Power Ranking of World Leaders

Here's the new power rankings of world leaders. The last one was posted on August 21.

Rank	Leader	Country	Previous Rank
1	Xi Jiangping	China	1
2	Vladimir Putin	Russia	2
3	Emmanuel Macron	France	Not Ranked
4	Ali Khamenei	Iran	4
5	Abiy Ahmed	Ethiopia	7
6	Kim Jong-un	North Korea	3
7	Moon Jae-in	South Korea	5
8	Recep Erdogan	Turkey	Not Ranked
9	Sauli Niinisto	Finland	Not Ranked
10	Donald Trump	United States	8

1. Xi's China continues to fill the void left by an American foreign policy in shambles while consolidating his power.

2. Putin is the strongman of Russia. Former high up American officials believe the President of the United States has been acting like a controlled asset of Russia.

3. During the commemoration of the end of World War I, Macron laid out his vision of the world. It was a powerful vision that rejected the nationalism of the strongman and the President of the United States. He called for increased military ties for Europe.

4. Iran isn't exactly a rich and powerful nation, but you wouldn't know that based on the actions of the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Israel.

5. Ahmed has been lauded for being a reformer in repressive Ethiopia. Half of his cabinet are women.

6. Kim has received glowing praise from the President of the United States, despite the horrors he has inflicted on his people and the threats he casts on the world. But a defector recently announced that much of the younger generation don't feel loyalty to him, which knocks him down a few spots.

7. Moon's efforts at trying to create peace worth North Korea are laudable. He had a meeting in with Kim in September. Optimism still persists.

8. Turkey's strongman cracks the top ten for being an unwavering voice for justice in the Jamal Khashoggi case, the case that has significantly dimmed the star of Saudi Arabia's crown prince MbS. This despite the erosion of democracy Erdogan has instigated and the collapse of the economy.

9. Niinisto surfaces again int he top 10 because he made worldwide news by saying Finland doesn't prevent forest fires with rakes. It's always a good week when he can look intelligent by asserting rake don't prevent forest fires. Smokey the Rake says, "only you can prevent forest fires.

10. Donald Trump;s presidency of the most powerful nation in the world is an unmitigated disaster. In September, his competency to lead was seriously questioned by a member of the administration and the most respected journalist in the country. He has waffled on the Khashoggi case, bowing down to MbS one minute and using harsh words the next, and then saying MbS probably didn't now what happened after the CIA announced that he ordered the killing. But Trump is still POTUS, so I guess he should be in the top ten.

Boxing Fights I Want to Watch

There have been some good top level fights recently and let's hope that trend continues.

Jumping a bit out of order, let's start with welterweight. The fight I most want to see is:
Terence Crawford vs. Errol Spence for the true welterweight championship
A true 50-50 fight at the highest level

Heavyweight
Winner of Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua for the true heavyweight championship.

Light heavyweight
A 4 man tournament between the true champion Adonis Stevenson-Olexandr Gvozdyk winner, Eleider Alvarez, Dmitriy Bivol, and Artur Beterbiev

Middleweight
Canelo should fight a GGG rematch, Danny Jacobs, or Saunders next. Canelo-Saunders tagline could be: Whose PEDs are better?

I'd like to see Charlo and Andrade fight someone world class, maybe each other. At least Andrade tried before Saunders was caught. Charlo's win over Trout was good, but otherwise, both Charlos and Andrade have been stuck fighting a certain level. The Charlos are probably the most disrespectful boxers in the game right now- no class after the fight- so I'd like them to actually test themselves against world class. Charlo-Andrade wouldn't be the most exciting fight, but it'd at least stir the pot for one of them.

Junior welterweight
If Josh Taylor and Regis Prograis get past their opponents in the WBSS, that would be a very exciting fight. Both face live dogs int he semis though. The Hooker-Saucedo winner should face Mark Kriegel's love interest Jose Ramirez. The winner of that fight should face the WBSS winner. Mikey Garcia could face the winner. That would make 140 one of  the hottest divisions around.

