Welcome to serfdom. Impoverished people make excellent servants
1 Like
WaPo closed itās Kyiv bureau.
I presume going forward they will report whatever Ukraine news Dear Leader thinks is noteworthy.
1 Like
CBC shows Vance being booed at Winter Olympics opening cetemony but NBC mutes the booing.
The reaction was shown on Canadian broadcaster CBCās feed, with one commentator saying: āThere is the vice-president JD Vance and his wife Usha ā oops, those are not ā¦ uh ā¦ those are a lot of boos for him. Whistling, jeering, some applause.ā
That wussy āappears toā again. It would be great if American reporters would report. Or not edit, at least. It feels like the Democrats should be able to sue NBC for $10 billion.
2 Likes
As litigious as the US is, weasel-words are a necessary evil.
I heard Adrienne Arsenault of the CBC remark on the booing as it happened. There is no journalist I respect more than her and she was not censored.
Thatās because Canada still respects the US Constitution.
4 Likes
The massive negativity towards a performance because it was in Spanish is sad.
1 Like
One particularly baffling comment I saw somewhere is ā now I hate illegals even more.ā 
Iām like, but heās Puerto Rican, which is American.
1 Like
Americans have little tolerance for someone not speaking English. Itās a substitute for racism in many cases, but some of it is just ignorance and/or expectations for what it takes to become āAmerican.ā
When people get upset about the use of languages other than English, I like asking them why they arenāt speaking a local language.
They usually look at me weird, because I donāt make the inquiry in English. 
3 Likes
From FT:
Americaās allies are beginning to find their voices and to rediscover their courage. Carneyās speech was one example. So was Sir Keir Starmerās condemnation of Trumpās denigration of the sacrifices made by British and allied troops in Afghanistan. Last week, the speaker of the Polish parliament refused to sign a petition calling for Trump to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize; another Polish MP noted pointedly that: āThe times when Nero, under threat of punishment, demanded recognition for his musical talents have been regarded as the beginning of the decline of the Roman empire.ā
3 Likes
I donāt see how that was the start of the decline. The pax romana lasted another 112 years. The 5 good emperors were yet to come 50 years later Trajan ruled over the empire at its fullest extent. The empire took another 1,385 years to fall.
Neroās reign was a low point but subsequent emperors got the message that he went too far
Jake Paul called on his followers to boycott the halftime show because Bad Bunny is a āfake Americanā. The kickerā¦ Jake Paul lives in Puerto Rico. Canāt make this shit up.
I didnāt watch the halftime show, and I wasnāt happy about it. No, I donāt think Bad Bunny is a fake American, and it has nothing to do with immigration. I just donāt speak a word of Spanish (ok not quite true, I know a few words), so why would I watch a show that was entirely in a language I donāt understand?
It does bother me that people insist on mainstreaming Spanish music - I remember 30 years ago when it started getting airtime on mainstream music stations. The Spanish-language stations donāt play English songs, so why should the English stations play Spanish songs?
Then again, I also believe that English should be declared as the official language of the US.
I can never follow the lyrics in these shows so it made no difference to me whether it was in English or Spanish. For me it is about the music and the vibe. Bad Bunny did ok on both accounts.
Maybe Canadians are more relaxed about language than Americans because we have two official languages? We are used to hearing both English and French. My all-time favourite chanteuse is Edith Piaf and I could listen to her for hours even though I canāt make out the individual words. It is her voice and the music that are wonderful.
3 Likes
I also get really upset whenever I hear Bieber singing Despacito.
2 Likes
IFYQ
Not adding extraneous "u"s where thy dounāt beloung.
I have no objection, but thatās because I focus on the music rather than the words.
My standard music playlist has music in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Japanese, Mongolian, Arabic, Icelandic, Norwegian, Old Norse, Old English, Old German, Middle German, Old French, Latin, Hawaiāian, several other indigenous American languages, at least one south Asian languageā¦and probably a few others.
2 Likes
Kind of a bigoted position to take.