Clarissa's Blog

Pro-Trumpian Ukrainians 

People who really annoy me are pro-Trumpian Ukrainian patriots. I just found one such idiot online. His argument goes as follows:

Yes, Trump keeps saying he likes Putin but the moment he sees how mendacious and evil Putin is, he will change his mind!

Because Trump has demonstrated an amazing capacity to analyze facts and acknowledge his mistakes. Not.

Hillary is a globalist. She supports the erasure of national borders. And that means she will support the erasure of the borders between Russia and Ukraine. 

Yes, it’s totally Hillary’s fault that in 25 years of independence Ukrainians have not managed to establish a functioning border with Russia. She’s been working on erasing that border her entire adult life, at the very same time as she’s been trying to destroy ISIS for the past 50 years. 

Pathetic, that’s what this is. 

Hassling Immigrants 

What I don’t get is if there is an enormous border that is being crossed illegally by crowds of people all the time, then what is the purpose of wasting money and resources on hassling graduate students or visiting professors whose visas will expire in the near future? The visas haven’t expired yet, the people broke no laws. Why seek them out and intimidate them? Especially if they come from a country that entitles them to stay here indefinitely as tourists without any visa?

Both N and I experienced this kind of thing- for no reason since neither he nor I never spent a minute in this country illegally and never got as much as a parking ticket – and now somebody I know is undergoing the same thing. 

Post-debate

What’s interesting is that Trump didn’t go after Hillary nearly as hard as he had gone after all of his Republican opponents in the primary. This is not the same Trump we saw in the primary. 

Victory

And to make the night truly special, I just got news that my second book has officially been accepted for publication by Bucknell University Press. 

😆🎉🎊🍨🎈😲😅🔬🤔💡📚📖📒🔜🔝🗽🌉🚈🛣🚀⛄❄📿

Whose Health?

After the debate, Hillary spoke at a campaign event, looking powerful and energized. Trump, on the other hand, faded away after the first 20 minutes of the debate and never recovered. 

I wonder whose health really needs to be discussed. 

Presidential Debate 1: Conclusions 

Trump bombed. This was a fiasco of rare proportions. 

Lester Holt pleasantly surprised. 

Hillary shone. 

Liveblogging the first Clinton-Trump Debate

7:45 – OK, who else is freaking out because I totally am.

7:55 – as I saw Bill and Melania appear on stage, I wondered at the coincidence of both candidates having spouses who are known for being loose in the pants. Of course, Hillary’s spouse is known for other things, too. 

8:02 – will the stupid commentators just shut the ef up? I can’t hear about the idiotic enthusiasm gap any more. 

8:05 – N is asking why Hillary doesn’t get a stool to stand on to look taller. I reminded him that she is not Putin. 

8:08 – Hillary is addressing the people. That’s good. 

8:09 – Trump or no Trump, anybody who promises a return to the industrial era is either lying or misguided. 

8:11 – “trumped up trickle down.” I ❤❤❤ this.

8:12 – Trump is saying he didn’t inherit and is self-made?? 😆😆😆

8:14 – Trump is rambling. The moderator tries to get him to answer but it’s useless. 

8:16 – Hillary is so right when she says that somebody will be the clean energy superpower and why shouldn’t it be us? We need to look to the future, not the past. 

8:19 – it’s a conversation between the past and the future. 

8:20 – Trump is repeating the same weird question about 30 years for the 3rd time. Boring. 

8:21 – he has now said the same thing for the 5th time. 

8:22 – “Donald, I know you live in your own reality.” Damn right. 

8:25 – Trump is trying to play catch up. Good. 🎉🎊🍨

8:26 – Trump will cut the taxes of the very rich because they will create tons of tremendous jobs. Oh, Lordy. How do you spell “dumb”? 

8:29 – she’s poised and in control and he’s angry and all over the place. 

8:30 – I could sit here for an hour listening to the beautiful sounds of “TRICKLE DOWN DOESN’T WORK. ” It doesn’t fucking work. Let’s move on.

8:32 – Trump says he doesn’t need to show his tax returns because he can tell us how much money he made this year. Like anybody gives a crap. 

PEOPLE, HOW CAN YOU VOTE FOR THIS. . . THING? He’s incoherent, he’s pathetic. A confused, rambling old man. 

8:39 – I have no idea what Trump is saying. He’s entirely incoherent. 

8:59 – yes, finally, the birtherism question! Trump insists that Hillary started birtherism. The best!

9:00 – Trump bombs on the birtherism issue.

9:04 – Trump seems to be competing with Hillary in who loves Obama most. Weird.  

9:06 – seriously, I have no idea what he’s talking about. 

9:09 – she calls him Donald and puts him on the defensive every time. He calls her Secretary Clinton and explains himself. 

9:10 – and again I lost the thread. Who weighs 400 pounds on the bed? Which bed? Huh?

9:14 – the real tragedy is that there are people who hear Trump’s weak ramblings and think they make sense. 

9:22 – Hillary openly mocks Trump and the audience giggles, too. 

9:27 – why did people dump on Holt? He’s doing a good job. 

9:37 – Mommy, Hiwwary is not nice! She is mean to me, Mommy! Whine, whine, whine. 

Monday Link Encyclopedia 

So it’s not Wednesday, eh? 😁

A brave blogger enters into a Twitter war with clueless Steinerites. 

Great news! Research as Second Language is out of retirement to take on the ridiculous Marcy sexual harassment case. This is the same blog that took apart the vicious persecution of Tim Hunt a while back. 

I was always against charters but when I read stupid shit like this, I have to struggle not to change my mind. 

A short but hilarious post about the human rights of students. 

Even more hilarity: “There is absolutely nothing easy about pursuing a graduate degree.  Long hours of sustained reading, writing, and thinking, coupled with the regular challenges of our everyday lives, can often lead to exhaustion, frustration, and burnout.” If reading and thinking are such exhausting activities, why doesn’t this person simply look for a different career?

And a great post that makes fun of a stupid article on menopause.

Ukrainians are desperate for Hillary to win. The text is in Russian but see the beautiful photos. 

They Are Totally the Same

We subjected every statement made by both the Republican and Democratic candidates — in speeches, in interviews and on Twitter — to our magazine’s rigorous fact-checking process. The conclusion is inescapable: Trump’s mishandling of facts and propensity for exaggeration so greatly exceed Clinton’s as to make the comparison almost ludicrous.

I also want to remind everybody that “It’s just like” or “they are the same” is a slogan of a lazy mind that is too primitive to handle complexity.