#the only thing it will result in is trump wining and I WILL blame so many of your for that bc it impacts the whole fucking world

[maybege]

once again the reminder that in systems with only two major parties, voting for third parties is essentially giving your vote away 🙃🙃🙃

[phoenixyfriend]

International Taxes

Ko-Fi prompt from Ethan:

All I know about tariffs is that they're special taxes for international trade but people talk about them all the time. Please help explain

So we are going to talk about three things here:

Tariffs

VAT

Customs/Duties

I'll be using the US for most of my examples, because that's what I know best... and also because it's a very convenient example for the way VAT works on an international level.

Tariffs

You are correct that tariffs are special taxes for international trade. These are essentially fees that are applied to products being shipped in and out of a country in order to promote domestic product or impact a foreign one.

A common example is US steel. The United States has a fairly robust steel industry, and the government promotes that industry domestically by applying tariffs to imports. Back in 2018, Trump imposed a 25% tariff on steel imports and 10% on aluminum (something that the WTO said was illegal, but that's not relevant right now). The steel tariff had previously been a range of 8-30%, implemented by Bush in 2002. Prior to that, the steel tariff had generally been under 1%.

In applying that tariff, the federal government prioritized domestic purchasing. If domestic product is nominally $90 for one unit, and foreign product is $80, then it is cheaper and more appealing to buy from a foreign producer. With a 25% tariff, the foreign product is now functionally $100 per unit, making it more appealing to buy domestically. While the actual cost of the tax is born by the producing country, in the case of import tariffs, the result is the raising of costs when selling internationally.

Tariffs are also applied to specific countries. Once again using a Trump example, a $50 billion tariff was applied against China in 2018. This had negative impacts on the economy, as it led to worries of a trade war; China did retaliate by applying tariffs directly to specific products from the US, including wine and pork.

High tariffs theoretically lead to an increase in domestic trade, but they also lead to higher rates of smuggling. They are also a form protectionist policy, which was at its height in the 19th century for the US.

VAT - Value Added Tax

If you look up VAT, you get a lot of explanations that talk about how it is a tax that is levied against the consumer on the basis of the cumulative value of the product, and generally things are confusingly worded, so I'll save you some time:

It's sales tax.

If you are American like me, that's all it is. It's a different name for sales tax.

You get something for $8 at the store, but the final cost is $8.42? Those 42 cents are the VAT.

What does that have to do with international trade? Isn't that a domestic thing?

Well, yes and no. We'll start by comparing the US to most European countries.

See, the US has a different application of VAT than a lot of other places. In the US, sales tax is added at the very end of a purchase for the vast majority of places. This is because there is no federal sales tax. Instead, taxes are set by the state, county, and city governments. Take a look at this map of New York, and you'll see how much sales tax varies by just a few miles.

Given how much a pricing can vary from one town to the next, large corporations generate a greater profit by listing prices in their pre-tax form, and then adding that tax at the end. The consumer knows that there will be a higher price at the counter than is listed, because the standard in the US is to not include that tax. So your Arizona Iced Tea will be a $1 in Portland and $1 in Queens County, matching that promise on the can... but you'll still be paying $1 in Portland and $1.09 in Queens, because only one of those areas has sales tax, despite both being in the same country.

This works out for the retailer, because the consumer does not blame them for raising prices across county lines, if there is a sales tax hike. The thought of "it's cheaper ten miles down the road, I'll get to it later," followed by never getting to it and thus never making a purchase, is rarer, because the listed price is still the same. It also means having to print or design fewer price tags; imagine having to manually change every price in a supermarket magazine! Every coupon needs to have its price changed by a few cents, to account for tax!

...or you can just print the same magazine with the same prices and write "plus tax" after the listed cost.

All this to say, Americans are used to adding sales tax at the end, and knowing that the price they see is not the price they'll pay.

Other countries Do Not Do This.

I mean, some do. But we're talking about the ones that don't, which includes the entirety of the EU, India, some of Japan, and the country I actually have extensive experience with: Serbia.

I am currently in Serbia, which means I'm in a country with a sales tax/VAT that is higher than I'm used to (20% on most goods, 8% on essentials). In every store I've been to, the tax is included in the listed price. If it says 87 rsd on a carton of milk, I will be paying 87 rsd at checkout. The baseline price is 80 rsd, and then there's the 8% tax, and the final price is 86.4, which gets rounded up to the 87 that is listed on the tag.

If you aren't accustomed to thinking about VAT like in the US, online shopping can be... a trial.

If I purchase something from, say, Canada, and have it mailed to the US, I am given the sales tax as part of the purchasing process. It will format the receipt as the product plus sales tax. This is familiar to me.

To someone from the EU who does not purchase internationally (specifically from the US, Canada, or other countries that don't include sales tax in the sticker price), this tax can often come as a surprise.

And, finally, in some cases... the will be paid at the very end, at the point of pickup, along with customs. I recently purchased something from an English creator that was manufactured in Germany and then shipped to Serbia. I anticipated that I had paid the VAT for Serbia when purchasing the product. It was instead added at the point of purchase, as Serbia is neither in the EU nor in a trade agreement with the relevant countries that would allow for me to pay the VAT online, I had to pay the 20% in addition to customs when picking up the package from the postal office.

