Write an article based on this summary:

– About a year after Hollywood Reporter journalist Gary Baum profiled Angelyne, the mysterious billboard bombshell he describes as LA's "modern myth," a hobbyist genealogist contacted him claiming to have proof of a compelling back story: that she was born in Poland to Holocaust survivors. Now, also for the Hollywood Reporter, Baum unravels what he believes is likely the iconic blonde's true identity, publishing yearbook photos, marriage certificates, and more. The woman who's adorned hundreds of billboards across LA since the 1980s under the one-name pseudonym Angelyne—she's been called a precursor to other "famous for being famous" celebrities like Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian—appears to have started off as Ronia Tamar Goldberg. She came to California in 1959 by way of Israel, and her mother died of cancer at the age of 44 when Goldberg, who upon arrival to LA became Renee, was just 14. Baum reached out to Goldberg's alleged younger sister, now Annette Block, and her husband, as well as an ex-husband and a stepsister, all of whom are generally hazy on details if willing to talk at all. Angelyne, for her part, has gone on AirTalk with host Larry Mantle to claim that the story contains "a lot of inaccuracies" and that the "vindictive" piece can never change the fact that she is "not a woman" but "an icon." Indeed, she ran for mayor of Hollywood in 2008, per the Washington Post, and came in 28th out of 135 candidates; she also ran for governor of California in 2003 and, of course, has made numerous paid appearances at events and is the subject of a documentary. For now, the legend and sometimes-actress/singer who says she was orphaned at a young age and whose Hollywood start traces back to a 1974 porno tells Baum she wants to save her story for a memoir for "my own financial interest." (The Kardashians have erected an elaborate and bizarre business empire.)

Je vous parle d'#angelyne sur #konbini aujourd'hui… A post shared by violaine schutz (@violaineschutz) on Aug 3, 2017 at 8:50am PDT

 If you visited Los Angeles in the mid-1980s through the early 2000s, you’ve seen her.

 Billboards towered over the city’s palm trees and wide-lane highways showing a blonde, buxom woman, generally clad in pink and often reclining on a red corvette. Sometimes they displayed all of her, sometimes just her heavily powdered face, sometimes just her bust, straining against a lacy bra. Near these photos was a phone number, the word “management” in small print, and a signature in looping cursive: Angelyne.

 As NPR put it, she was the self-described “blonde bombshell billboard princess.”

 But that was a pseudonym. Everyone knew what she looked like, but no one knew who she was.

 Until this week, when journalist Gary Baum, reporting with a mixture of public documents and family testimony, published a report in the Hollywood Reporter claiming to have unearthed her true identity.

 Angelyne’s birth name is Ronia Tamar Goldberg, later Americanized to Renee Tami Goldberg, according to Baum, who said she was born in Poland in 1950 to Polish Jews who met in the Chmielnik ghetto during World War II and later settled in Los Angeles.

 Angelyne’s spokesman, Scott Henning, denied the accuracy of Baum’s report, telling him: “This stuff comes up every few years — it seems to get more and more ridiculous. My favorite one of all was this 300-pound black woman who claimed to be her mother. ‘I’m your long-lost brother,’ ‘your twin sister.’ Chalk it up to life in Hollywood. I’ve never heard of ‘Renee Goldberg.’ It’s laughable; it’s outrageous.”

 But Baum insists that he has solved the decades-old Hollywood mystery of Angelyne’s identity.

 The first Angelyne billboard went up in the early 1980s. She just appeared. And like that, through sheer force of will, she became famous around town.

 She was “famous for being famous,” according to the Hollywood Reporter, making her, as the New York Times noted, “a forerunner to Paris Hilton.”

 Famous in Hollywood, that is.

 “She’s a cult figure in Hollywood,” B. Akerlund told the Hollywood Reporter. “When you ask New Yorkers, ‘Do you know Angelyne?’ they don’t. But here, she’s a legend.”

 Eventually, the real Angelyne — still buxom and proud of it, still playing the role of pinup seductress — began zooming around the Hollywood Hills in a pink Corvette.

 But her identity remained unknown. She was both famous and mysterious at once. As L.A. Weekly put it, “Angelyne is the stuff of Hollywood legend. Everyone knows about her and yet doesn’t.”

 Novelist Ajay Sahgal wrote in the Los Angeles Times in 1995, “I have lived in Los Angeles all my life, I have seen Angelyne billboards almost every day for 10 years and I have no idea who this woman is.”

 His readers had their own opinions. One wrote in a letter to the editor, “When my 5-year-old son saw an Angelyne billboard across the street from his nursery school, he summed up her essence by saying: ‘Mommy, that lady needs a bigger bra.’ Angelyne’s people should either locate her billboards to places with an appropriate audience or put some clothes on her.”

 Another offered an answer to Sahgal’s question: “Angelyne is simply a self-made, typically-L.A. character seeking desperately to be a celebrity.”

 That letter wasn’t incorrect. What was missed, though, was how aware of that desperation Angelyne was.

 As she told Baum in 2015, perhaps falsely, “I lost my parents at a young age, and because of that I sought the attention of the world through my tricks. I said, ‘Well, I’m going to get the love of the world.’”

 Those tricks included more than just the billboards, though at one point she had “about 200” of them around town, her spokesman, Hennig, told the Los Angeles Times, adding, “And we have about 100 more bus-shelter ads going up. We have, in the past, had our billboards up in New York, Germany, England. There have been discussions about putting them up in Japan. She has a very large overseas following.”

 Another “trick” was her run for mayor of Hollywood in 2008, after previous mayor Johnny Grant died. The mayor’s role is basically honorary.

 But she went for it with striking aplomb, one of 135 candidates. She came in 28th.

 “I’ve been called the saving grace of Hollywood, the muse of Los Angeles, the inspiration of glamour,” Angelyne, wearing a short miniskirt, told NPR before the election. “If it’s somebody who isn’t glamorous, who cares? But it’s important for me to be in the position. Me, me, me, Angelyne, ’cause I’m so much a part of Hollywood. It just needs to be me. That’s it. There’s nothing else to say. Boom!”

 Her self-created fame led to parts in movies like “Earth Girls Are Easy” and “Dangerous Love.” None of her film roles were large — she has been credited as Busty Lady, Gas Girl and Blonde — but they were roles nonetheless. She also recorded at least four records, according to the Los Angeles Times.

 Perhaps her most lucrative business offerings were her personal appearances and her likeness, which she kept tight, taut and in tune with the help of George Semel, the plastic surgeon known for working on Elizabeth Taylor and Zsa Zsa Gabor. Of him, Angelyne once said, “I felt like I was working with an artistic collaborator. Fillers are amazing.”

 The money flowed in.

 She was hired to make appearances at high-profile events, such as the birthday party of David Fincher, the director most recently known for “The Social Network” and “Gone Girl.” She auctioned off rides in the pink Corvette. She sold T-shirts bearing her picture, L.A. Weekly reported. She licensed images of her face for $10,000 a pop, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

 Through it all, she was credited merely as Angelyne. “Like Banksy, there are countless theories as to her true identity, but no concrete proof,” wrote the A.V. Club.

 When Baum asked about her past in 2015, she said, “I want to save it for my memoirs — that’s my right for my own financial interest.”

 Baum suggested Angelyne thought revealing her name or her origin would “detract from her carefully burnished glamour.” What made her famous, in other words, was that very mystery.

 Her profile faded somewhat in recent years, even in Tinseltown. All stars burn out sometime. But she still makes appearances, still drives around in her pink Corvette, still plays coy with the media.

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 Sean Hannity asked people to bash Jake Tapper on Twitter. Most did just the opposite. ||||| Way before Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian, the enigmatic blonde bombshell was famous for being famous, perpetually driving the streets of Hollywood in that pink Corvette. But her true identity has remained secret all these years … until now.

 "Would you be interested in a story on Angelyne's true identity?" the man wrote last fall under a pseudonym, referring to the enigmatic L.A. billboard diva who has been a pop culture icon of self-creation and self-marketing since the early 1980s — and is now regarded as a forerunner to Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian and every personal-brand hustler on social media. "I have many details on her life — all well documented — from when her parents met to early adulthood. It's very different from her public, concocted story — and more interesting."

 Angelyne is one of the vanishingly few contemporary public figures whose background has remained shrouded in mystery, along with the conceptual artist Banksy, Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto and aircraft hijacker D.B. Cooper. The man, who claimed to work in an undefined role for the federal government, said he was a hobbyist genealogist, occasionally taking on paid assignments in the field as an amusing side gig. A few years earlier, he'd decided it'd be fun to set himself the challenge of cracking Angelyne's case. "And I did," he explained.

 Later, at the 101 Coffee Shop in Hollywood, the genealogist — who looks like Michael Kelly's contained political operative Doug Stamper from House of Cards — unfurled an elaborate story of Angelyne's past, based on material he contended he'd enterprisingly pulled and synthesized from a global network of public databases. He laid down a folded printout of a row of yearbook photos.

 "This one," he said, pointing at a 1967 Monroe Senior High School sophomore from the San Fernando Valley, third from right, "is Angelyne." A schoolgirl with hooded eyes and long center-parted locks, in a button-down white shirt and tie, stared out across half a century. "Also known as Renee Goldberg."

 The Hollywood Reporter has since independently confirmed this is Angelyne's real identity with public records and family members. Far from the archetypal transplant-with-a-dream, as she has tacitly long alluded, she's the locally raised daughter of Holocaust survivors, a Jew who has found refuge in shiksa drag. It's a fascinating, only-in-L.A. story of identity, history and a symbiotic yearning both to be forgotten and to be famous.

 •••

 The yearbook photo was no smoking gun. By her own cosmetic surgery confessions, Angelyne has had quite a bit of work done — and if the genealogist was right, that high school junior is now 66 years old.

 Copies of immigration, marriage and death records pointed to a cloaked prehistory of Renee Tami Goldberg (originally Ronia Tamar Goldberg), which seems to reveal the trauma Angelyne had both emerged and escaped from. She was born in Poland on Oct. 2, 1950, the daughter of Polish Jews who'd met in the Chmielnik ghetto during World War II — they were among 500 to survive out of a population of 13,000, the rest sent to death at Treblinka. According to the documentation — obtained from the International Tracing Service, established by the Red Cross as an archive of Nazi crimes — her parents, Hendrik (aka Heniek or Henryk) Goldberg and Bronia (aka Bronis) Zernicka, endured unimaginable horrors at a series of concentration camps, first together at Skarzysko, where prisoners' main job was to make munitions, and then apart at the 20th century's most infamous hellscapes, including Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen.

