Given the umbrage that Donald Trump took when asked by Khizr Khan as to whether he had even read the US constitution, people have taken to turning up at his rallies with pocket copies of it, prompting the question as to how familiar people are with this much cited document. The Guardian has come up with a pop quiz on facts connected to it. I got 8/10 correct.
It has been a while since I wrote about cricket and the fans of the game among this blog’s readership (yes, both of them) may have felt that a post was long overdue. What prompts this one is a shocking result in which Sri Lanka has thoroughly defeated Australia in two consecutive Test matches played in Sri Lanka.
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One of the distinguishing features of the Donald Trump campaign has been his breezy assurance that he will defeat all his opponents and win. Almost all candidates try to portray confidence in their own eventual success. That is how they get people to join their campaigns and contribute money. But they also try to temper that with some caveats so that their supporters don’t get complacent.
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Donald Trump’s sons apparently like to indulge in ‘big game hunting’, a disgusting activity where people kill large land mammals just for the hell of it, even though those animals are losing their habitats and their numbers are running low.
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If you attend talks about alternative forms of energy, you can often find people in the audience challenging the use of wind power by saying that windmill blades kill a lot of birds. This gives many people pause because those who support alternative energy sources also tend to be those who support humane treatment of animals and the idea of birds being sliced by the blades is worrisome.
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I have said that Donald Trump’s strength lies in his intuitive sense of where the Republican party members’ passions lie and his ability to tap into that populist strain. I thought that this analysis by Jonathan Chait hits the mark in fleshing out that idea.
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It looks like all it takes are protestors holding up pocket copies of the US constitution to distract Donald Trump from his speech and cause the audience to chant “USA! USA!” and have the constitution bearers ejected. Will they start searching attendees at future rallies to check if they are carrying this dangerous weapon?
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Death is a difficult subject for many people to deal with to deal with and some shy away from the word itself and resort to euphemisms when referring to the death of someone they know. Chris Raymond lists 101 alternatives for death, dead, or dying, some of which are jocular and used only for the deaths of strangers or people one dislikes.
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During every presidential election season, people look eagerly to see the effects of each party’s convention on the polls. Since the conventions are highly choreographed to show the candidate in the best light, that party candidate’s poll numbers usually rise in the immediate wake of the convention by about 3-4%.
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It has long been well-established that the New York Times, castigated as liberal by American conservatives, is actually a solidly pro-establishment institution and even at times conservative, neoconservative, and war mongering in its reporting and editorial stances. In particular, it has long had an anti-Palestinian slant.
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