Today's News: The photos are the bonfire of the Vanity Fair articles. Plus short takes on Trump, Skate Canada, Poilievre, and hockey refs

Yesterday everyone was talking about the blockbuster Vanity Fair article - Part One and Part Two - mainly on Trump's Chief of Staff Susan Wiles.

And here are gift links to Peter Baker's New York Times articles about the VF pieces - here and here.
The Trumpsters are outraged - OUTRAGED - to be quoted accurately in the article. How dare they?
You know, the same type of thing happened all the time during Trump 45, where some flunky blabbed all over the place then Trump gets mad and the flunky blames the reporter for reporting exactly and accurately what they said:

"We had no idea the conversations we were having were going to be used for a Vanity Fair article!"
"Hey everyone please come to the conference room we have a Vanity Fair photoshoot at 2pm."

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— The Get More Smarter Podcast 🧠 (@getmoresmarter.com) December 16, 2025 at 5:00 PM

I have found several great threads - not about the article itself but about the great photos for this article -- which I thought were worth sharing.

First, from an advertising creative director:

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Next, professional photographer Josh White analyses the power dynamics revealed in the Vanity Fair photos - hint, they aren't particularly flattering to the White House toady corps:

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Next, how reflections in the photos are deliberate, and devastating:

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Everyone is understandably sharing the Miller quote, but I found this response from photographer Christopher Anderson to be notable, too.

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— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner.bsky.social) December 17, 2025 at 6:46 PM

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Another comment:

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And these comments on Leavitt couldn't be more deserving:

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Finishing the day, here are some Short Takes:

Trump's speech tonight was sound and fury signifying nothing.

this feels like a last-minute “wait, shit, no war announcement, what else could we say”

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— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) December 17, 2025 at 7:01 PM

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one upside of trump insisting on a "presidential address" is it interrupted programming on every major broadcast network. so a whole bunch of normies who only see sanitized versions of him were treated to live video of a rabid fucking hyena behind the presidential seal.

— shauna (@goldengateblond.bsky.social) December 17, 2025 at 10:36 PM

Remember those awful stories last week about the US Citizenship and Immigration Service cancelling people's citizenship oath ceremonies because the prospective citizens were from the "wrong" countries?
Well, on Tuesday this happened:

One of the biggest moments of my career: USCIS canceled my client’s naturalization oath ceremony. We filed a lawsuit, went to trial, and the judge swore him in right there in the courtroom!

— Josh Goldstein (@joshisimmigration.bsky.social) December 16, 2025 at 9:21 AM

Good for Skate Canada:

Skate Canada to stop hosting events in Alberta due to sports gender law

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— Toronto Star (@thestar.com) December 16, 2025 at 6:43 PM

Smith thought she was just so clever to use the Notwithstanding clause to approve the transphobic Alberta legislation - now she is finding out that Alberta has made itself a pariah in Canadian youth sports organizations. And this will happen to any other province if they pass transphobic legislation.

What Alberta is doing is forcing National sports organizations to choose between obeying the law in Alberta, or obeying the law in the rest of Canada. Skate Canada has chosen to obey Canadian law. I hope the rest of the national sports organizations make the same choice.

— bflmouse.bsky.social (@bflmouse.bsky.social) December 17, 2025 at 8:03 AM

And this was news to me too:

A few years ago, Skate Canada became the first national organization to get rid of the rule that ice dancing pairs had to be male and female. There are a few pairs of two girls competing now. (I haven’t heard of any adults, but there might be some.)

— Callalily (@callalily57.bsky.social) December 17, 2025 at 2:11 AM

Here are some interesting comments about Poilievre:

This article was written in April before the federal election but still applies give PP is up for a leadership review next month. #cdnpoli

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— Suzanne Rent (@suzannerent.bsky.social) December 17, 2025 at 3:09 PM

Also regarding Poilievre: “He’s a very unique person in modern Canadian politics. There aren’t many opportunities for someone with such a low level of education and such a mediocre life story to get so close to the position of prime minister the way that he has.”

— Suzanne Rent (@suzannerent.bsky.social) December 17, 2025 at 3:10 PM

I had never heard Poilievre described with terms like "mediocre" and "low level" before, but its true, isn't it.

On a lighter note, I agree with this post too:

10 times a game, I swear

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— Scott in Montreal🇨🇦 (@scottinmontreal.ca) December 16, 2025 at 6:34 PM