Gabriel Medina and Lady Gaga
Gaz and the Gaga.

Gabriel Medina Caught Up in Thwarted Terror Plot at Lady Gaga’s Rio Concert

Satanist pedophiles target Lady Gaga and almost take out three-times world champ Medina!

Surf fans will never know how close they came to losing one of the sport’s greats after it was revealed Brazilian authorities had foiled a bomb plot targeting Lady Gaga’s historic concert on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach, attended by over 2.1 million fans, including Gabriel Medina.

Gabriel Medina at Lady Gaga's Rio concert
Gabriel Medina and pals, almost caught in terror attack by Satanist pedophiles at Lady Gaga’s Rio concert.

The plot, uncovered through “Operation Fake Monster,” was orchestrated by a group promoting hate speech against children, adolescents, and the LGBTQ+ community. The suspects, posing as Gaga’s “Little Monsters” fans, used encrypted online networks to recruit teenagers for attacks involving improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails.

Cops made two arrests: a man in Rio Grande do Sul, described as the group’s leader, charged with illegal firearm possession, and a teenager in Rio detained for child pornography possession. A third person was charged with terrorism, allegedly planned a “satanist ritual” involving child murder, believing Gaga was a satanist, according to police officer Maria Luiza Machado.

The group’s manifesto, as reported by authorities, was rooted in extremist ideology disseminated via “digital cells” using coded language and symbols. It encouraged self-harm, pedophilia, and violent acts as a form of social belonging, targeting vulnerable youth.

Rio police chief Felipe Cury confirmed the plot was motivated by anti-LGBTQ+ prejudice, with the group exploiting Gaga’s inclusive fanbase, which includes Gabriel Medina and guy-pal Pedro Scooby.

Lady Gaga, openly bisexual since 2009, is a global queer icon, and is celebrated for her connection to the LGBTQ+ community. Her 2011 album Born This Way and its title track, with lyrics like “No matter gay, straight, or bi, lesbian, transgender life,” became a revolutionary anthem, fostering acceptance.

She founded the Born This Way Foundation in 2011 to support LGBTQ+ youth, focusing on mental health and anti-bullying initiatives. Gaga’s activism includes speaking at the 2009 National Equality March, protesting “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (repealed 2011), and condemning anti-trans policies, such as Trump’s 2017 military ban.

Her 2019 WorldPride speech at Stonewall addressed bi-erasure, sparking vital conversations. Songs like “Americano” (lesbian love) and “Babylon” (vogue culture) resonate deeply with queer fans.

Three years ago, Brazilian media speculated that Gabriel Medina, like Lady Gaga, was also a member of the LGBTQ+ community and that his friendship with soccer great Neymar Jr had  blossomed into something more substantial.

In 2019, Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, a favourite of Gabriel Medina, told the country’s leading biz magazine Exame, “If you want to come here and have sex with a woman, go for your life. But we can’t let this place become known as a gay tourism paradise. Brazil can’t be a country of the gay world, of gay tourism. We have families.”

Confusing!

Further, Brazilian media is reporting that Medina “spent most of the time with a serious expression and appeared to be in a bad mood. The athlete was accompanied by friends and stayed in a reserved area but did not interact much with other attendees. Videos circulating on social media show him with his arms crossed and a distant look during the performance of hits like Bad Romance and Shallow.”

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Proposed rule change for dogs on popular Australian surfing beach drives grown men to tears

Julian Wilson's hometown the scene of much sadness.

But how good was it, just yesterday, to see Australia’s Julian Wilson return to vintage form at the Bonsoy Gold Coast Pro? Finding himself in the elimination round, the clean-shaven 36-year-old unleashed a torrent of air reverses to dispatch title-favorite Jack Robinson.

Very fine.

You know, of course, that Wilson hails from Coolum Beach there on the Sunshine Coast. You may not be aware, though, that the gorgeous stretch of almost tropical sand is currently in the midst of a battle so fierce, so polarizing, that grown men are being brought to tears.

The city council, you see, is proposing to ban off-leash dogs on Stumers Creek right there in town due environmental concerns. Off-leash dog lovers became so incensed that they collected over 6000 signatures to keep the beach free canine friendly.

A council spokesperson declared, “This feedback is now being reviewed with final recommendations set to be presented to Council. This plan is about shaping a future network of dog exercise areas across the entire Sunshine Coast — whether that’s parks, beaches or recreation reserves — that meet the needs of dog owners while respecting our region’s environmental and community values. The community feedback will help ensure we strike the right balance between creating safe recreational spaces for dog owners and non-dog owners alike, while maintaining the natural beauty of our region.”