 Bronia later submitted paperwork to Yad Vashem indicating she'd lost more than 40 relatives in the Holocaust, including her father, three brothers and a sister. Shortly after liberation, she and Hendrik married in the Foehrenwald displaced persons camp in Germany. They were eventually repatriated to Poland, which remained hostile to Jews after World War II. So after Goldberg's birth, the family immigrated to Israel, remaining in an ultra-orthodox community of Hasidic Jews called Bnei Brak, east of Tel Aviv, until 1959. (A younger sister, Annette, was born in 1952.)

 They boarded a ship leaving Haifa for New York and settled in L.A.'s Fairfax District. Her father worked as a tool-and-die mechanic. Then, in 1965, her 44-year-old mother died of cancer. Goldberg was 14.

 The next year Hendrik (now Henry) remarried another Holocaust survivor, a seamstress divorcee named Deborah, and Goldberg acquired a younger stepsister, Norma. She and her father moved from the Westside to Panorama City, deep in the San Fernando Valley, where she'd begin high school and Henry and Deborah would run a strip-mall liquor store in nearby Van Nuys. She'd have a brief marriage to the son of a Beverly Hills executive, living in Hollywood with him. Goldberg's paper trail ends with their divorce in 1969.

 •••

 Angelyne had single-handedly created and then inhabited a modern myth of L.A.: the platinum blond bombshell in the bright pink Corvette forever circumnavigating the city, seeking to enchant by dint of her sheer superficial glamour. It had the aesthetic power and emotional resonance of genuine performance art, Marina Abramovic by way of John Waters, particularly as she kept on rambling around the city over the decades while she aged.

 I'd written a profile about Angelyne for THR in 2015. She attempted to micromanage the terms of our time together in sharp-elbowed fashion before agreeing to let me ride in her Stingray 1LT. Once inside, reality quickly shone through her constructed shallow facade: a keen intelligence, a striking vulnerability. Also something else, undefinable but perceptibly troubled, even haunted.

 When I asked about her family and her past, she described herself as an only child and an orphan. "I lost my parents at a young age," she said, "and because of that, I sought the attention of the world through my tricks. I said, 'Well, I'm going to get the love of the world.' " When I pushed for more, she shut me down. "It's just a long story," she said, the cartoonishly girly lilt of her voice gone flat. "I don't want to get into it. I made my way here."

 Angelyne was similarly mum or vague when I inquired about other things that might have forged her, from religion ("I've tried them all — Jewish, Catholic, Hindu: too many dogmas") to her place of origin. Some internet stories suggest that she is from Idaho, but she wouldn't talk about where she grew up. A distant hometown perfectly fit her narrative of an American small-town girl coming to L.A. to fulfill a dream. (I searched Idaho public records and could find no indication of someone named Angelyne, Angelyne Lyne or Angelyne Lynne — all names that have appeared on her business filings.)

 I came away with an understanding of how she'd built and perpetuated the Angelyne phenomenon — including the business by which she made a living: lucratively marked-up and vigorously hawked merchandise sales out of her trunk, plus licensing and appearance fees. (Of course the Kardashians and other proteges have exponentially scaled and digitized the model.) But I'd fallen short in penetrating who she really is, why she'd dedicated her life to transforming herself into what she described to me as a "Rorschach test in pink" — a figure who simultaneously elects to commute among us and hold herself apart, in her formulation, "on top of a pink cloud on top of a pink mountain."

 •••

 Jews had assimilated in the postwar period. Surnames Anglicized, religious observance ebbed, kosher compliance curtailed — both to better conform to their American homeland and, often, as a conscious or unconscious departure from the trauma of their European pasts. They'd arrived and imagined themselves anew.

 Yet Goldberg becoming Angelyne: That would be a feat far more radical, a leap far more extreme, out of a grim and drab past into a realm of complete fantasy. How fitting it would be for such an act to take place amid the New World shtetl of Hollywood, defined by metamorphosis and make-believe.

 To many Jews, Angelyne reads distinctly gentile, the quintessential shiksa, whether by accident or intent. Her taste and status cues exist in a goyish Bermuda Triangle somewhere between Dolly Parton, Loni Anderson and Traci Lords.

 But once I floated the idea of Goldberg as Angelyne to friends and colleagues who had been fascinated by her over the years and occasionally had had their own fleeting curbside run-ins, the surprisingly unsurprised reaction (particularly from the Jewish ones) was consensus and instantaneous: That makes sense. The stereotypical old-school shmatte-selling, the hardnosed negotiations, the pure all-purpose chutzpah — "I've known that woman," one happily told me, as if welcoming home a long-lost relative, "all my life."

 As thorough as the genealogist had been in piecing together Goldberg's early life, he'd missed an easily Google-able recent connection between Angelyne and her alleged true identity. Late last year, I saw that The Fillmore Gazette, a community newspaper of a small town 60 miles northwest of L.A. in Ventura County, had published online a legal notice on April 28, 2016, that Renee Goldberg had petitioned to change her name to Angelyne Llyne at Ventura Superior Court. (After short-selling her Malibu condo in 2010, she now lives in the Ventura County area of Thousand Oaks.)

 If the genealogist's claim is to be believed, Goldberg recently had become eligible to collect Social Security benefits. (It is unknown whether Angelyne has applied for such benefits under any name.) While the Social Security Administration had previously not required applicants to document proof, the policy changed in 2005 after Congress took action in response to terror concerns.

 I drove to the Ventura County courthouse to get the document. She claimed to have been born on Jan. 26, 1962 (a dozen years after the genealogist's records indicate), and to be from the statistically gentile Louisville, Kentucky. As for the reason for the name change, she states on the form, "This is my stage name that I use and have used since 1978."

 Goldberg also listed a residential address that was 2 miles away. When I headed over, I discovered it was a commercial showroom for personalized trophies, plaques, gavels, medallions and clocks called Custom Awards & Engraving. I decided to refrain from asking owners Jerry and Linda Mendelsohn about Angelyne for the time being.

 •••

 Scott Hennig, a 60-year-old portrait illustrator from Idaho, has been Angelyne's assistant, close friend and gatekeeper since the late 1980s. We'd spoken many times but always over the phone. He'd declined to meet when I requested an interview while profiling Angelyne two years ago, stating he preferred to remain "behind the scenes." I told him that a self-described genealogist had come forward with documentation attesting to the fact that Angelyne was in fact Renee Goldberg.

 Hennig scoffed. "This stuff comes up every few years — it seems to get more and more ridiculous," he says. "My favorite one of all was this 300-pound black woman who claimed to be her mother. 'I'm your long-lost brother,' 'your twin sister.' Chalk it up to life in Hollywood. I've never heard of 'Renee Goldberg.' It's laughable, it's outrageous." And as for the genealogist? "This guy needs to get a life. It's almost like ..." He thought for a moment. "Like stalker stuff, it really is. It's kind of creepy. It's weird."

 I brought up the name-change document connecting Renee Goldberg to Angelyne, and told him I would be happy to send over some of the genealogist's material for her review. "I'm not saying the paperwork isn't legitimate," he responded, growing testy. "I'm saying it ain't her. Look, I get emails from another Scott Hennig, a karate expert in Texas. People think that's me. There are a lot of girls out there named Angelyne. I don't know what to tell you. And who knows how legitimate this old stuff is, going back to World War II?"

 Hennig went on, wondering, "And who's this guy? He's poking into Angelyne's business — why don't we get his name?" I put that question to the genealogist soon afterward, who'd communicated with me under the pseudonym Ed Thompson.

 "There's a difference between her and me — and she and most people," he reasoned by phone. "She's a celebrity, and beyond that, she forfeited any claim of privacy when she ran, as a joke or a stunt or not, for governor of California" during the recall race that Arnold Schwarzenegger won in 2003. "As for me," he went on, explaining he had a government job that included a top-secret clearance, "reputation is fairly important, and the controversy that might be involved in this situation is not part of that culture. There's a minute possibility that surreptitious activity — not illegal but surreptitious — could reflect badly on a top-secret clearance."

 I sent Hennig the name-change document and the yearbook photos the day after we spoke. Subsequent efforts by phone and email to discuss those materials with him — or, better yet, Angelyne — were repeatedly dodged.

 •••

 On a rainy Tuesday evening nearly two weeks later, I was reporting on another story at a Sunset Strip tattoo shop when I spotted Angelyne's new Pepto Bismol-hued Corvette Z06 gleaming under a street light across the street. It was parked in front of 1980s hair metal haven the Rainbow Bar & Grill.

 I soon found the reclusive Hennig, clad in a denim jacket and jeans, loitering in an empty upstairs hallway next to a Pantera poster. He looked just like the lanky fellow whose over-exposed vintage photos had appeared beside his boss' in the 2005 premiere issue of Hot P!nk, Angelyne's short-lived glossy fan magazine. Before I could say hello, she emerged from an adjacent restroom, in full regalia.

 Her eyes went wide as she shook my hand. I asked if Hennig had conveyed my queries about Renee Goldberg and the Holocaust. While he stood mute a few feet away, she stammered, "I have a weird stalker who has been following me and hanging underwear outside my home and all sorts of things. We're going to catch him — big time!" Usually, she explained of her history with obsessives, "I use reverse psychology on them and they go away."

 As Motley Crue's "Girls, Girls, Girls" softly piped in overhead, I offered my sympathies, asking if she'd yet taken legal action or informed the authorities. In the past she'd told me she'd filed restraining orders against two stalkers. Angelyne said she and her team hadn't — that they were "building a case."

 Angelyne cast herself as a victim of a scheme, and me as an unwitting — or even witting — pawn. (The next day I spoke with the genealogist, who'd previously told me that he had "no tie to her other than curiosity," and asked him if he was stalking her. "No, not at all," he chuckled. "It's a contorted, convenient way to try to come up with a semi-plausible story. Or not even that plausible. It doesn't even make any sense. How could this kind of information about her past possibly be part of a plot to force her to do anything?")

