Good Faith
The U.S. sent envoys to Russia to negotiate an end to the war with Ukraine. Putin promised to stop attacks on Kyiv during the visit. Putin demonstrated his good faith by hitting multiple targets in Ukraine on the same day. Now, why wouldn’t anyone find this a sign of a reliable leader with whom they can negotiate?
Crazy
President Trump asked Republicans to “cheat like hell” in the midterm elections and promised to pay $5,000 to Republicans if they take both the House and the Senate in the midterms. Now, I think it was quite clear that it was tongue in cheek since Trump has no access to paying out government money like that, but it doesn’t look good. The fact that he said it is a monumental outrage to the other side also suggests TDS—Trump Derangement Syndrome. Here in Arizona we have a candidate running for Attorney General against Trump if you believe his ads. Just … crazy … on both sides.
Fight Fire With Fire
U.S. forces hit three Iranian tankers in response to an unprovoked missile attack on two U.S. Navy ships. Two were disabled and the third sank. See? We can sink to the level of the enemy if we really want to. (In case it's not clear, I'm just as dismayed about sinking civilian ships as I am about protesters blocking roads for people who aren't involved in the issues. Seems unnecessarily cruel.)
9/11 Remembered
This week we remembered 9/11 on its 25th anniversary. One story was about the families of people who lost loved ones in the attack starting a petition to ask New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani not to attend the 25th 9/11 remembrance ceremony. The story says there were over 23,000 signatures. Apparently, these people understand that “having Mamdani there would show a disrespect to our family members because of the people he supports.” Of course, as a sensitive and aware leader, he showed up anyway … out of deep respect, I’m sure.
We Never Run Out of Fake News
The Bee picked up on that story about Mamdani and showed a picture of him laying a wreath at the tomb of the unknown hijacker. I didn't know they had one ... oh ... I see what you did there. On the Trump story, they reported that Trump promised that if the party defeated socialism in November, they'd each get an equal redistribution of weatlh from the government. A fine piece of satire. I think, though, my favorite Bee story this week is on artificial intelligence. The quote is from Jesus. He says, “Oh, your intelligent creations are trying to kill you? Interesting.” (The accompanying picture shows Jesus with a cross on his shoulder.)
Must be true; I read it on the internet.
Good Faith
ReplyDeleteI simply don't understand the worldview that all people basically want the same things. Russia does not want peace in the world. Iran doesn't either. Stop negotiating with these people as if they're just like us, but with different words.
Crazy
To be fair, he said everybody would get that money, not just those that vote for Republicans. Still stupid and ridiculous, but basically no different than all the fake promises all politicians make. And if COVID taught us anything, the government can always create money out of thin air to give to people, so I'm sure it's technically someone he could do. It would be just as bad for the economy as the COVID stimulus checks were, but people aren't smart enough to realize it and only hear dollar signs. (How do you "hear" a dollar sign? It's a written symbol, not a sound.)
Fight Fire With Fire
Well, it is slightly different because those civilian vessels are helping to support the Iranian regime and were breaking the law as they were part of a shadow fleet. They weren't just normal ships minding their business, but their purpose was to break the blockade for Iran. Plus it's different from the protestors in the road because it actually impacts Iran, while the protestors simply annoy people enough to be against them.
9/11 Remembered
Within twenty-five years we went from "Never forget" to "forget-about-it" (in my best New York accent). This would be the 23,000 New Yorkers that didn't vote for a terror-supporting Muslim to be the mayor of the city that experienced the worst Muslim terrorist attack in American history (maybe the single most devastating terrorist attack ever). (And to be clear, he is a terror supporting Muslim because up until he started running for Mayor, he was publicly calling to "globalize the intifada". Even during his campaign he never really renounced it, simply tried to claim it meant something different.)
That would be “Fuhgeddaboudit!” in New Yawk tawk. ;)
DeleteTrump, as with many recent GOP presidents, actually has a sense of humor. He can be really funny at times, and it's clear when he's exaggerating or joking when you hear him. He may be taking the "expose absurdity by being absurd" page out of Rush's playbook as well.
ReplyDeleteIt's strange that TDS apparently removes one's ability to detect humor.
It's not entirely all that easy to detect when he's trolling and when he's being serious. He talks in the same over-the-top way about serious matters and when he's trolling. There is no audible difference when he's talking about renaming the Gulf of Mexico or Lake Ontario, thus not making it very clear that one is serious and the other a troll. It's a failing on his part, but unclarity has become the normal way of speaking for politicians.
Delete