Kamala Harris's Word Salads

Presidential contender Kamala Harris is said to be the worst extemporaneous speaker in the history of US presidential politics. But, she has shown herself to be awesomely adept at spewing meme-worthy soundbites, ill-timed cackles and of course, cringe-worthy word salads!

Be sure to read these examples out LOUD and be impressed!

 

"The passage of time" word salad in her speech on March 21, 2022 in Sunset, Louisiana touting efforts to bring high-speed Internet to communities in the state:

"...and erm, talking about the significance of the passage of time, right, the significance of the passage of time. So when you think about it, there is great significance to the passage of time in terms of what we need to do to lay these wires, what need to do to create these jobs and there is such great significance to the passage of time when we think about a day in the life of our children". 

 

"Work together" word salad in remarks made on May 13, 2022 in a meeting on climate at the US-ASEAN special summit:

"Our world is more interconnected and interdependent. That is especially true when it comes to the climate crisis, which is why we will work together and continue to work together to address these issues, to tackle these challenges, and to work together as we continue to work, operating from the new norms, rules, and agreements that we will convene to work together on to galvanize global action".

 

"Seriously" word salad in remarks made on July 05, 2022 on the Highland Park Shooting in Illinois:

"...And we got to take this stuff seriously, as seriously as you are – because you have been forced to have to take it seriously".  

 

"Moment in time" word salad in her speech on April 25, 2023 at a political event on reproductive rights at Howard University, her alma mater in Washington, DC:

“So, I think it’s very important, as you have heard from so many incredible leaders, for us at every moment in time – and certainly this one – to see the moment in time in which we exist and are present, and to be able to contextualize it, to understand where we exist in the history and in the moment as it relates not only to the past but the future. And I will say to everyone here that we are living, I do believe, in a moment in time where so many of our hard-won freedoms are under attack, and this is a moment for us to stand and fight”.

 

"Inspiring" word salad  in her address on September 25, 2024 to the Economic Club of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:

"We need to guard that spirit. We have to guard that spirit. Let it always inspire us. Let it always be the source of our optimism, which is that spirit that is uniquely American. Let that then inspire us by helping us to be inspired to solve the problems that so many face, including our small business owners".

 

"Holistic/holistically" word salad in interview on September 25, 2024 with MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle:

"Some of the work is going to be through what we do in terms of giving benefits and assistance to state and local governments around transit dollars and looking holistically at the connection between that and housing and looking holistically at the incentives we in the federal government can create for local and state governments to actually engage in planning in [a] holistic manner that includes prioritising affordable housing for working people".

 

Somebody actually suggested a better term: word vomit.

Word salads are not only her thing! She's good at geography too. During an appearance on the syndicated “Morning Hustle” radio program on March 01, 2022, she was asked by co-host "Headkrack" to explain the (Ukraine) conflict “in layman’s terms for people who don’t understand what’s going on and how can this directly affect the people of the United States?” 

 

And thus, she spoke SLOWLY as she informed her fellow citizens:

"Ukraine is a country in Europe. It exists next to another country called Russia. Russia is a bigger country. Russia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine, so basically that’s wrong". 

And who can forget her famous retort when she defended her decision to not go to the US-Mexico border during a combative moment in an interview on June 07, 2021 with NBC’s Lester Holt in Guatemala: “And I haven’t been to Europe”.

UNGA "Yes" to Immediate Humanitarian Ceasefire in Gaza

Israel won't budge, nor will it cease and desist! The US will supply weapons and more weapons. And the callous carnage in Gaza continues!

 

In spite of the UN General Assembly having overwhelmingly adopted a non-binding resolution on Tuesday demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. 

 

153 member states voted in favor, 10 against and there were 23 abstentions. 

 

The ten countries not in favor of a ceasefire are Austria, Paraguay, Czech Republic, Guatemala, Liberia, Micronesia, Nauru, Papua New Guinea and of course, Israel and the United States.

 

The UK, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Ukraine were among the 23 countries to abstain.

