leicsmac

And Brook continues to sparkle.

Think what's happened in the NZ innings has vindicated Englands approach tbh - this pitch is a seamers paradise (especially with the quality of bowling on both sides) and if you go too defensive then you're getting got anyway. Better to make the runs as fast as you can before that happens.

According to the Beeb statto, it's only happened once before. Naturally it was Chris Gayle, and he hit two of them.

Not often you see a six in the first over of a Test.

I hope a sidebar to this is also condemning the practices of the company that father headed and the system that enabled it that directly contributed to the further sickness and death of a great many fathers.

I tend to think of it as causality in action, rather than something to be celebrated or condemned to be honest.

That's about the size of it. And when people feel they have nothing to lose and they see people they perceive as responsible... I think you may be right.

The bullet casings from the shooting of the health exec had "Defend, Deny, Depose" inscribed on them. From what I have read, that's from a book illustrating healthcare corps tactics to deny affordable treatment to their clients. ("Defend the company, deny payouts, depose clients", for instance.) Reasonable assumption that it was someone with an axe to grind against the US healthcare "system", then.

... I'm sure the insurance company will use all the tools at their disposal to avoid paying out, as usual.

... are we sure he didn't just have a preexisting condition?

NB. If this had happened 18 months ago:

From what I know, the system over there is similar to the US in that the head of the executive is also the commander in chief of the armed forces, so in essence the military would only listen to orders from the president while he is in office, even if his parliament then countermanded him. Perhaps this might give some folks in the US some food for thought about how bad that system can go when you have a person in charge willing to abuse their power and go that far to retain it.

Elon Musk, for playing a big part in doxxing government climate scientists, knowing full well what the consequences would be for them, their families and friends, and their highly critical work.

I can only guess, but the most plausible theory is that he snapped through frustration (at having his agenda stymied so much by an unfriendly parliament) and desperation (he knew the axe was coming down wrt the corruption allegations sooner or later), and so something drastic, even with only a small chance of success, was better than the certainty and inevitability of failure if he didn't draw more power to himself. Of course, it didn't work for him, and now I would expect both a resignation/impeachment and a criminal trial to be in his future.

And Yoon backs down. Odd evening in Seoul.

It's either that or things descend into proper nastiness. We'll know pretty soon I think, and thankfully it's much more likely to be the former.

... and pretty much his entire legislative body has essentially told Yoon to fvck off. I wonder where things go from here.

It's not like it's not home to turbulent times in all honesty - there's been a good half dozen coups before it became a full democracy and even then you can count the former Presidents that haven't ended up doing time for something on the fingers of one hand. But they've mostly kept on keeping on.

Yoon was always a piece of work. Didn't think he'd go this far to use and abuse his power, though - he's not even got universal support from within his own party on this one. I just hope this doesn't get too bad.

I honestly don't know what the best way forward is on that topic. Darkly humorous that the world is having to consider these decisions because a few million people who likely have never left their state decided that their eggs were a little too expensive for their own personal liking.

I can sort of understand Starmer hedging his bets here some but you're absolutely right here, and I'd add that in terms of social values, scientific policy and basic human rights the UK should align a lot more with a lot of European nations (with a few exceptions) than with the incoming US administration too.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy89x13xle5o Drumpf isn't going to give you a biscuit if you act the poodle, Mr Starmer. Act accordingly.

I think the writer is emphasising exactly that. Edit: I reckon that everyone has a different calculus for ends justifying means.

Something I came across earlier WRT the current Biden discussion, from a "proper" leftist: I never thought I'd say this, as I very much don't like the guy, but good for Joe Biden. Good move, Joe. Stick it to them. Personally, I don't give a **** about what Hunter Biden did. I will fully admit that haven't bothered with learning all the details, but I don't need to. Because compared to the crimes of Trump, of which he will never really be really held accountable for, anything that Hunter Biden did was akin to a kid stealing from a candy store. And the degree to which prosecuting him was a politically motivated witch hunt should be brutally obvious to anyone who hasn't been brainwashed by a red hat. I can only hope that such a move isn't isolated, that maybe, just maybe, the Dems have finally learned (too little too late but still) that the "moral high ground" is ****ing meaningless when the other side is as committed to playing as dirty as the GOP does. Yes, go against your word. Meet them at their level. Stop acting as though American politics is an intramural kids' sporting league and show some ****ing teeth. It is truly the only way forward when the side committed to playing dirty is also the side that wants to destroy democracy and usher in a tyrannical religious theocracy. Biden just showed his teeth for once. Let him be a guiding beacon for the rest of the party. Edit: to pre-empt possible comments, posting this purely for the purpose of discussion, I don't have a good/bad take on it myself.