Wednesday, June 21: Summer Solstice
It's the longest day of the year, get outside and touch some grass
It appears there are numerous camps developing in response to the unfolding Titanic tourism submersible fiasco. As more information becomes available, the entire situation looks increasingly idiotic. While many have taken this opportunity to make fun of billionaires and their endless hubris, some have rushed to the defense of these deep-sea adventurers, calling the rest of us callous for making light of the situation. I reckon if you choose to participate in an incredibly risky and potentially lethal activity like this, you simply run the risk of becoming a punchline. That’s showbiz folks.
A former employee at OceanGate, the company responsible for the DIY deathtrap, was fired after raising concerns about the sub's worthiness to descend to extreme depths and refusing to greenlight manned tests of its earlier/crappier models. This employee also happened to be the director of marine operations and the person responsible for the safety of all crew and clients; not exactly the kinda guy you wanna fire. Now reports are emerging that underwater noises have been detected by search and rescue operations, so either these passengers are still alive or the orcas are cackling at humanity’s stupidity.
The best case scenario for these passengers was potentially seeing the Titanic wreckage on a small screen inside the cramped submersible. These idiots really paid $250,000 to do what you or I can do sitting at a computer from the comfort of our homes. I swear I’ll never understand the mindset of the needlessly wealthy; if it were me, I’d simply avoid venturing to the depths of the ocean, thus avoiding a watery grave, but that’s me.
The coverage of this doomed submersible is wall-to-wall, meanwhile it’s radio-silence regarding the migrant ship capsizing in the Mediterranean, with hundreds of migrants still missing and presumed dead. The one-sidedness is no accident.
Side Items
Pipeline Justice: A federal judge in Wisconsin has given Canadian pipeline giant Enbridge (the scumbags) three years to shut down parts of the Line 5 oil pipeline that cross reservation land and ordered the energy company to pay a Native American tribe more than $5 million for trespassing. The order came after members of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa told him during a hearing in Madison that the Enbrige Line 5 pipeline is at immediate risk of being exposed by erosion and rupturing on their land. This is not new information, it’s something that Native groups have been saying for years, but what is new is Tribal sovereignty prevailing over corporate profits
Saudi’s Corrupt Spending: This is the new normal. Every day there’s a new headline related to a soccer star being lured into joining the Saudi pro league for absurd amounts of money. In the past week there’s been N’Golo Kante, Hakim Ziyech, Edouard Mendy, and Kalidou Koulibaly, and that’s just from Chelsea FC. The Saudis and their PIF (Public Investment Fund) have quickly turned the beautiful game into a bottomless money pit where no player is safe and no price is too high. Not only are these players being relegated to a league with fewer fans, less exposure, and lower quality of play; the influx of Saudi cash has also upended the market for every other team. Now every competitive player is demanding tens of millions of dollars, which limits the ability of cash-strapped teams to sign new talent. Pretty soon we’ll all be owned by oil money