- Do people in the U.S., who are notorious for not being able to locate other countries on a map, know Switzerland is land-locked and therefore wouldn’t have a navy?
- Is it “military grade” lube? (And you know what “military grade” really means, right?)
- Would anyone think that just as Swiss Army knives are like the ones issued to Swiss soldiers, Swiss Navy lube would be like the goop issued to Switzerland’s — ahem — able seamen?
Yes, I wrote about The Daily Show’s Heroes of the Pandumbic video back in April — a mere four months ago — but it’s worth watching again, considering that:
- As of today, August 6, 2020, the United States has had a grand total of 4.8 million cases of COVID-19. That number represents almost 54,000 more cases than the previous day.
- Florida’s total number of cases is over the half-million mark at 510,389. That number represents an additional 7,650 cases.
- The death toll for the US as of August 6, 2020 is 157,631, which represents an increase of 1,320 from the previous day.
- Back in March, Trump said that keeping the number of coronavirus deaths to 100,000 would be “a very good job”.
The Lincoln Project — of whom Florida’s very own Rick Wilson is a member — recently put out this amusing long-form ad (it’s 6 minutes, 25 seconds, but worth it) titled Wake Up.
It tells the story of a Republican voter who had a bad accident three and a half years ago and has just come back to consciousness. His family has gathered around him to tell him what’s happened since the accident, and well, hilarity/anxiety ensues.
Library and Archives Canada, the department of the Canadian government charged with preserving and sharing Canada’s documentary heritage, have really upped their social media game. They recently used the classic “Batman Slaps Robin” meme to explain that “I’ve done the research” does not mean “I did some Googling, and found a nutcase web page that supports my pet conspiracy theory.” Nicely done.
You’ve probably heard about Donald Trump’s trainwreck interview on Axios, but in case you haven’t seen it yet, I’ve posted it below for your…information? Entertainment? Abject horror at the fact that this jabroni is the head of the executive branch, has (hopefully well-managed) access to the nuclear codes, and a fanatical following of a sizeable chunk of the more aggrieved, hostile, gullible population of the U.S.?
Fast Company did a round-up of the most shocking-but-not-really surprising moments in the interview, which you should read along with this summary of interviewer Jonathan Swan’s facial reactions in those moments:
However, a Trump/MAGA cap? Twice:
- The parking lot at the Publix at Dale Mabry and South Village, sometime around September/October 2016: I’m getting groceries at our then-regular grocery store (this is when we lived in Carrollwood) when a MAGA-capped guy in truck with Trump stickers throws an empty beer can at me, missing by a mile. “Go back to where you came from,” he yells, to which I reply “Learn to throw like a man!” as I pull out my phone. He drives off.
- Charlotte Douglas International airport, October 2016: I’m traveling to my new job at the company formerly known as SMARTRAC, and a guy in line at Carolina Pit BBQ in a MAGA cap yells something I can’t quite hear at me. I walk toward him, asking in my best radio voice, “Would you mind repeating that?” As I close in, it become apparent that I’m a head taller — he bought into the stereotype that Asian men are meek and short — and he starts high-tailing it in the opposite direction, presumably towards his gate. He loses his place in line, I take it, and enjoy some barbecue.
This sort of courage/cowardice is consistent with a couple of contradictory mindsets:
- The fascist mindset that the enemy is both very strong and very weak at the same time.
- The fact that for all their apparent brazen behavior, at their core, bullies are craven cowards.