Martin World News

Two things I thought I'd address before we get going.  Do you ever wonder at the unintended symbolism of the above Bobby G. designed logo?  Mankind's three kinds of idiots.  Top and left, the one that thinks he knows what he's doing- until he doesn't. Bottom center, the one who climbs into a false shelter of ignorance and is content.  And middle right, he who proudly wears whatever BS gets dumped on him by those he trusts.  What a rich statement of that which we try to expose here.


Second, a note about the liberal "bashing" that I have done and will do here.  I know there are people out there that have fairly well thought out and impassioned liberal leanings.  These are people who are open to debate, and willing to accept scrutiny of their ideas.  HOWever, too many of the leaders they trust in are hopeless agendists like the State Senator from Texas last week, who think they are making intelligent statements and analogies based on their agenda- but it falls apart because their premise is flawed right from the start.  These will scream, shout, unfriend you, and call you prejudiced for NOT allowing some ISIS brainwashed migrant to blow up your school or some lazy good for nothing thug to shank you for a couple of bucks.  And they I shall lampoon unmercifully.  If you are a thinking liberal, feel free to discuss policy and such with me.  If you are of the other bent, well, this page will never be for you.  I write this more for the first group, to let them know it is not necessarily your close held beliefs I deride, but the illogical conclusions some among you try to force us all into.  And now...


ITEM:  Laurie got to this one before I did, and now it's my turn.  It would seem that the young intellectuals at Yale have decided that to achieve better student "union benefits"- as if getting an education isn't the ONLY benefit they signed up for (although seeing's as it's Ivy League, even that part's in doubt)- they will go on a hunger strike in front of University Prez Peter Salovey's house.


Hm.  The catch being, it is what you might deem a "hungerless" hunger strike.


According to a pamphlet posted on Twitter by a  former Yale student, the hunger strike is "symbolic" and protesters can leave and get food when they can no longer go on.


Typical of the current "In my perfect world, YOU make all the sacrifices" attitude of 90% of protests we see in this country anymore.  And they wonder why they get called snowflakes.


UPDATE:  Got this news literally as I wrote this...


Members of the Yale College Republicans hosted a barbecue Friday right next to where members of the Local 33 graduate student union participated in a hunger strike, the New Haven Register reports.

The College Republicans served a meal of barbecued beef, baked beans and corn to those on the plaza, just a few feet from the tent Local 33 had erected to house hunger strikers protesting the school’s decision not to negotiate a contract.

ITEM:  And just to prove that unions- even STUDENT unions- are a mind suckingly bad idea as today construed:

Britain’s largest national student union has told attendees of its annual conference they would face “consequences” for cheering and clapping because these forms of expression exclude deaf people.

The National Union of Students (NUS), which includes most university student unions, held a two-day conference on Tuesday.

During the conference, audience members were repeatedly warned that they must stop whooping and expressing support for a speaker because it has “serious impact” on the accessibility of the conference, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Instead of clapping, the students were advised to use “jazz hands” – a gesture when people wave their hands in the air – as it’s believed to be more inclusive to people with hearing problems.

So deaf students can "see" jazz hands and not "see" clapping and cheers, is that right?  Should the conference, then, to avoid being offensive, not be held per se- just have the "minutes" distributed in braille?

ITEM:  Want to tell me again the world media isn't heavily left-leaning?  Look at this BBC actual headline and tell me, how is this LEGITIMATE news...


What has President Trump said about your country in his first 100 days?


In the article, you get to enter the country of your choice- BUT... unless you take one of the nations that they give you as options on the menu below that search, you'll get, "President Trump hasn't said anything about your country...yet".  The choices?  the UK, North Korea, Japan, Russia, Germany, Iraq, China, Iran, and Canada.  192 countries, and they have found what I assume are derogatory comments about 4.7% of them.  That'll go a long way towards re-establishing your credibility fer shure...


ITEM:  Boris Johnson makes things so easy on me... the former London mayor and current UK Foreign Secretary apparently called Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn a "mutton-headed old mugwump" Thursday.  So next day, The Metro came up with a "find your BoJo insult" chart, based upon your initials.

