Monday, September 2, 2024

Random Thoughts: Westerners Who Set Foot in Russia

Mastodon

2024-08-01: "Any Westerners who set foot in Russia should always understand that they could be the next bargaining chips for some future deal." - The Atlantic
Why we won't be booking any tour of Russia any time soon.
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/...

2024-08-02: On even days, Trumpers are scaring up votes by warning, "She's BLACK!!!" On odd days, they claim, "She's really not Black at all." I remember when campaigns would strive for consisent messaging.

2024-08-02: Headline: "Kamala Harris ‘honored’ after earning enough votes to become Democratic nominee."
Kudos to her...for saying 'honored' instead of 'humbled.'


2024-08-03: “I think it reflects pretty poorly on our sort of therapeutic society that we try to praise people, not for moments of strength, not for moments of heroism, but for their weakest moments." -- JD Vance, 2021, referring to Simone Biles's withdrawal from the Tokyo Olympics.
Bullies think like that. JD Vance can't conceive that BOTH might be true. That it takes strength to win a gymnastics medal and it takes strength to admit that it's better to withdraw...this time.
nytimes.com/2024/08/01/us/poli...

2024-08-04: "There’s not any other country in the world that has a popular election for its chief executive, in which a person who loses the popular vote can be chosen." -- Erwin Chemerinsky.
The Constitution wasn't given to us by God. It was hacked together in secret by a group of white dudes during a hot Philadelphia summer in 1787.
vox.com/the-gray-area/364555/u...

2024-08-05: It's never too late to save the world.
It's never too late to strengthen democracy.

2024-08-06: Tim Walz described JD Vance (and Donald Trump) as "weird." Tim Walz has himself been described as "charming." A political campaign couldn't have hoped for a better differentiation of the choice facing voters.

2024-08-07: "Hottest ocean temperatures in 400 years an ‘existential threat’ to the Great Barrier Reef, researchers find."
It's already happening. The Great Barrier Reef is over a thousand miles long. I visited one spot near Cairns in 2018. After being disappointed with what I saw, I asked a guide how much of what we saw was already dead. He estimated 70%. I would have guessed 90%.
theguardian.com/environment/ar...

2024-08-11: Karma is a bitch.
"I will tell you this, Russia: If you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.” -- Donald Trump, 2016.
washingtonpost.com/politics/20...

2024-08-13: "Baby Boomers are idiots. We went from Sex, Drugs, and Rock'n'Roll to Fox News. It doesn't get any dumber than that." -- Mark Cuban

2024-08-13: "Head of Panel That Ruled Against Jordan Chiles Represents Romania in Other Cases."
This story just keeps getting worse. The head of the panel should have been disqualified from even ruling on an appeal, to say nothing of approving a Romanian appeal and then denying an American appeal of that decision without even hearing it at all. It just adds more evidence of bias, unfairness, and corruption in judging in the Olympics.
nytimes.com/2024/08/13/world/e...

2024-08-15: "In every timeline, you're a complete asshole." — Viktor to Reginald in The Umbrella Academy.

2024-08-22: Tim Walz, now there's a former coach turned politician who knows how to give a pep talk.

2024-08-22: The line of the Democratic Convention (so far) is from Michelle Obama: "Who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those 'Black jobs'?"

2024-08-22: A close runner-up is from Tim Walz: "Mind your own damn business."
He reminds me of Harry Truman. His supporters cheered him on with, "Give 'em hell, Harry."

2024-08-22: Today's example of unintended irony: Breaking state law by using a public building, a police station, as the site for a partisan campaign event at which you claim it's the other side that is soft on crime.
metrotimes.com/news/legal-red-...

2024-08-23: Bronze medal for best lines of the Democratic convention: Harris offered up a simple rejoinder to Republicans who have supported abortion bans: “Simply put, they are out of their minds.”

2024-08-24: Headline: "NASA Extends Boeing Starliner Astronauts’ Space Station Stay to 2025."
I don't know what states they're from, but I hope it's not Texas, not if they want to vote absentee in the November election. Texas requires an address where to mail the absentee ballot, and requires the voter to sign and return the ballot by mail. You see, voting rules in Texas intentionally make things difficult for voters. Difficulty is not a bug, it's a feature.
nytimes.com/2024/08/24/science...

2024-08-28: The cruel truth of trying to stop illegal immigation: "The harder migration is, the more cartels and other dangerous groups will profit, and the more migrants will die." -- Caitlin Dickerson
The counter-intuitive result? Making Illegal immigration a profit center for organized crime also makes it an ever bigger business.
theatlantic.com/magazine/archi...


More random thoughts can be found on Mastodon.

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