Most weeks, New York Magazine writer-at-large Frank Rich speaks with contributor Alex Carp about the biggest stories in politics and culture. Today, last night’s presidential debate.
If there’s one enduring theme about tyrants in myth, literature, and history it is that, for a long time, no one takes them seriously. And there are few better examples of this than Shakespeare’s fictional Richard III. He’s a preposterous figure in many ways, an unsightly hunchback, far down the line of royal accession, socially outcast, riven with resentment, utterly dismissible — until he serially dismisses and/or murders everyone between him and the throne. What makes the play so riveting and often darkly funny is the sheer unlikelihood of the plot, the previously inconceivable ascent to the Crown of this indelibly absurd figure, as Stephen Greenblatt recently explored in his brilliant monograph, Tyrant.
https://andrewsullivan.
Tests for Covid-19 that show on-the-spot results in 15 to 30 minutes are about to be rolled out across the world, potentially saving many thousands of lives and slowing the pandemic in both poor and rich countries.
In a triumph for a global initiative to get vital drugs and vaccines to fight the virus, 120m rapid antigen tests from two companies will be supplied to low- and middle-income countries for $5 (£3.90) each or even less.
Mitch McConnell was elected to the US Senate in 1985. He was named Senate minority leader in 2007, and Senate majority leader in 2015. It was, for McConnell, the culmination of decades of planning, labor, and, when necessary, self-abasement. “The ultimate goal of many of my colleagues was to one day sit at the desk in the Oval Office,” McConnell writes in his memoir, The Long Game. “That wasn’t my goal. When it came to what I most desired, and the place from which I thought I could make the greatest difference, I knew deep down it was the majority leader’s desk I hoped to occupy one day.”
Maybe you never wondered if there was a brand of religious zealotry out there that includes all the secretive ultra-conservative Catholicism of Opus Dei, then slathers on the anti-rationality, ready condemnation, and baked-in misogyny of extreme fundamentalist evangelicism. It doesn’t matter if you’ve thought about this worst-of-both-worlds stew, because exactly that combination seems set to remold American law for a generation or more.
The United States has a president who received nearly 3 million fewer votes than his Democratic opponent. Currently, over half the country lives in just nine states, which means that less than half of the population controls 82 percent of the Senate. It also means that Republicans hold a majority in the Senate despite the fact that Democratic senators represent more than half of the American people.
Every year since 2010, Florida has gained about 300,000 residents. The consistent stream has become the state’s lifeblood, keeping taxes low while injecting billions into new-home construction and associated businesses. When Covid-19 hit, there was concern the migration would stop.
Key West code enforcement officer Paul Navarro was halfway through his shift and beginning to see signs of trouble. The crowds on lower Duval Street swelled just after 9pm, and social distancing quickly became impossible on the sidewalks.
Law of Mechanical Repair
After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch and you'll have to pee.
Law of Gravity
Any tool, nut, bolt, screw, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible place in the universe.
Law of Probability
The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act.
Law of Random Numbers.
If you dial a wrong number, you never get a busy signal; someone always answers.
Variation Law
If you change lines (or traffic lanes), the one you were in will always move faster than the one you are in now.
Law of the Bath
When the body is fully immersed in water, the telephone will ring.
Law of Close Encounters
The probability of meeting someone you know INCREASES dramatically when you are with someone with
whom you don't want to be seen.
Law of the Result
When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, IT WILL!!!
Law of Biomechanics
The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.
Law of the Theater & Hockey Arena
At any event, the people whose seats are furthest from the aisle, always arrive last. They are the ones
who will leave their seats several times to go for food, beer, or the toilet and who leave early before
the end of the performance or the game is over. The folks in the aisle seats come early, never move once,
have long gangly legs or big bellies and stay to the bitter end of the performance. The aisle people also are
very surly folk.
The Coffee Law
As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last
until the coffee is cold.
Murphy's Law of Lockers
If there are only two people in a locker room, they will have adjacent lockers.
Law of Physical Surfaces
The chances of an open-faced jelly sandwich landing face down on a floor are directly correlated to the
newness and cost of the carpet or rug.
Law of Logical Argument
Anything is possible IF you don't know what you are talking about.
Law of Physical Appearance
If the clothes fit, they're ugly.
Law of Public Speaking
A CLOSED MOUTH GATHERS NO FEET!
Law of Commercial Marketing Strategy
As soon as you find a product that you really like, they will stop making it OR the store will stop selling it!
Doctors' Law
If you don't feel well and make an appointment to go to the doctor, by the time you get there, you'll feel better.
But don't make an appointment and you'll stay sick.
If you don't forward this to your friends, your belly button will unscrew and your butt will fall off.
Really. It's true. I read it on the Internet!
Frankie died. His will provided $40,000 for an elaborate funeral.
As the last guests departed the affair, his wife Jeanette turned to her oldest and dearest friend.
"Ah well, Frankie would be pleased," she said.
"You're right," replied Maria, who lowered her voice and leaned in close.
"So go on, how much did this really cost?'"
"All of it," said Jeanette. "Forty thousand."
"Aw No!" Maria exclaimed, "I mean, it was very grand, but $40,000?!!!"
Jeanette answered, "The funeral was $6,500.
I donated $500 to the church.
The whiskey, wine and snacks were another $500.
The rest went for the Memorial Stone."
Maria computed quickly.
"Mama Mia !!! For the love of God Jeanette, $32,500 for a Memorial Stone?
How big is it?"
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