What would you consider an expensive wedding? $10,000? $100,000?

How about a billion dollars?

A Russian oligarch recently married off his son and the wedding was so insanely lavish that it cost just a bit under a billion. Yes, with a b.

Trained monkeys. . . sorry, artists who entertained these criminals were Sting, Jennifer López and Enrique Iglesias. Guests received goody bags filled with diamond jewelry. The bride’s gown weighed 28 lbs because it was covered with precious stones. 

There’s a link here but the oligarch removed the photos of this monstrosity.

P.S. OK, I just found a link that still has photos. It’s in Russian but just scroll down to the photos. I promise you’ll perish from laughter. 

Are these fuckers for real? Fucking Planned Parenthood is your enemy on trans rights issues? Really?

If my book fails to attract interest, I’ll know whom to blame: Trump! Thank you, Mr President, for being so convenient.

Another overwrought academic. But nobody wants to hear from the less pompous among us. I blame Trump. 

The positive developments in the Burqa Mom story. 

If you need any more reasons to hate the Saudis.

It’s impossible to “feel like a girl (or a boy.)” 

A convicted rapist sues her victim for defamation.

Tech has plateaued.

My new hobby is to write offensive comments about Trump on the wall of the Ukrainian-American group I belong to on Facebook. I know it’s infantile, but I can’t get over there being Ukrainian supporters of Trump. It gets my goat like I can’t tell you. Of course, it’s possible that the group has been infiltrated by Russian provocateurs, but still. I can be kind and understanding to any supporter of Trump unless they are Ukrainian, know anybody who is Ukrainian, or know that Ukraine exists. 

And the good news part is that every time I write a comment, I think, “I’m writing this under my own name, and I’m not afraid of anything. This is a great country.” 

There is a play that I need to read for my research. I also want to see it and I’m writing a grant proposal to get funding to go to Spain for my new book. But for now I need the text. 

I wrote to the theater where the play will be staged next season, explained about my research, and asked if I could buy the text. Within less than a day they wrote back, sent me the text, and contacted the author who’s on vacation. The author asked them to tell me that I will probably need his other play, too, (and I definitely do), and he’ll send me the text once it’s finished. 

This is all in under 24 hours. The Spain of “come back later” is definitely gone. 

A friend who is in Germanic studies found a great tenure-track job at a college in Philadelphia. 2-2 teaching load. I’m extremely happy. She isn’t a native speaker of German and she didn’t go to an Ivy but she is brilliant, she loves, loves, loves the profession, and if somebody like her couldn’t get employed, I’d be very disappointed with the profession. 

She never doubted she’d get a job, never complained about the field. All I ever heard from her was excitement about her teaching and scholarship.

I’m super psyched by the news. 

Floridians, does it make sense to go to Southwestern Florida in November? Is the sea warm enough to swim? (We are from cold countries, so we don’t need boiling hot water like in summer). 

I can’t resist the charm of talented trolling. Read this article carefully and then pay attention to the closing sentence. Masterful! 

Douthat is a reliable source of laughs:

So cashiering Sessions would be a remarkable statement (though hardly the first) that the president cares almost nothing for his own alleged platform and governing philosophy.

Ya think? Nah, not this president, surely. And here we all thought he was such a stickler for a coherent governing philosophy. I’m beginning to suspect he might not even be a champion of the working classes.  

This is why I despise Rolling Stone. They are now fellating Trudeau in the most ridiculous of manners:

Despite these contradictions, the prime minister is a progressive, rational, forward-thinking leader. Yes, he was -manor-born, but he actually feels his citizens’ pain because he’s had his own unthinkable personal tragedies.

Of course, personal tragedies are a little easier to bear when you have a shitload of money and aren’t averse to dipping into public funds to finance your lavish lifestyle of an entitled brat.