#Volha Khizhynkova

[kirstydreaming]

Volha Khizhynkova for Conte pantyhose

[dispatchesfrom2020]

2020

Week 52: December 21-December 27

21: Kīlauea - an active shield volaco on Hawaii’s big Island - erupts with a towering 30,000 foot tall plume. The active vents flooded the volcano’s pit crater with lava, creating an enormous lake of molten rock. The former Miss Belarus, Volha Khizhynkova, is released from prison. She spent over a month behind bars after being arrested at the pro-democracy protests against the autocratic president, Lukashenko.

J.Wei/NPS Pool

22: As Kamala Harris will be vacating her senate seat in order to Vice President, California Governor Gavin Newsom must appoint somebody to serve out the rest of her term. He selects Secretary of State Alex Padilla. When he swears in a few weeks later, he will become the state’s first Hispanic Senator. Unable to pass the budget required to sustain their government, Israel dissolves its parliament and head into a spring election. This follows close on the tails of two elections in 2019 and another in 2020 that saw a tenuous power-sharing agreement between President Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz. But Netanyahu broke that alliance, sending the country towards its fourth election in just three years.

23: Trump dumps another round of shady pardons, granting clemency to his former campaign manager Paul Manafort, a Republican operative and advisor Roger Stone, and his son-in-law’s father, Charles Kushner. Stone was convicted of lying to congress and Manafort was charged with financial fraud and obstruction during investigations into Russian interference during the 2016 election. Trump’s presidency was haunted by allegations of collusion with Russian - on the way out, he seems intent on erasing any legal trace of these investigations. Adam Schiff, the Democratic head of the House Intelligence committee, tweeted “During the Mueller investigation, Trump’s lawyers floated a pardon to Manafort. Manafort withdrew his co-operation with prosecutors, lied, and was convicted, and then Trump praised him for not ‘ratting’... Trump’s pardon now completes the corrupt scheme. Lawless until the bitter end.” It’s also William Barr’s last day as Attorney General and good fuckin’ riddance. He resigned following a row between the two over election results; Trump wanted Barr to use his position as AG to push his narrative that the election was stolen. Barr refused.

Lorries line up at a make-shift truck-stop at Manston Airport, England. France quickly closed their borders with the United Kingdom after news that a new more virulent strain of COVID is circulating in London. Drivers need proof of a recent negative COVID test to return to Europe - here they line up to await their turn to have their noses and throats swabbed - Steve Parsons/PA/AP

24: Trump threatens to veto a COVID relief bill if congress doesn’t increase the amount of money given directly to American citizens to $2k. After compromises between the Republican and Democratic parties, they had agreed to just $600. Weird to see Trump and the Democrats allied against the Republican party...

25: A large blast rips through downtown Nashville after a local man detonated an RV-bomb, killing himself and injuring three others. 

Women participate in Midnight Mass at the Legio Maria chapel in Nairobi -  Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images

26: Bridgerton drops on Netflix and I spend the entire day devouring the sex and scandals of this Victorian romp-com. The show envisions a kind of quasi-colour-blind regency era which is fun - but at times problematic. But it’s 2020 and we deserve a little escapism. Watching beautiful waft around a gorgeous ballroom in jewel-toned dresses and awful bangs to the whispered tune of Ariana Grande’s Thank U Next on violin makes me, like, borderline giddy. It’s why I loved Emily in Paris which was, truly, a ghastly show but also so fucking watchable. Her outfits? Ugly. The premise? Ridiculous. A cultural phenomenon? Absolutely.

27: It’s the week between Christmas and New Years and so news is light. Hilaria Baldwin has, apparently, been faking a Spanish accent for her whole fucking career. She’s from Boston. Twitter gleefully drags up an appearance on The Today Show in which she points to a cucumber and asks the host how you say the vegetable’s name in English.

[kirstydreaming]

Volha Khizhynkova for Conte

[kirstydreaming]

Volha Khizhynkova for Conte

[kirstydreaming]

Volha Khizhynkova for Conte

[kirstydreaming]

Volha Khizhynkova for Conte pantyhose  

[kirstydreaming]

Volha Khizhynkova for Conte

[kirstydreaming]

Volha Khizhynkova for Conte

[kirstydreaming]

Volha Khizhynkova for Conte