bread and circuses (13. 513)

Promising to end the stalemate in Iran and bring about peace in the Middle East for the war he started as a present to himself, Trump is throwing an incredibly crass spectacle on the south lawn of the White House that would make Caligula blanch at the idea for his birthday. His scheduled cage-fight inside of a mesh-wire octagon with gladiators (albeit staged) pummelling each other into submission follows being roundly booed by spectators at basketball game in Madison Square Garden and opting to skip the World Cup opener for fear of more of the same treatment and comes amid court orders removing his name from the Kennedy Center,restoring informational signs to national parks that Trump said disparaged the US with historical accuracies, raging inflation and gas prices stemming from that said war, and the upcoming mid-term elections will be attended by cabinet officials and four thousand audience members with thousands more watching from the Ellipse—G7 leaders postponed their summit in Évian-les-Bains so Trump could attend the next day. Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) which is running the event further announced an official partner—World Liberty Financial, a crypto company co-owned by the Trump family and special diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff, which will create a quarter of a million dollar athlete bonus betting pool for the winners. Having used considerable government resources to bring this series of blood-sport matches together and standing to gain from it financially, I should think Hunter Biden’s laptop would have something to say about all this.

synchronoptica

one year ago: musical cicadas (with synchronopticæ) plus Orwell on No Kings

twelve years ago: a visit to Rapallo and environs plus spa day in Montecatini

fourteen years ago: Toothpaste for Dinner 

fifteen years ago: the Facebook IPO plus the tragedy of the commons

sixteen years ago: Afghanistan’s mineral wealth