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Mary Austin recalls her relationship with Freddie Mercury in her book Freddie Mercury: A Life in Lyrics, revealing a key moment when she told him: You are not bisexual, Freddie... you are gay, which marked the end of their platonic love and the transition to a more authentic connection between them. (translated)

The Los Angeles Clippers club has been punished with a record fine of 30 million dollars and the loss of five first-round draft picks for violating the salary cap, including a one-year ban on activities for owner Steve Ballmer, due to alleged illegal financial dealings with player Kawhi Leonard through sponsorship contracts. (translated)

Se ofenden por ser siempre el segundo plato. Se ofenden porque sus jugadores franquicia sueñan con jugar en el Barça. Se ofenden de una oferta inicial de 100M para abrir negociaciones y 3 meses después tienen un acuerdo cerrado por 125M. Luego se ofenden por aquello del complejo. #Fútbol #Deportes #FCBarcelona

Daycare Governance and the Tyranny of Compassion Something sinister can hide behind compassion. Caring is virtuous, but it becomes pathological when institutions gain power by expanding the number of people who need care. Munchausen syndrome by proxy shows how: a caregiver fabricates or induces illness in a dependent person, then gains sympathy by performing devotion. The sickness is manufactured, but the care is real. The claim: modern society can scale this into governance. Call it the daycare governance model: (1) victims to protect, (2) caregivers to provide protection, (3) dissenters to remove. Health, therapy, NGOs, academia, media, and bureaucracy gain prestige, funding, and moral authority by managing ever-expanding categories of suffering. It unfolds in two stages. First, the victim class expands: “trauma” drifts from specific, severe harms to everyday experiences, lowering the threshold for suffering until demand is nearly limitless. Second, the perpetual patient forms: ordinary difficulties are medicalized—strength as toxicity, sadness as disorder, restlessness as pathology—creating a cycle where caretakers and victims gain status or protection. This drives a crisis of competence. Victimhood can shield accountability, and institutions are rewarded for treating problems rather than eliminating the need for themselves. Plato warned against doing for people what they can do for themselves: removing every burden removes the reason to grow stronger. True care aims to make itself unnecessary. That’s the difference between a good mother and a poisoning one: one allows appropriate hardship to build independence; the other denies it. Failing to distinguish these forms of care makes the pathology hard to recognize—and easy to applaud.

The Three Words Democracy Borrows Democracy is often praised as inherently good, but Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates saw serious flaws. A better view: rule by one, few, or many each has tradeoffs. A healthy society ideally combines a strong leader, a competent elite, and a virtuous citizenry—because, as Thomas Sowell said, “there are no solutions, only tradeoffs.” Democracy promises three virtues it can’t guarantee: freedom, wisdom, and consent. **Freedom:** Nozick’s thought experiment shows how slavery can be disguised by changing vocabulary—when power gradually shifts from overt domination to rules voted on by others, at what point is it “freedom”? A society can talk endlessly about freedom while restricting rights through taxes, regulations, and suspensions. **Wisdom:** Socrates doubted democracy produces wisdom. If a voyage were dangerous, you wouldn’t let every passenger vote equally on navigation. Yet political voting gives equal weight regardless of knowledge, inviting manipulation by those skilled in fear, emotion, and flattery. **Consent:** “Government of the people, by the people, for the people” can be an illusion. If the state is treated as “us,” coercion can be reframed as self-government. But representatives don’t truly follow your instructions the way a genuine agent must. Freedom, wisdom, and consent are real virtues—democracy just borrows their language, and the biggest risk is believing that choosing rulers collectively makes the ruled free, wise, and consenting.

El oportunismo político nunca caduca: Aznar desembarca en Ceuta no para aportar soluciones a una crisis migratoria compleja, sino para desempolvar el conflicto de Perejil de hace 24 años y usar la frontera como plató para su guerra ideológica contra el Gobierno. https://t.co/6slp3b5rcK #Política #CrisisMigratoria #España

Izsaku dziļāko līdzjūtību mūsu 🇱🇻 brīvprātīgā karavīra Vitālija Šampiņa "Vilks" ģimenei un tuviniekiem, kurš gāja bojā varonīgi aizstāvot 🇺🇦 pret 🇷🇺 okupantu uzbrukumu. Viņa plāksnīte tiks pievienota blakus pārējiem 🇱🇻 latviešiem, otram Vitālijam Smirnovam, Edgars Platonovs, Ņikita Sladzevskis, Antons Ģiedraitis un Maksimam Čugunovs, kur, pieminot viņus, es sestdien noliku ziedus. Skaistais piemineklis atrodas pie GRU ieejas Kijivā. #Latvija #Varonība #Atminēšanās

Trade unions welcome the planned changes to the salary scales, which are proposed to start with a minimum wage for public sector employees from January 2026, thus preventing salaries below the minimum wage and ensuring regular adjustments of earnings after five years of service. (translated)

The government proposed a change to the pay scales, according to which the minimum wage should rise to 24,900 crowns, while the USA has imposed new sanctions against Iran to limit its economic resources, and from October, diplomat Miroslav Toman will take over the head of civil intelligence. (translated)

Thirty-five years ago, Ukrainians chose independence from the Soviet Union. To this day, they are still paying for that choice with their lives! Like defender Mykola Kravchenko, with call sign “Europe”. He was born in Berdyansk, became a lieutenant and platoon commander. The https://t.co/CHSJW5KP4l #Ukraine #Independence #MykolaKravchenko #UA #RU

The government plans to reform the salary tables in the public sector from January 2024, which will ensure that no employee receives a salary lower than the minimum wage, with regular salary increases after five years of service and a minimum percentage difference between individual pay grades. (translated)

The government proposed a revolutionary change to the salary tables, which will ensure that no employee in the public sector earns less than the minimum wage starting from January 2024, with regular adjustments to earnings after five years of experience and a minimum difference between salary grades of four percent. (translated)

@RegasAdria Es muy triste que programas financiados por el presidente de un club en particular fomenten este descrédito periodistico. Ver cómo pierden la dignidad por un plato de lentejas revuelve las entrañas. El premio es tener una entrevista con Mourinho. Concesión de servicio al dictado. #Periodismo #Dignidad #Fútbol

Union leader Josef Středula criticizes the government of Andrej Babiš for postponing discussions about salaries in the public sector and the budget, expressing concerns that the cabinet is repeating the mistakes of its predecessors and is proposing controversial changes to the labor code that could threaten workers' rights. (translated)

Neesmu AS atbalstītājs, bet tas, ka LTV korupcijas simbols deFacto (atvainojos, protams), ir meties cīņā pret @AndrisKulbergs ir vēl viens apliecinājums šim novērojumam. Kāds varētu tā jau neskaidri runājošajam Leitānam izskaidrot, ka Mērs - ar šauro Ē Mērs - ar plato Ē ir divi dažādi savastarpēji nesaistīti lietvārdi latviešu valodā. #Latvija #Korupcija #Valoda