This Week's #Winners and #Losers
Back with my #winners and #losers for the week.
Moments of Forgetfulness
Winner: New York Values—before this week’s New York primary, Donald Trump mistakenly referred to 9/11 as 7-Eleven. And he still won New York with more than 60 percent of the vote. #HomeFieldIsReal
Loser: Ted Cruz—took home the bronze in New York. In Westchester County's 16th congressional district, it was reported that Cruz finished behind Ben Carson. Corrected numbers later reversed that outcome, but the reputational damage was done.
Muslims on a Plane
Winner: Pope Francis—after speaking on the need for empathy and mercy in dealing with the refugee crisis on his trip to the Greek island of Lesbos, Pope Francis invited a dozen Syrian refugees aboard the papal plane to start new lives in Italy. #PracticeWhatYouPreach
Loser: Southwest Airlines—the internet exploded this week with reports that Southwest Airlines had kicked a UC Berkeley senior off a flight in early April for… speaking Arabic on the phone to his uncle. About the most stupid thing I've heard in the States all year. And that bar is low. #LimboLimbo
Currency Reform
Winner: The $20 Bill—Harriet Tubman will now grace the front of the redesigned $20 bill. Andrew Jackson will now have to keep moving to the back of the bill. #RosaParksSaysHi
Loser: The Penny—now that the U.S. is officially into currency reform, let's get rid of the penny! Expensive and unusable. It also costs $0.0166 to produce. #APennyScrapped
An American in London
Winner: Barack Obama—throws down the gauntlet in favor of the ‘In’ campaign, warning that the UK would go to the “back of the queue” when it comes to trade if it votes to leave the EU. #ShotsFired
Loser: Boris Johnson—the controversial London mayor who favors the ‘Out’ campaign hit back at Obama, suggesting the American president has an anti-British, anti-imperialist bent, which Johnson ascribed to his “part-Kenyan” ancestry in a takedown editorial in The Sun. #KeepItClassy
Celebrating Royals
Winner: Queen Elizabeth Fans—Britain’s longest-serving monarch celebrated her 90th birthday this week, making her the first British monarch to achieve that milestone. #HeadedForAHundred
Loser: Prince Fans—we lost a musical titan this week, but the music lives on. #PurpleReign
Ian Bremmer is president of Eurasia Group, foreign affairs columnist at TIME and Global Research Professor at New York University. You can also follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
Freelance copywriter and editor. I work with complex subjects to produce original, engaging content that inspires intelligent audiences. Ample experience in health (including NHS) and tech of many types.
8 年Your take on the effect of Obama's recent words is interesting, but directly opposed to my own interpretation of the UK media's, and my own little snapshot of the UK public's, response, at least. Perhaps #ShotsFired(InOwnFeet) would have been a little more appropriate?
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8 年Barack Obama may want to put Britain at the back of the trade queue, but it's noticeable how the UK is America's first call when there's a war to fight.
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8 年A nice summaryof the highs and low on both sides of the Atlantic Ian Bremmer!
Independent translator
8 年Barrack Obama should mind his own business. It's not his country. It's not like we tell Americans what to do as far as NAFTA and all that go. The Americans left our union a few years ago over paying too much tax, why can't we do the same?
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8 年The UK vote on EU membership is a stunning event on the horizon. We have no business in it and our presence in London will have a reverse effect.