tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61502773044858082462024-03-13T14:41:50.999+01:00A View from AcqualoretoLife in Italy and the US as seen from a small village in Umbria.Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026862295263156116noreply@blogger.comBlogger112125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6150277304485808246.post-55801403091223970942024-02-25T16:34:00.000+01:002024-02-25T16:34:55.867+01:00A Solution for Gaza<p> </p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Most people we know, personally or through their writing, live with apprehension over how the rest of 2024 will play out. They seem to harbor more fear of what a second Trump Presidency might bring than horror at what we are witnessing right now. President Biden has been anointed by establishment Democrats with the title of last best hope to save democracy but as the year moves along he keeps digging himself ever deeper into a hole. His bold plan to incite a proxy war war with Russia to weaken and overthrow that large country’s government has not worked out as intended and now, as Israel has taken control of US foreign policy, things are looking bad for American interests and for its good name. By being sucked in to aid the final solution to Israel’s Palestinian problem, the president has made us all collaborators in genocide. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Many DNC establishment columnists have managed to write glowing reports on the economy while ignoring the death and destruction that are spreading the perception that rather than being the savior of the rules-based order, the US has become a rogue state and the world’s largest agent of state terrorism. The Democratic Party is more likely to promote some democratic concepts than its rival, the Republican Party, now completely dedicated to a selective libertarianism marching in the direction of a Neo-feudal society. The current situation will not be corrected without strong measures, a few of which I will propose. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed to provide collective defense against Soviet aggression. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, NATO had honorably completed its mission and should have been dissolved but, as with all well-financed organizations, it is easier to search for a new mission than to liquidate all the high-ranking directors in its employ. Thus, NATO was transformed into a large international agent of US imperialism. In the past three decades, to my knowledge, NATO has never intervened militarily to defend any of its member states. Who would they be defending them from? However, over that period, when the US has developed an antipathy toward another nation, after imposing illegal sanctions which often don’t produce the desired effect, it has invoked NATO to launch an attack on the offending country with the goal of overthrowing the government and replacing it with a new Neo-con compliant regime. Of course the CIA has been the silent partner in these operations. The military actions have been conducted under the concept of “shock and awe” and have typically been effective, if a bit extreme. The second phases of establishing dependable puppet regimes have usually been less successful. The pattern has been repeated in Serbia, Iraq, Libya and more of Latin America than we can keep track of. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now that Israel has turned itself into the world’s principal pariah nation, repeating the war crimes that we saw eighty years ago and thought that we would never see again, it is time to put our strengths to work. We could halt the genocide in Gaza immediately by simply cutting off all all financial and military aid to Israel, but that would provide no acceptable solution for the future. Therefore, while it may seem distasteful to some of the more successfully indoctrinated subjects of the US and its NATO colonies, should the American president simply declare Israel to be in violation of the US rules-based order and direct NATO to bring “shock and awe” to Tel Aviv, the overthrow of the government could be achieved in a few days, or possibly minutes. A Nurimberg-style war crimes tribunal could be set up to deal with the worst of the Netanyahu cabinet and a new and more humane government could be installed. Israel has made it clear, to all those not willfully deaf and blind, that it has no intention of accepting a two state solution for Palestine, so it will be up to NATO to expel the illegal settlers from the occupied territories and secure the borders as defined in 1948.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhYqKyePJDXcyfPu7klMueWVICuIhYoLPwcWql2ST4JZfVQuzOBKeQv6X0Mg-OzYMB5eZYrSHvSvsOXLfR7QaJDNYR0dH0zRfz765HQHde4qRhasvuUVlUJDtK-WGR7cnhMbho-7BoAB0yA2_RNWM0FL-v0O2SYni4Y7kOGABK6V2pIAcfquIBwAHsaXc/s805/BibiArrest.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="463" data-original-width="805" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhYqKyePJDXcyfPu7klMueWVICuIhYoLPwcWql2ST4JZfVQuzOBKeQv6X0Mg-OzYMB5eZYrSHvSvsOXLfR7QaJDNYR0dH0zRfz765HQHde4qRhasvuUVlUJDtK-WGR7cnhMbho-7BoAB0yA2_RNWM0FL-v0O2SYni4Y7kOGABK6V2pIAcfquIBwAHsaXc/w479-h275/BibiArrest.jpg" width="479" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><br /><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">The NATO forces will then have to maintain security at those borders for decades to come. If NATO must continue its existence to keep the American economy rolling, it would be far better to have it engaged in a long-term peace keeping mission rather than preparing to act out Lindsey Graham’s nightmarish fantasies of wiping off the planet those nations he just knows are working in the service of the Devil. In addition, a two or three mile wide neutral buffer strip could be created outside the long Gaza border which would house both the NATO peacekeeping forces and a new airport serving both the Israeli and Palestinian communities. It would give them an opportunity to try working together. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">The US has proved successful at bending other small countries to its will, sometimes in clear conflict with their own interests. Israel is a very small country. President Biden has changed course many times in his long political career. He faces ignominious defeat at the hands of a self-admitted tyrant in November. With a few bold strokes as outlined above, he could emerge as the man who created lasting peace in the Middle East and initiated an era of good relations with all the countries of the area. Israel might be the greatest beneficiary of all since its very survival as a nation would be secured. There will be long and loud shrieks of protest coming from Zionists everywhere and in its death throes, AIPAC may lash out to derail the president’s initiatives, but with one more simple act, i.e., the dropping of all charges against Julian Assange, the President would become not only the man who brought peace to the Middle East but also the champion of a free press. At that point the president could glide into next summer’s Democratic Convention to ask the delegates to select his worthy successor and to announce that he will be leaving the White House at the end of year to spend his remaining years basking in the afterglow of his newly found place in history. </span></div>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026862295263156116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6150277304485808246.post-55042588615154459972023-12-08T15:56:00.000+01:002024-01-05T15:11:24.321+01:00Emergency Media Reset<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i>“The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.” </i>George Orwell</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3dMc-l8VRVDWbmtvuOk_BiqE7YQ-Cg_k28tlAqAp_AcDltt9k9-DmdnPuUIID5sACqMGp4tdEfdUbiBMPMyey3WEd7vt5xQAdKi4IhoscleunoP9jATh1gLbIhCRe2VibBp3xjLo2EyFwzveMqzVl98jJU9Dr3TYaqeOiIu991UAVUNnBePaqlpZ8wpw/s1024/more%20Gaza.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3dMc-l8VRVDWbmtvuOk_BiqE7YQ-Cg_k28tlAqAp_AcDltt9k9-DmdnPuUIID5sACqMGp4tdEfdUbiBMPMyey3WEd7vt5xQAdKi4IhoscleunoP9jATh1gLbIhCRe2VibBp3xjLo2EyFwzveMqzVl98jJU9Dr3TYaqeOiIu991UAVUNnBePaqlpZ8wpw/s320/more%20Gaza.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Today, 7 Dec., is the two month anniversary of the Hamas uprising which killed something like 1500 people in Israel. As of today the number of people killed in attacks of retribution has approached or surpassed the fifteen thousand mark and is rising, with predictions and Israeli government declarations suggesting that the kill rate will accelerate. There were from 2,200,000 to 2,300,000 people living in Gaza, a strip of land about the size of the city limits of Philadelphia. Gaza has been described as the “largest open air concentration camp in the world”. </span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Virtually all the media, even those moderately sympathetic to the cause of the Palestinians, refer to the events of 7 October and its aftermath as the <b>war </b>between Israel and Hamas. I tend to cling to the outmoded concept of wars being a way of nations resorting to conflict resolution through military means when diplomatic means have failed, or have never been tried. Sometimes it’s a matter of big just rolling over small, but usually it involves two countries, nations or states. There have been any number of warring factions within larger political entities. From 1948 Israel has existed as a nation, given that recognition by the UN with remarkable international unanimity, although the measure also accorded a Palestinian state, a solution which has never been implemented and one which the current Israeli Government will stop at nothing to prevent.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Gaza is an occupied territory. Since 2006 it has been condoned off and fully controlled by Israel. No ships could arrive; nobody could enter or leave without Israeli approval. Food entering the territory was calculated to not exceed the cumulative minimum caloric levels to avoid starvation of the population. Perhaps the Israelis hoped that the Palestinians would just become depressed and die off. They’ve spared no effort to that end but have not succeeded so they appear to have moved on to the final solution, which meets all the international criteria for genocide. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Our media talk about genocide often, but such talk is usually limited to the big one in Europe in the 1940’s while those in Africa don’t get much mention, just as the slaughter of the Armenians was largely forgotten by the world for a century. This one is there for all to see, although the Israelis did shut down the internet for a while to stop live reports from getting out. More journalists have already been killed in this two month old conflict than in all other recent US wars. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In recent weeks, some hostages on both sides have been released. Each has his or her own story but some Israeli women, upon release, have even expressed gratitude to their captors for their considerate treatment. You might have missed that if your news comes from the major media, just as you may have missed the stories of Israeli troops simply blowing up buildings where Hamas was thought to be holding hostages, killing everyone inside, captors, hostages alike, in order to avoid negotiations with the enemy. Illegal settlers in the occupied West Bank have continued murdering Palestinians with impunity. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In October Josh Paul, Director of the State Department’s Bureau of Military Affairs, resigned saying the Biden Administration’s “blind support for one side “ was leading to policy decisions that were “short-sighted, destructive, unjust and contradictory to the very values that we publicly espouse”.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Israel has been getting a lot of bad press, despite all its MSM and Congressional support, so a propaganda counteroffensive was due. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">On December 6th the New York Times published a story containing the following:</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“ President Biden condemned the “unimaginable cruelty” of Hamas attackers who raped and mutilated women in Israel on Oct. 7, and he blamed the terrorist group’s refusal to release its remaining female hostages for the breakdown in cease-fire talks. Hamas has rejected the allegations. …</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“Survivors and witnesses of the attacks have shared the horrific accounts of unimaginable cruelty,” Biden said. “Reports of women raped — repeatedly raped — and their bodies being mutilated while still alive — of women corpses being desecrated, Hamas terrorists inflicting as much pain and suffering on women and girls as possible and then murdering them.”</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“Matt Miller, a State Department spokesman, said that “a number of people believe” that Hamas did not want to release female hostages because of the stories they would tell about how they were treated. But <span style="color: #cc0000;">he said he was “not able to speak with a definitive assessment that that is the case.”</span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This came two months after the Hamas insurrection and as far as I know that brutal attack lasted a day or two, catching the Israelis, always known for their intelligence sophistication and expertise, unprepared. A forty page report has emerged showing that an attack by Hamas was known a year before the attack happened, much as the 9-11 attacks in the US were known and reported by US intelligence services but ignored by President Bush. Was Bibi following the same script? Bush was hoping to have a war on Iraq. He got his excuse, even if it was based on knowing lies. Was this the Netanyahu’s chance to launch the final solution? </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I have no way to know whether or not Biden’s allegations hold any truth. Perhaps, but we have heard lurid stories put out by the government of babies being beheaded for which there was no evidence. There is no way to conduct a rage-driven massacre of 1500 people in a gentle humane way, any more than there is a way to humanely bomb a crowded concentration camp holding more than two million people into oblivion.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Meanwhile, the people in northern Gaza were ordered to evacuate to the southern part within 48 hours so that their homes, schools, hospitals and mosques could be destroyed and then, after many arrived, the bombing and artillery attacks started in the south. A cease fire to exchange hostages was arranged for four days then the assault continued, despite Biden’s urging the Israelis to adhere to international law while getting on with their self-defense activities (i.e. slaughter of the Gazans). Saturday Night Live couldn’t make this stuff up. Well, they could, but it would never be aired.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The last time I checked, Biden’s approval rating was 27% and falling. Economists, even some intelligent-seeming ones, are amazed by this, since while inflation has been way up, it is easing and the stock market is making a nice recovery. Unemployment is down as more people are taking second jobs to help with rising costs. None of the experts even consider that the the levels of distrust and disgust with the government are harder to quantify in their charts. As an American who has spent very few of the past fifty years in my native country, it is hard for me to accept that the Americans I knew, who were were mostly decent people regardless of their political affiliation, have nearly all died or mutated into monsters supporting any means to world domination, even genocide if that’s what it takes, but if I look at our political representatives of both major parties, that’s more or less the way it appears. There are occasional signs of hope such as this <a href=" “The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.” George Orwell Today is the two month anniversary of the Hamas uprising which killed something like 1500 people in Israel. As of today the number of people killed in attacks of retribution has approached or surpassed the fifteen thousand mark and is rising, with predictions and Israeli government declarations suggesting that the kill rate will accelerate. There were from 2,200,000 to 2,300,000 people living in Gaza, a strip of land about the size of the city limits of Philadelphia. Gaza has been described as the “largest open air concentration camp in the world”. Virtually all the media, even those moderately sympathetic to the cause of the Palestinians, refer to the events of 7 October and its aftermath as the war between Israel and Hamas. I tend to cling to the outmoded concept of wars being a way of nations resorting to conflict resolution through military means when diplomatic means have failed, or have never been tried. Sometimes it’s a matter of big just rolling over small, but usually it involves two countries, nations or states. There have been any number of warring factions within larger political entities. From 1948 Israel has existed as a nation, given that recognition by the UN with remarkable international unanimity, although the measure also accorded a Palestinian state, a solution which has never been implemented and one which the current Israeli Government will stop at nothing to prevent. Gaza is an occupied territory. Since 2006 it has been condoned off and fully controlled by Israel. No ships could arrive; nobody could enter or leave without Israeli approval. Food entering the territory was calculated to not exceed the cumulative minimum caloric levels to avoid starvation of the population. Perhaps the Israelis hoped that the Palestinians would just become depressed and die off. They’ve spared no effort to that end but have not succeeded so they appear to have moved on to the final solution, which meets all the international criteria for genocide. Our media talk about genocide often, but such talk is usually limited to the big one in Europe in the 1940’s while those in Africa don’t get much mention, just as the slaughter of the Armenians was largely forgotten by the world for a century. This one is there for all to see, although the Israelis did shut down the internet for a while to stop live reports from getting out. More journalists have already been killed in this two month old conflict than in all other recent US wars. In recent weeks, some hostages on both sides have been released. Each has his or her own story but some Israeli women, upon release, have even expressed gratitude to their captors for their considerate treatment. You might have missed that if your news comes from the major media, just as you may have missed the stories of Israeli troops simply blowing up buildings where Hamas was thought to be holding hostages, killing everyone inside, captors, hostages alike, in order to avoid negotiations with the enemy. Illegal settlers in the occupied West Bank have continued murdering Palestinians with impunity. In October Josh Paul, Director of the State Department’s Bureau of Military Affairs, resigned saying the Biden Administration’s “blind support for one side “ was leading to policy decisions that were “short-sighted, destructive, unjust and contradictory to the very values that we publicly espouse”. Israel has been getting a lot of bad press, despite all its MSM and Congressional support, so a propaganda counteroffensive was due. On December 6th the New York Times published a story containing the following: “ President Biden condemned the “unimaginable cruelty” of Hamas attackers who raped and mutilated women in Israel on Oct. 7, and he blamed the terrorist group’s refusal to release its remaining female hostages for the breakdown in cease-fire talks. Hamas has rejected the allegations. … “Survivors and witnesses of the attacks have shared the horrific accounts of unimaginable cruelty,” Biden said. “Reports of women raped — repeatedly raped — and their bodies being mutilated while still alive — of women corpses being desecrated, Hamas terrorists inflicting as much pain and suffering on women and girls as possible and then murdering them.” “Matt Miller, a State Department spokesman, said that “a number of people believe” that Hamas did not want to release female hostages because of the stories they would tell about how they were treated. But he said he was “not able to speak with a definitive assessment that that is the case.” This came two months after the Hamas insurrection and as far as I know that brutal attack lasted a day or two, catching the Israelis, always known for their intelligence sophistication and expertise, unprepared. A forty page report has emerged showing that an attack by Hamas was known a year before the attack happened, much as the 9-11 attacks in the US were known and reported by US intelligence services but ignored by President Bush. Was Bibi following the same script? Bush was hoping to have a war on Iraq. He got his excuse, even if it was based on knowing lies. Was this the Netanyahu’s chance to launch the final solution? I have no way to know whether or not Biden’s allegations hold any truth. Perhaps, but we have heard lurid stories put out by the government of babies being beheaded for which there was no evidence. There is no way to conduct a rage-driven massacre of 1500 people in a gentle humane way, any more than there is a way to humanely bomb a crowded concentration camp into oblivion. Meanwhile, the people in northern Gaza were ordered to evacuate to the southern part with 48 hours so that their homes could be destroyed and then after many arrived, the bombing and artillery attacks started in the south. A cease fire to exchange hostages was arranged for four days then the assault continued, despite Biden’s urging the Israelis to adhere to international law while getting on with their self-defense activities (i.e. slaughter of the Gazans). Saturday Night Live couldn’t make this stuff up. Well, they could, but it would never be aired. The last time I checked, Biden’s approval rating was 27% and falling. Economists, even some intelligent-seeming ones, are amazed by this, since while inflation has been way up, it is easing and the stock market is making a nice recovery. Unemployment is down as more people are taking second jobs to help with rising costs. None of the experts even consider that the the levels of distrust and disgust with the government are harder to put into their charts. As an American who has spent very few of the past fifty years in my native country, it is hard for me to accept that the Americans I knew who were were basically decent, regardless of their political affiliation, have nearly all died or mutated into monsters supporting any means to world domination, even genocide if that’s what it takes, but if I look at our political representatives, that’s more or less the way it appears. There are occasional signs of hope such as this letter by White House staffers protesting administration policy. May their numbers increase. ***">letter </a>by White House staffers protesting administration policy. May their numbers increase.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span> </span>***</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026862295263156116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6150277304485808246.post-57405747101099716072023-11-02T12:30:00.001+01:002023-11-02T12:30:18.678+01:00Dream Scenarios<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> 1.<span> </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Neither Donald Trump nor Joe Biden
are candidates for President in 2024.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
I write, this does appear to be a dream, but it is one shared by the majority
of voters, 77% at last count, in the USA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’ve done a cartoon suggesting such an outcome. There are various ways
this could come to pass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One or two of
the dozens of indictments of Trump might stick and Biden’s on-going imitation
of Dr. Strangelove may tank his polling numbers so badly that nominally
Democratic oligarchs will feel the need to pull the plug. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That would be the cue for Congressional
Democrats to jump ship in a desperate effort to save their jobs. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> 2.<span> </span></span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Palestinians take control of
Libya.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is still too early to tell how
the genocide in Gaza will work out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
has been going on for a long time but in early October the people in the world’s
largest concentration camp finally put together a major revolt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was the huge Israeli intelligence failure a
sign of incompetence or were Bibi and company hoping for something bad enough
to be an excuse for ridding themselves of the Palestinians for good? Earlier
instances of Israeli military assaults on Gaza at three- or four-year intervals
were flippantly referred to as “mowing the lawn”. Sometimes even lawn care
specialists can get fed up and opt to nuke the whole yard with Roundup.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is apparent that Bibi and his Defense
Minister Yoev Gallant want the Gazans all dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They say as much, except when talking to Joe Biden or Antony Blinken,
who both repeat that the Israelis are only out to get the Hamas terrorists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has been reported that 1500 Israelis were
killed in the rebellion. The number of Palestinians killed in retaliation is by
now three or four times that but given that the European role models for the
genocide used a ratio of ten to one in killing people deemed collaborators in
the killing of any Nazi soldier, we probably won’t see the slaughter slow down
until the Palestinian death toll reaches 15,000.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were 2,200,000 people living in Gaza.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Withholding food, water, medicines and fuel,
as announced by the Minister of Defense, could kill all of them but there might
be some grim regional repercussions which are hard to predict. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Suggestions come from both Israeli and
American sources that the Palestinians could be relocated elsewhere, usually
meaning somewhere in Egypt. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Egyptians want no part of that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have a
better idea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since NATO bombed it into
the Stone Age in 2011, Libya has been a failed state, a haven for human traffickers,
slave traders and warring gangs. Palestinians are a clever bunch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If they can build in Gaza under severe
sanctions, they can thrive anywhere, so the UN could relocate those of them who
want to go to Libya.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It may not be their
ancestral home but it does have a small population living over a sea of oil.
They could probably restore the country to a functioning state and after
generations of resisting Israeli attacks, they should have no trouble fighting
off the French and English coming to steal the oil.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> 3.<span> </span></span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Donald Trump elected Speaker of the
House.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This outcome may have already
been derailed by the election of little-known Louisiana congressman Mike Johnson
to the post after four or five previous candidates failed to garner the needed
votes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will Johnson last?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We shall see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He is seditious enough to gather the full support of the GOP, but such
tendencies will assure a compact Democratic opposition when legislation needs
to be passed. The Speaker does not have to be a member of congress if I recall
correctly. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trump has a long history of
getting people to do things which are good for him while being against their own
interests. That’s practically the job description of a Speaker of the
House.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His respect for law, as a
concept, may be even lower than that of Mitch McConnell, his respect for truth is
in the range of ex-Speaker Paul Ryan, and his personal depravity no worse than
that of another former speaker, Dennis Hastert. On a combination of the three
traits mentioned above, Trump’s performance would seem better than those of
Newt Gingrich.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While Trump is despised
by a slim majority of Americans, and both feared and ridiculed by people all
over the world, his political instincts have been undervalued.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He did, after all, perform two political
miracles. First, he managed to outdo Hillary Clinton in her obsequious
pandering to Israel, a feat unmatched in the annals of fairy tales. He followed
that by winning an unwinnable election against the same Hillary Clinton, former
first lady, Senator and Secretary of State, who had the support of legions of
women thrilled at the prospect of seeing a woman president. Trump could
probably control Republican congressmen enough to get them to vote to pass
legislation, no matter how repugnant, but in troubled times it might not be
worse than having no functioning legislature at all, relying on a corrupt and
senile President and a Supreme Court, still unencumbered by any Code of Ethical
Standards, to keep the wheels of government turning. There are some worrisome aspects
to a Speaker of the House Trump, beyond the mundane political considerations of
a radical GOP platform getting a boost. The Speaker of the House is third in
line to the Presidency so if both the president and the Vice President were to
die in office, the Speaker would become President. Only a few years ago Trump
boasted that he could shoot a person in the middle of Fifth Avenue in broad
daylight and his supporters would still support him. Biden already has other vulnerabilities,
and the Secret Service agents may have lost their fervor to protect him after
his dogs haven bitten eleven of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Kamala Harris would be well advised to stay away from Fifth Avenue for
the next twelve months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trump’s felony
indictments may keep him off the ballot in enough states to prevent him from
being re-elected but he could have another path to the presidency.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Sweet dreams!<o:p></o:p></span></p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026862295263156116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6150277304485808246.post-32019015747126484882023-09-28T16:22:00.000+02:002023-09-28T16:22:03.694+02:00A Tale of Two Nations<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In late August of 2023 I celebrated the fiftieth anniversary
of my emigration from the USA to Italy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Most of my grandparents or great-grandparents had made the Atlantic
crossing in the opposite direction in the mid-19th Century, also seeking a
better life on the other side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">By now my views and conclusions may be viewed by younger
readers as the tedious laments of a grumpy old man but I have come to
appreciate my extraordinary good luck in being born in the USA just as its
unexpectedly brief golden age of middle class expansion was getting up to
speed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While the US suffered a significant
number of casualties in WWII, the war had little material consequences in the
country other than bringing more women into the workforce and lifting the
economy out of the Great Depression. For most of us growing up in the suburbs
it was a relatively carefree and unrestrained life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having no awareness of the transient nature
of life, I may not have appreciated it at the time, but we had a serene and
healthy environment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We thought that was
normal, sometimes even lamenting in adolescence that it was boring,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Our good fortune extended to being able to attend good
colleges and graduate schools without having wealthy families or working
mothers and without incurring student debt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The US may have been bland at that time but despite occasional heated
arguments between Republicans, who ran the banks and the car dealerships, and
the Democrats, who were often union members or other undesirables, there was a
shared pride in citizenship and belief in “the American Dream”, a concept
rooted in political freedoms and economic opportunity.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Some of us who gravitated to the Democratic side were
sarcastic about the Norman Rockwell imagery and the 4th of July parades but
while our tastes and preferences varied, a degree of faith in the fundamental
goodness of the country was widespread.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My own appreciation of the Homeland was always a bit
restrained and when I got to travel abroad, first to Mexico and later to
Europe, it was seriously compromised.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Traveling around Europe for a few months following graduation from
college and active duty in the Army, I realized that no matter what blessings
America had bestowed on me, the prospect of living the rest of my life there
was a bad dream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was fascinated by all
the European countries I visited, each with its own language, food, art,
architecture and landscape.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Italy was
not the most relaxing place in Europe, but I found the beauty of its cities,
its countryside and its people to be magnetic.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Upon returning to the US to study architecture, I was able
to audit classes in Italian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hardly
excelled at it but it moved me along the path to becoming an Italophile. A
further push came from an Italian-American roommate who taught me most of what
little I knew about cooking. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His mother
was born to a family from the Province of Parma.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At that time, New York was full of
Italian movies which drew me in as no cinema had before or since.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I might have adapted to living in the US, and almost did
while living in San Francisco for a year, but once again my nearly supernatural
good fortune intervened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By pure chance
I met a young Italian while on vacation in Rome who had all the Italian traits
that I had been so intrigued by: beauty, personality, taste, intelligence, and
independence of mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, lots of
character.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In short order she came to
the US where we were married and fifty years ago we moved to Italy with our two
very young daughters. It was a big cultural adjustment, most of it enjoyable. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Where the US had a shared patriotism and belief in its form
of government, Italy had little of that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Italy had remained largely a loose confederation of city states, each
with its own history and traditions. The country had only been unified around
the time of the US Civil War and unification did for much of the southern regions
what the potato famine had done for Ireland, i.e., it brought poverty and mass
emigration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While Rome was a wonderful
place to be in the 70’s, there was an uncomfortable amount of violence between
the youth of the far left and the far right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Terrorism emerged then, long before it was felt in the US.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I grew up in a rather anti-Catholic atmosphere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was never so in a violent way, just a veiled
prejudice which showed itself in a sense of disdain and distrust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Marrying a serious Catholic required some
adjustment on my part and brought significant attitude modification to my
family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Regardless of my upbringing, I
did come to recognize the Roman Catholic Church as the unifying element in
Italian life, much as the allegiance to the flag was in the US.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Almost everybody in Italy was Catholic and
even those who were not were bathed in the culture and rituals of the
Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were devout Catholics,
ex-Catholics, priest-hating Catholics, going through the motions Catholics,
good, bad, rich and poor ones but at least on major holidays and weddings, they
showed up together in the same place and to some extent tried to conform to a
modicum of decorum imparted to them by their priests in childhood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For at least one hour they would put aside
their personal postures and interests and join in a communal act of devotion.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">While 1973 saw the birth of our second child and our move to
Italy, in the public sphere the news was taken up by the hearings on the
criminal activities of President Nixon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His Vice President Spiro Agnew had been investigated for corruption and
forced to resign in time for him not to accede to the presidency upon Nixon’s
resignation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The year also subsequently
appeared in many economists’ graphs marking the downturn of median incomes and
the start of the permanent growth of the wealth gap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The US has often been called the most religious of the
western countries because it has more regular church goers. While most of the people who (voluntarily)
emigrated to the US before the mid-Twentieth Century came from Europe, once an
almost exclusively a Judeo-Christian territory, the Founding Fathers were often
deists, men of the Enlightenment whose speech often mentioned “the Will of God”
or “Divine Providence”, but who showed little adherence to any specific religious
denomination. The vast number of
religious sects tended to create social division and rivalry rather than
creating a shared set of religion-based values.</span></p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In recent decades, people, often described as liberals, have
made claims that religious teaching has had no place in American law or
American government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet for at least
the first two hundred years few citizens of the US would openly challenge The
Ten Commandments or the teachings of Jesus Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They might not conform to them, but they
would not deny their validity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, my
own public school days started with a short reading from the Book of Psalms and
the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5lSfrDLaclLt7p6dE6i9NvlfC9soT3JweVUtZe2gxgcu6J9ML75GVNxr-CNaMKUr2a0FWx3o9UfeEYeF23UMR3xp9IF9Kx_eRDO_JZAGDwiSQh6afCl4XkWVZod6Q_A8afzfnhpIAqDq1Iq2HOzGRJtAb-tbqoCwVsHM7NUxlPCC9sP35H86BIAOaGik/s1547/faith.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="982" data-original-width="1547" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5lSfrDLaclLt7p6dE6i9NvlfC9soT3JweVUtZe2gxgcu6J9ML75GVNxr-CNaMKUr2a0FWx3o9UfeEYeF23UMR3xp9IF9Kx_eRDO_JZAGDwiSQh6afCl4XkWVZod6Q_A8afzfnhpIAqDq1Iq2HOzGRJtAb-tbqoCwVsHM7NUxlPCC9sP35H86BIAOaGik/w482-h306/faith.jpg" width="482" /></span></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Perhaps the most definitive contribution to US culture from
a religious movement came from the now despised and ridiculed Puritans, whose
rather stern work ethic was a major factor in the<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/opinion/24hall.html"> nation’s development</a>. However, that mindset was detached from any
particular religious denomination early on and often absorbed and internalized
by immigrants from all over the world. </span></p><p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">Italy and the USA have changed a great deal over the past
half century.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Both have had their difficulties
as well as moments of glory.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">In the
‘80’s Italy surpassed both France and the UK in terms of GNP to become Europe’s
second largest economy, but its success was short lived, undermined by
corruption which emerged in the Mani Pulite scandals of 1992.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">It had been governed by what was unofficially
known as the partitocracy, wherein a large collection of theoretically opposed
political parties would agree to maintain the status quo and divide the spoils,
doing little or nothing.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">In the
aftermath, most of the existing parties, including the Christian Democrats, who
ruled Italy for most of the post-war era, went out of existence, while the
Communist Party changed its name twice to carry on as today’s Democratic Party.</span></span></p><p></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Over my fifty years mostly here, that seemed to be the low
point, at least until now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many things
in Italy have improved, mostly through advances in technology rather than by better
government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, the country seems
to have lost its soul, its direction, and mostly its independence. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Covid pandemic, followed by the proxy war
in Ukraine, have combined to form a new wave of authoritarianism, not seen in
Italy since Mussolini came to power a century ago. In response to corporate and
foreign domination, the most common response has been resignation
and obsequious passivity to the predations of the foreign neo-cons and the
domestic quislings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Italy was the most enthusiastic
participant in the foundation of the European Union but by now there is
widespread though mostly silent frustration that the EU has become one large
Vichy Government, faithfully towing the line of its North Atlantic master.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The US has experienced many ups and downs in the cyclical economy,
with each downturn shifting more resources from the poor to the rich.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The epochal event of these past fifty years was
the end of the Cold War, with the collapse of the Soviet Union.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It should have been a time for rejoicing and
a peace dividend to improve life across the globe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, the old Cold Warriors could not face
change when they could see how profitable endless war could be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The US had plenty of war hawks throughout the
Cold War, probably more and worse than even those of today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, at the beginning of the new century a group was formed by Bill
Chrystal and Robert Kagan, calling itself <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20030407091744/http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article1665.htm">the Project for the New American Century</a>, advocating what both Stalin and Hitler had tried and spectacularly
failed to do, namely conquer and control the entire world by exerting unmatched
military and economic power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The <a href="https://www.e-ir.info/2020/02/01/new-american-century-1997-2006-and-the-post-cold-war-neoconservative-moment/">PNAC</a> has completely dominated US foreign policy for a
quarter century through two Republican and two Democratic administrations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Millions of people around the world have been
killed or displaced by their policies, although it must be admitted that those
millions are far fewer than the millions wiped out by the activities of Stalin,
Hitler or Mao. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The new imperialists have
been terribly successful, as three quarters of the countries of the world are
now under US military occupation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of
course, the US doesn’t use that language.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is all about mutual defense agreements among allies and friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you’re a country with a small population
and a sizable territory, you may prefer to see it that way but just how much
autonomy do you have?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And who are you
being protected from?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the US
decides to attack and destroy a country it has taken a disliking toward and it
uses its NATO bases to launch the attack, how much does the country hosting
those bases have to say about it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
why would the US do anything like that, you ask.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You will have to ask a member of PNAC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I were to be asked, I could only suggest
that the State Department is run by psychopaths.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You might better <a href="https://popularresistance.org/nato-destroyed-libya-in-2011-storm-daniel-came-to-sweep-up-the-remains/">ask a Libyan</a>, an Iraqi or
an Afghan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In the fifty years since I came to Italy as an American
ex-patriot married into an Italian family, I’ve had an unusual vantage point to
observe the changes in both countries. Italy is the most wonderful place to
live that I know of, if you can make a living here, but the latter part is
difficult, which explains how I came to live in Saudi Arabia for a year or two and
later return to the US for a few years. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For all my love of Italy, I’ve continued to
read, speak and work in English most of the time and despite living in a small Umbrian
village, I socialize mostly with the foreign community whose shared language is
English, regardless of their country of origin.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Eighty or ninety percent of our foreign community are
conventionally secular in outlook, with most quietly so, but a vociferous
minority aggressively hostile to the Church, past or present, while
being remarkably tolerant of other failed institutions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They may visit the many glorious churches in
every Italian town or city as they would visit a museum or Disney World.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If there is a new faith to replace those that
have faded, it would seem to be a belief in and dedication to good food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Italy is a fine place to adhere to such a
faith since it is so widely shared here. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The secularization of Italy was spearheaded by an unusually
charismatic politician, Marco Pannella, the Secretary of the Partito
Radicale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was an intense promoter of
direct democracy, i.e., the making of major decisions by public referendums.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this way, both divorce and abortion were
legalized despite the protestations of the Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He may have even been behind making Roman
Catholicism no longer the official state religion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The effects of these three changes have been
dramatic and not especially positive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While
many unhappy marriages were ended, a relief to most of the people involved,
statistics have shown that widespread divorce increases the number of children
raised in poverty, and that many of the divorced are devastated
economically.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For a long time, the birthrate in Italy has
been far below that needed to replace the existing population. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only Spain has a lower birthrate in Europe at present.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the period after the legalization of
abortion, the population crisis has worsened.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">As for the detachment of the Church from the State, most
democratically inclined people would agree that this was a step forward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nonetheless, the most visible result of the
change was the removal of nuns from the hospitals, which they ran rather well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their administration could be severe, but the
hospitals were orderly and clean.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My
recent experiences in Bologna and Umbria have found modern hospitals well run,
especially in Bologna, but the same is not true in some of the other major
cities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One hears grim stories of chaos,
neglect, and violence in the major hospitals of Rome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even in Bologna, doctors and nurses will tell
you that they are seriously understaffed, and they fear for the future of the
health system.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The Church has changed much more from other causes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Church attendance is sharply down although
there are still many devout Catholics and others continue to go out of habit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are many churches, but the lack of priests
to run them is much more severe than the lack of parishioners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Standards of comportment imposed by the
priests have been relaxed out of fear that today’s people will no longer accept
limitations on their conduct.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Italians
have always been a bit anarchic and the discipline of the Church has been
something of a corrective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cycle of
sin, confession, and forgiveness has suited the Italian temperament very well
for centuries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That cycle has been
broken and we now see brides arriving at the church as though they just stepped
out of a sleazy discothèque, and pudgy little Lolitas parade around the churches
as if dressed for sale to sex tourists in Bangkok. The men are often little
better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some show up as if they just climbed
off their tractor, even those who work in offices, with their drooping baggy
pants exhibiting their ass cleavage <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with
the same lack of inhibition as the women showing off their more attractive
assets. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Marco Pannella was a charming and energetic man, who got
things done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a shame that he wasn’t
born in the US rather than Italy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His
extreme devotion to a government responsive to the will of the people and to
the Constitution could have done a lot more good there.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I mentioned the decline in the US starting in 1973 but Ronald
Reagan’s devastation of the labor movement helped it along.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bill Clinton kept the economy going but his
incarceration of a high percentage of young black men on minor offenses did
vast harm to the social fabric.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With the new century came the unrelenting
horror of the Enron Generation and its devotion to making big money with no
regard for neighbors, the country or the environment*. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve had a string of four presidents* vying
for the title of the worse US president ever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It appears that next year we’ll see a presidential election between, in
the red corner, a bloated narcissistic degenerate who believes in nothing other
than the art of the deal, his deal, and maybe a good deal for others rich and
powerful enough to be of use to him, up against, in the blue corner, from the
PNAC wing of the party, an old mafia machine style pol, more or less out of the
Spiro Agnew mould.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, he
wasn’t removed when leading the remarkably corrupt Clarence Thomas though his
Senate hearings, nor when he served as chief Democratic cheerleader for the
barbaric and truly unprovoked war on Iraq.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The majority of American citizens want neither of these
candidates, but the two parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, or the
Bloods and the Crips, as I choose to call them, want no interference by the
public in selecting their candidates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is a long tradition in America of voting for the lesser of two evils.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a hard call this time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both the Bloods and the Crips are trying to
take out the opposing candidate through criminal indictments, a cynical
approach, but reasonable in both cases under the circumstances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can anyone envisage a way out of this dilemma?
