After a day that saw Nike’s stock take a hit, the athletic wear company is not crawling in a hole.
No – they are ramping up on the inspirational message of NFLer Colin Kaepernick and more world-class athletes.
The sportswear behemoth released a two-minute video today (2 million views in just a few hours) featuring Kaepernick narrating a vision of dreams exceeded.
“Don’t try to be the fastest runner in your school, or in the world. Be the fastest ever.”
“Don’t settle for homecoming queen or linebacker – do both.”
Megan Rapinoe
“When they talk about the greatest team in the history of the sport, make sure its your team.”
“Don’t become the biggest basketball player on the planet. Be BIGGER than basketball.”
“Don’t believe you have to be like anybody to be somebody.”
“Don’t ask if your dreams are crazy. Ask if they’re crazy enough.”
As the video clips bounce from Alphonso Davies to Serena Williams to LeBron James, don’t miss openly lesbian Olympic gold medalist Megan Rapinoe at the 1:25 mark.
The New York Times has published an astonishing anonymous op-ed from someone who purports to be a senior official in the Trump White House.
The Times says it knows the identity of the author, and is publishing the piece due to its “important perspective.”
Here’s how the essay begins:
President Trump is facing a test to his presidency unlike any faced by a modern American leader.
It’s not just that the special counsel looms large. Or that the country is bitterly divided over Mr. Trump’s leadership. Or even that his party might well lose the House to an opposition hellbent on his downfall.
The dilemma — which he does not fully grasp — is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.
I would know. I am one of them.
The author goes on to say he and his allies are not the ‘resistance’ of the left but are putting country first while Donald Trump continues to act “in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic.”
The goal of the insiders (who the author refers to as not the “deep state” but the “steady state”) is to thwart “Mr. Trump’s more misguided impulses until he is out of office.”
Continuing, the author refers to Trump’s leadership style as “impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective.”
And then there’s this bombshell:
Given the instability many witnessed, there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would start a complex process for removing the president. But no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis. So we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until — one way or another — it’s over.
I know it’s early in the day here on the west coast, but this is officially my favorite thing today.
You may have heard about Nike’s new campaign featuring NFLer Colin Kaepernick with the phrase, “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.”
Obviously harkening back to Kaepernick’s kneeling during the national anthem at NFL games, the spot thrilled equal rights fans and incensed the Trumpers.
Stupid people, thinking they were ‘boycotting’ Nike, began burning, cutting and destroying their expensive branded merchandise.
Wow, that’ll teach Nike, huh?
(pssst… It’s not boycotting if they already got your money).
Last month, I wrote about the incredible Michael Dameski, who is currently KILLING it on NBC’s World of Dance.
The talented dancer from ‘down under’ is back up tonight for the Upper Division Final, but let’s catch up on his latest performance from two weeks ago when he delivered this stunning dance performance.
What can’t this guy do?
Oh, and then there’s the fact that he’s totally easy on the eyes.
Just in case folks didn’t get the memo, Netflix’s hit show House of Cards is D-O-N-E done with Kevin Spacey and his character, “Frank Underwood.”
The series tweeted out a brief tease of the upcoming final season of the political thriller featuring Robin Wright, “President Claire Underwood,” at his grave.
So, there you go.
Spacey was famously accused of sexual misconduct by actor Anthony Rapp last year during the initial wave of the #MeToo movement.
Things snowballed from there as crew members of House of Cards also alleged the Academy Award winner of harassing them onset, as well as a London bartender.
Since then London’s Metropolitan Police have begun an investigation into three additional claims of sexual misconduct.
Lots of news today about veteran journalist Bob Woodward’s forthcoming book, Fear, which Woodward says is based on hundreds of hours of interviews with current and past White House staffers.
In one passage, Woodward says Gary Cohn, Trump’s former top-economic adviser, was very unhappy about Trump’s “both sides to blame” comment regarding a neo-nazi rally in Charlottesville.
And Trump allegedly felt calling out the neo-nazis was “the biggest fucking mistake” he’d ever made.
Gary Cohn came to regard the president as “a professional liar” and threatened to resign in August 2017 over Trump’s handling of a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. Cohn, who is Jewish, was especially shaken when one of his daughters found a swastika on her college dorm room.
Trump was sharply criticized for initially saying that “both sides” were to blame. At the urging of advisers, he then condemned white supremacists and neo-Nazis, but almost immediately told aides, “That was the biggest fucking mistake I’ve made” and the “worst speech I’ve ever given,” according to Woodward’s account.
In another anecdote, according to Woodward, Trump’s advisers all had different nicknames for the president.
Chief of staff John Kelly describes Trump as an “idiot” and “unhinged,” Woodward reports. Defense Secretary James Mattis describes Trump as having the understanding of “a fifth or sixth grader.” And Trump’s former personal lawyer John Dowd describes the President as “a fucking liar,” telling Trump he would end up in an “orange jump suit” if he testified to special counsel Robert Mueller.
“He’s an idiot. It’s pointless to try to convince him of anything. He’s gone off the rails. We’re in crazytown,” Kelly is quoted as saying at a staff meeting in his office. “I don’t even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I’ve ever had.”