 I asked Angelyne about the Ventura County name-change document. Her expression scrunched. "It was a complication thing," she said, tipping from one foot to the other. "I don't want to talk about it." I pressed, and she said she'd have her lawyer call me. I asked if it would be her business attorney, William Remery, or the attorney on the document, David Lehr. "Someone else."

 She wheeled around to Topic A. "I know you want it to be true because you're Jewish — and that's adorable!" This last word was enunciated with her breathy falsetto inflection, a stagey girlishness that Paris Hilton appropriated. I told her, without success, why my interest was justifiable on journalistic terms. She nodded, unbowed: "Is your editor Jewish?"

 She bid me goodbye with a hug — "I know you love me and don't want to hurt me" — and a promise that I'd hear from her lawyer. Angelyne also stated that it's her inalienable right alone to share her story as she sees fit — or not. (Earlier, regarding the details of her past, she'd told me, "I want to save it for my memoirs; that's my right for my own financial interest.") Later, when I left, I saw her on the sidewalk beside her Corvette under a translucent pink umbrella, huddled in what appeared to be an intense conversation with Hennig.

 The next day, curious to revisit those Hennig photos, I unearthed from the bottom of a pile on my newsroom desk the premiere issue of Hot P!nk, which Angelyne bulldozed me into purchasing two years ago for $50 — along with other merchandise — before even agreeing to seriously discuss participation in a potential profile in THR. What instead caught my eye were the advertisements, which on closer inspection all seemed to be personally connected to her: the North Hollywood auto body shop that I'd elsewhere read custom-paints her Corvette; the late Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. George Semel, who she'd previously told me was her "artistic collaborator."

 I kept scanning. There was an eighth-page ad from Custom Awards & Engraving, the trophy business Angelyne listed as her residential address on the name-change document. Co-owner Linda Mendelsohn also was mentioned in the text, which congratulated Angelyne on the launch of the magazine. Bingo.

 •••

 A fortnight passed without word from Angelyne. I rang Hennig and told him I was still looking for clarification. Where, at least, was the follow-up from the mystery attorney? This time he was curt. "I'll tell her you called," he said, his tone cold, hanging up. It would be the last I'd hear from either of them.

 The next day I called Goldberg's stepsister, Norma St. Michel, who resides in Van Nuys in the San Fernando Valley. I brought up Angelyne. "Oh, I have no idea," she said, an edge to her voice, cutting me off and hanging up.

 Then I tracked down Michael Strauss, the Jewish boy (scion of a Beverly Hills dynasty forged by the changeable reader board on movie theater marquees) whom she'd wed in the late 1960s. He was now a family man living in Carlsbad after a successful career manufacturing acrylic furniture.

 I told him what I was calling about. "Holy smokes," he said, astonished. "I haven't talked to Angelyne in years. I've kind of followed her on the internet."

 We chatted for an hour. Strauss had tender memories of Goldberg, referring alternatively in the past and present to her as "Angelyne" and "Renee." He'd never spoken publicly about the identity of his first wife before, and only rarely in private, he said. (An exception: In 2016 when she applied for a new driver's license, a DMV investigator contacted him to corroborate her true identity.)

 They'd met through mutual friends while she was still living on the Westside. "She was the most gorgeous redhead," he said. "She was unique, beautiful, smart." Later, during their short matrimony, they lived together with Annette and her first husband at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street, "right where Wolfman Jack used to record." Strauss emailed me photos while we were talking: the pair posing barefoot by the pool at a friend's backyard party, a striking black-and-white portrait he'd taken of Goldberg at his family's Trousdale Estates home. (A budding photographer, he shot the likes of Donovan and War.) And, most importantly, he sent the same yearbook photo the genealogist had shown me.

 Strauss explained that Goldberg's childhood had been difficult. Her father, a man with a concentration camp number tattooed on his arm, had been controlling, cruel and narrow-minded, propelling her to flee home early. Like many survivors of trauma, Henry didn't discuss it. This extended, to Strauss' memory, as far as Goldberg's own history; her father told her she was born in Israel, not a German displaced-persons camp. Regardless, "she has never considered herself Jewish."

 Strauss was surprised to learn from me that Goldberg's mother had died just a few years before he met her; he'd always thought it had been much earlier, a hardened scar. "She'd never talk about her mother — ever, ever, ever. It was a subject that couldn't be brought up. If I brought it up, it was shut down."

 After they broke up — it was amicable — he traveled for several years, returning to L.A. in the mid-1970s. "I hooked up with Renee again, and she was Angelyne," he said. "I wasn't there when she made the transition. All of a sudden, big boobs, blond hair, this voice — the voice used to make me nuts. It didn't compute with who I'd known she was."

 It would be another decade before she'd achieve notoriety for her pioneering famous-for-being-famous billboard campaign. "As an entrepreneur, I was sad that she wasn't ever able to be more [financially] successful," Strauss said of her career, which emerged out of punk and new wave bands and occasional bit parts in films. "Why didn't she take it farther? Why not a TV show? She invented this marvelous, crazy, out-of-this-world character but couldn't fully sell it. I was always a Renee rooter: 'Come on, girl, take it to the next level!' But she only had the capacity to take it so far."

 When they broke up, Strauss held on to some of her effects — personal photos, official documents — "because she didn't want them, and I wasn't just going to throw them away. I mean, what if she eventually wanted them back? Except she never did. I saw her in the early 1990s, and I said, 'I have these things.' She didn't want them. She wanted nothing to do with it. She'd created another life."

 Why had she done it? "You'd have to ask her that," he said softly.

 Renee Goldberg had purely committed to the fundamental principle of Hollywood — escapism — by inhabiting the character she conjured to the point of no return. Like many dreamers, she adopted a stage name and altered her body and behavior to better position a prospective entertainment career that, like many dreamers, never panned out quite as intended. Nevertheless, far more than most, by any definition of success, she truly became the person she was pretending to be.

 Strauss eventually, reluctantly, ventured a guess. "It's a persona that must have suited her," he said. "It made her way in life. It's not an easy world out there."

 August 14, 2017 update: Mentions of Annette Block and her husband, Stanley, incorrectly believed to be Angelyne's sister and brother-in-law, have been removed from this story. Subsequent reporting indicates that Annette Goldberg, who was born two years earlier than Block, is Angelyne's sibling.

 A version of this story first appeared in the Aug. 2 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe. ||||| Thirty years after her iconic billboards and pink Corvette became Hollywood staples, the self-created sex symbol remains an object of fascination, curiosity, and — a rarity in L.A. — profound mystery: "I'm like heroin. I have to dole myself out carefully. I don't want people to overload."

 This story first appeared in the Aug. 14 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

 The scent of Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle envelops Angelyne's hot pink Corvette Stingray 1LT as the legendary — and legendarily mysterious — L.A. billboard queen cruises West Hollywood. She nods her platinum 'do as she passes a beauty store on Santa Monica Boulevard. "I saw Paris Hilton there a month ago," reminisces Angelyne in her distinct baby-girl voice. "She was wearing no makeup and had her dog. She told me she was inspired by me before she was known. I whispered to her, 'I'm good luck to you.' She said, 'Yeah!' " A considered pause. "She's vapid but sweet."

 As it happens, that's a verdict people have been rendering about Angelyne for 30 years, ever since she began appearing on hundreds of billboards and circumnavigating the city in that pink Vette. Both the famous-for-being-famous reality culture of the 2000s and the brand-yourself social media hustle of this moment can be traced back to her pioneering DIY billboard campaign. Without Angelyne, the glamorama on your Instagram feed and the glitz on Bravo's and E!'s schedules certainly wouldn't be the same. As she puts it now, "I'm the professor."

 Take an extended drive around town with her, as The Hollywood Reporter recently did, and you'll see that, even if she no longer is gracing all of those billboards and doesn't use social media, Angelyne's fan base remains intensely potent and admirably inclusive across the racial, sexual and gender spectrum. She entrances young and old alike.

 Yet she holds a special appeal to one demographic in particular: the entertainment industry itself. "She's a cult figure in Hollywood," says her close friend of two decades, celebrity stylist B. Akerlund, who has worked on music videos for Beyonce, Madonna and Lady Gaga. "When you ask New Yorkers, 'Do you know Angelyne?' they don't. But here, she's a legend."

 Fergie dresses as Angelyne for Halloween. Courteney Cox sidles up to her out on the town to say, "I love you." Kim Kardashian, after spotting her on the freeway, recalled seeing her as a child while driving with her late father and reminisces on Instagram: "She looks the same & in the same car! Made me smile." RuPaul, out of drag, meets her at a Whole Foods and tweets triumphantly, "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know Angelyne."

 Angelyne on the music-television show 'The Tube' in 1983, a year after she released a self-titled album.

 Her appeal extends to realms you might not expect. (Pee-wee Herman sends Christmas cards; Richard Simmons has bought merchandise.) Angelyne says that David Fincher's longtime girlfriend and producing partner Cean Chaffin hired her to meet and greet at the director's birthday party in Malibu. (Fincher, through a representative, insists the appearance never took place.) Fans also will remember when Angelyne was a candidate in the 2003 California gubernatorial recall, making campaign promises to reduce class sizes, end homelessness and paint the Capitol pink; she finished 28th out of 135 candidates. And the more time you spend with her, the more her fundamentally dark allure comes through — this is a woman who explains she identifies with Barbie not merely for the obvious physical reasons but because she "has no emotions, and I'd like to be emotionless. Emotions are pain."

 She may have perfected self-promotion, but Angelyne doesn't like talking about herself. "I'm not a publicity whore," she insists, pressing an espadrille wedge on the gas pedal on the way to visit her dentist in Century City. (The doctor once pitched a script about an anthrax attack to producers Susan Downey and Joel Silver — he wanted patient Djimon Hounsou to star — and observes that Angelyne invariably arrives on time, unlike directors, who are "always late.") To wit, her contact information remains relatively hard to find and even basic details about her life have long been a riddle.

 "There's a lot of Greta Garbo in Angelyne," says her assistant, Scott Hennig. "She likes the mystery."

 Part of it is practicality. She refuses, for instance, to talk about where she lives (let's just say she's seen barreling down the 101 into the city each morning) because of that eternal celebrity bete noire: stalkers. "I've had two restraining orders — I don't plan to have any more."

