acrossthepond

I become instantly suspicious of anyone who attacks unions. It suggests to me they've never done a decent day's work in their lives.

Fuck off. I'm not giving your scabby site any clicks either.

'So what?' - Brazil's president on death toll passing 5,000 Brazil registered a record 6,276 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday. It already has the largest number of infections in all of Latin America with 79,685 total confirmed cases and more than 5,500 deaths. President Jair Bolsonaro has downplayed the threat posed by the virus. Asked by reporters for comment after the death toll passed the 5,000 mark on Tuesday, he said: "So what? I'm sorry. What do you want me to do?" One of the worst affected cities has been Manaus in the Amazon. The city's mayor has said that they are preparing to hold more than 4,000 funerals in May - four times the usual number. Fucking hell.

Sunderland will be looking for a new manager in due time, I think Pards should keep his options open.

I stated my feelings on this last time round in January and they haven't changed. I don't want NUFC to be owned by the Saudis. I despise them and would hate for our club to be involved in their plans to legitimize their medieval regime in a post-oil world. All of that said, if this is happening, it's out of my hands. Just like it was when Ashley bought us. We're as powerless against this as we were any of the myriad times we protested Ashley's decisions. And so if I've got no say, and I don't, then I'm going to fucking enjoy being a real club again, no matter who's signing the cheques. Having a real manager again instead of a succession of bargain-basement bozos. Investing significant funds into the first-team squad. Having a serious tilt at Europe again. Getting some relief after thirteen (fuck me) pretty fucking barren years. Scrubbing every trace of Ashley's low-rent sportswear empire from SJP. So aye, bring on the Saudis. Even if they only spend enough to make us a going concern again, that'd be enough.

You got through that entire overwrought paragraph of thesaurus-bothering melodrama without a single semicolon. I'm proud of you.

Amusing video but fake as fuck, those are blatantly not NYC fire trucks. The footage is actually from Jerusalem in 2017.

From the perspective of actually improving the long-standing problems in the country, absolutely. But with the way the political mood is, your average voter doesn't want a revolution. They've had a bellyful of Trump upending every standard and norm this country has held for decades and they want someone who can steady the ship and "return to normalcy." Biden isn't a particularly inspiring candidate, but he would be a pair of safe hands, and would mean an end to the excesses and infringements of the Trump administration, like having family members without security clearance employed in key positions (awkward with Hunter, but whatever), violating the emoluments clause, rejecting traditional allies and sucking up to every two-bit dictator worldwide, pay-to-play at Mar-a-lago, assaults on the free press, and of course Trump's particular rule-by-Twitter-decree style of lunacy. I maintain the same position that I've held for nearly 4 years now - 2016 was a one-time thing, and Trump's base cannot possibly win another election. It actually should never have won an election in the first place, had Hillary run even just a slightly better campaign. Biden's handlers will not make the same glaring mistakes she did, and the phenomenon of 70,000 votes in the Rust Belt tipping an entire election will not happen again.

I reckoned that would be the line the Saudis took but it seems even those morons can get their heads out of their arses once in a while. They've cancelled voluntary pilgrimages (umrah) until further notice and it looks like they're going to cancel Haj altogether. In fairness there appears to be a history of canceling Haj due to plague or cholera, but with how fucked the world is presently, I fully expected the Saudis to throw open the gates and encourage people to come and die in Mecca so they can go to heaven. I just read on the BBC about a pastor who was spouting off Trumpian views about how it's not very infectious and it's a hoax and it's created by the Democrats, then went down to Louisiana for Mardi Gras, caught C19, and died. His surviving kids continue to blame "the media" and have a lot to say about "it shouldn't be party against party" and "it should be one nation under God" and "we need to bring the country together" but the other side needs to "show a little humility." Astonishing. Your dad died because he listened to your orange cult leader's bullshit, and all you have to say about that is that it's the other side's fault.

The first part is true but unfortunately the part about Pelosi being in charge isn't quite accurate. She's a member of the House of Representatives and so her term expires every 2 years and she has to get re-elected. Her, Trump's, and Pence's terms all finish on the same day. The next in the line of succession is the Senate president pro tempore whose name I don't know off the top of my head but who is guaranteed to be a Republican, as the role is traditionally given to the oldest sitting Senator from the majority party.

He can't, he has no power over them as long as they're not in violation of federal law. The family and I already left NYC to stay with our in-laws in Pennsylvania, reckoning it'll be safer out here (definitely true, the infection rate in NYC is going nuclear) and also the bairns can actually stretch out and play freely in a proper family house, rather than our third-floor walk-up in the Bronx. I'm teaching from home and the 5-year-old is doing remote learning on the iPad, so all of that seems to be sorted, but I'm worried about my parents. Me dad's restaurant has shut (they don't do delivery) so he's out of work and me mam has a lot of underlying health problems that really would not play well with COVID-19. Things are already bad enough but the moron-in-chief seems determined to make them worse. Dr. Fauci is on the outs and has been replaced by a pathetic dogsbody called Dr. Birx, some joker in a lab coat who would say or do anything Trump told her to. Americans have died from taking "miracle cures" recommended to them by their god-emperor which turned out to (obviously) be fucking fake bullshit. And most worrying of all, the states have postponed a number of primaries and there hangs a vague sort of doubt over whether or not we're going to have an election at all in November. I'm convinced he'd lose - if the country is still a going cornern by then....

Even our local moron -- sorry, I meant mayor -- Bill de Blasio, finally gave in at 5pm on Sunday and closed the schools (after an entire weekend of arm-twisting by the union.) As early as Sunday morning he was still giving it the big one and trying to evoke the 9/11 spirit among us. Fuck off. I remember 9/11 and it was nowt like this. Wife and bairns have gone to Pennsylvania, I'm joining them tomorrow. My students aren't actually going to learn anything with this "distance learning" system we've cobbled together, but I shouldn't complain - I've still got a job, can work from home, and am still getting paid. Many are far worse off. Stay healthy all of you.

You guys are counting him out a little too soon, I think. The country is more than 50% Democrat. If Sanders can properly get the base out in large numbers, which Clinton could not or would not do, just on numbers alone it should be enough to defeat Trump. As I've said a number of times, Trump's base has not grown at all in three years. He holds no appeal outside of his already rabid cult and/or the quickly diminishing number of "moderate Republicans" who are still willing to grudgingly vote for a criminal buffoon who has ripped the heart and soul out of what used to be a decent conservative party. He won in 2016 by winning a considerable but not huge number of Obama voters over. In PA, MI, and WI, he won by a combined total of less than 100,000 votes. In order to win again, he's going to have to repeat that feat and I still find it impossible to believe that will happen, especially since Sanders has a lot of appeal among working-class voters in those states in particular.

Can't wait to hear more about Bruce's hometown club and spirit and what a great job he's done and his points total being better than Rafa's and how the football is so much better as well.

I think you're underestimating the will to defeat Trump. I don't think the "horseshoe" thing is happening this time, even if it did in 2016, which is still a little dubious. There's no hardcore left-winger who is going to sit this one out. Personally I would prefer someone further left of center, and I detest Bloomberg (NYC teacher, how could I not?) but I would easily vote for him if it were a choice between him and Trump. I'd vote for the Devil himself if he had a D next to his name and I think there are millions who feel the same way.