 

This was a second attempt by the UN General Assembly which on October 27 had called for "a humanitarian truce" in a resolution adopted with 121 "yes" votes, 14 against and 44 abstentions.

 

According to Gaza's health ministry, since the Israeli offensive began, more than 18,400 people have been killed and more than 50,000 people have been injured. No mention of the estimated numbers who are buried in the rubble though.

UNGA Vote For Palestine

The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian truce between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas. 

 

The 193-member body passed the resolution, drafted by a group of 22 Arab countries, by a margin of 120 to 14, with 45 countries abstaining. 

 

Obviously, the United States and Israel voted no as well as twelve other countries: Austria, Croatia, Czechia, Fiji, Guatemala, Hungary, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay and Tonga.

 

Speaking before the vote, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said that voting against the resolution “means approving this senseless war, this senseless killing”. Israel denounced the vote as “infamy”. Needless to say, the US is firmly in cahoots with the Israelis and so, they too oppose peace.

 

Russian soft drinks brand Dobry overtook Coca-Cola in sales on the domestic market in January-August 2023, news website RBK reported on Thursday, citing a study by NielsenIQ. 

 

The Dobry Cola brand is produced at factories that belonged to Coca-Cola HBC Russia, the bottler of the original drink. 

 

According to the report, Dobry came in second in the ranking of the 50 most popular FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) brands. Based on the results of the first eight months, the brand’s share in total sales on the FMCG market is 1.2%, the study showed. 

 

The original Coca-Cola did not even make it into the top 50 brands in Russia, despite finding its way into the sanctioned country through parallel imports.

Flamingos Pop Up in Surprising Places

Flamingos have been popping up in surprising places since Hurricane Idalia blew through parts of the US southeast three weeks ago. 

 

In the following days, dozens of sightings were reported from Texas to Florida, as far north as Pennsylvania and most states in between. And though flamingos can be found in parts of Florida, it's safe to say they don't frequently hang out farther north in states such as Kentucky, Tennessee and North and South Carolina.

 

Ohio was the northernmost point for the flamingos as of September 06, that is until a pair of flamingos were sighted in southern Pennsylvania's Franklin County on Thursday. 

 

The birds likely got caught up in Hurricane Idalia, according to Nate Swick, the American Birding Association's digital communications manager. That's a "fairly common phenomenon" for birds, but not for flamingos, he said. 

 

Though American flamingos (Scientific name: Phoenicopterus ruber) are native to the US state of Florida, the birds were hunted to near-extinction at the beginning of the 1900s and make up a mere 1% of the global flamingo population, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. That's why Swick and other bird enthusiasts were shocked to see flamingos hanging out on the Florida panhandle as well. 

 

However, there is a sizable population of American flamingos on the Yucatan Peninsula, which separates the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, Swick said. Encompassing some 76,300 square miles (197,600 square km), it includes the Mexican states of Campeche, Quintana Roo, and Yucatán and, in the south, large parts of Belize and Guatemala. 

 

Photos of the flamingos found in Florida have tags linked to breeding populations in the Yucatan, Swick said. "So, we do know those birds mostly came from the Yucatan Peninsula. And they, you know, they got caught up in the storm and just kind of went with it". 

 

In terms of how the flamingos navigated a major storm, Swick said there's no definitive explanation. He said they could have gotten caught in the storm and flown with the wind, or perhaps had been in the eye of Idalia and moved with it until the storm broke apart. 

 

What likely happened, Swick explained, is that the birds were either in Yucatan or on their way to Cuba when the storm hit them. The flamingos went with the winds instead of fighting them, as the eastern portion of the storm drove the birds up the western side of Florida. 

 

But flamingos are big, strong birds, more than capable of making their way back home, Swick said, like they did in 2019. There were flamingo sightings in Tennessee and Missouri when Hurricane Barry came out of the Gulf of Mexico and drenched the deep south. And the birds eventually did return to their homes.

