Remains of the Day (11/23)

BREAKING: The Trump administration is clearing the way for the start of President-elect Joe Biden's transition, despite Trump vowing to keep up election fight. https://t.co/jbQSX19BcZ

— The Associated Press (@AP) November 23, 2020

UPDATE: Pack your shit, Grandpa 

Trump's hopes of stealing the election dashed in Michigan. Certification passes 3-0.

Michigan GOP board member Aaron Van Langevelde voted to certify the state's votes. The other GOP member, Norm Shinkle, abstained.

The 4-member board has a majority vote. - via @HeidiNBC

— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) November 23, 2020

Board of Canvassers certifies Michigan’s election results 

Don’t ignore and never forget the fact that Trump, McConnell, Mnuchin and the rest of the @GOP are trying to weaken the economy they already destroyed (ALONG WITH A QUARTER MILLION LIVES) in order to hurt @JoeBiden. IN THE MIDDLE OF A PANDEMIC. It. Is. Evil.

— Bradley Whitford (@BradleyWhitford) November 23, 2020

I haven't and I won't 

Yawn. @JoeBiden’s picks for high level positions in his government are sooooo boring. And experienced. And competent. And brilliant. Next thing you know, we’ll all be able to sleep at night. And then what? We function? We heal? We get well again. Then what?!

— ken olin (@kenolin1) November 23, 2020

Rachel Maddow is going to be really bored, too 

Last Thursday, after the flop sweat and dye streaks were wiped away, one of the many questions left unanswered was ‘Who was that woman?’ We have some answers. https://t.co/nUFTyZz3r9

— Jeremy W. Peters (@jwpetersNYT) November 23, 2020

A frequent guest on conservative radio and TV, nutcase Sydney Powell briefly became a public face of the Trump campaign before being cut loose on Sunday. 

Obama Surprises Fan with Hilarious Personalized Prank Zoom Call: WATCH https://t.co/0ZJq2YU5Gs pic.twitter.com/j5IitzVnlh

— Towleroad (@tlrd) November 23, 2020

Adorable 

Reminder: 58 days until the inauguration 

Mug Shot Monday

Former UH quarterback Colt Brennan arrested in Kona for trespassing while ‘heavily intoxicated’

While going through old blog posts I was reminded that football player Colt Brennan was a former fascination of mine -- and naturally some readers gave me a hard time about it because he was a SEX OFFENDER. 

As Wikipedia recounts, Brennan, while playing at the University of Colorado in 2004, reportedly entered the dorm room of a female CU student, uninvited, and, according to the victim, "exposed himself and fondled her," a charge Brennan denied. Brennan, who was intoxicated at the time of the incident, was arrested and eventually convicted of felony burglary and trespassing (serving one week in jail along with probation until he graduated from college), but a guilty verdict for unlawful sexual contact was vacated by the court for lack of evidence. Brennan was court ordered to take a polygraph test about the incident and passed. 

Brennan later played for a junior college in Orange County, Calif., and then the University of Hawaii, before a brief pro career that ended after he suffered a brain injury (in a car accident, ironically).

So often you hear people parents and school officials say they "don't want to ruin" the lives of young men accused of sex crimes -- never mind that the victims' lives are often ruined or at least irrevocably scarred or altered.  So it got me wondering if Brennan really had been one of those phantom "kids who made a mistake drunk" back in college -- and sure enough I found he had been arrested several more times including THIS SUMMER. While I don't see any allegations of other sex crimes -- thank God -- it does sound like drug and alcohol problems have plagued him his entire life, which makes you wonder if he ever got the right "punishment" -- i.e., treatment -- at all. 

Colt Brennan arrested for DUI

Colt Brennan investigated for felony drug possession and DUI

During a brief stint in Washington 

Weekend Tennis Diary

 

A friend on Twitter wrote: "I'm glad Medvedev won. Adds a little spice in a season where I do not care about anybody at all."  It wasn't my sentiments exactly, but it did go a little way to explaining why I didn't even watch the match. 

It was the the biggest title of the Russian's career, battling past U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 after two hours and 43 minutes to win the Nitto ATP Finals.

Most remarkable was that he beat the top 3 players in the world, a feat last accomplished by Novak Djokovic in Montreal in 2007.