Despite not being a tariff or customs/duty payment, VAT can have a direct impact on international purchasing.

Customs/Duties

Customs and duties are taxes applied to products based on those product characteristics.

There is overlap with tariffs. As a consumer, you are... not going to be very affected by the difference between customs and tariffs.

Customs are like VAT, in that they are paid by the consumer rather than by the manufacturer.

You can think of tariffs as a fee that a manufacturer pays to sell something internationally (though that cost is often passed on to the consumer), and customs as a fee paid by a consumer to receive that good.

Hope this helps!

(And if anyone here is more familiar with the subject than I am, please feel free to add on or correct me! I'm generally pretty good about international policy, but I'm not an expert, and this subject can be a complicated one.)

(Prompt me on ko-fi!)

[quakerjoe]

Fuck Warren at this point.

A CUPPA JOE ON THE EVE OF SUPER TUESDAY, 3 MARCH 2020

Once upon a time Elizabeth Warren was one of my political heroes. I could’ve watched her tear at corruption and dress down snotty politicians, corrupt corporations, and fuckwit rich fucks all day long. Once upon a time, anyway.

It was decisively clear, as of last weekend, that she blew it in the game. She played the “Woman Card”, attacked Sanders, and has been off the rails for the last several weeks since about two debates ago. The most notable moment was when she threw out that bullshit about Sanders saying a woman couldn’t win, back in 2016, followed by refusing a handshake post-debate. No class.

For someone who initially sold us on her campaign by backing M4A and shit-talking Big Money donors, she back-peddled on BOTH. She practically disavowed her stance on Medicare For All. She dialed back her rhetoric on money in politics by saying, quite some time ago, mind you, that she’d refuse PAC money in the primaries BUT... BUT for the General Election, all bets were off.

Despite a strong takeoff, she’s spiraled out of control and circled down the drain, below Pete and even below Klobuchar. Those two at least retained some dignity and dropped out. Granted, they’re throwing their resources behind Ol’ Joe, but still. This begs a serious question now and everyone should be asking this to themselves...

WHY IS SHE STILL IN THE RING?

Bernie Sanders was the ONLY candidate up on the debate stage to tell us ALL that the PEOPLE who voted should get to decide who the winner of the primary should be. Even Liz was all for letting the game slip back to the days of dirty pool and shit rules that put the power of selecting the candidate into the hands of the establishment. Let me remind you that the establishment does NOT want to lose their cash flow or power. Sanders is the ONLY serious threat to that and they’ll do anything, including sinking the party and handing trump another victory, just to hold on for a little longer. 

The result of this sort of action is that YOU lose your power as a citizen and as a voter. Period. End of fuckin’ story.

Subsequently, as a result of this, we’ll get a “Brokered Election” in which the Democrats at the top, the Establishment, Corporate-owned-and-sponsored, wealthy fucks, will get to decide (using those ‘super delegates’ which is the Electoral College of the DNC). 

What does this mean? It means that if a Progressive is going to win, and by this I mean Sanders, he’s going to have to DESTROY the competition tomorrow on Super Tuesday. If not, it is literally GAME OVER, and this is in part to Warren.

Why? Glad you asked.

Warren’s reputation as a “Progressive” is now dubious at best. If she was TRULY a Progressive, she’d have stepped off and put her resources behind Sanders last weekend. The gesture would have given her a chance to save face among Progressives and while still not totally trustworthy like she once seemed to be, it would have helped immensely. 

To answer the earlier question of why she’s still in the ring, we need to ask ‘What has Warren got to gain?’ and take a truthful, hard look at her. She’s got ZERO chance at winning a single state tomorrow. She’s burned it all out and there’s no hope.

The ONLY thing she’ll be doing is diverting votes that would likely go to Sanders over Biden, making Sanders’ position weaker when it needs to be stronger. That’s ALL she can accomplish, and it would sever their working relationship permanently. I already hate her for doing this and again, I once held her in the highest reverence. 

But why would she do this? Easy- she’s wanting a taste from the Wine Cave. Anyone with any sense would have bowed out by now. There’s GOT to be more to her staying in than some false hope of winning a lost cause. It makes me wonder who is PAYING her to stay in to weaken Sanders’ campaign. It makes me wonder what she’ll get in return for selling her political career and even her soul to undermine the Progressive cause and pretty much end her “friend” Bernie’s run because don’t be fooled for an instant; this WILL end Sanders’ run.

If the election is too close and this goes to the “Brokered Election” phase, the PARTY will end Sanders execution style. TO YOUR FACE, the Democrats AND the “super delegates” have already said they’re not going to support Sanders. GAME OVER.

Everyone who cried foul and screamed about the Electoral College having ROBBED Clinton in 2016 can now shut the fuck up. If Sanders comes out on top tomorrow but the PARTY kicks him to the curb, then the Democratic Party is now cementing their place in history as an OLIGARCHY, not a “Democratic” one. Fuck, they may as well just all call themselves REPUBLICANS.

