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About yesterday

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Given that today is the anniversary of 9/11 – arguably the biggest news day in living memory – it was probably fitting that yesterday was probably right up there with it in having the most “big” stories in a single 24 hour period, although none of them quite toppling the gravitas of that day in 2001.

Yet.

But wow. There was a lot that went on, and I think it’s worth documenting them, just in case “9/10” or more correctly “10/9” doesn’t become a thing, and future us forget that an awful lot happened that day.

And so, in no particular order:

Riots, a government toppled, ministers beaten and the parliament building burned down in Nepal.

Late annual riots in France, and the resignation of the Prime Minister there.

The shooting of Charlie Kirk, grandson of the famous Star Wars captain, James T.

I’m not a fan of political violence, nor any violence at all, really, but I couldn’t help but think of the words of Clarence Darrow, who wrote in his 1932 book The Story of My Life, “I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction”.

It’s perfectly possible to condemn everything that Kirk stood for (and I do) and also condemn his murder (which I also do). But “awful people certainly don’t deserve to be killed, but they certainly don’t deserve to be praised, either” seems to be a difficult leap for a lot of minds out there.

Russia sends drones into Polish airspace.

Almost forgotten about with potential starting points of various civil wars going on – the potential starting point of World War III. A reminder that Russia objects to Ukraine becoming a member of NATO because “it doesn’t want NATO on its doorstep”, but it already shares borders with Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Finland.

Israel bombs Qatar and Yemen. And Gaza, obviously.

Almost forgotten about with potential starting points of various civil wars going on and the potential starting point of World War III. Another potential starting point of World War III.

Oh, and they still haven’t released the Epstein Files. Let’s not ever let them forget about that, no matter what else is sent to distract us.

But as I said, there was a lot of news yesterday. Just none of it was very good.

What a complete and utter mess the world is in.
Let’s let this all subside a little (hopefully, at least) and then see which bits carry forward, and deal with them as we need.

This week’s posts summed up

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Busy afternoon and evening ahead, but here’s a nice, concise round up of a couple of my posts from earlier in the week. Namely this one, and this one.

Indeed.

Sadly, the FA seem to have backed down on the One Love armband thing after threats by FIFA, whose corrupt clown boss “felt gay” just a couple of days ago. And that’s brought annoyance from some people in the UK, who have moved really quickly from “the armband thing is a poor show” through “England shouldn’t even be playing” to “Well football is awful and just should be banned anyway”.

If you thought FIFA were tone deaf…*

* you’d be right. my point is that so are these pearl clutchers.
the damage is done. the message has already been sent.
that it will inevitably fall on deaf ears is not England’s (or any other team’s) fault.

Day 599, part 2 – Bafana Bafana out of World Cup thanks to this “penalty” “decision”

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Full disclosure: I didn’t watch the match – way too late for me right now.
Just catching up now and… well… wow. This one needs sharing for posterity.
You’re Ghana love it.

Thoughts and prayers with the player involved. Unlikely to ever play again, looking at this.
Less sympathy for the referee’s bank account.

Ghana’s 1-0 win (the goal coming from this decision) means that the final table looks like this:

…meaning that South Africa don’t qualify, but Ghana do.

Convenient.

And you can talk all you like about missed chances and winning games you only drew and and and, but there were plenty of other close calls across the world yesterday (not least this amazing game – or this one), whose outcomes weren’t then ruined by a really, really, dodgy decision.

Africa stays laughable. And losing.