Meanwhile, Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic finished their team debut season with their first title on Sunday, as they beat Jurgen Melzer and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-2, 4-6, 10-5 to claim the Nitto ATP Finals trophy.

The duo saved the best for last ...

Party time

As adorable as the winners were, it was Andreas Mies who stayed on my mind ...

Around the Net ...

The Australian reports that John Millman believes Tennis Australia and the Victoria government will decide the fate of the Australian Open this week. He guaranteed Premier Daniel Andrews that the world’s best players will take seriously the responsibility of protecting the slashed rate of Covid-19 cases in Melbourne.

Millman and his catch are trapped in a two-week quarantine at Sydney hotel after a four-month overseas tour that included the U.S. Open in New York, the French Open in Paris and his first ATP Tour title at Kazakhstan. Check out his sexy hotel room workout HERE.

Robert Farah: He Tarzan, me game

Benjamin Lock picked up a trophy in the Kingdom of eSwatini

I'm not sure why Benoit Paire even bothers, but it's fun to watch

Serbian Danilo Petrovic is 6-8, for those keeping score at home

Borna Coric enjoys a little home life

Marton Fucsovics, spokesmodel

Speaking of which: I almost look forward to Karen's mediocre tennis career ending so we can see him modeling full time ...

Dominic may have lost in the ATP finals, but he definitely had the hottest hitting partner in London!

Filip Krajinovic seems to be running with the wrong crowd ...

Grigor Dimitrov: Vroom! Vroom!

Lloyd Glasspool looking lovely in the Challenger doubles event in Ortisei, Italy

Stan the Man ...

Enjoying the off-season

Albano Olivetti and Andre Begemann looking good clinching the Challenger doubles title in Ortisei

More like Daddy-Son ...

Ilya Ivashka wins the Challenger in Ortisei!

Janko Tipsarevic: Silver fox on vacay

I missed SEXPOT Nico Jarry before I even knew who he was  

No one is looking at your beard ...

with legs like this

Hard to believe Stan Smith is most famous for his shoes ...

Song of the Day: 'Party Fears Two' by the Associates

 

I must confess, this is a blind spot in my '80s music viewpoint. The name Billy Mackenzie has come up before -- he sounded tragic and exhausting so I (rightly) assumed he was gay -- but for the first time I'm playing some of his/their music thanks to my pal Paul Hallasy, who writes:

Today's Obscure Bands of the '80s lesson is The Associates, another homoerotic duo (this one British, as opposed to German DAF). Lead singer Billy Mackenzie had an operatic voice that was the male equivalent of Annie Lennox (with whom he once did a duet). I have four of their albums (Sulk, The Affectionate Punch, Fourth Drawer Down, Perhaps) and was lucky enough to see them at Danceteria in their only U.S. appearance. Mackenzie was allegedly the subject of The Smiths' song, "William, It Was Really Nothing." (He and Morrissey were supposedly lovers.) He raised whippets and committed suicide after the death of his mother.

Billy Mackenzie and Alan Rankine formed the Associates in Dundee, Scotland, in 1976. They released an unauthorized (and self-funded) 7" cover of "Boys Keep Swinging" mere weeks after David Bowie had released his original. The publicity stunt got them a deal with Bowie's publishers and a record deal. Wikipedia notes that the Associates drew stylistically on a variety of genres, including art rock, disco, glam, minimalism, balladry and cabaret. Their music has been described as post-punk, synth-pop, new wave and experimental pop. The group was hailed by the likes of Björk and U2 singer Bono. Björk stated that her "love affair with the Associates started when I was fifteen [...], it was Sulk I really got into". "I really admired the way Billy used and manipulated his voice on that record." Bono said about the Associates: "We ripped them off. Billy was a great singer: I couldn't rip him off."

Just listened to a few songs and while I can see why he wasn't for everyone, Billy was certainly an original. Fans should feel free to point me in the right direction ...

The Associates' biggest song

"The Best of You": Annie Lennox and Billy Mackenzie

Page 1 Roundup (11/23)

 

The Daily News: Covid immunizations could reach Americans as soon as Dec. 11

CNBC: Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine shows an average 70% -- but up to 90% -- effectiveness in preventing the virus

ABC News: Black Detroit voters sue Trump campaign over effort to invalidate election results

Spin: Dear Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Induct the Go-Go’s

Gr8er Days: Remembering the hottest poster boys of the 1970s and '80s

Messy Messy: The openly gay rocker who was meant to be bigger than Bowie

Hot Slut of the Day: Jell-O Gelatin Pops!