In a democracy, where majority rules, ‘super delegates’ are nothing less than cheating and UNAMERICAN. It’s a real dick move, and there is ZERO DOUBT that Wasserman-Schultz-backed Joe Biden will literally be GIVEN the nomination and all that time and money that went into campaigning was all wasted. Then it’ll be 2016 ALL OVER AGAIN.

There is ZERO CHANCE IN HELL that Biden will defeat trumplefuckstick. NONE. I’ll grant you that the GOP is full of shit. IF superdelegates are used, it proves, irrefutably, that the Democrats in power are just as full of shit, but there IS a major difference: REPUBLICANS, despite their ignorance, their narcissism and delusional, hypocritical, selfish fuckery, are VERY MOBILE and VERY MOTIVATED. GOPers FLOOD the polls. Dems simply do not.

Why? At this juncture, I’d say it’s because Democrats in power today are spineless cowards and simply don’t INSPIRE us to do great things. Pelosi sounds and looks like she’s one drink away from being admitted to a home. Schumer is a feckless cunt who couldn’t win a battle of wits with a three-year-old these days. These people let all sort of bad things just roll over them and us, leaving us stuck paying the bill while they, wealthy as they are, go unscathed. 

While Sanders’ grass-root campaign has been a potential tsunami, as far as blue wave comparisons go, the Democratic Party won’t let him win unless it’s just THAT overwhelming. If he’s ousted because of a corrupt process, the party is no better than the GOP. In fact, they’ll only be better at one single thing- LOSING.

So if you still love Liz Warren, I hope you believe in some sort of god and that your deity helps you because thoughts and prayers will be all you’ll have left. Overwhelmingly, just like in 2016, Sanders polls nationwide as the only candidate who can kick trumpnuts’ ass. Biden, like Clinton, polls as a “meh; maybe”.

If Sanders isn’t the victor, clearly a good chunk of the blame will lie with Elizabeth Warren, former Republican and clearly still one in her mind, no matter how ‘in the right place’ her heart might have been.

-Quaker Joe

[jamsportland]

TEACH YOUR KIDS TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR ACTIONS

12 TIPS FOR RAISING RESPONSIBLE CHILDREN — NO. 5 IS BIG!

Kristen Welch’s blog post may be five years old, but her words remain indelibly written on the brains of moms and dads who turned to her website out of desperation because their youngsters were refusing to take responsibility for anything that came along.

This wise mom’s warning? When we give our kids everything they want, parents are complicit in raising irresponsible children. In fact, society has even given this syndrome a name: affluenza.

It’s a syndrome born of parents so fearful that their children won’t be successful, they’re willing to give them everything and anything, frequently because “everyone has it” and “if I don’t get it, I’m going to be bullied or outcast or worse.”

We see this at JAMS a lot!

Students are often not prepared for class, and they prefer to blame others for not having their own homework done. We try to teach them that their success is dependent on their effort.

It’s a hard concept to teach in class, especially if parents are not teaching the same concept at home.

How have we come to this place?

Ask courts, child psychologists, and mental health professionals dealing with a growing universe of kids as young as 6 who have become impetuous, demanding little souls because they are deemed too little to be given consequences for inappropriate behaviors.

Welch’s proof is undeniable: Her post about the warning signs of entitlement was shared around 800,000 times. How can I teach my child to take responsibility, you ask? You’re already doing it by reading this article.

Today’s privileged children are too often raised to think they can do no wrong and as a result, many become incapable of functioning because their self-esteem is simply nonexistent.

Disappointment? They can’t describe it. And when society does not sanction the behaviors that parents tolerate for myriad reasons, a lack of coping skills frequently turns to extreme reactions that run the gamut from addiction and depression to a rising suicide rate among teens.

Why do parents give in so easily?

The list is long, but these are the most commonly cited reasons given by moms and dads:

It’s easier than fighting. Overwhelmed parents often adopt this mantra.

You’re fearful your children won’t be accepted; especially if he or she is “different.”

Parents too often compensate for their own lack of love; possessions; attention.

It can be hard to recognize that being too permissive now can dramatically impact a child’s future attitudes.

Insecure parents fret, “What if my child stops loving me if I say no?”

How complicit are parents who buy things they don’t need, make judgements about other people and are convinced that the world is wrong, “but I’m right”? Very!

Of course you can raise a responsible child!

You don’t have to be a history fan to appreciate the famous Benjamin Franklin quote, “Nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

In fact, you may not believe how simple it is to make Herculean changes simply by adopting the word “No” and using it whenever a situation calls for it.

It’s hard at first.

Expect drama: stomping, door slamming, crying, anger. We liken it to getting off caffeine: Keep cutting back until you’ve eliminated it from your daily ritual. In other words, if you start out by saying “no” once a day and then expand your “no” repertoire, it does get easier. As a master of “No,” your confidence will grow and once you feel comfortable with it, you can add to your wise-parent repertoire by telling your kids why you said no.