We can only suggest a mutual plea bargain where all criminal charges would be
dropped against both candidates in return for their disqualification to seek
public office.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The multifaceted oligarchy runs the United States and the Congress is a fully owned subsidiary of
the oligarchy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The spoils are divided
among the financial sector, the health and pharmaceutical sector, and the
Military Industrial Complex with its unlimited, unaccountable and unchallenged
budget. The voting public has no real voice in anything of consequence and can
effect no significant change. American military and cultural imperialism is
changing the face of the earth, usually for the worse. Its health care system
is both the most expensive and the least effective in the developed countries
of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People have grown
frustrated and angry about these shortcomings, but they appear unable to
articulate their complaints or find a way to fix them. Belief in democracy has
become as rare as belief in God has in Italy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1882 Friedrich
Nietzsche proclaimed that God is Dead. That was sad, since God was the most
noble concept that mankind has come up with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There have been other noble concepts: truth, beauty, justice, and in
that list was democracy. Now democracy is dead!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Some of those others are on life support. What’s left to be believed in?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, we have pride, right off the top of
Dante’s list of Seven Deadly Sins, and currently the most trendy of them. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s even a National Pride Month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Next on his list was either lust or greed, so
will we be having a Lust Month or a Greed Month?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Given the dropping birth rates, sperm counts
and growing gender confusion, maybe a Lust Month could be useful, but since we
are promoting our most rampant sins, why not follow up with a Greed Month?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Italy has long been addicted to style, “la moda”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, in its insatiable quest to be
at the forefront of what’s “In”, it has imitated every bad idea exported by the
United States, among them drug addiction, slob culture, single motherhood, chemical
castration, gratuitous profanity, obesity, self-mutilation, and a forced
obsession with diversity, as well as privatization and dismemberment of public resources.
It even emulates <a href="https://popularresistance.org/the-democratic-partys-crucifixion-of-matt-taibbi/">American efforts to suppress free speech</a>, usually through groups formed to protect us from disinformation, and spy on its people with the help and guidance of large corporations. This entails total submission to the theories and <a href="https://popularresistance.org/silent-coup-how-capitalism-defeated-decolonization/">tactics of US</a> Neo-cons
and Neo-libs. Will the country find a spine?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There’s not much to put one’s hopes on, although Italy does still have a
number of good independent minded journalists, but they are seldom seen or
heard in the mainstream media, just like in the USA.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I started this essay by stating how fortunate I have been. I
have a wonderful wife and family and live in what I consider the most beautiful
place in the world, and while I have enjoyed good health for most of my life,
my doctors tell me that that is no longer true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Again, my good luck puts me in the country with the best health care
system I know of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all must face our
mortality at some time. Just in case I haven’t, I am frequently asked the year
of my birth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Following my answer I often
hear a <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>cheerful “complimenti”, as if they
are surprised that I’m still alive and walking on my own. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I take it as a compliment but it does lead to
thinking about the end getting closer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
facing of reality is eased by the sense of continuity that comes with starting
as a child and moving through the stages of marriage, parenthood and then seeing
grandchildren start the same cycle. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well
into the fourth quarter on my game clock, I can’t help thinking of all the
people whose lives were interrupted by the wars and political crimes of the
earlier attempts at world domination. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They died without knowing if, how, or when the
calamity would end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By now, whether I
die of natural causes or am taken away with everyone else in a nuclear holocaust, it won’t change the story of my life very much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I thank God for what I’ve had.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
also thank my parents for giving me life and I thank all those who built the
world in which I’ve lived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are all
dead too. If my allotment of good fortune hasn't been exhausted by now, I hope to live long enough to see signs that the planet will survive
and that the two countries that I’ve spent my life in will somehow rise from
the depths of nihilism they’ve fallen into.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> ***</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><br /><p></p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026862295263156116noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6150277304485808246.post-32084897627528471592023-06-24T18:26:00.000+02:002023-06-24T18:26:18.945+02:00The Biggest Leak<p> <span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Earlier this month (June 2023) the most important story in the history of humankind leaked out. A self-proclaimed whistle-blower named David Grusch held a press conference to report that the Pentagon had a special secret department to investigate UFOs and to store the remains of Unknown Flying Objects and their occupants. Grusch reported that while he had worked in the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office of the US Military, he had not personally seen the preserved artifacts but various colleagues had separately reported to him the existence of such materiel.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Mankind has wondered, since we evolved sufficiently to consider such thoughts, if we were alone in the universe or if there were other forms of intelligent life out there somewhere. Finally, after millenniums of speculation, we finally appear to have an answer. It may be top secret but somewhere in a warehouse in a desert the Pentagon has an answer, or some answers.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">To their credit, the New York Times reported the press conference, and its most reviled columnist, Ross Douthout, added some commentary about the revelations on June 16th. Douthout is what passes for the office “conservative” at the NYT, writing about issues which raise more questions than answers, in contrast to the other NYT columnists whose role is to dispense the current positions of the establishment on economic policy, foreign policy and gender and identity politics. Although some of them write about more than one of those areas of interest, they have remained notably silent on the story of the millennium, almost as quiet as they’ve been on the attack on the Nord Sea 2 pipelines.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The breaking of the story, and its subsequent disappearance, involved a number of bizarre coincidences. The whistle-blowing press conference was reported on June 6th , almost the same day as the death of Daniel Ellsberg, the man who turned “whistleblower” into a household word. More mysteriously, in contrast to consistent US Government policy to persecute, prosecute, assassinate or incarcerate all whistle-blowers reporting on major government malfeasance, there has been no attempt to persecute or vilify Grusch for his revelations. There have even been testimonials to his reliability and character from numerous government employees.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">This is the first year that I can remember there being widespread concern over the dangers of Artificial Intelligence and now we’re hearing that there is evidence of alien creatures and their vehicles but all the evidence is secretly maintained by the Pentagon. The Department of Defense, formerly the War Department, was rechristened with its current name in 1949, just after George Orwell published his most famous book “1984”. Grusch stated that while the particular department he worked in was established in 2022, the military establishment has been collecting UFO information and related artifacts for something like ninety years.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Rep. James Comer, the current Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, says that while he doesn’t know much about the subject, there will be hearings. I confess that I don’t recall hearing Rep. Comer’s name before, and I was also unaware of evidence that the House Oversight Committee still existed. We do know that the DOD has never passed an audit and that the first attempt only came in 2017. Despite the talk about polarization, the US Congress is always in near total harmony in authorizing increases to the “Defense” budget.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The silence that this story has generated is unprecedented, including its disappearance in the media. By now we would have expected to hear Mitch McConnell or Kevin McCarthy denouncing the breakdown in the national security institutions and Adam Schiff demanding more transparency but we do understand both the Bloods and the Crips, also known as the Republican and Democratic Party officials, being momentarily perplexed about how to turn this story to their partisan electoral advantage. If Marjory Taylor Greene has been struck speechless, maybe there is a just God after all. We’ve grown accustomed to our political representatives ignoring our basic concerns to speak out on things their advisors tell them will give more tangible electoral results but still, how come we’re not hearing Senator Lindsay Graham screaming into any available microphone “How many aliens have we killed and what did it take to kill them?” “I want more money appropriated for the development of new weapons to kill aliens.” Is the Senator not feeling well? Why this silence?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The biggest story in human history may turn out to be a hoax, as many of us, including most of our journalists, appear to have concluded, but hoax, mind control experiment, or hidden truth, whatever it turns out to be, it remains one of the greatest scandals in the history of the USA. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">We have an unlimited military budget which dwarfs those of the rest of the world, allowing us to maintain a military occupation of ¾ of the countries of the world (I believe it is officially referred to in terms such as cooperation or alliances) and the ability to bomb into submission those who are not, or at least to subvert their governments, all in the name of spreading democracy, and yet this same military establishment is keeping secret from us and from our elected representatives, evidence of other forms of life. That’s a curious type of democracy, even if the secrets they’re keeping just turn out to be another expensive hoax.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Sixty-three years ago, when leaving office, President Eisenhower warned against the growth of the Military Industrial Complex. His warning was ignored. While prescient, I doubt that even he could have imagined just how far out of control it could become.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">***</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026862295263156116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6150277304485808246.post-71186226528410983282022-10-21T23:08:00.002+02:002022-10-27T13:07:18.935+02:00Fall Elections<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">We’ve just had national elections in Italy on 25 September
2022, and now we await the mid-term elections of 2022 in the USA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">The Italian elections were called as soon as the newly
elected Parliamentarians had served enough time in office to be assured of a
Parliamentary pension.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was
foreseeable but the speed with which these snap elections were scheduled was
not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was little time for
campaigning and little was done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In half
a century I have never seen so little campaign publicity here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Almost no posters or ads anywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The current Italian organization of elections
is virtually indecipherable, certainly to foreigners, but my impression is that
few Italians have much of a clue as to how the system works either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One mostly just votes for a party, but there
are also preferences and politicians seem to be able to represent whatever city
or region their party agrees to let them run in, with residency having nothing
to do with it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">There are a large number of political parties but they tend
to band together as parties of the center-right or the center-left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Italy has suffered a great deal from the
Covid pandemic and now, just when people have expected a recovery, the war in
Ukraine has come along to devastate the economy even more than Covid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Draghi Government was something akin to a
unity government, i.e. a government of unelected “technocrats” appointed to see
the country through the Covid crisis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Virtually all the major parties supported that government, with the
exception of Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While in the past this essentially right-wing
party trailed behind the other two parties in the center-right alliance, the
Lega, headed by Matteo Salvini and Forza Italia, headed by Silvio Berlusconi,
this time she outpolled them with 26% compared to 8% for the Lega and 8% for
Forza Italia, with their combined center-right taking something like 44% of the
vote.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She may not have been a part of
the Draghi Government but she did support its unconditional allegiance to NATO
and the US, just like all the other parties.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">The big losers were the Partito Democratico and its partners
in the center-left coalition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its
partners mostly consist of vanity parties, i.e. splinter parties formed by
former leaders of the PD who thought they were better than the current
leadership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The center-left wound up
with 26% of the vote. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">That left the Five Star Movement, which only a couple of
election cycles back came out of nowhere to become the party with the highest
number of elected parliamentarians, as the only other significant element.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While the 5SM officially supported the Draghi
Government, it split over the continued supply of weapons to Ukraine, with
several of its members, who were ministers in the government, forming their own
party, in a show of support for Draghi and the US government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When riding high, the 5SM had accomplished
two significant goals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It passed legislation
to cut Italy’s oversized Parliament by 40%, a change which goes into effect
following the recent elections. It also passed the Reddito di Citidinanza, a
measure by which people with limited means who apply, receive an income of
€500./month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The party was expected to
do very badly in the recent elections, at least in part because of the anger
generated in the north among people who work hard and still struggle to make a
living.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, the 5SM did remarkably
well in the South where many people have benefitted from the boost to their typically
low income.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The party polled 15% with
the remaining 15% split between a center coalition and the other small parties.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">There was some discussion on why there had not been faster
action to make Italy independent in terms of energy and why renewable energy
had not been a high priority of the government but the fact that the US
sanctions, acquiesced to by the EU, had cut the available supply of energy
practically over night by 40%, was rarely mentioned except by a few
non-establishment journalists and a several renegade politicians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus, the Italian public, which apparently
opposed sending more weapons to Ukraine by something like 44 to 38%, had no
political party representing their views on one of the most pressing issues of
the day.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Italians usually have a large turnout in national elections.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This year was an exception with a 64%
turnout, down from 73% in 2018 and 80% in 2008.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Non-voters outnumbered both the winning center-right coalition and the
defeated center-left coalition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
has been more noise about the election after it than there was before it took
place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Conventional establishment
leftists are pulling their hair out because the country has been taken over by
a party whose origins derive from the remnants of Mussolini supporters, while
nobody cares to point out that originally of the Partito Democratico was the
Partito Comunista Italiano, which supported Stalin and toasted the crushing of
Hungary, long after the death of Mussolini.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Can people change and do they change? Much evidence suggests that they
can.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The PD became the most extreme
right party in Italy, at least with regard to economic issues, when Matteo
Renzi attempted to push through a new Italian Constitution drawn up by JP
Morgan with the paid consultancy of Tony Blair, in an effort to reduce the
input of the Italian public on policy decisions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">The recent elections took place on September 25<sup>th</sup>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While the PD had become the most vociferous
supporter of Ukraine and NATO prior to the elections, by October 6<sup>th</sup>
or 7<sup>th</sup> the newly resigned PD Secretary was calling for demonstrations
demanding negotiations leading to peace, as people were already in the streets
burning their electric bills and to refusing to pay what in essence were well
beyond their ability to pay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Unfortunately, ex-Secretary Letta called for the demonstrations to be
outside the Russian Embassy, rather than at the US Embassy, a rather hollow
gesture inasmuch as the Russians had been clamoring for negotiations for nearly
a decade to halt the NATO expansion on their borders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, there had been negotiations leading
to the Minsk accords, ignored by signees France and Germany and violated by
Ukraine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apparently, there were also
negotiations to end the war shortly after the invasion, supported by Zelenskyy,
but vetoed by Uncle Sam and the more militant elements within the Ukrainian
regime.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">The new government will not take office until early
November, despite all the criticism it has received before even being
officially appointed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The country is
showing signs of turmoil which are likely to grow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Italian economy may grind to a halt as
retail and industrial businesses are forced to close but it will not be
alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much of the EU is likely to face
something reminiscent of the Great Depression.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Misery loves company.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
should be enough to go around.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">The 2022 US Mid-term Elections-<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">It is not uncommon in the US to describe up-coming elections
as the most important in a lifetime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Presidential elections of 2000, 2016 and 2020 had something of that
aura.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had the potential to alter
the course of history, of conditions in the US and around the world, and they
did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mid-term elections seldom have that
importance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This year they do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The BLOODS and the CRIPS, as I choose to
refer to the Republican and Democratic Parties, both deserve to lose, one for
sedition, the other for failing to effectively deal with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While both parties appear to be functioning
below a level of competency one would expect by picking government
representatives at random out of a large phone book, there is a major
difference. One party has effectively abandoned the concept of government
elected by the voters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a minority
party, a difficulty it has dealt with effectively for decades by using many of
the built-in peculiarities of the US Constitution to hold onto power despite rarely
having majority votes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Under the last
president, the BLOODS have renounced all respect for the rule of law and any
pretence of civility or decency, to pursue the quest for unlimited perpetual
power, whether it be for personal gain or to inflict their will on the majority
of their countrymen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a clear
attempt to seat a totalitarian regime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If they prevail in the upcoming election by margins large enough for
them to gain full control of the voting process, the USA, which we prefer to
think of as an historic leader of the democratic experiment, is dead!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unless the current war escalates into a
nuclear holocaust, the physical terrain will still be there, inhabited by more
than 300 million people, as will be rulers of the country, but the USA will be
as extinct as the Roman Republic or the Soviet Union. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">There should be two other major issues in the coming
elections, starting with climate change making the world uninhabitable, and the
threat of a nuclear holocaust doing the same thing more quickly. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, it would seem, judging from the news
as presented by the MSM, that the deciding issues are more likely to be the price
of gasoline and the status of abortion rights. The CRIPS, who only a few months
ago were in a funk over their prospects of being blown out in the mid-terms,
have grown more optimistic since the striking down of Roe vs. Wade by the newly
radical right-wing Supreme Court, which has created a sizable backlash.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>CRIPS have also been encouraged by the
reduction of gasoline prices, by full employment, and by the soaring stock
market.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, the stock market
has sagged lately, gas prices have turned up again and inflation has grown fast
enough to make people edgy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A poll taken
in Georgia the other day said that abortion rights are a decisive issue for
11.7% of voters polled, “threats to democracy” are the central issue for 18%,
while “the economy” is the decisive factor for 40%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a few weeks the continued existence of the
world’s most powerful democracy may be decided by fluctuations in gasoline
prices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">For any of you with the opportunity to vote in the upcoming
US elections, I urge you to vote for the CRIPS, no matter how obnoxious you may
find their candidate on your ballot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
have faced a similar challenge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The CRIP
candidate on my ballot is the son of one of my Senators, who is a Batista
Cuban, among other issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am unaware
of any Batista Cuban who has ever voted against funding any CIA-installed
Fascist government anywhere in the world, or for that matter opposing any
military expenditure at all, whether they are BLOODS or CRIPS, or whether they
represent FL, TX or NJ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have no
anti-Cuban prejudice. I simply don’t want to vote for anyone with that kind of
mind-set.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have done it though, and you
should too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are many issues to be
fought over and some may be very important to you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Speak out about them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But right now, nothing is more important than
assuring that there will be real elections in the future. </span><o:p></o:p></p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026862295263156116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6150277304485808246.post-29665623916912759432022-09-03T18:52:00.015+02:002022-09-05T20:11:01.159+02:00What's the Next -ISM to be Called?<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">For about a hundred years we’ve been living with or under a barrage of isms. The turn of the century leading into the Twentieth Century, from what I know about it, seems to have been a rather good time. Perhaps that’s because my interests lie largely in the fields of art and architecture. It was the time of Gaudì. of Klimt, Art Nouveau, and the emergence of FLLW. There hadn’t been any major war in Europe for some time. Teddy Roosevelt, one of the greatest American presidents, was promoting National Parks and leading the charge against monopolies.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Then things fell apart, and the isms started to multiply. Colonialism, socialism and nationalism were not new, but nationalism got out of hand in the second decade of the century, leading to the accidental start of WWI between neighboring countries, all armed to the teeth against possible aggression, and three decades of unprecedented worldwide death and destruction followed. An estimated 150 million people were killed. Communism got a jump start with the Russian Revolution of 1917, leaving misery in its wake for more than seven decades. In 1923 Mussolini gave fascism its name and brought it to power in Italy. He was followed by Hitler who invented Nazism a decade later and rode it to control Germany. Following the loss of WWII by the Fascist Axis, the rest of the Twentieth Century was devoted to a Cold War between communism and capitalism, sometimes conflated with democracy.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><div>“Ism” is an innocuous and even useful suffix for turning a noun or an adjective into a movement. The art world is full of them: impressionism, expressionism, fauvism, futurism and more. Our focus here is on political terms. The old terms continue to be used, mostly out of context, sometimes in ways that have no rational connection with the original meaning. </div><div><br /></div><div>“Fascism” as a term has hung around for a long time although the original fascist regime in Italy ended with its defeat in WWII, and the term has been prohibited in Italy ever since as a name for a political party or movement. These days, with a widespread fear of its return, there are more and more books and articles discussing or defining it. Fascism lingered on for a while in Spain with Franco and Salazar in Portugal but otherwise no regime has self-described as Fascist and the word has evolved into a term of derision for anyone who appears to be authoritarian, or sometimes, for anyone you just don’t agree with. Communism has had a similar fate and with the demise of the Soviet Union three decades ago, it ceases to really function as a regime system but the American right continues to rail at it. Some will argue that China, the world’s most populous nation is communist and indeed, its ruling entity is its Communist Party. In practice however, it has embraced much of conventional western entrepreneurial capitalism and begins to show the disparities of income and wealth that are undermining the west.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis8UDu6AeGp8fzwwg1TMCj_BIU2_TxRfkMjCH1S5X_B2P3VXUeJndrPLg9ytRkKBl-TCPSpN6ol_xk_pLjZBV207tXIFr86WTu-SdBgL6rsaHmN6-L6zxIzI0dkMWbIYkfJsy-BRbfpJ3fim0JKpw8y8fj71vPFguSEIvuyYAmsrzKD18-CTqFshJI/s486/covid.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="368" data-original-width="486" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis8UDu6AeGp8fzwwg1TMCj_BIU2_TxRfkMjCH1S5X_B2P3VXUeJndrPLg9ytRkKBl-TCPSpN6ol_xk_pLjZBV207tXIFr86WTu-SdBgL6rsaHmN6-L6zxIzI0dkMWbIYkfJsy-BRbfpJ3fim0JKpw8y8fj71vPFguSEIvuyYAmsrzKD18-CTqFshJI/w200-h151/covid.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div><br />The legacies of the two opposing factions, the communists and the fascists, lie in the tendency of people who have lived under one of those systems to embrace the other. Thus, the people of much of Eastern Europe, from Poland to Hungary, who suffered for many years under communist regimes, seem relatively amenable to governments with authoritarian, i.e. fascist tendencies. In Italy, birthplace of fascism, the Communist Party became the country’s largest political party after the regime was ousted. It is still one of the largest despite changing its name to the Democratic Party (Partito Democratico). The term “Nazism” has been banished from all polite discourse everywhere, other than a few outposts in Ukraine and Hells Angels reunions in South Dakota. Germany has made a major effort to make amends for its history as the birthplace of Nazism and to assure that those roots never again sprout on its soil. It has also remained productively and reassuringly demilitarized for nearly eighty years, other than for its on-going military occupation by the US. That peaceful era appears to be coming to an end.</div><div><br /></div><div>The terms “left” and “right” had understandable meaning for most of the world, based on seating divisions in the French Parliament long ago. Since the recent turn of the century, most such meaning has been turned on its head. In both the US and in Italy, parties that were understood as being of the left have splintered into factions which have little to do with what was understood to be leftist. The same is true of the parties of the right. This is not unprecedented, but it is certainly confusing. Not long ago, Italy’s Partito Democratico of Italy tried to pass a new Constitution drafted by JP Morgan with the paid consultation of Tony Blair, the former leader of the British Labour Party, best known for his collusion with George W. Bush in the invasion of Iraq. Its scope and intent were to remove more of public policy from the influence of the voting public, giving freer reign to the ruling class of experts. There are too many instances of such maneuvers to document here but it would not be too much of a stretch to say that the Partito Democratico is now among the most right-wing and pro-war of the major parties in Italy.</div><div><br /></div><div>With a two-party system in the US it should be easier to understand what those parties support. As far as we can tell, they both appear to favor a dystopian regime as described in those famous books of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley, with the Republicans preferring the more traditional violence of the Orwell model while the Democrats work toward the mind control and drug-induced euphoria of the Huxley model. What does “the right” mean these days? We knew that the GOP was the party of the bankers, the Buick dealers, country club members and Rotary Club presidents for longer than we can remember. It was conservative regarding social change and fiscal matters, typically opposing debt and favoring law and order over civil rights. With the arrival and takeover of the Republican Party by the big orange narcissist, everything changed. The old values of decency, morality, honesty, and respectability have been dumped in favor of using any means, legal, extra-legal or illegal to grab and hold power. The recipients of the new augmented bounty remain the same, the top 1% of the population, but the loyal troops are no longer the middle class, replaced now by an angry proletariat, ever more crass, crude and violent. </div><div><br /></div><div>The party of the racial minorities, the workers, the immigrants, the poor and the weak, is no longer the Democratic Party, which has joined the money bandwagon and now draws its support largely from the educated, the independently wealthy and the upper levels of the service workers of the oligarchy. Money nowadays wins or buys elections and supporting the rich is an easier path to victory than helping people who actually need help. In essence, that puts both parties in much the same position, no matter how much their supporters seem to be at each other’s throats.</div><div><br /></div><div>Recently I’ve been reminded of stories that I’ve heard of women who live together for a length of time seeing their menstrual cycles converge into perfect synchronization. That’s not my topic for today but I wonder if something similar can happen to countries. The US and the UK seem to be in <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/57169.htm">total synch</a>. The conservative parties of both countries seized control of their government with an orange-haired narcissistic son of privilege who repeatedly violated all recognized standards of acceptable behaviour. Both gained power through the subversion the campaigns of the leading candidate of the opposition party. Methods varied slightly. In the UK, Jeremy Corbin was accused of anti-Semitism for criticizing Israel for its treatment of Palestinians. He never even used the word genocide, as I might have, but he was suspended from his own party by right-wing infiltrators within the party administration. Bernie Sanders was also shunted aside twice by the leadership of the <a href="https://www.rsn.org/001/where-do-the-democrats-find-these-guys.html">Democratic Party. </a> The first time was an inside job, not unlike the Corbin affair. The second time, it took a greater effort, as the big guns of the major regime media were brought in, along with hundreds of millions of dollars of Michael Bloomberg’s fortune, to keep the oligarchy safe from a potentially democratic regime. Under the resulting leadership the UK shot itself in the foot by bailing out of the EU. The US did much the same, withdrawing from the world community by unilaterally abrogating various treaties and agreements, such as the denuclearization agreement with Iran and the accords on measures to combat climate change. Both of the orange/beige muppets have been removed after offending their countries’ sensibilities repeatedly, in the UK by the vote of his own disgusted party members and in the US by voters, who despite voting in what was essentially a Republican landslide, just couldn’t stomach more of the deranged antics of the boor. Neither man went quietly and both countries must face the threat of a possible comeback in the midst of growing militarism and a <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/the-contest-to-replace-boris-johnson-is-a-choice-between-austerity-and-bigotry/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=d6fbee1a-4ff6-4b3d-9045-6d8177b668de">dearth of political leadership</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>In my last blog post I erroneously claimed that the Italian government would stand until sometime next year. I apologize for my inadequate research. I was wrong because I was misinformed about how long the government had to stay in place before the pensions of the new members of Parliament would be funded. I said the government would remain because with new elections, the number of parliamentarians would be reduced by 40% and most would lose their jobs. The day on which the pensions of the new class of parliamentarians of the last elections (about 60% of the total) were assured was on 24 September 2022, not sometime next year as I had understood. The government did fall and new elections were scheduled for 25 September. The current parliamentarians remain until 24 September, the exact day on which their pensions will have been “earned”. Sometimes Italians can be more efficient than people give them credit for.</div><div><br /></div><div>But back to the original argument. What do we call the mess we’re in? “Oligarchy” is technically correct but it hasn’t gained wide acceptance. We tend to think of oligarchs as rich young thugs, often Russian or Ukrainian, who get sweetheart deals in buying privatized assets, and then ostentatiously spend the loot on huge yachts or British soccer clubs. While often true, this is a bit of a misconception. You certainly know who Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos are but how many of you know the names of the CEOs of Exxon or Rockwell? There are lots of others, some with a public face, more who are unknown to the public. Michael Hudson described it <a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/03/01/america-defeats-germany-for-the-third-time-in-a-century/">well</a>. A study at Princeton a few years back determined that the expressed and recorded opinion of the American public had no influence whatsoever on the legislation passed by the Congress.</div><div><br /></div><div>So while oligarchy would be objectively correct, the term fails to resonate with the American public, or with the populations of the growing numbers of American colonies and countries aspiring to colonial status around the world. My own preferred term in recent years has been “neo-feudalism”. I believe it is accurate enough but I have to face the reality that “neo”-anything has a built-in defect. People always say that the neo thing is different from the original and for whatever reason should not be confused with it. Neo-con, neo-lib, neo-fascist? What do they mean? Is there any meaningful difference? Sometimes yes: sometimes no, but mostly they sow confusion, often intentionally so.</div><div><br /></div><div>Following the Watts riots in the late ‘60’s, gang warfare grew within the confines of South-Central Los Angeles. In typical American fashion, the smaller entities were swallowed up into two monopolistic super gangs, first the Crips, then the Bloods. They adopted the colors blue and red respectively, which to outsiders was the only distinction between them. Both had the same goal, which came down to killing members of the rival gang. They controlled zones within the large piece of the city in which they were confined and gang members who ventured into turf controlled by the other gang risked death. Over a similar span of time, six times as many of them were killed as all the people killed in “the troubles” that afflicted Northern Ireland. If you are curious about this phenomenon, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5BCNXhj8qo">watch this.</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Color TV made its debut in the US in 1951 but it wasn’t until 1966 that all prime-time shows were transmitted in color. The networks started assigning colors to the political parties early on but they all had their own color charts, which sometimes varied from one election to another. In 1980 Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter in what was referred to as the blue wave. It wasn’t until the election of 2000 when all the networks assigned red to the Republicans and blue to the Democrats. Such assignment was both anti-historical and counter-intuitive since red had been the color associated with the left since the French Revolution and was later the color of the communist regimes of China and the Soviet Union. Probably the networks, which in those days tended to be slightly more sympathetic to the Democrats, did not want to have anyone make such associations, since the Cold War was still raging on in America without regard to what had happened in the world.</div><div><br /></div><div>Trying to write about US politics has become ever more confusing since if you are discussing Democrats you have to specify whether you refer to “corporate” democrats, “progressive” democrats or moderates, greens, etc. With the Republicans it is increasingly the same. All may be “corporate Republicans” but that was always understood. Now we have traditionalists, Trump loyalists, populists, anti-Trump conservatives, libertarians and RINOs.</div><div><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifOE0DkCz1GxnPoPtzfkUIZ9AmsRGErm8jOboItYy4mF429xmaZtu4xBGhfIf63csWesSYKnZ3ze95S_dz2Jr0lV4yGJpyhZ42vVuTdsH21yJbKD05zuSVTkWqPpTLwyAAdSOrV8ta4L6DfFPRqxhKwn56HxLVwQ0Y4UpRCh_31mrUset5zy0BS1WF/s564/gang%20map.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="402" data-original-width="564" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifOE0DkCz1GxnPoPtzfkUIZ9AmsRGErm8jOboItYy4mF429xmaZtu4xBGhfIf63csWesSYKnZ3ze95S_dz2Jr0lV4yGJpyhZ42vVuTdsH21yJbKD05zuSVTkWqPpTLwyAAdSOrV8ta4L6DfFPRqxhKwn56HxLVwQ0Y4UpRCh_31mrUset5zy0BS1WF/s320/gang%20map.