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Rock The Vote, Day 4: Miranda Lambert

Miranda Lambert is married to a cop.


Rock The Vote is an original series, where I make an educated and researched guess on who certain celebrities are voting for Nov. 3, 2020.

Let’s take a look at Miranda Lambert. Note: This celebrity was requested and if you too would like to request a celebrity for me to politically analyze, please let me know.

Miranda Lambert is a country musician from a small east Texas town. She was once married to Blake Shelton, who was featured on yesterday’s Rock The Vote, and now she’s married to a former police officer.

In a 2017 Billboard interview, Lambert said she wouldn’t talk about politics.

“I am a 100 percent believer in not ever using the platform that I’ve built for anything other than music, because music to me is an escape from your own reality,” she said. “I don’t want to go to a show and hear somebody preach about their opinions.

“It’s so divided [in politics], you can’t win anyway ― and what are you winning? For someone to agree with you, and now you’ve spoken your piece and pissed off many other people, just for one person to go, ‘She’s right’? It doesn’t do any good,” she went on the say. “I’m a country singer. We talk about tears in our beers.”

In a 2017 Washington Post article, Lambert’s Pistol Annies bandmate Angaleena Presley said she wished more country artists would speak up about politics.

“I wish that more country artists would speak out — because we are from those little towns. Rural America needs a voice in this country,” she said. “I mean, we write songs that they relate to. Because we are them.”

In 2019, Lambert announced that she married Brendan McLoughlin, a former NYPD officer. During summer 2020, Black Lives Matter protests broke out across the country after police officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd, a Black man who had the cops called on him after he allegedly used a counterfeit $20 bill.

The Black Lives Matter protest was met with a counterprotest, the Blue Lives Matter movement, “which advocates tougher hate-crime sentences for the murder of police officers,” according to Business Insider.

Many people called for cities to defund the police. CNN explained what that means as: “Instead of funding a police department, a sizable chunk of a city’s budget is invested in communities, especially marginalized ones where much of the policing occurs.”

President Donald Trump said presidential nominee Joe Biden supports defunding the police, however, Biden does not support that.

I could not find any posts from Lambert or her husband supporting either Black Lives Matter or Blue Lives Matter.

In a 2014 profile of Lambert in Marie Claire, Lambert’s mom told the magazine that Lambert won a political debate in high school.

“But after Lambert won her debate on Democrat vs. Republican ideals during the 1996 election, ‘it was the beginning of her whole life changing.'”

In a 2017 interview with Meghan McCain for The Daily Beast, Lambert says she is a “lifetime member of the NRA.”

In July, the NRA endorsed Trump because he promised to keep Americans’ Second Amendment rights.

In 2019, Lambert attended a Pride parade to celebrate LGBTQ+ people, including her brother.

“Trump has barred transgender people from openly serving in the military, rolled back protections for trans students, flat-funded HIV/AIDS work globally and pushed for exemptions that would allow health care providers to refuse care to transgender people and those with HIV/AIDS,” USA Today reports. “He barred U.S. embassies from flying pride flags, typically done in June to mark global Pride Month.”

Biden has come to be a supporter of LGBTQ+ rights.
I believe Miranda Lambert is voting for Trump. I believe this because her husband is a police officer and she is pro-gun.

The election is Nov. 3. Find out where you can vote. Support local journalism to stay informed.

Rock The Vote, Day 3: Blake Shelton

Blake Shelton is from Oklahoma but is dating Gwen Stefani.


Rock The Vote is an original series, where I make an educated and researched guess on who certain celebrities are voting for Nov. 3, 2020.