 In 2002, Angelyne ran for mayor of Hollywood, a strictly honorary job, on a platform that promised “hot pink glamour.”

 Some of it is anguish. Of her past, she'll announce, curtly, "I want to save it for my memoirs — that's my right for my own financial interest." Later, the only child will confide, the lilt of her girlish voice ebbing for a moment, "I lost my parents at a young age, and because of that I sought the attention of the world through my tricks. I said, 'Well, I'm going to get the love of the world.' " Inquire further, and she's done: "It's just a long story. I don't want to get into it. I made my way here."

 The rest is ethereal. Revealing her real name and age (state records indicate they're Angelyne Llyne and 53), her relationship status ("I have matrimony-phobia") or her origin story (all that she has disclosed is that she's from Idaho) would, she believes, detract from her carefully burnished glamour — a fragile quality she defines as "the front stage, not the backstage." (Muses Brian Scofield, a Terrence Malick collaborator who is at work on a film project about her: "Part of the truth of Angelyne is her enigma. She blends this personality with reality.")

 It's why she says she has rejected umpteen offers for reality shows — "I want to uphold the glamour." Her disdain extends, unsurprisingly, to Kardashian's all-access evolution of her model: "I don't see anything that's inspiring or beauteous. Who wants to know what she does every day? It's boring and gauche and claustrophobic."

 Rumors long have persisted of a sugar-daddy investor behind Angelyne's rise. She clarifies that in 1982, while looking to enlarge a pinup-style poster of herself advertising the eponymous struggling rock band she led at the time to billboard size, she met Hugo Maisnik, the wealthy scion to a display-printing business in L.A. She describes Maisnik, now an adhesive-free-tape entrepreneur and an octogenarian widower, as having been a "very eccentric, bored prankster" who immediately grasped the potential value of her iconography and knew the intricacies of the outdoor-advertising game. Angelyne says that while he was the type of guy who was "obsessed with legs and feet," theirs was a purely platonic relationship: "He was married!" (Maisnik, no longer an active business partner, could not be reached for comment.)

 Soon, she was everywhere. "I felt most normal when I became famous," she says. "The only time I had enough attention, where I never wanted another bit of it ever again, was when I rode in Gay Pride."

 Angelyne's self-branding began before the billboards. Over a shrimp cocktail lunch at Connie & Ted's in West Hollywood, she explains that she only adopted her signature color after installing a New Age metal pyramid over her bed. "I just laid down there, and I kept seeing this vision of pink. Magenta was vibrating. I was compelled." Indeed, she makes it clear that she's on intimate terms with the next level, pointing to an out-of-body moment she had one day around the time she filmed her small role in the 1988 sci-fi comedy Earth Girls Are Easy as transformative. "I don't recommend it," she says wanly of the cosmic event.

 Angelyne puts more than 100 miles a day on her custom-painted Corvette Stingray.

 Angelyne sees herself as forever on a quest to return to that rapture. "It's been torture to be here again. I've tried so much meditation to bring it back," she says. "As wonderful as my flesh body is to me, what I've created, I've exploited the human body to its max."

 Some believe that Angelyne, an aesthete trained in ballet as a child who possesses a disconcerting ability to turn any food into uncanny likenesses (Bette Davis out of mussel shells and spaghetti, Clara Bow out of Swedish fish and coffee grounds) is a de facto performance artist. That her entire presentation — the hair, the clothes, the voice, the pink car, the whole shebang — riffs on femininity, fame and Hollywood ideals. Angelyne brushes off such assertions — she possesses no MFA degree, though she did take life drawing classes at one point, and she claims (or feigns) ignorance of such highbrow luminaries as Marina Abramovic. Yet she allows this: "Warhol would have loved me!"

 Still, she has acolytes in the art world, including acclaimed L.A. conceptual artist Alex Israel, who has utilized the billboard form himself. "I think she's important," he says. "She did something radical. She gave people permission to do things that are now par for the course in our culture. Her work gave people permission to make the public expression of their eccentric selves a goal in itself. This was before YouTube and reality TV, when her available platform was the space of advertising. She found the widest platform that she could."

 Notes Kate Durbin, an L.A. performance artist and culture critic: "She performs the narrative of Los Angeles in a complicated way. The New Age-y stuff. How everything has a price. She's the literal embodiment of those ideals. One of the things we can gain from looking at Angelyne is that life is a performance."

 Back in the car, on the way to Spellbound Sky, a Silver Lake crystal boutique she frequents, Angelyne is chatty about many things. Like religion ("I've tried them all — Jewish, Catholic, Hindu: too many dogmas"). Like her wardrobe (her clothes are made from fabrics from International Silks & Woolens, a Beverly Boulevard shop favored by Cher). Like her radio preferences (as a hard-core NPR listener, she recently auctioned off a ride in her car: "What about that for a pledge?").

 But off-limits is aging. "Spare me," she says with exasperation. "I just don't believe in it." The denial for decades was abetted by a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, the renowned George Semel, who (he confided to her) also treated Elizabeth Taylor and Zsa Zsa Gabor. (He died in 2013.) "I felt like I was working with an artistic collaborator," says Angelyne, who won't comment about procedures but acknowledges, "Fillers are amazing."

 At a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in Los Feliz — she visits a franchise location daily, ordering what many baristas know as The Angelyne (a modified cafe mocha with water instead of milk) — she tackles one more personal topic: how she makes money these days (L.A. real estate blogs snickered when her three-bedroom Malibu condo was listed for $575,000 in a 2010 short sale), particularly now that the billboard campaign has wound down. She claims it worked so well that she became overloaded with inquiries. Alternatively, she may have been priced out. As Hennig notes, "The prices were a few thousand a month for billboards when she started. Now it's $10,000, $20,000, $30,000 a month on the Sunset Strip."

 She says a chunk of her income comes from image licensing interest from abroad, primarily Europe — what Hennig calls a "never-ending stream." Whether when dealing with a person on the street or a major firm, she demands $10,000 to take a picture of her face — which is why the shot accompanying this story in THR, which doesn't pay subjects for portraits, features her visage partially covered by a fan.

 Angelyne began gracing Hollywood billboards during the early 1980s in a campaign largely financed by outdoor-advertising magnate Maisnik.

 The remainder is similarly I.P.-keen: appearances (a brief drive-by in her car with a wave goes for $500, a stop-in is $1,000) and merchandising. Both income streams leverage her scarcity and mystery to ensure interest. Angelyne's Chazerai — $5 bumper stickers, $10 magnets and $60 T-shirts, sold out of her trunk — move for those prices in part because fans can't buy them online. (She has no website: "I don't want to be that accessible. They've got to find me — a unicorn.") Everyone who approaches her is brazenly asked if they'd like to buy something, and she moves on in short order if they don't. (At dinner one night at Musso & Frank, two gigglingly starstruck women introduce themselves as she enjoys yet another shrimp cocktail. Within minutes, they're separated from $300.)

 She's unapologetic about how her M.O. may appear grubby to some. "I'm a rebel," says Angelyne (who has neither an agent nor manager), her eyes narrowing, her lips pursed. "I'm independent. I want my fans to support me! I don't lend my image out to anybody — MAC, Guess, AT&T. Corporations do ask."

 Affirms her attorney, William Remery: "She certainly has a lot of opportunities come her way. But she controls her image. She understands her value and her product, and she protects it."

 Akerlund, who works with some A-list divas, says that she's been chagrined by her friend's prima donna behavior in professional settings and thinks Angelyne would be more financially successful if she were more amenable. "What I struggle with is that she doesn't have more," says Akerlund. "Her demands are her biggest enemy. It's very old school, and it's a huge limitation. These days, people just move on."

 Still, Angelyne remains confident in the marketplace for her wares. As the sun sets, she pulls up curbside at the TCL Chinese Theatre for a moment to provide "a little taste" of the reliable core demographic base she can tap into whenever she so pleases. She rolls down the windows. Immediately, the assembled crowd swarms and heaves. "Wooooos" abound. Wolverine turns away from a picture with Asian tourists to wink at her. Wonder Woman drops to her knees a few feet away, exclaiming: "You look stunning! You're my idol!" A heavyset man saunters up close, his speech slurred: "Big old titties!"

 With that, she peels out. "I could not do this without this car," she says as the Corvette picks up speed on Hollywood Boulevard. "I scram all the time." After a thoughtful interval: "Always have an escape route: metaphysically, physically, financially, emotionally. I don't think I have every base covered. I know I've got this car covered."

 A week later, Angelyne's lounging on a boa- and cheetah-print-festooned chaise in her cramped office in a historic building near the Chinese Theatre, classical music wafting from the stereo. (She's an aficionado — Ravel's "Pavane for a Dead Princess" a favorite; Debussy's oeuvre dismissed: "I come to find out Einstein didn't like it either.") Surrounded by framed, often topless portrait tableaux of herself (many are acrylic self-portraits with Keane- like eyes) and in all likelihood the world's foremost collection of Angelyne memorabilia, she perhaps is her own biggest fan.

 She's reflecting on how she elicits an array of responses — "I'm a Rorschach test in pink," she says — from "an innocent little Barbie doll to, I guess, being a whore or a porn star, depending on who sees me. I spark the spirit." (She's fine with being mistaken for the latter; as she sees it, it's "pretty awesome" she gets to vicariously inhabit people's "sexual intensity without having to go through with it." Unlike Hilton or Kardashian, there never has been a nude Angelyne photograph, much less a sex tape.)

 In the end, Angelyne professes to be unconcerned with how people digest what she puts out there. "I don't blame them if they roll their eyes," she says. "Everyone has a journey. They don't have to come on mine. I'm not a preacher. I'm just here to do my thing, and if people are inspired, then they are inspired."

 She arches her back coquettishly, pulling the boas toward her, gazing at a painting of herself forever young on the wall. "I'm on top of a pink cloud on top of a pink mountain. I'm there, OK? If anybody can think to find me there, I'm there."

 At the 1996 premiere of 'I Shot Andy Warhol,' Angelyne posed with (from left) performers Candy Ass, Alexis Arquette and Nina Hagen. |||||


Here is a news article: Ken Mehlman is gay. Lots of people thought so, but nobody knew for sure until Mehlman began telling friends and family in recent months. Now it's public: Mehlman has given a full interview to the Atlantic's Marc Ambinder.