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gang Turf</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSelHzexsm37IaoFhhTp9RXgDoeDe9f3knmG26bDCJIDiqhr1MRi-kBvwR4pqz01bdYdlCx9M0imKgVbkEMY34moDh1SerFvnYzaI6crr2udH_yN-hofEsox-OBwpAGjrcnXrkMlWaBpe09hEcroTEypUfdo3GFj2628ynb4F7wHX3kMkqyDzvRvaY/s1280/Most_recent_senate_election.svg%20(1).png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="791" data-original-width="1280" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSelHzexsm37IaoFhhTp9RXgDoeDe9f3knmG26bDCJIDiqhr1MRi-kBvwR4pqz01bdYdlCx9M0imKgVbkEMY34moDh1SerFvnYzaI6crr2udH_yN-hofEsox-OBwpAGjrcnXrkMlWaBpe09hEcroTEypUfdo3GFj2628ynb4F7wHX3kMkqyDzvRvaY/s320/Most_recent_senate_election.svg%20(1).png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Senate Turf</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Given that US election maps have come to be indistinguishable from the territorial gang maps of central LA, and the function and goals of the parties have taken on similar aspects, from here on I’ll simply refer to the two controlling parties as the BLOODS and the CRIPS. No offense intended to the original gangs. They have their own problems.</div><div><br /></div><div>If elections have nothing to do with government policy, as we noted above, are there any differences between the CRIPS and the BLOODS, and do they matter? Possibly not in the short run, but if there is to be a continuation of human life on the planet beyond the life expectancy of the currently middle-aged, some of the differences might matter, first of all in determining speed of human extinction and secondly for the survival of the idea of democracy. </div><div><br /></div><div>Not so long ago, monarchy prevailed in the world. Queen Elizabeth has occupied the British throne longer than all her predecessors but in all that time she hasn’t had a single subject beheaded. Right now, there are probably more than a few of her subjects who would welcome a return to a true monarchy if it brought the prospect of a few heads of errant politicians being mounted high of the walls of Westminster Abbey. That’s certainly true in the USA, among both BLOODS and CRIPS, and we’ve never even had a real Queen. Was that what January 6th was all about, Queen envy?</div><div><br /></div><div>Democracy has been around in a few places even longer than Queen Elizabeth but its hold on most places seems as tenuous as the monarchy’s continued existence in the UK. Seen in a slightly different light, it continues its existence much as the monarchy continues in the UK. Good for parades and the rhetoric of national pride but not much of a problem for the true rulers of the world.</div><div><br /></div><div>I haven’t needed to set foot in the Homeland for eight years but from my daily interactions with US media, family and friends, I surmise that the US is obsessed with the following themes: Authoritarianism and Libertarianism, Militarism, Diversity, Pride, Impunity, and Denial.</div><div><br /></div><div>The BLOODS and the CRIPS have different and sometimes opposing takes on almost all of these with the obvious exception of militarism, on which there has been nearly total bipartisan accord for decades. Barbara Lee was the lone vote against the invasion of Iraq twenty years ago. Little has changed since. Ukraine was armed to the teeth by the US despite its coup-installed government not yet being inserted into NATO as fast as the PNAC blueprint had called for. Following the invasion, the vote to supply an unprecedented amount of additional weaponry to extend the proxy war with Russia was similarly uncontested. The surviving Bloods and Crips in LA must be basking in the glory of being world trend setters. Guns R Us!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIRtJQh39Bya_nyo7udnD2xxsqgoLDAcaGqVOKy7TPQ0zQuead8WAPlP4Mar1tCjckAuCrRFXfFrbZXCmotjVYG_QeFsq6XMtWyCrJ7_owcZYAwOSXldkPiir-X_LLq_dtDS4lBVe3IoSFwv9rvVyyusEPbTR5N-y9sf-6PSAFKvq5bUvEgdG5cMWS/s866/FLAG.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="623" data-original-width="866" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIRtJQh39Bya_nyo7udnD2xxsqgoLDAcaGqVOKy7TPQ0zQuead8WAPlP4Mar1tCjckAuCrRFXfFrbZXCmotjVYG_QeFsq6XMtWyCrJ7_owcZYAwOSXldkPiir-X_LLq_dtDS4lBVe3IoSFwv9rvVyyusEPbTR5N-y9sf-6PSAFKvq5bUvEgdG5cMWS/w400-h288/FLAG.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Diverging attitudes about authoritarianism and libertarianism are more complex and contradictory, but then we all have contradictory elements in our personal makeup so why shouldn’t the rival gangs. For my part, I’ve always been opposed to speed limits, except as helpful advisories, but despite this libertarian obsession, I have also favored the prosecution and conviction of at least one ex-president of the US for war crimes, a stance far more authoritarian than most of my compatriots. Ron Paul is about the only US politician who calls himself a libertarian but most of the BLOODS consider it a birthright to be free to carry whatever weapons they choose wherever they want to go. Curiously, I have not yet heard of a civil suit being filed over the right to carry a hand grenade onto a train or plane. The CRIPS reject any of this laissez faire approach to angry citizens running loose while heavily armed but recently have been even more aggressive than the BLOODS in shipping arms to all the troubled parts of the world, the ultimate in NIMBYism.</div><div><br /></div><div>The CRIPS’ own streak of libertarianism is best expressed in the slogan “my body my choice” while the BLOODS, whose implied slogan is “my gun my choice”, usually pronounced as “my gun, my right”, do not extend that libertarian approach to the contentious issue of abortion. I say contentious but there are many issues which the public has disagreed about, but until recently people agreed to disagree and the government just ignored the debate. That was before the gangland takeover of public life and everything became a binary choice.</div><div><br /></div><div>Enough has been said about the American aversion to healthcare except as a reward for a successful and profitable life, so I won’t bother with those larger issues here. However, we have suffered through two or three years of Covid pandemic which has killed a lot of people and who would ever have imagined that facing such an emergency, our response would have been conditioned by the gang divide? My own response was that in an emergency you do whatever you can to get through it and I said that I don’t envy anyone with the administrative responsibility to deal with such a problem. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. That was the inevitable course of public opinion. Doctors, nurses and others in the medical field worked in difficult conditions to get us through the crisis. However, Big Orange, the chief of the BLOODs, decided to make the emergency into a partisan gangland issue. The misinformation he disseminated has probably killed a lot of people. Still, mistakes, mostly made in good faith, have also killed a lot of people. Large percentages of people who were rushed into ventilators died as a result of such treatment, rather than in spite of it. Vaccines were developed quickly and saved many people from death or other serious effects but the vaccines were described as a panacea, a foolproof protection from the virus. As the response lapsed into political polarization, people who expressed doubts or even fears about the vaccines were told, usually by people who identified as CRIPS, that they should just follow the science and shut up. Unfortunately, many governments stopped following the science themselves when scientists noted that vaccinated people could be infected, could get sick and could spread the disease, and they reverted into authoritarian, punitive behavior towards those who questioned some of their decrees. </div><div><br /></div><div>Being totally unqualified to do so, I wouldn’t presume to discuss the disagreements within the field of medical research, but the politicization of a medical crisis has left people of all political colors looking a little foolish. We see party-loving BLOODS congregating as never before when infection rates are high, just as we see obedient CRIPS wearing masks while walking alone in the countryside, both types engaging in a perverse sort of virtue signaling. I try to do what doctors tell me and except for the gland on my neck which swelled up to the size of a golf ball a few days after my third shot, I’ve suffered no new problems and feel happy and grateful to have survived the pandemic so far. I would only hope that the posturing around it would subside as quickly as the disease.</div><div><br /></div><div>BLOODS and CRIPS both favor an authoritarian approach to education these days. It’s just that they prefer a different authority, reflecting contrasting views on diversity, the current obsession of the CRIPS. CRIP diversity is a bit like the diversity of a shopping mall food court. Different names, colors, spices and maybe ingredients but the packaging and overall effect is often much the same. BLOODS typically despise diversity and try to stamp it out. Diversity is a fact of nature and is the natural condition of life but with sustained effort it can be eliminated in some controlled situations. Thus, the United Fruit Company was able to suppress many of the types of bananas found in nature in order to simplify logistical problems in shipping a tropical fruit to the far corners of the world. In Germany about eighty years ago there was a similar effort toward standardization of people. We know how that worked out. </div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe;">CRIPS want no part of that. They welcome all colors, sizes, shapes and origins of people as long as they can be molded to think alike, i.e. in line with the latest fashion in ideology, thus there is a push to start indoctrination of children at a very young age. Math and science can be sacrificed a little to make room for sex education for children who have no organic concept of what sex is, in order that they can be given, or can pick an elaborate sexual “identity”. There is significant resistance on the part of parents, many of whom would be inclined to be CRIPS but have limits as to what they will put up with to be in the gang.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000;">At the higher levels of education, the colleges and graduate schools, there are similar divergencies of approach. For many decades the BLOODS have lamented the liberal ideas taught there. Their remedy was to cut funding to state universities which promoted independent research on subjects they didn’t want anyone to know more about and to get rich donors, from oligarchs to corporations, to fund departments that promoted a vocational approach to education and exalted the merits of late-stage capitalism and the Military Industrial Complex. Perhaps they worried too much. Some highly rated universities in deep blue states started providing “safe places” where students could congregate protected from exposure to ideas that made them uncomfortable. So much for the liberal arts curriculum. That was an easy win as academia turned its attention from history and philosophy to the study of minority cultures, the smaller the minority, the better.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe;">While students are being shielded from ideas by both the BLOODS and the CRIPS, the latter have taken to using loyalty oaths to promote the Q agenda. Loyalty oaths were a tactic pioneered by the bloodiest BLOOD of all time, the late Senator Joseph McCarthy. He damaged the careers of a lot of people but was eventually shamed and censured in the Senate, after which he slithered off to irrelevance and early death. The Senate doesn’t censure its own anymore, no matter how deserving. When and if the number of careers damaged by the new CRIP loyalty oaths reaches McCarthyite proportions is up to statisticians to measure, but they are proceeding uncensured. </span></div><div><br /></div><div>This is not the first or only time that the BLOODS and CRIPS have reversed positions. The BLOODS or GOP as the Republican Party was also known, was started by anti-slavery abolitionists who agreed with the Whigs on all the other conservative pro-business issues of the day. The CRIPS remained the party of white southerners throughout FDR’s reign until the one-two punch of LBJ and Richard Nixon flipped the party alignments to the solid BLOOD South, which is still mostly in effect. LBJ knew that he had lost the South for the Democrats for a generation with his civil rights legislation but we’re now in the third generation post-LBJ and the South still appears to be almost solid red, thanks to BLOOD control of the voting apparatus. Georgia was a breakthrough state in 2020 and the presence of some determined independent minded CRIPS, combined with the BLOODS running a candidate for the Senate with a relationship to the truth reminiscent of that of his sponsor, Big Orange, suggests that the BLOODS monopoly control of the former Confederacy may be fragmenting a little. </div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000;">The BLOODS have scored some huge victories lately. Their long battle to take over the Supreme Court finally achieved success and the fruits of their victory are now being tasted. The first feast was the overturning of Roe vs Wade, a decision which may prove a pyrrhic victory in that it may save the CRIPS from resounding defeat in the 2022 mid-term elections. It was the only one of the BLOOD Court’s three revolutionary rulings that had any conceivable justification. Abortion was and is a highly devisive issue and it had been decided by a judicial ruling, not by law, nor by any very convincing parts of the US Constitution. The earlier court ruling may have been pragmatically effective but it was judicial overreach in the face of a long-dormant Congress, enabling the views of one vocal segment of the public over the views of the another segment. The BLOOD COURT flipped it in the cherished American tradition of activities being labeled crimes, then rights, then crimes again, etc. etc. etc. </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000;">The other two radical decisions, which have received far less scrutiny, can be regarded as the acts of certifiably insane people. The striking down of laws controlling the use or carrying of weapons in New York City is the wobbly fun house mirror image of the campaign in some CRIP circles to defund or disband the police. That was a hard one to top but they did so in another landmark ruling saying that the Environmental Protection Agency, set up to protect the environment, could not take measures to combat global warming, which scientists have been warning us about for years. Scientists are now saying it’s almost too late to do anything about it. Some of us, especially those who don’t die soon, are destined to witness the earth growing uninhabitable. Jim Jones perished with his flock at Jonestown in 1978 but it makes you wonder if he’s been resurrected, cloned and appointed to the Supreme Court. Is a death wish the new litmus test for SC membership?</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe;">The two failed impeachments of Big Orange could be seen as a BLOOD victory, but they really constitute more of a CRIP defeat than a BLOOD win and a potential death blow to the concept of democracy is the US. The CRIPS lick their wounds and cannot imagine how a man could get away with fraud, sedition, corruption and affronts to all known standards of decency, while not facing the fact that we live in <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/57164.htm">an age of impunity</a>, and they were complicit in establishing it. Big Orange ran on an impunity ticket, inspiring millions of followers to partake of it. </span></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe;">The <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/57214.htm">road to impunity</a> was long and too complicated to trace here. Maybe it got started with Dr. Spock. It’s probably good that children are no longer whipped when they spill spaghetti sauce on the tablecloth, or if they are, the unacceptable act is attributed by society to be that of the whipper, not the whippee. That’s been the inexorable path of history for some time. Bad boys in school used to be sent to detention hall where they had to stay in school late. Some of us learned to modify our behavior. Now they are diagnosed as having ADS and medicated. Drug addicts were arrested and put in jail but lately are given substitute drugs and released. Many forms of anti-social behavior are now regarded as an illness and chemically treated.</span></div><div><br /></div><div>There have been a few notable exceptions. In the years of the Giuliani mayoralty and the Clinton presidency, young black men were exempted from impunity and vast numbers of them ended up in prison on minor drug charges. For young people from the upper echelons of society, impunity went on as never before. When Enron imploded, taking with it the savings of hundreds of thousands of people, more perpetrators died by their own hand than by any punishments meted out.</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000;">The other major exception to impunity is for <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/57162.htm">whistle blowers</a>. There is no impunity for whistle blowers! Some people can get away with reporting on thievery by another employee if it’s another low-level employee and the violation is something the company wants to know about, but God help the straight arrow who reports criminal acts by the organization itself. If that agency is the US Government, no mercy will be coming from either the BLOODS or the CRIPS. </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Just as the newly exalted status of impunity derailed two impeachment proceedings, it has also made a farce out of recent <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/57145.htm">US foreign policy</a>. After years of slow but steady US aggression into countries of the former Soviet Union, when Russia finally responded militarily, the current CRIP president responded by calling the Russian president a war criminal. There is nothing funny about the present tragedy but hearing such a statement from a man who was a cheerleader for the truly unprovoked invasion of Iraq made it hard to know whether to laugh or scream. No American leader or leader of any participating NATO country has yet been prosecuted for the crimes committed there or in the invasions of Afghanistan, Libya or Syria. Perhaps in another hundred and fifty years, assuming that humans still live on the planet, statues of these criminals will be torn down and destroyed by descendants of their victims but for now, impunity reigns unchallenged. </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000;">We started by asking what term describes the mess we’re in at this moment in history. Language is important and it has become a major weapon in the culture wars as well as in the military conflicts. A man named George Lakoff, a professor of linguistics and philosophy, wrote a number of books and articles of the uses of language. He said that “the act of stating that a lie is false reinforces the lie because it repeats the way the lie is framed”. He urged the liberal side to catch up with the conservative side in framing issues on their own terms. He was correct in that the BLOODS had a long lead in the field, such as in gaining acceptance of using terms such as “conservatives” to describe wild-eyed neo-fascists and “moderates” to describe right-wing corporate-funded CRIPS. I haven’t seen new articles by Lakoff for some time. Perhaps he felt he had had too much success.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe;">They haven’t been in the news recently but there have been some poor Somalian <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1054580/">immigrants</a> in the US involved with genital mutilation, as was traditionally practiced back home. They have been denounced for it but had they been able to afford a linguistic consultant or PR person, they might have seen a more sympathetic reception. “Virtue affirming health care” has a nice ring to it, almost as innocuous as “gender affirming health care” for the sterilization and genital mutilation of confused children, today’s new fashion trend. We all like soft fuzzy terms so if you are either for or against abortion, “pro-choice” and “pro-life” each give a positive lilt to a thorny issue. </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #cc0000;">On the war front, the distortions of language have become even more weird than in the culture wars. The media of the far right are mostly owned by Rupert Murdoch and a few other oligarch ideologues. Over more than two decades FoxNews has become the house organ of the BLOODS. The only mystery is which entity is in charge of the other. Since Big Orange decreed that the Only Truth is what comes out of his mouth, there really hasn’t been any reason to pay attention to the entire Fox media enterprise except to measure how bad things really are.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe;">The status of the so-called liberal media is more confusing. The largest elements are the NYT, the WaPO and the four traditional TV networks but their ownership is a mixture of traditionally wealthy liberals and oligarchs occasionally posing as CRIPS. The New York Times is often called “the paper of record”. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that during a proxy war between the US and Russia, it should be the mouthpiece of the US Government. That’s what happens in wartime. Still, the linguistic gyrations that it employs make it seem more like the Pravda of the 1970’s than the BBC of the days before Tony Blair. It is hard to tell if the Times reporting on the war is influenced more by the suggestions of George Lakoff or of Josef Goebbels, or perhaps it’s simply all handouts from the Departments of State or Defense. All text apparently passes through a word editing program which transforms “the Russian invasion of Ukraine” into the “unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine”. The same program also sprinkles adjectives such as ruthless, authoritarian, or brutal into every sentence that also includes the name Putin. “Independent liberal democracy” is another State Dept./NYT favorite, as applied to all right-wing authoritarian regimes established by the CIA from central America to eastern Europe. We can’t tell if all the opinion writers have their articles run through the same word editor or if they have all been collectively hypnotized and subliminally instructed to do the same thing.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe;">While the NYT describes the war as between authoritarianism and “liberal democracy”, its own language has not been unscathed by the radical authoritarianism of the ultra-libertarians who will accept no dictates of grammar but their own. There are growing numbers of articles mutilated by newly mandated linguistic perversions. However, the Times did recently publish a rather cool and analytical article by Amy Harmon on some of the more controversial linguistic battles, which is worth reading, regardless of how you regard some of the proposals.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #800180;">Paranoia is all around us in varying degrees and if you don’t have any, you live in a bubble or are just not paying attention. Those most seriously afflicted often refer to “they” as in “they know” but the implication is that there is an evil cabal of monsters which must remained unnamed. Is the Times unwittingly slipping into that sort of nonsense by way of politically correct pronouns? We hope not. There is enough nonsense out there already, without submitting to the latest fads in authoritarian libertarianism. Victoria Nuland is not a they and the CIA is not just any they either, it’s the CIA.</span></div><div><br /></div><div>My wife experienced fibrillation recently, a medical condition where the heart muscles start beating out of rhythm, both very fast and very slowly. I have come to believe that our brains, individually and collectively, can have a similar condition, undocumented as yet, where we go out of control, oscillating erratically between our authoritarian impulses and our libertarian excesses. It manifests itself in a “rules-based society” where the rules are made by the country with the biggest guns, by a “free market” imposed by the entities which control the market, by a tolerant liberal society where adhesion to establishment commandments is rigorously enforced, and where “democracy” is imposed militarily on people deemed incapable of self-government. The BLOODS do it. The CRIPS do it. I’ll call it <b>fibrillationism</b>. We may be headed for feudalism again, or extinction, but this is how we’re fueling the voyage.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you have a better term for today’s condition, please share it. To cure a disease, it’s helpful to define it.</div><div><br /></div><div><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> ***</span><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026862295263156116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6150277304485808246.post-15975483760396318152022-03-01T21:59:00.000+01:002022-03-01T21:59:44.564+01:00Building a Wall of Hate<p style="text-align: left;"> </p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Hate building has a long history, far longer than I can even remember personally. Hitler eventually
murdered millions of Jews and others but not before he roused most of the populace of his highly
developed country to hate the Jews and blame them for the country’s woes. Mao did much the same in
his campaign to eliminate the Chinese professional and intellectual classes. The German campaign was
reciprocated in the US by demonizing the Axis leaders. It’s difficult to fight a war successfully if you
can’t get your people to hate the enemy. Sometimes it’s easier than other times. Hitler made it easy. Not to
win the war but to summon the will, the determination, and the sense of sacrifice to fight to the end. </span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">WWI was an insane war which had no reason to be fought other than the desire for a fight that all the
participants displayed. It could easily be seen as similar to gang wars of opposing teenage thugs who
show up on a designated playground to wreak whatever damage their available weapons can inflict. A
good deal of hatred was generated before, during, and after that war. A minor example, of which I have
a smattering of knowledge, was the vandalism of German-American shops, the renaming of sauerkraut
into liberty cabbage and the transformation of frankfurters into hot dogs. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Hate prevailed at the end of WWI and victory was not enough to assuage the blood lust of the victors.
The enemy had to be humiliated and dragged down into misery. They were. Unfortunately, hatred
tends to be reciprocated. Germany had an educated and energetic population and despite the crippling
reparations, it managed to rebuild its industries, along with a newly ambitious military sector under the
direction of a populist hate-building political leader. We all know how that played out. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">We are also familiar with a bunch of aphorisms such as: “if we don’t learn from history, we’re destined
to repeat it.” Miraculously, there appeared a number of influential people in the USA who did learn
from it. Was this just a freakish miracle, a gift of God, this streak of intelligence in high places, rarely
seen before in the US after the passing of the founding fathers, and never seen again in the past half
century? However it happened, and we have to mention that the fear of our WWII ally, the Soviet
Union, and the more generalized fear of Marxism did play a role, the unexpected wisdom of people
such as General George Marshall did steer the US into helping its defeated former enemies, Germany,
Japan and Italy, to rebuild themselves into democratic societies, ironically even more democratic and
more prosperous than the US itself. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">As enlightened as the foreign policy of the US may have been, at home Senator McCarthy and the
newly emerging Military Industrial Complex were fostering a climate of fear and hate. It was officially
designated a fear of communism but in concrete terms it translated into fear of the USSR, understood
as Russia. It extended to countries which bore little of no resemblance to Russia, either culturally,
economically, or militarily. There certainly were some reasons for western concerns. We fought and
lost wars that we associated with the Soviet Union but somehow, the hatred that might have persisted
toward the people of Viet Nam, Cambodia and Korea never really took hold, whereas the anti-Russian
rhetoric was so persistent as to cloud the minds of even people born after the collapse of the Soviet
Union.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">In 1989 the Berlin Wall went down and the Soviet Union collapsed. The Cold War was over and we
won it. The Warsaw Pact was dead and NATO had served its function. It could have been disbanded,
but alas, the military industrial complex discovered its utility as a money-making operation. Mikhail
Gorbachev had graciously decided to step aside from further confrontation with the west by not
opposing the unification of Germany and the concurrent withdrawal of Soviet troops. He thereby
received assurances from the highest US and German authorities that NATO would not move one foot
further to the east. Unfortunately, although the accord was witnessed and attested to by various
participants on both sides, he did not have this formalized in a treaty, although, given the history of
written agreements that the US has entered into, it might have made little difference. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">The US had the opportunity to help Russia grow into a democratic society but could not bring itself to
do so as it had done with Nazi Germany and the other Axis powers. The lone important voice in the
west who decried the lack of effort by the US to promote a democratic Russia was that of George
Soros, who put some of his own money where his mouth was. For that he has been subjected to anti-Semitic vilification throughout the world but especially in Hungary, his birthplace. To the old Cold
Warriors, who are by now mostly dead, and to the new ones, who were not even born then, Russia was,
and always will be, the enemy. Boris Yeltsin, the first Russian post-collapse president, even flattered
the US by building a new society on the recent US model: oligarchy. He privatized much, if not all, of
the Soviet economy and handed ownership over to friendly oligarchs. Russia collapsed even faster
than the USSR had and turned into a latter stage version of what the USA has recently become, a
country with a precipitating birthrate, a diminishing life expectancy, and alarmingly high rates of
alcoholism and suicide. All this while the American big shots of industry and in the military chuckled
and licked their chopped at the prospects of increased East European arms sales and markets for its
other monopolies until the enfeebled Russian bear breathed its last. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">The cultivation of hate has not only persisted but has been given new impetus in recent decades.
Ronald Reagan did his part by saying that “government is not the solution, it’s the problem”, a
statement which has been true in much of the world, but which in a democracy could rightfully be
described as seditious. Either it was an attempt at undermining democracy or an admission that the
USA was not a democracy. The hatred of government, especially democratic government, has
continued its growth for thirty years until its apparent culmination in the Trump Administration, which
not only denigrated democracy but did its best to eliminate it. From the blustering, racist, hate
campaigns of Rush Limbaugh and his clones to the constant anti-democratic propaganda of Fox News
and the unending vulgar stream of Trumpian tweets, the campaign to make hate not only acceptable but
even a source of pride, has been remarkably successful. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">One might have expected to see a huge backlash to all this from the self-identifying liberal or
democratic side, but no, it was easier to match it than to oppose it. While Fox News has set the tone,
the New York Times has noticed that hate sells, and it has upped the ante. Its readers have managed to
emulate the Fox crowd in hating anyone they disagree with rather than engaging in debate.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">The hate-Russia campaign has been growing rapidly since the 2016 US elections, this time led by the
Democrats. Trump appeared to go soft on Russia, not a complete surprise, given his ambition to build
a Trump Tower in Moscow and the importance of the support for his real estate projects by the newly
minted Russian oligarchs. Democrats insisted that the insidious Putin had influenced the 2016 election
which brought us Trump, while studiously ignoring the presence of Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking, at the
invitation of the Republican leadership, to a joint assembly of the US Congress on 3 March 2015, in the
midst of the Presidential primary campaign, days before US-Iran nuclear treaty negotiations began and
just weeks before Israeli elections, the most egregious foreign meddling in American elections and
foreign policy that I can recall. I can barely remember instances of US meddling in the elections of
other countries. They have become as common as the summer appearances of house flies in the
kitchen. You don’t remember them and you can’t tell them apart. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Last week, La 4, an Italian TV channel, broadcast a very long interview with Vladimir Putin conducted
by Oliver Stone in 2016. While Madeleine Albright referred to his
almost reptilian coldness, in the Stone interview he comes across as serious, cool, polite, diplomatic
and intelligent. His presidency has run as long as the combined reign of four US presidents. He stated
his national security concerns in 2016 and he has repeated them again and again. Although he inherited control of a
failed state, he has brought back Russia from its predicted demise to a state of renewal, despite dealing
with sanctions handed out by Uncle Sam as freely as candies and gift certificates are handed out by
department store Santa Clauses. All this while the four American presidents have presided over a
continued decline in virtually all statistical measures of public well-being, i.e. those unrelated to the
wealth of the top 1%, and the US has not been under sanctions by another country. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Any intelligence agency, staffed by rational people, which saw the growth of weapons emplacements
surrounding its borders, would sound an alarm and seek to take precautionary measures. Putin has
stated his concerns, consistently and rationally. He has requested negotiations and guarantees. Most
recently those requests were rejected by President Biden with the tone of an assistant principal of a
junior high school responding to a kid complaining that a larger kid had stolen her lunch and threatened
to beat her up. “Don’t worry. He’s not really a bad boy and anyway, you’d be better off eating a little
less.” Putin is not a little girl. He’s the head of a very large country which besides having a rich
cultural legacy, happens to have the second largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world. Unlike
most of the recent US presidents, he appears to be fully cognizant of the dangers and responsibilities
this entails. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">The time of stalemate finally ran out. There are limits to anyone’s patience. Despite being subjected
to heavy sanctions already, Russia will be hurt by even more sanctions, but it has energy resources and
earlier sanctions have already pushed them to be more self-sufficient. Putin can turn to China for
closer economic relations. Much of the pain inflicted by the sanctions will really be felt by Europe.
Ukraine will be crushed and there will be yet another refugee crisis. One can hope that the country will not
be devastated and destroyed as Iraq was when the US and its co-conspirators invaded. Biden has ruled
that the US will not fight to defend Ukraine but along with the UK, he has sent plenty of weapons to
that country to assure that the invasion will be as bloody and destructive as possible. Was Biden as clueless as it seems? Was he unaware or uninterested in the consequences of his flippant
humiliation of Russia? Maybe Smilin’ Joe is really a sly SOB after all, who saw an opportunity to
weaken both Russia and Europe in one seemingly casual move and thereby increase American
hegemony and arms sales. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">In the US, the mainstream media have raised the volume level on the hate channel. The NYT has
resisted the temptation to rehire Judith Miller, its chief cheerleader and propagandist for the invasion of
Iraq, but that’s as far as their discretion has extended. It even published a piece by Madeleine Albright,
the former Secretary of State, in which she writes about an earlier interview with Putin: <span style="color: #38761d;">Whereas Mr.
Yeltsin had cajoled, blustered and flattered, Mr. Putin spoke unemotionally and without
notes about his determination to resurrect Russia’s economy and quash Chechen rebels.
Flying home, I recorded my impressions. “Putin is small and pale,” I wrote, “so cold as to be
almost reptilian.</span>”
Ms. Albright is mostly famous for her reply to this question from Leslie Stahl of CBS: “We heard that
half a million children have died (as a result of US sanctions on Iraq)....that’s more children than died
in Hiroshima...is the price worth it?”<span style="color: #990000;"> “I think this is a very hard choice, but the price- we think the
price is worth it.” </span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Putin has had to make hard choices too but at least he has to know the sort of people
he’s contending with. Albright wrote to say that Putin’s actions were unacceptable. The comments in
response to her article were mostly in line with the sentiments of the day. A sampling:</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <span style="color: #cc0000;">“we are still reaping the harvest of failing to contain the USSR after WWII.”
“Few countries are as dependent on one industry as Russia. It's almost all petro. Cripple that
industry, and we cripple them.”
“In 2022 expansionism in the middle of Europe is not just a throw back from Hitler, it's a sign
of insanity.”
“Appeasement didn't work with Hitler. Why would anyone think it would work with Putin or any
other autocrat?”
“Secretary Albright has a personal history that gives her sensitivity to the perils of nationalism
and armed aggression, especially where notions of ethnic identity are involved.”
“Putin wants Trump back in the Oval Office so Putin can move ever more aggressively in
expanding his reach across Europe with Donnie's slavering approval.”
“Russia is nothing more than the largest and best run criminal organization in the world.”
“If Ukraine really wanted to put waste to the invasion it would burn the crops, blow up the
crop storage and shipping lines, blow up the manufacturing centers and the gas line.” </span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">The comments went on and on by the hundreds. There were some rational observations and they did reflect a split
between typical Republican (Biden isn’t aggressive enough) and Democratic (pure anti-Putin hate
bound to wishful thinking) positions but the common thread is hate. The propaganda machine has
succeeded all too well. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">What’s next? Traditionally, entering a war has been a tactic used by politicians in trouble to gain public
support. Will that work for anybody in the next few years? I would guess that all governments will be
at risk from the aftermath of this conflict. In Europe, all the political leaders have gathered in an orgy
of virtue signalling, wishful thinking and impotence, denouncing Russian aggression after hardly sounding a peep when the US invaded and destroyed Iraq, Syria and Libya, bringing heavy
consequences not just to the Middle East but to all of Europe. That may have been due to the fact that
many of them participated in those invasions. Not one of them ever stood up to the US and said “What
the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Most of you are probably aware of the leadership problems in the UK and France, i.e. even apart from their leading the charge in the catastrophic destruction of Libya. Those "leaders" are gone. Has there been any improvement? </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Here in Italy, there is a
similar problem, compounded by the fact that the Italian Parliament is engaged in a semi-permanent
work stoppage. All the parties, from those on the far right to those on the not-so-far left have tacitly
agreed to agree on everything so as not to have the government fall. Thus, the Prime Minister, Draghi,
could conceivably do <b>anything</b>, sell off Sicily if he could find a buyer, attack and seize Lichtenstein for
its assets (the EU would intervene), or sell off all Italian assets to German banks, which is not so far-fetched, and he would face no opposition in Parliament. All this because when new elections are
called, the size of the Parliament will be reduced by 40% and salaries and benefits (the
world’s highest) will also be cut. Most of the newer members will be without a job. Those elections
will not be called until the last moment required, which is late next year. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Italy has already been grievously damaged by illegally imposed US sanctions on countless trade partners. By next year the effects will be
many times worse. As in all NATO member states, all the Italian political parties have joined in the obsequious licking of Uncle Sam’s boots.
What will the voters do by next year when the economic damage follows upon the damage done by
Covid?
In the US, I doubt that either Biden or Trump will be running for president in 2024. What sort of new
monster will emerge? An authoritarian weapons merchant from the right or an authoritarian thought police captain from the left? Perhaps they can join together in a new <b>Have Arms To Export</b> Party to form an emergency unity government.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026862295263156116noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6150277304485808246.post-47715819372359523822022-02-09T10:17:00.004+01:002022-02-09T10:24:56.203+01:00Reasons Why We Need NATO<span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;">The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed in 1949 by the North Atlantic Treaty, signed by the UK, France and the US, Canada, Italy, Portugal, Norway, Denmark and Iceland to provide mutual military protection for countries in what came to be known as the North Atlantic region from Soviet aggression, which showed itself to be a real threat with its takeover of Czechoslovakia. The treaty was briefly preceded in 1947 and ‘48 by the Treaty of Dunkirk and the Treaty of Brussels both of which involved a growing number of European countries in mutual defense.