On Day 3, I bring you another white male’s voting habits to speculate on. Country musician Blake Shelton was born and raised in Oklahoma. He has been married twice and is currently dating singer and fellow Voice coach Gwen Stefani.
In July 2016, Billboard published an interview with Shelton, where he told the magazine he wasn’t going to have a political conversation.
“I’m not going to have the political conversation with you about Trump, or about Hillary Clinton,” he told Billboard, “but I will tell you this: Whether you love him or hate him, he says what he thinks, and he has proven that you don’t always have to be so afraid. A lot of people are pulling for him, no matter how much Hollywood fights it. I see people who don’t like him go and beat up people that do like him. You tell me, who’s crazy here?
“I probably wish there was another option, but there’s not.”
After that interview was published, actress Debra Messing inserted herself into the conversation and tweeted Stefani to talk to him. Shelton responded and said he didn’t endorse anyone. Messing apologized.
In 2017, Shelton was seen at his own restaurant in Oklahoma while Speaker of the House Paul Ryan was also there. The two took a photo together. Afterward, Shelton tweeted that they did not know each other and reminded everyone that he does not do politics.
Stefani does do politics, however. In 2012, she hosted a fundraiser for the Obamas. In 2019, Stefani posted a weird tweet implying she could testify against Trump.
Several gossips sites have reported Shelton and Stefani can’t agree on politics and that’s even what’s stopping them from getting married. However, no reports seem to come from a source I trust.
Shelton did not post on Instagram on Election Day 2016. Neither did Stefani.
In August of this year, Shelton tweeted about CDC’s report that 6 percent of pandemic deaths were caused by COVID.
“I’m not even sure which side(politically) this would land on,” Shelton tweeted. “But am I the only person who sees the new CDC update as some actual good news? Just that. Not left or right… Just updated info that’s better than we thought. I mean does everything have to be a fight these days?”
His followers lashed out because conspiracy theorists used that 6 percent to peddle their beliefs that the virus wasn’t as deadly as the media reported. The CDC report meant 94 percent of people who died from COVID had other illnesses or conditions.
Shelton explained he wasn’t looking for an argument, and ended with “Covid is horrifying.”
I don’t believe Shelton is voting for Trump. I believe he is either voting for Biden or not at all. I have no real evidence to back up this claim as you can see, but we also don’t have any evidence to suggest he’s voting for Trump besides the fact he’s a white cis male.
 

The election is Nov. 3. Find out where you can vote. Support local journalism to stay informed.

Rock The Vote, Day 2: Scott Eastwood

Scott Eastwood’s dad, Clint Eastwood, has been heavily involved in politics.


Rock The Vote is an original series, where I make an educated and researched guess on who certain celebrities are voting for Nov. 3, 2020. 

Scott Eastwood is an actor who has starred in The Longest Ride and other movies I haven’t seen. But more notably, he is the son of actor and political activist Clint Eastwood.

Clint Eastwood is outspoken with his political beliefs. In the ’80s, he was mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. “Under his gavel, the city has legalized the sale of ice cream cones, provided more public toilets, built new stairways to the town beach and expedited previously stalled efforts to expand Carmel’s library,” the New York Times wrote in ’87.

In 2012, Clint Eastwood endorsed Republican Mitt Romney for president. In 2016, he called both candidates had a “certain degree of insanity.” In 2020, Clint endorsed Mike Bloomberg for president.

Some critics called Clint Eastwood’s film American Sniper pro-war, but Eastwood said the movie was “the biggest anti-war statement any film can make.”

Because Clint Eastwood is so outspoken about his political beliefs, reporters often ask Scott Eastwood which side he leans toward.

During an interview with Joe Rogan, Scott tells Joe, “I stay out of politics. I don’t even … I don’t give two shits about politics.”

While promoting The Longest Ride, Scott said, “I don’t … I don’t … I don’t get involved in politics. … But you know, I support my dad and he’s just about what he’s about.”

While speaking to Extra, Scott said, “I don’t talk about politics. That shit’s for the birds.”

In January of this year, a woman was protesting against a development being built in Del Mar. Scott Eastwood tried to take down the protesters’ sign and then when he was confronted, he ran away.

On Nov. 8, 2016, the day of the 2016 election, Scott was in Sydney, according to his Instagram.

I believe Scott Eastwood is not voting. I have no choice but to take him at his word when he says politics is “for the birds.” 

The election is Nov. 3. Find out where you can vote. Support local journalism to stay informed.

Rock The Vote, Day 1: Chris Pratt

People think Chris Pratt is a Republican. But is he? He married a Kennedy.

Rock The Vote is an original series, where I make an educated and researched guess on who certain celebrities are voting for Nov. 3, 2020. 
 
There has long been a rumor that Chris Pratt is a Donald Trump supporter. In this 2014 Esquire profile by the great Anna Peele, Pratt tells her about his love for guns, but still says he’s for gun control. 
 

