Putin his place
MUCH has been made of the rise of post-truth politics â the idea that while politicians are still as dishonest as ever, they no longer even pretend to stick to the facts. An exemplar of this is US presidential candidate Donald Trump, a man who doesnât lie so much as see the truth as a bad investment.
Lately Trump has been accused of softening the Republican stance on Russia. Quizzed on Vladimir Putinâs military adventurism, Trump insisted that the Russian leader had no expansionist plans: âHeâs not going into Ukraine, OK, just so you understand,â he told George Stephanopoulos at ABC News. âYou can mark it down.â
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Stephanopoulos was prompted to point out that Russian forces are already there, having annexed Crimea in 2014. âWell, heâs there in a certain way,â Trump admitted, before adding, inexplicably: â.â
âRoger Gladwell is tickled by a sign he spotted by the highway as he drove north from Southampton, UK: âCCTV cameras take your litter homeâ⊠Well, thatâs a new use for themâ
Top Trumps
TRUMPâS Heisenbergian take on Putinâs whereabouts encourages Feedback to cast an eye over the pompadoured presidential candidateâs forays into matters scientific and more. We feel these can only be adequately conveyed in the great oratorâs own words, taken verbatim from his Twitter feed.
âI predicted the 9/11 attack on America in my book âThe America We Deserveâ ()
âNot only are wind farms disgusting looking, but even worse they are bad for peopleâs healthâ ()
âAn âextremely credible sourceâ has called my office and told me that @BarackObamaâs birth certificate is a fraud.â ()
âRemember, new âenvironment friendlyâ lightbulbs can cause cancer. Be carefulâ the idiots who came up with this stuff donât care.â ()
âIf we didnât remove incredibly powerful fire retardant asbestos & replace it with junk that doesnât work, the World Trade Center would never have burned down.â ()
âThe concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.â ()
âHow amazing, the State Health Director who verified copies of Obamaâs âbirth certificateâ died in plane crash today. All others livedâ ()
âSnowing in Texas and Louisiana, record setting freezing temperatures throughout the country and beyond. Global warming is an expensive hoax!â ()
âHealthy young child goes to doctor, gets pumped with massive shot of many vaccines, doesnât feel good and changes â AUTISM. Many such cases!â ()
âThe U.S. cannot allow EBOLA infected people back. People that go to far away places to help out are great-but must suffer the consequences!â ()
âI am being proven right about massive vaccinationsâthe doctors lied. Save our children & their future.â ()
âEbola is much easier to transmit than the CDC and government representatives are admitting. Spreading all over Africa-and fast. Stop flightsâ ()
âWe must suspend immigration from regions linked with terrorism until a proven vetting method is in place.â ()
Feedback can at least agree with one bombastic pronouncement from the ornery demagogue: âThe global warming we should be worried about is the global warming caused by NUCLEAR WEAPONS in the hands of crazy or incompetent leaders!â Quite.
Star-crossed
PREVIOUSLY, Jocelyn Penington wrote in to question Shakespeareâs astronomy credentials, evident in Hamletâs love letter to Ophelia (30 July).
James Fradgley draws our attention to a further example in Julius Caesar, in which the titular character exclaims: âI am constant as the Northern Starâ.
Unfortunately for the Bard, âin 55 BC there wasnât anything nearby that one could call a northern starâ, says James. âIn any case, Polaris is five stars, a Cepheid variable.â Perhaps the Roman leader was not as constant as he hoped?
Self-serve
PETNET sells $150 internet-linked feeding bowls for cats and dogs, allowing you to dispense food from afar using your smartphone.
But in a novel twist on Schrödingerâs pet-care practices, the companyâs servers controlling the bowls unexpectedly went down, leading Petnet to warn customers: âYou may experience a loss of scheduled feeds and failed remote feedings. Please ensure that your pets have been fed manually until we have resolved this issue.â
Feedback canât help but ask: if manually filling your petâs bowl was an option, why would anyone need a