10 Most Common Passwords in 2020

Password management software company NordPass have published their list of the "Top 200 most common passwords of the year 2020". And here are the 10 most common passwords that people are using (and shouldn't be) in 2020: 

"Password" even moved up a spot to number four! New additions include "picture1" and "senha", the Portugese word for, er, "password".

I guess they chose these passwords because they're so obvious that they think they'll actually get away with them!

I have not commented on Malaysia’s 2021 Budget. To be honest, there's nothing there that's worth mentioning – and so, I won't!

 

Yesterday, hundreds of anti-government protesters in Guatemala vandalied and set fire to parts of the Congress building, before being dispersed by riot police. The arsonists are opposed to a budget(!) which was approved by Congress on Wednesday.

They also want President Alejandro Giammattei (left) to resign. 

The opposition says the budget prioritises big infrastructure projects to be handled by companies with government connections and overlooks the social and economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hmmm, this sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Latin America Hits 7 Million Cases

Latin America finds itself mired in a desperate situation insofar as Covid-19 is concerned. 

The virulent pathogen is stalking and hurting many countries – and yesterday, it breached the 7-million mark. Its caseload and fatality numbers represent 28.5% and 32.2% of the world total respectively. 

You may be interested to know that among the 12 worst-hit countries in Latin America, they combine to account for 98% and 99% of the region’s total confirmed cases and deaths. And 8 of those countries are among thirty nations from around the world yielding 100,000 cases or more. 

In Malaysia, the residents of Slim, a small, rural, Malay-majority constituency in Perak ensured that BN (actually UMNO) retained 13,060 votes to win the by-election today. It's a 10,945-vote majority.

Mahathir Mohamad’s party, Pejuang which made their debut lost, having secured only 2,115 votes.

Latin America Tops 5 Million Cases

Latin America broke through five million confirmed cases of Covid-19, a Reuters tally showed, underscoring the region's position as the area of the world hardest hit by the pandemic. After all, five of the countries are in the world's Top 12!

It is also noteworthy to mention that the 12 worst-affected Latin American countries account for 98% of the continent's total. 

Elsewhere, India climbed to 1.7 million cases on Saturday, and within a day, added another 100,000 to reach more than 1.8 million.

 

The US tallied 4.8 million cases on Sunday. The Philippines too made further inroads with 100,000 cases on the same day and Iraq accumulated 130,000 yesterday.

 

In fact, the Americas account for 54% of the world total.

 

Today, I received an email which confirms that my scream has just been blasted from speakers placed in Djúpivogur, East Iceland. That's super cool!

[If you don't know what I'm talking about, kindly refer to my blog post “S-C-R-E-A-M” published July 27, 2020. I watched a recording of it at https://lookslikeyouneediceland.com/?share=71f9270d-339e-466a-82de-d66975e5d398].

 

But in my particular case, my scream was heard when it went all the way to Iceland!

Already 12 Million Cases!

The spread of coronavirus in some countries is super fast. It took just three days for it to make another jump from 11.5 million cases on Sunday to 12 million yesterday. 

Already, Latin America has seen 3 million infections on Tuesday. In fact, worldwide, four of the countries are well-entrenched in the Top 12 for Most Number of Coronavirus Cases: Brazil at No. 2, Peru at No. 5, Chile at No. 6 and Mexico at No. 9. And when combined, they contributed a weighty 84.3% of the Latin America total. Or 21.3% of the world total!

And Russia and Bangladesh reached new peaks with 700,000 and 170,000 cases respectively on Wednesday:

There was an EPL game yesterday and record-chasing Liverpool moved another step closer to the 100-point Premier League landmark with a comfortable 3-1 win against Brighton. 

The champions stole a march on their opponents with two goals inside the opening eight minutes as Mohamed Salah and Jordan Henderson capped clinical counter attacks with simple strikes (6, 8). 

The Seagulls pulled a goal back in the forty-fifth minute – but Salah (76) scored again after the break heading in a corner from Andy Robertson at the near post to put the game beyond Brighton.