Whether it’s a toy they saw on a commercial or the smartphone a peer brought to school that has your child suffering a bad case of envy, “no” pairs as nicely with a logical explanation, just as does a good wine with a lobster tail.

Ready to step up to the big leagues?

You’ve mastered “no” and offered excellent reasons for your response.

Now it’s time to work on the hardest lessons: Helping your child climb out if she falls into the “It’s not my fault” rabbit hole.

Finger-pointing and blame placing are easier to “cure” early. By doing so, you’re giving your child a gift.

12 tips for raising a responsible child

Understand the true meaning of the word responsibility so you convey its essence properly. Touch points include being dependable, following through on commitments and promises, and being accountable.

Don’t confuse responsibility with obedience. Children need to accept ownership for deeds rather than undertaking a chore or task because they’re fearful they won’t be loved if they fail to do it or (worse) do it badly and risk parental criticism.

Maintain a positive environment. Moms and dads seeking to achieve their own “Peaceable Kingdom” could mean everyone walks around on eggshells. Let kids be their own advocates, even if it means healthy disagreements ensue.

Seek balance when involving yourself in your child’s commitments and tasks so you don’t morph into the quintessential “helicopter parent.” Kids need guidance and support, but they don’t need interference nor a 24/7 cheering squad. Mastering the art of stepping in at the right time isn’t easy, but you can do it.

Let go to build character. When parents try to protect their children, their actions may morph from support to control. Kids need to learn to think for themselves and accept bad outcomes to develop good character. Raising an accountable child is a gift to the entire world.

It’s OK to be both a good cop and a bad cop. Police TV shows notwithstanding, it’s a delicate dance to figure out whether you’re being too permissive or too strict. There are times when both are appropriate, but the secret is communicating unconditional love no matter which hat you’re wearing.

Don’t dismiss your child’s wisdom and creativity. When you show your kids that there are times when they teach you a thing or two, you hand them power that allows them the freedom to take responsibility for actions.

Develop a talent for helping children structure their lives by passing on your values, setting limits and boundaries, and disciplining with love. One of the best lessons learned has to do with the abolition of rewarding impulsive behaviors. Substitute a healthy dose of delayed gratification.

Make rules, not demands. Who doesn’t like rules? Guidelines add structure, offer the security of knowing what’s expected and when rules are broken, following through with consequences shows children that you mean what you say. They won’t like it at first. That’s OK. You’re building responsible souls.

Be present for your kids. How often have you looked around the room to find all family members staring at a smartphone screen without saying a word? Yes, your communications are important. But one-on-one time with kids trumps all. Taking time away from your device sends a message. Don’t miss the opportunity.

Banish the blame game. Children can’t grow, develop responsibility, and enjoy high self-esteem if they develop a habit of blaming others for failures that are in fact their own doing. Kids emulate people they love and if you lead by example and don’t fall back on excuses or rely upon blaming and shaming, you’re doing the job right.

Show and tell. You need to show and tell your youngsters that hard work pays off. Whether you enlist their help around the house, take them on volunteer missions that teach compassion or let them in on why you work so many hours, you teach lessons in responsibility that will do you proud throughout their lives.

Resources used

What Really Happens When We Give Kids Everything They Want

https://www.higherperspectives.com/children-take-responsibility-2636574166.html

Part I – The Big Picture: Teaching Responsibility to Your Children

How to encourage your kids to be responsible for their actions

Nothing fuels the fire for math than discovering you can be a math genius! If you’re not sure Abacus will help your child, sign up for a free preview of our online Abacus Classes – there’s no obligation to register! Come meet with us, watch some kids in action, calculating at the speed of light! We guarantee you will have fun watching these little geniuses.

About JAMS Abacus Maths School –

Founded in 2001, JAMS is proud to be the only math school in the Portland and Beaverton area certified by the League for Soroban Abacus. We use the teachings of Abacus & Anzan instruction to build a solid and strong foundation of mental mathematics with lifelong skills. Mental math calculation is a skill that children retain for life. Abacus gives any child the skills and confidence to excel in STEM-related subjects beyond the classroom.

When a child experiences success, they naturally grow in confidence and self-esteem, as well as in their desire to continue the pursuit of that success. What’s more, with our specialized instruction, your child will build a solid and strong foundation of mental mathematics with lifelong skills.

[keywestlou]

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER'S THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS

Who of us cannot remember James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans. Hawkeye, Uncas, Chingachgook, and Magua.

Thrilling!

On this day in 1826, The Last of the Mohicans was published. It was part of Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales. The action took place in upstate New York. Set during the French/Indian and British War a good 20 years prior to the Revolution.

The best selling book became a best selling movie many times in later years. Something like 8 movies were born of the book.

One of the more recent was in 1992. At least two more followed.

The 1992 film starred Daniel-Day Lewis.

Part of Cooper’s early life was spent in the Cooperstown area. His father William Cooper discovered/created Cooperstown. William Cooper built the home of homes on a knoll overlooking Otsego Lake.

