Avoiding Bombs & Bad Haircuts

We will resume our Daily Pnut Week in Review next week.

Brazil’s Bile & Bombastic Bully: One of Brazil’s candidates for president in October’s election, Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing congressman since 1990, has been described as “the most misogynistic, hateful elected official in the democratic world” and possibly the most repulsive politician on earth. Bolsonaro has openly called for a return to dictatorship and delivered inflammatory attacks on women, blacks, gays, foreigners and indigenous communities. And he’s leading in the polls.

Ever since Bolsonaro’s primary rival, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was jailed pending the appeals of his corruption conviction, Bolsonaro has stepped up his over-the-top antics, branding himself, in effect, Tropical Trump: a pro-gun, anti-establishment crusader determined to drain the swamp into which Brasilia, the country’s futuristic capital, has sunk. He has repeatedly called for the return of military rule, and to many in this country of 60,000 homicides a year, that sounds like law and order. At campaign rallies Bolsonaro lambastes losers, creeps and crooks, frequently bashes China, and accuses his critics of peddling fake news. His speeches are often rambling and nonsensical, but crowds love him.

For a candidate to win outright they must garner more than 50% of the vote in October. If that doesn’t happen, a second round runoff is held. Current polls show Bolsonaro’s support may have plateaued at 18%, giving detractors hope for his defeat, but enticing the candidate to start prematurely ranting about election fraud.

– “There are not many people in the world who are able to change the name of a nation. But King Mswati can – he is one of the world’s few absolute monarchs. King Mswati III of Swaziland announced on Wednesday that he was renaming the country “the Kingdom of eSwatini”. (BBC)

– “A crisis of plastic waste in Indonesia has become so acute that the army has been called in to help. Rivers and canals are clogged with dense masses of bottles, bagsand other plastic packaging.” (BBC)

– “Lower-income countries get a lot of old stuff from the U.S. and Europe. Used cars and buses and trucks, for instance, roll onto ships to be resold at their destination.” (NPR)

– “Facebook moves 1.5bn users out of reach of new European privacy law: Company moves responsibility for users from Ireland to the US where privacy laws are less strict.” (Guardian)

– “Newly uncovered documents suggest Hans Asperger, the paediatrician whose name describes a form of autism, was actively involved in the Nazi regime’s euthanasia programme in Austria.” (BBC)

– “Charges Of Anti-Semitism Roil German Music Awards.” (NPR)

The Behind the Scenes Preparation Behind Having a Meeting Between Leaders With Awful Haircuts and Nuclear Bombs: South Korean president Jae-in Moon sent special envoys to Pyongyang early last month to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The purpose was to begin laying the groundwork for a possible summit meeting on denuclearization. On Wednesday President Trump said he would meet with Kim “in the coming weeks” with one caveat: he would walk away if the talks weren’t fruitful. Undoubtedly that would involve whether Kim is serious about dismantling his nuclear weapons, and what he would demand the US do in return. A partial answer came Thursday when Moon said Kim had withdrawn his demands that US troops leave the peninsula. “The North Koreans did not present any conditions that the United States could not accept, such as the withdrawal of American troops in South Korea,” Moon said.

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– More than 2,000 of Oregon’s government workers are retiring on pensions of over $100,000, including one who is receiving $76,111 – a month. The money comes from cities, counties, school districts, and other local entities who, because they must pay into the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System, must slash local services from police to potholes. (NYT)

– Spurred by teacher protests that have burgeoned across America, the New York Times invited public school educators to write in and describe what a decade of budget cuts has done in their schools. 4,200 teachers responded. Their stories do not make America look great – far from it. (NYT)

– Eric Schneiderman, New York’s Attorney General, said Wednesday his state’s law must be clarified to ensure that an individual receiving a presidential pardon can still face state charges. #closethedoublejeopardyloophole (The Guardian)

– Michael Cohen, President Trump’s personal attorney, has dropped two defamation lawsuits he filed last year, against BuzzFeed and Fusion GPS, over publication of the Steele Russia dossier. (NPR)

– Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) doesn’t support legislation to safeguard Special Counsel Robert Mueller against being fired by President Trump. He won’t even bring such a bill to the floor for a vote. But that’s not stopping other Republicans from continuing the effort. (NPR)

– “Giuliani says he is joining Trump’s legal team to help bring Mueller probe to a conclusion.” (CNN)

– “The efficacy of the lecture, as a teaching method, is in doubt.” (Nautilus)

– “In China and India, men outnumber women by 70 million. Both nations are belatedly trying to come to grips with the policies that created this male-heavy generation.” (Washington Post)

– “The Great Chinese Dinosaur Boom: A gold rush of fossil-finding is turning China into the new epicenter of paleontology.” (Smithsonian)

– “As a military veteran, big game hunter, and gun owner, I had been aware of SHOT for a long time, but I had never attended. This year seemed like an opportune moment to get a closer look at the relationship between the NRA’s rhetoric and the $8 billion business of selling guns.” (New Republic)

– “Later this year, Stockton, a city in California with a 25% poverty rate, will conduct an unusual experiment: Roughly 100 of its citizens will receive $500 a month for 12-18 months, with no work requirements and no strings attached.” (Lifehacker)

– “Before the devastating allegations of sexual misconduct hit, Rose was a legendary man-about-town. Now, the former CBS and PBS star, one of TV’s most feted journalists, is hiding out on Long Island with occasional, mostly disastrous forays into Manhattan.” (The Hollywood Reporter)

– “Elon Musk: Just walk out of bad meetings.” (BBC) And on that note, Hello Weekend!

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