Y-a-y-y-y, Liverpool have now won 30 of their 34 Premier League games this season (drawn two, lost two); this is the fastest any side has ever reached 30 wins in a season in the history of the English Football League. 

The next match is against Burnley on Saturday.

Donald Trump Dismisses Covid-19 as Totally Harmless

"That 99% harmless (claim) is ridiculous", Dr. Peter Hotez (right), dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas said. 

"We know 15% to 20% of patients are hospitalized, and of those, about half go in intensive care with permanent injury", he said. "That was just an irresponsible statement".

That's for sure! 

And in case you don’t know, long-term injuries from Covid-19 don't just happen to the seniors. 

New Jersey physician Dr. Jen Caudle (left) said she's seen young patients suffer from strokes, shortness of breath, fatigue or the inability to smell and taste long after recovering from coronavirus.

Day after day, US coronavirus numbers advance without a respite and cases and deaths continue to escalate. Covid-19 looks like a long-drawn-out story for the US.

In Chile, the South American country raced to reach 300,000 cases on Tuesday.

And Saudi Arabia and Guatemala registered 2,000 and 1,000 deaths respectively on the same day as well.

A Smartphone App for Football Matches

Japan’s coronavirus-hit J-League is anticipated to resume either June 27 or July 04 behind closed doors. 

And a remote cheering app could mean football action won’t unfold in atmosphere-sapping silence. 

The Remote Cheerer system developed by Japanese firm Yamaha allows fans following the match on TV, the radio or online to encourage – or berate – players via their smartphones, their voices reverberating around the stadium in realtime via loudspeakers. 

In one field test, users in multiple remote locations chose from a range of on-screen options that sent their applause, chants, cheers and boos into the 50,000-seat Shizuoka Stadium ECOPA in Fukuroi City, Shizuoka Prefecture via 58 speakers set up among the empty seats. 

That’s a lot better than Germany’s cardboard cut-outs (my blog post dated May 16) and/or South Korea’s sex dolls (my blog post dated May 21)! 

Now, if only UK’s EPL will procure this app – that’ll be really cool! 

The Americas, said WHO, have emerged as the center of the coronavirus pandemic.

Indeed, cases have spiked, registering more than 2.4 million cases and more than 143,000 deaths. 

Countries like Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Peru have been singled out for special mention. 

Already yesterday, Carissa Etienne (right), WHO director for the Americas and head of the Pan American Health Organization had issued a warning: “Now is not the time for countries to ease restrictions”.

I don't think the twin terrors Donald Trump and Jai Bolsonaro will give a damn to the advice!

FYI, the Top 7 countries in the Americas combined account for 44.6% of coronavirus cases worldwide:

Children in Detention

Children sleep in cramped conditions in a holding cell at a US Customs and Border Protection processing facility in Brownsville, Texas, USA. File: Eric Gay/AP Photo

Protesters hold signs outside of the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children while members of US Congress tour the facility. File: Lynne Sladky/AP Photo

Since the earliest times, humanity has been on the move. 

For whatever reason, be it for economic motives or to flee from conflict and persecution. And these days, people, also move in response to the adverse effects of climate change, or other environmental factors. 

According to the United Nations, more people today than ever live in a country other than the one in which they were born. In 2019, the number of migrants globally reached an estimated 272 million, 51 million more than in 2010. 

Lest we forget, not all migrants are welcomed with open arms. 

On Monday, a UN study revealed that worldwide, more than seven million people under age 18 are held in jails and police custody – including 330,000 in immigration detention centers spread out in 80 countries. 

Lead author of the United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty, Manfred Nowak (left), pointed the finger at the US of A as having the world's highest rate of children in detention, often in violation of international law! 

It’s true! The sole superpower, supposedly the bastion of freedom and democracy accounts for nearly a third of such detentions! 

"The total number currently detained is 103,000", Nowak told AFP, calling it a "conservative" assessment, based on the latest available official data as well as "very reliable" additional sources. 