PinkNews: 'Christian' couple who thought they could make an LGBT+ child ‘overcome’ their sexuality sue foster agency that rejected them

Towleroad: Serial domestic abuser Ricky Schroder helped get Kenosha killer Kyle Rittenhouse out of jail

Boy Culture: The hotness of Maxwell Caulfield

New York Post: Brooklyn man latest victim of subway shove attacks

Pat Quinn, co-founder of Ice Bucket Challenge, dead at 37 after losing ALS battle

The WoW Report: Covid-19 has hurt gay and lesbian bars and the consequences aren't just financial

The Washington Post: What you need to know about the Moderna and Pfizer coronavirus vaccines

Trump administration exits Open Skies treaty, of course

The New York Times: Biden chooses Antony Blinken, defender of global alliances, as secretary of state; also expected to name Jake Sullivan, another close aide of his, as national security adviser, and Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a 35-year Foreign Service veteran, as his ambassador to the U.N.

Republicans rewrite an old playbook on disenfranchising black Americans

John Belushi in focus: What a new film gets right and what it misses

The Wall Street Journal: A German island says enough with all the cranberries

Brace for traffic and tacky souvenirs: Rehoboth just became a presidential retreat

Workplace romance? Many millennials and Gen Zers would never.

Hot Cat of the Day: And I thought Larry's nursing on my ear lobes was rough!

Morning Wood

 

'Home Alone 2' Star and 'Borat 2' Star Disavow Lawyer

The publicly-stated position of President Trump's legal team is that the reason Trump lost Georgia is because Georgia's Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has been bribed by a Venezuelan front company in cahoots with the CIA to throw elections to Communists. https://t.co/1OZpTODaN1

— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) November 22, 2020

Scratch that ... 

President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani said that Sidney Powell, an attorney who appeared in public arguing for the president at a press conference, isn’t part of the president’s legal team https://t.co/g20H6Vqkiy

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) November 22, 2020

Gaslighting to the bitter end 

Does this mean the Dominion machines didn’t switch out millions of votes and Hugo Chavez had nothing to do with this?

— Michelangelo Signorile, subscribe to my newsletter (@MSignorile) November 23, 2020

Dominion spokesman: 'It is not physically possible for our machines to switch votes from one candidate to the other' 

first they came for Sidney Powell and I did not speak out— because I was laughing so hard I couldn't catch my breath

— Jeff Tiedrich (@itsJeffTiedrich) November 22, 2020

She's the same crackpot behind Michael Flynn's change of heart 

After claiming the Republican Ga. Governor took bribes from a dead Venezuelan to rig the votes--and also claiming Loeffler was voted in fraudulently (as the party scrambles for her to win the runoff)--Sidney Powell is demoted. So that's what it takes to exit this clown car.

— michael musto (@mikeymusto) November 22, 2020

Chris Christie blasts Donald Trump's legal team as 'a national embarrassment' 

For clarification:

The Trump campaign lawyer who said Gov. Brian Kemp was bribed by a Venezuelan front company in cahoots with the CIA to throw elections to Communists was released.

The lawyer who said Frank Luntz had a micropenis is still on the team.

— andrew kaczynski🤔 (@KFILE) November 22, 2020

Here’s how Hugo Chavez, dead since 2013, became responsible for Trump’s election loss 

I'm old enough to remember the very first Georgia recount.

— Jim Gaffigan (@JimGaffigan) November 22, 2020

Trump requests Georgia recount, meaning 5 million votes will be tabulated a third time 

If you had done your job, America's governors wouldn't have been forced to fend for themselves to find tests in the middle of a pandemic, as we successfully did in Maryland.

Stop golfing and concede. https://t.co/tCXO8etxge

— Governor Larry Hogan (@GovLarryHogan) November 22, 2020

Maryland governor 'embarrassed' at Republican silence on Trump's loss 

I agree with this woman below. Unless Joe Biden commits treason, I don't want to hear one f**king thing from the left until the end of the second Harris term.