tingilinde

republicans don't like education

A shift in Republican attitudes towards higher education 

Perhaps they want their kids to stay uncompetitive so they won't; leave or...?

a tip of the hat to Jim

 

 

 

 

 

there are times when history rhymes

Maybe were in such a period- maybe not, but we need to understand what happened before.  A piece on how media dealt with Hitler and Mussolini.

snip

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How to cover the rise of a political leader who’s left a paper trail of anti-constitutionalism, racism and the encouragement of violence? Does the press take the position that its subject acts outside the norms of society? Or does it take the position that someone who wins a fair election is by definition “normal,” because his leadership reflects the will of the people?

These are the questions that confronted the U.S. press after the ascendance of fascist leaders in Italy and Germany in the 1920s and 1930s.

...

a tip of the hat to David

 

watch trump or don't get paid

Keeping the snowflake in chief happy.

a tip of the hat to Jeni

 

shooting fish in a barrel

Sometimes it's just too easy for Borowitz

snip

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“As we have stated, Greenland is not for sale,” a spokesperson for the Danish government said on Friday. “We have noted, however, that during the Trump regime, pretty much everything in the United States, including its government, has most definitely been for sale.”

“Denmark would be interested in purchasing the United States in its entirety, with the exception of its government,” the spokesperson added.

A key provision of the purchase offer, the spokesperson said, would be the relocation of Donald Trump to another country “to be determined,” with Russia and North Korea cited as possible destinations.

If Denmark’s bid for the United States is accepted, the Scandinavian nation has ambitious plans for its new acquisition. “We believe that by giving the U.S. an educational system and national health care, it could be transformed from a vast land mass into a great nation,” the spokesperson said.

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trump and greenland

It wouldn't be the first time the US tried to buy Greenland.  In 1946 we tried to buy for $100M in gold.  The Danes refused, so a swap of land - the Point Barrow region of Alaska, was proposed.  Again they refused.  In the end the US got the base locations wanted for Cold War efforts courtesy of a NATO agreement in the early 50s.  

Greenland has a lot of environmentally hard to extract mineral resources.  The Greenlanders have pretty much sold out to the Chinese..  perhaps that's why Trump is interested.  

 

 

rightwing american terrorism

Religious terrorists differ mostly in brand. (via The New York Times)

 

scientists react to borris johnson and brexit

Johnson said some clueless things about the UK becoming a science superpower.  Several scientists react. Some try the "it is good to hear positive words, but let's see" approach. Others, notably Martin Rees, say it like it is.

snip

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Prof Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal, and Fellow of Trinity College Cambridge, University of Cambridge, said:

“Brexit has a special downside for science – simply because science is an enterprise that is especially international and collaborative. The UK has traditionally been ‘welcoming’, and its scientific strength benefits hugely from the participation of EU citizens. Even if visas are readily available, highly skilled people are only willing to settle if they know there is freedom of movement for families etc. Cutting the vexatious form-filling now needed to apply for a Tier 1 Visa is of course a welcome move, but its effect will be no more than marginal – and far outweighed by the negative impact of Brexit itself.

“And incidentally it’s absurd to suggest that post Brexit we will develop stronger links with the rest of the world. We’re doing this anyway and as I said above, it would be harder to attract top scientists post-Brexit because we’ll be perceived as a less attractive destination.

“We won’t just lose EU citizens. If you were a young scientist from (say) India who wanted experience in the West, you’ll be less likely to put the UK above (say) Canada or Germany if you knew that it was becoming marginalised and less welcoming.

“The EU is one of three leading ‘blocs’ in world science, the others being the US and the far East; and we are the leading scientific country in the EU., with whose member countries we have wider links than with either of the other two blocs.

“Our international standing is being embarrassingly enfeebled by this Government’s stance and rhetoric.

“It’s absurd, and baffling to our foreign colleagues, that we are being put on a ‘war footing’ to achieve a status which is manifestly – in the short and medium term at least – worse than the status quo. And as Keynes famously said ‘in the long run we’re all dead’. Far better to abort this misadventure and revoke Article 50.”

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lebensunwertes leben

The Trump administration's statement about cutting public assistance to immigrants who are unable to stand "on their own two feet" sounded better in the original German.

lebensunwertes leben → life unworthy of life

 

liz cheney surprises

Sshe admits to being a nudist!

 

a mental health issue

After a mass shooting standard Republican/NRA playbook goes

    offer thoughts and prayers

    thank first responders

    say it's all a mental health issue

 

The first is just dumb, but people but it somehow.  The last is patently false.  Here are a few comments

Of course their goal is to normalize and defend white nationalism and supremacy as well as keeping the gun business healthy