The presence of NATO forces largely prevented further aggression in Europe, and with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the rapid subsequent dissolution of the USSR, it could be said that its mission was complete. However, we must remember that any time an effective organization is created to take on a challenge, part of its mission is to find new missions and purposes which it can serve. While a few rogue voices might suggest that NATO has outlived its mission and therefore is no longer needed, we cannot overlook the fact that there are a number of good reasons for the continued existence of NATO. </span><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjDRvxEZpdv5UX7Hd4rTaD6IV8bsA3eCJsjHSugXTCbX8qzzMIlALNq7-e2_FPB4WpfSqtE9E61i907nX_85-y55x_XLS9nvhXdYIorpkz-5KGVzfdN6-C6socRlr-X7iKGWAe_-BvpDrVG9_uWJtdU--3cVs96JnqJYg_Zb5MQT4moI2cWRc5fp8ew=s645" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="645" data-original-width="453" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjDRvxEZpdv5UX7Hd4rTaD6IV8bsA3eCJsjHSugXTCbX8qzzMIlALNq7-e2_FPB4WpfSqtE9E61i907nX_85-y55x_XLS9nvhXdYIorpkz-5KGVzfdN6-C6socRlr-X7iKGWAe_-BvpDrVG9_uWJtdU--3cVs96JnqJYg_Zb5MQT4moI2cWRc5fp8ew=w252-h358" width="252" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;"> 1. NATO has a proven record of success. It was established seventy-three years ago to combat Soviet aggression and more than thirty years ago the Soviet Union, crippled by the arms race, ceased to exist. No other organization is so well equipped to neutralize any other hostile power, even one which hasn’t emerged or been identified yet. </span></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;"> 2. NATO provides gainful employment for thousands of people and corporations, not only in the United States but throughout the world. With wages lagging behind productivity gains in the US and the cost of education growing beyond the ability of workers to pay, this is a major benefit. High ranking officers and defense contractors are thriving as never before. </span></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;"> 3. While the US pays a disproportionate share of the costs of maintaining a huge military to defend the expanded North Atlantic zone, member nations provide a number of the foot soldiers needed for a military entity crucial to the imposition of American foreign policy goals. </span></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;"> 4. The co-involvement of our many “allied countries” in our military operations reduces the likelihood of those countries raising objections to our military, commercial or social objectives. While there has been some talk in civilian courts in obscure places of bringing American leaders to trial for war crimes involved in the invasion of Iraq, there has been little or no such talk in the countries of NATO which participated in the invasion. Similarly, there has been little objection in Europe to the unrelenting expansion of NATO which has finally provoked an international crisis in Ukraine. </span></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;"> 5. The continued presence of the US Military in most countries of the world helps spread familiarity with American products, trends, customs and values, from Halloween and Black Friday to gender flexibility, fast food and the Easter Bunny. NATO provides the cover for such an important presence by imparting the prestige of being an international organization. </span></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;"> 6. Although the United Nations was established to provide a forum for all the countries of the world to air their concerns and complaints, its effectiveness has been diminished by the presence of so many conflicting outlooks. NATO has filled the void, providing military strength under the direction of a unified vision. While attending to vital activities such as pipeline systems, Air Traffic Management as well as Air Defense, oceanography and meteorological studies, NATO has provided us with a de facto world government, not something to be undervalued.</span></div>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026862295263156116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6150277304485808246.post-34552905117169628622022-01-19T13:12:00.004+01:002022-02-03T23:43:24.586+01:00The Ritual Elimination of Jon Gruden<div>On Friday October 8, 2021 word leaked that emails had been found where Jon Gruden expressed</div><div>unacceptably racist and homophobic sentiments. By Monday the New York Times expanded the</div><div>coverage and Gruden was gone, faster even than Al Franken or Garrison Keillor. Whereas Franken and Keillor were alleged to have engaged in inappropriate touching and gestures, there were no known complaints against Gruden. For anyone who is not familiar with American football and may not even have heard of Jon Gruden, I might first explain who Jon Gruden is. Until he resigned on October 11th, Gruden was the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders football team in the National Football League. He had coached them earlier in his career when they were in Oakland and had then moved on to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where he had won a Super Bowl at the end of the 2002 season. After dropping out of coaching in 2008 he went on to being a TV analyst for ESPN and other sports TV outlets until the Raiders lured him out of retirement with a ten-year $100 million contract in 2018.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhhTxTRMQbmwtV1qBoq639HwwxIAESHSlw4zJEaQIFvZrYT_A7gLkLQYTxaEKCb5ThCbBoKTruK5RGrVNk3vG9mnNf0XtltInjsor6PMIQYEAS6hbQWsLaB7DYhHvpkPFjbji2Echc0zVElUIen0040AYuhM1qfPnHlNZ8kagZffTBtotRE0fGsfuVo=s400" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhhTxTRMQbmwtV1qBoq639HwwxIAESHSlw4zJEaQIFvZrYT_A7gLkLQYTxaEKCb5ThCbBoKTruK5RGrVNk3vG9mnNf0XtltInjsor6PMIQYEAS6hbQWsLaB7DYhHvpkPFjbji2Echc0zVElUIen0040AYuhM1qfPnHlNZ8kagZffTBtotRE0fGsfuVo=w170-h182" width="170" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhhTxTRMQbmwtV1qBoq639HwwxIAESHSlw4zJEaQIFvZrYT_A7gLkLQYTxaEKCb5ThCbBoKTruK5RGrVNk3vG9mnNf0XtltInjsor6PMIQYEAS6hbQWsLaB7DYhHvpkPFjbji2Echc0zVElUIen0040AYuhM1qfPnHlNZ8kagZffTBtotRE0fGsfuVo=s400" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div>I confess to a smidgen of cynicism that led me to wonder if there was a plot hatched to get the Raiders out of this ill-conceived contract. Hearing the Raiders’ owner, Mark Davis react with displeasure that he had been neither consulted nor informed by the NFL before they launched the attack on his coach tends to neutralize the conspiracy theory, which leads us to the more plausible theory that the NFL was taking advantage of the atmosphere spearheaded by the Me Too Movement to eliminate a perceived enemy/liability.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Salaries in sports have reached absurd levels but this was surprising even in this inflated atmosphere, not so much for the amount as for the duration of the contract. Losing coaches are often sacked after only one or two seasons. Gruden had been out of coaching for a decade and while his knowledge of the game is impressive and his earlier coaching record was good, $100 million was a large bet on his belated return to coaching. His first three years into the contract did not produce a winning season but in 2021 the Raiders started off well and appeared headed for success. Indeed they did manage to get into the playoffs and were then eliminated in a close game.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>The NFL was conducting its own investigation of what had been the Washington Redskins football organization until the name “Redskins” was deemed politically incorrect and the league forced the owner of the club to drop the name. Concurrently the league was facing lawsuits brought by female employees of the Washington Football Club alleging a hostile workplace and sexist discrimination. It was during these investigations that the league found emails to the Redskins’ General Manager at the time, Bruce Allen, an old friend of Gruden. The investigation reviewed 650,000 emails in all, an effort worthy of its DC neighbors, the FBI and the CIA. That it chose to reveal and publicize the old emails of Gruden, who was not under investigation himself, may have had something to do with the fact that Gruden had often criticized Roger Goodell, the Commissioner of the NFL, whose salary is even more generous than that of Gruden.</div><div><br /></div><div>A man making $10 million a year probably should be smart enough to avoid calling the man who runs the organization in which he operates “a faggot” and a “clueless anti-football pussy”, even in an email to a friend. Most of us learn early in life that insulting people on whom our continued employment depends is not in our self-interest. Then again, $100 million apparently generates a degree of hubris.</div><div><br /></div><div>The release of a coach’s old personal emails was not one of the league’s shining hours. Gruden was critical of Goodell’s management and his criticisms extended to bashing the hiring of female referees, tolerance of player protests during the playing of the national anthem, pressuring teams to draft gay players, and the league’s drawing too much attention to its injury protocols. I’m unaware of Gruden ever making his criticisms public but I assume that some of them are shared by many people in and out of the league. Beyond his league concerns, Gruden’s emailed criticisms of Presidents Obama and Biden to friends using vulgar epithets similar to those he applied to the NFL Commissioner.</div><div><br /></div><div>In his place I might have made some comments critical of the league myself, although very different than his, and unlike Gruden, I realize that if I had a job in the NFL, I would probably be forced out for my views. First of all, I find the incestuous relationship between the NFL and the US military highly repugnant. The military flyovers at many games seem more appropriate to the Germany of the 1930’s than to a country that likes to think itself as a model of democracy.</div><div><br /></div><div>Football and the military may appear to have some affinities. Strategies, discipline, training and</div><div>violence are present in both and they relish the high levels of testosterone in the more physical of those activities. From my limited involvement with football and the Army in the distant past, I recall that insults to ones virility were routinely used to inspire greater dedication to unpleasant tasks, from running laps around the field to digging latrines. Despite such affinities, there are differences. Football is a game, a rough game which inspires the natural competitive spirit of boys and young men. As a lifelong fan, I would argue that it is one of the greatest games ever devised, right up there with chess in its deployment of complex offensive and defensive strategies, as well as having specialized players on the field with different roles. The military is about waging war, which is not a game, except in the minds of some of our politicians and generals. It’s about killing people. In theory, it is about defending ourselves from foreign aggression, although to my knowledge the US Department of Defense has engaged exclusively in offensive activities since its name was changed from “War Department” in an early gesture of political correctness.</div><div><br /></div><div>As for the misogyny which Gruden has been accused of by the NYT, I’ve never quite been able to forget that two current NFL quarterbacks were accused of rape early in their careers. Those charges were either dropped after an out-of-court settlement, or reclassified as sexual assault, that magical term which can be used to mask a violent crime or to conflate an unwanted gesture into a career-ending accusation. Good thing for them. Rape is usually a fairly clearly defined crime, although there are some exceptions, such as when the alleged rapist has been declared a wanted enemy of the state. Those players were suspended briefly, which given their salaries, would appear to most of us as severe monetary penalties. In 2007, the year after Roger Goodell had been named Commissioner of the NFL, another star QB, Michael Vick, who at the time was considered by many to be the best athlete in the league, was found to be involved in a dog fighting ring. He was charged with killing dogs who were not vicious enough, convicted and sentenced to two years in prison, as well as being suspended by the NFL. He served his time, interrupting a good career in his prime. I am often out of synch with a great number of my fellow Americans across a wide spectrum of subjects, issues and causes, but am I really alone among my countrymen, or even among football fans, in believing that raping women is a more serious offense than killing dogs?</div><div><br /></div><div>Did this contrast in consequences of different disapproved activities reflect the values of the NFL or the USA in general? It was after all, a US prison where Michael Vick served his time. Then again, it may just be that it’s easier to negotiate an out-of-court settlement with a cocktail waitress than with a dead dog.</div><div><br /></div><div>In fairness to Roger Goodell and the NFL, the league has expanded the business on his watch, making a lot of young men of humble origins into millionaires while making all their wealthy team owners into billionaires. To his credit, I’ve never heard Goodell use vile or offensive language but then, I have never read his e-mails or listened to his phone calls. </div><div><br /></div><div>If October 11th was a bad day for the NFL, it was worse for the New York Times. The Times, often referred to as America’s paper of record, covers many aspects of the news rather well, especially the obits, and its intelligent columnists outnumber its Neo-Lib propagandists and its presumed if undeclared foreign agents. It also documents and promotes the trendy values of its wealthy and influential NYC readers and the vast legions who would share those values and consumer preferences but just don’t have the wealth yet. Unfortunately, it does have a tradition of cowardly backing of the Establishment at its worst, such as its cheer-leading for the invasion of Iraq and its massive effort to derail the campaign of the most notably democratic candidate for the presidency. While the attack on Gruden may appear to be a small thing, its implications are greater than people seem to realize.</div><div><br /></div><div>The exposè of Gruden was written by Ken Bolten and Katherine Rosman, who should have known better. You can see it<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/11/sports/football/what-did-jon-gruden-say.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article" target="_blank"> here</a>. Among the long list of all the terrible things that Gruden said to friends in his emails, the article had this gem:</div><div><br /></div><div><i><span style="color: #800180;">“ Taken together, the emails provide an unvarnished look into the clubby culture of one N.F.L.</span></i></div><div><i><span style="color: #800180;">circle of peers, where white male decision makers felt comfortable sharing pornographic</span></i></div><div><i><span style="color: #800180;">images, deriding the league policies, and jocularly sharing homophobic language .”</span></i></div><div><br /></div><div>While we were allowed to read many of the comments in Gruden’s emails, we were not furnished the images, described elsewhere in the article as pictures of women wearing only bikini bottoms, including one photo of two Washington cheerleaders. Did the authors see the photos? We did not. Jon Gruden was born in 1963, well after Hugh Hefner had made his fortune by founding Playboy Magazine, which featured women wearing not even bikini bottoms. Playboy’s decline came as a result of its sweet girl-next-door-photographed-nude features being nudged aside by publications such as Hustler, more open to pubic hair and a grittier sort of eroticism. Since then the USA has grown a huge pornography industry, which proves that the US can still make products for export. Most of the participants don’t get to wear bikini bottoms. When were Bolten and Rosman born and where have they been living?</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/13/magazine/mickalene-thomas.html?campaign_id=52&emc=edit_ma_20211015&instance_id=42861&nl=the-new-york-times-magazine&regi_id=38323128&segment_id=71713&te=1&user_id=53064a1002fba930a827a1a6932b928c" target="_blank">Elsewhere in the New York Times</a>, in the same week as the e-lynching of the Raider's coach, there was a glowing tribute to the artist Mickalene Thomas, with her loving appreciation of images of topless women. Thomas's views were sincere enough but could there have been just a bit too much hypocrisy in the policies of the NYT, which spent so much effort decrying hypocrisy in the NFL?</div><div><br /></div><div>Gruden was also accused of using offensive homophobic language. His language was certainly</div><div>vulgar, but these days does anyone not use vulgar language? After the story of the emails was</div><div>published, Carl Nassib, the only currently active player in the NFL who has come out as gay, and who happens to play for Gruden’s team, the Raiders, unsurprisingly declared that Gruden’s comments were unacceptable, but there was no report of his having had any previous objection to Gruden’s speech or comportment as coach.</div><div><br /></div><div>The article drew more than two thousand comments and was republished at the end of December as one of the most widely read articles of the year. While there were a sprinkling of comments saying that the whole thing was a bit overwrought and out of place, the comments more typically seethed with heterophobic hatred, and a good many exuded racial hatred as well. Of the thousands of comments, only a handful suggested that the whole episode involved a serious invasion of privacy. None seemed to grasp that their own comportment and attitude resembled that of the lynch mobs of a century ago. Yes, I am aware of the radical difference in outcomes. Losing your job, no matter how well paid, is not the same as being tortured and hanged. Still, the angry mob wanted Gruden to lose his job, and many suggested that others should follow. Were the NYT writers guilty of a hate crime in instigating such a reaction?</div><div><br /></div><div>Gruden has been hounded out of a lucrative job because he used foul language and made comments in his private emails which were considered by some as racist, misogynous and homophobic. While all people should understand that old emails never die; they just go into a deep reversible coma, he might have been better off if he’d simply vented his spleen on Twitter. After all, the ex-President publicly sent out messages on Twitter far more crude, offensive and vulgar than anything Gruden said to his friends, and he sent them virtually every day of the four years he was in office. The two institutional attempts to remove him from office both failed since the majority of our elected Senators apparently do not regard his behavior as unacceptable to the degree that the majority of NYT commenters regard Gruden’s.</div><div><br /></div><div>Hate is the major driver of ratings on all the radio and TV networks, and apparently for the major print media as well. Foul language has grown ever more foul. The N-word may have been successfully suppressed, except among black comics, but the F-word is now the most common adjective/adverb in American English. While I would be happy myself to see the use of the F-word banished from more than one instance per published or broadcast sentence, the establishment of a thought police or a speech police to bring about vigilante justice, whether it be brought about by hot-headed legislators or the New York Times readership, is something we should all stand up and fight.</div><div><br /></div><div>We congratulate the Raiders for making the play-offs despite all the turmoil brought down on them by the Commissioner and the NYT in mid-season.. We don’t agree with Jon Gruden about much of anything outside of his field of football knowledge but we do wish him well with his lawsuits. </div>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026862295263156116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6150277304485808246.post-47944130525830325492021-05-05T18:20:00.000+02:002021-05-05T18:22:15.704+02:00Communication and the Internet<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
have kept a diary for some sixty-two or sixty-three years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s about 22,000 short pages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Basically, for two reasons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
college I realized that we knew almost everything that famous people such as
Winston Churchill or FDR did every day of their adult lives but that often I
couldn’t remember what I had done the week before, or even the day before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We only have one life to live and if we don’t
remember living it, who will?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does a
tree falling in a forest make a sound if there’s nobody there to see it or hear
it fall?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Another
reason was that it seemed to me that my parents had never been young, that is,
my age, so I wanted to record what I did and thought at the time so that when I
got older and would have my own children, I would retain some insight of what
it was like to be their age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was it
worth the trouble?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I want to write about something in my
earlier life, I can find times and dates and details that would not exist
otherwise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As for me relating to my
children’s lives and times, the result has been less clear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes I have the impression that they
remember their own youthful attitudes less well than I remember mine. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Besides
the diary, I’ve written a lot while I was working, from building specifications
to reports, letters and schedules.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
the nearly two decades since I was last gainfully employed, I’ve had more time
to write what I want, and when I want, which is usually when I should be
sleeping.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I kept a pen and paper next
to my bed, perhaps I’d be a prolific writer but I have to rely on my memory
carrying over to morning when I can write down what seemed so clear during the
night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It doesn’t always work and is
probably an unhealthy way to live but I’m not the only person to be able to
think better in bed than during the day’s routine.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Over
fifty years ago I married a lovely Italian with great language skills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have always spoken English with each other
and her insistence on precision and her curiosity about the meaning of words
has helped my English more than any school ever did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, when we had children, we agreed that
I would refrain from speaking Italian with them to avoid corrupting their Italian
and retarding their learning of English.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This led to limited verbal communication with them, since at mealtimes
conversation would be in Italian and I would remain both silent and sometimes
out of the loop altogether.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps this
pushed me into writing more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now the
process is repeating itself all over again with grandchildren, who are
scattered in three countries.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Technology
has brought us incredible advances in communications possibilities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have Skype, Facetime, WhatsApp and other
similar apps which can connect us, usually at no cost, to anyone anywhere in
the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s wonderful but during the
covid pandemic we’ve learned both the advantages and the limitations of all
this connectivity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Group meetings can be
a disaster.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s nice to see people and
hear their voices but when there are more than two voices it isn’t long before
none are really heard and a frustrating chaos ensues.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Communication
possibilities change all the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On
the downside, my hearing, like that of many of my peers, has gotten worse over
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hearing aids help but along with
audial decline, my Italian language skills, never good in the best of times,
continue to atrophy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever language
they speak, children speak differently among themselves than they do with adults.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For that matter, many sub-groups do the
same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Slang is developed to exclude
outsiders and create a bond with a reduced group of insiders with similar
attitudes, age, identities or whatever else they think they have in common.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If your mother tongues are different, the
isolating effect is magnified.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mention
slang as an agent of exclusion, but professional jargon is much the same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It keeps the layman out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Architects, doctors, lawyers, art dealers and
investment advisors all do it, not so much as to eliminate communication as to
maintain their superior status.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
overdone, communication does fail.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Recently,
the sister of my American son-in-law described in her own blog the difficulty
of learning the younger generation’s elaborate standards of etiquette for
texting shortcuts and emoji use.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her
children are beyond college age so I was perplexed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why would a fully grown and articulate person
bother to try to understand the wilful subversion of language by people seeking
to limit their communication to their peers?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">With
my American grandchildren, it is lovely to see and hear them so easily from
across the ocean but the group nature of the electronic connections limits
communication largely to waving and smiling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My English grandson is remarkably erudite for his age and uninhibited in
speaking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, he speaks with an
accent used mostly by the Queen and people in certain parts of Westminster and
Chelsea, which together with his pre-adolescent voice, largely in frequencies
which my hearing aids try to augment, sometimes make our vocal exchanges as
difficult as those with the Italian grandchildren, mumbling in Italian
childspeak.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their Italian is virtually
incomprehensible to me, and sometimes even to their parents, but ironically,
when they speak in English, they are far easier to understand than their
English cousin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>George Bernard Shaw is
usually credited with saying that the English and the Americans are two peoples
divided by a common language although Winston Churchill, Oscar Wilde, Bertrand Russell
and Dylan Thomas all expressed similar sentiments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People tend to forget it but the English
colonized the US before the industrial revolution and the languages in each
place have evolved separately ever since.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">For
many centuries, records of what went on in the world were kept in libraries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Andrew Carnegie became as famous for all the
libraries he built as for how he made all the money used for them in the first
place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of those have survived but
many have been repurposed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Libraries
everywhere are struggling and often being defunded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What will happen to the society’s collective
memory?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will Google keep everything?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">That
brings us back to computers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Within my
family we have differences of opinion there almost as strong as in politics,
except that the alliances are reshuffled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the past few decades there has been a duopoly in computer software as
absolute as the monopolies over a hundred years ago of Standard Oil and US
Steel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The proprietary systems of
Microsoft and Apple have dominated everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Recently Android has moved in on cell phones, creating autocompletion
nightmares even worse than those of its predecessors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Open systems essentially refer to Linux,
which is used by few people but by many, if not most, governments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Public agencies, such as NASA, cannot afford
to be tied to one dominant monopolistic company.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The battles of Facebook and Apple begin to be
reminiscent of the battles between streetcar producers and the car and tire
companies a century ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As then, it’s
usually the public that loses.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
systemic divisions are reflected in those of many families, whose members go
with the system they prefer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Microsoft
and Apple have been forced by economics to make compromises with each other and
with other systems to avoid the sort of fiasco we witnessed a few decades back
with video systems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I still have many
videos in the Betamax format which I haven’t seen since they lost the
competition with VHS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will half of our
computers also go extinct soon?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Many
Apple users love their devices despite, or maybe because of, their very high
prices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Microsoft dominates much of the
market but seems more willing to collaborate to maintain its dominance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I find Linux simpler and easier to use but it
requires a computer expert to keep it updated and there are few of them
around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I certainly don’t qualify.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The grandchildren show promise but will they
learn anything more than Microsoft wants them to know?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will any of them want to devote their lives
to studying the workings of computer operating systems?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">How
the collected wisdom of the world is to be preserved is beyond my grasp but
within families and groups of friends, the sharing and storing of data will
continue to be a problem with so many incompatible programs already in
existence and more emerging every day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We will have to learn to be versatile and knowledgeable with regard to
all the systems, their defects and limitations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Our many devices can now be synchronized but what happens when the sync
doesn’t work?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who do we ask, Google,
Apple or Microsoft, or is it up to the browser?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It doesn’t really matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nobody
is listening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A website will put you in
touch with other members of the public who may be able to offer advice, as well
as asking “was this article helpful?”.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kcyYXVH4STk/YJLEFvQFEwI/AAAAAAAACXM/o5HZq93hX_QEvTiHvm5OejFV7n8Y-yFYwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/textures.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1952" height="264" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kcyYXVH4STk/YJLEFvQFEwI/AAAAAAAACXM/o5HZq93hX_QEvTiHvm5OejFV7n8Y-yFYwCLcBGAsYHQ/w277-h264/textures.jpg" width="277" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />When
computer use and the internet got going on a wide scale, it seemed to be mostly
about the sharing of information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Increasingly it appears to be driven by advertising and entertainment
and the sharing of information sometimes means texting people who are standing
right behind you instead of turning around and talking to them. The sharing and
saving of information, other than that by government security agencies and
advertisers, seems to have withered away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sharing cat and dog videos can be enjoyable and perhaps we may even be
helped somehow by governments knowing our whereabouts but how many books can be
stored with the same number of bites as yesterday’s forgotten phone video of us
waving from the Eiffel Tower.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Rounded MT Bold",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">If
the i-clouds and our computers are all full of selfies and the libraries are
all turned into discos or restaurants, where will the books go?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe it’s time for the ghost of Teddy
Roosevelt, the trustbuster, to appear and make his presence felt. The
monopolies have gotten out of control again.</span><o:p></o:p></p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026862295263156116noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6150277304485808246.post-44445197320278816842021-02-21T17:28:00.001+01:002021-02-21T17:28:32.944+01:00What's in a Name<p> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Do people make a name for themselves, no matter the
name, for example a John Smith, or do they grow into their name.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">We all receive a name at birth but we can
shape it or change it.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Most movie stars
had fake names that somebody in marketing thought sounded better.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">A young man in the Midwest named Frank Wright
called himself Frank Lloyd Wright by inserting an old family name in the middle
and went on to become the best and most famous architect in the world.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Talent drove all that but it included the
talent to design his own name.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 103%;">James Earl Carter, Jr., with exaggerated American
informality, went by Jimmy and was elected President of the US, a trend
continued by Bill and now Joe. No George
would go by Georgie and Barry never caught on for Barack but little George was
often called Shrub.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 103%;">I was named Robert, the most popular name in the US
for eleven straight years and I took it as an offense, as though a coin had
been flipped and it could only be Robert or Richard. Worse still, I was called Bobby, Bob and
Tubby, all horrible although the latter was also weird since I was a skinny
kid. It could have been worse; nobody
wants to be called a dick.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 103%;">Eventually I learned that I had been named after both
an uncle who had died as a child and a great-grandfather who had emigrated from
Prussia to avoid the on-going wars of the Kaiser, only to find himself in the
US as young men were being conscripted to fight in the Civil War. You could pay someone to take your place in
that war, which he did, making him a trans-oceanic double draft dodger. We apparently had more in common than our
name, both of us seeking a better life across the pond. He was a dyer in a silk mill mixing colors,
something I have done all my life in a different context and he brought beer
home in a bucket from the brewery. I
haven’t done that but the affinity is there and yes, I was told that I even
looked like him, except he was bald.
Robert Kinner, I’m proud to bear your name.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 103%;">Name changes, whether self-chosen or imposed, may
bring advantages such as pronounceability, simplicity or familiarity but they
risk a loss of historic richness and traceability. One side of my family was named Meyer and
they were from the Netherlands. Only in
recent years when I tried to find out more about their origins did I learn that
Meyer is not a Dutch name and that their name in Holland was almost certainly
Meijer. It would be an easy mistake for
immigration authorities, or any bureaucrats, to make.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 103%;">As a fan of Cassius Clay/Mohammed Ali throughout his
career and life, I was disappointed when
he changed his name. For perspective on
that event I recommend the fine new film, “One Night in Miami”. Many Americans were unhappy, most of them
because he was changing to a Muslim name.
I could understand that under the circumstances but the new name seemed
super generic whereas Cassius Marcellus Clay dripped with historic reference,
from ancient Rome to Louisville, his birthplace. It also sounded good. Few people anywhere start life with such a
rich name. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 103%;">We all have our preferences in names. I happen to like Roman names, perhaps because
I live in Italy, as well as the fact that they usually denote sex, a function
currently out of favor.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 103%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Like so many Americans, I have recently been
caught up in some name controversies, owing to the fact that I am a graduate of
Washington & Lee University. The
school started in a small building on the back campus and was known as Liberty
Hall Academy in the mid </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">1700’s.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Years
later, George Washington endowed the school with money that continues to help
the University, which had become Washington College.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">At the end of the Civil War Robert E. Lee was
pardoned by President Lincoln for his role in leading the Confederate Army, and
he spent the remaining five years of his life as president of the college,
setting the curriculum and standards and bringing the school back to life after
the long and devastating war.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">For that
he was honored after his death by renaming the school Washington & Lee University.</span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 103%;">Recently I was shocked to discover that there was a
movement afoot to change the name of the school and that a majority of both
students and faculty favored a change. A majority of alumni did not. I’ve been shocked by almost everything going
on in the USA for the past two decades, with the shock growing out of control
over the past four or five years so the “little” controversy in Lexington sort
of went unnoticed here in Italy. Several
major committees were formed to study the issue and reports were issued. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 103%;">When I was an undergraduate, there were no black
students. That was unfortunate but it
was also the norm in the South, part of the nation’s tragic legacy of
slavery. There were also no women, which
was part of the reason I went there, having seen what being in class with a lot
of teenage girls had done for my academic performance in high school. Diversity is now an unexamined and
ill-defined cliché in American life but it struck me that there was a lot of
diversity in the student body in those days.
There were rich and poor, southerners and northerners and people with
many different interests and ambitions.
The Dean of Students knew all 1000 students by their first names and he
guided us in imparting a sense of community.
The student body now has grown to 1800, less than double what it had
been. There are now students of all
colors, ethnicities, nationalities and religions. Is there more diversity? On the surface it would appear so but more
than half enrolling students now come from private schools so how deep is that
diversity? There is now a five-member
Office of Inclusion and Engagement, all ministering to a number of specialized
sub-groups. Dean Gilliam assured a high
degree of inclusion. For sure, certain
non-fraternity kids in my day may have felt excluded from some of campus life
but with the new Office of advisors to the fragmented identity groups of the
student body, how much less inclusive must the place feel?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 103%;">However, I digress.
This started out as a discussion of the importance of names. With all the studies and calls for name
change, the one thing never mentioned is what is to be changed and what name/s
would be the alternative? Is Lee the offending
name or must Washington go too. Both
were southerners and both owned slaves.
Some commenters have focused on Lee being a traitor, turning against his
country. He did not favor secession but
he was a Virginian and would not fight against his own people. He may have been guilty of sedition but the
president of the US pardoned him upon surrender. Washington also engaged in sedition and had
he not won his war, would probably have been hanged as a traitor by the King he
led a a war of independence against.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 103%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Having heard no suggestions for an alternate
name in any of the solicited comments, I’ve tried to come up with a few on my
own. Given that it all started with the
Liberty Hall Academy, Liberty University would have a nice ring to it along
with some historic resonance.
Unfortunately, Jerry Falwell got there about thirty years ago with his
ever-expanding right-wing holy roller university in Lynchburg. His less holy
son now runs it and being a businessman open to every sort of deal, might be
open to letting W&L become a regional affiliate, let’s say Liberty
University Lexington, or LUL for short.
Would that appeal to alumni donors or student applicants? They would have to answer that. <span style="font-size: 12pt;">Another option would be to go by a semi-secret name,
“Woke and Libertine University”, which could avoid making obsolete all the
W&LU gear already stocked and sold in the college book shop.</span>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 103%;">That the faculty in what I remember as a first-rate
liberal arts college could advocate the rewriting of history is disappointing
but given that liberal arts curriculums are being deemphasized for more entrepreneurial
and vocational training, we shouldn’t be too surprised. It’s all about money now.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 103%;">The origins of the uproar seem to have been generated
by the presumed discomfort of black students having to live amongst reminders
of the racist past. Some say they feel
that deeply and are disturbed while others are not. Lee died a century and a half ago which
raises the point of where and when do we develop an acceptance of history. I remember the first time I visited Rome and
was entranced by walking between buildings that had stood in the same place for
two thousand years. For centuries the
Romans had slaughtered Christians or fed them to lions as entertainment. But I,
who had been brought up as a Christian, felt no sense of horror or
outrage. Maybe because the Christians
had eventually taken over Rome, or perhaps because I’m just naturally
insensitive. When I got to the
segregated W&L I felt more or less the same lack of outrage and I’ve never
been able to muster much anger over the founding fathers’ failure to eliminate
slavery two centuries before I arrived on the scene with my own moral
failings. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 103%;">What about now?
If students are agitated about centuries old symbols of oppression, how
do they live with what’s been going on now.
The ex-president has been making racist statements and doing racist acts
non-stop for four years. I realize that
the epidemic of police killings of people of color has created fear and
bitterness but is it all to be unleashed on the ghost of Robert E. Lee? In 2003 our then president, after a build-up
to war based on a foundation of orchestrated lies, attacked and destroyed a
country of twenty-three million people which had nothing whatever to do with
our problems or with the 9/11 attack on the WTC and the Pentagon. Today’s students were just being born then
but what about the agitated young faculty?
Rather than advocate for destruction of historic names and relics, what
have they been doing to strip that president, who unlike Lee, is still alive,
of all honors, pensions and benefits. I
would aim a little higher and push for a trial but trials in the US haven’t
been going well lately. The American
“leadership” couldn’t even muster the courage to convict the recent occupant of
the WH after he incited of riot of his more violent followers to cancel the
presidential election in which he had just been voted out of office. What are our sensitive students and faculty
doing to correct such horrors?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 103%;">Is this a southern thing? Yes, the South was built on slavery, but
slavery was legal throughout the US in its early days. We’ve mentioned the lives and contributions
of Lee and Washington but the founder of Yale, Elihu Yale, was a
British-American merchant and slave trader who was affiliated with the East
India Company, an entity the American Revolutionaries were fighting against
every bit as much as King George. What
will be the new name of Yale, East Ivy University? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 103%;">Some names leave a major imprint. Washington is one of the biggest. Our capital is Washington DC, Washington is
also a state and many educational institutions bear that name. Another is Columbus and the related term
Columbia, as in District of Columbia.