Then the winner could move up to 147 and face the Crawford-Spence winner. I'd like Mikey Garcia to wait to face Spence. That fight doesn't excite me yet.

Lightweight
I'd rather see Lomachenko-Garcia than Spence-Garcia. Maybe Lomachenko could face the winner of my 140 super-tournament instead of Garcia.

Junior lightweight
Alberto Machado vs. Gervonta Davis
Lomachenko gets the winner. Or you can throw Miguel Berchelt in there.

Featherweight
Leo Santa Cruz vs. Gary Russell

Junior featherweight
Guillermo Rigondeaux vs. Naoya Inoue
Isaac Dogboe vs. Rey Vargas

Bantamweight
Naoya Inoue vs SSR

John Kerry Feels Left Out

This past week, bombs have been sent to the preeminent people on the left in America. The bomb recipients have been the faces of liberalism in the U.S. over the past 25 years. John Kerry, thus far, has not been among them.

Kerry was recently heard commenting on the mail bombs."I was a former presidential candidate and Secretary of State. How come Hillary Clinton gets one and not me? Joe Biden? Really? That old bozo. Eric Holder? I don't even know who that is? I'm John Kerry! I was one of the foremost voices in calling for the end of the Vietnam War. I was a senator from Massa-fucking-chusetts for 28 years! Where's my bomb?"

Saudia Arabia Releases How Khashoggi Died

Jamal Khoshoggi walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and disappeared. Saudi Arabia has had a few theories about what happened:

At first, the Saudis claimed he was involved in a fist fight at the consulate and died. He apparently bumped into former middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, who happened to be at the consulate for some unknown reason. Triple G landed a straight right-left hook combination after the two bumped into each other that ultimately killed that 59-year old Washington Post reporter.

It's possible that Khoshoggi suffered a paper cut while filing paperwork and bled out in the consulate, the Saudis argued.

The Saudis later announced that Jamal Khoshoggi didn't die. He never even existed. None of us has. We're all just figments of a higher being's imagination.

Another theory the Saudis have pushed is that Khoshoggi died of guilt after writing critical stories about the Saudi royal family. It's happened before.

An early birthday present was planned at the consulate and he died of a heart attack.

It turned out that some body parts were found in the consular general's residence (I hate when that happens), so the Saudis changed their story saying that Khoshoggi died in a horrific can opener accident. After he was mangled in the can opener, the consular general used the can opener to open a BPA-free can of beans and some of Khoshoggi's body parts ended up in the consular general's clothes that he brought home. It's happened before.

What if we admit he was brutally murdered, but MBS didn't know anything about it. No good? Ok, never mind.

The Saudis' most recent assertion: The Iranians did it!

2018-2019 NBA Predictions

East
Just missing: Chi, Det
Out in the first round: Cha, Ind, Mia, Was
Out in the East semis: Mil, Tor
East Finals: Bos over Phi 4-2

West
Just missing: NO, Por
Out in the first round: Den, Min, OKC, Uth
Out in the West semis: LAL, SA
West Finals: Hou over GS 4-3

NBA Finals
Houston over Boston 4-2

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Top Ten Pound-For-Pound

Here's my pound-for-pound list. I take into account ability and accomplishment. The previous list was posted on July 1, 2018.

1. Vasyl Lomachenko (11-1, 9 KOs) [1]
2. Saul Alvarez (50-1-2, 34 KOs) [Not ranked]
3. Gennady Golovkin (38-1-1, 34 KOs) [3]
4. Terence Crawford (33-0, 24 KOs) [2]
5. Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (47-4-1, 41 KOs) [5]
6. Leo Santa Cruz (35-1-1, 19 KOs) [6]
7. Naoya Inoue (16-0, 15 KOs) [7]
8. Errol Spence (24-0, 21 KOs) [8]
9. Mikey Garcia (38-0, 30 KOs) [9]
10. Olexandr Usyk (15-0, 11 KOs) [Not ranked]

Exiting the list:
Sergey Kovalev (32-3-1, 28 KOs) [4]
Guillermo Rigondeaux (17-1, 11 KOs) [10]

A Worthy Product

Walking around the neighborhood with my twin babies, we encountered some religious missionaries knocking on doors trying to convert the residents. Later, there were people handing out fliers by the metro claiming that only Jesus can save us.

