I still remember, back when Bill O’Reilly still had an audience, that he became absolutely livid that some horrible person had called the Pope a “primate.” Oh, the horror! The insult!
This struck me as very odd. I am not a Catholic; O’Reilly supposedly is. But even I knew that “primate” was a reference to his role in the church, not to his place in phylogeny. Add to that the fact that the term “primate” was first applied to humans by Linnaeus, and the idea that this is an insult becomes doubly absurd. I am a primate in only one of these senses, but the Pope is a primate in both. And if it were an insult to say so, I wouldn’t say it, as he seems like a decent bloke.
I recall my amusement when, on returning from an overseas trip, I noticed on the customs form that among the items banned for import was “non-human primates.”
If you have human primates in your luggage, that also can be a problem at the border.
I’ll just leave this here:
Trump: “A friend of mine who is a businessman. Very very very top guy. Most of you would’ve heard of him. Highly neurotic. Brilliant businessman. Seriously overweight. And he takes the fat shot drug.”
So let me get this straight…he was concerned about how much his billionaire friends have to pay for the “fat shot” and NOT what everyday Americans have to pay for insulin and other medications for themselves and their kids.
Spot on.
Reddit - The heart of the internet
President of the United States comments on former president Biden’s “Stage 9” cancer
He couldn’t just say something like “I think I speak for all of us at the white house when I say we hope/pray for a speedy recovery for the former president” and leave it at that. He had to be both stupid and and insulting. Trump just is a terrible person in addition to his stark incompetence.
The post’s been removed, so I don’t know what he said. I can only assume it was an incoherent ramble, which means that the much more respectful tweet yesterday was almost certainly written by someone else.
Trump Jr. was worse. From the Washington Post:
In case anyone here is not aware: There is no such thing as “stage five metastatic cancer.” The stages only go to 4. (Unless you’re Nigel Tufnel, maybe?)
And Jill Biden holds a PhD in education, not an MD.
All that said, it is a bit sobering to realize, if things were a bit different, the US could now be in the unprecedented position of having a President who is terminally ill. Although prolonged survival with prostatic cancer is not also uncommon. His cancer has been described as “aggressive”, so I don’t know if that’s the case here.
It wouldn’t be good, but it’s hardly unprecedented - William Henry Harrison died from pneumonia while in office, having been ill for several weeks beforehand. While pneumonia takes effect far faster than cancer, there was still a period during which Harrison was not expected to recover.
Also, apparently you can have a stage 5 metastatic kidney cancer, meaning it has adversely affected both kidneys. I don’t know if that’s relevant in Joe Biden’s case.
This message has been brought to you by the letters W and H and the number 5.
Hey, not just at the border. It can be really hard to get a primate to fit in your luggage, especially if he insists on wearing his mitre. (All mitres should be shipped separately. For that matter, the primates should also be packed separately, especially the archbishops. They tend to be surly after years of waiting for a cardinal appointment.)
[Yeah. Peaceful Science ain’t what it used to be. This is what we’ve come to.]
Trump speculated on the same idiotic idea, and then launched into a tirade about how he himself “aced” cognitive tests while blathering about how demented he thinks Biden is and they’re hiding and covering up all sorts of stuff.
Remember the first rule of the Trump administration: Every accusation is a confession.
I know it’s not a recognized medical term, but I’ve seen it used as Stage 5 = Dead.
There are several exams used to help diagnose Dementia and Alzheimer’s, and it’s pretty hard NOT to ace these unless you are suffering some impairment.
Mark Carney’s first speech in Parliament. “We are Athens, they are Rome.” Who is he referring to?
Athens: the 51st city-state?
What a great statement. And it no doubt completely flew over Trump’s head. Moreover, I’m not even sure he would have anybody around him capable of explaining it to him.
I have been watching a documentary about the War of 1812. Most Americans don’t realize that Canadians viewed that war as a great threat to their independence—because many Americans included Canada in their nation’s manifest destiny goals. (Indeed, many nations of the world coveted Canadian territory because of its vast natural resources, especially the trees well suited for ship building and the specious regions of farmland.) The War of 1812 also helped set the stage for Canada to become an independent nation.
In the light of that history, it is easy to understand why Canadians would be especially offended at Trump’s arrogant bullying and talk of making Canada the 51st state. They must have a sense of “History repeats itself, about 200 years later.”
Maybe you could explain it to me. Because Athens had a much smaller empire than Rome? Because Athens was conquered by Macedon before being “liberated” by the Romans?
My take was that Athens was a democracy, whereas Rome was a republic that became a dictatorship and had imperial aspirations. It also conquered Athens, of course, which I suspect was not part of the intended analogy.
I must also apologize, as that video clip is a bit misleading. Carney was not simply speaking off the cuff, but responding to something the newly elected Speaker had said in his inaugural speech:
As the U.S. president threatens annexation and pursues a trade war against Canada, Scarpaleggia appealed to stirrings of Canadian nationalism. He spoke of the country’s distinct values in the “upper half” of North America, and likened Canada to the flourishing ancient democracy of Athens, a city-state whose philosophy and culture influenced much of the Mediterranean world more than two millennia ago.
“Our neighbour to the south may be modern-day Rome. We are Athens — in culture, values and democracy,” Scarpaleggia said.
“This is how we must see ourselves. That is who we must be.”
In congratulating Scarpaleggia, Prime Minister Mark Carney picked up the theme in his first-ever speech from the floor of the House of Commons. Predicting a “golden age,” Carney — who campaigned for the April 28 federal election by claiming Canada will win the trade war against Trump’s U.S. — declared: “Yes, we are Athens. They are Rome.”
In French, he added, “we will triumph.”