„Do you believe you bear any responsibility in the way that withdrawal played out?“ Harris was asked by a moderator.
„Well, I will tell you, I agreed with President Biden‘s decision to pull out of Afghanistan.“ she said.
„Four presidents said they would and Joe Biden did.“
During the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, 13 U.S. service members were killed in a terrorist attack.
(7. Dezember 2005)
Blicken wir in einen Spiegel, dann halten wir das Bild, das uns daraus entgegensieht, für akkurat. Aber bewegt man sich nur einen Millimeter, verändert sich das Bild. Wir sehen im Grunde eine endlose Reihe von Spiegelungen. Aber manchmal muss ein Schriftsteller den Spiegel zerschlagen – denn von der anderen Seite dieses Spiegels blickt uns die Wahrheit ins Auge.
Ich glaube, dass den existierenden, kolossalen Widrigkeiten zum Trotz die unerschrockene, unbeirrbare, heftige intellektuelle Entschlossenheit, als Bürger die wirkliche Wahrheit unseres Lebens und unserer Gesellschaften zu bestimmen, eine ausschlaggebende Verpflichtung darstellt, die uns allen zufällt. Sie ist in der Tat zwingend notwendig.
Wenn sich diese Entschlossenheit nicht in unserer politischen Vision verkörpert, bleiben wir bar jeder Hoffnung, das wiederherzustellen, was wir schon fast verloren haben – die Würde des Menschen.
At Cannes, where it premiered in May, Megalopolis managed to be the single most divisive film of the festival; love it or hate it, Coppola’s huge swing for the philosophical fences is a truly singular work — and is exactly the movie that he wanted to make. (It’s set to hit theaters on Sept. 27.) That Coppola somehow managed in his eighties to will this long-gestating pet project into being and self-finance it against his winery for $120 million is borderline unbelievable, even given his legacy as someone willing to bet a fortune and/or a film studio to follow a dream. “I have everything to lose here,” he says, referring to this portrait of the decline, fall, and Phoenix-like rise of a civilization. “And, in a way, I have nothing left to lose anymore.”
(…)
Sein Blick ist vom Vorübergehn der Stäbe
so müd geworden, daß er nichts mehr hält.
Ihm ist, als ob es tausend Stäbe gäbe
und hinter tausend Stäben keine Welt.
Der weiche Gang geschmeidig starker Schritte,
der sich im allerkleinsten Kreise dreht,
ist wie ein Tanz von Kraft um eine Mitte,
in der betäubt ein großer Wille steht.
Nur manchmal schiebt der Vorhang der Pupille
sich lautlos auf –. Dann geht ein Bild hinein,
geht durch der Glieder angespannte Stille –
und hört im Herzen auf zu sein.
Beckenbauer nach der WM 90 in Rom. Nach dem Sieg im Finale allein auf dem Rasen
(…)
(August 10, 2023)
On Aug. 28, 1963, about 250,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his historic “I Have a Dream” speech advocating for economic and civil rights for Black Americans.
On 30 April 1993, CERN put the World Wide Web software in the public domain. Later, CERN made a release available with an open licence, a more sure way to maximise its dissemination. These actions allowed the web to flourish.
(13.01.2022)
Administrative agencies are creatures of statute. They accordingly possess only the authority that Congress has provided. The Secretary has ordered 84 million Americans to either obtain a COVID–19 vaccine or undergo weekly medical testing at their own expense. This is no “everyday exercise of federal power.” In re MCP No. 165, 20 F. 4th, at 272 (Sutton, C. J., dissenting). It is instead a significant encroachment into the lives—and health—of a vast number of employees. “We expect Congress to speak clearly when authorizing an agency to exercise powers of vast economic and political significance.” Alabama Assn. of Realtors v. Department of Health and Human Servs., 594
U. S. ___, ___ (2021) (per curiam) (slip op., at 6) (internal quotation marks omitted). There can be little doubt that OSHA’s mandate qualifies as an exercise of such authority. The question, then, is whether the Act plainly authorizes the Secretary’s mandate. It does not. The Act empowers the Secretary to set workplace safety standards, not broad public health measures.
(…)
The Solicitor General does not dispute that OSHA is limited to regulating “work-related dangers.” Response Brief for OSHA in No. 21A244 etc., p. 45 (OSHA Response). She instead argues that the risk of contracting COVID–19 qualifies as such a danger. We cannot agree. Although COVID–19 is a risk that occurs in many workplaces, it is not an occupational hazard in most. COVID–19 can and does spread at home, in schools, during sporting events, and everywhere else that people gather. That kind of universal risk is no different from the day-to-day dangers that all face from crime, air pollution, or any number of communicable diseases. Permitting OSHA to regulate the hazards of daily life—simply because most Americans have jobs and face those same risks while on the clock—would significantly expand OSHA’s regulatory authority without clear congressional authorization.
