#he's broke he's doing So much fraud he's roaming all of europe

[the-crooked-library]

I liked how in Nosferatu it’s shown that Ellen not only leaves Thomas behind, lets him go, but she effectively remarries, by dressing up in wedding gown and pledging herself to Orlok and then consumating their sort of marriage. Orlok came before Thomas as Ellen’s dark suitor and Ellen ended up in the end with Orlok, not Thomas. Lilacs as running theme also support it because they are associated with Orlok so even when Ellen was marrying Thomas with lilacs on her head she was involving Orlok into her marriage.

Yes, the lilacs!.. God, the lilacs. She wore them throughout the film, on her dresses, in her hair, as a scent - they're such a prominent motif, and it's very clear that she was never able to let go of her occult nature entirely, despite her very best efforts to conform. The way Orlok reacts to the scent of them in the locket is so telling, too!.. It must've felt like a secret note, passed in code - my first love, I've never forgotten you. Come to me. The hesitation, the slight trembling in his hands as he holds it. The way he keeps it without question, the way he can't resist opening it just to catch the scent - again, again, again. There is something so vulnerable about their connection, on either side.

I think that's why their consummation is so tender sdksjgdjh

[racingtoaredlight]

Opening Bell: July 7, 2017

President Donald Trump is in Hamburg, Germany for a meeting of the G-20, the world’s 20 most industrialized nations. Yesterday, he gave a speech in which he blamed Russia for much of the destabilization taking place in Europe and abroad and reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to NATO; something which he pointedly failed to do during his first foreign policy speech abroad in May. The president also warned that western values continue to be threatened by terrorism and, presumably, the refugee crisis that it creates. Unlike previous presidential speeches, however, the values Trump stressed were of social and cultural ones, not principles of democratic governance. This might seem like nitpicking, and at some level it probably is, but it is nonetheless striking given that many democratically elected leaders in Europe, especially eastern Europe, have decried the loss of culture through the emigration of refugees to their borders. Anytime a political leader makes a distinction between cultural and political values, it also signifies the possibility that one notion can override the other.

On the sidelines of the G-20 meetings, Trump is expected to meet with several European leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time. David Nakamura of the Washington Post has a fascinating dive into what it is like to meet and negotiate with Vladimir Putin in person. While both Putin and Trump are forceful personalities, Nakamura highlights key differences, notably that Putin is not given over to theatrics in private that Trump is, and is in fact mild-mannered and even soft-spoken while he tallies up a litany of complaints he has for the foreign leader he is meeting with. Former Obama administration diplomat Steven Pifer gives five tips for Trump to follow in his first meeting with the Russian president. 

 Meanwhile, the president had strong words for North Korea three days after the hermit-nation successfully tested its first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). Trump warned of “pretty severe consequences” in North Korea did not back off of testing long range missiles. What these consequences might be, however, is unclear. Further sanctions are said to have broad support within the UN Security Council, though if Trump does not moderate his comments about North Korea, Russia or China could exercise their veto of any resolution which targets Pyongyang with further sanctions. The other possibility would appear to be military action of some type. While virtually no one is in favor of all out war with Kim Jong Un, even the possibility of surgical strikes which specifically target the nation’s nuclear testing and production sites could have grave consequences of their own. Foreign Policy examines, by looking at past episodes, why even trying to kill Kim Jong Un himself is incredibly problematic. And even if such an attempt was successful, there is no guarantee that the Korean People’s Army would lay down their arms, nor is there any notion of how North Korea would be ruled in the aftermath of a successful conflict.

In Venezuela this week, a group of approximately 150 supporters of President Nicolas Maduro forced their way into the congressional chamber and attacked with pipes and clubs legislators who oppose Maduro. The opposition won control of the national congress in 2015 in an election which was largely seen as a rebuke of Maduro’s leadership, however rather than work with the congress, Maduro has painted them as traitors to the nation. Pro-Maduro gangs called “colectivos” roam the city, often at the direction of police, looking for anti-government protestors to attack. This was the first time, however, that one of the colectivos broke into a government building and physically assaulted elected representatives. Nearly 100 people have been killed in what is now the fourth month of open protests and demonstrations against the Maduro regime. Venezuela’s economy and political system are barely functioning at this point and with the continued unrest throughout the nation, a positive outcome is looking increasingly remote, with civil war a distinct possibility.

