Vine saw that I bought a solid food processor and 6-month outfits for Klara and decided it’s time for me to get pregnant again. So now it’s insistently offering me ovulation kits. It’s like, “Are you aware of how old you are, lady? Keep squeezing them out for there is no time to waste.”

I wish it had at least offered me some sexy underwear in between a breast pump and an ovulation kit.

Maybe I should agree to the kit because I’ve never experienced anything with better contraceptive qualities than these kits.

Since members of the British Parliament have complained about receiving several fundraising emails from Donald Trump, politicians in several other foreign countries have revealed that they’ve also been flooded with email requests for donations from Trump.

Forget the British Parliament, Australia and Iceland. What I need to know is: has Putin donated? Because money he doesn’t lack, and an opportunity to humiliate a potential US president in this way is something he’d pay very dearly for.

And hey, wasn’t one of Trump’s selling points as a candidate that he was rich and didn’t need to beg anybody for money and be in anybody’s pocket? Why is the whole country being humiliated like this while he trawls the world, begging for pennies and putting us in danger of losing power and prestige on the international arena?

Even the most brainwashed Russians are getting antsy. Yesterday, all they heard was that Turkey is evil, Turkish resorts are dangerous, Turkish tomatoes are rotten, and Turkish textiles are low-quality. For hours each day they listened to stories about evil Turkey, bad tomatoes, and dangerous resorts. 

And then today they are hearing that Turkey is great, tomatoes are tasty, textiles are chic, and resorts are super safe. This is too 1984 even for them. Russian Facebook is plastered with confused queries as to what one should really think about the tomatoes. Because deciding on one’s own if they taste right is clearly unthinkable. 

I’m almost feeling sorry for the poor freaks.

If you are planning on having diabetes, make sure you are rich. Otherwise, you are screwed and government officials will be happy to let you know just how much.

And this is how Russia fights terrorism. I’m sure Snowden fans will love it.

Russia’s secret services harass US diplomats around the world.

Is Airbnb turning into a scourge of peaceful owners and renters? Here is one disturbing example.

Rental detectives. Very disturbing.

Has upper middle class really grown so enormously?

The most powerful explosive bombs in the world apart from the nuclear bomb are being used against civilians right at this moment.

And this is yet another endearing feature of the fluid world. Creepy as hell, folks. A psychoanalyst would have a field day with this shit.

Remember Assange? He is still stuck at the Embassy of Ecuador. I wonder how come Putin didn’t want him.

Reflection is now in Google Playstore with a new cover! It will be so cool for Klara to read it one day because there are several more generations of Klaras in there.

Bernie is as immutable as ever. In today’s NY TIMES article he writes,

The median male worker in America today is making $726 less than he did in 1973, while the median female worker is making $1,154 less than she did in 2007.

Because women did not exist back in 1973. They appeared in 2007 with the sole purpose of proving some point about men. 

Putin and Erdogan made up and now are best buddies again. The official Russian media are filled with praise for “our Turkish colleague and partner.”

Of course, it’s better for the world that these two aging hysterics are not at each other’s throats but the unpredictability of their mood swings is disturbing. 

I’m blessed because Klara is a very good-natured baby. I can take her to lunch with the ladies, a Japanese restaurant, campus, AT&T store, and she stays calm, doesn’t cry, and looks at everything seriously and curiously. When she is hungry, she quietly points to her mouth in a very dignified way. When she is sleepy, she makes squirrel fists. She only ever cries if she absolutely has to. 

She also finds it hilarious when I pronounce “baby” as “beeey-beee.” She collapses with laughter. And when she saw me speak Spanish on campus last week, she found that fascinating. Watching me speak to people is one of her favorite pastimes. 

I had yet another problem with AT&T and was forced to trudge to the store once again. The young men working here were all pouty, tantrumy, and unwilling to do any work. All they wanted to do was stand by the door and bitch loudly and obnoxiously about their girlfriends. I’m old hat, though, and I know how the modern workplace functions. I asked to speak to a female employee. She made some calls, pressed some buttons, and the problem that her male peers insisted was not solvable was resolved.

This is young men under the age of 25, of course. If they were even slightly older, things would be different. But this is the generation that took the erosion of gender roles way too seriously, and here is the result.

Here’s a test. Imagine Warren delivering a speech in favor of market deregulation and in favor of a complete ban on abortion and contraception. Would you still find her charismatic? Or are you confusing charisma and ideological affinity?

Charisma is what Fidel Castro used to have 20 years ago. I’d know that everything he was saying was a lie but when he spoke, I really really wanted to believe him. That’s charisma. And it’s dangerous precisely because it switches off reason and logic. 

I want as many Hispanic immigrants around as possible, I live for Hispanic culture, my Spanish is phenomenal. However, I don’t condemn people who are freaked out by the scope of Hispanic immigration to this country. When I traveled to Spanish-speaking countries the first 5 times, the experience was very traumatic. I wanted to be there, I spoke the language beautifully, and I’m from a very sexist country where daily disrespect towards women is the norm. And still it was very harsh. So I understand the folks who balk at having this culture arrive at their doorstep when they don’t know the language and haven’t chosen to have this experience. 

One can screech “racism” until one is blue in the face but cultural incompatibility is real and overcoming it is hard. I should know. I left my own country because I felt completely culturally incompatible with everybody else. No useful goal will be achieved by trying to trick Leavers in the UK out of this very real discomfort by telling them they are actually bothered by the cruelty done to Greece and that they are racist anyway so who cares.

Have to go again, sorry.