Nowhere To Run

          International Political Economy was the scene of a World Trade Organization simulation that I had completely forgotten about. I represented Iran and this gave me some unique advantages in terms of the positions I could take. With about 5 minutes of research, I cobbled together a platform and threw shade all over the rich Western nations at the table. Three WTO policy recommendations were proposed: one each from the representatives of Germany, Turkey, and Iran (yours truly!) Though none came anywhere close to ratification -- after all, that was the point of the exercise -- mine came closest with 12 votes for, 9 against. Germany's proposal received 10 votes for, 12 against, and Turkey's only managed 6 for, 8 against. And my country isn't even a voting member of the WTO! [Aside: The failure of the WTO to accept Iran is a legit load of horseshit. They applied in 1995 and a "working group" was established in 1999 to study their application. No chairman was elected and the working group has never met. Nations like the United States and Israel will continue to block Iranian accession for the foreseeable future, further demonstrating that international institutions are still good ole boys' clubs. This is not to say Iran doesn't have its fair share of problems.]
          Peter and Johnny made the usual pit stop at our place in the late afternoon. When night fell, Julia, Nathan, Alaric and Sean joined me for You're Next, another "murderous home intruders" type of horror movie. The violence is brutal and the twists twisty indeed; time-honored tropes come into play, but there are surprises throughout. This is the kind of scary movie that's best watched with friends, not just because it's frightening but also because it will get you amped up. Without spoiling too much, I'm pretty sure I yelled "oh yeah!" during a scene involving someone's kneecap. I had never heard of this film before, but it was a fortuitous find on Netflix.
          Quote of the day:
"Once it became clear that the individual mandate was going to be upheld with the taxing power, my spies tell me that Breyer and Kagan were willing to cast their opinion with the majority simply to keep the peace on the court." - Prof. Tolley
"If I were alive when that went through, I would've got the first ticket out of this country, there is no way I could live under that regime..." - Prof. Tolley, re: Prohibition