Good morning.
Sunday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a likelihood of light rain tis afternoon, and a high of forty-eight. Sunrise is 7:02 AM and sunset 4:23 PM, for 9h 20m 11s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 3.4% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1942, the French scuttle dozens of warships and submarines in Toulon to prevent their capture by Nazi Germany. On this day in 1903, legendary football halfback and coach John McNally (Johnny Blood) is born.
Worth reading in full —
John Avalon writes that Fidel Castro Finally Dies, But His Apologists Live On: “Cuba’s communist dictator Fidel Castro certainly enjoyed a cult of personality courtesy of self-styled humanists who still contort themselves to overlook his horrific record of human rights abuses, murder and repression. But his detractors almost always had more direct experience in dealing with his radius of damage than his defenders. History will not absolve Castro for repeated assaults on freedom clothed in populist garb. Whether it was torturing and executing political opponents, rounding up homosexuals, creating neighborhood networks to spy on fellow citizens, or encouraging the Soviet Union to nuke the United States, he was a bully and a thug: the latest in a long line of self-interested opportunists who rule through fear and pretend that it is love.”
Cleve Wootson writes that [Justin] Trudeau called Castro a ‘remarkable leader.’ Twitter imagined what he would say about Stalin: “Trudeau’s positive statements about Castro met with an instant backlash in Canada and elsewhere. Political scientist Ian Bremmer, the president of Eurasia Group, tweeted, “Cubans deserve better.” Maxime Bernier, a Canadian politician, suggested Trudeau didn’t know the difference between “longest serving president” and “dictator”….Trudeau’s statement even sparked the hashtag #trudeaueulogies, as people chimed in with positive things about historically evil people…
“Mr. Stalin’s greatest achievement was his eradication of obesity in the Ukraine through innovative agricultural reforms.” #TrudeauEulogies
— Melissa Lantsman (@MelissaLantsman) November 26, 2016
….
Saddened about the passing of Sauron who, while heavy-handed, did advocate for open borders and usher in industrial era. #trudeaueulogies
— Elana Fric Shamji (@ElanaFricShamji) November 26, 2016
….”
In a lengthy story, Times reporters Paddock, Lipton, Barry, Nordland, Hakim, and Romero find that Trump partnered with the grandson of Brazil’s last dictator. Their Rio hotel is now a target of a graft investigation: “The examination of the project by Mr. Lopes, the federal prosecutor, has already found a series of “highly suspicious” potential irregularities warranting a criminal investigation, according to court documents. “It is necessary to verify if the favoritism shown by the pension funds to LSH and the Trump Organization was due to the payment of illicit commissions and bribes,” Mr. Lopes said in documents filed in October. In his filings, Mr. Lopes said the size of the hotel investments relative to the overall holdings of the small pension funds reflected a highly unusual level of risk, especially for an unfinished venture that failed to capitalize fully on the demand for accommodations during the Olympics. Going further, Mr. Lopes positioned the inquiry within a broader investigation of public pension funds, pillars of the Brazilian economy that often work in tandem with large state-controlled banks and energy companies. Mr. Trump first took interest in a Rio hotel venture in 2012, when Ivanka Trump was having lunch in Florida with Paulo Figueiredo Filho, a businessman who is a grandson of João Figueiredo, the last autocrat of Brazil’s 21-year military dictatorship, which ended in 1985. The younger Mr. Figueiredo spearheaded the hotel venture until recently.”
i24 News reports that the Wife of Putin’s spokesman draws ire for Holocaust themed ice dance show: “A pair of Russian ice skaters caused a social media firestorm after performing a choreographed piece dressed as Jewish concentration camp prisoners. The pair, Andrew Burkovsjy and Tatiana Navka, who is the wife of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, donned black and white striped jumpsuit with yellow star of David patches and completed the look with make up making them appear gaunt and malnourished.”
Anthony Bourdain contends that for scrambled eggs, simple is better: