Tag: #Ukraine

  • England v Denmark Today

    So… I really don’t know that much about international football, let alone European football, but that isn’t a good reason to stop me from talking like I’m an authority on EURO 2020/21.

    In that sense, I was wrong about Belgium, and very wrong about Italy. It feels like it’s the 80’s again with Italy playing well, and maybe winning a championship. Also, Denmark is the sentimental favorite of the tournament. They whole thing with Christian Erikson collapsing and almost dying on the field is just crazy to begin with, but Denmark seems to have found their stride.

    Which does make me nervous for England. (It’s the Cub fan in me coming out.) Sure, the Three Lions beat up on Ukraine, but that match wasn’t as much as a test as compared to the Germany game. And England is playing at home today, which should give them an edge. But Denmark has the better story, and is the underdog, and they lost their best player but somehow keep finding ways to win.

    So, I’ looking forward to the match.

    Problem is that the game is at 3pm, and that is when I need to get the kid from day camp. And she wants to go to the park after camp today.

    I might have to bribe her with ice cream so dad can watch the match in air conditioning at home.

  • ODDS and ENDS – Euro 2020/21, Summer Camp, Sleep!

    “Odds and Ends” is my continuing series of random thoughts and follow ups…

    Again, I will be talking about Euro 2020/21. As of this moment, Switzerland just got bounced by Spain, and Italy and Belgium just started. Though I was completely wrong about Sweden last week, I still hold that the final will be Belgium against England. Yes, over the Fourth of July Weekend, I will be rooting for England.

    Finally, some good news with Summer Camp, as it has taken up my whole week. The pediatrician’s office got the revised vaccination form to me today; a whole day earlier than they said. The weight taken off, not only my shoulders, but my wife’s shoulders, is enormous! The kid will get to go to summer day camp! She gets to be around kids again! We all get a break from each other! I feel like I won the lottery!

    One last thing. After my wife’s birthday, which was in the middle of June, I decided that I would do another thirty days of no alcohol. I did it last year as a sort of detox and reset on getting healthy. I was told that when you stop drinking you begin to notice changes such as, the ability to sleep through the night, your complexation clears up, you become more focus, and relaxed, and you lose weight. When I did it last year, I noticed none of those benefits. Nothing. I couldn’t sleep, I had a bad complexation, I was foggy, not relaxed, and I put on weight. Sure, it was the middle of the pandemic, but I thought I would have got something. This time around, I can report that I am, in fact, sleeping better, and through the night. As for the other benefits, again, nothing. Seems to be that I might have to do this five more times before I start seeing all the benefits at once.

  • It’s Not the Crime

    Okay, so I have read a great deal today about the new Trump scandal. These are my thoughts;

    1. It’s never the crime, it’s the cover up. As far as I can tell, Trump broke this rule, bigly. The way Trump handled the Russian prob was to claim that he had no idea that what he was doing with Russia was illegal. That seemed to be the point Muller made, that he could prove intent. If Trump intended to commit a crime. This time around, if Trump’s lawyers and the Justice Department did try to hide these phone calls, and the whistleblower complaint, then that would show intent. They all knew it was illegal and had to stop it from getting out. To me, that takes away the argument that the call was innocent. The withholding of Ukraine’s defense money might also show intent.
    2. Attorney General Barr is all up in this. I know the NYTimes ran this idea first, but now that Trump is saying to foreign leaders that Barr will contact them, then Barr needs to answer why the President would think that. What conversations has Barr had with Trump about Biden? I know full well Barr will claim that he cannot talk about his conversations with the President, but is there anything at the Justice Department happening about Ukraine, and Biden? When did that get started? Who started it, and when?
    3. This is a stretch, but Rudy is going through a nasty divorce. I don’t think he has his head on straight, and can’t keep all of the truth, lines, and smoke from blending together. Investigators should lean on him, as I think he would be the first to crack.

    None of this is good…