MAGA World Hates Flaws in Women

A photograph of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has been purged from photo services. Why? Because it was supposedly taken at an unflattering angle.  According to Status, the photo—which shows Leavitt holding her son during a White House Thanksgiving event—was removed from AFP and Getty Images archives. The disappearing photo is just the latest example of the administration’s zeal to control its image—and the media playing along.

But shortly after the photo was removed from the archives, it began surfacing online, where it was reproduced by the official Democrats social media account.

A representative from AFP admitted that it was removed after the White House made the service “aware” of its displeasure. The photo clashes with the “correct” image of women that has been pushed by the MAGA movement. Outlets like Fox News have argued that conservative women are superior to their liberal counterparts because they purportedly embrace beauty treatments like hair dye and lip filler and put greater emphasis on women serving merely as vessels for producing babies.

But this isn’t the Trump administration’s first clash with unapproved photography.  Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth barred photographers from attending war briefings at the Pentagon after supposedly “unflattering” images of the former Fox News host were taken earlier this month.

And last year, a Vanity Fair photo shoot with several members of the senior Trump team, including Leavitt, went viral after it highlighted their physical imperfections—again running counter to the administration’s misogynistic messaging about women.

President Donald Trump has argued for years that media outlets that do anything other than regurgitate his own lies and propaganda are “fake news,” and the administration has attacked and suppressed journalism that refuses to fall in line.  The choice by AFP and Getty to purge unapproved images shows that mainstream media continues to be subservient to Trump rather than focus on informing the public. 

 

Tony "Squeeze My Balls" Gonzales Still in Office

How is this creep still in office?

Explicit text messages published by the the San Antonio Express-News show GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales repeatedly asked his then-campaign director for nude photos and sex in 2020, years before admitting his 2024 affair with a congressional staffer who later died by suicide.

The previously unreported exchanges containing hundreds of messages were obtained by the newspaper. The messages, which the newspaper reported date from when Gonzales was a first-time Republican candidate in June 2020, show him escalating a late-night conversation with his campaign’s political director into explicit sexual requests over several days.

Within hours of initially discussing her dating life and complimenting her as a “smart girl,” the text messages show that Gonzales asked what she wore to bed, what kind of underwear she was wearing, and requested nude photos. The messages go on to describe how he wished to have sex with her and have her “squeeze my balls.”   

“I know what I want and won’t stop until I get it,” one message reads, according to the report.  When the campaign director declined his requests multiple times, he replied: “47 nos is about my limit.” The texts then include multiple requests for photos in the following days.  Despite the exchanges, the aide, granted anonymity, told the newspaper that no physical relationship occurred and that the pair “didn’t so much as touch.”

The revelations add to mounting scrutiny over Gonzales’s conduct following a separate 2024 affair with 35-year-old congressional aide Regina Santos-Aviles, which he publicly acknowledged as “a mistake” and “a lapse in judgment.” Santos-Aviles died by self-immolation in September 2025 after her husband discovered the messages.  Revelations related to that relationship prompted backlash from House Republican leaders and led Gonzales to abandon his bid for a fourth term. He is set to leave office in January. 

The former campaign director who shared the texts with the Express-News said she chose to come forward after learning of Santos-Aviles’s death in 2025. “He obviously pursued, pursued, pursued her like he did with me,” she said. “I never took him serious… It wasn’t until this poor girl died that I thought, ‘No, this guy is pure evil.’”

“This behavior needs to stop,” she added.

Happy Easter!

 

UAE Cracks Down on Social Media in an Effort to Maintain Its Phony Image

Dubai has been struggling to maintain its image as a safe and picturesque locale since the region has been under attack during the Trump-Iran war.  But early on, as Iranian missiles began to fall on Dubai (the largest and most ostentatiously luxe city in the United Arab Emirates) the facade began to crack.   The city once touted as one of the safest places in the world is now no longer a peaceful haven. And the UAE government has rushed to try and control the narrative, prompting a huge crackdown on anyone sharing photos of missile attacks and their aftermath. Instead, content creators have been posting weirdly similar photos and videos full of praise, parroting buzzwords about the city’s strong, stable leaders.

Satellite images of Dubai show smoke from areas damaged by air strikes

How can influencers continue to portray the “Dubai dream” online, when the whole world knows that the city has been mired in conflict? And what about the ordinary people who are being detained for sharing photos and videos that go against the official line?

Paul McCartney - Days We Left Behind

Pam's New Career as a Relationship Advisor

 

Don't Be April Fooled: Jonathan the Tortoise is Still Alive

Reports of the death of the world’s oldest living land animal — a nearly 200-year-old tortoise — were greatly exaggerated.  Jonathan (believed to be 193) is still kicking — albeit slowly — on the island of St. Helena.

“It was a hoax,” Anne Dillon, head of communications on the island, said.  “I don’t have all those details, I can just assure you that he is very much alive.”

News of the tortoise’s demise spread rapidly on social media on April Fool’s Day.  A social media  account, falsely claiming to be that of Joe Hollins, a veterinarian who had worked with the reptile on the island west of Africa in the south Atlantic Ocean, said he was heartbroken to announce the death of the “gentle giant” that “outlived empires, wars, and generations of humans.”  The post quickly accumulated over a million views, mostly an outpouring of condolences.  But Hollins later said on Facebook that he didn't have an X account and something more sinister was afoot.  “This  is a hoax — The hoaxer is asking for crypto donations. It’s a con,” Hollins wrote.

Guinness World Records lists Jonathan, a Seychelles giant tortoise, as the oldest living land animal and oldest tortoise ever. He was believed to be about 50 years old when he was brought to St. Helena in 1882.  Dillon said the tortoise was still roaming the grounds of the governor’s residence, which was the place Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to following his defeat by the British at Waterloo in 1815.   Bonaparte died there in 1821, about a decade before Jonathan is believed to have taken the first steps in what would become a very long life.