Beauty pageants
March 19, 2023 — John Hinderaker
We last saw Sarah Idan when she was Miss Iraq in the 2017 Miss Universe pageant. She made international news when Miss Israel posted a photo of the two of them on Instagram, with kind words about Ms. Idan. That caused predictable blowback in the Arab world, causing Idan to issue an apology in Arabic. It wasn’t enough; her Iraqi citizenship was revoked and her family fled to another country.
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April 30, 2019 — Steven Hayward
The good woke folk at Sports Illustrated are out with their annual “swimsuit” issue, and they are very proud of themselves for featuring the first ever a Muslim model wearing a . . . burkini. We are absolutely thrilled to announce that Halima Aden is the newest member of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit family, making history as the first Muslim model to wear a hijab and burkini in the magazine. Well,
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December 15, 2018 — John Hinderaker
I haven’t done my usual Miss Universe previews this year, mostly due to having been on vacation. But the pageant is worth a last-minute look–the finale will be televised tomorrow–because, as it happens, the Miss Universe pageant represents peak 2018. The big news story is the presence of Miss Spain, Angela Ponce, the first transgender person to qualify for the competition. Ms. Ponce has undergone the requisite surgery, and her
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June 6, 2018 — John Hinderaker
The Miss America pageant has announced that it is doing away with its swimsuit competition. Further, the Miss America contest “will no longer judge contestants based on their looks.” “Who doesn’t want to be empowered, learn leadership skills and pay for college and be able to show the world who you are as a person from the inside of your soul,” [Gretchen Carlson, chairwoman of the Miss America Organization] said.
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November 24, 2017 — John Hinderaker
The finale of the Miss Universe Pageant is around noon on Sunday, and yet, if you go to the official pageant site, it is in a state of disarray. The links to “Contestants,” “Competition,” etc. don’t work. You see an error message like this: If you forget about the links and hunt around, there actually is a Contestants page. But here again, if you click on a photo to learn
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November 22, 2017 — John Hinderaker
Is this perfect timing, or what? If you have had it with hideous old men behaving badly, it’s time to pay attention to some beautiful young women behaving, almost without exception, well. The conclusion of the 2017 Miss Universe pageant is less than four days away. The finale will be Sunday on Fox, live from Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. If I am reading the pageant site’s countdown clock correctly,
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September 27, 2017 — Steven Hayward
The Legends Football League (LFL), which used to be the Lingerie Football League, has decided that it will not take a knee for the national anthem. Why do I have the suspicion their ratings are about to go up? And question for Mueller’s investigators: Does Donald Trump have a financial interest in the LFL? LOL for the LFL if he does! Hat tip: The Free Beacon.
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May 15, 2017 — Steven Hayward
I hate to intrude on John’s beat, but he’s missed an important development in not covering the just-completed Miss USA competition, won by Kara McCullough, a scientist working at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. When asked if she thinks health care is a right or a privilege, she gets the right answer without hesitation: JOHN adds: I am late to the party here, but we should note that it wasn’t only
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April 8, 2017 — John Hinderaker
Great Britain has controlled Gibraltar since 1713, but Spain wants it back. Seizing on Brexit as an excuse, the Spanish government has started exerting pressure on the Rock. For example, it is imposing Schwengen controls at the border, where 10,000 Spaniards commute every day: But Gibraltar has no intention of giving in. Gibraltar has a new mayor; the Gibraltar Chronicle reports: New mayor Kaiane Lopez broke records yesterday as both
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January 28, 2017 — John Hinderaker
The finale of the Miss Universe pageant is tomorrow evening at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. It will be televised on Fox. This year’s competition has generated relatively few headlines. There have been no scandals, no recent terrorist threats, and with one exception noted below, it has been hard to find a political angle. Eighty-six contestants are competing for the Miss Universe crown; you can learn about them on the Miss Universe
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January 21, 2017 — John Hinderaker
The finale of the Miss Universe pageant is only nine days away, and betting is starting to get heavy. I wrote about a few of my favorite contestants, including Miss USA, here. With the betting odds firming up, it is time to check out the favorites. Currently in first place is Miss Colombia, Andrea Tovar, at 4-1. After last year’s fiasco, when Miss Colombia was mistakenly crowned the winner only
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January 14, 2017 — John Hinderaker
The Miss Universe pageant is coming around again; the finale will take place in Manila on January 29. Somewhat weirdly, they are calling it “Miss Universe 2016,” even though it is actually Miss Universe 2017. You may remember last year’s pageant, when the announcer mistakenly announced Miss Dominican Republic as the winner, only to have to retract after the crown had been placed on her head, and award the title
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December 30, 2016 — Steven Hayward
As has been widely remarked, TV ratings for the NFL are down sharply this year. I don’t have an opinion about whether it is partly to to Colin Kaepernick’s capers, or other defects of the game today, but at least we still have NFL cheerleaders to cheer us up. Unless you’re a Cleveland Browns fan. There, apparently, even the cheerleaders can’t cheer up anyone. That’s the subject of our Video
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April 8, 2016 — Steven Hayward
In another crummy news week, this has to be the worst story: Victoria’s Secret Turns Its Back on the Catalog By KHADEEJA SAFDAR First, Playboy stopped running nude photos. Now, Victoria’s Secret will stop mailing out its famous catalogs of scantily clad models. L Brands Inc., the parent company of Victoria’s Secret, this week unveiled strategic changes that include “evolving how the business connects with customers through more focus on loyalty programs and
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January 15, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
John likes to write about beauty pageants; I like to write about soccer. The two topics converge in an unfortunate story out of Seattle, Washington: Miss Washington USA Stormy Keffeler is a possible suspect in the stabbing of MLS player Marco Pappa last month in a confusing incident that could cost the troubled beauty queen her crown. Keffeler, who also has a DUI arrest to her name, gave differing accounts
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December 21, 2015 — Scott Johnson
To take a break from the uniformly bad news of politics and the world, I watched the Miss Universe pageant last night. Like all the rest of the news, it turned into painful viewing. It struck me that the event provided an almost unbelievable illustration of what Aristotle explicated in his Poetics as peripeteia (sudden reversal of circumstances) in Greek drama. Peripeteia is what excites terror and pity among the
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December 20, 2015 — John Hinderaker
Tonight’s Miss Universe pageant concluded with a fiasco, as the announcer apparently misunderstood the final rankings and announced Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez Arévalo, as the winner. Miss Colombia was crowned, presented with flowers and paraded around the stage for a couple of minutes when, to the astonishment of all, the announcer returned and said that he had made a mistake: the real winner was Miss Philippines, Pia Wurtzbach. They mercifully
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