„Das Schreckliche daran ist, dass die Schönheit sowohl geheimnisvoll als auch schrecklich ist. Gott und der Teufel kämpfen dort, und das Schlachtfeld ist das Herz des Menschen.“
(…)
„Es gibt ja nichts Schlaueres, als sich ohne jede Verstellung so zu geben wie man ist, denn das glaubt einem ja doch kein Mensch.“
„Schönheit wird die Welt retten.“
(…)
„Die beste Definition des Menschen lautet wohl: undankbarer Zweibeiner.“
The FBI started spying on renowned German-born scientist Albert Einstein when he moved to America in 1933, shortly before Adolf Hitler rose to power. Agents listened to the physicist‘s phone calls and searched his mail and trash, suspecting he was a Soviet spy. The surveillance, totalling 1,800 pages, ended with Einstein‘s death on April 18, 1955, with no supporting evidence.
He was to become a concert pianist — the next Rubinstein. He practiced for hours a day, often leaving school early to fulfill his filial duty. This all came to a violent end at age 15, when his father, driving with the family in the car, fell asleep at the wheel and crashed, instantly killing my grandfather’s mother and his little sister, Gloria.
My grandfather fell into a coma. When he woke, he came to a startling conclusion: He would not become a pianist.
For the next 75 years, he barely touched the piano.
Firsts:
– First spacecraft placed on a trajectory to escape the solar system into interstellar space
– First spacecraft to fly beyond Mars
– First spacecraft to fly through the main asteroid belt
– First spacecraft to fly past Jupiter
– Crossed the orbit of Neptune to become the first human-made object to go beyond Neptune
– First spacecraft to use all-nuclear electrical power
Key Dates:
March 2, 1972: Launch
July 15, 1972: Spacecraft entered the asteroid belt
Dec. 4, 1973: Pioneer 10’s closest approach to Jupiter
Feb. 1976: Pioneer crossed Saturn’s orbit
June 13, 1983: Pioneer 10 crossed the orbit of Neptune
March 31, 1997: Routine contact with spacecraft terminated
Jan. 23, 2003: Pioneer 10‘s last signal is received on Earth
(06.12.2022)
(Sept. 21, 2019)
That about-face, so typically impulsive, instinctive and removed from any process, proved a decision point for a president who has often threatened to “totally destroy” enemies but at the same time has promised to extricate the United States from Middle East wars. It revealed a commander in chief more cautious than critics have assumed, yet underscored the limited options in a confrontation he had set in motion.
Three months later, some of Mr. Trump’s own allies fear the failure to follow through was taken by Iran as a sign of weakness, emboldening it to attack oil facilities in Saudi Arabia this month. Mr. Trump argues his decision was an expression of long-overdue restraint by a nation that has wasted too many lives and dollars overseas.
(…)
I’m so grateful for your inspiration, and all the ways you have paved the way. You are strength and resilience. You are the epitome of power and passion. We are all so fortunate to have witnessed your kindness and beautiful spirit that will forever remain. Thank you for all you have done.”
(…)
(13.01.2022)
Administrative agencies are creatures of statute. They accordingly possess only the authority that Congress has provided. The Secretary has ordered 84 million Americans to either obtain a COVID–19 vaccine or undergo weekly medical testing at their own expense. This is no “everyday exercise of federal power.” In re MCP No. 165, 20 F. 4th, at 272 (Sutton, C. J., dissenting). It is instead a significant encroachment into the lives—and health—of a vast number of employees. “We expect Congress to speak clearly when authorizing an agency to exercise powers of vast economic and political significance.” Alabama Assn. of Realtors v. Department of Health and Human Servs., 594
U. S. ___, ___ (2021) (per curiam) (slip op., at 6) (internal quotation marks omitted). There can be little doubt that OSHA’s mandate qualifies as an exercise of such authority. The question, then, is whether the Act plainly authorizes the Secretary’s mandate. It does not. The Act empowers the Secretary to set workplace safety standards, not broad public health measures.
(…)
The Solicitor General does not dispute that OSHA is limited to regulating “work-related dangers.” Response Brief for OSHA in No. 21A244 etc., p. 45 (OSHA Response). She instead argues that the risk of contracting COVID–19 qualifies as such a danger. We cannot agree. Although COVID–19 is a risk that occurs in many workplaces, it is not an occupational hazard in most. COVID–19 can and does spread at home, in schools, during sporting events, and everywhere else that people gather. That kind of universal risk is no different from the day-to-day dangers that all face from crime, air pollution, or any number of communicable diseases. Permitting OSHA to regulate the hazards of daily life—simply because most Americans have jobs and face those same risks while on the clock—would significantly expand OSHA’s regulatory authority without clear congressional authorization.
#JoeBiden
(June 22, 2019)
When President Donald Trump was considering military options against Iran he suddenly grew “frustrated” with John Bolton, his national security adviser, and the way he seemed to constantly advocate for a strike, reports the AP. So he started broadening his scope and seeking out advice from others, including Tucker Carlson. The Fox News host had a different take than most of his hawkish advisers, insisting that a military strike would not be in the country’s best interests and that it would severely hurt his re-election chances, according to the New York Times.