That appears on the banishment list too just as many of the people
trying to change our university’s name hope to see DC become a state. I hope they succeed but how do they push
statehood for a place named after two “unacceptable” historic figures? With most of history to be cancelled, do we
just use numbers identify places and institutions?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">My wife and I always wanted to have a child named
Tiberio, the Italianized form of the name of the Emperor Tiberius.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We both like the name, the sound of it, and
maybe the fact that that he was associated with Capri, one of the most
beautiful places in Italy.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Still, he was
a nasty piece of work, though an effective general and good administrator.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">He remained in power as Emperor for much
longer than most of the people who followed him.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When he felt that his underlings were
becoming a threat to his control, unlike the recent American would-be dictator,
he didn’t fire them or insult them; he just had them killed.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">He could fairly be described as a cross
between Charles Manson and Jeffrey Epstein.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Nasty fellow but we still like his name.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Two thousand years is a long time.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Maybe it’s time to deal with the issues of the day and lighten up a
little about figures of the distant past.</span> </span>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026862295263156116noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6150277304485808246.post-75081896432690117182021-02-05T19:54:00.001+01:002021-02-10T13:28:13.074+01:00Incitement to ViolenceIn recent weeks we’ve come to associate the phrase with acts of the lame duck American President and his most craven lackeys to incite mobs of angry followers into attacking the American Capitol in a quixotic effort to cancel the 2020 Presidential election. I don’t believe I’m a particularly violence-prone person but I can relate to the ex-president’s frustration. In these troubled times of the corona virus pandemic we are all stimulated to the edge of violence by many routine events, some of them trivial.<div><br /></div><div>For example, every month I must pay a fixed amount to maintain service on my cell phone. Over the past several decades communications services have expanded and improved at a pace unimaginable just a few years back. As if to establish some sort of balance in the universe between progress and decadence, the sales and administration of those expanded services have undergone an inexplicable equal and opposite regression. Perhaps with the sales of used cars now being taken over by efficient internet programs, all those people endowed with super con man skills have been forced off the used car lots and into the telephone service call centers, unless they are the elite of the elite and have moved into politics. Be that as it may, I have selected and signed up for a program offered by my service provider, yet each month as soon as I’ve made my payment I receive messages saying “respond yes within 48 hours and you’ll get “zzzzmb” “ and then what? More charges? More “services” that I didn’t ask for? If an app were available to set off a small explosion in the offices of the service provider, I might very well go for it, and I’m no Marjorie Taylor Greene. These things are minor irritants but they add up and my indignation does rise.</div><div><br /></div><div>Just think what the ex-president must be going through. With his presidential immunity gone, he will be facing a number of criminal investigations and charges we’d need a huge legal staff just to enumerate, not to mention the hundreds of millions of dollars of personal loans he has coming due in the year ahead. As ex-president, he can no longer pressure officials of countries seeking favors to frequent his overpriced properties, which are already hurting financially from the COVID induced slump. Faced with such a bleak future, how many of us would not resort to desperate measures to maintain our privileges? </div><div><br /></div><div>As for his supporters in Congress, the motivation is less obvious. Should they suddenly discover some heretofore unnoticed moral fiber, they will face unwinnable primary challenges from the Proud Boy wing of the party in their next electoral campaigns but despite losing their nice salaries and perks, their economic opportunities as lobbyists would almost certainly be a step up the economic ladder, so what is it? Is being a seditious celebrity villain preferable to being seen as a normally decent, if quietly compromised, elected official?</div><div><br /></div><div>I have resolved to stop worrying about the futures of the craven clan and stick to the small problems at hand. How to get even with my disservice providers! When my bank upgrades its security measures so that I can no longer access my account on-line, after a learning curve of years to get there in the first place, shall I simply switch banks, or start picketing the bank? Hire some Proud Boys?</div><div><br /></div><div>There have been some small satisfactions in the evolving virtual world. We know that internet companies are invasive in their data gathering and they tailor their ads to our preferences before we know them ourselves. Not buying anything on-line in combination with a little trickery can yield some positive results. My actuarial table-generated advertising profile theoretically should include ads for prostate relief, disability insurance, erectile dysfunction cures, elevators to glide up and down the stairs at home and all the other new remedies that pharmaceutical companies urge you to ask your doctor about, but by clicking on ads for lingerie, perfume, sports cars and Caribbean cruises, all of which I have neither budget nor use for, I can assure that my cluttered computer screen is at least cluttered with attractive images instead of the morose stuff.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the age of COVID, any consolation available to us that makes life a little more pleasant and less stressful, whether it’s respite from the ex-president’s crude tweets or a more attractive computer screen, is to be cherished.</div>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026862295263156116noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6150277304485808246.post-24732091219448956642020-11-29T18:22:00.047+01:002020-12-05T17:43:44.447+01:00Election Post-Mortem 2020<p><span style="font-size: medium;">What went wrong? Oh yes, the monster has been routed, whether he agrees to go quietly into the night or not. He even pre-announced his intention of not accepting his own firing. The abject cowardice of his obsequious Congressional enablers is more troubling. The man has trashed all national and international standards of decency, morality, honesty and diplomacy while showing nothing but contempt for science and the rule of law. That he would be removed was largely a foregone conclusion, but beyond that, how do you explain what would otherwise be a Republican victory?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The paid punditry has rushed in to say that it was the progressive wing of the Democratic Party that pushed too far left. Rubbish!! The Democratic Party is now significantly to the right of Richard Nixon's Republican Party of fifty years ago. The absurdity of the pundits' claim was best seen in Florida where the voters went for Trump by a sizable margin on the same ballot that they supported a referendum mandating a $15./hour minimum wage, a policy opposed by the entire GOP, as well as by Biden, the corporate Democrats and the oligarchy. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">After wondering how a man who. inspires so much undiluted disgust could remain in contention in a national election, I realized that anyone so hated by the Establishment would automatically prove popular to a sizable portion of the populace. Americans have always had a soft spot for renegades, criminals and other outrageous characters, from Billy the Kid and Bonnie and Clyde to the boys from Enron and Michael Milken.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Thinking further back, way back, to my own adolescence, I recalled the times I went to exhibitions of pro wrestling where I loudly cheered on the nefarious deeds of the villains and reveled in the shock I induced in the dim but sentimental matrons in attendance. The rebellious spirit of my inner brat did not readily fall in line with fake establishment heroes and the sight of John Wayne in any movie filled me with contempt. My cinematic heroes at the time ran to type-cast knife wielders such as Jack Palance, Henry Silva and Charles Bronson. Who knows how I avoided growing up to be one of the Proud Boys?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">While some of our youthful enthusiasms live on into old age, usually adolescent rebellion is overcome with time. Not always. In all those pick-up trucks trying to run a Biden campaign bus off the road in Texas, it seems like there were a lot of sixty-year-old adolescents brandishing their guns and their battle flags.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">No aspect of the GOP strategy is more central to its success than its ability to provoke the prolongation of adolescent rebellion in its electorate, all in unwitting service to the oligarchy. The "you can't take our guns" of these aging dudes sounds exactly the same, in tone and emotional intensity, as the bleating lament of our entitled fifteen-year-olds, " you can't take my iphone!".</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Identity politics has nearly killed the Democratic Party. We hear over and over that white people will soon be a minority. Nobody wants to hear this except some people who identify with a minority which has no chance of ever becoming a majority. We may vary in complexion, language, ethnicity and traditions, but we're all one big complicated family. Family life can be difficult at times but denying the bond is not the answer. The Republican Party has shamelessly magnified our differences to foster hatred and contempt in order to maintain minority control of the government but Democrats, whether from misguided idealism or simple stupidity, have jumped at the bait, continuing to foster racist terminology, dividing people into arbitrary categories, serving no purpose other than making us lose sight of our common interests.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Following the election, this phenomenon reached comic depths as Kamala Harris was heralded as the first woman of color, the first Asian American and the first African American* to ever be elected to the vice presidency. She already brought a lot of identities to the table and she even has a seldom mentioned Jewish husband.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">* Her father was Jamaican. Does that count extra, or a little less, given the size of the island? </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In an earlier post here about five years ago, I decided that I would not run for public office, no matter how good the perks. While probably seen by others as a WASP, I tend to reject such classification. My family was mostly Dutch, of the Calvinist Dutch Reformed faith, and I've felt little in common with the real WASPS, the British, whom I hold responsible for everything from colonialism to overcooked beef to the lack of of mixing taps in household bathroom fixtures. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Had I not renounced any political candidacy, what would my political identity be? Religion and national origin were clearly of no help. However, since early childhood I've always been a Boston Red Sox fan and since adolescence a LA Rams fan. Although I haven't seen a baseball game for several decades, I still identify as a Red Sox fan. Would that bring me political support? Some people who might agree with my political positions might also be NY Yankees fans or SF 49ers fans. Worse yet, I fear some Red Sox fans might even be in the MAGA camp.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The "racial" categories commonly used by pollsters and the media in the US are white, black and Hispanic, the latter term sometimes being exchanged with Latino, or even the mysterious and totally confusing "Latinx". The European Union has made some headway in defusing the resentments that have divided the Germans, the French, Greeks, Scandinavians and the Italians over centuries, but if if weren't for Bill Clinton, the affable Irish would still be killing each other over the family religion. If Europeans have had so much trouble getting their act together, what can we expect from the Spanish speakers from all over the world? Do Battista Cubans, a powerful force in the politics of Florida and New Jersey, identify as people of color? Do they have anything in common with people fleeing rape and murder carried out by CIA-backed regimes in Central America?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Gunnar Myrdal, a Swedish sociologist, studied race in the US in the 1940's and concluded that while Americans persisted in seeing race as a binary distinction between black and white, something like 80% of the what is known as the black community was actually made up of a combination of black and white ancestry. That was seventy-five years ago. By now, both the black and white gene pools have been spiced up by infusions of genes from other minorities that we weren't even aware of seventy-five years ago.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">While it may be in vogue for politicians liker Kamala Harris, Tulsi Gabbard and even Elizabeth Warren to identify themselves as women of color, they are doing no favor to democracy or the Democratic Party. I'm sure that they meant no harm so let's bail them out. We're all people of color. I'm sort of a jaundiced pink myself. Just don't make me a part of any sallow pink voting block.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The character of a candidate and the candidate's position on the issues were traditionally the basis of election choices although how your father voted and how well you got along with him may have had a more tangible effect.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Over the past four years the concept of "character" has been erased from public discourse. In theory issues should therefore matter more than ever. In this election year there were <u>two</u> issues of overriding importance: climate change, and the rapidly expanding gap between rich and poor. After Jay Inslee was out of the race, climate change was barely mentioned again, although our grandchildren's future is very much in play. Once the Establishment had crushed the campaigns of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, discussion of the wealth gap was off limits and the election devolved into a referendum on the unfitness of Mr. Trump to occupy high office, in effect, a national impeachment referendum to supersede the failed effort in Congress. Once again, the public was out ahead of the Senate. Issues played even less a part than did the abandoned concept of character.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">There were and are many other issues about which people can disagree, sometimes with great passion and conviction. Most of them will not determine the survival of the planet, the civilization or the country but they will continue to be a basis for political discussion, activism, compromise and legislation. A quick. and partial list of such concerns might include:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Abortion, </span><span style="font-size: medium;">Anti-trust laws, Border control, Campaign finance, Capital punishment, Corruption, Deficit spending, Drug legalization, Environmental protection, For profit prisons, Fracking, Free speech, Free Trade, Gerrymandering, Gun control, Immigration, Law and Order vs rights to protest, LBGT rights, Military deployment, Military spending, Parental rights, Press freedom, Public Education, Single payer health care, Student loans, Taxation, Voter suppression, Whistle blower protection.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Articles and books have been written advocating different positions on all of these topics. Many of the issues, such as those related to health care and education, are simply derivatives of the major problem of the great economic divide.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Unfortunately, the DNC made fundamentally the same mistakes in 2020 as it had in 2016. Real issues were downplayed or banned from discussion. The candidate selection was just as rigged as the last time except that instead of the Establishment candidate being crowned from the start, his triumph had to be hastily arranged after a panic attack brought on by an unacceptably democratic candidate becoming the surprise (to the DNC) frontrunner. Aided by the breakout of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Establishment triumph was engineered in South Carolina, a state which went on to fully back Trump and the worse of his minions in the general election. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Voters had had four years to see that Trump was not just a colorful renegade but a dangerous sociopath whose incompetence was killing hundreds of thousands of people, while Joe Biden was promoted as a nice man, less bloodthirsty than Hillary Clinton, but still capable of bringing a nostalgic return to the normalcy that voters rejected in 2016. Biden is in fact likable. Not many politicians can sustain long political careers without having some sort of innate likability. (There are always rare exceptions such as Mitch McConnell). Biden supported the illegal invasion of Iraq and virtually every other policy favoring corporations over people but then, so did most of the other people in Congress, and some of them have no likability component whatsoever. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">One might have expected that the outrages of Trump would have led to the dissolution of the Republican Party but alas, the Democratic Party refused to unlearn its skill at shooting itself in the foot. Not only has it adhered to the divisive ways of racially charged politics, it has informally established a "litmus test" of officially approved positions of the Democratic Party. Many of these policies have been attributed to the "progressive wing" of the party but all the original candidates payed lip service to the approved dogma. Ironically, the progressive candidates, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and a few more, kept their eye on the ball and concentrated of the two big issues of the day. Meanwhile, the Establishment candidates, from Amy Klobuchar and Mayor Pete to Beto O'Rourke and a dozen more tended to focus on identity politics, abortion rights and gender denial while pushing aside any talk of universal health care or a living wage as being too radical for America.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The new dogma of the DNC centers on a number of philosophic or even theological givens which we don't recall ever being discussed or debated anywhere. One is the divine status of "diversity" as an absolute good. Is diversity a value to be cherished, a goal to be achieved or simply a fact of existence? What constitutes diversity? Those questions received even less attention than climate change.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Another resolves around "rights". Rights have been fought for and expanded over recent centuries and often described as "God given rights" even by people who did not acknowledge the existence of God. The Declaration of Independence was a prime example and we should all be grateful for the audacious use of this linguistic device. There is a danger in such usage, in that whatever some of us may claim, none of us has a direct line to God, even with the development of Skype and WhatsApp. We must be careful when dealing with theological absolutists, whether they be Texas evangelists supporting genocide so that Christ can safely return to the Middle East, pious souls who place the birth rights of fetuses above all other human concerns, or entitled secular teens whose divine right to health care must include free, confidential and unfettered access to abortion, genital mutilation, methadone and whatever other new need comes on-line.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Terminology has its limits. "Liberal" in Europe usually means laissez faire economic policy, i.e. the lack of taxes and regulations, while in the US it has more social connotations, a sort of soft libertarianism with a strong dose of live and let live. With the country and the world facing a dramatic shift toward neo-feudalism, live and let live just wasn't cutting it so progressives and populists came to the fore, pushing for real change. Trump rode this wave to the White House, where he proved to be a complete fraud, dissipating and stealing public resources and subsidizing the oligarchy while oppressing and insulting the needy at every opportunity. </span> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">On the other side, real populists have lost their way, opting for binary racist terminology, despite albinos, the real white people, being even more rare in the human community than transgendered people, while rejecting the more tangible binary distinction between people born male or female.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Worse still, the authoritarian mindset of some of the progressives emerged at just the most inopportune moment. While liberal coastal city dwellers may be aghast at the perceived menace of gun-totin' Proud Boys at provincial Trump rallies doing convincing reenactments, complete with recycled Nazi and Confederate symbols, of Nazi mass gatherings in the Germany of the 1930's, they seem oblivious of the fears of many people throughout the country of a "Democratic regime" intent, not only on taking away their guns, but on making unapproved speech a punishable crime.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Protest against genocide is now a crime in California and other liberal states if the genocide is carried out by a nation considered a favored ally. LBGT issues are no longer a liberal matter of live and live let but an activist campaign of indoctrination of children, opposition to which can lose you your job, your business or even your children.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I can't imagine many voters refusing to vote for Democrats out of fear of having affordable health care being imposed of them but I can imagine some being so appalled by hearing of college students demanding safe zones on campus where they can't be exposed to ideas that might make them uncomfortable, that they would consider Trump and cohorts less dangerous than anyone backing such concepts.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Much of our future, if we survive the pandemic, will depend on the actions of a few people, starting with Joe Biden. More than on Biden, our political future may rest with the people of Georgia, led by the resilient Stacey Abrams. If they can replicate their November success, and the insider trading duo of David Perdue and Kelly (Marie Antoniette) Loeffler can be sent to their gilded early retirement, there may yet be hope for the country. It is not a given. Koch Industries is sparing no expense to crush such hopes. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In my youth there was talk of a New South. It's late but maybe <b>now's the time</b>.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> ***</span><br /></span></p><p><span><span>If you enjoyed this blog, you can express your appreciation by sending off a few dollars to the campaigns of Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.</span></span></p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026862295263156116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6150277304485808246.post-82820127172706583742020-10-31T21:54:00.031+01:002022-12-05T15:21:38.458+01:00Corruption<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><span>We are hoping to overcome the coronavirus.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span>What about the corruption virus?</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span>Corruption is as old as the human race but it affects some of us more than others.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span>Growing up in an American suburb, I had little awareness of corruption in government.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span>We heard stories of big city political machines, Tammany Hall in New York, the Hague Machine in Jersey City and others around the country but they were something that affected other people.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span>In high school and college history classes, the subject rarely came up except in reference to the administration of Warren Harding.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span>I had a very old uncle from Ohio who had been a friend of Cordell Hull, FDR’s Secretary of State.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span>This well respected uncle had a graduate degree from Harvard and spent his life as Superintendent of Schools in Paterson, NJ.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span>He surprised me by speaking of his admiration for Warren Harding, another Ohio native, who I mostly knew about from the Teapot Dome scandal.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span>It seems that Harding had assembled one of the most respected and highly regarded cabinets in record time.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span>His Secretary of Interior, Albert Fall, an old friend, and his Attorney General Harry Daugherty, who had been his campaign manager, proved to be the ruination of his legacy.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span>Fall was the first ever US cabinet member to go to prison after being convicted of accepting bribes.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span>The Department Justice was also corrupt under Harry Daugherty and vast amounts of illegal booze were taken by bootleggers through bribery and kickbacks.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span>Harding had two long term extra-marital affairs which also tarnished his legacy.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span>He has typically been regarded as one of the worst presidents in US history although apart from the scandals of his two corrupt cabinet members, his actions were not notably different or worse than those of any other conservative Republican presidents.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span>In any case twenty percent of his cabinet was proved corrupt.</span></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="clear: left; float: left; font-size: large; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times;"><img border="0" data-original-height="289" data-original-width="637" height="192" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mrdcEDtrzFg/X53GnbBwczI/AAAAAAAABjQ/frpyALNM2fMmCMBPODx0cGiKM5RN48ViwCLcBGAsYHQ/w387-h192/HC3.jpeg" width="387" /></span></span></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>I was not around to observe the era when Al Capone and the Mafia controlled Chicago until he went to prison for tax evasion.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>His Mafia roots went back to Sicily where with the unification of Italy, property owned by the Church was seized and privatized, driving much of the population into abject poverty, resulting in massive emigration and the growth of the Mafia to fill the void created by a failed state.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The void filled by Capone in Chicago was largely created by the enactment of Prohibition in 1920.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The organization grew powerful enough to continue its criminal activities even after Prohibition was repealed in 1933.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Satisfying people’s illegal vices has always been a profitable criminal activity but when not enough things were banned, the protection racket could fill the coffers by offering “insurance” against risks that the insurance provider would also provide.</span><p></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">In the 60’s and 70’s my experiences with corruption, with the exception of a few questionable traffic “violations” in Tennessee and Chicago, were mostly second or third hand.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The Vice President of the United States, Spiro Agnew, took a plea bargain to avoid prosecution for extortion in exchange for his resignation from office shortly before Richard Nixon resigned the presidency<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>to avoid impeachment over illegal activities including the Watergate burglary.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">At that time I worked for a large Atlanta firm established by George Heery, an architect who specialized in fast-track building and advanced construction management techniques.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>He established branch offices in many US cities when invited by local authorities to solve their building needs.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The NYC branch where I worked was opened because Mayor Lindsey had asked him to design a series of swimming pools in predominantly black neighborhoods to provide summer relief in the stormy aftermath of the season of racially motivated assassinations.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Parallel agencies were created to bypass the Byzantine bureaucracy of the Building Department.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Permits were expedited and the projects were completed quickly.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It took a heavy toll on the NYC budget for years to come but the pools served their communities well.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Heery was also asked to do a major project in New Orleans but after looking into the situation, he balked, saying the level of corruption was so ingrained there that he wouldn’t take it on. Deeply rooted corruption can be as hard to wipe out as the coronavirus.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">After that we moved to Italy.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>When we rented a small summer house in the village of my in-laws and there was some delay in getting the electricity hooked up, my Italian wife, following local advice, called up the utility and said “I’m told that if I want the connection made quickly, I should offer a pair of pigeons.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>(Pigeons are one of the delicacies of local Umbrian cuisine) Who do I have to give the pigeons to?”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The man on the phone was deeply offended and insisted on knowing who had said such a thing. “Oh just voices in the village.”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The electricity was connected without further delay and no pigeons were involved.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Apparently corruption is not as pervasive in Umbria as elsewhere.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Many years later, in the 10's, we got to know some people from Ukraine who worked in Italy as house cleaners and care givers.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Very nice people.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>We heard hair-curling stories of how in Ukraine all the most basic needs of people, jobs, apartments, health care and even medicines were available, and only available, through extensive bribery.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Americans might foment coups or not, but regardless of the leader du jour, the corruption was solidly entrenched in the fabric of that society, much like New Orleans, only worse.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Back in the 80’s I spent a couple of years working in Saudi Arabia.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Corruption there was very different than in Sicily or Ukraine in that it was a very rich country and most of its citizens, although not always its guest workers, were very well off.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Still, executions and lesser punishments were meted out on the Sabbath (Friday) in a main square.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The stoning of adulterers was rare.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Mostly, it was Pakistani office boys found with their hands in a petty cash drawer getting their offending hands or fingers chopped off.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Meanwhile<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>the Prince who served as the Minister of Defense was celebrated as Saudi Businessman of the Year for the multimillion dollar “commissions” he received on the billions of dollars worth of weaponry he bought from the United States.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WMKb3Zbr8DA/X53HpAiaGFI/AAAAAAAABjg/-oywV_dSF6AoofSUYAjXcuBLZMZMJU29gCLcBGAsYHQ/s765/hands.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="765" data-original-width="457" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WMKb3Zbr8DA/X53HpAiaGFI/AAAAAAAABjg/-oywV_dSF6AoofSUYAjXcuBLZMZMJU29gCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/hands.jpeg" /></span></a></div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The costs of building in the Middle East in those days were about double the costs of similar buildings </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: times;">anywhere else.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: times;"> </span><span style="font-family: times;">A part of this stemmed from logistical problems, such as the severe heat and the long distances from the sources of materials to the building sites, but it was also due to the long chain of open hands which could stop the flow of materials along the way.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The Mafia has had a heavy hand in Sicily and its influence spread throughout Italy and beyond with time.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>However, it may not be fair to blame the corruption that damaged the country in the 80’s and 90’s on the influence of the traditional Mafia bosses and their extended families.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Italy briefly became the world’s fifth largest economy and the second largest in Europe after Germany.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It thrived through its industrial and artisanal prowess and some good luck.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>At a time when France and Switzerland invested heavily in nuclear energy, Italian voters vetoed nuclear facilities and were then able to buy electricity below cost after zero investment.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>A winning lottery ticket!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Alas, as with many lottery winners, they blew the winnings.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>A system known as the partitocracy, also referred to by some as the kleptocracy, came into being whereby the many competing political parties all acquiesced in the division of the spoils and the retention of the status quo.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>More than fifty major construction projects were built throughout Italy and then abandoned when the money for their completion evaporated.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The one I saw close by was the new hospital just outside Orvieto which was started in the 1970’s, sat unfinished for years until thoroughly vandalized, and then redesigned and refinanced around 1993 with construction completed by 2007.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Many such projects were not so lucky and have never been completed at all.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">In 1992 the Mani Pulite (clean hands) Scandal emerged in Milan.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Before it was over, it was said that enough evidence had been gathered to implicate more than sixty thousand elected officials throughout Italy.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Most of them escaped prosecution but many did not.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The old political parties all either went extinct or changed their names.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Between globalization and corruption the Italian economy was devastated, dropping behind those of France and the UK even faster than it had surpassed them.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Was globalization or its implementation another form of corruption?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I suspect it was but that’s a discussion for another day.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Systematic corruption has taken a toll on Italy but overall the government has tried to give the populace what it wanted and what it needed.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">My home has been in Italy for forty-seven years and I believe I love my adoptive country as much or more than most native Italians,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Nevertheless, I have not always been totally happy with its politicians.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Still, the one time I felt truly proud of the government was when it chose to deny Bettino Craxi the possibility of returning to Italy for medical treatment with exemption from prosecution.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Faced with indictment on more than forty counts of corruption, Craxi had fled to exile in Morocco, and there he died.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Craxi was corrupt but unlike many similarly prominent political figures in my nation of birth, he was not a war criminal. Will the US ever show the backbone of Italy?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Where did the US go off the rails?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Was it the failure to prosecute our war criminals, as we had done so effectively to German war criminals at Nuremberg, opting instead to persecute whistle blowers?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Was it the insidious influence of nihilists such as Ayn Rand and Alan Greenspan on political figures?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Members of Congress discovering that lobbyist perks paid better than their public salaries?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The glorification of self and the down playing of community?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Letting those responsible for the 2007 economic meltdown off the hook and even bailing out their corporations?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Whatever the cause, the US Government has not responded to the needs and desires of the public.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Various studies in some of the better universities have shown that the views of the general population have almost no effect on government policies, which instead are established by corporate lobbyists and the whims of oligarchs.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">In the wake of all this, large segments of the US population became so fed up that they sought change, radical change.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The slogan “Make America Great Again” aligned better with their aspirations and frustrations than the tone-deaf and presumptuous twaddle “America is already great”.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>They wanted the perceived rot excised and the swamp drained, much as the French had wanted at the time of their revolution.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>That one turned into a blood bath, with many of its leaders beheaded by the guillotines they had erected themselves.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>In the US the nihilistic impetus was given a different path.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The sometimes inflated but generally effective federal agencies were handed over to mafia bosses, no not those of the Gambino or Gotti crime families.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>No Sicilian roots here.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>They were to loot and eviscerate the agencies they were chosen to oversee and most of them did what was asked. There may have been some Russian Mafia connections in the mix but mostly these were home grown American grifters, corporate lobbyists and other white collar criminals, appointed by a president who had established a charity to help children with cancer and then stole from its funds for his own personal expenses.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>He may someday be indicted for that if Americans can muster some Italian style backbone.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Meanwhile he has at least been forbidden from ever again engaging in charitable organizations in the State of New York.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">The Trump Cabinet, indistinguishable from a Mob convention, has been well documented by a number of writers but normally escapes the scrutiny of the major media, obsessed as they are by the tweets, the insults and other outrages that provide daily background noise to cover the criminal activities of the regime.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>One of the best analyses written so far is “Mapping Corruption…” by Jim Lardner.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>By all means, please read it <a href="https://prospect.org/power/mapping-corruption-donald-trump-executive-branch/" target="_blank">here</a>.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It can be hard to even keep score but I’ve tried, with a chart.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Some officials and advisors have been removed by indictment while others have been fired because they haven’t been willing to play along with the criminal enterprise.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Others for insufficient obsequiousness to the Big Don, Capo dei Capi.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The turnover rate has been unprecedented but there seems to be no shortage of aspiring made men.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Years after the collapse of Enron there must be legions of wily, experienced and hardened fraudsters out there somewhere waiting for a second chance.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t9bb5qa4WI8/X53JxeqFvLI/AAAAAAAABj0/85G89qCcjocDkcR4pB1jU3RDBh6NeLO3gCLcBGAsYHQ/s593/TC.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="249" data-original-width="593" height="134" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t9bb5qa4WI8/X53JxeqFvLI/AAAAAAAABj0/85G89qCcjocDkcR4pB1jU3RDBh6NeLO3gCLcBGAsYHQ/w367-h134/TC.jpeg" width="367" /></span></a></div><p></p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /><br /></span><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rv9AB2arhqU/X53KgmsWmnI/AAAAAAAABkA/wSyso2CZNeAJUqEVsHfbmZTc70yveVHCACLcBGAsYHQ/s667/TC2.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="608" height="410" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rv9AB2arhqU/X53KgmsWmnI/AAAAAAAABkA/wSyso2CZNeAJUqEVsHfbmZTc70yveVHCACLcBGAsYHQ/w374-h410/TC2.jpeg" width="374" /></span></a></div><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Moscow Mitch, the Horatio Alger of the Senate, is up for reelection to the Senate.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Mitch McConnell has risen from relatively modest origins to become one of the richest people in the Senate over the course of a long career spent almost exclusively in public office.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Yes, he did marry into money but marrying into money is generally beneficial for anybody, even more so for politicians, and he’s not alone. John McCain, John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi and even Kamala Harris have all enjoyed spousal support for their campaigns, although typically the money hasn’t come from Chinese shipping companies whose activities their spouses were appointed to oversee for the US Government. I suppose even Al Capone had his supporters, mostly people who were afraid of standing up to him.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Kentucky has lagged behind most of the country in a number of statistical categories.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Will this be the year when its voters take the lead in the fight against organized crime or will TV’s Tony Soprano have proved to be such a crowd pleaser that state pride kicks in for their own favorite son, the Big Boss of the Senate?</span><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">We are about to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the landslide election of Warren Harding.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Twenty percent of Harding’s cabinet proved corrupt, a record at the time.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Harding’s three years in office never achieved the level of scandal that we’ve grown accustomed to in any week of the present administration.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Dare we aspire to getting the level of corrupt cabinet officials down to the levels of the Harding Administration ever again?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The coming days will tell.</span></p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026862295263156116noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6150277304485808246.post-32402117187932379432020-05-20T20:30:00.001+02:002020-05-20T20:30:40.350+02:00The Discomfort ZoneFor about as long as we’ve known that the earth is round but we weren’t going to fall off, <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wFA_AEPyNzM/XsVxHD2up5I/AAAAAAAAA_E/6bhFonb71mQx3pOQVBmjdKBjsf15cALTQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/gravity.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="422" height="195" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wFA_AEPyNzM/XsVxHD2up5I/AAAAAAAAA_E/6bhFonb71mQx3pOQVBmjdKBjsf15cALTQCLcBGAsYHQ/s200/gravity.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>
we’ve known that sooner or later we would die. As infants, some of us might have been a little spooked by death but as we grew into adolescents we also came to feel immortal, a phase that continued for some of us into middle age. It’s true that we heard “nothing is certain except death and taxes” more than practically any other aphorism but we learned to complain about taxes long before we worked up any real concern over the other inevitability.<br />
<br />
Now that we’ve outlived our original life expectancy, we begin to notice things that escaped us before. Many, perhaps most, of our friends are ex-smokers. We all knew, no matter what the lawsuits say, that smoking was bad for us, even as the advertising campaigns worked to mitigate our fears, but it wasn’t until the immortality halo faded that most people decided to change their ways. Curiously, that doesn’t seem to be the case with regard to alcohol. Could it be due to the internet advice that a glass of red wine is good for one’s health? Perhaps, but here in Italy the idea of giving up wine with all the good food available to us is comparable to, even worse than, going on a salt free or meatless diet. Yes, we may be going to purgatory or hell sooner rather than later, but who wants to volunteer to go right now?<br />
<br />
As we start to notice when reading obituaries that increasing numbers of the subjects are our age or, God forbid, even younger than ourselves, we begin to envision the day when we’ll receive some unexpected bad news from our doctor following a check-up or a complaint about a pain which seemed minor although unusual. Of course we can imagine other grim scenarios, a moment where we underestimate the decline of our night driving capabilities; one episode too many of a risk-minimizing spouse placing something to be taken downstairs on an unlit step; or even the bad fortune to be on one of those rare planes that never makes it to its destination. But those are just the whims of fate, statistically irrelevant and therefore outside the realm of our concern. Modern medicine has instilled a certain optimism in us, despite our knowledge of the inevitable trend. We can battle and we can win. Many of our friends have. All sorts of diseases, which were considered death sentences not so long ago, have been successfully overcome by people all around us. Staying positive is good for our morale, even for our health.<br />
<br />
It was too good to last. Early in 2020 news of the coronavirus, Covid-19, started to trickle in. First it was a small story from China but quickly it became a major story here in Italy and has subsequently spread to dominate the news and the lives of everyone throughout the world.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
Many of us in the small cohort of Americans born between the world wars have had the good fortune to be too young for the Korean War, too old for the Viet Nam War and retired before the world-wide push toward neo-feudalism made normal working life a fading memory.<br />
<br />
We have experienced a few near disasters and some real ones from which we have escaped relatively unscathed. The Cuban missile crisis was our closest brush with real terror. Friends all wanted to drive to the Canadian border to escape the destruction of New York but we figured that if it came to that, there would be little left to live for. Two tough, resolute and intelligent leaders faced each other down and decided to let life go on. That crisis passed. We were not so lucky with the flawed US election of 2000. The outcome of that fiasco led to death and destruction for millions of people, centered in the Middle East, but for some of us fortunate enough to to escape direct involvement, it still led to the devaluation of our retirement prospects and a culling of our professional guild. Some of us also survived the disaster of 9/11 from up close. The grim memories remain but for a while we also got to experience the efforts of neighbors and competitors helping each other in the recovery. All such crises come upon us unexpectedly. Damage is done but afterwards it’s back to work and on with our lives. <br />
<br />
The coronavirus has brought us to a new and unsettling situation. Many of us, especially younger people, are impatient for the crisis to be over, for life to return to normal. Some people reasonably wonder how they will manage without work or income. An obnoxious minority complain and demonstrate over the inconveniences placed on them to save their lives. Life is very different for different categories of people, rich and poor, old and young, but all share one depressing emotion: uncertainty.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wVrqyx0jG8s/XsVxlOodpHI/AAAAAAAAA_Q/ZV4YCJb2Ncg791U7dSFbkSozpS0qG2CtgCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/unwelcome%2Bguest.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="863" height="275" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wVrqyx0jG8s/XsVxlOodpHI/AAAAAAAAA_Q/ZV4YCJb2Ncg791U7dSFbkSozpS0qG2CtgCPcBGAYYCw/s400/unwelcome%2Bguest.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
The horrors of the pandemic cannot be forgotten and they bring to mind the victims of past catastrophes, those who died in trenches, gulags and concentration camps not knowing if anything of the world as they’d known it would survive. Now we see people dying in hospitals after weeks of agony without seeing their loved ones; nursing homes piling up corpses in refrigerated trucks; mass graves for the anonymous dead; medical staff working non-stop and sometimes being struck down by the virus themselves. The list goes on and on, perhaps to where we become a little bit jaded. People are angry; people are impatient; the suffering is not evenly distributed. Uncertainty! Will we have a job? Will we have food? Will school resume? Will the economy come back? When? Will we survive and if not, will anybody notice? Will the big welcome hug from a long missed friend be the kiss of death? Nothing, not even the sacrosanct football season, can be taken for granted.<br />
<br />
Umbria is said to be the region of Italy least affected by the pandemic. Those of us fortunate enough to live here have more to be thankful for than most people, and most of us are aware of it. Still, the uncertainties remain here too. Will the restaurants survive? Will we see our friends from abroad again? Will the legions of teenage Chinese piano prodigies play again in Todi? Will live jazz return?<br />
<br />
The upside of the pandemic is that it may bring us to reflect on what we have to be thankful for, without fatuous quibbling over the ineffable nature of the recipient of our gratitude. So, however and whenever it may end, we thank God for a long and fortunate life, much of it lived in what we regard as an earthly paradise, but still, nobody wants to be the last soldier to die in a war, so please God, if it’s not asking too much, may we be granted the patience, the wisdom and the luck to survive to see the reigning devil consigned to hell and the forces of evil in his orbit vanquished through peaceful, Constitutional means. Amen.Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026862295263156116noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6150277304485808246.post-40746768332884720392020-01-18T23:55:00.001+01:002020-01-18T23:55:14.472+01:00Sex Changes
<style type="text/css">
@page { margin: 0.79in }
p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120% }
</style>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Once upon a time,
after people had learned to procure the basics of survival such as
food, shelter, descendants and security, they became aware that some
of these activities, such as eating and drinking, fighting, dressing
up, and especially sex, could also be a source of pleasure. As the
pleasurable aspects became sought out, the realization followed that
sometimes these pursuits could also bring painful consequences.