The house was first built in 1799. Then abandoned for some reason. In 1734, Copper’s son James returned. The house was dilapidated. He had it renovated.

The house was built by his father in the Federal style. Son James rebuilt it in Gothic.

The house burned down in 1851. The property stood barren. Years later, the New York Historical Society took it over and rebuilt Otsego Hall. Today an independent group operates it as a museum. One of many names. The most popular The James Fenimore Cooper Museum.

Nearby a Farmers Museum has been constructed. A series of small buildings representing homes, farms and business places as they were in pre-Revolutionary days.

I have visited the entire properties many times. For social events at the Museum. charity fundraisers and the like. The Farmers Museum with most of my grandchildren. Nothing like showing them how people lived back then. How small furniture was in comparison to today’s because people were smaller. The opportunity to visit a doctor’s and attorney’s offices. The butcher, baker, and candlestick maker also.

Lest it be forgotten, Cooperstown is the home of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Many the induction, some baseball games, and visits to the Hall itself. The visits with grandchildren at various times.

A life reflecting the old history of the area was born at various times over the years by reason of James Fenimore Cooper’s publication of The Last Mohicans.

Two remembrances that stick in my mind.

I had two of my granddaughters at the farm portion. Roughly 6 and 4 years old at the time.We were at the pasture looking at a horse. While we were admiring the horse and talking, the horse got an erection.

The girls looked at me strangely. I did not know what to say. Merely took their hands and walked away. They asked nothing, I shared nothing.

Another time was during the Clinton/Lewinsky matter. My twin grandsons Matthew and Michael were with me. They were around 8 at the time.

We had just left the “lawyer’s office.” The radio was on in the office. It was reciting Clinton’s misdeeds. Matthew looked up at me and asked, “Papa, he did something wrong, didn’t he?”

That was an easy one. I just said “yes” and we moved on.

Looks like Donald Trump may be able to reside in Mara-a-Lago after all.

The Town of Palm Beach completed its legal review of the matter. Their determination at this time is one of approval. The town decided there was nothing in the agreements and town ordinances prohibiting Trump from residing there.

The decision seemed to turn on phraseology in the agreement that Trump could live there if he was a “bona fide employee of the resort.” The agreement states such includes being a corporate officer.

Jared Kushner went into the White House with his father in law a man with financial problems. He became an “adviser” to the President. Waived any salary by taking only $1 a year.

A report yesterday stated that Jared and Ivanka in their last year in the White House jointly earned $120 million.

That’s public service for you!

Continues to be cold. In the high 50s during the night. High today will be 68.

Enjoy your day!

I am learning it is difficult to go back 9 years and repeat the Greece story in orderly fashion. Some days have disappeared. Then found. Some days are mixed with each other.

To straighten this all out would take oodles of time. Time I do not have with everything else on my plate.

The key is everything I wrote is there. Not exactly in the correct place, however.

The story overall is interesting. A paragraph here and there muddled makes no difference.  Like what you will read today. I should be writing about Santorini. Some of the paragraphs talk about Athens.

Fortunately, nothing so far appears to have been repeated.

Today’s blog beginning with “I screwed up” is as written 9 years ago.

DAY 9…..Greece the First Time

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Key West Lou

I SCREWED UP. LOST TWO THIRDS OF THIS BLOG. CANNOT RECREATE NOW. HAVE TO RUN. WILL PICK EVERYTHING UP TOMORROW.

…kitchen at one end. Tables covering the rest. Nothing fancy. Very basic, except again for the view and food.

It is a fish place. Very fresh fish. You are taken into the kitchen to select your own fish. Everything is explained including weight. everything is charged by the pound.

I had scorpion and boiled potatoes. A meal to die for!

Never had nor heard of Scorpion before. A fat red fish. Fire engine red. Big eyes. Ugly. The waiter told me it would be delicious. It was.

The boiled potatoes. Oh, so good! Sliced about 1/4 inch thick. Covered with oil and lemon.

Two appetizers before. Three gins for me. Two wines for my companion.

The bill was less than $50 American money. I was not charged for the three gins and two wines. The appetizers were on the house, also. The owner’s daughter came over to tell us of the house’s generosity and encouraged us to return.

The Greeks are worried about the economy. Just as Key Westers were a few years ago. They are doing everything to be hospitable and encourage return business. Tourism is their only industry.

In the few days I have been here, I have noticed that everyone, tourists and locals alike, dress sloppy. More sloppy than Key West visitors. I am getting into it. Not a bad way to live. Not to worry about one’s appearance.

I have been asking around how the economic crisis is affecting business on Santorini. The response is the same from all. It is not, except for the German tourists. Two years ago, the German tourists were openly blaming the Greeks for the euro crisis. The Greeks on Santorini got fed up with their attitude. Told the Germans in effect to shove it. The Greeks here developed the same mental frame as the early Texans….Don’t tread on us!

The aforementioned situation resulted in a resurgence of World War II ill will. Apparently the Germans committed many atrocities while occupying Greece.

