled--I apparently missed these--about a, um, well, er, relationship between O and Diane Sawyer. Yes! Apparently, employees at ABC told Kelley that O and Diane had "giggly late-night phone calls" and that O gave Diane fabulous gifts like ginormous bouquets of orchids and a one-carat diamond ring. A toe-ring!
And still other sources told Kelley that O once paid an ex-boyfriend $50,000 to keep quiet about her gay brother and her own lesbian affairs. Hello Gayle! Mister Oprah Winfrey. The book even claims that O and her friend, Stedman Graham, do not share a bedroom.
Joo-say.
And there is still another big secret that Kelley is half-sharing: O doesn't know who her real father is; cousin Katherine Carr Esters told Kelley who he is, but made her promise not to publish the information until O's mother tells O the truth.
And then we have Vernon Winfrey, the man who raised the Big O, who has some, well, not so nice things to say about O's husband Gayle King. he calls her a "dirt hog" and "street heifer," and blames King for ruining his relationship with O: "[Oprah] may be admired by the world, but I know the truth. So does god and so does Oprah. Two of us remain ashamed."
Ouch!

This is just plain awful. Awful, and yet somehow, good!
The once almost-Missus Ben Affleck and the current-Missus Ben Affleck might be doing a movie together. Yikes! What kind of mother-effing idea is this?
JLo and JGa--the Jennifer's Lopez and Garner--are supposedly in talks to play, and this is funny, bitter love rivals in a new movie!
Some say coinkydink; some say it'll never happen. But, man, the chats that could go on between scenes with the Two Jennifers:
I think he loved me more.
But he married me.
Do you think he'll ever get over losing Matt Damon?
Could be fun..........if only.

Miss Kenny Chesney was on O and because there really isn't much to ask him when you get past the short and bald questions, O backtracked to the few minutes he spent "married" to Renée Zellweger.
Miss Kenny said: "I panicked…I look at my life as a box. … So everything that I put in — learn how to play guitar, put that in the box. The friends I made. I put that in the box, and my career grew. Everything around me—all of the awards and all of the songs I wrote and all the success and everything — I put in that box. That box built grew into this wonderful house. Okay? And you protect everything and all the relationships and all the people that helped you build that house. And this is the first time I've actually talked about it, but that's what happened. I protected that box. I felt that the idea of marriage made me lose my identity… I just don't know that I've found anybody bigger than that. It was out of the box. Oh my God, but it's tough. It really is tough. And she's a sweet soul, no doubt about it, but I just wasn't ready."
Yeah, that clears it all up Kenny.
Maybe it's just that allegedly you don't like puttin' your d**k in a box.
Just sayin'.

There are good parents and bad parents and stupid parents and WTF parents.
Ladies and Gentleladies, Mister and Mister Tom and Katie Cruise.
Their little offspring Suri is just about four, and yet she still drinks from a bottle. a baby bottle. Is it a Scientology thing?
Most kids give up the bottle around nine months and then pick it up again around eighteen when they realize their father and mother have a sham marriage, only the second bottle says Ketel One on it. And you keep it in a brown paper bag.
Tom? Katie? Don't you have handlers that can get your daughter off the bottle already?

And Mel Gibson.
Devout Catholic. So devout, he actually thinks the Roman Catholic church is too lenient so he built his own hardline Catholic church in Malibu. So devout he left his wife of twenty-seven years because he got his girlfriend pregnant. So devout he has now called it quits with baby mama Oksana Grigorieva.
The reason: they drifted apart.
Well, I guess when you're a devout-Catholic-holier-than-thou-rolling-drunk-driving-misogynist-anti-Semite, you do find yourself drifting apart from loved ones.
Pathetic asshat.