You know what you could do on this amazing day? Read Five Things and then become a paid subscriber! Awesome idea, right? ✌🏻 Oh, by the way, if you do not want to subscribe to Five Things, Five Things Tech and Five Things Running, you can select which one of the newsletters you want to read in your account settings. Five Things: Homelessness, Election Gambling, Ukraine, Currywurst, StreakingYour Sunday Morning starts here. Really.
Hello and welcome back to Five Things! While the next season of Idiocracy is up to an interesting start and we get to see lots of totally insane picks for cabinet positions in the next Unites States government, we are still all trying to figure out what this will mean for us. Some people suggest that Trump picks these absolutely incapable people not just because they are hardcore Trumpists, but also because he wants to figure out who among the Senate Republicans is loyal to him. I don’t have much faith in the conscience of Republicans anymore. At the same time, the Democrats have to go through some real katharsis and need to figure out who they are and how they can reach the working class people again. Most of this will probably need to happen in the underground, as Trump will try to achieve dictator status as soon possible. From afar, it will be interesting to watch how fast his team of alpha males will start to fight against one another, trying to get the ultimate influence on Trump. My fear is that Trump will copy the Argentinian model and slash as much government spending as possible and then reallocate plenty of that budget to himself and his croonies. The caste of American oligarchs will just get much richer in the next four years, while the middle class will accelerate its downward spiral as tariffs will make prices for everyday goods go through the roof. If there’s some democracy left after two years, Democrats have a good chance to sweep the House of Representatives. But let’s not get ahead too fast, the next two years will be brutal. I hope you like my selection of five articles you should read today! I really appreciate all of you who support my work and get a paid subscription! The Invisible Man
This is a really moving story, written by a journalist who became homeless and now spends his time in his car with his dog in various parking lots, always needing to move when the police shows up. It really is a shame that our incredibly rich Western societies still haven’t found a solution to provide housing for everyone. Gambling on the Election in Atlantic City
“Donald Trump’s business acumen really boils down to two things: self-promotion and self-preservation. He is maybe the greatest of all time at those two things. Dating back to his casino ventures in Atlantic City and even earlier, he has acted with brash and reckless abandon. He refuses the advice of his advisers. He makes risky gambles and, just as frequently, loses them. But just when you’ve written him off, he rises from the grave. Like Lazarus, if Lazarus sold used cars. He isn’t just America’s president. He is its mirror image.” Nobody wants to hear this
The war is wearing the Ukrainians out. This is no surprise as we are approaching 1000 days of war. We need to better understand what these people go through, how they live their lifes and how exhausting everything is. We need to make sure Ukraine is winning this war and we need to supply more weapons faster. Instead of discussing long-range missiles, we should send tanks, tanks, and even more tanks. The hesitance of the West is a huge problem in this war and Putin knows how to use this to his advantage. Why hasn’t German cuisine caught on?
I’m a big fan of traditional German cuisine, when it is done right. As a Northern German, I’m so looking forward to the start of kale season, which will happen as soon as we get the first frost. Of course, we do kale with schmaltz, and cured pork and special sausages. A real treat. Also, I’m a big fan of a German Bratwurst, ideally a Thüringer. Maybe it’s good that German cuisine hasn’t caught on, too much emphasis on fat and meat. But a Currywurst Pommes rot-weiß is still a wonderful treat everyonce in a while - for the uninitiated this is a certain type of sausage drowned in a curry ketchup along with a side-order of french fries with both ketchup and mayo. ‘It wasn’t sexual in any way!’ 50 years of streaking – by the people who dared to bare all
“Examples of streaking can be found down the ages – according to legend, in the 11th century, Lady Godiva rode naked on horseback through Coventry to protest about draconian tax laws. But modern streaking – people running naked, fast as a streak of lightning, through a public space – first became popular on US college campuses in the late 1960s. It was fun, liberating and reflected the spirit of hippiedom.” - I remember that when I was a senior at UC Berkeley in 1995, there was a guy fighting for his right to attend class naked. Apparently, running around naked in public is something that still gets our attention, even after all these years of seeing people runing across the pitch at soccer matches. That’s it. Have a great Sunday! If you missed last Sunday’s edition of Five Things, have a look here:
— Nico You're currently a free subscriber to Five Things. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
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