One of the committee members, Bree Logie, declared how heartbreaking the debate between dog lovers and environmentalists was to witness. “I had to comfort grown men and women who were crying: Everyday people, at all ages, in tears,” she said.

The council will come to a final resolution on the matter in a few months but while we wait, when was the last time you cried?

You’re amongst friends here.

Also, are you a “dog-on-beach” sorta gal or do you prefer the sand feces-free?

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Jack Robinson surfing Fiji's Cloudbreak
Jackie Robinson gonna light up Cloudbreak this Sep. | Photo: WSL/Aaron Hughes

New world surf tour changes too little, too late to stop sport’s terminal decline

How will you feel when Finals Day at eight-foot Cloubreak becomes a relic of times past?

The trumpets and clarions rent the air with triumphant blasts yesterday morn, their golden notes proclaiming the return of Pipeline as the world surf tour’s climax.

Revolutionary!

As it was for the most of the previous fifty-ish years of pro surfing until its flim-flam frontman Erik Logan decided to gift two consecutive titles to a Brazilian small-wave specialist by having the crown decided in two-foot southern Californian waves.

Also, elimination rounds gone, mid-year cut gone.

Now, here’s the thing.

Erik Logan, for all his crimes, got it mostly right.

The mid-year cut and a Grand final brutal in its guillotining of dreams were two ways of creating a tension in a sport where very happens until after a couple of weeks of driving in circles the quarter-finalists are decided.

The elimination round was a bone throne to pro surfing treasures who felt it unfair to travel around the world only to be eliminated after thirty minutes, unaware that sports exist for the spectator and not the athletes. A foolish move in a game with too many athletes competing for airtime.

Finals Day was the best happen to pro surfing since Rab got his freckled hands on the levers and turned a city beach break tour into the Dream Tour. It was a model of what a surf contest could be and it’s what Natural Selection tried to replicate except with B-grade surfers and a wave impossible to photograph, and failed.

Watch Italo, Ethan, Jordy, Jackie and Yago and Caity, Molly and co duke it out at eight-foot Cloudbreak this September and tell me it won’t be a day you’ll ice work, ice a cheap vodka, crush some modern bennies imitation and slip into the folds of your couch for a peak surfing experience.

How will you feel when that disappears?

More importantly, should any administrative move that promises disappointment to some of its participants be banned in the interests of inclusiveness?

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Live chat, Gold Coast Pro, Day Two!

Who loves surfing the most?

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Photo: @champmanhamborg Instagram
Photo: @champmanhamborg Instagram

Woman calls police on Huntington Beach surfer/artist out walking his baby to report “homeless man child trafficking”

“I'm an artist and I have disheveled clothes and stuff. I'm confident in who I am and my style..."

Strange days, these, and especially in Huntington Beach, California. Surf City, USA was once known as a place to watch surf contests and occasionally riot. Those times now long in the rearview. Currently, Huntington is a MAGA hotspot with libraries being renamed after the political movement, rainbow flags banned and neighbors on the lookout for homeless men involved in child trafficking rings.

Enter Chapman Hamborg. The 33-year-old Huntington Beach artist, according to People Magazine, “is often found painting and sculpting in his backyard studio or surfing the waves near his home. His favorite pastime, however, is spending quality time with the family.”

Thus, two-ish weeks ago found him outdoors, walking his newborn baby. “She’s in her fussy newborn stage so I take her on lots of walks and I wear her in the baby carrier,” the platinum blonde told the human interest publication. “I go out often in the middle of the night, like all times of the day and multiple times a day. It’s kind of like a routine to give my wife some rest.”

Well, this particular day, a police officer met him out front when he came home and demanded to see some identification. A neighbor had reported a homeless man walking around with a baby, you see, and thus Johnny Law.

“I’m an artist and I have disheveled clothes and stuff. I’m confident in who I am and my style and, you know, I’ve never been to a barber. I cut my own hair,” he shared. “I have no problem with it. Like I choose to dress the way I do for a reason and I’m not going to change the way I look because of it.”

He was also wearing Patagonia the morning of the incident.

The officer, anyhow, accepted the explanation, once seeing the ID, and left with a lightly bemused chuckle.

The cop caller, though?

“So I’ve kind of seen her car… I recognize the car, so I can figure out which house it is. And I’ve gone on several walks back and forth since then, kind of hoping to see her and just be like, ‘Hey, I’m your neighbor and I’m not homeless,’ ” Hamborg explained. “Not to be mad or guilt trip or anything. Because like my wife even said, ‘Hey, at least we know our neighbors are looking out for our kids.’”

A fine attitude.

Watch here.

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