The migration is mostly from Central America – and it is not a new phenomenon, by the way. The Northern Triangle of Central America (“NTCA”), composed of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, is considered one of the most dangerous places on earth – and this results in unprecedented levels of migration. 

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has labelled this a humanitarian crisis. Many Central Americans are refugees who are fleeing for their lives. 

What is most shocking is the number of unaccompanied children who are seeking refuge outside their country. According to the Federation for American Scientists in 2014 alone, US authorities documented 68,500 unaccompanied children from the NTCA at the US-Mexico border. 

Interviewed children predominantly cited the following reasons for fleeing the region: Fleeing violence in their community and/or home; actively avoiding recruitment into gangs; and avoiding exploitation in the form of prostitution or human trafficking. 

Since coming to office, US President Donald Trump (right) has made strict immigration policies a cornerstone of his presidency. Under his "zero-tolerance" policy at the border, his government implemented a practice of separating families. 

Following public outrage, Trump formally ended the practice in June 2018, but immigration advocates say family separation continues. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform reported in July 2019 that over 700 children have been separated from their parents after the policy's official end. And in that same month, it was reported that as many as five children per day were being separated, and by October, the total had reached 1,090. 

Nowak declared that separating children, as was done by the Trump administration, from their parents is absolutely prohibited by the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 

“I would call it inhuman treatment for both the parents and the children", he lashed out. Linguists would be keenly aware that the word he used was “inhuman”, not “inhumane”. 

Nowak added that Mexico, where many Central American migrants have been turned back at the US border, also has high numbers, with 18,000 children in immigration-related detention and 7,000 in prisons. 

The UN study drew attention to the violations of the UN's Convention on the Rights of the Child, which mandates that child detentions be used "only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time". 

The US is the only UN member state that has NOT RATIFIED the convention which took effect in 1990. 

But Nowak said that did not absolve the Trump's administration of wrongdoing with respect to the detention of migrant children at the southern border with Mexico. 

The professor of international law at the University of Vienna, Austria had explained that even though the US has not endorsed the child rights convention, it is bound by the convention on civil and political rights, which forbids cruel and inhuman treatment. 

I agree. Child detentions should only occur in very exceptional cases. 

Shame on you, Donald Trump! Shame on you, America!

Friday's Climate Strikes

Millions of people around the world took part in Friday's climate strike and calling for "climate justice" to be an ethical obligation and not just an environmental issue. 

Roughly 4,638 events took place in 139 countries, according to Greta Thunberg (right).

From New York to Guatemala City, Cape Town to London, Bangkok to Sydney, protesters marched to draw attention to the climate crisis. 

The coordinated strike was timed ahead of the United Nations Climate Summit – which kicks off today – where countries are expected to enhance their commitments to reducing greenhouse gases under the Paris climate agreement. 

Estimates of total crowd sizes have been as high as 4 million, it is reckoned. 

In New York City, USA where schools excused the city's 1.1 million students from class to participate – organizers have pegged that number at close to 250,000, making it the largest protest that day. 

Big crowds turned up elsewhere in the country – in San Francisco (40,000), Denver (7,500) Boston (7,000), Chicago (3,000), Portland (2,000) and Washington DC, among other cities. 

Local officials and protest organizers offered varying crowd size estimates at the various other cities. 

According to organizers, some of the other largest demonstrations took place in Berlin (270,000), London (100,000) and across Australia (about 100,000 protesting in Melbourne alone, organizers say). 

I’m sorry I’m still sceptical that governments will take urgent and immediate action. 

Sunday morning, I was at Bar House @ Jalan 5/19 off Jalan Gasing in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. I finally made it to the Sai Masters Toastmasters meeting – the July 28th meeting was aborted. 

I took up three roles – as Speaker, Speech Evaluator and General Evaluator. 

I did a CC#8 speech titled The Bridesmaid. This is for my Competent Communication manual, Round #62. 

And I was voted Best Project Speaker. 

I also took part in Table Topics – and I was voted Best TT Speaker.

Photos of the said meeting: