August 9, 2024 - 5:30pm

→ Kamala Harris tests out new accent 

Kamala Harris, perhaps in response to Trump’s suggestion that she’s not actually black, has been testing out a new accent.

“We have fun doin’ hard work,” she told a crowd this week in a new southern accent. Last week she broke into a similar accent for a crowd in Atlanta, telling the audience, “You all helped us in 2020 and we gon’ do it again in 2024,” using a soft “r” in the final word. And in a June ad filmed for the Black Entertainment Television Awards, she said “Girl, I’m out here in these streets,” and, when describing conservatives, said, “They not like us.”

It’s only natural to revert to one’s childhood accent when in familiar company. But Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, grew up in a predominantly white community in Southern California. If Hillary Clinton could do it, Harris can too. 

→ Britain’s Big Brother Summer

The government-driven censorship machine is whirring into action. Earlier today, the Crown Prosecution Service warned that posting content which “incites violence or hatred” online will be punished. A flashing video warns X users to “think before you post”. It also says posters can be prosecuted for sharing such content, not even creating it.

One rather funny comment read: “I was gonna try to ratio you but decided not to because it might be illegal and I don’t wanna get in trouble”. At least this country has its priorities in order.

→ Iran’s new antisemitic Olympics ad 

Iran debuted an ad this week depicting an Israeli Olympic athlete with literal blood on his hands. Friendly athletes from other nations take turns shaking the Israeli’s hand and, in doing so, get blood on their own hands, before joining forces against him in an ominous locker-room confrontation in which they take turns wiping blood on the lone Israeli.

In case the message was too subtle, the Israeli athlete has an enormous tattoo of a menorah on his neck. Back in Paris, Israeli athletes do indeed worry about confrontations, and are followed around by armed security. Various international venues have previously removed Israelis from competition over security concerns, and in the 1972 Olympics, 11 Israelis were killed by terrorists. Read the room.