Greeks Vote, Republicans Against Trump
Sunday, July 5, 2015
Vol. 4, No. 186
Drachma Drama: Greeks went to the polls today to vote on whether to accept a European financial bailout or reject it, and possibly leave the euro zone. Polls showed the electorate in the country of 11 million people has been pretty evenly split between yes and no.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says it’s a vote for national dignity.
After five years of pension cuts, high unemployment, and rising taxes, Greeks are angry. Pensioners turned away from closed banks have become the face of national humiliation.
Greek leaders have told voters that if they reject the bailout they can get a better offer from European creditors afraid that a Greek collapse could be the worst thing. But the Greeks already live with closed banks, rationed ATM withdrawals and the prospect of the country running out of cash.
Tomorrow, no matter which way the vote goes, the European Central Bank will have to decide whether to inject cash into Greece, or let the collapse begin.
Culture War: The Islamic State released a video yesterday showing 25 men executed by teenage boys against the backdrop of the ancient amphitheater of Syria’s Palmyra. Local residents were forced to watch the killing of the men accused of fighting for the Syrian government.
PolitiSpeak: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has managed to make himself the candidate other Republican candidates are running against, and away from. They’re stepping up to denounce the Donald for his denigration of Mexican immigrants.
-Jeb Bush: “To make these extraordinarily ugly kind of comments is not reflective of the Republican Party. Trump is wrong on this.”
-Marco Rubio: “Trump’s comments are not just offensive and inaccurate, but also divisive.”
Some Hispanic leaders say other Republicans have not been quick enough to separate themselves. None of it has hurt Trump, who has surged to second place in the polls.
The Hunger Games: Joey Chestnut, who won the annual Nathan’s Famous hotdog-eating-contest eight years in a row, was knocked off his counter seat by 23-year-old Matt Stonie, who put down 62 hotdogs to Chestnut’s 60 in 10 minutes. According to Nathan’s, Stonie wolfed 17,360 calories, 1,116 grams of fat, and 48,360 milligrams of sodium. “I trained hard for this,” Stonie said.
Magnanimous in defeat, the 31-year-old Chestnut said, “I’ve been looking for competition for a long time and I finally have it. He made me hungry.”
The Sports Page: The US faces Japan tonight in Vancouver for the Women’s World Cup championship. It’s a rematch of the 2011 championship in which Japan beat the Americans on penalty kicks.
Ridin’ That Train: The Grateful Dead, or simply the Dead as they’ve been known since the death of lead man Jerry Garcia, play what they say is their final live concert tonight in Chicago’s Soldier Field. The 50-year-old band features the group’s four original surviving members, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, and Bob Weir.
For a band formed in the Age of Aquarius that built a multi-generation following of tie-died stoners, the Grateful Dead has always provoked arguments about the quality of their music and their place in rock history. They were the original jam band, drifting away through afternoons and evenings riffing on their songs while the air filled with the sweet smell of marijuana. Even now as the sun sets 50 years late on the Summer of Love, Deadheads are squabbling about whether this can be the real band without Jerry Garcia and why the final shows are not in hometown San Francisco. Somebody pass the weed, please.
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