 This is a big deal. Mehlman managed President Bush's re-election campaign in 2004 and chaired the Republican National Committee from 2005 to 2007. Many influential Republicans have worked with him and respect him. He makes it harder for them to think of homosexuality as a behavior. They now know somebody who is gay. Or, as Donald Rumsfeld might have put it, they now know that they know somebody who is gay.

 That's important, because if you look at polls over the last 30 or 40 years, two factors have been driving public opinion in the direction of gay rights. One is whether you know someone who's openly gay. More and more people do, and those who do are more tolerant of homosexuality. The other factor is whether you think it's involuntary. This belief, too, has increased over time, and tolerance has increased with it. It's pretty hard to imagine that the guy who ran the GOP during its recent campaigns against gay marriage would come out as homosexual unless he felt he had no choice. This is simply who he is.

 Look at the early reactions from his colleagues. The party's current chairman, Michael Steele, says, "I am happy for Ken. His announcement, often a very difficult decision which is only compounded when done on the public stage, reaffirms for me why we are friends and why I respect him personally and professionally." Very difficult decision means, among other things, that Mehlman had no choice. And because the friendship remains, Steele now has another gay friend to think about when he hears a pitch to score political points at the expense of gays.

 Ed Gillespie, the RNC chairman who preceded Mehlman, tells Ambinder that "it is significant that a former chairman of the Republican National Committee is openly gay and that he is supportive of gay marriage." Gillespie acknowledges "big generational differences in perception when it comes to gay marriage and gay rights as an agenda, and I think that is true on the Republican side." Discomfort with abortion isn't going away, but discomfort with same-sex marriage is fading. Homosexuality is becoming normalized.

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 In fact, it's becoming Republicanized. Lately, Mehlman has been advising the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which is leading the legal battle for gay marriage in California. The foundation's message is nonjudgmental liberal boilerplate: "dedicated to protecting and advancing equal rights for every American." But Mehlman's personal message goes beyond equality. Ambinder, describing his conversation with Mehlman, reports:

 He said that he plans to be an advocate for gay rights within the GOP, that he remains proud to be a Republican, and that his political identity is not defined by any one issue. "What I will try to do is to persuade people, when I have conversations with them, that it is consistent with our party's philosophy, whether it's the principle of individual freedom, or limited government, or encouraging adults who love each other and who want to make a lifelong commitment to each other to get married."

 That message isn't just egalitarian or libertarian. It's socially conservative. It embraces marriage as an institution that promotes and solidifies commitment. Andrew Sullivan, Jonathan Rauch, and other writers have made this point for a long time: If you believe in the cultural virtues of marriage, you should support it for gay couples as well as straight ones.

 If Mehlman can carry that message into the heart of the GOP—if he can give Republicans a way to be pro-marriage without being antigay—he'll have done a great service not just to his party, but to his community.

 Like Slate on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter. William Saletan's latest short takes on the news, via Twitter:

 Latest Twitter Updates Follow William Saletan on Twitter. ||||| 08.26.2010 - 9:39 AM

 The announcement that former Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman is gay is garnering a fair amount of attention in the political world.

 I suppose that’s predictable. He is, after all, the most powerful Republican ever to identify himself as gay. But my sense is that it’ll be a lot less of a big deal to conservatives than it might be to liberals like (just to choose one name at random) Frank Rich, for whom the political is also the personal. While it’s something that runs counter to the stereotype, most of the conservatives I know are largely to completely indifferent to a person’s sexual orientation. They are the kind of people who might even invite Elton John to perform at their weddings and not give a second thought to the fact that John is gay.

 For my part, I knew Ken in the Bush White House and after that, when he was the campaign manager of the re-election campaign and RNC chairman. I’ve always liked him and found his counsel to be wise. He’s a person with very impressive political gifts and talents. Yet by his own account, the personal road he’s traveled has not been an easy one; rather than activists and commentators directing wrath and ridicule at him, I hope some measure of grace and understanding are accorded to him. I realize these qualities aren’t in oversupply in politics, but they should be more common than they are.

 It’s fair to say, I think, that all sides in the same-sex marriage debate need to strive for greater respect and civility, for grounding this discussion in reason and empirical facts, in what advances self-government and the common good. And regardless of whether or not one agrees with Ken’s position, he will add to, rather than subtract from, the substance of the discussion. That is more than can be said for the haters. ||||| Former RNC chief Ken Mehlman: I’m gay

 posted at 6:37 pm on August 25, 2010 by Allahpundit

 He says he realized it “fairly recently,” in Marc Ambinder’s words, which has Tammy Bruce chuckling on Twitter. Honestly, I thought the guy came out years ago. Remember when Bill Maher talked about the rumors surrounding him on Larry King’s show — back in 2006? I guess you were the last to know, Ken.

 He’s doing this now, it seems, because he wants to drum up publicity for the cause of gay marriage and figures that “Republican whom everyone thought was gay actually is gay” headlines will do the trick. Could be, although Ambinder’s careful to remind readers of the sort of social con initiatives that the GOP pushed during Mehlman’s RNC tenure. That won’t endear him to gay activists, and his newly public identity won’t endear him to social cons. Maybe he should have just worked for gay marriage like Ted Olson and kept his orientation private?

 Privately, in off-the-record conversations with this reporter over the years, Mehlman voiced support for civil unions and told of how, in private discussions with senior Republican officials, he beat back efforts to attack same-sex marriage. He insisted, too, that President Bush “was no homophobe.” He often wondered why gay voters never formed common cause with Republican opponents of Islamic jihad, which he called “the greatest anti-gay force in the world right now.” Mehlman’s leadership positions in the GOP came at a time when the party was stepping up its anti-gay activities — such as the distribution in West Virginia in 2006 of literature linking homosexuality to atheism, or the less-than-subtle, coded language in the party’s platform (“Attempts to redefine marriage in a single state or city could have serious consequences throughout the country…”). Mehlman said at the time that he could not, as an individual Republican, go against the party consensus. He was aware that Karl Rove, President Bush’s chief strategic adviser, had been working with Republicans to make sure that anti-gay initiatives and referenda would appear on November ballots in 2004 and 2006 to help Republicans. Mehlman acknowledges that if he had publicly declared his sexuality sooner, he might have played a role in keeping the party from pushing an anti-gay agenda. “It’s a legitimate question and one I understand,” Mehlman said. “I can’t change the fact that I wasn’t in this place personally when I was in politics, and I genuinely regret that. It was very hard, personally.” He asks of those who doubt his sincerity: “If they can’t offer support, at least offer understanding.”

 I couldn’t care less either way, but with all the buzz lately about new conservative support for gays — here’s the latest surreal episode in the Coulter/Farah HomoCon saga, incidentally — this is a bracing reminder that an openly gay RNC chief probably would still be a problem. Or would it?

 Related Posts: ||||| Rumors about former RNC chair Ken Mehlman’s Complete Gayness have been swirling around for years and years. Mike Rogers outed him several years back, as part of his campaign to rid the political world of homosexuals who cynically use the rest of the gay community as bait in order to convince rubes, yahoos, bumpkins and other morons to set down the teevee clicker even if it means missing the last five minutes of The 700 Club, in order to go out and vote Republican, due to abject fear of gays. Mehlman’s sins were particularly egregious, since we are after all talking about the guy who helped run the most anti-gay presidential campaign in history, which gave us Four More Years of the Crawford hick and his handlers, Karl and Dick.

 Anyway, now Ken Mehlman has something to say! “Are you there, God? It’s me, Ken Mehlman, and I suck bags of dicks! No, God, I mean literally!”:

 Ken Mehlman, President Bush’s campaign manager in 2004 and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, has told family and associates that he is gay. Mehlman arrived at this conclusion about his identity fairly recently, he said in an interview. He agreed to answer a reporter’s questions, he said, because, now in private life, he wants to become an advocate for gay marriage and anticipated that questions would arise about his participation in a late-September fundraiser for the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER), the group that supported the legal challenge to California’s ballot initiative against gay marriage, Proposition 8. “It’s taken me 43 years to get comfortable with this part of my life,” Mehlman said. “Everybody has their own path to travel, their own journey, and for me, over the past few months, I’ve told my family, friends, former colleagues, and current colleagues, and they’ve been wonderful and supportive. The process has been something that’s made me a happier and better person. It’s something I wish I had done years ago.”

 Oh, but if you had done it years ago, Kenneth, you wouldn’t have made eleventy billion dollars by publicly fighting the gay demons in your mind, for Evil, which you then used to buy a swanky $3.7 million man-pad in Chelsea.

 Anyway, also, Ken Mehlman is very confused as to why The Gays never signed on to Republican pants-shitting campaigns against Muslins:

 He often wondered why gay voters never formed common cause with Republican opponents of Islamic jihad, which he called “the greatest anti-gay force in the world right now.”

 I wonder why! For the answer to this question, let’s go to our slightly more serious homosexual reporter, also named Evan Hurst:

 Oh, that’s because the Republican plan for fighting Islamic extremism is laughably stupid, driven by emotion and fear, and exemplifies all the characteristics of Severe Small Penis Syndrome. Additionally, it’s been a hilarious failure everywhere it’s been tried. Thanks, Bill Kristol!

 Simple answers to simple questions, this has been.

 For his part, Mike Rogers wants to see Ken Mehlman do a LOT of apologizing and public self-flagellation before he will even think about allowing him to be a Socially Accepted Gay:

 So, how can Ken Mehlman redeem himself? I want to hear from Ken that he is sorry for being the architect of the 2004 Bush reelection campaign. I want to hear from Ken that he is sorry for his role in developing strategy that resulted in George W. Bush threatening to veto ENDA or any bill containing hate crimes laws. I want to hear from Ken that he is sorry for the pressing of two Federal Marriage Amendments as political tools. I want to hear from Ken that he is sorry for developing the 72-hour strategy, using homophobic churches to become political arms of the GOP before Election Day. And those state marriage amendments. I want to hear him apologize for every one of those, too.