The two events have resulted in few, if any, German tourists. And the Greeks do not care!

There is something happening here. You can feel it. I refer to the economic/euro crisis. It is a tinderbox waiting to ignite.

There are two major problems in the world today. One is Iran. A military problem. The other the euro crisis which I fear might explode here in Greece. If it does, it will be like the volcano explosion 3,500 years ago.

I received bad news this morning. Jenna e-mailed me that Courtney Aman died. Courtney was my trainer. A good guy. A good liver. He was only 50ish. Muscle bound. Worked out, lifted weights, trained, ran, ate properly, did not smoke or drink. Shows you what good living will do for you.

I liked Courtney. We got along well. Attended a few parties together. He was a Key West fixture. He will be missed.

Enough for now. I am getting a manicure in 15 minutes.

What a life!

Enjoy your day!

I started my last day in Athens at a small outdoor cafe on a back street. Glad I did! The menu set forth a prosciutto and cheese toasted sandwich. It was cheap. Sounded like a Greek version of Cuban cheese toast with tomato. I ordered it.

I was correct! Two very thin slices of white bread without crust. Toasted. A slice of prosciutto and a great tasting cheese pressed between the slices of bread. Outstanding.

The hotel of hotels in Athens is the Grand Britannia. I stopped in to look it over. Magnificent! Decided to have a cup of coffee.

The Greeks do things in a big way. My coffee was served in the main dining room.

I ordered Turkish coffee. Had never had it before. Will never have it again. Did not like it. Turkish coffee is thick. Your spoon can almost stand alone in the cup. That is how thick it is! Coffee grains come with the coffee. They end up sitting in the bottom of the cup. A good amount. It is not easy to drink Turkish coffee without occasionally having to deal with the grains.

In addition, I did not like the taste. Try Turkish coffee if you have the opportunity. You might like it. Different strokes for different folks.

The Grand Britannia dining room was elaborate. At one end there were two palm trees sitting two stories high. Palm trees in Athens? I walked over to take a closer look  The maitre de came over. Real I asked. He said yes. I said no. We had a language problem. He was trying to tell me the outer trunks were real and stuffed. The palms not real.

I figured I had seen the only palm trees in Athens. Turns out I was wrong. The rest of the day I saw several. Smaller than the ones in the Grand Britannia dining room. Real.

I was tired. The heat was getting to me. I decided to walk back to my hotel and take a nap.

As I walked towards the hotel, the air and temperature must have been just right. All of a sudden I could smell the outdoor food stands, cart foods and outdoor cafes. The smell was unique. The last time I experienced it was in my college days in New York City. Bronx and Times Square times.

I finally made it to the hotel and my air conditioned room. Television in Athens is in Greek. I know no Greek. I turned it on anyhow to look at the picture screen. Better than nothing! I watched Top Gun with Tom Cruise and Key West’s own Kelley McGillis. I watched it all. In Greek. I had seen the movie enough times to understand what was going on.

It was my last night in Athens. Still no Greek dancing and throwing of dishes. Walked through the Plaka area where I had been two evenings earlier. Stopped at the outside cafe where I had done my drinking. The manager recognized me. He gave me directions to the place I wanted to go. I stayed with him a while. This is pro basketball play off time in Europe. I do not know who was playing. I whooped it up with my friend and his friends. Our team lost by 20 points.

European professional basketball is not up to the same standard as American ball. It was obvious. I never mentioned it, however. I told every one the teams were great, Especially their team.

The restaurant turned out to be on the poor side of Acropolis and the Parthenon. Outdoor cafes galore. Acropolis and the Parthenon plus other smaller temples sitting up on the hill. A bit farther away than the restaurant I had enjoyed the view from the night before. Drinks and food seventy per cent cheaper.

I sat their enjoying the night life version of ancient Greece. Then the music started. Greeks are fun people. Their country may be going down the tubes economically. They are partying as the ship sinks. Good for them!

The other side of the mountain is also known as the Rockefeller side. Much of the Rockefeller Foundation renovation money was spent on the poor side. An interesting mixture of wealth and those not so fortunate.

There was music. All night. Two players. A piano board player and a guitar player. A singer. Looked like and sang like Key West’s Peter Diamond. Even down to the hat.

Dancing started with the women. All ages. Even into the 80s. All kind of dances. On some occasions, a man would get up and dance alone. He reminded me of a swan. Why, I don’t know. Just so graceful.

Every one smokes in Greece. The piano and guitar players. The dancers. Even the guy who danced. A cigarette hanging from their lips.

No dish breaking. I was disappointed. Learned it was outlawed several years ago.

I finally got into it. Ended up on the dance floor. Every one took pity on me. I was shown various steps. Within minutes, I was Greek.

Greeks are happy. They sit at their tables and sing. Warm, also. I saw many couples touching and kissing each other. Generally those 50 and older.

I had to hustle this morning. An early plane to Sanitori. I am here. Tomorrow a different Greece.

I cannot close without expressing myself on an issue. The Catholic Church and its attempted hit on the nuns. I believe the Vatican and U.S. Conference of Bishops are on the wrong track.

