Blog/June 2019/Jun 28th

June 28th

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Lots of activity this week. As usual, Esther and I were working. Trump unveiled his ludicrous bribe of the century deal. Esther’s favorite knitting group silences Trump supporters in the name of “inclusiveness”. And Google’s caught red-handed censoring conservative voices and planning how to “prevent another 2016”.

As far as our daily toil and trouble goes, it was all “as usual”. Esther did whatever tax accountants do, all week. I spent some time trying to figure out whether one of the SBCs I have is defective or not. Still not sure. Both of us were tired all week, which I suppose is a good sign. Sarah’s been managing her store and finding that there are some people who can’t be trusted. I could have told her that…

The “deal of the century” which Trump’s son-in-law Kushner has been working on for two years, was unveiled in part this week. TL;DR: let’s give $50 billion USD to the PA and some other Arabs, because the only reason they have been murdering Jews is that they’re poor, not because they’re rabid anti-Semites. Or something like that. The “plan” has so far been widely mocked throughout the region. Abbas (the PA President for Life) dismissed the plan out of hand. I suppose that’s because he’s already got billions squirrelled away and he doesn’t expect to live much longer, insha’allah. One can hope. Kushner should have spent a few months here “on the ground” to gain some perspective as to why his “plan” is dead-on-arrival.

My generally even-keeled and pleasant wife was aroused to spitting-fits this week when her favorite knitting group suddenly published a new directive: Do Not Post In Support of Trump or his Administration. It’s not that Esther’s a Trump supporter, in particular; neither of us is. But a group intended to support hobbyists should be apolitical and neutral; either ban all political speech, or permit all of it. Singling out Trump supporters for censure when they are likely half your user-base more or less, is probably a bad choice in the long run; it certainly has made the news. What ever happened to “live and let live”?

Just as a side-note: the reasoning behind the ban is that “Support of the Trump administration is undeniably support for white supremacy”. They truly believe that Trump is a white-supremacist, even though he’s orange. I’ve got to be honest with you, the more I hear about how Trump is a (1) fascist, (2) racist, (3) anti-Semite, (4) misogynist, or whatever — the more I hope and pray that he gets re-elected. Because the Left has utterly lost it; everything they say now is hyperbolic BS. I understand the Ravelry folk truly believe all that about Trump; unfortunately, none of it is true as far as I can see. He is a putz, no doubt; but the rest? Not so much.

The Sundry Times:

• The Bern is a forgiving sort. Who pays for his largesse? You get three guesses!
• Australian academics say mothers should be allowed to terminate newborns. Post-birth abortion — or as it’s called everywhere else, “murder”.
• About two-thirds of American employees regret their college degrees. I’ve said for a long time that most people shouldn’t go to college, they should go take some kind of practical training instead. All those “Feminist Studies” and “18th Century English Literature” degrees get you bubkis in the workplace (unless you’re working in academia, nebach).
• Jussie Smollett is the gift that keeps on giving.
• Privacy? We don’ need no stinkin’ privacy!
• Not from the PRC, but it should be: Smartphone and fitness-trackers used to gauge employee performance. Welcome to the Brave New World, folks!

Daniela, Jeremy, and the twins are on their way to Argentina for a vacation. Their main purpose is to witness the upcoming solar eclipse. Their secondary one is to visit with all of Daniela’s Argentinian relatives. There are a lot of them!

The weather is cooling a bit for shabbat, which is just the way I like it.

This shabbat is brought to you by the Almighty (as is every other moment of your life). In celebration, we’ll have:
homemade ḥalla, meatballs with mash, baked salmon, roasted beets, corn pie, various salatim, brownies, and fruit.

Until next time,
shabbat shalom!

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