Pratt talks about his thirty- or forty-gun arsenal. He bought Faris a gun in the event that a crazy person comes to their house while he’s in Louisiana and necessitates her “blowing their fucking brains out.” He tells me to print that, just in case Anna Faris’s and Esquire’s fan demographics overlap. It’s not all so primal—Pratt believes in firearm regulation, background checks, and preventing guns from falling into the hands of the mentally ill. He explains population control and hunting licenses and tags and the virtues of eating what you kill. It all makes sense, but it also feels kind of like when Dexter explains that he’s a good serial killer because his victims are rapists and murderers. Really, this guy just likes to kill shit.

President Donald Trump’s views on guns and assault weapons go back and forth depending on the day, but he is a proponent of the Second Amendment. Presidential nominee Joe Biden is for gun control, including “universal background checks, an assault weapons ban, more resources toward the enforcement of existing gun laws, and a public push for the development of ‘smart guns,'” according to Vox.

In 2019, Pratt was photographed wearing a “Don’t Tread On Me” shirt with the Gadsden flag on it. The Gadsden flag was created by Christopher Gadsden during the American Revolution. Gadsden did own slaves, so in that sense, it could be seen as racist, but typically the flag is associated with patriotism.

In early 2019, actress Ellen Page said Pratt attended an anti-LGBTQ church. Pratt denied that and said that couldn’t be “further from the truth.” When NBC News reached out to Pratt’s church about where they stand on LGBTQ people, they pointed the news site to a 2015 blog post that said “God’s word is clear that marriage is between a man and a woman.”

Trump has rolled back rights for transgender people. Biden has come to be a supporter of LGBTQ people.

About a week ago, Pratt posted an Instagram poking fun at celebrities telling their followers to vote. He instead told his followers to vote for his movie in the People’s Choice Awards. It read as tone deaf and on top of that, his wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger, a relative in the Kennedy family, posted on her Instagram that Trump’s tweet about COVID was “the sickest tweet” she had ever seen. She said in that story that she planned to vote for Biden and that while she grew up tolerant of other people’s political views, she has a hard time speaking to Trump supporters. Schwarzenegger and Pratt married in June 2019 and just had a daughter together.

On Wednesday, Pratt’s Parks and Rec co-star Adam Scott posted an Instagram saying he voted for Biden. Pratt liked the post.

I believe Pratt is voting for Biden. I have not found substantial evidence that makes me believe Pratt is a Trump supporter. I also don’t see a world where he could be married to a woman so pro-Biden if he also wasn’t.

The election is Nov. 3. Find out where you can vote. Support local journalism to stay informed. 

I Have Watched Hamilton 20ish Times; Here’s What I Know

HAMILTON IS AMAZING



Here are all my random thoughts after watching Hamilton 20 times, i’m not kidding.

Sry, Cayla


I basically owe my friend Cayla a huge apology because she’s been trying for four years to get her friends into Hamilton, but I just couldn’t. There was no way I was going to fall in love with a soundtrack. I’m a visual person and needed to see the people singing and dancing and acting. Also, it took me four times watching the musical to finally even realize George Washington was in it, like it takes me awhile to comprehend some things (I zone out a lot/am also kind of dumb).

I’m not even sure how Cayla discovered it — probably from like PBS or NPR or something lame like that. But for four years, she talked about this soundtrack and would just list off facts about Alexander Hamilton and every time, we were like, “Talk less.”

When my friends and I went to New York in 2016, it was actually just so Cayla could see Hamilton on Broadway. She had a ticket alone and missed the original cast by a few months (I would literally kill myself, I do not know how Cayla is still alive). While she was seeing Hamilton, Augusta and I saw Kinky Boots and KK and KT took a carriage ride through Central Park like the lovers they are. After the show, Cayla told us she cried during Hamilton and I was like, aw, that’s sweet and now I’m like, I get it.

One day during the trip, Cayla spent the entire day visiting Hamilton’s burial site and Trinity Church and a bar where George Washington ate soup or some shit and I was too hungover to go, but also, I love musicals, I don’t love history, so no regrets, but I am sorry, Cayla, hope it was fun.

I actually saw Hamilton live, idk I’m rich
Yes, it’s true, when Hamilton came to Dallas, I saw it and not because I’m rich but because I had press passes. I took Cayla (because I am an incredible friend). I did not understand the musical at all because I am dumb and it takes me four watches to understand everything going on. But I did walk away from the live performance loving the song “Burn” and it’s still one of my favorite songs.

