Skip to main content

UNEXPECTED HERO: VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY

China started it all, but their totalitarian form of government squelched any potential epidemics.  Yesterday, for example, they had 1938 new cases, or 1.3 new cases/million population.  Yet, they just closed down Shenzhen, a city of 17.5 million.  Why?  A very small uptick in cases.  Much of Shanghai is also quarantined.  

  • However, they are teaching Hong Kong a lesson, for that territory yesterday had 32,340 cases, a rate of 4267 new cases/million.  
  • In comparison, the USA only had 5143 new cases, or 15 new cases/million
  • South Korea led the world with 350,176 new cases, or 6826 new cases/million.

On Saturday I posted on WHO REALLY IS VLADIMIR PUTIN?  Today I feature the polar opposite world luminary, 44-year old Volodymyr Zelensky:

  • Born to Jewish parents, father a professor and mother an engineer, in Ukraine.
  • His grandfather's father and three brothers died in the Holocaust.
  • Earned a law degree from the Kyiv National Economic University.
  • Met Olena in college, dated for eight years and got married in 2003.
  • Went into comedy, with a successful TV series, Servant of the People, from 2015 to 2019, playing the role of the Ukrainian president.
  • Ran for the real presidency in 2019 as the anti-establishment and anti-corruption candidate, getting 73% of the votes.
According to the New York Times this morning:
  • Zelensky seems to fit the mold of Abraham Lincoln, who was one our country's least-qualified president, and Winston Churchill, who in 1939 looked like a washed-up politician.
  • CNN indicates that Zelensky is more Vaclav Havel than Churchill.  Havel was an absurdist playwright whose movement in Czechoslovakia, the Velvet Rvolution, was named for a Western rock band.  But Zelensky has an edge, for an entertainer is able to communicate with people in time of crisis.
  • Servant of the People was a cross between The West Wing and Monty Python.
  • Borrowed from Benny Hill (right), a crude British comedian.  How crude?  Watch this.
  • Thrived in the role of the average guy who wins over beautiful women.
  • Ran a populist campaign, helped along by the billionaire owner of the network that broadcast SofP, comparing Zelensky with Ronald Reagan.  After all, Reagan made movies with chimpanzees, and presided over the breakdown of the Berlin Wall.
  • Read The New Yorker's view in 2019 of Zelensky as unserious.
  • Today, the New York Times indicates impressions have changed into a Churchillian figure, a personal embodiment of his country's refusal to yield to a murderous authoritarian.
  • Remains in Kyiv visiting hospitals and taping speeches, even though spies are trying to kill him.
  • Is an actor who understands that he has a role to play, and will play that role, symbolizing something larger than himself.
  • "We will not give up and we will not lose. We will fight until the end at sea, in the air. We will continue fighting for our land, whatever the cost," he said in his comments translated by an interpreter, echoing some of Churchill's words.
  • From CNN, Zelensky is like the lone protester in Tiananmen Square and Davy Crockett at the Alamo.  They both did not survive, but in any event, Zelensky will go down in history as a democratic martyr, and maybe survive, for one story is that the China Tank Man might have found his way to Taiwan.
March Madness is here, which means you can fill out your brackets to win a truck.  68 teams on both the women's and men's NCAA championship begin, with March Madness ending in April.  Who already remembers that Stanford won the women's and Baylor the men's last year.  Hawaii plays Baylor in round one, and will lose, but this will be in the women's bracket.  For a while Baylor was the best, and former 6' 9" star Brittney Griner apparently is still detained in Russia.

About yourself participating in filling out these brackets, like the CBS Sports version above, here are a few more that are also free.  The most enticing FREE game is BETMGM $10 million bracket challenge.  All you need to do is be perfect.  But if no one does that, the highest score still wins $100,000.

- 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

THE ENIGMATIC PHIL SPECTOR

The first presidential debate of Donald Trump and Joe Biden ended up in a near tie.  Both lost.  However, it was an unmitigated disaster for Biden, who just might be too old to win this re-election. For Trump, it was a reinforcement of what he does all the the time, lie.   There will be significant calls for the Democratic Party to work out "something" to replace Biden as their presidential candidate.  Suddenly, Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom and Michelle Obama are added to the spotlight.  But what can "legally" occur at the August Democratic Convention? The situation is different on the Republican side, as Trump is the Republican Party, and no matter if he gets 4 years at his felony sentencing on July 9, or even if the Supreme Court determines he is not immune next week or later, he will be the presidential candidate. Trump is a damned boastful liar and convicted felon, but that is the only option for Republicans.  His vice-presidential choice now become...

THE TRUMP ENERGY PROGRAM

From  Time  magazine, I begin with a slew of Trump topics.  You can read the details. The unpopular Big Beautiful Bill is now in the House . The only truly effective anti-Trump person:  Elon Musk. The Trump Gaza ceasefire proposal . The July 4th Free American Anti-Trump Protest planned across the USA . This site began as a renewable energy and environment blog, and has evolved to just about any subject.  I try to keep Wednesdays for sci-tech, with perhaps a monthly focus on energy.  More recently, I've drawn from the  Energy Matters  info sent to me by the American Energy Society.  I'm inserting direct quotes this time to eliminate my predilections for more credibility. This service starts with some broad topics. - Fossil fuels: Helium is locked in a supply crunch, and prices are surging. - Renewables: Congress will probably pass new renewable fuel standards for 2026 and 2027. - Policy: President Trump is now focused on Califor...

OSAKA EXPO: Day One

Well, the day finally came for us to go to the Osaka Expo.  We were told ahead of time that the long walks would be fearful, giant lines will need to be tolerated just to get into the Expo, with those ocean breezes, it would really be cold, and so forth. Maybe it was pure luck, but we avoided all the above warnings  We had a grand day, and are looking forward to Sunday, our second day at the Expo.  So come along for an enjoyable ride. Our hotel is adjacent to the Tennoji Station, a very large one with several lines.  We upgraded our Suica card and caught the Misosuji red line towards Umeda. Transferred to the Chuo green line at the Hommachi Station.  This Osaka Metro train took us to the Yumeshima Station at the Expo site.   It was a very large mob leaving the train and heading to the entrance. Took only a few minutes to get to the entrance.  This mob was multiplied by at least a factor of  ten of those already waiting to enter.  However...