Back in the United States, House Majority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La) was readmitted to the ICU at MedStar Washington. The hospital downgraded his condition from “fair” to “serious” and said that a serious infection was the reason for the move. Scalise has undergone a number of surgeries in the three weeks since he was shot on a baseball field in Alexandria, Virginia, and the infection is thought to be a side effect of those surgeries.

Yesterday, Walter Schaub resigned as Director of the Office of Government Ethics. Schaub was one of the first government officials to tangle with the incoming Trump administration when in January he declared that Trump’s failure to fully divest himself of his business, the Trump Organizations, to be “inadequate.” Schaub’s term as director was due to end next year, so his sudden resignation is somewhat surprising. Schaub, who will join a non-profit think tank, insisted that his resignation was voluntary and that he had not experienced any pressure from the White House. Schaub’s last day in office will be July 19. President Donald Trump will nominate Schaub’s successor in an appointment which is certain to be closely-watched.

The CDC published a report this week which found that opioid prescriptions decreased by 13.1 percent between 2012 and 2015, the first such decrease since opioids became widely used as painkillers in the 1990s. The rate of prescription, however, is still three times higher than it was in 1999 and far outpaces such prescriptions in European nations. The over-prescription and subsequent abuse of the highly addictive and powerful painkillers during the 1990s and 2000s, is largely blamed for the rise of a black market for opioid medications and in the resurgence in heroin throughout the United States. The cost of caring for individuals who overdose on opioids has grown to such levels that small towns, which have proportionally smaller budgets for emergency services, are considering steps to curb the amount of assistance given to those who overdose.

Eighteen state attorneys general plus the District of Columbia filed suit in federal court this week in response to an order by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in June which suspended changes to a program which allowed students to go after higher education institutions which induced them to borrow exorbitant loans through fraud or deceit. The program has been in existence since the 1990s, but the Obama administration promulgated changes to the program which would simplify the process and shift more of the cost of disposing of the loans onto the schools themselves. These changes were to go into effect July 1, but DeVos, citing the need to defend the Department against a lawsuit by a group of for-profit schools in California first, halted the changes before they could go into effect. Many of the students affected attended for-profit institutions where they were coerced into signing loan applications and promissory notes without understanding the amount they were borrowing, what the terms were, or how those loans were to be applied to their higher education costs.

In one of the more bizarre stories of the week, arts-and-crafts store Hobby Lobby entered into a settlement with federal prosecutors after it was discovered to have purchased thousands of clay and stone artifacts from Iraq for $1.6 million in 2010 and 2011. Hobby Lobby has agreed to surrender all of the artifacts to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and pay a $3 million fine as part of the settlement. The exact identity of the dealers whom Hobby Lobby dealt with were never ascertained by the company. The company decided to proceed with the sale despite the only indication of their origin being mentioned as “purchased at markets in the 1960s” or from a “private family collection.” It is easy to criticize Hobby Lobby here, but this genuinely seems to have been the actions of individuals in the company who did not properly understand the nature, or perils, of purchasing artifacts from this part of the world.

This week, Chinese-owned Swedish carmaker Volvo announced that, starting in 2019, all new vehicle models would be electric-powered. Volvo will continue to manufacture gas and diesel powered cars, but after 2019 will place less emphasis on doing so and, presumably, as gas and diesel models are discontinued, they will not be replaced with similar models. This has the potential to be a watershed moment in manufacturing in general and the auto industry in particular; no major, legacy carmaker has pledged to end production of cars powered by internal combustion engines.

In the past 18 months, a series of scandals have slowly enveloped the Marine Corps basic training facility at Parris Island, South Carolina. The Marines, widely considered the most conservative branch of the military—and the most resistant to change—pride themselves on tough training and discipline, but New York Times Magazine’s Janet Reitman takes a deep dive into training at the training at Parris Island, where a culture of hazing and physical abuse seems to prevail, long after such practices were banned by all branches of the armed forces. This is an intense read.

Alan Abramowitz of the Center for Politics looks at the 2018 midterm election by noting that Democrats, right now, have an advantage in the generic ballot test for congressional candidates, and then conducts a statistic analysis of what this advantage means, and what it does not.

Finally, Stuart Rothenberg looks at how the GOP’s continued push for a repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act—or Obamacare if you prefer—becomes politically riskier with each passing week.

Welcome to the weekend.