In my experience, if you have to work that hard to sell your product, it's likely because the product isn't very good. No one has to sell good products; they sell themselves.

A Breakdown of Who is America? Characters

Sacha Baron Cohen pretended to be six characters on Who Is America? Some fared better than others. Here I grade the characters on whether their sketches hit or miss and if it hit, how well did it do. If a sketch hits, it can receive as many as four points and as little as one. I use a baseball analogy, one I'm sure the British Cohen would surely appreciate, so a one-point sketch is a single, while a 4-point sketch is a homerun (HR).

The number of comedy hits versus the number of sketches the character is in is his comedy average (cavg) and the total points divided by sketches is his comedy slugging percentage (cslg). I've also include the number of HRs each character was in.

6) Billy Wayne Ruddick Jr.
.143 cavg; .143 cslg; 0 HRs

I like the Ruddick character in theory and the intro to his sketches are funny, but he struckout nearly every time. Bernie Sanders (Ep.1), NIH Director Francis Collins (Ep. 6), and Jill Stein (Ep. 6) came across as polite and knowledgeable in their interviews with Dr. Ruddick to little or no comedic effect. There was a lot of potential with Corey Lewandowski (Ep. 5), but Ruddick kept going a little too far and it made him look like a halfway sane man. Ted Koppel (Ep. 2) and Howard Dean (Ep. 6) were indignant, but not in a funny way. The only hit was Barney Frank (Ep. 7) and his indignation; Ruddick essentially played the straight man and let Frank's reaction take over. Still, the interview was only goo enough for a single.

5) Nira Cain-N'Degeocello
.333 cavg; .833 cslg; 1 HR

I thought Nira was funnier, but the numbers say otherwise. Too often, Cain-N'Degeocello said outlandish things and people reacted with grace. The South Carolina Republican couple (Ep. 1) Bone Krusher (Ep. 3) come to mind. That Utah Republican (Ep. 4) was less understanding, but he didn't take the bait that would've made that interview a success. The battle rap (Ep. 3) was had a feel-good moment when the one halfway decent line that Cain-N'Degeocello landed got some love, but it wasn't particularly funny.

When he gave birth (Ep. 6), that was funny for how much the guy believed it and there were some funny lines, but only enough for a single. The Arizona town hall was a homerun. The townspeople';s bigotry came shining through and Cain-N'Degeocello did a great job of trying to spin it to something more tolerant at which point the locals doubled and tripled down.

4) OMGWhizzboyOMG
1.000 cavg; 1.333 cslg; 0 HR

This character has been panned by the critics, but I like him. Yes, Joe Arpaio (Ep. 4), David Clark (Ep. 5), and Jan Brewer (Ep. 6) have said crazier things. But he still got Clark to say he would be against anti-fascists in 1930s Germany, and Brewer to allow a homicidal Shopkin to have a semi-automatic weapon. Sheriff Joe said that he would accept various sexual acts from the president, which was a double in my book.

3) Rick Sherman
.667 cavg; 1.667 cslg; 0 HR

I'm surprised Sherman, ranked so highly. I didn't really like the character and his introduction (Ep. 1). Yes, an art dealer gave him her pube, but otherwise, she seemed like a gentle understanding person during the piece and my sympathies were with her. Sherman then went after a better targets and scored better. DJ Jake Inphamous (Ep. 5) loved Sherman's bizarre musical set and so did his nightclub, which was good enough for a double. Get a faux food critic (Ep. 6) to wax poetic after eating sausage he believed was softened in a man's anus and thanking the family of the Chinese dissident her had just eaten was almost a homerun.

