Might matter a bit on the margins, but probably won’t make a huge difference. Seems like the expert consensus is that the overall sanctions regime has been a bit of a dud. Russia’s economy definitely took a hit from the sanctions at the start of the war but the Russian economy appears to have stabilized, albeit in a worse place than they were pre-invasion. Seems like the combination of gray markets allowing the import/export of goods through other nations and the ability to continue selling oil, gas, and other natural resources to China and India has kept Russia afloat and there’s not much we can do about it barring cooperation from those countries or a dramatic overhaul of the overall economic sanctions model the west relies on.

To be clear, I think a lot of European countries did the right thing and made major sacrifices to put this sanctions regime into place and they are having some bite. It’s just a bummer they aren’t having their full intended effect largely because nominal allies of ours like India are profiting off this situation for their own economic gain.

My parents had an amazing bird feeder right outside our living room window growing up and this is by far my number one takeaway from decades of amateur birdwatching. There would be dozens of birds, finches, robins, cardinals, you name it, peacefully coexisting and happily snacking on the limitless free seed we put out. But every once in awhile some asshole bluejay would show up and every time it would peck and claw at every other bird at the feeder until it was the only one there.

DIRECTV has an app called Sports Bar Finder where you can look at a map of your area and filter on bars which have various sports packages, including Sunday Ticket. Haven’t used it in awhile but it’s come through in the clutch for me quite a few times over the years when I’ve been traveling and needed to catch a game.

It’s not unprecedented to have non-English speakers become English-language pop stars, ABBA and Ace of Base were both Swedish, for example.