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Scott Abel's Posts

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I’ve been given a writing assignment this week, and I was hoping that Ricochet members could counsel me. I got an email yesterday for an Estonian daily newspaper to write a piece for this weekend’s edition of their weekly supplemental magazine about what, from the perspective an American, the “feelings, fears and hopes” are of the […]

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Promoted from the Ricochet Member Feed by Editors Created with Sketch. Coup? Bad Plastic Surgery? What Has Happened to Vladimir Putin?

 

Wikipedia CommonsRussian President Vladimir Putin, in the tradition of all authoritarian leaders, is an ever-present figure in his country’s media.

I once saw a story on Russian TV in the early 2000s (from my cozy confines of Estonia) where Putin stopped by a Russian pickle stand shaded by a giant tree. The whole point of the story was how he loved the pickles. The pickle cart owner, an elderly woman, swore afterwards that the tree that shaded her stand was now holy ground.

That nightly fixture of Russian television has not been seen in public since March 5 — a full week. The Kremlin-controlled channels are currently relying on old footage when they reference him. Putin was supposed to fly to Kazakhstan this week to meet with his fellow dictator club jacket-wearers, Kazakh President Nusultan Nazabayev and Belarus’ Alexander Lukashenko. Putin didn’t show. Media reports suggested he was “ill.”

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We’re all familiar with the infamous selfie President Obama took with the Prime Minister of Denmark, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, at Nelson Mandela’s funeral several months ago. Here’s how to do a selfie right, and become, in one website’s estimation, “The Coolest President on Earth“. Preview Open

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I am about to make a LARGE number of purchases through Amazon, for my wife and I. I would like to support Ricochet with my cash purchases, but the search bar on the main feed only links to the U.S. domestic site. I only purchase items through the U.S. site when I’m (rarely) buying gifts […]

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I took this screenshot from the Kiev, Ukraine, protests about an hour ago. It shows clergy from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church standing between the police and the Euromaidan protesters, who have built at least two barricades over the last couple of hours. Preview Open

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Sergei Shoigu, the Russian Foreign Minister, tweeted this a couple hours ago: I’m skeptical for several reasons. This account might be a fake, because it just began. Preview Open

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What’s the benefit of marrying into a family of ex-Soviet citizens? Crazy media reading on the holidays. Although I grew up as a child of the Cold War in Kansas (Titan missile bases miles from my house, “The Day After” TV show), it’s still hard, even though I’ve lived in a former Soviet republic for […]

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Week 17: Will one of the powerhouses in the NFC, San Francisco and Seattle, slip on a late banana peel? Can Kyle Orton keep the Dallas Cowboys’ head above the water, now that Tony Romo has undergone season-ending neck surgery? Or will Philadelphia claim the NFC East after their 4-win dumpster-fire season last year? Preview Open

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After scanning by the Lady Gaga Muppets Christmas special, I can detect some things …. Preview Open

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I first saw the British television show, Doctor Who, in my teen-age years in Kansas. It ran on weekend on the local PBS affiliate, and I was so entranced that I even sent in my lawn-moving money during a pledge drive to keep it on the air. Doctor Who ran its first episode in England […]

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I have only recently noticed the sharing tools on posts (I’m sometimes slow). If I write, or someone else writes something on the Member feed that I want to share with someone, does that defeat the paywall if it’s not on the main page? Anybody know? Preview Open

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THIS is how you win the Internet. I’ve already expressed my views on this topic, and many Ricochet members disagree, but I just want to just bookmark this for the Ricochet members as a template to call out a hypocrite, in 140 characters or less. OH, SNAP. Preview Open

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So far, it’s halftime in Cincinnati, where monkeys in Bengals jerseys are riding dogs that are chasing sheep around the stadium. This is NOT A JOKE. USA! USA! Preview Open

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Remember, members, if you are grabbing those last gifts for your loved ones, use the Amazon app on the right side of the main page. You only have to click through one extra page, and Ricochet gets a cut, which helps it stay alive and grow. I think we would all like that to happen. […]

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Starting now. Anybody got a drinking game, or just I just point and laugh? Preview Open

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Today in my International Media course at Tallinn University (made up of half Estonians and half internationals), I had the American ambassador to Estonia, Jeff Levine, guest lecture. Levine has been at his post almost two years now, but I’ve only recently got to know him a little bit. Preview Open

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. Preview Open

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Voting has consequences. Witness liberal New Yorkers getting hit with the inevitable clue-stick of reality: Many in New York’s professional and cultural elite have long supported President Obama’s health care plan. But now, to their surprise, thousands of writers, opera singers, music teachers, photographers, doctors, lawyers and others are learning that their health insurance plans are […]

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Having flown through the Wichita Airport a month ago to visit family, (where I took, at least from my mind, the delightful photo in this thread), this hits a little close to home: A Kansas man who authorities say in the past made threats to engage in violent jihad against the U.S. was charged Friday […]

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While most kids were watching Saturday morning cartoons, I spent my morning watching my beloved kaiju (literally, “strange creature”) roar in the living room and stomp around the Japanese landscape. Rodan. Ultraman. Gamera. And of course, The King of All Monsters – Godzilla. Preview Open

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Scott Abel

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@scottabel