 Also, he should probably be punched on live television by Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, and maybe one of the man-fags from the So You Think You Can Lip Sync While Wearing Wigs or the So You Think You Can Make Pretty Dresses, For Girls, or whatever the hell shows the gays watch obsessively, in groups, while squealing, especially since Mehlman is still giving money to anti-gay candidates! As Joe Jervis said, “hookers call that ‘working both sides of the street.'”

 Classic Liz Glover video of Ken Mehlman at his rooftop goodbye party, June 2007.

 For their part, this news is making the homosexual wingnuts show everybody their yucky Quisling boners, which is never appropriate, especially so close to 9/11.

 Anyway, welcome to gayness, Ken! Nobody is going to have sex with you, but don’t let it bring you down, because they probably weren’t having sex with you before. [Marc Ambinder/Truth Wins Out/BlogActive] |||||
A summary of this is?

– Ken Mehlman sent pundits chattering when he came out of the closet to support gay marriage yesterday. Here's what they're saying: “Honestly, I thought the guy came out years ago,” writes Hot Air blogger “Allahpundit,” recalling Bill Maher’s outing of him on Larry King in 2006 (see video). Still, “this is a bracing reminder that an openly gay RNC chief probably would still be a problem.” William Saletan of Slate thinks it’s great that Republican bigwigs have an extra gay friend. “Homosexuality is becoming normalized,” he writes. “In fact, it's becoming Republicanized.” Mehlman’s pitch for gay marriage is downright socially conservative, arguing that it is an institution that promotes and solidifies monogamous commitment. “My sense is that it’ll be a lot less of a big deal to conservatives than it might be to liberals …for whom the political is also the personal,” writes Peter Wehner in Commentary, adding that he knows and likes Mehlman. “I hope some measure of grace and understanding are accorded to him.” But Evan Hurst of Wonkette isn't ready to forgive Mehlman for his anti-gay campaign tactics, especially because he’s still giving money to anti-gay candidates. “He should probably be punched on live television by Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi.”


Article:

Fame, fortune, and power in all its forms are glorified in American culture. Entire media networks are dedicated to covering celebrity news and gossip — and television programs that showcase the lifestyles of the rich and the famous regularly draw millions of viewers.

 However, power can be fleeting. Circumstances can change rapidly; fortunes can be lost overnight; and the masters of the universe today can wind up unemployable tomorrow.

 24/7 Wall St. compiled a list of 50 well-known individuals around the world who have recently experienced a precipitous loss in stature. These individuals hold, or once held, positions in nearly all aspects of public life — from television personalities to CEOs of major companies to financial wizards and to politicians. While sometimes those in the public eye are held to a higher standard than private citizens, others are truly deserving of their fall from grace.

 Click here to see the 50 least powerful people in the world.

 Click here to see our detailed detailed findings and our methodology. ||||| Source: Jdarsie11 / Wikimedia Commons

 1. Anthony Scaramucci

 > Occupation: White House Communications Director

 Over the nearly five decades that the position of the White House Director of Communications has existed, no tenure has been shorter than that of Anthony Scaramucci. Fired in late July 2017, less than two weeks after his appointment, the White House’s official reason for releasing Scaramucci was to give its new Chief of Staff, General John Kelly, a clean slate. Scaramucci’s tenure in Trump’s cabinet was tumultuous despite being short. The highlights included apparent protocol breaches with the FBI, conflicting statements about his relationship with then Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, and a profanity laced interview with The New Yorker, in which he spoke ill of several other Trump administration officials, including Priebus and Chief Strategist Steve Bannon. In the midst of his brief stint in the White House, Scaramucci’s wife filed for divorce.

 Source: Gage Skidmore / Flickr

 2. Chris Christie

 > Occupation: Governor of New Jersey

 Governor of New Jersey and contender for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination Chris Christie has the lowest approval ratings of any governor in the country and in the history of the Garden State. It’s not hard to see why. The lame duck two-term governor fawned over Donald Trump after the bombastic billionaire won the presidential election. Many speculated Christie was angling for a post in the new administration. Trump did name Christie to head his transition team, but eventually replaced him with Mike Pence. In the end, Trump decided not to include Christie in his cabinet, possibly because Christie was damaged goods. Indeed, Christie’s reputation was sullied by the Bridgegate scandal in which allies created a traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge in early September 2013, hoping motorists would blame a local Democratic mayor for the tie-up.

 The outgoing governor said he does not care about poll numbers. That seemed to be the case last month when Christie and his family were spotted lounging on a state-owned beach while the general public was denied beach access due to a statewide government shutdown.

 Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation

 3. James Comey

 > Occupation: Director of the FBI

 James Comey has been a controversial figure since the middle of the 2016 presidential election. Initially, Comey was criticized for publicly attacking Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s judgment in using a private email server during her time at the State Department. Comey garnered even more ire when, in an apparent break with bureau protocol, he announced candidate Clinton was the subject of an FBI investigation only days before the election. While some attribute President Donald Trump’s electoral victory to Comey’s investigation of Clinton, Trump abruptly fired the FBI Director less than five months into his presidency.

 Comey had served as FBI Director since 2013, when he was appointment by President Barack Obama, until he was terminated by Trump in May 2017. The White House has since provided multiple conflicting justifications for Comey’s firing.

 Source: media.ford.com

 4. Mark Fields

 > Occupation: CEO of Ford Motor Company

 Mark Fields, formerly chief executive of Ford Motor Company, is one of several high profile CEOs who were shown the door in 2017. A loyal company man, Fields had been with Ford since 1989, working his way up to COO in 2012 and CEO in 2014.

 Fields’ time at the top was limited largely due to his failure to inspire confidence on Wall Street. Ford shares fell by nearly 40% during his tenure as CEO — even as corporate revenue climbed over 5% from 2014 to 2016. Shareholder confidence was mostly undermined by Fields’ determination to take on Tesla, investing in electric and autonomous vehicle technology. Despite attempts to woo shareholders by announcing a 10% reduction in its global workforce in early May 2017 in order to boost profits, Fields was let go later that month.

 Source: Flickr / Keith Allison

 5. Tiger Woods

 > Occupation: Professional golfer

 With 14 major wins to his name, including four Masters Tournaments and three U.S. Opens, Tiger Woods spent many years as the top-ranked golfer in the world. The golf superstar has been embroiled in controversy on and off since reports of his infidelity came to light in late 2009. He has not won a major tournament since.

 The latest scandal surrounding Woods was what appeared to be a DUI arrest. Found by police stopped on the side of the road early morning on Memorial Day, Woods failed a field sobriety test and was arrested. At the station, Woods passed a breathalyzer, however, and it was later revealed that the golfer was suffering from a dangerous combination of prescription medications. Following the widely publicized incident, Woods checked into a clinic to help him manage his drug use. In the realm of professional golf, Woods is currently ranked 899 — his lowest ranking ever. |||||
What is a summary?

– Power: One day you have it, the next you don't. No one likely knows that better than the world's 50 "least powerful" people, described by 24/7 Wall St. as "well-known individuals around the world who have recently experienced a precipitous loss in stature." The top 10: Anthony Scaramucci: Where to begin? Try here, here, and here. Chris Christie: The former head of Donald Trump's transition team has the lowest approval rating of any governor in New Jersey's history. James Comey: The former FBI director lasted not even five months under Trump. Mark Fields: The Ford CEO was canned after shares fell almost 40% during his tenure. Tiger Woods: Blame his DUI arrest and 899th ranking in men's pro golf. Kendall Jenner: Remember that Pepsi commercial? Montgomery Moran: After a wave of issues at Chipotle, the co-CEO stepped down last year. Tomi Lahren: The conservative media personality was suspended from the Blaze after announcing she was pro-choice. Park Geun-hye: The former president of South Korea was impeached and jailed after a corruption scandal involving Samsung. Mitch McConnell: As Senate majority leader, McConnell failed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Click for the full list, which also includes Sean Spicer, R. Kelly, and Theresa May. (See last year's ranking here.)


Write an article based on this summary:

– Orrin Hatch is taking grief for his choice of words in describing the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford on Thursday. During the lunch break, the Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee referred to Ford as an "attractive" and "pleasing" witness, reports Roll Call. "I don't think she's uncredible," Hatch told reporters. "I think she's an attractive, good witness." When CNN pressed him on what he meant by "attractive," Hatch responded, "In other words, she's pleasing." The remarks have prompted criticism, and USA Today rounds up examples, including one tweet that pretty much summarizes the negative sentiment: "I can’t believe it seemed appropriate to Orrin Hatch to comment on the attractiveness of a woman testifying about her sexual assault." But Hatch's spokesperson has an explanation: “Hatch uses ‘attractive’ to describe personalities, not appearances,” he said. “If you search his past quotes you’ll see he’s used it consistently for years for men and women he believed has compelling personalities.”

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, talks with reporters Tuesday in the Capitol after the Senate policy lunches. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

 Utah Sen. Orrin G. Hatch said Thursday that Christine Blasey Ford is “attractive” and “pleasing,” but stopped short of saying definitively whether he found her credible, outside the room where Ford was testifying about her alleged assault by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

 The Utah Republican, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee which is hearing Ford’s testimony, told CNN it was “too early to say” if Ford is credible, but also added, “I don’t think she’s uncredible. I think she an attractive, good witness.”

 When pressed by CNN reporter Shimon Prokupecz on what he meant by “attractive,” Hatch responded: “In other words, she’s pleasing.”

 Senator Orrin Hatch said “it’s too early to say” if Ford is credible. “I don’t think she’s uncredible. I think she an attractive, good witness,” he said. I asked what he meant by “attractive.” He said, “In other words, she’s pleasing.” https://t.co/NKJabkX9aS — Shimon Prokupecz (@ShimonPro) September 27, 2018

 The Judiciary panel will also hear from Kavanaugh later in the day. The committee is scheduled to vote on his nomination Friday.

 Hatch spokesman Matt Whitlock offered a clarification on Twitter.

 “Hatch uses ‘attractive’ to describe personalities, not appearances,” he wrote. “If you search his past quotes you’ll see he’s used it consistently for years for men and women he believed has compelling personalities.”

