Monitoring Biden and other Contemporary Events

I don't know about you, Izzy, but I thought that opening ceremony was the best one I've ever seen. The French should be proud.

Frank Apisa wrote:

I don't know about you, Izzy, but I thought that opening ceremony was the best one I've ever seen. The French should be proud.

I agree.
But one disadvantage, however, was the strict division of religion and state in France: the dieu de la météo made it rain and rain - thus, it was a Rain-Seine-spacle.

Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, said on Saturday that the EU was sliding toward oblivion, in a rambling anti-west speech in which he warned of a new, Asia-oriented “world order” while throwing his support behind Donald Trump’s US presidential bid.

“Europe has given up defending its own interests,” Orbán said in Băile Tuşnad, a majority ethnic Hungarian town in central Romania. “All Europe is doing today is following the US’s pro-Democrat foreign policy unconditionally … even at the cost of self-destruction.

“A change is coming that has not been seen for 500 years. What we are facing is in fact a world order change,” he added, naming China, India, Pakistan and Indonesia as becoming the “dominant centre” of the world.

Orbán alleged that the US was behind the 2022 explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines built to carry gas from Russia to Germany, calling it “an act of terrorism carried out at the obvious direction of the Americans”. He did not offer any evidence to back up the claim.

The far-right leader’s remarks come amid growing criticism from his European partners after he embarked on rogue “peace mission” trips to Moscow and Beijing this month aimed at brokering an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Orbán is widely considered to have the warmest relations with the Kremlin among all EU leaders.
[...]
Hungary currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, during which Orbán has vowed to “make Europe great again” and has endorsed Trump’s candidacy in this year’s US presidential election. Orbán visited Trump twice this year at the former president’s beachside compound in Mar-a-Lago.

Orbán said on Saturday that Trump’s bid for re-election aimed “to pull the American people back from a post-nationalist liberal state to a nation state” and he rehashed a slew of conservative tropes that Trump was being penalised unfairly to prevent his electoral bid.

“That is why they want to put him in prison. That’s why they want to take away his assets. And if that doesn’t work, that’s why they want to kill him,” Orbán said, referring to an assassination attempt on Trump at a Pennsylvania rally this month.

The US ambassador to Hungary, David Pressman, responded to Orbán’s comments on Saturday in a post on X, saying such rhetoric “risks changing Hungary’s relationship with America”.

“We have no other ally or partner … that similarly, overtly and tirelessly campaigns for a specific candidate in an election in the United States of America, seemingly convinced that no matter, it only helps Hungary – or at least helps him personally,” Pressman said, and he went on to accuse Orbán of peddling “Kremlin conspiracy theories about the United States. Hardly what we expect from an ally.”

Orbán’s remarks on Saturday are not the first time he has used the festival in Transylvania to stir controversy. In 2014, Orban declared for the first time his intention to build an “illiberal state” in Hungary, and in 2022 he sparked international outrage after he railed against Europe becoming a “mixed-race” society.

He doubled down on his long-held anti-immigration stance on Saturday, saying it was not an answer to his country’s ageing population.

“There can be no question of a shrinking population supplemented by migration,” he said in his Saturday address. “The western experience is that if there are more guests than owners then home is no longer home. This is a risk that should not be taken.”

The EU’s longest-serving leader, Orbán has become an icon to some conservative populists for his firm opposition to immigration and LGBTQ+ rights. He has also cracked down on the press and judiciary in Hungary and has been accused by the EU of violating rule of law and democracy standards.

Quote:

“Kamala can’t have my guns. She can’t have my gasoline engine. And she sure as hell can’t have my steaks and cheeseburgers.”

That’s Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) during a Fox News interview this week talking about the presumptive Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris.

This is not the first time we have heard Republicans scream “Democrats are coming to take your burgers and your gas stoves and cars!” And it certainly won’t be the last — especially with Harris as the new target of their ire.

Ever since President Biden announced he will not be running for reelection and endorsed Harris, MAGA Republicans have been flailing to find ways to attack the Vice President. If this is not a prime example of said flailing, I don’t know what is.

Now that their trusty “Biden is too old to be president” argument is out the window, the GOP is really showing how out of shape they’ve gotten over the course of eight years with Trump as their candidate.

Whether it’s yelling about red meat or engaging in lazy, racist and misogynistic attacks — which even Republican leadership has urged them to move away from — Republicans are once again holding onto ridiculous and lazy fear mongering for dear life.

@blatham,
Another way of looking at it is imagining how many schools and kindergartens the NRA could seriously **** up if Israel's military aid was given to Freedom lovin' Republicans.

The Intellectualist@highbrow_nobrow
Jul 6
Rupert Murdoch is “the single most destructive force in America, UK and Australia,” argues @karaswisher, though the empire “is in its waning days.” He “created a sort of tsunami of disinformation… I would say it’s laziness, but I think it’s deliberate.”

“Obviously she’s not a white person…but I love Usha, she’s such a good mom.”

Re: blatham (Post 7374511)
The word mom is also doing a lot of heavy lifting there. Because, you know, women don't count unless we reproduce, and we certainly don't count unless we're an appendage of some guy.

Harris has raised $200 million since Biden's exit, new memo says
From CNN's Sam Fossum

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has raised $200 million since President Joe Biden dropped out
of the race and endorsed her, with 66% of those donations coming from first-time donors, according to
a Harris campaign memo.

The memo, written by the campaign’s communications director Michael Tyler, also highlights organizing
efforts and says the campaign has 170,000 new volunteers.

“The momentum and energy for Vice President Harris is real – and so are the fundamentals of this race:
this election will be very close and decided by a small number of voters in just a few states,” Tyler writes.

Tyler concludes the memo by digging at the Trump-Vance ticket, saying they are “scrambling” and claiming
the former president is “scared” of debating Harris.

Re: blatham (Post 7374533)
It's also uniquely American.