Brexit is certainly winnowing the field of political “leaders”. So far Cameron, “Boris Badenov/Drumpf-Lite” Johnson, and Nigel Farage are all getting while the getting is good and Brits can still vacation in Spain.

Turnbull is not getting the result he expected when he called the election in Australia. It still isn’t clear if anyone has a majority in Parliament.

Sending three suicide bombers into Saudi Arabia, especially the one to Medina at the end of Ramadan, is not an effective way of changing Muslim ‘hearts & minds’. OTOH, the Bangladeshis shouldn’t be surprised that the terrorists who attacked the restaurant in Dhaka were from upper middle-class families – most terrorists are. Poor people can’t afford to be terrorists.

Granville to Angers

Distance: 223.5 kilometers.

So far with the exception of the finish yesterday [200 meters with a 14% gradient into Cherbourg] the first three stages have been for sprinters. The start has been good news for Mark Cavendish who wore the Yellow for the first time after stage one, and today managed to take his second stage win of this Tour and tie with 5-time TDF winner Bernard Hinault for career wins with 28. Eddy Merckx of Belgium is in first place with 32 stage wins.

Peter Sagan ( SVK – TNK – 032 ) [Yellow] 14h 34′ 36”
Mark Cavendish ( GBR – DDD – 101 ) [Green] 123 points
Jasper Stuyven ( BEL – TFS – 067 ) [Polka Dot] 4 points
Julian Alaphilippe ( FRA – EQS – 182 ) 2 [White]

Team: Orica-Bikeexchange ( OBE – 201-209 ) [Yellow numbers]
Stage winner: Mark Cavendish ( GBR – DDD – 101 )
Combative: Thomas Voeckler ( FRA – DEN – 179 ) [Red numbers]

Top Ten:

1 Peter Sagan ( SVK – TNK – 032 )
2 Julian Alaphilippe ( FRA – EQS – 182 ) + 00′ 08″
3 Alejandro Valverde ( ESP – MOV – 012 ) + 00′ 10″
4 Christopher Froome ( GBR – SKY – 001 ) + 00′ 14″
5 Warren Barguil ( FRA – TGA – 111 ) + 00′ 14″
6 Nairo Quintana ( COL – MOV – 011 ) + 00′ 14″
7 Roman Kreuziger ( CZE – TNK – 036 ) + 00′ 14″
8 Tony Gallopin ( FRA – LTS – 165 ) + 00′ 14″
9 Fabio Aru ( ITA – AST – 021 ) + 00′ 14″
10 Daniel Martin ( IRL – EQS – 184 ) + 00′ 14″

The Rest of the Top 30:
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As always, here are the Tour basics if you want to follow along. The Tour started on July 2nd, but I’ve been tied up with other things and couldn’t handle the daily updates.

The cartoon characters from my header are wearing the various colored jerseys that indicate the leader in the different classifications in the race.

The Maillot Jaune, Yellow Jersey is worn by the rider with the lowest time overall in the race. The eventual winner of the race may never have come in first in any stage, but was near the lead throughout the race and achieved the lowest time over the entire course of the event. The winner is normally an “all-arounder”, someone who is very good at the sprints and the hill climbing, even if they aren’t the best. Chris Froome, Alberto Contador, and Fabian Cancellara are “all-arounders”, showing up on the lists of the sprinters and the climbers, while staying in the top ten for overall time.

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The Declaration of Independence

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security…

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