 Hatch uses “attractive” to describe personalities, not appearances. If you search his past quotes you’ll see he’s used it consistently for years for men and women he believed has compelling personalities. — Matt Whitlock 🇺🇸 (@mattdizwhitlock) September 27, 2018

 Asked by a reporter whether she found Ford’s testimony credible, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, replied, “Thus far.” The Alaska Republican is seen as a key swing vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

 Dean DeChiaro contributed to this report. Watch: Christine Blasey Ford's Full Opening Statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee

 Get breaking news alerts and more from Roll Call on your iPhone or your Android. ||||| Tweet with a location

 You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| (CNN) One of the Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee listening to the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford told reporters Thursday that the woman who accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault is "an attractive, good witness."

 "I don't think she's uncredible," said Hatch, the senior senator from Utah, when asked during the lunch break in Ford's testimony. "I think she's an attractive, good witness."

 When CNN asked what he meant by "attractive," Hatch responded, "In other words, she's pleasing."

 Hatch's comments on Ford are significant given that all Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are male, and that they've elected to have a female outside counsel -- Maricopa, Arizona, Deputy County Attorney Rachel Mitchell -- pursue their line of questioning during the hearing.

 Matt Whitlock, a spokesman for Hatch, defended the use of the term "attractive" in a series of tweets after the remarks were made public.

 Read More |||||


Article:
p PDF: A front page in Trump’s America

 Donald J. Trump’s vision for the future of our nation is as deeply disturbing as it is profoundly un-American.

 It is easy to find historical antecedents. The rise of demagogic strongmen is an all too common phenomenon on our small planet. And what marks each of those dark episodes is a failure to fathom where a leader’s vision leads, to carry rhetoric to its logical conclusion. The satirical front page of this section attempts to do just that, to envision what America looks like with Trump in the White House.

 It is an exercise in taking a man at his word. And his vision of America promises to be as appalling in real life as it is in black and white on the page. It is a vision that demands an active and engaged opposition. It requires an opposition as focused on denying Trump the White House as the candidate is flippant and reckless about securing it.

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 After Wisconsin, the odds have shrunk that Trump will arrive in Cleveland with the requisite 1,237 delegates needed to win the nomination outright. Yet if he’s denied that nomination for falling short of the required delegates, Trump has warned, “You’d have riots. I think you’d have riots.” Indeed, who knows what Trump’s fervent backers are capable of if emboldened by the defeat of their strongman at the hands of the hated party elite.

 But the rules are the rules — and if no candidate reaches that magic number, the job of choosing a nominee falls to those on the convention floor.

 That’s not a pretty picture. But then nothing about the billionaire real estate developer’s quest for the nation’s highest office has been pretty. He winks and nods at political violence at his rallies. He says he wants to “open up” libel laws to punish critics in the news media and calls them “scum.” He promised to shut out an entire class of immigrants and visitors to the United States on the sole basis of their religion.

 The toxic mix of violent intimidation, hostility to criticism, and explicit scapegoating of minorities shows a political movement is taking hold in America. If Trump were a politician running such a campaign in a foreign country right now, the US State Department would probably be condemning him.

 Realizing that the party faces a double bind, a few conservatives have been clear-eyed enough to see the need for a plausible, honorable alternative that could emerge from the likely contested convention. Names like Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney have come up. If no candidate gets a majority on the convention’s first ballot, such a nomination might be theoretically possible.

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 This would have no modern precedent: Ordinarily, parties put aside their differences after primaries and rally to the front-runner because they share basic common goals and values. In any other election cycle, anti-Trump Republicans would just look like sore losers. But Trump lacks those common values — not just the values of Republicans but, it becomes clearer every day, those of Democrats.

 House Speaker Ryan spoke to the possible long-term damage with which the party is flirting. “Leaders with different visions and ideas have come and gone; parties have risen and fallen; majorities and White Houses won and lost,” he said. “But the way we govern endures: through debate, not disorder.” The problem is that Trump has already crossed lines that a politician with a sincere commitment to democratic norms must never cross.

 At some point, after the election, Republicans will also need to ask themselves some tough questions about how their actions and inactions made the party vulnerable to Trump. After all, a candidate spewing anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, authoritarian rhetoric didn’t come out of nowhere; the Tea Party has been strong enough long enough that someone like him shouldn’t be a surprise. Chasing short-term political gains, the GOP missed a lot of chances to fight the hateful currents that now threaten to overwhelm it.

 Get Today in Opinion in your inbox: Globe Opinion's must-reads, delivered to you every Sunday-Friday. Enter email address: Sign Up Thank you for signing up! Sign up for more newsletters here

 For now, Republicans ought to focus on doing the right thing: putting up every legitimate roadblock to Trump that they can. Unexpectedly, a key moment in American democracy has snuck up on the GOP. When he denounced Trump, Romney said he wanted to be able to say he’d fought the good fight against a demagogue. That’s the test other Republicans may want to consider.

 Action doesn’t mean political chicanery or subterfuge. It doesn’t mean settling for an equally extreme — and perhaps more dangerous — nominee in Ted Cruz. If the party can muster the courage to reject its first-place finisher, rejecting the runner-up should be even easier.

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 The Republican Party’s standard deserves to be hoisted by an honorable and decent man, like Romney or Ryan, elected on the convention floor. It is better to lose with principle than to accept a dangerous deal from a demagogue.

 PDF: A front page in Trump’s America

 Discuss: Trump’s vision for America

 Letters: Readers respond to the editorial ||||| This image shows a portion of a satirical front page of The Boston Globe published on the newspaper's website on Saturday, April 9, 2016. The editorial board of The Boston Globe used the parody to express... (Associated Press)

 This image shows a portion of a satirical front page of The Boston Globe published on the newspaper's website on Saturday, April 9, 2016. The editorial board of The Boston Globe used the parody to express its uneasiness with a potential Donald Trump presidency. (The Boston Globe via AP) (Associated Press)

 This image shows a portion of a satirical front page of The Boston Globe published on the newspaper's website on Saturday, April 9, 2016. The editorial board of The Boston Globe used the parody to express its uneasiness with a potential Donald Trump presidency. (The Boston Globe via AP) (Associated Press) This image shows a portion of a satirical front page of The Boston Globe published on the newspaper's website on Saturday, April 9, 2016. The editorial board of The Boston Globe used the parody to express... (Associated Press)

 BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Globe printed a satirical front page complete with fake stories that show how "troubling" its editorial board says a Donald Trump presidency would be for America.

 The newspaper's front page is dated April 9, 2017, and its lead story is about Trump calling for deportations. Another article mentions work being halted on a wall at the Mexico border.

 There's also a short item about backlash Trump received after tweeting a photo of his new dog he named "Madame Peng," after China's first lady Peng Liyuan.

 In an editorial (http://bit.ly/20qYqoH ), the Globe calls the satire "an exercise in taking a man at his word."

 The board says Republicans need to put up every roadblock to Trump they can.

 The Trump campaign hasn't responded to requests for comment. |||||Summary:

– The Boston Globe printed a satirical front page complete with fake stories that show how "troubling" its editorial board says a Donald Trump presidency would be for America, the AP reports. The newspaper's front page is dated April 9, 2017, and its lead story is about Trump calling for deportations. Another article mentions work being halted on a wall at the Mexico border. There's also a short item about backlash Trump received after tweeting a photo of his new dog he named "Madame Peng," after China's first lady Peng Liyuan, and a piece about US soldiers refusing orders to kill ISIS families. The front page is "an exercise in taking a man at his word," says a Globe editorial. "And his vision of America promises to be as appalling in real life as it is in black and white on the page. It is a vision that demands an active and engaged opposition. It requires an opposition as focused on denying Trump the White House as the candidate is flippant and reckless about securing it." The Trump campaign hasn't responded to requests for comment.


Summarize this article:

Authorities today announced the biggest gun bust in city history — an NYPD operation that took down two smuggling rings funneling illegal guns from the South for cheap resale on New York’s streets.

 Nineteen thugs were arrested and 254 firearms recovered.

 Those busted included two gun runners who oversaw the pair of loosely organized rings and sold their illicit goods through the same city dealer, officials said.

 One of the men, Walter Walker, used a rap studio at 1991 Atlantic Ave. in the Ocean Hill section of Brooklyn as his home base in the city. The undercover police operation had been dubbed “Up on the Hill.’’

 Another perp, Earl Campbell, was clearly worried about the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk tactics.

 He was caught on tape asking a supplier “whether he should hold merchandise where he was [in transit] or bring it back to South Carolina,” said NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly.

 “Campbell didn’t want to risk it being found by New York Police and is heard by police saying, ‘Yea, I’m in Charlotte now. I can’t take them to my house, to my side of town in Brownsville. We got, like, whatchama call it, stop and frisk,’ ” Kelly said.

 Kelly also said that last year “detectives learned through an unrelated undercover narcotics investigation that guns were being sold in the Oceanhill community of Brooklyn.”

 Above the Country Kitchen restaurant on Atlantic and Saratoga avenues, within the 81st Precinct, they discovered a 26-year-old aspiring rapper, Mathew Best, who lived on Saratoga Avenue. He also used a unit in the same building as a recording studio.

 “Best posted several photos of guns and cash on Instagram, and in the video he posted on YouTube, he boasted, ‘Packing more guns than the Air Force,’ ” Kelly said.

 Best helped Walker peddle the guns,” authorities said.

 Walker “made trips to New York City practically every week and sometimes multiple times a week just to sell guns,” Kelly said.

 “There is no doubt that the seizure of these guns – the largest bust in the city’s history – has saved lives,’’ Mayor Bloomberg said in a statement. “For that reason, every New Yorker, in every part of our city, owes a debt of thanks to all those involved in this investigation.”

 Sources said the bust was due in part to the NYPD’s “pro-active’’ policies such as its controversial stop-and-frisk.

 Walker of Sanford, NC, and Earl Campbell of Rock Hill, SC, would bring up their haul to New York on their favorite mode of transportation — cheap buses to Chinatown — and transfer them to Brooklyn-based broker Omole Adedji, authorities said.

 The transactions between the men would be swift and extremely profitable, with the guns selling for at least three times their original price, officials said.

 The thugs knew they could get a premium for the weapons given New York’s strict gun laws, authorities said.

 Nearly $160,000 was made on the sale of at least some of the weapons, officials said.

 Some of the sellers urged the thugs to also sell ammo, with one perp referring to the bullets as “cop killers.’’