So tell the Dew-beating ninnyhammer what Boris calls YOU!

ITEM:  Business Insider listed the 37 most damaging jobs to your health.  Here, let the study's authors tell you the categories this was based on:

In order to analyze jobs by their impact on workers' health, we took O*NET measures of six health risks in each of the 974 occupations in the database: exposure to contaminants; exposure to disease and infection; exposure to hazardous conditions; exposure to radiation; risk of minor burns, cuts, bites, and stings; and time spent sitting, since studies show that frequent inactivity shortens your lifespan. O*NET scores these factors on a scale from 0 to 100, with a higher score indicating an increased health risk.


Now to me, "Time spent sitting" seems a snowflake category, yet it was in the top three risks in 8 of the thirty seven jobs- and 5 of those 8 jobs were in the dental profession.  Trash pickup guys made the list (#25) with  TSS their #2 risk- but not bus drivers, cabbies, or OTR truck drivers.  In the meantime, airline cockpit personnel were tied for #22, with TSS as their HIGHEST risk, ahead of such things as flying into mountains, being shot down by Kim Jung Um, etc.

The top ten:

10- Anesthesiologist assistant, just ahead of Podiatrist (no lie)
9- The actual anesthesiologist
8- Flight attendant (again terrorism and crashes had little to do with the score; their big three risks were exposure to contaminants, exposure to diseases, and minor cuts and scrapes.  Really?

7- Prosthodontist (AKA denture and bridge makers), with TSS their #3 risk.
6- Nurse anesthetists.  Gosh, who knew putting someone to sleep was so dangerous?  Gimme crab fishing any day!
5- Dental Assistants
4- Dental lab techs, with TSS #2.
3- Vet assistant
2- General dentist, with TSS #3
Annnnnnnd...
1- Dental Hygienist

Now, the list of jobs were taken from a database of 974 jobs- which I guess somehow missed policeman, soldier, and lineman. Although it did have EMTs (tied 27th), oil derrick operators (21st), and immigration and customs inspectors (12th).  Frankly, I think MY job should be ahead of any flight attendant- and it doesn't have TSS anywhere on the list...


ITEM:  Only in Russia- I'll let this one speak for itself...

A statue of Ivan the Terrible has disappeared from a Russian city within an hour of it being installed on its pedestal.
The statue to the tsar was lowered onto its plinth by the banks of the river in Alexandrov for an inauguration ceremony initially scheduled for Saturday (29 April). However, Komsomolskaya Pravda reports that when sculptor Vasili Selivanov returned from his lunch break, the statue was nowhere to be seen.
"We decided to mount the tsar on the pedestal so that everything would be okay during the ceremony, then we went for lunch. When we got back, the statue was gone!" he told the paper.
Photos published by the Gazeta Novy Gorod Alexandrov news website show before-and-after pictures of Ivan on his plinth, and the empty pedestal on a sandy riverbank.
Local authorities later owned up to the "theft", saying that the statue had been installed too early and without the correct documentation, the Moscow Times reports. With the area around the statue nowhere near ready, the unveiling has been put back to the end of June, local official Elena Shulga said. In the meantime, Ivan the Terrible is under "heavy guard" at a local government depot, Komsomolskaya Pravda reveals.

Before lunch

After lunch

ITEM: Speaks for itself, #2...


A new rule came into force in the Central Asian country of Tajikistan last week which forces state-run media outlets to refer to President Emomali Rahmon by his not insubstantial official title.
That means news reports about the country's leader must refer to him as "The Founder of Peace and National Unity, Leader of the Nation, President of the Republic of Tajikistan, His Excellency Emomali Rahmon," US-funded Radio Azadliq reports. It takes a full 15 seconds for the name to scroll across the screen on the main TV news.



And with that, this is your Ever-Glorious, Magnificently Intelligent Founder and Sustainer of Life On Blogger, signing off for this week's post.