As you are aware, the nuns have their own union type organization. It is known as the Leadership Conference. Some 80,000 nuns strong. And being women, they are strong. Strong willed.

A former spokesman for the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement yesterday knocking the nuns. The nuns have come out in support of things like contraception.

He said…..”Does it occur to them (the nuns) that they might need some help?” He was referring to the fact that the number of nuns diminishes each year.

A nonsensical observation on his part. What of the Catholic Church itself? There are fewer Churches today that 20-30 years ago. Most have closed because there are fewer Catholics or fewer supporting organized Catholic religion. As many as up to four Churches have been closed at one time and combined into one parish.

Fewer and fewer those of the male gender are entering the priesthood.

It appears that whoever made the statement on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Bishops was in effect the pot calling the kettle black.

Interestingly, the nuns are also advocating that women be permitted to become priests. Threatening to the Church hierarchy?

Rome through the U.S. Conference of Bishops have told the nuns to stand down. To cease and desist. I doubt it will occur.

So there is no misunderstanding, I am a Catholic. A fallen away one, so to speak. Nevertheless a product of a Catholic education. Grammar school, high school and college. Also a husband at one time whose wife had five consecutive pregnancies in five years. We lost the last one. There was a reluctance back then for Catholics to practice birth control.

Rome would have done better to pick its battle. Especially when the Catholic Church is still dealing with its own problems. Like the Catholic Church covering up pedophilic activities on the part of priests for more than twenty years.

Enough spouting off for today.

Enjoy your day! Join me tomorrow for another part of fabulous Greece!

There are three churches in the area. They all have bells. Apparently large. Each clang very noisy. They all go off on the hour. Fortunately, only by day. They do not go off at the same time. They must be planned. One church at a time with a short separation between each. It is like living in New York City by the elevated subway train.

Everyone drives too fast for me. Most of the roads are narrow, especially in the countryside. One lane. Not each way. Both ways, the same lane.

When an approaching car is seen, both vehicles play chicken to see who is going to move onto the shoulder first.

There is a Catholic church in Milan that has the Last Supper. The real one. I may take the train into Milan this afternoon to see it.

Thursday I leave for Athens. After this earthquake, I think it is time to leave Dodge.

Enjoy your day!

Note: While I was doing spell check, the after shocks came. Trembling. Chandeliers moved again. Someone just ran in to tell me TV announced the disturbance as a severe earthquake. I have been hearing for the past few minutes sirens. Probably fire engines and ambulances. Another person just ran in to tell me that the quake was a 5.8 on the Richter scale. What I thought was the aftershock turned out to be a second quake. 4.0 on the Richter scale. I must admit my stomach is getting a bit queasy. I am uncomfortable. My thought process tells me that if I must be in an earthquake, this building is a good place. It has withstood quakes, floods and wars for over a thousand years and still stands. Hopefully, I will blog you again tomorrow. I am not leaving you yet. TV announced all trains to Milan have stopped running. I do not know specifically why. I doubt I will be viewing the Last Supper this afternoon. It was further announced that a  thousand year old cathedral about a one hour drive from Novara collapsed. So much for my theory that thousand year old buildings are a safe place.

Enjoy your day!

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER’S THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS was originally published on Key West Lou

[toldnews-blog]

New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/business/classic-car-industry-fears-trump-and-brexit-roadblock/

Classic car industry fears Trump and Brexit roadblock

Image copyright Elliot Cuker

Image caption Elliot Cuker has seen sales slow sharply

For more than four decades Elliot Cuker has been selling classic cars from his garage in New York, but last year he hit a roadblock.

“I have been in business for 42 years, and 2018 stands out as one of the worst,” he says.

Now in his 70s, Mr Cuker remembers when his company – Cooper Classics Collection – could sell more than 100 cars a year.

Lately, he says, people are buying far fewer.

“I don’t know where things are going right now. I don’t know if they’ll ever be as strong as they were.”

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption The value of classic cars soared as a result of the global financial crisis

While the global financial crisis of 2007-08 was a worrying time for most people, for Mr Cuker and the whole global classic car industry, it marked the start of a decade-long boom.

As stock markets slumped, wealthy investors turned to putting their money into luxury assets, such as art, high-end property, expensive wines – and especially classic cars.

“That was my best year, 2008, believe it or not, when we had that stock market crash,” says Mr Cuker. “At least you know that if you invest in a car, a classic car, that you have it and it’s [at least historically] consistently always gone up in value.”

Such was the rise in the price of classic cars that one report from insurance firm Axa Art said that the average value of vintage vehicles soared 192% between 2006-17, compared with growth of just 84% across the wider luxury goods sector.

But last year, average classic car prices rose just 1%, according to a separate report by classic car index Hagerty Price Guide.

Image copyright Elliot Cuker

Image caption Classic car prices easily outpaced gains across the wider luxury goods sector in the decade to 2017

While some slowdown is likely inevitable after such a strong decade of growth, most in the industry blame President Trump’s threat to hit car and car parts imports to the US with tariffs of as much as 25%.

