by John Walters
Starting Five
Unsustainable
If I had to give the president, Donald Trump, a grade, it would be below C-level. Especially after yesterday’s performance where, mouthing the words of Steve Bannon, he pledged o withdraw the USA from the Paris Accord (we’re now on the same side as Nicaragua and Syria!).
Robert Iger and Elon Musk immediately withdrew from Trump’s economic advisory council, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein took a break from overseeing fraudulent banking practices to send out his first and only tweet (derogatory toward Trump) and French president Emmanuel Macron responded with a tweet…
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) June 1, 2017
….and mayors in Boston, Pittsburgh and elsewhere basically said they’d ignore Trump/Bannon and follow the Accord anyway. What is it with Paris this month, anyway? Serena Williams, Roger Federer and now the USA have all voluntarily withdrawn.
Why is this man running the United States and making decisions that imperil the planet?
2. Kevindication (After Game 1)
Is Durant staring down Rihanna here?
In his first NBA Finals appearance since 2012 (when he averaged a series-high 30.6 points per game, though his Thunder lost to LeBron’s Heat 4-1), Kevin Durant took over the action on the court, scoring a game-high 38 points. Dubs win, 113-91.
Off the court, Rihanna appeared to be the biggest winner.
3. Today’s Best Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvxQGPAc5Rs
Sent in from a Canadian friend of MH, who has a big birthday, I mean like a really, really big birthday, like a colossal anniversary of birth date, coming up this weekend. This is excellent.
4. Following The Scripps
Yesterday Ananya Vinay of Fresno won the Scripps National Spelling Bee when she correctly spelled the word marocain – a type of dress fabric – to defeat Rohan Rajeev, 14, from Oklahoma.
Presented without commentary, here are the last 10 winners of the National Spelling Bee, counting backwards: Ananya Vinay, Nihar Sai Reddy Janga and Jairam Hathaway (tie), Gokul Venkatachalam, Vanya Shivashankar, Sriram Hathwar and Ansun Sujoe (tie), Arvind Marhankali, Snigdha Nandipati, Sukanya Roy, Anamika Veeramani, Kavya Shivashankar and Sameer Mishra.
I just found it a little curious that ESPN sent Kevin Nagandhi down to Washington, D.C. to cover this event.
5. Medium Happy Book Review
Today’s book recommendation: The Sellout, by Paul Beatty. A darkly comic novel in every way, this satire revolves around a young black protagonist who owns a small farm (chief crops: rectangular watermelons and marijuana) in south central Los Angeles (go with it) whose elderly black neighbor, Hominy Jenkins, a former understudy to Buckwheat on The Little Rascals, asks him to make him his slave.
There’s a lot more going on, but the premise allows Beatty to have a lot of fun with race relations, etc. The 2015 novel won the Man Booker Prize, making Beatty the first U.S. writer to win the award. Beatty claims that he was inspired to write the book because “I was broke.” Very dark and very funny.
Music 101
Top of the World
Leave it to Japanese all-female punk band Shonen Knife to cover a classic by The Carpenters and completely kick ass doing so. This tune came out in 1994 as part a tribute CD, If I Were A Carpenter, that is highly recommended by MH editors and janitors. Earlier that decade, the band had opened for Nirvana on the European leg of the Nevermind tour, because Kurt Cobain was a huge fan.
Remote Patrol
Saturday
UEFA Champions League Final
Juventus vs. Real Madrid
2:45 p.m. Fox
From lovely Cardiff, Wales. If you don’t know why ESPN calls Cristiano Ronaldo the most famous athlete in the world, check this out.
Well, last night sucked. It wasn’t just disappointing, it wasn’t just doubly disappointing, it was in fact, TRIPLE disappointing! Which I guess is apropos since this is ‘The Trilogy’. 😉 1st, the Cavs lost & not by a little, but by a butt-whipping 22 points. 2nd, the Cavs played poorly, even though LeBron did score 28 & had double-digit rebounds, he had 8 turnovers! My goodness, the Cavs altogether committed 20 turnovers which led to 21 Supervillain points! And 3rd, I truly thought Game 1 would be the best chance for the Cavs to ‘steal’ a win on the SV home floor, plus I was soooo looking forward to seeing those smug looks wiped off the Supervillains’ faces! Alas.
And here’s the REALLY scary part – I didn’t think the Villains even played all that well & they whupped us!
It was only Game 1 & the Cavs will make “adjustments” but if Sweet Pea & Kyrie don’t both always score at LEAST in the high 30s AND the rest of the team totally step up their play, this will be a short-lived Finals.
And what did we expect? Instead of whining & bitching about the “boring” Playoffs, the media SHOULD have been bitching about KD being on that team in the 1st place. I was disgusted & angry when I 1st learned of it last summer & just as much so now. It should NEVER have been allowed by the NBA. It is the equivalent of doping. Yes, I equate this “superteam” to cheating.
I, of course, being the nauseating superfan I am 🙂 , believe all is NOT lost as long as LeBron is LeBron. But one man does not win a NBA championship. Especially if your opponent is the Supervillains!
jdubs, now that you’ve seen Game 1, do you still think the Cavs win in 7? Or are you like Fagin & are “reviewing the situation & think you better think it out again”? 🙂
GO CAVS!
Susie B.,
Your prose hasn’t aged a day…
June 7, 2013: http://mediumhappy.com/?p=3121#comments
June 6. 2014: http://mediumhappy.com/?p=5393#comments
June 5, 2015: http://mediumhappy.com/?p=6165#comments
June 3, 2016: http://mediumhappy.com/?p=6596#comments
Jacob – you actually went looking for my old comments?! LOL!
And hey, when you get to be my age, you’ll be thrilled if there is ANYthing about you that “hasn’t aged a day”. 🙂 🙂 🙂
4. “Bee the change.” –Mahatma Gandhi
Writing a book “because you’re broke” seems like a risky strategy in this era. “The Best of Adam Sharp”, Graeme Simsion’s new release fell flat. I had such high hopes after
“The Rosie Project”.
Keep the faith, Susie B.!