My tears
I think it was the fifth or sixth time I watch Hamilton, I was with my friend and I cried so hard I had the hiccups. Like I was sobbing. And then I couldn’t stop crying and then I made my friend cut three inches off my hair. Man, the last song …. it’s too much. And when Eliza forgives Hamilton, I just sob. It’s just… too much.

Does Lin-Manuel Miranda’s ponytail look like a side ponytail to anyone else?

My knowledge of Alexander Hamilton
Before Hamilton, the only thing I knew about him was from high school history class, and all I can remember from that was that Burr killed him in a duel, but I couldn’t tell you why. I actually knew he was never a president and I’m pretty sure I remember the Reynolds Pamphlet from history class or from Cayla explaining it to drunk me over margs. Either way. (It does kind of sound like something a history teacher would teach students because a good sex scandal would hold our attention.)

I would die for Daveed Diggs
Daveed Diggs plays Lafyette (I refuse to look up the spelling of this) and Thomas Jefferson in the play and he is so hot and so good, my interests are exclusively Daveed Diggs and no one and nothing else. Back to Cayla (again): She knows Daveed’s former college track coach and when she told us this in 2016, I really didn’t give two or 100 shits and now with that information, I would literally give me whole life to hear more.

Back to Daveed: I have watched so many interviews with him and I love him. I did a deep dive into his life and his ex-girlfriend and the ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend and Daveed follows the new boyfriend and likes his posts when he posts photos of the ex-girlfriend. Anyway, Daveed has a new girlfriend now and I, too, was super disappointed to find out she wasn’t a 29-year-old white woman from Texas.

Guns N Ships. You forget about that song but then it happens and you’re like, this is the best thing I’ve ever watched, the only logical thing to do next is to marry both Daveed and Leslie.

Leslie Odom Jr. is so good
Obviously, Daveed and Lin and Renee and Phillipa and Jazzy are good, but the standout performer is Leslie Odom, Jr., who plays Aaron Burr. He is the only one who can sing, dance, act, and rap, do not argue this. Every time I watch it, I’m more and more amazed at his talent. Damn. Like, do you ever just watch him dance even in the background? I get the same joy seeing Leslie perform as I did seeing Aaron Tveit perform in Grease Live. And did you know Leslie almost didn’t do Hamilton the movie because the pay wasn’t good enough? So he demanded he get paid the same as Aaron did in Grease Live. King. KING.

Leslie Odom, Jr. is so good. I need to say it again. When he travels across the stage in Schuyler Sisters. So good. Or when he stands on the ledge of the balcony in Guns N Ships. So good. His dancing in The Room Where It Happens!!!! Who gave him the right to be so amazing!!!! WHO! GAVE! HIM! THE! RIGHT!

Who am I?
Cayla requested this part of the blog. She wants me to explain who each of our friends are. Cayla is 100 percent without a doubt Hamilton. She truly does believe she is the smartest in the room, no matter the room she’s in, like it’s incredible and honorable and only sometimes annoying. We decided I’m Jefferson (MINUS THE SLAVES) because when Jefferson is trying to get Congressional approval to fight for France’s independence, that is very me. I couldn’t sleep knowing France helped us and we wouldn’t help them. I believe Augusta is Burr, but I think she is offended by that. But Augusta gets along with everyone and never makes bold claims that make her enemies. KK is Washington because she is constantly telling us to settle down. And Katie is the king because she’s sassy and likes to watch destruction happen around her. None of us are Eliza because Eliza was amazing but also kind of lame, SORRY but none of my friends are building orphanages.

My friends will probably argue those characterizations, but if they want to, they can get their own blog about blog about it.

Who would I play?
Ok, this is my favorite thing to think about. I think obviously the king would be fun to play because it’s the least work and stage time and you get laughs and you also get the stage all to yourself. I think playing Peggy/Maria would also be good because there’s not a lot of work there either, however, that means you have to kiss Lin every night and I don’t have anything against Lin (I actually really love him) but I think having to kiss him EVERY night while your fiance is right around the corner might get a little awk but I don’t know?????? Playing Burr or Ham would be way too much work, no ty.

I do not believe in war and yet I will ROCK OUT to Battle of Yorktown and beat my chest and scream WE WON WE WON WE WON, like wow what a great number.

