After receiving an email from an individual outraged about an all-female screening of the new “Wonder Woman” film, Austin city mayor Steve Adler had a delightfully cutting response.
Putting Profits First ∞
Wednesday, June 7th, 2017
The slogan of pharmaceuticals company Mylan is “Seeing is Believing”. If you check the prices of their life-saving EpiPens, you might see that they’ve skyrocketed recently. You might also believe that this sort of gouging is immoral, and even wrong. Mylan’s chairman, Robert Coury, is apparently not bothered.
Mr. Coury replied that he was untroubled. He raised both his middle fingers and explained, using colorful language, that anyone criticizing Mylan, including its employees, ought to go copulate with themselves. Critics in Congress and on Wall Street, he said, should do the same. And regulators at the Food and Drug Administration? They, too, deserved a round of anatomically challenging self-fulfillment.
That exactly the sort of class I’d expect from these people.
They Didn’t Ask to Be Born, Dads! ∞
Tuesday, June 6th, 2017
Following up on yesterday’s disturbing story, this story out of the Netherlands also has quite the attention-grabbing headline.
Dutch Children Might Sue Sperm-Donor Father Simply for Causing Them to Exist in This Wretched Universe
That seems fair to me.
“Just Don’t Do It” ∞
Monday, June 5th, 2017
A headline like “Doctors warn women against putting wasp nests in their vaginas” mostly leaves me wondering if there are actually women who need to be told this.
This Week in Trump: June 2nd, 2017 Edition
Friday, June 2nd, 2017
The presidency of Donald Trump is simply exhausting. Though FBI Director James Comey was fired under four weeks ago, it feels more like four months. The inauguration could have been a year ago, and the election easily another year before that. Alas, however, we’re barely 9% of the way through this interminable presidential term.
It’s utterly impossible to avoid politics these days, and that’s terribly wearying. When so much of the news is devoted to what Trump has done, it also affects the writing here on One Foot Tsunami, as it seems more difficult to find offbeat stories worth riffing on. Rather than constantly linking to the latest disastrous Trump news, I’m going to try a summary post containing a few links to the worst of the worst from the past week. These posts will be titled “This Week in Trump”, which aptly acronyms to TWIT. Let’s start with a few of the indefensible things Donald Trump did this past week:
May 29th: After three days, Trump finally condemned an anti-Muslim attack in Portland, Oregon. This horrific incident featured three heroes who stopped the attack, two of them losing their lives in the process. The names of Ricky John Best, Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche Micah David-Cole Fletcher should be heard by all. (Link)
May 30th: It was reported that Donald Trump has given out his personal cell phone number to several world leaders. This insecure phone is certain to be the target of espionage attempts. (Link)
June 1st: The White House released a statement that America would keep its embassy in Tel Aviv. While this breaks a campaign promise to move the embassy to Jerusalem, it should be a positive move because it would keep Arabs engaged in peace negotiations. However, the statement includes this text “But, as [Trump] has repeatedly stated his intention to move the embassy, the question is not if that move happens, but only when”, which seem certain to scuttle any useful peace talks. (Link)
June 1st: Trump announced that he will withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord, which essentially ever other country in the world has signed on to. The two outliers are Syria, which lacked a functioning government to participate, and Nicaragua, who feel the agreement didn’t go far enough. The move is met with near universal displeasure from business leaders (and indeed the world), including oil giants ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips. It caused tremendous backlash, leading presidential advisors Elon Musk and Bob Iger to quite their positions in protest. (Link)
That last one is a real doozy, and it’s all I can take for this week. Stay tuned for further TWIT posts though, because one thing we can be certain of is that there will be no shortage of material.
Ya Know What, Maybe Don’t Bring Your Kiddies ∞
Thursday, June 1st, 2017
The New York Mets have been forced to apologize to the public at large after their mascot Mr. Met flipped an obscene gesture at fans Wednesday night.
It Is Hard to Look Right at Him ∞
Tuesday, May 30th, 2017
🎵 Hey, he’s the President,
And this is crazy.
But here’s his number,
So call him maybe.🎵
The Healthiest Individual Ever Elected to the Presidency ∞
Monday, May 29th, 2017
Last week, G7 leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan all managed to walk 700 yards to take a group photo. Only one person couldn’t make the walk, instead waiting for a golf cart. Guess who.
Previously in lazy, overweight politicians: The Town Car Is Worse
Loan Words ∞
Friday, May 26th, 2017
The impact of big data can be frightening, but at least it might help you get a loan.
Amazing Disgrace
Thursday, May 25th, 2017
Because his awfulness can’t be contained by the porous borders of the United States, Donald Trump is on a world tour right now. In Israel, he visited the Western Wall, which resulted in this photo of a man attempting to look pensive while visions of Kentucky Fried Chicken danced in his head:
“Have I touched it long enough?”
It seems impossible to believe Trump is capable of either prayer to a higher power or the deep introspection which would be appropriate here. Of course, he doesn’t really seem capable of any introspection whatsoever, and his visit to Yad Vashem certainly provides no proof to the contrary.
Yad Vashem is Israel’s official memorial to victims of the Holocaust. For over 60 years, it’s honored the memory of the dead and taught millions about the atrocities of the past. They have a guestbook which visitors may sign. Have a gander at what Donald Trump wrote:
It is a great honor to be here with all of my friends – so amazing & will never forget!
It’s just jaw-dropping. I keep thinking we’ve hit rock bottom in terms of the embarrassment Trump can cause, but he just keeps digging. What can one even say about such imbecility? For the sake of stark comparison, here’s what Barack Obama wrote during his 2008 visit:
I am grateful to Yad Vashem and all of those responsible for this remarkable institution. At a time of great peril and promise, war and strife, we are blessed to have such a powerful reminder of man’s potential for great evil, but also our own capacity to rise up from tragedy and remake our world. Let our children come here, and know their history, so that they can add their voices to proclaim ‘never again.’ And may we remember those who perished, not only as victims, but also as individuals who hoped and loved and dreamed like us, and who have become symbols of the human spirit.
That’s incredibly eloquent. Of course, everyone knows former President Obama is an incredibly eloquent man, so that’s practically cheating. What about someone less blessed with rhetorical gifts? Let’s see what Hillary Clinton wrote in 2009:
Yad Vashem is a testament to the power of truth in the face of denial, the resilience of the human spirit in the face of despair, the triumph of the Jewish people over murder and destruction and a reminder to all people that the lessons of the Holocaust must never be forgotten. God bless Israel and its future.
Ah heck, that’s quite good too. Maybe her husband (and former President) Bill Clinton flubbed it?
Today we have come one step closer to the time when the people of Israel will live in peace with all of their neighbors, when the awful events of death and destruction memorialized here will be banished to the past.
It’s been over twenty years since you wrote that, and we’re still awfully far from peace in the Middle East, Bill! Still though, we must admit that it’s well-written. We’re going to have to go deeper. George W. Bush, now no one would accuse him of being overly articulate! What did he write?
God bless Israel
Well, that’s not great, but it’s also not awful. Bush didn’t focus on himself or his “friends”, and he didn’t include the line “so amazing”. He kept it simple, and as a result, even his inscription was vastly superior to President Trump’s.
Of course, as we’ve seen time and time and time again, it could always have been worse. For instance, Trump could have scribbled down some state secrets for all to read.