Incautious eating led to food poisoning, obesity, diabetes and heart
disease; excessive drinking sometimes led to anti-social effects
beyond mere cirrhosis of the liver. Sex could result in a wide range
of sexually transmitted diseases and more dramatically, pregnancy,
which was only sometimes the desired result.</span></div>
<style type="text/css">
@page { margin: 0.79in }
p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120% }
a:link { so-language: zxx }
</style>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Wise men, kings,
philosophers and prophets came up with rules and regulations
governing pleasurable but potentially hazardous activities. Food
restrictions grew extreme in hot climates where spoilage was more of
a problem, even taking on the mantle of religious dogma. Sex was to
be limited, in most cultures, to people joined in matrimony, an
institution devised to assure a degree of stability for the progeny,
as well as for the people so enjoined. The restrictions varied from
one culture to another but the rich and powerful were normally
subjected to less restriction. For example, while most Muslims could
have four wives, the Sultans, Sheikhs and Kings who ruled them could
have hundreds. Western society frowned on all this and men and women
were allowed only one spouse at a time. Children produced outside of
matrimony were called bastards and they bore a heavy cost, usually
more than their fathers, for their parents’ violation of social
norms.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The rules and
regulations governing sex may have had some practical basis but the
lure of pleasure can take wrinkles that don’t follow all the
carefully constructed rules and traditions. What came to be labeled
perversions or deviancies probably existed as long as the rules,
otherwise why would there have been rules. Such practices have been
suppressed with varying degrees of severity but mostly quietly ignored when discreet, except for when some political
purpose has been served by calling attention to them.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The sexual
revolution is often associated with the 60’s but changes had been a
long time coming. As secondary education was extended to more people
and the duration of that education was prolonged, the adolescent
surge of hormones that had propelled people into early marriages for
centuries found no outlet within the traditional norms. Something
had to give and it did.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Besides the sexual
revolution, the late 60’s were the epicenter of the Civil Rights
Movement in the US. Americans who had not concerned themselves with
the plight of African-Americans for a century were made to take
notice. Feminist movements had been around for ages but gathered steam in the 60’s. Homosexuals took notice and seeing groups of people
who had been maltreated for their status at birth begin to mobilize
to stop the abuse, they too started to campaign for acceptance.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">There was a
difference not always acknowledged. Blacks and women had been
systematically discriminated against, albeit in different ways, for
their birth characteristics, over which they obviously had no
control. While birth characteristics may affect behavior, they are
not quite the same thing as behavioral traits. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">When homosexuals
started calling themselves “gay”, not everyone was thrilled with
the term. The recently deceased film and opera producer/director
Franco Zeffirelli said he was a homosexual and did not want to be be
called gay, a term he felt was without dignity. Well, language
changes, whether we like it or not. Despite the appropriation of a
formerly perfectly serviceable word, this would be one of the more
innocuous <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/29/us/nonbinary-drivers-licenses.html">modifications of language</a> in the service of sex changes.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In deference to
female homosexuals, the ancient term “lesbian” was dusted off to
be used in tandem with “gay”. With the inclusion of bisexuals,
the LBG movement was born, to be expanded to LBGT, and eventually to
LBGTQIA+. The veritable alphabet soup of people not conforming to
society’s sexual conventions has expanded to trap older politicians
who haven’t kept up with what’s the latest thing in
progressive causes.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Is homosexuality a
genetically or culturally induced trait? No less an authority than
Gore Vidal said that there are neither homosexuals nor heterosexuals,
only homosexual or heterosexual acts. We claim no more special
insight on this subject than we have with which came first, the
chicken or the egg. We remain puzzled by the mystery of how much
all children are the products of their genes and how much of their
environment. As parents, we tend to assign causality of the
perceived good traits to either superior genes or enlightened
upbringing, while the disappointing outcomes are clearly the result
of peer pressure. Still, the inclusion of B in the group title would
seem to favor Vidal’s theory that issues of sexuality relate more
to choices made than to immutable disposition.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In today’s
passionately anti-clerical, secular world, it is in style to lambaste
the Church for its restrictions on sexual behavior but we might note
that homosexual acts have been regarded as criminal offenses by
governments in countries of all religious persuasions, even atheistic
ones, as well as in many US states. That was certainly the case in
the US military. When Bill Clinton was elected President in 1992,
one of his first presidential acts was to institute “Don’t Ask
Don’t Tell”, a fairly radical decriminalization of homosexuality
and a striking reversal of long-standing military policy. It was
repealed in 2010 and less than three decades after DADT, Clinton is
being castigated for having perpetrated what is now considered an
outrageous denial of full equality.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">If tolerance,
acceptance and inclusion are today’s goals, why is the list not
more inclusive? <b>If </b></span><b><span style="color: red; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">L</span><span style="color: orange; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">B</span><span style="color: lime; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">G</span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">T</span></b><span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>Q is better than LBG, wouldn’t
LBGIZMEATNNSTDCPPQ be infinitely better?</b> That is, the Lesbian,
Bi-sexual, Gay, Incestuous, Zoophile, Masochist, Exhibitionist,
Asexual, Transvestite, Nudist, Necrophile, Swinger, Transgender,
Dominant, Celibate, Polygamous, Passive, Queer people. Apologies to
all those whose sexual identities/inclinations may have been
overlooked.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><b>Maybe not</b>. It would
lengthen speeches in political debates by so much that the
presidential campaign might need to be extended by another six
months. Joe Biden would stumble after the first five letters and
the New York Times might question whether his condition warranted its
continued unconditional support. If we could just agree to settle on
“Q people” we could save everybody much time, effort and stress.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We won’t get into
a discourse on how public prejudice has inhibited all the
orientations listed above, other than to note some of the more
blatant inconsistencies. Tolerance of what was recently considered
deviant behavior is growing rapidly, albeit unevenly. Same sex
marriage has become legal in ever more parts of the world at the same
time that heterosexual marriage is fading to to where the majority of
babies are born out of wedlock. Fathers, if present or at least
identified, are now known as partners in capitalist-minded circles,
and as companions in more socialist-oriented realms. Maybe all our
new little bastards are better off without the stigma they would have
faced in the time of Dickens but only time will tell if that’s true
of the growing legions of their mothers. Thus far <a href="https://lifestyle.howstuffworks.com/family/parenting/parenting-tips/single-parenting-affect-children.htm">the evidence</a> is
not encouraging.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Some formerly
disapproved practices are still subject to discrimination.
Pedophiles are vilified and sometimes prosecuted, even though the age
of consent has been raised in inverse proportion to the age of the
onset of menstruation. Pedophilia has always been around but its
status as a crime has varied remarkably over time. The age of
consent dropped from twelve to ten in the England of 1576 and both of
these ages were adopted by various American colonies. It was raised
to sixteen in England in 1885 and most US states followed, to where,
by the 1970’s the norm was sixteen, Hawaii being the outlier at
fourteen, with only North Dakota and Idaho prosecuting men having sex
with girls under eighteen. With intensive instruction on the
mechanics of every variety of sexual interaction taking place in
American elementary schools and the age of consent averaging sixteen,
it would seem that kids are being placed at risk of prison terms for
assiduously doing their homework, and those who reach out to their
teachers for individual instruction put the faculty in jeopardy.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Zoophilia and its
cousin, bestiality, are not frequently discussed these days, now that
most folks have moved from the farm to the cities. Bestiality is
still on the books as a crime in many jurisdictions but in the age of
inclusion, zoophilia, a condition rather than an act, is the
preferred term. Bestiality was both more common and more severely
punished years ago. Sweden executed up to seven hundred people for
it between 1635 and 1778. The last recorded hanging for bestiality
in the US was in 1800. At present it is legal in only eight states,
as well as in Finland, Romania and Hungary. Devoted zoophiles should
stay out of Rhode Island where expressions of their love can cost
them seven to twenty years in prison. Apparently, the new mantra of
our age, “It’s OK to be with the one you love” still has some
exemptions for age and species.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">As in all social
customs pioneered and promoted in the USA, change tends to be radical
and absolutist. </span><span style="color: purple; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">What was common
becomes illegal and what was illegal becomes the social imperative.
That’s been the case with smoking, drinking, drugs, religion,
gambling and sex related activities ranging from homosexuality to
abortion.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Such severe swings
of the pendulum from austerity to value-free tolerance sometimes
continue all the way to a <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/3868080/laurier-accused-of-censorship-after-ta-reprimanded-for-playing-gender-pronoun-debate-clip/">new variety </a>of authoritarianism. At
present, people, who grew up at a time when homosexual activity was
not only socially unacceptable but subject to prosecution under civil
law, are now losing their jobs and sometimes their children for
expressing the views that were instilled in them as children. The
beautiful rainbow flag is now being raised above many suburban
municipal buildings and county capitol buildings with much the same
righteous fervor that those handsome Confederate flags were hoisted
throughout South Carolina and Mississippi in the 1920’s. What has
been known for generations as gender <a href="https://enumclaw.biz/news/2017/12/06/c-p-gender-ideology-harms-children/">dysphoria</a>, a not rare condition
in pre-pubescent and adolescent children but usually outgrown by
adulthood, is now being <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/health-48448804">reclassified</a> by some trendy medical
practitioners, who are offering expensive “conversion therapy” to
the gender of choice, that is, the choice of the child or the <a href="https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/mother-forcing-son-to-live-as-a-girl">choice</a>
of the parent. How often does the Snow White syndrome come into
play, where a beautiful mother sees a daughter emerging as a rival in
the family for public adulation? Poisoned apples, the old solution,
have been replaced by neutering.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">While there is
currently professed horror at the practice of female genital
mutilation to limit the pleasure of sex, as carried out in developing
countries such as Somalia, we’re hearing no similar <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/02/opinion/fgm-ruling-intersex-surgery.html">outcry</a> over the
new fashion of (mostly) wealthy parents administering gender
adjustment therapy, including surgery and puberty retarding hormones,
effectively rendering the children sterile. Seen in the light of
overpopulation on an overheating planet, selective sterilization may
have some utility, but to some of us it seems even more invasive than
the Chinese one-child policy and far more abusive toward children
than all the depredations of scores of pedophile priests and
scoutmasters.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Still, we shouldn’t
be totally surprised. We’ve been taking our pets to the vet for
years to be neutered so they’ll be happier, as well as to keep our
big dogs from humping the new suede sofa or our cats from keeping us
awake with blood-curdling sounds of their nocturnal battles. With
the threat of our libidinous daughters turning up pregnant or our
sons coming home with a new antibiotic resistant STD, who wouldn’t
want to do as much for our children as we do for our pets.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">If the exclusion of
pedophiles from the new era of tolerance raises some troubling issues
of hypocrisy, there’s no need to worry. The inclusion of “T”
into the alphabet soup has brought with it transgender indoctrination
classes in public schools and libraries with fully costumed
transvestites teaching elementary school kids the use of sex toys and
the mechanics of inter-gender sex. The ubiquity of i phones has
rendered the study of old-fashioned subjects such as geography and
history superfluous, so now kids of all potential genders have time
available to discover how to get the most satisfaction from their
rubber duckies, their classmates, and even their sensual studies
advisors.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The last few
centuries have seen us pass through an age of enlightenment to a
war-torn period of totalitarian ideology to a short-lived period of
expanding democracy. We now seem to have entered a period of the
destruction of institutions, the disparaging of received wisdom, and
the rejection of science. Faced with a climate crisis which
threatens to make the earth uninhabitable, people described as
“conservatives” have chosen to ride it out in top deck of the
Titanic-style-- “waiter, let’s have that last bottle of
champagne”. Not to be outdone, some people who self-identify as
“progressives” are theorizing that gender has no objective
reality, so we can just fondle everything and everyone in tranquil bliss as Aldous Huxley <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/14/opinion/pornography-sex-the-huxley-trap-.html">envisioned</a> almost ninety years ago. There
are more than enough studies demonstrating the climate crisis, but
the “conservatives” choose to ignore them. Studies showing the
world-wide <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/sperm-count-zero">drop </a>in the sperm count in young men are not as common but
they do exist. They are being ignored in an even more absolute,
bipartisan way. Maybe that’s because in the Oligarch Era nobody
wants (or can afford) to have babies anymore except people unable to
have them, notably homosexuals who eschew conventional channels of
reproduction, and women over fifty who were too busy in their fertile
years. What about the apparent rise in gender confusion? How long
ago was it that anyone was even aware of the existence, much less the
definition, of a transgender person? Just as the right sees new
opportunities in the planetary rise in temperatures (new shipping
lanes across the North Pole, wine making in Scotland etc.) the left,
which has typically at least sought to understand the causes of
climate change and to find solutions to counteract it, has stopped
all inquiry into what has produced the epidemic drop in human
fertility and the expansion of gender confusion. Both phenomena
appear to be currently outpacing the melting of glaciers. If people
had reacted back in the 60’s the way they are now, pregnant women
would still be taking thalidomide and cooing over how “original”
their children were. Fanatical gender denial may be just what it
takes to keep the Titanic crowd perched on the command deck until the
ship finally goes down.
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: purple; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Perhaps there is a
positive side though. If the earth is to soon become uninhabitable,
isn’t it just as well that the human race loses its ability to
reproduce so there won’t be so many people around to suffer the
meltdown.</span></div>
<br />Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026862295263156116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6150277304485808246.post-50006715392828094742019-07-10T15:57:00.000+02:002019-07-10T15:59:04.607+02:00Deadsafe<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BLQGy2lcmrk/XSXr0ViR3TI/AAAAAAAAA8o/o-0YbovURpU6eoaCPM35gi8DPpVT5I0vACLcBGAs/s1600/apse.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BLQGy2lcmrk/XSXr0ViR3TI/AAAAAAAAA8o/o-0YbovURpU6eoaCPM35gi8DPpVT5I0vACLcBGAs/s640/apse.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sanctuary of the Pasquarella</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<style type="text/css">
@page { margin: 0.79in }
p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120% }
</style>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;">During a Champions
League soccer match at Turin’s San Siro Stadium between Juventus
and Real Madrid on June 3<sup>rd</sup> 2017, a wide screen TV showing
of the game was set up in Turin’s Piazza San Carlo. A known
criminal band of mostly North African thugs attacked the crowd with
pepper spray with the intent to rob attendees. One person apparently
died in the melee. Italy’s national police chief, Franco Gabrielli
(the Chief of Italian Civil Protection) responded quickly, issuing
the Circolare Gabrielli within the month to assure safety at all
public gatherings. In the same year, Gabrielli married his long time
girlfriend, Immacolata Postiglioni, the Chief of the Emergency Office
of Civil Protection. The perfect storm! Two dedicated advocates of
public safety joining forces. What could go wrong?
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br />
</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-btK8_V9c_x4/XSXX3RWchcI/AAAAAAAAA7A/lQEWLvzZ-0Mz_ihj3ZDA6MVUMEg1AFX6QCLcBGAs/s1600/Gabrielli.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-btK8_V9c_x4/XSXX3RWchcI/AAAAAAAAA7A/lQEWLvzZ-0Mz_ihj3ZDA6MVUMEg1AFX6QCLcBGAs/s200/Gabrielli.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chief Franco Gabrielli</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;">The original measure
proved to be so over-reactive that it put a damper on virtually all
social/cultural gatherings in Italy. By July of 2018 a corrective
measure was issued to make the order more workable. This one may
have actually been named Circolare Gabrielli, while the original was
perhaps called something else, despite emanating from the office of
Gabrielli. Information about the events on the internet is
remarkably difficult to find, limited mostly to the various laws and
rulings written in deep bureaucratese, largely impenetrable to the
curious foreigner.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;">Given that we’ve
witnessed first-hand in New York City on September 11<sup>th</sup> of
2001 what can go wrong when government authorities ignore threats to
public safety, we feel obligated to compliment the Italian Government
for taking quick and decisive action in response to an ugly criminal
event. Perhaps Chief Gabrielli could be temporarily loaned to the US
to deal with the crisis at the southern border.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;">Second-guessing
public authorities is always easier than carrying out their duties,
and we love to do it. Living in underpopulated rural Umbria gives us
a particular perspective that the Chief doesn’t have the luxury of
sharing. We see his measures as overkill but left to our own
devices, ours might be seen in the same light by city dwellers. If
big soccer matches breed violence, why not just eliminate them, have
them played in empty stadiums in neutral cities, or just ban the
sport altogether and let the crowds concentrate their enthusiasm on
more gentlemanly sports such as rugby?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;">Putting city-country
differences aside for the moment, we would simply like to draw a
little attention to the measures that have been taken. Generally all
events involved in public gatherings will have new regulations about
the size of the crowds and the number of security people that have to
be on duty during those events. The size of the crowds at the Palio
in Siena will be reduced from 40,000 to 12,000. What will the
economic effect on Siena be? We assume that ticket prices will rise
by a factor of three or four, but attendees buy more than tickets.
Oh well, that’s a Tuscan problem.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br />
</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8aSxCrpbfRM/XSXYwayHW8I/AAAAAAAAA7I/tvi0pjdNdz8IHt9I5zMD-0UirOwZyBV6gCLcBGAs/s1600/DSCN6523%2B%2528copy%2B1%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8aSxCrpbfRM/XSXYwayHW8I/AAAAAAAAA7I/tvi0pjdNdz8IHt9I5zMD-0UirOwZyBV6gCLcBGAs/s200/DSCN6523%2B%2528copy%2B1%2529.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Parking threat on river road <br />
near Pasquarella</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; text-align: center;">Here in Umbria,
there is a little sanctuary up the hill from a ravine near our
village of Acqualoreto. It dates back to the 1100’s and is built
against a cliff with rooms carved into the rock. For decades and
probably centuries, local people have gathered there on the Sunday
after Easter (Pasquarella) for a combination of a Mass and a picnic
in the woods. In recent years the path up to the church has been
improved and at the bottom of the hill, along the ravine, outdoor
grilles have been <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CL8I8hFnR94/XSXZQapYEzI/AAAAAAAAA7c/dRBhnzBD5U4fDe163kZTyXLRHEImIQzHgCEwYBhgL/s1600/peanuts%2526porchetta.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CL8I8hFnR94/XSXZQapYEzI/AAAAAAAAA7c/dRBhnzBD5U4fDe163kZTyXLRHEImIQzHgCEwYBhgL/s200/peanuts%2526porchetta.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Porchetta and peanuts</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
built and parking has been improved. On the day of
the Pasquarella, Masses have started early in the morning and have
continued until late afternoon, eight in all. However, there have
been several other days of pilgrimage to the sanctuary in January and
August. Last year the use of the Pasquarella was canceled. It seems
that the little piazza to the front and side of the church has been
deemed too small for safe evacuation in the case of emergency.</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lfBNqLfUgko/XSXZRBpU7RI/AAAAAAAAA7g/nLbvEs-vFW0Yof1Yr-SQIAZno2iM_9ekQCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN6520%2B%2528copy%2B1%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lfBNqLfUgko/XSXZRBpU7RI/AAAAAAAAA7g/nLbvEs-vFW0Yof1Yr-SQIAZno2iM_9ekQCEwYBhgL/s320/DSCN6520%2B%2528copy%2B1%2529.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Unsafe for emergency evacuation</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;">Here in town on other occasions
such as Corpus Domini, a score of villagers follow the priest out of
the church, around the village and down and back to a little chapel a
couple of hundred meters along the road. The new regulations require
a person wearing an iridescent vest at the front and rear of all such
processions. That is manageable enough but now, every little village
festival has to have three or four Red Cross people standing by
throughout to deal with “emergencies”. The biggest emergency is
the cost of this service. Morre and Collelungo canceled their festas
last year. Acqualoreto is soldiering on this summer but for how
long? These little festivals take in some money, typically just
enough to cover their costs, but with considerable new costs imposed,
there may not be sufficient residual funds to finance next year’s
events.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Yn2WZXWOBic/XSXa5ioNk-I/AAAAAAAAA7o/zF3YwrW8kvQTvYck46rLwo4ju3uICy0WgCLcBGAs/s1600/secured%2Bprocession.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Yn2WZXWOBic/XSXa5ioNk-I/AAAAAAAAA7o/zF3YwrW8kvQTvYck46rLwo4ju3uICy0WgCLcBGAs/s200/secured%2Bprocession.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">secured procession</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;">By now, Todi is a
small city known around the world for its history, beauty and
livability but the entire Comune (county or township) has only 17,000
residents, of which about 7000 live in the city. It does an
astounding job of hosting all sorts of cultural events at a time of
serious difficulty for retail shops. The big need is more people and
more jobs. We doubt that security guards are the answer to the
employment problem.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FdQSvxA-VAU/XSXcxTzkmzI/AAAAAAAAA70/8eSI5Ni7JC8SqEe01vGKg7Y-54pYtwQMQCLcBGAs/s1600/P.Garibaldi%2Bmusicians.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FdQSvxA-VAU/XSXcxTzkmzI/AAAAAAAAA70/8eSI5Ni7JC8SqEe01vGKg7Y-54pYtwQMQCLcBGAs/s200/P.Garibaldi%2Bmusicians.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Musicians imitating Ray Charles<br />
play in Todi's<br />
Piazza Garibaldi</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-97FpQ1lAidA/XSXcxh4gfBI/AAAAAAAAA74/c9OhwQyCaHoG1PoAHYOaz7Cg8Ec4csTKwCLcBGAs/s1600/RedCross.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-97FpQ1lAidA/XSXcxh4gfBI/AAAAAAAAA74/c9OhwQyCaHoG1PoAHYOaz7Cg8Ec4csTKwCLcBGAs/s320/RedCross.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red Cross standing by in case Garibaldi falls on <br />
crowd due to rhythmic music</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C19aeNdgX78/XSXjuUtV-GI/AAAAAAAAA8g/iJTLBRdZrVMrIPzwDLa5Ryysi74iEn6yACEwYBhgL/s1600/road.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="635" data-original-width="834" height="483" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C19aeNdgX78/XSXjuUtV-GI/AAAAAAAAA8g/iJTLBRdZrVMrIPzwDLa5Ryysi74iEn6yACEwYBhgL/s640/road.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The road to the river</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;">Several posts back,
on June 16</span><sup style="color: #351c75;">th</sup><span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"> of last year, we commented on the collapse of
a short section of the road connecting our village with the river
road that runs alongside the Tiber. We called it the <a href="https://acqualoreto.blogspot.com/2018/06/roads-collapsing.html">Little GrandCanyon </a>of Acqualoreto. Nothing has changed. The men working signs
are still in place. A five km stretch of this road connects our
village to the road running along the Tiber in the valley below,
which in turn takes us just about anywhere we’re likely to go. The
pavement is roughly five meters wide, just enough for vehicles to
pass each other, assuming that each stays to the right. There are no
shoulders to this road, much less sidewalks or paths for pedestrians
or cyclists. No stripes are painted, either at the edges of the
pavement or in the middle. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6-IWE0WNW-g/XSXjs4j1ZCI/AAAAAAAAA8c/0gD8KGpsZYgST4yDy6-xlmBZfNGWZv0ZwCEwYBhgL/s1600/curving%2Bgutter%252Breflector.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6-IWE0WNW-g/XSXjs4j1ZCI/AAAAAAAAA8c/0gD8KGpsZYgST4yDy6-xlmBZfNGWZv0ZwCEwYBhgL/s320/curving%2Bgutter%252Breflector.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">curving metal gutter</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"> Along one section, metal drainage gutters
have been installed to facilitate drainage on the hilly terrain.
Sometimes they are a meter away from the pavement, hidden by tall
grass, and sometimes they are right at its edge. These gutters have
small cross braces at about every three meters.</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e0HTwj91xAc/XSXjsgn9A-I/AAAAAAAAA8Y/-_TcYN-Lnus-CPU72tC8fHQHsWZoXPUOQCEwYBhgL/s1600/preferred%2Btrajectory.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="636" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e0HTwj91xAc/XSXjsgn9A-I/AAAAAAAAA8Y/-_TcYN-Lnus-CPU72tC8fHQHsWZoXPUOQCEwYBhgL/s200/preferred%2Btrajectory.jpg" width="165" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">preferred trajectory</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;">Most drivers seem to
prefer driving in the middle of the road, moving to the edge only
when forced to by an on-coming vehicle. We are left to imagine what
effect a slight excursion off the pavement might produce. Some
precautions have been taken by the local authorities, such as
installing a few poles with reflectors along the edge of the pavement
where the gutter abuts it.
</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1J44x3R5uxU/XSXjs2ZpN0I/AAAAAAAAA8g/VEuT8Xf_g2QoLpZqzVrqlxIhxUcyAWaGACEwYBhgL/s1600/10KPH.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1J44x3R5uxU/XSXjs2ZpN0I/AAAAAAAAA8g/VEuT8Xf_g2QoLpZqzVrqlxIhxUcyAWaGACEwYBhgL/s400/10KPH.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">safety measures including posted<br />
10 KPM speed limit</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;">The other notable
provision is a 10 KPH speed limit sign (hard to read in the picture
due to uncut grass) which would appear to be more an attempt to
reduce liability than speed. For US readers, that’s about 6 MPH, a
brisk sustainable walking speed.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;">We would like to
invite Chief Gabrielli to visit our area to to see the unintended
consequences of his measures but we fear that if he noted the
conditions of the roads that connect Acqualoreto to the world, he
might conclude that the village could not be safely evacuated in the
event of an emergency. If he issues another wide-reaching decree
regarding road safety, it could mean the end of all motorized traffic
in Italy. Good for the environment perhaps but at what cost?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75;">One day we’ll all
be securely dead but in the meantime, while we’re still breathing,
we would like to see the politicians of all persuasions who lament
the economic difficulties of the country turn their attention from
prohibiting cultural and economic activity to promoting it. Small
villages suffer from population loss and limited economic
opportunities but they offer beauty, cultural traditions and a
healthy atmosphere that can’t be matched in large cities. Killing
what remains of their traditions and social/cultural events doesn’t
seem like the product of the most positive or creative thinking
available.</span></div>
<br />Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026862295263156116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6150277304485808246.post-68633659995189327702019-04-26T20:23:00.001+02:002019-04-26T20:23:40.799+02:00Disgust
<style type="text/css">
@page { margin: 0.79in }
p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120% }
</style>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We’ve been hearing
that our current politics is driven by fear. I won’t dispute that
instilling fear is a much used tactic but the emotion that dominates
these uneasy times seems to be disgust rather than fear. I turned to
Google for enlightenment and came up with the <a href="https://emotiontypology.com/typology/list/disgust">following</a>, along with a
few other helpful articles <a href="https://www.scienceofpeople.com/disgust/">here</a> and<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/disgust"> here</a>.</span></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HeTnsi587Q0/XMMmI7cWp9I/AAAAAAAAA6c/mGy7l-ro6GMHldemZ3zJndbRaN3Ee8IjACLcBGAs/s1600/viburnum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="711" data-original-width="516" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HeTnsi587Q0/XMMmI7cWp9I/AAAAAAAAA6c/mGy7l-ro6GMHldemZ3zJndbRaN3Ee8IjACLcBGAs/s400/viburnum.jpg" width="290" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Viburnum</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">“The feeling when
you encounter something that you don’t want to get into contact
with in any way (neither see, hear, feel or taste it), because you
expect it is bad for you. You want it to get away from you.”
*<span style="font-size: x-small;">from emotiontypology.
</span><span style="font-size: small;">Disgust is similar to
contempt when related to human characterist</span><span style="font-size: small;">i</span><span style="font-size: small;">cs.
“Moral disgust and contempt can be difficult to distinguish.”
Outrage is not far </span><span style="font-size: small;">away</span><span style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Among
animals which prompt disgust, snakes, spiders and other crawling
insects lead the unpopularity sweepstakes. Having worked at zoos at
both ends of my career, I remain afraid of snakes but not disgusted
by them, whereas I’ve always been disgusted by rats and other
invasive rodents, even to the point of booing Mickey Mouse cartoons
at the movies as a kid.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">According
to one of the articles linked, people who feel disgust readily are
more likely to be conservative, whereas liberal people tend to feel
less disgusted morally. </span><span style="font-size: small;">My
background is </span><span style="font-size: small;">from</span><span style="font-size: small;">
a </span><span style="font-size: small;">family of </span><span style="font-size: small;">faltering
Dutch Reformed fa</span><span style="font-size: small;">ith</span><span style="font-size: small;">.
The severity and the religiosity w</span><span style="font-size: small;">ere</span><span style="font-size: small;">
diluted but the Calvinist judgmental </span><span style="font-size: small;">tendencies</span><span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;">were </span><span style="font-size: small;">re</span><span style="font-size: small;">t</span><span style="font-size: small;">ained,
</span><span style="font-size: small;">leaving us</span><span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;">to</span><span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;">experience</span><span style="font-size: small;">
disgust and contempt much more readily than most </span><span style="font-size: small;">of
our neighbors</span><span style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Curiously,
my brother and I share this trait but owing to divergent political
leanings, the objects of our contempt are usually polar opposites.
My radically conservative brother would seem to be more within the
confines of probability, in that his contempt is usually triggered by
“the other”, i.e. whatever is outside the American suburban norm
of the 50’s and 60’s, whereas mine, more often driven by
aesthetic concerns, is rooted there. We get along remarkably well by
simply avoiding the discussion of politics.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The
picture toward the top of the page is of viburnum, known locally as
sambuchelle. These plants have nice flowers and make a dense hedge.
We have many of them. Unfortunately, they stink, a characteristic
described in plant catalogs as an “intoxicating fragrance”.