Angelica really was the wittiest
I do not believe Angelica and Hamilton shared anything more than some flirtatious letters. Angelica said in “Satisfied” that she is the wittiest and I believe it! She told her sister she should share Hamilton with her! That is witty!!!!!! If historians ever study my texts (letters) with my friends, then I too am a whote (this was supposed to read whore, but I’m not changing it). I once yelled at my father about this for a solid four minutes!!! I’m an Angelica stan for life!!!!! Angelica also wrote letters to Thomas Jefferson and tried to get her political ideas in his ear. He invited her to America when they were both in Europe and she declined.

I would die for Daveed Diggs. Just really need to get that across again.

The gasp. Once I read the theory that the gasp Eliza takes at the end is her seeing the audience because Lin told her story, it’s the only theory I believe. I do believe the gasp means something different for each woman who plays Eliza, but Phillipa’s gasp is the best.

100 Days of Jules, Day 100: What I’ve Learned About Myself And Julianne

Can you believe we’re actually here? 100 days ago I decided against my better judgment to blog about my favorite C-List celebrity Julianne Alexandra Hough for 100 days straight.

Here is where I attempt to blog about Julianne Hough for 100 days straight. This was inspired by Allie Jones’ 500 blogs on Kristin Cavallari, a much funnier read.

Can you believe we’re actually here? 100 days ago I decided against my better judgment to blog about my favorite C-List celebrity Julianne Alexandra Hough for 100 days straight. I had tried blogging about anything and everything for 100 days straight before and stopped after 22 or so days. But here I am. I made it.

Every night, between the hours of 9 p.m. and midnight, I would sit down with my laptop and try to figure out what I was going to blog. There were a few weeks I scheduled multiple blogs at once, but toward the end I was writing them one at a time. I typically started out by Googling “Julianne Hough” to see if anything interesting popped up. Then I would search her name on YouTube and see if there was anything I hadn’t seen before.

Most of my free time (I had a lot of it) during these 100 days were spent just watching hours and hours of Julianne Hough interviews on YouTube to see if she said anything off-the-wall or interesting. When I started this project, there were a few things I already knew I wanted to cover — like the time her “nudes” got leaked, her relationship with Tony Robbins, her engagement when she was 18 years old. But everything else, I pretty much had to discover on my own.

I enjoy watching celebrity interviews, so it wasn’t torture for me. And since I began documenting Julianne’s bizarre social media activity in 2018, I’ve grown to find her extremely interesting. I was lucky that on Day 36, Julianne and her husband Brooks Laich announced their separation — something I had been speculating since 2018. Also, toward the end, things got weirder, when Us Weekly began reporting that Julianne wanted Brooks back. 100 Days of Jules attempted to serve as a sort of background on her — I tried to not repeat the things I put on Instagram (the day-to-day things going on with her) with the things I put on my blog (the weird things she said in an interview in 2012, for example). Sometimes I failed, but that’s OK.

I learned Julianne is nothing is not consistent. There were several stories she repeated throughout years of interviews. She also was consistent with her story of discovering herself after a Tony Robbins seminar. I also learned she wasn’t the best at interviews, but that she knew that. In one interview, she said she uses her body and dance to express herself — not words.

During these 100 days, I learned that I can do something for 100 days. I asked my friends and family if they thought we would ever get here and they said they thought I would run out of things to blog about. That was never my concern. I knew Julianne Hough was weird and complex enough to fill up 100 days. I just thought that one night I would fall asleep and forget to schedule a blog or that I would get burnt out and not want to do it anymore. I also learned my creativity is still in-tact. To blog about a C-Lister for 100 days straight takes extreme creativity (coming up with different things to write) and I successfully did it.

If you didn’t get a chance to read all 100 days (wow), here are my top 10 favorites (in no particular order):

1. 100 Days of Jules, Day 59: Julianne Will Not Stop Telling This Story

2. 100 Days of Jules, Day 60: Julianne Stops Herself From Dissing … Christina Aguilera?

3. 100 Days of Jules, Day 58: When Her Personal Photos Got Leaked

4. 100 Days of Jules, Day 50: “I’m free now.”

5. 100 Days of Jules, Day 70: Julianne Has A Nervous Tick

6. 100 Days of Jules, Day 6: “My music has felt like my biggest failure.”

7. 100 Days of Jules, Day 15: Derek Can Teach You How To Dance Sexually With His Sister

8. 100 Days of Jules, Day 21: I Desperately Want This National Enquirer Story To Be True

9. 100 Days of Jules, Day 16: Julianne Was Up For The Role in Gone Girl

10. 100 Days of Jules, Day 33: Julianne Is A Republican?