Mouths Of Babes

Kids these days.
So ambivalent. So uncaring.
Wait: The kids of Parkland. Malala Yousafzai. 
Greta Thunberg. 
Of course, this is no work for a little girl. “I’m sure that Greta is a kind and very sincere girl. But adults must do everything not to bring teenagers and children into some extreme situations.” That's what Russian strongman Vladimir "The Very Hard Potato" Putin had to say about Ms. Thunberg's speech to the United Nations. It would seem that Vlad does not share the rest of the planet's excitement for very kind and sincere girl. Not unlike the premier of the Union of United States, Donald "Mashed Potato" Trump, who mocked her last week on Twitter thus: “She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!” Then he patted her head, and he got her a drink and he sent her to bed. 
But Great didn't go back to bed. She switched her Twitter handle to "A very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future.” And after she was patronized by the leader of the former Soviet Union, she changed it to read, "A kind but poorly informed teenager." 
By my reckoning, Ms. Thunberg has forgotten more about Climate Change than either of these buffoons could ever know. This is primarily because they do not want to listen. Putin went so far as to suggest that Greta was being manipulated. “But when someone is using children and teenagers in personal interests, it only deserves to be condemned." He continued to  patronize: “No one has explained to Greta that the modern world is complex and different and ... people in Africa or in many Asian countries want to live at the same wealth level as in Sweden.”
I would like to suggest that people in Africa or in many Asian countries want to live. Full stop. 
Autocratic strongmen these days. I'm tellin' you.