 One suspect, a 19-year-old one, was busted with a 19mm SKS semiautomatic in her bag.

 The Manhattan DA’s office and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are involved in the ongoing investigation.

 The case is being handled primarily by the city’s Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor. ||||| New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, right, and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly announce the arrest of 19 people and seizure of 254 guns as part of gun smuggling between the Carolinas and New York, Monday,... (Associated Press)

 A pair of gunrunners smuggled firearms into New York City by hiding them in luggage they carried on discount buses that offered cheap fares and lesser odds of getting caught, authorities said Monday.

 An undercover city police officer posing as a gun broker for criminal customers bought 254 weapons from the men in dozens of transactions since last year _ the largest gun seizures in the city in recent memory. One of the guns was an assault rifle that was disassembled and transported in a girlfriend's zebra-striped bag, authorities said.

 The alleged smugglers, Walter Walker and Earl Campbell, were among 19 people arrested in New York and in North Carolina and South Carolina _ states where the guns originated _ as the result of a 10-month investigation. Also charged was an aspiring rapper from Brooklyn.

 Walker and Campbell were arrested earlier this month by local police in their home states, authorities said. The names of their defense attorneys were not immediately available.

 New York Police Department officials and prosecutors announced details of the case on Monday, citing it as another example of a persistent black market in which firearms from the South can sell for three times their original price in the city. New York has some of the nation's strictest gun-control measures and a mayor who has crusaded for tougher laws in other states.

 "There is no doubt that the seizure of these guns has saved lives," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a news conference.

 Wiretap evidence showed that sellers in the Carolinas knew the weapons were destined for New York, said Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan.

 "Perhaps the two most disturbing aspects of the gun-trafficking operation were the simplicity of the business model, and the complete indifference of the gun suppliers to the mayhem their actions would cause here in New York City," Brennan said. "The marketing strategy was buy low, sell high and keep a low profile."

 The gun case was a spinoff of a drug investigation in Brooklyn that turned up Instagram photos of handguns and wads of cash posted by the rapper. Wiretap and other evidence led investigators to Walker, 29, of Sanford, N.C. and Campbell, 24, of Rock Hill, S.C., who were smuggling guns separately but using the same middleman in New York City, authorities said.

 The two tapped a loose network of suppliers in their hometowns, authorities said. Some guns were obtained on the black market, while others were bought from gun dealers using straw buyers to get around one-gun-a-month restrictions.

 "The problem is that the gun laws passed now, so it's like now I can only buy a gun from a gun store every 30 days," Campbell complained in one conversation, according to an indictment. "So I had to, like, pay different people to keep buying different guns."

 Before heading to New York, Campbell would get photos of the guns his suppliers were offering and send the images to the undercover officer, authorities said. Both defendants would travel to the city carrying a dozen or more handguns, rifles and shotguns in bags that were stowed in luggage compartments of Chinatown-based carriers also favored by drug couriers, investigators said.

 One of the discount bus companies charges $60 one-way from Raleigh, N.C., to New York. The fare is about half that charged by Greyhound, which, unlike the Chinatown buses, requires identification for boarding.

 Walker met two times last year with the middleman and the undercover officer at the rapper's Brooklyn recording studio to sell the undercover firearms, the indictment said. He also alleged sold weapons to the undercover in April in Manhattan.

 In January, the undercover officer met with Campbell and his girlfriend, who was carrying assault rifle parts in her zebra-striped suitcase, authorities said. The girlfriend struggled to assemble the weapon in the backseat of a car by using a YouTube instructional video she called up on her smartphone, investigators said. When she failed, the undercover bought the pieces anyway for $1,100, they said. |||||

– The NYPD has made its largest gun bust in recent memory, seizing 254 firearms in a 10-month operation. The guns were smuggled from North and South Carolina into New York City by two gunrunners, who hid the weapons in luggage on discount buses, then purchased by an undercover cop pretending to be a gun broker across a number of transactions, the AP reports. The alleged smugglers, Walter Walker, 29, and Earl Campbell, 24, and 17 others—including Matthew Best, an up-and-coming rapper from Brooklyn—have been arrested. Best's involvement is an interesting one: Authorities stumbled on the gun smuggling operation during a drug investigation, after the rapper posted Instagram photos of handguns and cash. Turns out, Best was helping Walker sell his guns, the New York Post reports. Walker and Campbell bought the guns both on the black market and through gun dealers, and would then stuff a dozen or more into bags and courier them on cheap Chinatown-based bus services, the AP reports. On one occasion, authorities say, Campbell brought along his girlfriend, who carried a deconstructed assault rifle in her zebra-striped suitcase. She then tried to reassemble the gun by looking up a YouTube instructional video on her phone, but couldn't put it back together. The undercover officer bought it for $1,100 anyway.


Story highlights Clinton said Trump has "run his campaign on divisiveness, fear and insults"

 Trump mention Clinton as having "been the subject of an FBI criminal investigation"

 Washington (CNN) Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton wrote dueling op-eds in USA Today to make their cases to voters nationwide the day before Election Day.

 The op-eds, which were published online Sunday night -- and set for print publication Monday -- largely draw upon their respective stump speeches, including outlining some key policy planks and hammering each other.

 Trump, using terminology he has favored in recent weeks on the campaign trail, calls for "draining the swamp of corruption in Washington" and fixing a "rigged system in which political insiders can break the law without consequence."

 He goes on to mention Clinton as having "been the subject of an FBI criminal investigation." Trump conspicuously leaves out the Sunday afternoon decision from FBI Director James Comey to announce that Clinton was again cleared of wrongdoing.

 A message left with the Trump campaign asking if it considered updating the op-ed based on Comey's announcement was not immediately returned.

 Read More ||||| CLOSE A timeline of notable moments in Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton's life. USA TODAY NETWORK

 Why you should vote for me.

 Hillary Clinton campaigns Nov. 6, 2016, in Cleveland. (Photo: Brendan Smialowski, AFP/Getty Images)

 In January, America is going to have a new president. Things are going to change — that much is certain. The question is, what kind of change are we going to have?

 We can build an economy that works for everyone, or stack the deck even more for those at the top.

 We can keep America safe through strength and smarts — or turn our backs on our allies, and cozy up to our adversaries.

 We can come together to build a stronger, fairer America, or fear the future and fear each other.

 Everything I’ve done, as first lady, senator, or secretary of State, I’ve done by listening to people and looking for common ground, even with people who disagree with me. And if you elect me on Tuesday, that’s the kind of president I’ll be.

 Here are four priorities for my first 100 days — issues I’ve heard about from Americans all over our country.

 First, we will put forward the biggest investment in new jobs since World War II. We’ll invest in infrastructure and manufacturing to grow our economy for years to come. We’ll produce enough renewable energy to power every home in America within a decade. We’ll cut red tape for small businesses and make it easier for entrepreneurs to get the credit they need to grow and hire — because in America, if you can dream it, you should be able to build it. We’ll pay for it all by asking the wealthy, Wall Street and big corporations to finally pay their fair share. And this commitment will go far beyond the first 100 days. Creating more good jobs with rising incomes will be a central mission of my presidency.

 Second, we will introduce comprehensive immigration reform legislation. The last president to sign comprehensive immigration reform was Ronald Reagan, and it was a priority for George W. Bush. I’m confident that we can work across the aisle to pass comprehensive reform that keeps families together and creates a path to citizenship, secures our border, and focuses our enforcement resources on violent criminals. This is the right thing to do, and it will also grow our economy.

 Third, to break the gridlock in Washington, we need to get secret, unaccountable money out of our politics. It’s drowning out the voices of the American people. So within my first 30 days, I will introduce a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United. We should be protecting citizens’ rights to vote, not corporations’ rights to buy elections.

 Fourth, we need to get started on end-to-end criminal justice reform. Too many people have been sent away for far too long for non-violent offenses. I believe our country will be stronger and safer when everyone has respect for the law and everyone is respected by the law.

 There’s so much more we need to do together, and we certainly won’t get it all done in the first 100 days. But we’re going to roll up our sleeves and get to work for American families — and I’ll never, ever quit.

 I want to be president for all Americans — Democrats, Republicans and independents; Americans of every race, faith and background.

 My opponent has run his campaign on divisiveness, fear and insults, and spent months pitting Americans against each other. I’ve said many times that Donald Trump has shown us who he is. Now we have to decide who we are.

 Because it’s not just our names on the ballot this year. Every issue we care about is on the ballot, too. This is about who we are as a country — and whether we are going to have change that makes us stronger together, or change that pushes us further apart.

 It all comes down to this. I love our country. I believe in our people. And I think there’s nothing we can’t achieve if we work together and invest in each other.

 Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee for president.

 You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @USATOpinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To submit a letter, comment or column, check our submission guidelines.

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What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– If elected, Hillary Clinton vows to "put forward the biggest investment in new jobs since World War II" while Donald Trump promises to repair a "rigged system in which political insiders can break the law without consequence," the candidates write in dueling op-eds at USA Today. They mostly stick to their usual scripts, per CNN, which means hurling insults at each other. The highlights: Trump: He promises to repeal ObamaCare, fix "our terrible trade deals," "create 25 million good paying jobs," and "cut taxes on middle-class Americans by 35%." He also lays out his plan to "immediately secure the border, stop illegal immigration and keep radical Islamic terrorists out of our country." We must drain "the swamp of corruption in Washington," he adds. "Hillary Clinton has been the subject of an FBI criminal investigation into many crimes against this nation. Were she ever to be elected, it would trigger an unprecedented constitutional crisis—Hillary is likely to be under investigation for a long time, grinding our government to a halt." The op-ed, published online Sunday evening, makes no mention of the FBI clearing Clinton of wrongdoing on Sunday afternoon. Clinton: Her priorities for her first 100 days in office include investing in jobs, renewable energy, infrastructure, and manufacturing; overturning Citizens United; and introducing "comprehensive immigration reform legislation" and "end-to-end criminal justice reform." "I'll never, ever quit," she writes. "I want to be president for all Americans—Democrats, Republicans and independents; Americans of every race, faith and background. My opponent has run his campaign on divisiveness, fear and insults, and spent months pitting Americans against each other. I've said many times that Donald Trump has shown us who he is. Now we have to decide who we are." Read Trump's full piece here, and Clinton's here.