China’s spokesperson was succinct:

Wang Wenbin, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said of the G7 plans, “Ganging up, pursuing bloc politics, and forming small cliques are unpopular and doomed to fail.”

President Joe Biden and the G7 member states on Saturday planned to announce a multibillion-dollar initiative to build infrastructure overseas, a direct challenge to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Biden’s White House was calling the initiative “Build Back Better for the World,” expanding on Biden’s 2020 campaign tagline of “Build Back Better.” An official called it “B3W” as a shorthand.

Did you hear we have a new ocean now?

National Geographic recognizes Southern Ocean as 5th official ocean https://t.co/SxAtUCmQ57 pic.twitter.com/ofaLHqmKTQ

— The Hill (@thehill) June 12, 2021

National Geographic has labeled the Southern Ocean as the world’s fifth official ocean in light of a growing number of scientists and researchers recognizing the waters swirling around Antarctica as a distinct area.

The environmental news network announced the decision Tuesday in honor of World Oceans Day, adding the Southern Ocean to the four bodies of water already internationally recognized: Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Arctic.

National Geographic Society Geographer Alex Tait said in a statement, “The Southern Ocean has long been recognized by scientists, but because there was never agreement internationally, we never officially recognized it.”

Peru’s election remains intense.

Keiko Fujimori says she's not conceding the election because Peru is the battleground to fight communism. pic.twitter.com/fm87gLFHDc

— Kawsachun News (@KawsachunNews) June 12, 2021

We all know that “fighting communism” has been a well-used justification over the years for many past actions around the world. Let’s see if it works this time.

Speaking of the G-7, apparently Joe Biden violated protocol last night when he arrived at dinner after the queen.

It is tradition that all of the queen’s guests arrive before her, though the president of the United States and the first lady arrived after her Friday, according to the Daily Mail.

“It is correct for everyone to arrive before the royal personage and protocol rules that no guest should leave an event before a member of the Royal Family,” according to Debrett’s, a leader on royal etiquette.

Now it turns out that Biden isn’t the first one to make that faux pas, Trump also did it, and, well, I think that’s pretty rude actually.

On the other hand, I honestly cannot see myself calling Elizabeth, ‘Her Majesty’, a phrase considered acceptable, without gagging! Can we please move into the 21st century already?

Jen Psaki also blew it the other day:

(Psaki) referred Wednesday to Queen Elizabeth II as the “Queen of England.”

The title “Queen of England” became obsolete in 1707, when Scotland merged with England to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. Elizabeth’s correct title is actually “Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.” Her full title, if you want to get fancy with it, is: “Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.”

But you can just say “Her Majesty” for short.

No thanks!

Here’s a different view on Biden’s aggression towards China from Tom Engelhardt:

a guided-missile destroyer named the USS Curtis Wilbur, reportedly passed through the Straits of Taiwan and into the South China Sea, skirting the Paracel Islands that China has claimed as its own. It represented yet another Biden-era challenge to the planet’s rising power from its falling one.

(Biden) went to the Coast Guard Academy to address its graduating class and promptly began discussing — yes! — that crucial, central subject for Washingtonians these days, freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. (“When nations try to game the system or tip the rules in their favor, it throws everything off balance. That’s why we are so adamant that these areas of the world that are the arteries of trade and shipping remain peaceful — whether that’s the South China Sea, the Arabian Gulf, and, increasingly, the Arctic.”) You didn’t know, did you, that a guided-missile destroyer, not to speak of aircraft carrier battle groups, and other naval vessels had been anointed with the job of keeping “freedom of navigation” alive halfway across the planet or that the US Coast Guard simply guards our coastlines.

These days, it should really be called the Coasts Guard. After all, you can find its members “guarding” coasts ranging from Iran’s in the Persian Gulf to the South China Sea. Evidently, even the coast of the island of Taiwan, which, since 1949, China has always claimed as its own and where a subtle dance between Beijing and Washington has long played out, has become just another coast for guarding in nothing less than a new “partnership.” (“Our new agreement for the Coast Guard to partner with Taiwan,” said the president, “will help ensure that we’re positioned to better respond to shared threats in the region and to conduct coordinated humanitarian and environmental missions.”) Consider that a clear challenge to the globe’s rising power in what’s become ever more of a showdown at the naval equivalent of the OK Corral, part of an emerging new cold war between the two countries.

And none of this is out of the ordinary. In his late April address to Congress, for instance, President Biden anxiously told the assembled senators and congressional representatives that “we’re in a competition with China and other countries to win the twenty-first century… China and other countries are closing in fast” — and in his own strange way, Donald Trump exhibited similar worries.

Putin laughs when asked by NBC reporter if he’s a ‘killer’

Russian President Vladimir Putin laughed when he was asked by an NBC News reporter if he was a “killer,” a term used by President Biden and others to describe him.

“Mr. President, are you a killer?” NBC reporter Keir Simmons asked in an interview with Putin ahead of his first meeting with Biden since the U.S. president took office.

Putin laughed at the question before responding, “Over my tenure, I’ve gotten used to attacks from all kinds of angles and from all kinds of areas under all kinds of pretext and reasons and at different caliber and fierceness, and none of it surprises me.”

The two have their first meeting next week.

Wow, Adams:

“you could have one great teacher that’s in one of our specialized high schools to teach three to four hundred students, who are struggling in math with the skillful way that they able to teach by using the new technology of remote learning you don’t need children to be in the school building with a number of teachers, it’s just the opposite”

This is dangerous.

For a year, our kids have endured the trauma of remote learning — without their peers, teachers, counselors or coaches.

The learning loss, emotional & mental stress are well-documented. As is the depression.

