jueves, 12 de septiembre de 2024

U.S. Presidential Campaign 2024: Issues, Polls, & Fakes

The U.S. Presidential campaign is in full swing, with Donald Trump and Kamala Harris as the two presidential candidates.  They have recently held a television debate on ABC News to discuss the election issues (the economy, immigration, abortion, democracy in the U.S., Israel, Ukraine etc.) and their character suitability for the job. Here you can find the highlights of the debate (9:11), a video with subtitles for C1 students, who can pick up words like: the gloves were off, grievances, to punch [back], the stakes [are high], [to be locked in] dead heat, to get away with [something], to be fired, [to get] heated, the GOP, hence, to factcheck, to overturn [a court decision], to hammer [the Biden administration], [to defend her] record, a bipartisan [border bill],  debunked [claims], to bring up [an issue], to reach out to [the city manager of Springfield, Ohio], to needle, a windmill, [to ban] fracking, a buyback [programme for assault weapons], [opinion] polls, to hold backto go down as [the worst vice pressident], to face off against [a different candidate], a bid [for a second term], a tight [race], [to hold] steady, a hush money [case], liable, weaponization, to endorse [Harris],to champion [the rights and causes], a powerhouse [roundtable], a contentious and consequential [Presidential election].

The election is very tight, and it is, problably going to be decided in 7 swing states -also called battleground or purple states, where there is no clear majority of red (Republican) or blue (Democrat) voters: Pennsylvania, Nevada, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin and Michigan. The presidential electors from these states are key to reach the 270 majority in the electoral college that will eventually vote for the President and Vice President, according to the U.S. Constitution. The polls keep changing marginally, so if you want to keep track of the latest polls from now till election day on November 5th, you can follow 270 to Win, Presidential Election Polls.  Here you can take a quick look at the current election map, with the swing states coloured in grey:


The Presidential election 2024 is also being fought bitterly in the social media, where fake pictures, lies and exaggerations live hand in hand with satire and the plain truth. X-Twitter and Instagram are, perhaps, the most popular media for anyone to express their own views freely, but also to spread lies without any restraint.  The fake image of Kamala Harris dressed as a Communist dictator, which was published by Elon Musk (the owner of X and a staunch supporter of Trump)
was soon responded by the hacktivist Anonymous group with the fake picture of Mr. Musk depicted in a Nazi uniform. But the most powerful fake images revolve around pop celebrities like Taylor, and her Swifties, whose photos have been tampered with to vote for Trump, as The Times of India reports in "From 'Communist Harris' to 'Swifties for Trump': AI Generated Images Muddy US Presidential Election 2024".  Some interesting words and collocations C1 students will find in this article are: to muddy, [to raise] concerns, a deepfake, a winking [smiley], blatant, to downplay [the comment], a hacktivist [group], backlash, a [tech] mogul, to groove, to sync [to the music], to caption, to poke fun at [critics], witty, banter, to pose [a threat].



Taylor Swift has finally ended this misleading debate by posting a statement on Instagram to endorse Kamala Harris with a real photo of herself as a "childless cat lady", as Mehera Bonner reports for Cosmopolitan, in "Taylor Swift Breaks her Political Silence and Endorses Kamala Harris for President in Moving Statement", where B2 students will find words like: to endorse, the upcoming [election], to conjure up [fears], to cast [my vote], a steady-handed, gifted [leader], to stand up for [LGBTQ+ rights].

miércoles, 4 de septiembre de 2024

Spain's Pineapple Craze for Supermarket Romance

The crazy fad of finding romance in supermarkets with a pineapple code has gone viral across Spain, and has recently become the joke of the country, Guy Hedgecoe reports on this Tik-Tok fueled phenomenon for BBC News in the article "Spain's 'pineapple-gate' sparks hopes of romance and shop chaos". This short article is suitable for B2 students, who will find interesting words like: [pineapple]-gate, to spark, a craze, to seek [partners], a claim, a trolley, to hook up, a caption, disorderly, a bachelor party, rowdy [scenes], a trend, upside-down, to swap, swinging (slang), [pineapple] mania, to clear up, a storeroom, to fall into, clutch.

Below you can watch a video report on the story, with its transcript, by Curiosities YouTube channel, where B2 students can find words like: a hookup, a trend, a single, a hotspot, to picture, to cruise, , the [wine] aisle, upside-down, a cart, a fling, to sneak, gazpacho, quirky, to trade, a swipe, to peel, a bump