Cranky Old Man #74

A tale of perseverance against near-absolute stupidity and cruelty:

When the Taliban banned women and girls from athletics, and they were in life or death danger, the national girls soccer team fled the country.

Thousands of miles away in Canada, Farkhunda Muhtaj had just begun a new job when she got a call from the Afghanistan Football Federation.
"They asked me, 'Can you help evacuate the girls national team?' " she says.

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Japan plans to launch a wooden satellite

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Occasionally I'm accused of pessimism. Me? Ha!

Well, here's a moment of genuine optimism and sincere patriotism: It amazes me that the USA has survived for so long as it has, always pretending to do the right thing while very rarely doing the right thing. There's been some improvement along the way, making the country's shortcomings and hypocrisies a little less laughable, and I like to believe that one fine and probably fictitious day, maybe we'll do the right thing more often than not. Maybe we'll actually be as good as we're always pretending to be.

Same as me, of course.

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Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello did what?

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This guy reminds me of Jesus...

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This article, about nurses winning a strike in New England, does a good job conveying the hell of working for a for-profit hospital system. It's a moderately long read, but I made it to the end and emerged better informed than when I waded in.

In 2004, St. Vincent was bought by Vanguard Health Systems, Inc., which in turn was acquired by Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corporation, currently the second largest for-profit conglomerate in the country, in 2013. Acquisition by Vanguard and especially Tenet began St. Vincent’s drastic transformation from a Catholic community hospital to a business.

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One-word newscast:

• blue

• cops

• cops

• cops

• cruising

• evil

• optimism

Dead:

• Peter Bogdanovich

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Nicholas Kristof was a fixture of boredom on the pages of the New York Times since the 1980s, winning two Pulitzer Prizes for I'm not sure what. In October he quit the Times to run for Governor of Oregon — without checking to see whether he's qualified for that office. And he's not. Oregon has a requirement that governors must have lived in the state for the past 3 years, but Kristof lived (and voted) in New York until November 2020.

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Beavis and Butt-Head will be returning this year, and they've gotten older.

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Adults should have snow days in winter… and summers off.

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Mystery links — Like life itself, there’s no knowing where you’re going:

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Sing along with Doug:
"Irresistable Targets," by John Stewart
Tip 'o the hat:
Linden Arden • BoingBoing
Captain Hampockets • Follow Me Here
The Honest Courtesan • John the Basket
LiarTownUSA • Messy Nessy Chick
National Zero • Ran Prieur
Vintage Everyday • Voenix Rising
Extra special thanks:
Becky Jo • Name Withheld • Dave S.
1/7/2022
Cranky Old Man