Good debate, Fox News did itself proud. The questions were tough, well-researched, meaningful. 

The candidate who impressed me was Kasich. He was shockingly reasonable and human. But these candidates were obviously not speaking to me. I disagree with them on every single issue. (You’re gonna send weapons to Ukraine? In fucking 2017? Keep up, loser, the situation changes daily. Nobody in Ukraine is sitting on their asses, waiting for you to wake up. Ukrainians are not your talking point that stays the same for years to accommodate your lazy ass. OK, sorry, rant over. I’m all, don’t take Ukraine’s name in vain around me or I fly off the handle.)

So who do you think won in the eyes of the intended audience? And who lost? Who did unexpectedly well? Or unexpectedly poorly? What’s your read on the prospects?

20:01 – 10 candidates, many of whom nobody even knows, and not a single woman managed to squeeze in.

20:03 – the very first question was designed to give protagonism to Trump. Cute.

20:08 – to make Trump even more attractive, the host gives the floor to some obscure and hopeless doctor who can utter nothing but platitudes.

20:09 – pretty boy Rubio just conceded that Hillary Clinton is better qualified than any Republican candidate and proceeded to make weird noises about Amazon.

20:12 – Bush is trying hard not to look sleepy and not succeeding. A candidate who has to repeat “I’m my own man” so many times, brings to mind the lady who protests too much.

20:14 – once again, the hosts seem to work in unison with Trump. Did he bribe them? This looks rehearsed.

20:15 – Ted Cruz makes lizard – like head moves again. This guy is such a creep.

20:17 – Christie said he’s proud of his state’s horrible economy.

20:18 – Walker wriggled and avoided answering a question. What a coward.

20:19 – Huckabee is as crazy as usual. I wonder if these weirdos even realize how ridiculous the obsession of 10 men with abortion, an issue they are not equipped to understand in the physiological level, is.

20:21 – Rand Paul is the funniest. He just called himself “a leading voice” on something.

20:22 – some guy I’ve never seen is actually saying something reasonable.

Fox News is doing a great job. The questions are polemical and strong. Everything is well-organized.

20:26 – the hosts give Trump a chance to talk to Bush directly. They seem to want him to insult Bush. Trump didn’t bite.

20:29 – I haven’t actually seen Trump speak for years. And now that I see him at the debate, it’s obvious to me that he’s unwell. I don’t mean that as an insult. He gets very agitated by the end of each statement. And he’s not in full control of it. What we thought was a political position, turned out to be an illness.

And now Trump is the subject of the debate.

20:34 – somebody with the last name of Rubio really shouldn’t be dumping on immigrants.

20:36 – Walker flim-flams again. Is it like his thing these days?

20:37 – Ted Cruz declares support for a really horrifying and ridiculous law that I never even heard about.

20:39 – Rand Paul is yelling like he’s possessed. Christie openly says he’s being ridiculous. And he’s right. Rand Paul looks sulky and tantrumy. Does anybody even support this guy?

20:42 – Ted Cruz wants to defeat ISIS with the words “radical Islam.” I guess “abracadabra” has lost its potency as a magic word.

20:44 – Bush managed to squeeze out that the Iraq war was a mistake. It only took him 30 tries to arrive at a position on the issue.

20:46 – Walker reminds me so much of Putin. The same gestures, the same quiet, uninflected voice, the same incapacity to answer a direct question, the same lack of charisma. And, of course, the same war on women and unions.

20:48 – it’s funny how now everybody is “I’m against the war with Iraq! I was always against!” Why did we go to the stupid war if nobody supported it?

20:49 – Trump made a funny jab at Rand Paul.

20:51 – Walker said Hillary messes up everything she touches. It’s funny to hear him, of all people, to accuse people of messing things up.

20:55 – everybody is saying something weird and incomprehensible about the Common Core. What I found endlessly fascinating is how these candidates compete in expressing hatred of the federal government while auditioning for the job of said federal government’s leader.

21:01 – they are do terrified of Hillary. It’s pleasing to observe. For now, she has it made, so I understand their fear.

21:03 – the Ben Carson fellow talks about useful idiots, illustrating the power of projection.

21:06 – Walker’s plan for the economy is to sink a packet into repealing Obamacare? Lordy.

Ok, the rest has got to go under the fold.

Continue reading “Liveblogging the Debate” →

It’s the fourth time I’m buying a swimsuit online*, and yet again it’s a smashing success. Plus, there’s no stress of trying to struggle into 20 swimsuits at a store, cursing yourself and your tender relationship with the refrigerator that your figure has begun to resemble.

The secret if you are planning to buy a swimsuit online is just to accept that you are two sizes bigger than you think you are. Tell yourself that’s because swimsuits are manufactured in China where everybody is tiny and doesn’t get our kind of sizes right, if you need psychological support. And just go for it.

* I prefer to travel with 2 swimsuits. One got eaten by chlorine at the pool and the other one I. . . erm, grew out of. Or maybe it decided to recover its Chinese origins. 

I loved, loved, loved the Oxford conference. But I hate, hate, hate their publication requirements.

First of all, I am only allowed to do the formatting in MS Word 2013. I used to have it but had it uninstalled because it is as hateful as everything Microsoft created since 2007. 

Second of all, there are 9 pages of single spaced instructions on formatting and 2 YouTube videos that guide you through the process. There is a template, and it’s very unforgiving. And messy.

It’s not MLA, it’s not Chicago, it’s some very confusing mix of the two.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know I’m brilliant. I also love following instructions and formatting. This whole thing is way too frustrating even for me, however. Maybe I should go buy some fish to promote my brain development because this formatting process is defeating me.

I’m putting the post under the fold because some of you might not have had breakfast yet and the post’s subject matter is disturbing and unappetizing.

The post is about what it is that the Russians are really incinerating under the guise of sanctioned food.

Continue reading “What They Are Burning” →

Russians are also going to ban the import of condoms used for intrauterine ultrasounds. And all of the equipment used in dentistry.

I think they have now really gone insane. Why would anybody want to destroy dentistry??

The import of hearing aids and the equipment needed for eye surgery will be banned, as well.

There’s somebody who keeps leaving comments on the blog telling me that the Russians are trying to resist the pressure of the West. Pressure to do what, if I may ask? To allow deaf people to access hearing devices and people with a tooth – ache to get treated? Yes, those nasty Western evildoers. How dare they.

Russians are destroying huge quantities of evil food in massive, endlessly televised spectacles. The process of destroying food is given more air time than even Ukraine on Russian television.

My analyst is on vacation, so I can’t ask what is the psychoanalytic meaning of this collective ritual of gleefully and nervously destroying food by people who have very vivid collective memories of endless starvation throughout the XXth century. I know there’s something there because the food trauma is profound and impacts many facets of reality for Russians. But I can’t quite figure out what it is.

Former president Bill Clinton had a private telephone conversation in late spring with Donald Trump at the same time that the billionaire investor and reality-television star was nearing a decision to run for the White House, according to associates of both men.

Four Trump allies and one Clinton associate familiar with the exchange said that Clinton encouraged Trump’s efforts to play a larger role in the Republican Party and offered his own views of the political landscape.

That’s seriously the best gift Bill could have given his wife. Smart fellow.