2) Gio Monaldo
1.000 cavg; 2.500 cslg; 2 HRs

Gio's success also surprised me. After an underwhelming start, pranking a former Bachelor contestant (Ep. 2), a skit that was funny in spots for the contestant's desire for fame but made me a bit uncomfortable, Gio came back strong. After exposing a yacht dealer's desperation to make a sale, Gio hit two homers by getting Mahbod Moghadam to hilariously show his racial prejudice and by punking O.J.

1) Erran Morad
1.000 cavg; 3.000 cslg; 5 HRs

Conservatives are apparently quite trusting of a former Israeli Mossad, I mean not the Mossad, agent. when it comes to terrorism. The Colonel was the funniest character by far. His weakest sketch was with Roy Moore (Ep. 3), still funny just for the fact that he used a fake pedophile director on him. Dick Cheney (Ep. 2), the anti-Muslim office demonstration, and the Real Housewives sit were good enough for 3 doubles.

Morad had more homers than all the other characters combined. The quinceanera (Ep. 3), Guns For Kids (Ep. 1), the courses with Dan Roberts (Ep. 5), Jason Spencer (Ep. 2), and the Liberal contest and women's march infiltration (Ep. 7) were the homeruns.

Power Rankings of World Leaders

Here's the new power rankings of world leaders. The last one was posted on July 24.

Rank	Leader	Country	Previous Rank
1	Xi Jiangping	China	1
2	Vladimir Putin	Russia	2
3	Kim Jong-un	North Korea	3
4	Ali Khamenei	Iran	4
5	Moon Jae-in	South Korea	Not Ranked
6	Mohammad bin Salman	Saudi Arabia	Not Ranked
7	Abiy Ahmed	Ethiopia	8
8	Donald Trump	United States	10
9	Justin Trudeau	Canada	Not Ranked
10	Imran Khan	Pakistan	Not Ranked

1. The escalating trade war with the U.S. isn't helping too many people, but between the Belt and Road Initiative and the U.S.'s withdrawal from a position of dominance on the global stage, Xi has China in position of preeminent influence.

2. After making Donald Trump look like a Kremlin stooge in last month's U.S.-Russia summit, the Russian dictator had Trump inviting him to the White House. Even the American Director of National Intelligence was flabbergasted by that invitation.

3. Kim has been one step ahead of the U.S. since Trump took office. He dictates the game. He continues to send overtures of peace to South Korea, but only on his terms.

4. The Trump administration's hardline policy on Iran has served two purposes for Ayatollah Khamenei. It marginalizes moderates such as President Hassan Rouhani and provides a foil in the U.S. as anti-government protests persist.

5. The scene of long-separated Korean families reuniting, even if just for a few hours, was moving. President Moon helped to make that happen and he just might usher in an era of peace on the Korean peninsula. His legacy depends on it.

6. MbS has now picked a fight with Canada after the country's government called out his arrests of women activists. The Saudis tweeted out a 9-11 type threat against Canada on top of other symbolic gestures. It's like if Pharma Bro was the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. MbS runs his foreign policy like Trump if Trump had no checks or balances and was the least bit competent.

7. Besides finding peace with Eritrea and overseeing one of the fastest growing economies in the world, Ahmed is opening up space towards a free media.

8. Trump is reimagining American foreign policy as he cozies up to strongmen and distances his country from its traditional alliances. He's asked some interesting questions about America's involvement in far off civil wars and the cost of maintaining a military presence in over half of the world's countries. But those moments of lucidity seem accidental. For the most part, Trump has dealt with each foreign policy issue as if it were in a vacuum. It doesn't help his standing that his former campaign manager was convicted of fraud and his former attorney signed a plea agreement today.

9. Trudeau was in a spat with MbS and came out looking good by standing up for human rights. After a stunning rise onto the global stage, Trudeau has had his setbacks. This bizarre kerfuffle is the first start to redemption for Trudeau.

10. No one really knows where Iran Khan stands. The Aaron Burr of Pakistan has promised to root out corruption and set out a vision for peace with India. Whether the new prime minister can follow through on these promises is another thing. But, for now, the charismatic leader is saying the right things. And, perhaps more importantly, he's someone new.