Besides the Calvinist baggage, I have a strong sense of smell, not
good enough to be a paid food or wine taster but enough to render me
susceptible to disgust brought on by cigarette smoke, wet dogs and
viburnum. My vision of Hell is riding in a car of a cigarette smoker
with a dog. Indeed, my many years of smoking cigars resulted not
only from a love of the scent of cigars but as much from the need for
a counteroffensive against the ubiquitous poison gas ambiance
generated by cigarette smoke, a tactic akin to using excessive
cologne when riding the buses of Rome. As defined above, disgust
arises from all the senses and while I’m conventionally liberal
enough to oppose capital punishment, I would be tempted to make
exceptions for “graffiti artists” and other desecrators of the
visual environment. Likewise, aural stimuli, from much white pop
music of the fifties, through decades of the San Remo Festival, to
the sound tracks of the cartoons that my grandchildren watch, induce
extreme distress. At the gym which I frequent, when the screaming
military cadences of the ladies’ dancercizes subside, the aural
vacuum is filled by the sounds of Radio Subasio, an agency possibly
set up by the CIA to soften the will of terrorist prisoners held at
Abu Graib. After two hours of exposure, normal brains turn to mush
so I try to hold my workouts to an hour and a half.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">In
my bachelor days, many years ago, my Siamese cat slept inside my bed
with me. This provoked some discomfort, if not outright disgust, in
a number of visitors, not so different from my own unease at seeing
people share their dishes with their pets. Our thresholds of disgust
are highly subjective and personal.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Occasionally
the disgust sweeping the world can be curiously bipartisan. In the
UK, the failure to resolve the Brexit crisis has provoked disgust
with the political establishment across the British political
spectrum, even if abroad, the disgust has been sprinkled with other
emotions ranging from disbelief through ridicule to pity. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">One
of the more bizarre aspects of the times we live in is that while
President Trump has exceeded all precedents for <a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/robert-reich-trump-has-been-exposed-as-a-thug/">provoking disgust</a>,
the intense disgust that he inspires is felt mostly in people usually
considered liberal. His “conservative” base theoretically
consists largely of easily disgusted people. It’s no surprise that
they will not be upset with his treatment of poor people or of
non-white people, but one might reasonably expect that people who are
intolerant of others outside their experienced norms of appearance
and custom would be appalled by his constant flouting of social norms
of behavior that have evolved over centuries. Have actual
conservatives been supplanted by a new breed of monsters, such as
those filling his swamp cabinet, all dedicated to destroying the agencies they run? While a few collaborators have
thrown in the towel, the President’s steadfast minions, from Mitch
McConnell to William Barr, surrender whatever dignity or decency they
may have ever possessed to the campaign to destroy every significant
institution and all aspects of the natural environment, in the United
States and beyond. Their mission is to redistribute <b>all</b>
economic resources to their oligarch patrons. It is not a zero sum
game. They don’t really care if the pie gets smaller; they just
want all of it. Will a new James Bond emerge to save the world from
the plot by the spiritual descendents of Dr. No and Goldfinger to
establish a neo-feudal regime? Will the level of disgust rise to the
point of forcing change? We shall see.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Still,
every one of us reacts to different things emotionally and stimuli
come from all sides. While the Governor of Virginia was flubbing his
press conference to explain a proposed law legalizing third trimester
abortion and what to do with fetuses which accidentally survive the
procedure, causing the law to be scrapped, in New York State the
passage of a similar law was celebrated with the illumination of the
NYC skyline in pink, ordered by the First Girlfriend of New York. It may have been all congratulatory smiles in
the citadel of secular orthodoxy but there were more bitter pockets
of outrage in flyover country than the New York Times is ever likely
to report. We think of flyover country as places like Iowa and
Nebraska but the planes actually lift off in Newark and Queens. Not
even the Pope appeared to take umbrage but the President was quick to
jump at the chance to displace the Pope as the champion of unborn
babies, thus ingratiating himself with more angry voters of short and
narrow memory.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Another
topic which provokes psychic, not to mention physical, discomfort is
genital mutilation, a practice mostly carried out in African
countries. African issues don’t carry much weight in the US but
when some Africans get to the US and try to continue this tribal
custom, a storm of indignation erupts. Given that opposition to such
practices is so vocal and strong, it is beyond ironic that a recent
objective in “progressive” circles is the surgical and chemical
altering of pre-adolescent children to make their bodies better align
with their perceived gender identities. Barring revolutionary
medical advances, this will leave them sterile, perhaps a worthy goal
for progressives concerned with rapid population growth at a time
when the planet’s survival has come into question.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Disgust
fatigue risks our turning away from the news of the world, which
would be problematic if the major media actually reported news more
than gossip. One story that somehow slipped in quietly the other day
was about the comeback of asbestos. The formerly all purpose wonder
substance was banned several decades back when its lethal effects
became known but now the Trump Administration, in its efforts to
create jobs and stimulate the economy, has eased the restrictions on
its use. Previous sources of asbestos in Brazil and Canada have long
since suspended operations but there is a small town in Russia which
still produces asbestos and is now looking forward to a new era of
prosperity. Residents there don’t worry about dangers inherent in
the mining since they are only a few kilometers from a large,
run-down nuclear power plant and all life has risks anyway so what
the hell.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">We’ve
never been much caught up in the agitation over the alleged efforts
of Putin to influence the 2016 US election since his efforts were at
least furtive, whereas the more forceful interventions of Benjamin
Netanyahu were carried out in plain sight on the floor of Congress
shortly before the election. The combined efforts of Putin,
Netanyahu, and Bill Clinton to subvert the election never added up to
anything close to those of Kris Kobach. He remains unindicted and
free despite his effective work to disenfranchise many times more
voters than were needed to prevent the surprise victory of Donald
Trump. Inasmuch as he is not a foreign agent, his work did not
constitute the intervention of a hostile foreign power but only
something more akin to treason or, at the least, as massive a civil
rights violation as we’ve seen since the days of the KKK.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Nevertheless,
those looking for more evidence of Russia’s hold over the current
administration might want to follow the asbestos trail. Could this
be a link that Mueller missed? Election help and Moscow building
permits in exchange for jobs in a struggling Russian town plus the
poisoning of the US homeland with the consequent weakening of its
population?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Finally,
as we end today’s sermon, we note that <a href="https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/56231-rsn-cable-news-reports-bernie-is-toast">right-wing Democrats </a>are
loudly calling for the emergence of a Democratic presidential
candidate who will not threaten the status quo. In 2016 they were
very successful but they started from pole position in that race.
(They did win the race even if the series championship eluded them.)
Can they replicate that performance while starting from behind in
2020? At the moment, their efforts appear to be concentrated on Joe
Biden, whose candidacy has only now been officially proclaimed, after
delay after delay of a declaration ceremony, mostly caused by
allegations of improper conduct towards women with him on prior
campaign trails. Some women claim to have been disgusted by his
actions in putting his arm on their shoulders or even sniffing their
hair (ucch!). Joe Biden has always struck me as a very likable
person, unusually so for a politician. <a href="https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/56230-joe-biden-to-attend-fundraiser-hosted-by-anti-net-neutrality-comcast-exec-other-corporate-big-wigs">Wealthy Democrats</a> seem to
adore him. Of all the twenty or thirty potential candidates in the
race he is near the bottom of the list of whom I would want to see as
the next president, but I would be happy to have him as a friend or
neighbor. A compelling op-ed appeared in the NYT by a woman who is
deeply offended by the attitudes he represents. We can respect her
views without sharing them. I would have shared the article here but can't find it. I too have been disgusted by some of Joe
Biden’s actions, from his treatment of Anita Hill at the Clarence
Thomas confirmation hearings to his advocacy of the criminally insane
invasion of Iraq.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">We
risk drowning in a sea of disgust. It’s a constant companion, much
like hypocrisy. An excess of hypocrisy leads to cynicism, as in
Italy where universal cynicism has led to political paralysis.
Similarly, the daily tidal wave of disgusting events in the USA
appears to have rendered the population numb to the most grotesque
outrages but sometimes hypersensitive to mini affronts. I would
modestly suggest that we all take a deep breath and put this emotion
under control and focus it where it matters. Asbestos could be a
start. Climate science denial, or all science denial for that
matter, would be better yet.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">For
my part, I pledge to resist kicking overly friendly, drooling dogs and
to refrain from derogatory comments in the presence of cigarette
smokers. I will even hold back from dropping a barbell on the hi-fi
system at the gym. As an occasional political cartoonist, I can’t
step back from disgust completely or I’d have nothing to draw, but
should Joe Biden stop by the Circolo of Acqualoreto on a long
campaign tour, or even on a post-withdrawal Umbrian vacation,
speaking for the membership, I can assert that he will be welcomed
with open arms, friendly hugs and all, by the assembled members, with
the possible exception of my wife, but even she wouldn’t denounce
him in the press. The presence of Kristen Gillibrand might prove
more problematic since there is a lot of casual hugging and kissing
at our Happy Hours and we wouldn’t want to risk being reported to
the authorities.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<style type="text/css">
@page { margin: 0.79in }
p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120% }
</style>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<br />Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026862295263156116noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6150277304485808246.post-86001679965548325852019-01-10T00:28:00.000+01:002019-01-14T09:53:39.494+01:00What's Next in the Future of Cults?<style type="text/css">
@page { margin: 0.79in }
p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120% }
</style>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">For several years
people have been exposed to the idea that if they all shoot
themselves in the foot they will receive a shower of unimaginable
riches: handicapped car permits, enhanced pensions and health care,
as well as a renewed sense of solidarity with their handicapped
brethren.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3heZ05Pn4bs/XDaCb7f17RI/AAAAAAAAA54/ht5gTWYcQDMQo13sMHxWutP1N1fzO4ukACLcBGAs/s1600/cults2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="362" data-original-width="855" height="165" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3heZ05Pn4bs/XDaCb7f17RI/AAAAAAAAA54/ht5gTWYcQDMQo13sMHxWutP1N1fzO4ukACLcBGAs/s400/cults2.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In the UK, the
argument convinced a majority of the population to make that
commitment. When the ruse was exposed showing that the promised
golden shower would be very different from what they had been led to
expect, die-hard cult leaders stepped in to claim that “democracy”
required that the voice of the people be respected and that there
would be no going back. Logic might have suggested that the Make
Britain Great Again cult should be simply seen as a momentary
collective lapse of judgment and reconsidered.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I do recall that
after a centuries-long, half-hearted campaign to replace imperial
units, in 1973 the UK joined the EEC and was obliged to adopt the
metric system. Remember, that going back as far as the 1660’s,
British scientists and engineers were at the forefront of
metrication. As adopted, it included the ingeniously modular system
of paper sizes and required abandonment of quaint non-decimal units
of currency such as shillings and guineas. There has been some
backlash. The pint will never die in Britain. After nearly a half
century, human weights are still often announced in stone and
distances are given in miles. All peoples of the earth are peculiar
in that they are unique but the Brits seem to revel in their
eccentricities more than most. Therefore, an eleventh hour reversion
to reason is less than a sure bet.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">What then might some
of the effects of Brexit be, in terms of restoring Britain to past
glory? We are reasonably sure that the Government of India will not
go along with restoring the sovereignty of the Queen over the
sub-continent, even though that would give car makers such as Land
Rover and Jaguar their British identity back. German brands such as
Mini and Rolls Royce, as well as all the major Japanese makes, still
produce cars in the UK but with a new system of tariffs, that may
prove untenable.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Will the metric
system, partial or not, be revoked in a bid to make the special
relationship with the USA more special? That’s a thorny issue
since British pints are larger than US pints and President Trump is
not known for compromise. Will the special relationship lead to
Brits being required to eat anything that the FDA and the US Dept of
Agriculture deem fit for human consumption? Will it mean that the
UK, now freed from EU meddling, will fall under the umbrella of US
Homeland Security?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Brexit may halt the
painfully slow introduction of mixing taps into the British plumbing
system but a reversion to the old hot and cold taps will be hindered
by the loss of untold thousands of Polish plumbers who already left
with their devalued pounds in the wake of the 2007 economic collapse.
The edible food revolution may be harder to reverse, even if the
formerly young unemployed Italians who sparked it are sent home,
since nearly two generations of Britons have grown accustomed to
eating edible food.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">On the other side of
the pond, the MAGA cult, cousin to the Make Britain Great Again cult,
is also facing an uncertain future. Despite two years of daily
scandals and the crude and unceasing demolition of standards of
civility, diplomacy, credibility and integrity developed over two and
a half centuries of US government*, the presidency of Donald Trump
has sailed along without a peep of protest from the
Republican-controlled Congress, with the exception of a few members
pushed into early retirement by shame or dismal reelection prospects.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> *
</span><span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Not to paint too rosy a picture but there <u>were</u> standards, no
matter how imperfect adherence to them may have sometimes been.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">After stating that
he would drain the swamp, Trump sought and found his cabinet in the
sewer. The subsequent high turn-over rate of his appointees resulted
from some of them being even too sleazy for Trump to abide, while
others were fired for not being sleazy enough. The new teflon
president has slithered through all this on the strength of a rising
stock market, (until September 2018) and vast kick-backs to the
oligarchs who backed him (under the guise of tax reform).</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Trump may have
out-Foxed himself. While he simply lied outright in campaign
promises regarding health care, social security, deficits and taking
care of the troops, he also made statements about building a wall on
the Mexican border so racist and so irrational that they clouded the
essentially reasonable idea that a country should have secure
borders. In so doing, he spawned a whole generation of believers in
no borders at all. No sovereignty, just universal love.
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">He went on to say “I don’t see why
we have to be enemies with Russia”. A quarter of a century after
the collapse of the Soviet Union, the idea of better relations with
the inheritors of the world’s second largest nuclear arsenal seemed
less irrational than most of Trump’s other tweets. Little did
anyone realize that his quest for better relations was driven not by
a need for national security but by the chance to build a Trump Tower
in central Moscow.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Trump is now reviled
across the bi-partisan Neo-con coalition for his Russian dealings.
His support for a high visibility murderer and dismemberer has
inspired queasiness in all but the deadest of souls. Recently he has
fired all “the adults in the room”, i.e. the generals he had
appointed to civilian posts. Then he announced a withdrawal of
troops from Syria and Afghanistan, undermining the absolute control
of the government by the Military Industrial Complex. Ironically,
the one positive thing he’s done in two years may be the thing that
leads to his removal from office.
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">With apparent
impunity, Trump can abuse women, pay them hush money, insult all
identifiable minorities, tear up treaties, violate international law
and act like the typical US kid drugged up for attention deficit
disorder, but in derailing the military gravy train, he may have
crossed a red line that neither Wall Street, the Pentagon, nor AIPAC
will tolerate. Almost as quickly as I started to write this piece,
Mr. Bolton, the new Director of Homeland Security, stepped in to
overrule the President, possibly saving the President his job for the
moment.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The troops were due
to repatriated in one month; the final Mueller Report should be out
sometime in the first quarter, and March 29<sup>th</sup> is the last
day to drink or reject the Brexit Kool-aid. How will the cults fare?
Your guess is as good as ours but it looks like an interesting time
ahead. Happy New Year!</span></div>
<br />Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026862295263156116noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6150277304485808246.post-10449275863476240202018-10-10T14:49:00.000+02:002018-10-10T14:49:38.176+02:00Salzburg and Rocky Mount<style type="text/css">
@page { margin: 0.79in }
p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120% }
</style>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Recently, my wife
and I watched a documentary on Salzburg, a beautiful city in Austria
where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in 1756. Despite its many
other charms, Salzburg lives on with Mozart events and memorabilia as
its major economic driver. Mozart’s musical legacy is alive and
well throughout the world.</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cPvexgvyjK8/W73zO8oi75I/AAAAAAAAA5c/iUaPT3y2zYgwWHFTx1r9tYJNsGvIDrmUwCLcBGAs/s1600/DSCN8818.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="652" data-original-width="766" height="272" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cPvexgvyjK8/W73zO8oi75I/AAAAAAAAA5c/iUaPT3y2zYgwWHFTx1r9tYJNsGvIDrmUwCLcBGAs/s320/DSCN8818.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Viennese Monk by Robert De Graaf, based on<br />
Schubert at the Piano by Gustav Klimt</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Thelonious Sphere
Monk was born on this date, October 10<sup>th</sup>, 101 years ago in
Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Last year there were many celebrations
marking the centennial of his birth. I am now listening to his
music, courtesy of Brian Delp and WBGO in Newark, and at this week’s
Acqualoreto Happy Hour this evening, I will be toasting his memory.
I hope that more than two and a half centuries after his birth, as
with Mozart, Monk’s music will still be heard and appreciated. At
1.01 C along, I’m trying to do my part.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By the time he was
five years old, Mozart was taken on an extended performing tour of
major European cities by his father. By the time he was five, Monk
had been taken by his mother from Rocky Mount to New York City, where
he remained for the rest of his life. NYC has honored his presence
by renaming a portion of West 63<sup>rd</sup> St. where he lived, as
Thelonious Monk Circle. We doubt that Monk’s birth has had as much
of an impact on Rocky Mount as Mozart’s has had on Salzburg, but
it’s never too late.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All places go
through ups and downs. Salzburg became the performance home for many
of the favored musicians of the Third Reich after WWII but by now
most of those people have faded from the scene and Salzburg,
unsullied, thrives on its Mozart and chocolate.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Despite its history
as the birthplace of aviation, as well as its being the site of many
fine universities, North Carolina is currently known as the most
gerrymandered state in the Union and at the forefront of voter
suppression. Those evils must be eradicated but maybe Rocky Mount
could take the lead in restoring some decency to the state’s
reputation by establishing a Monk Festival in honor of one of
America’s greatest native musical geniuses. There is a Monk
<a href="http://www.musmf.info/">Foundation</a>, gathering funds for a life sized statue of Monk for Rocky
Mount, but NC needs to do more to clean up its act and this is an
opportunity.</span></div>
<br />Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026862295263156116noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6150277304485808246.post-37825773950218438452018-07-03T23:00:00.000+02:002018-07-03T23:00:12.164+02:00If the NFL Fails, What's Left?
<style type="text/css">
@page { margin: 0.79in }
p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120% }
</style>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The USA has been in
serious <a href="https://truthdig.com/articles/america-the-failed-state/">decline</a> at least since the turn of the century, by some
measures from two or three decades earlier. Much of what there was,
the majority middle class, the Constitution, an improving
environment, a rising standard of living, is gone. From being the
model for postwar development throughout the world, the US has turned
into the world’s number one rogue nation, often feared, sometimes
hated, and increasingly pitied. US industry has largely withered
away, leaving a nation of service industries, from fast food and chic
food through financial services and entertainment. Within the
expanding entertainment sector there are professional and
semi-professional (i.e. college) sports.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">America’s sports
tradition has revolved around three seasonal sports, baseball in the
spring and summer, football in the autumn, and basketball in the
winter. Most high schools in the US field teams in all three sports,
along with less popular sports such as track & field, soccer, and
in affluent communities, even ice hockey, tennis and golf. Football
and basketball are the ones that attract a paying audience in both high school and college. The
seasons barely overlap so high school athletes can, and often do,
play all three major sports on their school teams. With the growth of
professional sports and their ever present drive to maximize revenues
through television, the seasons of all three sports have expanded to
cover at least half the year. Pro sports keep taking in ever more
money, largely through TV, and pro athletes have a faster path to
great riches than all but the shrewdest and sleaziest of upstart
banksters, but they have to work hard to get there, as well as being
possessed of exceedingly rare physical traits.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Baseball, called the
national pastime since the Great Depression, when out of work men
could pass the long afternoons at the ballpark for less than the
price of a movie, is now played mostly at night in front of well paid
workers by outrageously overpaid players often recruited from
countries where the game is still widely played, such as the
Dominican Republic, the rest of Latin America, and even Japan. Just
as gladiators working the Colosseum during the Roman Empire were
mostly recruited from the distant outposts of the Empire, big league
baseball players increasingly come from the further reaches of the
American Empire.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Basketball is played
from early childhood even to middle age by many people throughout the
US but a minuscule percentage are good enough to even think about
playing pro ball. There are only about fifteen players on each pro
team so the competition for a position on any of those teams is
statistically akin to being elected president, except that to be an
NBA player you have to be really talented. It also helps to be a
tough, agile, two meter tall kid who grew up spending most of his
days shooting baskets in a focused, competitive atmosphere. White
kids aren’t discriminated against as far as I know, but there just
aren’t that many of them with those requisites so by now,
basketball is an almost exclusively black sport, much as ice hockey
and Nascar racing are white sports.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite claims made
by others, football is still the most popular American sport. It
started in colleges such as Harvard, Rutgers and Princeton over a
century ago and college teams still have huge and loyal followings,
often playing in larger stadiums than those used by the pros. The
big college programs have become more and more professional except
that the players don’t get paid. Successful coaches at the big
state universities are often the highest paid employees of their
state. Vast numbers of players go through those schools tuition free
but only a tiny number hit the jackpot and make it to the NFL.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once upon a time,
preppy college boys were squeezed out of big time football by the
sons of Polish steel workers and coal miners from western
Pennsylvania.. Industries and demographics have changed. In 1961
James Meredith was the first black student admitted to the University
of Mississippi, accompanied by federal marshals ordered in by
President Kennedy to protect him from the redneck mobs trying to keep him out. By 1985, Bo
Jackson, one of the greatest athletes in American history, was
winning the Heisman Trophy (for outstanding college football player
of the year) at Auburn, a nearby rival of Ole Miss, in front of huge
cheering crowds of the same sort of people who a generation earlier
would stop at nothing to keep their universities white. Sports have
their dark sides but football (and basketball) have had a role in the
racial integration of the South. There is a delightful irony in
seeing vast crowds of white people across Dixie, from the Carolinas
to Texas, cheering on the black heroes of their alma maters on
Saturdays in autumn. Those players now go on to make up the lion’s share of
NFL rosters.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Players’ salaries
in all pro sports continue to rise but there are warning signs on
the horizon for football. The most discussed problem is the growing
evidence of brain damage among retired players. Measures are being
taken to reduce hits to the head but football is, by its nature, a
spectacularly rough game. If the violence is reduced, will the
spectacle maintain its popularity?</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WyJaFSxPh0o/WzvQGkynvGI/AAAAAAAAA5I/F8UXSEjgCps-ao0BPFUHif1vxZn7InOiQCLcBGAs/s1600/thankyou%2Bmilitary.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="257" data-original-width="341" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WyJaFSxPh0o/WzvQGkynvGI/AAAAAAAAA5I/F8UXSEjgCps-ao0BPFUHif1vxZn7InOiQCLcBGAs/s400/thankyou%2Bmilitary.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It'not Munich or Berlin in the 30's</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A second and less
discussed cloud on the horizon is the cultural divide between team
owners and players. While the majority of players are non-white and
from humble circumstances, the owners of the thirty-two teams are all
billionaires, tending to the far right politically. It is often hard
to determine if NFL games are simply lavish popular entertainments or
recruiting rallies for the Orwellian-named Department of Defense,
which does in fact pay the NFL to promote recruitment. Most games
feature military flyovers, military bands, giant American flags and
large units of uniformed veterans of recent military campaigns
honored in the stands, or sometimes on the field, as our heroes who
have sacrificed to defend our freedoms. The solemnity of the
religious/militaristic rite is marred less by the protests of a few
civic-minded players than by the grotesque mauling of the national
anthem by pop stars trying to be original.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-guonrnVEf0M/WzvQGyxtBAI/AAAAAAAAA5Q/HnneLZiMUyADMVtUSLxln8LrHdzyfyuDACEwYBhgL/s1600/soldiergirls.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="341" height="131" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-guonrnVEf0M/WzvQGyxtBAI/AAAAAAAAA5Q/HnneLZiMUyADMVtUSLxln8LrHdzyfyuDACEwYBhgL/s200/soldiergirls.jpeg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Military girls</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perhaps it’s only
fair that the anthem is routinely trashed since its third stanza,
rarely sung in public, is an ode to the coming defeat of the British
and their efforts to free American slaves in the War of 1812.
Statues of Confederate heroes have been disappearing from public view
recently due to public outcry but the Star Spangled Banner is more of
an affront to the descendants of those slaves than any of those
post-Reconstruction statues.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="color: red;">And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,</span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="color: red;">That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="color: red;">A home and a Country should leave us no more?</span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="color: red;">Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution.</span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="color: red;">No refuge could save the hireling and slave</span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="color: red;">From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,</span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="color: red;">And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave</span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="color: red;">O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TL-L92z3aY4/WzvQGVRxmUI/AAAAAAAAA5U/ZjMnAsSzmgsqOz4n_O_TEAtqwyJDI0LTACEwYBhgL/s1600/CK.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="341" height="150" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TL-L92z3aY4/WzvQGVRxmUI/AAAAAAAAA5U/ZjMnAsSzmgsqOz4n_O_TEAtqwyJDI0LTACEwYBhgL/s200/CK.jpeg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kaepernick and fellow protesters</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">NFL players are in a
very complex position. Coming from underprivileged backgrounds in
stark contrast to those of the owners, they are subjected to
hyper-competition for their jobs. Surviving that competition can
make them extremely wealthy young men but they are also in on-going,
cut-throat negotiations with their employers, who can dump them at
will. Such tensions came to light with Colin Kaepernick, an
incredibly gifted athlete and far better than average quarterback.
During the 2016 season, he refused to stand for the playing of the
National Anthem prior to games to protest the all too frequent
fatal police shootings of young black men and women in cities
throughout the USA. An increasing number of players joined his
protest. Despite a severe shortage of good quarterbacks, the key
position in football, Kaepernick has been without a job for more than
a year and is now suing the owners, alleging a conspiracy to keep him
off the field., a charge which is as difficult to prove as it is
obvious to see. He should be playing but, as a starting quarterback
for a few years, he has already made more money than most Americans
will earn in their lifetimes. Other younger players face bigger
risks to their earnings. Many will no doubt keep their heads down
and their comments to themselves. They walk a fine line between a
return to poverty or a path to unimagined wealth. Still, it’s not
hard to foresee this incendiary environment blowing up at some point.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recently the NFL
announced new rules for the 2018 season. Players will be required to
respectfully stand during the playing of the national anthem, with an
option of remaining in the dressing room until it’s over. Liberal
media and journalists have come down hard on the NFL for suppressing
the First Amendment rights to freedom of speech of the players,
proving nothing so much as how the concern of today’s American
“left” for constitutional rights is directly proportional to the
wealth of the citizens whose rights are at issue. Do any of you who
work in contact with the public, at a bank or a Walmart or an
advertising agency, think that you could show up at work wearing a
badge of support for a cause not supported by your employer?
Journalists should know better, since few of them can write what they
want when it contradicts the views of their employers.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The USA is a big,
influential country with a long list of achievements in politics,
science, art and culture. While our political heritage has fallen
from the gutter into the sewer, a few of our better inventions have
survived. Highest on my list of remaining American things of value
are jazz and football.
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jazz is America’s
music. Fortunately, it has spread to the rest of the world and is
often appreciated more elsewhere than it is at home. It may be
America’s greatest gift to the world and by now, excellent jazz
musicians are emerging from the most unlikely and remote places on
all continents.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">American football
may have evolved from English origins, along with soccer and rugby,
but it is a distinctly American game. Unlike jazz, it has not
effectively spread to the rest of the world, despite the efforts of
the NFL to promote it with a few games in London and Mexico City. Overprotective parents increasingly discourage or forbid their children from playing
it but nevertheless, football is one of the world’s great sports,
both challenging to play and exciting to watch. Many sports feature
remarkable athletic performances but football brings the fascination
of a chess match played on a 100 yard long board with giant moving
chess pieces of diverse capabilities. More than most, it is a
coach’s game, but unlike baseball, that other coach’s game, where
strategy often squeezes out most of the action, football never lacks
for action, except during the TV commercials, which provide welcome
breaks for getting another beer or disposing of the last one.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hope is in short
supply in America right now. The progression from James Meredith to
Bo Jackson lets me hope that the country, despite appearances, is not
beyond redemption. So, for this celebration of the nation’s
independence on the two hundred and forty-second anniversary of the Declaration
of Independence, I propose a toast to Colin Kaepernick. May more of
his colleagues find their voices.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite all its
problems, football must succeed! We have no queen to pledge our
fealty to and no World Cup presence to cheer for. With democracy
banished over the past several electoral cycles and American industry
moribund, what else is left for Americans to rally round?</span></div>
<br />Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026862295263156116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6150277304485808246.post-67885007972716408242018-06-16T23:21:00.000+02:002018-06-16T23:21:37.345+02:00Roads Collapsing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Lvdo3LvoZ5M/WyV094OlxAI/AAAAAAAAA3Y/KyZoxAMHtYInwhf9IIprsAgQf1F8tnrbQCLcBGAs/s1600/crane%2Bat%2Bwork%2B%2528copy%2B1%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="848" data-original-width="646" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Lvdo3LvoZ5M/WyV094OlxAI/AAAAAAAAA3Y/KyZoxAMHtYInwhf9IIprsAgQf1F8tnrbQCLcBGAs/s640/crane%2Bat%2Bwork%2B%2528copy%2B1%2529.jpg" width="483" /></a></div>
<style type="text/css">
@page { margin: 0.79in }
p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120% }
</style>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Everywhere we look,
roads are collapsing. In Rome huge sink holes have developed large
enough to swallow up cars. As the holes open, new Roman ruins are
being discovered. In our Umbrian village one of the two roads
leading out of town has had one edge of the road fall away forty or
fifty centimeters from the road surface. Over the intervening
months,the new cliff has been fenced off, shutting the 1-1/2 lane
road down to one lane. Perhaps our local officials are planning to
make it a tourist attraction, the Umbrian Grand Canyon, or just find
it so interesting, they don’t want to alter it. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0ZrCgsUeQbk/WyV1h9v1MXI/AAAAAAAAA3k/B2MhP1_tYg0kcLpHDSFmYJaEUp6lXXcvACLcBGAs/s1600/MenAtWork%253F%2B%2528copy%2B1%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0ZrCgsUeQbk/WyV1h9v1MXI/AAAAAAAAA3k/B2MhP1_tYg0kcLpHDSFmYJaEUp6lXXcvACLcBGAs/s200/MenAtWork%253F%2B%2528copy%2B1%2529.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Men working, sooner or later.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> There is a
precedent. A few years ago, a section of the same road ,a kilometer
or two down the hill, was undermined by ground water so badly that
the asphalt heaved, creating what amounted to a low wall across the
road. The asphalt had to be scraped away and that section has
remained a stretch of dirt road ever since. It’s a little dusty
but definitely safer than before. Safety is not always a major
concern, as we can see from the way the tall grass has been dealt
with at a sign <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bKb6ywR0L44/WyV1hQWASZI/AAAAAAAAA3o/yTUbSylYbs0zpSxuu-EW04FJt58B_7c6QCEwYBhgL/s1600/downhill%2B%2528copy%2B1%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bKb6ywR0L44/WyV1hQWASZI/AAAAAAAAA3o/yTUbSylYbs0zpSxuu-EW04FJt58B_7c6QCEwYBhgL/s320/downhill%2B%2528copy%2B1%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">The Grand Canyon of Acqualoreto</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
warning of a drainage ditch and concrete culvert along
the road’s edge..</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Region of Umbria
is divided into two provinces, Perugia and Terni. Our village of
Acqualoreto sits just south of the border in the Province of Terni.
Thank God! While I’ve been told by people who should know, that
the provincial governments no longer play much of a role in road
maintenance, for some inexplicable reason the roads <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WDthGUofVew/WyV22mZfNhI/AAAAAAAAA34/V1zJF2ncNCUjERJKlhn3E2LzMkNshIT1wCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN8428.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WDthGUofVew/WyV22mZfNhI/AAAAAAAAA34/V1zJF2ncNCUjERJKlhn3E2LzMkNshIT1wCEwYBhgL/s320/DSCN8428.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">sign warning of ditch & concrete culvert</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
of Perugia, at
least the ones near here, are notably worse than those of Terni.
Last year, a short winding road through the village of Fiore became
virtually impassible. It was “repaired” with all sorts of of
road grading equipment and two or three flagmen to control traffic
over a period of about a week. The road is only a kilometer or two
long but it was repaved in patches, typically 40 to 60 meters long,
where the worst parts were, but the good patches, while passable,
were also very bad. Now they’re worse.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7O8vRbMHxRk/WyV4DNQ5zrI/AAAAAAAAA38/k0FsUdwmMgo4xyIgcB79S0C9cytdSTAEQCLcBGAs/s1600/DSCN8429.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7O8vRbMHxRk/WyV4DNQ5zrI/AAAAAAAAA38/k0FsUdwmMgo4xyIgcB79S0C9cytdSTAEQCLcBGAs/s320/DSCN8429.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">unpatched with patch beyond</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kZgHGMoB1sU/WyV4jVKAiLI/AAAAAAAAA4c/In_Vw1AHpNUGInUlpNdK8dlouGexmJ6DQCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN8433.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kZgHGMoB1sU/WyV4jVKAiLI/AAAAAAAAA4c/In_Vw1AHpNUGInUlpNdK8dlouGexmJ6DQCEwYBhgL/s320/DSCN8433.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">more quiltwork</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">All around us,
roads, from winding country roads to superstrade (non-toll divided
highways) are full of so many potholes and degraded surfaces that
driving becomes hazardous, as drivers, instead of just gliding along
in their lane, swerve erratically to avoid the rough patches. We’ve
had a strange winter, not especially cold, except for about one week
in late February when temperatures were dramatically below below
normal, touching -15°C and causing a number of pipes to burst.