Adams would make remote learning the status quo. https://t.co/urz8uyWML1

— Jamaal Bowman Ed.D (@JamaalBowmanNY) June 12, 2021

yes..you “could” have that one great teacher, or you could be overwhelmed and pretty much ignored while you keep falling behind.

I don’t know about you all, but the idea that my high school class size was 300-400 students sounds pretty awful.

Plus what about the fun parts of high school?? The high school dances, flirting with the cute guys (in my case), friendly banter with your buds, hearing your friend play violin in the locker room, learning to negotiate social pressures, playing volleyball, cutting class on a warm spring day with your best friends, smelling all the smells at biology and chemistry labs, hearing great music in the cafeteria, etc.

(but please know that the Matt Skidmore account is a Yang operative, so has his own agenda)

For polarbear especially.

Red-throated Loon: Long time summer resident on one of our local lakes has finally got a loon-friend so he has less time to pose for his human admirers. Anchorage #Alaska @Avibase pic.twitter.com/9cG2CO4Ohl

— Declan Troy (@TroyDeclan) June 12, 2021

Who does she sound like?

Peruvian right-wing presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori, who is likely to lose a runoff election against her socialist rival, on Saturday led a protest in Lima , calling again for the annulment of votes that did not favor her.

“If the (electoral) jury analyzes this, the election will be flipped, dear friends,” Fujimori told thousands of supporters, many waving Peru’s red-and-white flag. “I’m the sort of person who never gives up.”

Front-runner Pedro Castillo, a member of the left-wing Free Peru party, is close to being named the Andean country’s next president, despite Fujimori’s unsubstantiated claims of fraud, as the count from the second round of voting earlier this month nears an end.

Fujimori, the daughter of ex-President Alberto Fujimori who is in prison for human rights abuses and corruption charges, is facing legal woes of her own.

Prosecutors this week sought to jail her again on allegations of money laundering, for which they are asking for 30 years in prison. Winning the election would halt the criminal process against Fujimori until the end of her administration.

Even if Fujimori were to succeed in annulling some votes, the number of votes still in play make it unlikely she would flip the result.

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/socialist-castillo-close-victory-peru-few-votes-remain-be-counted-2021-06-12/

Hmmmm, take a peek at the attached screenshot-looks like I’m not the only one checking to see what time Israel’s voting begins! (9am est)

(All I did was type in ‘4pm’, the local time in Israel when the voting begins, check out the first suggestion from google)

Chaos breaks out in the Knesset as Bennett speaks.

Israel’s Parliament broke into pandemonium on Sunday afternoon when allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shouted abuse during a speech by the politician nominated to replace him, Naftali Bennett.

Mr. Bennett, a former aide to the prime minister who later became his rival, began his speech on Sunday afternoon with a conciliatory gesture to Mr. Netanyahu.

“As prime minister you have worked hard and faithfully for the state of Israel,” Mr. Bennett said, before also praising Mr. Netanyahu’s wife, Sara.

“We did not always agree but the two of you sacrificed a lot personally in order to serve the state of Israel,” Mr. Bennett added.

But he was quickly interrupted and heckled by right-wing opponents. They view Mr. Bennett, a right-wing former settler leader who opposes Palestinian statehood, as a traitor for breaking with Mr. Netanyahu and allying with a coalition that includes leftist and Arab lawmakers.

At least four lawmakers were thrown out of the session by the speaker, Yariv Levin, while a fifth walked out voluntarily.

“You should be embarrassed,” shouted David Amsalem, a lawmaker from Mr. Netanyahu’s party, Likud.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/06/13/world/israel-knesset-bennett-lapid-netanyahu#bennett-knesset-lapid-netanyahu

Sir David told the leaders gathered in Carbis Bay: ‘The scientific collaboration on Covid treatment and vaccines showed just how much we can achieve together when the goal is clear and urgent.

‘We know in detail what is happening to our planet. And we know all of the things we need to do during this decade.

‘Tackling climate change is now as much a political and communications challenge as it is a scientific or technological one.

‘We have the skills to address it in time. All we need is the global will to do so.’

Going back to 2010 to measure progress?? Creative! in a deceptive and evil kind of way.

G7 nations are expected to commit to almost halving their emissions by 2030 relative to 2010, a commitment already exceeded by the UK which has promised a 58 per cent cut.

This part a bit hazy,

The countries will set out the action they will take to slash carbon emissions, including measures like ending all unabated coal use as soon as possible, halting almost all direct government support for the fossil fuel energy sector overseas and phasing out petrol and diesel cars.

but anything we can do to preserve biodiversity is welcomed news to me. I hope they follow through.

The G7 will also endorse a nature compact, aimed at halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030 – including supporting the global target to conserve or protect at least 30 per cent of land and oceans by the end of the decade.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9681725/Boris-confirms-G7-donate-billion-Covid-jabs-poorer-countries.html

What an egomaniac! No wonder he and Trump got along.

Netanyahu angrily vows to lawmakers that he will lead the opposition.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, spent what might be his last minutes in power, at least for now, by defending his record, promising to remain in politics as leader of the opposition, and denouncing his nominated successor, Naftali Bennett.

At a parliamentary debate ahead of a vote of confidence in Mr. Bennett’s government, Mr. Netanyahu gave what felt like a valedictory speech, listing what he perceived to be his accomplishments in office.

“If we have to be in opposition, we will do this standing tall — until we bring down this dangerous government and return to lead the state,” Mr. Netanyahu said.

“The right will not forget Bennett’s deception,” Mr. Netanyahu said during his speech. “You call yourself guardians of the democracy, but you are so fearful of democracy that you are willing to legislate fascist laws so I can’t run.”

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/06/13/world/israel-knesset-bennett-lapid-netanyahu#netanyahu-israel-parliament-speech