• How about some ‘Transformation Tuesday?’ I’ve featured InstaHunk and paleontologist Francesc Gascó many times on The Randy Report. But check out his before/after pic above. Francesc notes, “The biggest change is on the inside.”
• A new documentary, American Circumcision, looks at the effects of circumcision and a movement to end the practice in the United States.
• Eminem released his new album last Friday and already there’s scandal surrounding it as the rapper chooses to use the word “faggot.” LGBTQ ally and Imagine Dragons front man Dan Reynolds was not having it:
it’s never ok to say a word that is filled with hate. I don’t care what year you were born in or what meaning it has to you.
if it contributes to hate and bigotry then it is hateful. period.
1. in trying to be an ally it it’s v easy for a straight white “famous” man to be lauded as a hero for simply saying a few words and organizing an event. I have done v little and am no hero. I’m not seeking to be one. I want change. Period.
2. I don’t speak for the LGBTQ community. If they want 2 reclaim the word for themselves that is their decision & their’s only. I was only speaking to someone of great influence thinking it’s ok for him to say it time after time for years. It’s not
As we come off our post-Pose withdrawal, Calvin Harris comes to the rescue with his latest dance track, “Promises,” featuring Sam Smith, which celebrates the world of LGBTQ ball culture.
The new Vogue-themed video opens with dancers describing the allure of the ball scene and the freedom that comes with it.
“It’s fantasy,” says one dancer. “One hundred percent fantasy.” “Growing up in the Bronx you have to carry this tough skin,” says another. “Finding ‘Vogue,’ it allowed me to express myself in a way that I couldn’t express myself anywhere else.” “Find that ‘inner person’ and you just kinda let it out.” “You really can do anything, in that world, and be accepted,” extols another dancer before adding, “Be celebrated – not just accepted – be celebrated.”
The music video continues with Smith singing as several dancers spin, live, vogue and pose for their lives on the ball scene runway.
Along the way you may recognize Kevin Stea, who twirled for Madonna on her Blond Ambition tour.
If you miss Pose, (I know I do) or just want to escape into your own vogue, check out the new video below.
A same-sex couple traveling from San Francisco to Taipei via EVA Air was apparently told only one of the men could board the flight with their child during family boarding.
Attitude is reporting that Jeff Cobb and his husband made a point of getting to their gate at the San Francisco airport in order to board early and get settled with their 19-month-old child.
But upon arrival, Cobb was informed that it was airline policy to only allow ONE parent to board early with a child. But when Cobb joined his husband onboard after waiting in the normal line, it turns out straight families were allowed to board all together.
“My husband and I were told only one of us could join our 19 month old in the family boarding group of EVA Air 27 from SFO on 9/1/18,” Cobb shared via Twitter. “I explained we were both the fathers of the child, and they said it was their policy that only one parent can board…and the other has to wait in the normal line. Not having flown EVA before, I accepted it and let my husband and child go while I boarded later. When I met him on the plane, he said there were many other (straight) families all boarding together.”
@EVAAirUS 1/3 My husband and I were told only one of us could join our 19 month old in the family boarding group of EVA Air 27 from SFO on 9/1/18. I explained we were both the fathers of the child, and they said it was their policy that only one parent can board…
@EVAAirUS 2/3 and the other has to wait in the normal line. Not having flown EVA before, I accepted it and let my husband and child go while I boarded later. When I met him on the plane, he said there were many other (straight) families all boarding together.
When the family boarded their connecting flight on the same airline in Thailand, no one at the gate raised an issue of ‘one parent per child’ boarding.
Cobb expressed his consternation with EVA Air: “I’m very disappointed that the EVA ground staff at SFO thinks it’s ok to separate same-sex families during boarding. I will definitely not be flying this airline again after this incident.”
@EVAAirUS 3/3 I’m very disappointed that the EVA ground staff at SFO thinks it’s ok to separate same-sex families during boarding. I will definitely not be flying this airline again after this incident.
The airline issued a statement in response to the kerfuffle saying the incident was “due to a misunderstanding.”
“EVA Air and most especially our San Francisco International Airport team sincerely apologise to all the passengers affected by this incident.
“It is our policy that passengers traveling with infants can have priority boarding. The policy does not limit the number of accompanying adults or specify the relationship to the infant.
“This unfortunate incident was due to misunderstanding. Our San Francisco ground-handling agent understood that only one parent could board with an infant.
“We have apologised to our passengers and reminded our airport staff and agents about our priority boarding policy so that we can prevent this kind of incident from happening again.”
What do you think, readers? Was this just a ‘misunderstanding’ or was there something else in play here?
Jon Kyl will succeed the late Sen John McCain in the U.S. Senate
Arizona Central is reporting that former U.S. Senator Jon Kyl has been tapped by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to succeed the late Sen. John McCain.
Before retiring in 2013 from an 18-year-career in the Senate, Kyl became the second-highest-ranking Republican in the upper chamber.
McCain’s widow, Cindy McCain tweeted her approval of the choice of Kyl calling him “a dear friend of mine and John’s.”
Jon Kyl is a dear friend of mine and John’s. It’s a great tribute to John that he is prepared to go back into public service to help the state of Arizona.