There was an unusual amount of rain. What then was the cause? Some
suggest that the abundant rain undermined the roads and the frost
damaged the pavement. Northern Europe had an abnormally cold winter
so how are the roads in Germany and Scandinavia holding up? Is it
just an occasional bad year and things will return to normal next
year? We hope so but that’s what we thought about the olive
harvest and we’ve now had four bad years in a row. Perhaps it’s
all the wrath of a judgmental God, fed up with what we’re doing to
His creation.</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-71MJ5XVVVI0/WyV4pofwcWI/AAAAAAAAA4o/XlwOggJsth0njyjsQu7aqyMsPR7xhJmTQCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN8436.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-71MJ5XVVVI0/WyV4pofwcWI/AAAAAAAAA4o/XlwOggJsth0njyjsQu7aqyMsPR7xhJmTQCEwYBhgL/s200/DSCN8436.JPG" width="150" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">difficult road to the pizzeria</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Italy is
experiencing a long running economic crisis and has somewhat
decentralized funding of government functions to the regions. Is
rural Umbria too underpopulated to afford road maintenance? If so,
what about the streets of Rome, with their unprecedented potholes?
Surely, there’s no lack of population to pay for its roads.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xONCVZZVRqA/WyV7j9PqqbI/AAAAAAAAA44/P6IsmkXBZV8VAUl7nOsfbsQKy1-NJ9iUACLcBGAs/s1600/Romanpothole.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xONCVZZVRqA/WyV7j9PqqbI/AAAAAAAAA44/P6IsmkXBZV8VAUl7nOsfbsQKy1-NJ9iUACLcBGAs/s400/Romanpothole.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Giant Roman pothole</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We’ve heard that
American infrastructure is underfunded and crumbling. At least we
know how that happened. Once the masses were convinced that that
government was the problem, not the solution, there was no money
available for anything useful to the public, so schools, hospitals,
airports and parks share the same fate as roads and bridges. Has
this spread to Italy? Has climate change already changed the earth’s
surface more than we thought? Does anyone have a clue? Is this a
series of natural disasters or unusually bad administration?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Whatever the cause,
it doesn’t seem like non maintenance of roads is especially good
for the economy. Delivering goods gets to be difficult, and those
tourists that we increasingly depend on for infusions of cash can’t
be getting the most positive impression. Italy used to be a
delightful place to drive, with its winding, hilly roads and
non-problematic speed limits. Truck-filled autostrade and an obscene
number of speed traps on the small roads have removed most of the joy
of driving. Cars have gotten bigger and their drivers
proportionately worse so unmaintained roads are just the latest
affront.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Then again, paved
roads are sooo 20<sup>th</sup> Century! Before 1970 few country
roads around here were paved and then, suddenly, they all were.
Driverless cars are said to be coming but they may be rendered
unnecessary before they arrive. A new era is almost at hand. Amazon
will be delivering all the merchandise we require by unmanned
drones. With a complete virtual existence and all material needs at
your door, who needs roads?</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q68ymmrMWlM/WyV7TlzY5vI/AAAAAAAAA40/oKrK8lKxBTAE5C3ZAMQa-xqlKxpTsGk5QCEwYBhgL/s1600/amazondrone.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="341" height="296" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q68ymmrMWlM/WyV7TlzY5vI/AAAAAAAAA40/oKrK8lKxBTAE5C3ZAMQa-xqlKxpTsGk5QCEwYBhgL/s400/amazondrone.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">The wave of the future</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026862295263156116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6150277304485808246.post-48331322363202611612018-05-29T00:39:00.001+02:002018-05-29T00:39:38.082+02:00Return Trip
<style type="text/css">
@page { margin: 0.79in }
p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120% }
</style>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It's often noted
that the later stages of life come to resemble the early ones. The
cycle of life seems to hit its apex in the striving, self-important
years, then retirees come to resemble carefree adolescents before
succumbing to the vulnerability of the first stages of life. The
English phrase “losing one's marbles” is roughly equivalent to
becoming “rimbambito” in Italian, i.e. becoming a baby again.
Yes, we do sometimes revert to our earlier stages.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ykpOOnjel-w/WwyBwNWVWaI/AAAAAAAAA28/e8-opCh6oNY9i3yq4xYvCYkeY6Yq4eipwCLcBGAs/s1600/Cycle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="798" height="147" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ykpOOnjel-w/WwyBwNWVWaI/AAAAAAAAA28/e8-opCh6oNY9i3yq4xYvCYkeY6Yq4eipwCLcBGAs/s200/Cycle.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I've discovered some
of that symmetry in my own life cycle while traveling recently. My
very first foray into Europe was in my student years and in Italy I
found myself particularly vulnerable. I hitch-hiked my way from Nice
almost to Rome but having gotten to Viterbo at about 10:00 PM, I
decided to take a train for the last leg to Rome. Hitch-hiking is
not a very effective means of transport late at night on country
roads, especially in a country where you don't speak the language.
People were all very friendly, from the university students who
accompanied me to the Viterbo Station, to the man who accosted me
when I descended from the train at midnight in Rome's Termini
Station. Asking if I needed a cheap place to stay, this man, who
I'll call Aldo, because I seem to recall that was his name, said he
knew an inexpensive place to stay in someone's apartment but for the
night at hand, he knew a closer place only a little less cheap.
While suspicious, I did need a place to sleep and had no clue where
that might be, so I followed him to the first appartment and slept
there without incident. Aldo implausibly claimed to be a doctor who
just liked to help students and he showed up the next morning to
accompany me to the other place in a residential neighborhood south
of the center, stopping here and there for coffee, which he
generously paid for. He introduced me to the woman in whose
apartment I'd be staying, although she understood no more English
than I understood Italian. Aldo couldn't have been more helpful. He
suggested that if I really wanted to see all the sights in and around
Rome, it was essential that I rent a car, if only for a day. His
English was passable when he wanted to explain something but if
questioned, his English instantly faded to a memory. Despite some
apprehension, and no doubt due to the gullibility of youth, I
acquiesced to the pitch and soon we were sailing around the city in a
rented Fiat with Aldo at the wheel, looking a little like a bad copy
of Vittorio Gassman in Il Sorpasso.. We were joined by two of his
girlfriends for a ride out to Ostia. I failed to pursue the
opportunities presented there, which might well have found me
stranded naked in a pine grove, and we headed back to the city for
more sight-seeing, which extended to a night club in the wee hours.
As I reached the point of exhaustion, Aldo said fine, he'd take me
back to the apartment and then return to the club and he'd see me in
the morning. As you may have guessed, he didn't turn up the next
morning and when I hastily returned to the car rental place I was
told that everything was OK, “my friend” had returned the car and
taken the deposit. I was furious but in reality, he had shown me a
good time and served as a guide to Rome. I was fortunate. When I
returned to the apartment I discovered that two young American women
were also staying there and had been similarly ripped off by Aldo.
They had come with their own rental car loaded with gifts they'd
bought on their tour, but which their designated recipients would
never see. We spent the next few days dividing our time between
sight-seeing and looking for Aldo, vowing that if we saw him before
he saw us, we'd kill him. We never saw him again.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The apartment was OK
and seemed to fit my meager budget, but it wasn't as cheap as I'd
thought. If it was to have cost Lit.3,000 a night, it came to
something like Lit.7,000, because I'd taken a shower or a bath, and
possibly turned on some lights. Toto's wonderfully comic movies were
not made of fantasy. That's the way it was. Everything cost more
than it was said to cost. The price of a modest meal wasn't what you
planned because the cover charge and charges for bread, water and
service could double the bill. Taxis had surcharges for baggage,
round trips, holiday or nighttime service and for rate hikes that had
not yet been installed on the meter. I got out of the country with a
sigh of relief, escaping to the relaxed and secure atmosphere of
Germany, despite having been completely enchanted by the beauty of
the cities, the countryside and the women of Italy. The enchantment
remained and the nervousness abated over time to the point where I've
managed to live more than half my life very happily in Italy.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I've come to
understand the post-war Italian mindset. Times were tough. Food was
scarce and people learned or invented the tricks of survival. Once
learned, those tricks turned into habits which persisted even after
conditions had become notably better. The techniques of survival
were ably documented by masters of the Italian cinema such as Totò,
Gassman and Alberto Sordi.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Decades have passed
and again I live on a restricted budget, as in my student days.
Faced with the need to attend a family ceremony in London, I sought
an economic means of getting there. Despite all these years of
living in Italy, I am, for better and often for worse, still an
American, and what are our most deeply held values? Low prices and
convenience!! Closer to our hearts than mom, apple pie or the
Constitution! The Perugia airport is only fifty-five km from our
house and Ryanair offers seemingly the lowest prices to London, so
just as I followed Aldo to that bargain apartment, I booked us on
Ryanair.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ryanair is operated
by an Irishman, Michael O'Leary. I have met many Irishmen in recent
years and have found them all to be unfailingly friendly, kind and
generous. I'm not counting those who escaped the potato famine to
become policemen in the USA. Their comportment is uniquely American.
Perhaps not all Irishmen are like the ones I know. After all, not
all Italians are like Aldo. Maybe only the best of Irishmen are
drawn to Italy. Some of the others, especially those of the Enron
generation, run airlines or banks Aldo managed to fleece three
tourists in two days. He was good at his vocation but Ryanair
processes thousands every day. What a shame that Alberto Sordi did
not live long enough to depict O’Leary in a film.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ryanair did remind
me of those old days in Rome. The airfares they sold us seemed
reasonable</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">but we each needed
to bring along a suitcase, which nearly doubled the fare, not
altogether unreasonably since they occupied about as much space as we
did.. Always hoping to please my nervous wife, I opted for travel
insurance and on-line check-in, figuring that the latter would assure
us of assigned seats before getting to the airport. Not exactly!
The boarding pass did arrive via email a few days before departure.
An earlier statement from the airline said we could bring aboard a
stowable carry-on bag but it seems that when the privilege of
checking a bag is purchased, the carry-on privilege is rescinded.
Our seats were indeed assigned prior to our departure, middle seats
several rows apart. Recourse was available for nearly all
inconveniences. For a fee we could change our seats, with a number
of pricing options. There were enough other options available to run
the price up to that of a business class ticket but none which could
get you a seat suitable for average human dimensions. Of course, our
assigned seats were next to occupied seats so if we wanted to sit
together, we'd have to change both seats.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Once I'd paid the
fees for the new seats and the carry-on bag I realized that I'd have
to do this again for the return trip so I tried to check in for the
return flight before leaving home. The Ryanair website seemed to
work and I selected new seats and the carry-on option and proceeded
to the pay page to enter my data. Something failed and when I
returned to the site, it no longer acknowledged our reservation
number, adding a layer of apprehension to the frustration.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In London, another
try yielded a similar result, but three or four days prior to
departure we received an email with the usual diabolically selected
seats, which we managed to change, along with buying the carry-on
option.
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Given that the
Ryanair flights leave at the crack of dawn from Stansted, which is
somewhere in the north of England, we decided to go there the night
before the flight and stay in the hotel attached to the airport.
That was uneventful except that the electronic key cards to the rooms
are apparently programmed to function only in the hands of British
subjects. Fortunately we found some helpful Brits. As an architect,
I like the Stansted Airport, with its light, airy roof and sense of
open space. Unfortunately, the interior circulation was apparently
not entrusted to the designer of the building. My guess is that it
was done by Michael O'Leary himself. If there was any consultant
involved, it would have to have been a moonlighting Gina Haspel, or
someone of similar tendencies and experience. Normal people want to
get from the airport entrance to their plane as quickly and simply as
possible. Current security concerns do create an unwanted obstacle
but beyond that, the passengers' needs are basically having a toilet,
a newsstand and a cup of coffee with which to ingest their
tranquilizers.
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Checking in at the
Perugia airport had been very easy except for the suspicious looks
and thorough screening I got when traveling with an American passport
but we knew that getting through Stansted would be no piece of cake,
so we started looking into getting a wheelchair for my wife, who was
not confident of surviving the procedure. At the airport we found a
very pleasant, helpful man at the assistance station who provided us
with the wheelchair and told us to just follow the purple line. This
man had no connection with Ryanair and he's a credit to England. We
may have been flustered by the speed with which the purple line took
us through security. After wheeling through the unnerving spiral of
the mega-shopping center on the way to the departure gates, I asked
my wife where her carry-on was. In the confusion, I had forgotten
all about it and sitting pretty in her wheel chair, she figured I had
stowed it under the chair. I told her if the flight was called, just
get on it and I'd try to join her later, and then I fought my way
back upstream through the British version of the Mall of America to
the security area. The bag was sitting there just as we'd left it
and I raced back through the mall from hell for the third time just
before the departure gate was due to close. Actually it hadn't
opened yet.
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We eventually
departed thirty minutes late, with the usual safety instructions read
in an indecipherable eastern sounding dialect, which, from the
familiar “thank you” at the end of each blurb, we realized was an
attempt at English. After an uneventful flight, enlivened by
conversation with a pleasant man from Oxfordshire on his way to view
to view the Giro d'Italia, we had another soft crash landing in
Perugia, just like the one in Stansted a week earlier. The plane
bounced, shook, shimmied, and braked hard to a stop. Both times,
visibility was good. Was the landing done on autopilot with a
defective computer hacked by Russians, or was it a training flight?
A more radical explanation would be that the premium item in the
Ryanair seating auction was the captain's chair. After all, every
year in F1 racing some young driver magically appears in the cockpit
of a minor team, his wealthy father having provided enough
sponsorship money to keep the team going for the season. Young race
drivers are not flustered by minor crashes so our pilot may have been
the same for both legs of the trip. Our fellow passengers refrained
from applause at our survival and everyone exited the plane as if
nothing had happened. No visible damage was seen but how often can a
plane take this sort of abuse before those little curled up wingtips
go limp?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We were relieved to
get back to Perugia and while we were quickly off the plane, there
was a long wait for our baggage. The dog who eagerly sniffed all of
us as we filed into the airport apparently was the only dog on duty
so after he had checked us he was taken to process the bags backstage
before they could be loaded onto the carousel. Best of all, our car
was still there in the parking lot, I hadn't lost the keys, and the
car started.</span></div>
<br />
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Just as I can look
back on my early misadventures in Rome with a certain bemusement by
now, realizing that no irreparable damage was done, back in the
safety of my home I can now admit that Ryanair got us to and from
London for less than the price of a high speed train ticket and in
somewhat less time. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AKntsyWs8P8/WwyCdnVFzyI/AAAAAAAAA3M/khNAnbURN4Iw-tSwATMh6A5NNlbHAfNjQCEwYBhgL/s1600/DSCN8325.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AKntsyWs8P8/WwyCdnVFzyI/AAAAAAAAA3M/khNAnbURN4Iw-tSwATMh6A5NNlbHAfNjQCEwYBhgL/s400/DSCN8325.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> We enjoyed our time in London among family and
friends with its fine weather and splendid spring flowers. For
nomadic adolescents traveling with little money and less baggage, I
can recommend Ryanair. Just skip the extras, practice yoga for a few
days prior to the trip, eat something before you get to the airport,
and take some Xanax or whatever works for you. However, I will take
inspiration from our friend Carol, who divides her time between
Umbria and New York City. After returning to NY last autumn on
American Airlines, she said enough is enough and booked her spring
return to Italy on Holland American Lines. She returned looking more
relaxed than ever after a comfortable fifteen day passage. We may
skip the ship to England next time but the train is looking better
and better as an option.</span></div>
<br />Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026862295263156116noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6150277304485808246.post-92195899755602980332018-03-11T18:55:00.000+01:002018-03-11T18:57:15.298+01:00Upside Down Italian Politics<style type="text/css">
@page { margin: 0.79in }
p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120% }
</style>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
To most outside
observers and many inside the country, Italian politics have always
seemed anarchic. I've often lamented the use of the terms
“conservative” and “liberal” because there's little
conservative about about present day conservatives, while “liberal”
has economic connotations usually at odds with social issue
applications of the term. “Progressive” is even more problematic
in that one woman's progress may be seen as regression by another.
I've tended to favor the old French idea of the left and the right,
with the right looking after the interests of the rich and powerful
while the left tends to the needs of the poor, the workers and the
powerless.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Alas, current
Italian politics has thrown all the categories into a hat, shaken
them and dumped out the random bits into scarcely recognizable units.
We've just had parliamentary elections and journalists continue to
write in abeyance to their historic allegiances. A recent electoral
law, crafted by the Partito Democratico, assigns extra seats in
Parliament to the coalition of parties garnering the most votes so
that the possibility that a ruling coalition can be formed is
enhanced. It also enhances the possibility that the powers-that-be
hold on to their power. In the recent election there were three main
groups in contention.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-G5jqpdfLIJU/WqVbRry2j8I/AAAAAAAAA2U/JHzl9HVVEjQJ65p7mHqelx28xxuSgXDVACLcBGAs/s1600/Silvio.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="231" data-original-width="341" height="133" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-G5jqpdfLIJU/WqVbRry2j8I/AAAAAAAAA2U/JHzl9HVVEjQJ65p7mHqelx28xxuSgXDVACLcBGAs/s200/Silvio.jpeg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Silvio Berlusconi</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: blue;">The Center-Right was
formed by Forza Italia, the party created by Silvio Berlusconi prior
to his first term as premier, and with which he was attempting a
political comeback, and by La Lega (the League) which was formerly La
Lega Nord, when its objective was secession from the decadent,
parasitic south. Berlusconi is the prototype for Donald Trump, a
vulgar, corrupt, misogynist, hard-driving business man, who by hook
or crook, became Italy's richest man, and has parlayed his economic
success and domination of the media into political power. His
success in ignoring the concept of conflict of interest changed those
standards throughout the western world enough to allow Trump's
conduct, previously unimaginable in the United States, to go
unhindered. Ineligible to run as a candidate himself due to a
conviction for tax fraud, Berlusconi hoped to be the de facto head of
a new government. In the recent political campaign he seemed to take
scripts verbatim from Ronald Reagan's 1980 speeches promoting tax
cuts to raise tax revenues, described at the time by Big George Bush
as voodoo economics. In this case, Berlusconi was pushing his own
proposal for a flat tax, which would net him a personal gain not
unlike the gift Trump has given himself with his huge tax cuts for
the very rich. Despite being as fast and loose with the truth as
some of his US counterparts, Berlusconi has had some good ideas. As
premier, he made an agreement with Col. Gaddafi to halt the departure
of illegal migrants from Libyan shores. Now, with Gaddafi murdered
and the flow of migrants swamping Italy, he proposes to repatriate
the majority of them and to start what he refers to as a “Marshall
Plan” for Africa to improve conditions there. It's probably the
most reasonable proposal on the issue heard during the campaign but
Italians have probably seen enough of Berlusconi. His party came in
behind that of Salvini, a humiliation he did not really expect. La
Lega will have about 3% more seats in both the Senate and the Chamber
of Deputies than Forza Italia but the coalition will have about
31-32% of the total seats in the two houses of Parliament.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6eD5mpCfh5w/WqVbRmYeOaI/AAAAAAAAA2Q/fhBwydGtDuoawh-fuAh7rCqs0AFNhrcuQCEwYBhgL/s1600/Salvini%2Bat%2Bwork.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="227" data-original-width="341" height="132" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6eD5mpCfh5w/WqVbRmYeOaI/AAAAAAAAA2Q/fhBwydGtDuoawh-fuAh7rCqs0AFNhrcuQCEwYBhgL/s200/Salvini%2Bat%2Bwork.jpeg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Matteo Salvini</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: blue;">His main partner in
the center-right coalition is Matteo Salvini, the brusque
forty-four-year-old leader of the Lega, whose truculent manner and
anti-EU stance, along with his fierce objection to uncontrolled
immigration, has convinced the foreign press to label him a
neo-fascist threat. His early political career in 1998 was as a
leader of the “comunisti padani” and member of the governing town
council of Milan, most notably promoting the legalization of
marijuana. Salvini has reversed his stance on that while moving from
one end of the political spectrum to the other. The Northern
League's policy of advocating secession of the north switched to
advocacy of secession from the EU, necessitating a change of name, as
the League moved to garner support from all parts of the country,
especially the disaffected south. In light of such changes of course,
his reputation for intransigence may be overstated. He has little
depth but his plain-spoken advocacy seems to be in the service of the
people of his region, rather than at the bidding of the international
oligarchs who employ his American GOP counterparts. While Salvini
and Berlusconi have pledged to get along, Berlusconi is strongly
pro-Europe while Salvini has advocated leaving both the Euro and the
EU. Called neo-fascist by the nervous foreign press, and by much of
the Italian press, Salvini has proposed returning the illegal (i.e.
undocumented in today's terminology) immigrants to where they came
from, much like virtually the entire US Republican congressional
contingent, but unlike Senator Marco Rubio, who very recently
advocated publicly the military overthrow of the elected Venezuelan
Government, he has advocated no invasions of other countries. If the
NYT has labeled Senator Rubio a dangerous neo-fascist, I missed it.
The actual neo-fascists available to Italian voters were in two other
parties, Fratelli d'Italia, which is the latest name for the group of
far right people whose grandfathers were supporters of Mussolini but
who have evolved into something considerably less right-wing than any
Republican in public office in Ohio or Kansas. They ran within the
center-right coalition and took just over 4% of the vote. The
unapologetic fascists, running independently as Casapound Italia,
took a small percentage of the vote, not even close to the 4%
threshold required to be assigned any seats in Parliament.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DcW8cNRdTIo/WqVbRe0uvMI/AAAAAAAAA2g/WUE7UaKuCdQSxIBT-914cFRQk8DYBd4_gCEwYBhgL/s1600/Renzi.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="227" data-original-width="341" height="132" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DcW8cNRdTIo/WqVbRe0uvMI/AAAAAAAAA2g/WUE7UaKuCdQSxIBT-914cFRQk8DYBd4_gCEwYBhgL/s200/Renzi.jpeg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Matteo Renzi</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #990000;">The center-left
coalition was headed up by Matteo Renzi, who served as Prime Minister
until he called for a referendum to alter the Italian Constitution,
replacing it with a new one drawn up by JP Morgan with the help of
Tony Blair. Ostensibly, the new Constitution would have made
governing easier by placing control of the country in the hands of
fewer people. The Senate would be eliminated as an elective body and
as a voting entity. It would live on as a figurehead institution
housing elder statesmen with a nice salary and benefits. Former
heads of the Partito Democratico such as Massimo D'Alema and Pier
Luigi Bersani openly opposed this referendum, even publicly warning
that the proposed constitution was dangerous, yet Renzi prevailed in
the party, echoing the success of the right wing of the Democratic
Party in the US, on which he has modeled his career. The referendum
failed badly and while Renzi resigned as Prime Minister in favor of
his colleague Paolo Gentiloni, he retained control of the PD. While
Matteo Salvini could be faulted for his many radical shifts of
program, the same could not be said about Matteo Renzi. He has been
steadfast in advocating measures, including all manner of
privatization, that would take political decisions out of the hands
of the voting public, assigning ever greater power to bankers and
corporations. Prior to his attempt to replace the constitution, he
unapologetically supported the TTIP, a trade agreement designed to
end the legislative sovereignty of both the EU and its member
nations.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #990000;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #990000;">A good deal of false
information comes out during political campaigns. When it is not
challenged, the silence tends to serve as confirmation, but certainly
not a reliable one. Throughout the campaign, it was routinely stated
that 15 million Italians live in poverty. I never heard that denied
or refuted. This is a country of about sixty million people! Has
any other country in the world been damaged as much or more by
globalization? I don't know but in 1982, Italy's GNP surpassed that
of the UK and Italy became the second largest economy in Europe and
the fifth, or even fourth, largest in the world. It didn't last
long. Corruption, which exploded in the Mani Pulite<a href="http://www.theconversation.com/looking-back-at-1992-italys-horrible-year-66739"> scandals of1992</a>, devastated the country, but globalization possibly did as much.
Italians had made just about everything, often the very best goods
in any number of sectors, from food to textiles, fashion, leather
goods, steel, glass, ceramics, optics, high performance automobiles.
Food remains an important part of the economy but much of the rest is
gone. Some Italian companies have survived by moving their
production to low wage countries. Italian workers have simply been
dumped. Italy is widely perceived as an idyllic countryside with
great food, splendid monuments and art. That's all true but many
cities off the tourist path have been reduced to a rather grim state
with high unemployment, especially among the young. University
enrollments expanded throughout the post-WWII era but in the past few
years university enrollments have declined dramatically and large
numbers of recent graduates have been leaving to find more
opportunities in other countries. None of this augurs well for the
future of the country.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #990000;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #990000;">Another unchallenged
statement, emanating from Silvio Berlusconi, during the campaign was
that the government had acquiesced to EU pressure to take in all the
refugees that washed up on the shores of Sicily. While Berlusconi
may be almost as fast and loose with the truth as Donald Trump, how
else does one explain the supernatural passivity of the Italian
Government in maintaining its borders? In the last few months before
the election, the minister of the Interior did take effective action,
but it was too little, too late. I often suggest that the bombing of
Libya by France, the UK and the US would be comparable to the bombing
of all US border crossing points by a foreign power. Many of us in
Italy wondered what was wrong with the Italian police and military?
They're not stopping this invasion. I stand by my comparison.
However, if this accord was reached by the Italian Government, a more
accurate paragon would be the US, under pressure from a foreign
power, let's say Canada, simply closing all crossing stations along
its southern borders and allowing traffic to flow unhindered and
uncontrolled. I realize that there are many people who would
consider that a noble goal. After all, look at the borders of
Holland and Belgium for example. I would urge such people to go into
an induced deep sleep and wake up in a new and better era.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #990000;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #990000;">Yet
another bit of information, this time from <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-27/ultra-wealthy-drawn-to-italy-lured-by-tax-break-official-says">Bloomberg News</a>,
slipped in under the radar. The announcement that the PD government
had introduced a policy allowing wealthy individuals willing to
establish residency in Italy to receive a flat income tax bill of
€100,000 per year. This is not without precedent. Small countries
around the world give outrageous tax breaks to lure rich residents.
US states bankrupt themselves through tax giveaways to big
corporations in exchange for their moving factories there. Still,
while Berlusconi's self-enriching flat tax is consistent with the
traditional values of the right, this proposal is not a flat tax rate
but a flat tax amount, i.e. a regressive variable tax rate, with the
rate growing ever lower as the wealth of the newly recruited
immigrant grows higher. Yes, an annual tax bill of €100,000 seems
almost like science fiction to most of us but for someone with a
million Euro income, that's only 10%. Even some NFL back-up
quarterbacks are making $5 M per year. Policies sometimes have
unintended consequences. If Donald Trump hears about this, he might
resign his office and move to Florence. Even the tax policies he's
enacted himself couldn't help him that much. This policy comes from
the Democratic Party (PD), not the one of Andrew Jackson, but the one
derived from the Partito Democratico dell Sinistra, the workers'
party, which in turn was the new name taken by the old Partito
Comunista Italiano after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the
dissolution of most of the major parties in the fallout from Mani
Pulite.</span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #990000;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #990000;">Following
his role models, Tony Blair and Obama/Clinton, in taking the major party
of the left to the hyper-capitalist right, Matteo Renzi led the
Partito Democratico to a catastrophic loss in the recent elections.
From number one, the party has slipped to number two, with about 19%
of the seats in Parliament, a percentage dwarfed by the combined
totals of the two principal parties of the center-right coalition.
That brings us to the third ingredient in the electoral pot.
</span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OeHa9dJKNyw/WqVcs_lxrRI/AAAAAAAAA2o/kNnXRYEs6FEttBZqP6_GAIF6OZLd8Y2vgCEwYBhgL/s1600/Grillo.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="202" data-original-width="341" height="118" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OeHa9dJKNyw/WqVcs_lxrRI/AAAAAAAAA2o/kNnXRYEs6FEttBZqP6_GAIF6OZLd8Y2vgCEwYBhgL/s200/Grillo.jpeg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beppe Grillo</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13;">Beppe
Grillo was a very successful Italian comedian who developed a large
popular </span><span style="color: #274e13; text-align: center;">following but whose irreverence for the ruling class came to
get him banished from Italian TV. He continued to perform for large
live audiences. His comedy, sharp and bitter but engaged, was
reminiscent of that of Lenny Bruce and Dick Gregory.. I tend to
think of him as the Italian George Carlin, but he's more than that.
He apparently tired of simply railing at the political establishment
and decided to do something, and like Berlusconi, he founded his own
party, the Five Star Movement, in 2009 He considered it a movement,
not a party. Also like Berlusconi, he was ineligible to run for
public office himself, having been convicted for his responsibility
in a traffic accident which resulted in the death of a person.
Berlusconi's crime was tax fraud, which happened after his entry into
politics, although he has been indicted on a number of other charges.
Grillo based his movement, and its name, on five principal themes:
public water, sustainable transport, sustainable politics, the right
to internet access, and environmentalism. He also insisted that
anyone running under the M5S banner pledge to give back half of his
or her salary to the government, based on his widely shared belief
that Italian parliamentarians are over paid and too many in number
(e.g. 968 vs 535 in the US Congress). Much like Bernie Sanders in the
US, his campaign has attracted many young and enthusiastic people,
fed up with the corrupt and inept political establishment. The M5S
got the most votes in the 2013 election for the Chamber of Deputies,
but not being in a coalition meant they were assigned only 109 of the
630 seats. This year they swept Italy south of Rome, where the
problems of poverty and the wave of migrants have hit the hardest.
The M5S is now the largest party in Italy with over 32% of the seats
in Parliament but still outnumbered by the center-right coalition
with 36% of the seats.</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e8W9vsvlGIA/WqVcs65KrhI/AAAAAAAAA2s/_Mbj3fldzvYm7VG7S0TAn62BgAeg8Z1pgCEwYBhgL/s1600/Di%2BMaio.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="142" data-original-width="341" height="133" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e8W9vsvlGIA/WqVcs65KrhI/AAAAAAAAA2s/_Mbj3fldzvYm7VG7S0TAn62BgAeg8Z1pgCEwYBhgL/s320/Di%2BMaio.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Luigi Di Maio</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13;">The
Grillini, as they're often called, have been much criticized for
being inexperienced in politics. The criticism is valid but their
response is concentrated on their integrity. Many of their
candidates have been recruited from positions in various professions,
from medicine to scientific research, law, information technology and
economics. While they may be good in their fields, most of them
have little experience in political office. Luigi Di Maio, the new
head of the party, and candidate for premier, via an on-line primary,
is only thirty-one years old. While he studied engineering and law
at the university, he left before obtaining a degree to join the
newly formed M5S and at twenty-six became the youngest
parliamentarian to become the vice-president of the Chamber of
Deputies. His elevation in the party may be somewhat due to having
more political experience than most of the candidates in the party,
despite his youth, but he really hasn't worked at anything else. M5S
internet ads have shown the faces and resumès of some of their young
recruits alongside those of their direct electoral opponents, most of
them right out of central casting for classic villains. They have
also pointed out that among the hundreds of candidates put up by the
two large coalitions, each slate has about a score of convicted
felons in its ranks, while the M5S has none. Given the election
results,<a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/matteo-renzi-italy-election-democratic-party-5star-movement-abruzzo-star-fades/"> many Italians </a>apparently preferred to take their chances
with inexperienced bright young people rather than with entrenched
veterans of the political swamp.</span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13;">The
party proposes a minimum income for all citizens, a controversial
stand but one that addresses a problem rarely talked about anywhere
in the modern world. Research and technology are working madly to
eliminate jobs. Artificial intelligence is thought to be the wave of
the future, eliminating vast swaths of jobs, but little attention is
devoted to how people will survive if work is eliminated.
</span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #274e13;">The M5S
has been described as anti-Europe or anti-EU but it might be more
accurate to describe the EU as being anti-Europe. It was the French,
English and Americans, not the EU, that attacked Libya, unleashing
the flood of refugees. The EU did nothing. Just imagine the
militias of Kansas and Utah joining up with the Argentine military to
bomb Juarez, while the US Government did nothing about it. Would it
be Mississippi, or California this time, to consider the idea of
secession? Once the damage had been done, Italy asked the EU for
help with the migrant problem but was told by Germany that the
Italian borders and the refugees entering were Italy's problem. When
the migrants started crossing from Italy into France, the French who,
under Sarkozy, had precipitated the crisis, closed their borders in
violation of the basic tenets of the European Union. When the EU was
formed, Italy was among the most enthusiastic of all the original
members. Most Italians still appreciate the convenience of the
single currency, whether they are tourists or businessmen, but many
are also realizing that the economic union is badly flawed and favors
some of the more prosperous members at the expense of the poorer ones
to the south. Another common view is that the EU is a
center of smug, out-of-touch highly paid bureaucrats responsible to
no one. I would add that they intervene in local rules and regulations without
hesitation but barely manage a whimper in response to the most
egregious examples of American imperialism. The NYT may see the
winners of the election as pro-Putin but the reality that US regime
media don't want to acknowledge is that sanctions imposed by the US
on Russia and Iran have damaged Italy and other EU members almost as
much as they have harmed the targeted countries.</span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
What
lies ahead? Renzi has said he would resign but not until a new
government is formed and he's determined that the PD will not
cooperate with any party outside his coalition, more or less
guaranteeing that a new government cannot be formed. He sounds like
a petulant child, combining the worst traits of both Donald Trump and
Hillary Clinton. That leaves it up to President Sergio Mattarella to
figure out a solution. Good luck Mr. President! As I prepare to
distribute this post, I've heard that the PD has told Renzi to leave,
<u>now</u>. That may be the best news of the week.</div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Once,
all roads led to Rome. Now, nobody knows which way is right, which
way is left, which way is up? Do all paths lead downward? Stay
tuned.</div>
<br />Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026862295263156116noreply@blogger.com7