The president first asked the the US Commerce Department to investigate the issue back in May of last year. Then in November he tweeted that a 25% tariff on imported cars would mean that “many more cars would be built here”.

With no suggestion that older vehicles and parts will be given an exemption, the Commerce Department filed its confidential report on the issue to President Trump on 17 February.

He now has until 18 May to decide whether to hit car imports with a tariff, as he has already done to imported vans.

Many in the wider automotive industry expect some kind of import levies. Those in the classic car sector say it would have a substantially negative impact.

Global Trade

More from the BBC’s series taking an international perspective on trade:

“When you get to tariffs, right now the importation rate to the US on a classic car, or classic car parts is 2.5% [the same as for new cars and parts],” says Rory Jurnecka, features editor at US publication Automobile Magazine.

“A tenfold increase, when we’re talking about tariffs, to 25%, is really unsustainable. And I think will basically bring any global industry, as it pertains to the US, to a halt.”

But President Trump’s tariff threat is not the only issue causing the classic car industry anxiety. The UK’s continuing Brexit uncertainty is another factor said to be weighing down heavily on the sector.

Malcolm Barber, co-chairman of auction house Bonhams, which has its headquarters in London, says Brexit has caused “caution” among UK car collectors, “as it has in most industries in Britain”.

Yet despite all this doom and gloom, others say that the classic car industry will remain strong, despite current twists in the road. One such person is avid collector Rodger Dudding.

Image copyright Mary Balfour

Image caption Rodger Dudding has a vast collection of classic cars

“I think at the last count I have something like about 430 classic motor vehicles,” says the 81-year-old multi-millionaire.

“To my mind, without being too dramatic, they are three-dimensional art.

“If you look at modern day cars, this model or that model, they’re all so similar, and they’re boring. They don’t have personality.”

Mr Dudding, who made his fortune in the self-storage industry, owns nine Ferraris and 24 Aston Martins. He hires out his cars to TV and film productions, such as The Crown and Mary Poppins Returns.

“We are still investing in cars,” he says. “We believe the market will be maintained.”

Image copyright Patrick Ernzen

Image caption This Ferrari 250 GTO could have been yours last August, if you had more than $48.4m to hand

This confidence is shared by Kenneth Ahn, president of car auction firm RM Sotheby’s.

He points to the fact that last August RM Sotheby’s sold a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO for $48.4m (£36.8m), at an auction in California. This was the most expensive car ever sold at auction.

“We are optimistic about 2019,” says Mr Ahn. “Even though there are macro concerns, for truly rare and important cars the collector demand is still very healthy.”

[ladyslounge-blog-blog]

Sleepless In Montreal

As the upstairs neighbours drift into a euphoric slow-wave dreamless delta state, their  brain waves slowing and enlarging blissfully like the heart of an angel (with dilated cardiomyopathy), a sudden and almost paralyzing shriek fills the air. "FLO GET THE F*@&! AWAY FROM THE DOOR! I swear to god I'll spray you!" The screen door we installed on the bedroom, so that air and heat could circulate without the cats getting in (because even the mere sound of them licking themselves at the foot of the bed is enough to wake me from sleep. And also there's already enough cat hair in the rest of the rooms of our house to knit enough blankets to keep the entire population of Oymyakon warm), slams shut repeatedly. One of our 657 cats has figured out how to pull it open not enough for her to get in, but  just enough that when the magnet pulls it back from her little paw, it slams against it's frame, over and over and over again with each attempt at entry. "I'm going to spray you! Where's the Spray bottle? JO! Spray Flo!" and then later that night, "Okay Phoebe, shhhhhh it's okay sweetie, bring the toy here. Ok, we see it, that's nice, you can be quiet now..." Phoebe howling like a banshee in heat, excitedly announcing to the entire house that she has found a tinsel ball, or catnip mouse, or 2 pound dog toy, or a dirty sock. "Okaaaaay Phoebe, shhhhhh. Okay Phoebs, please be quie... PHOEBE! SHUT! UP!" My throat often hurts and I can barely sing anymore. Talking for more than a few minutes is painful, due to the feeling of tightness and vocal strain. The ENT says my vocal cords look thin and tired. She prescribed vocal therapy and a sleep study. Your body might not be rejuvenating adequately at night. The sleep specialist asked about my sleep hygiene. What is sleep hygiene you ask? Oh, well according to sleepfoundation.org sleep hygiene is: a variety of different practices and habits that are necessary to have good nighttime sleep quality and full daytime alertness. Limiting daytime naps to 30 minutes. Napping ? I'm sorry... I'm not familiar with this napping thing. It sounds like something somebody would need at least 30 extra spare minutes in the already not long enough day, in order to participate in. Also, I'm a little bit kidding. Not about the no time to nap thing - that's real. But about the not knowing what it is. I've tried it a couple of times but apparently it takes practice to be able to do it without waking up in a state of disoriented terror. I'm sure it's lovely if you can get past that hump.   Avoiding stimulants or other disruptive substances, such as caffeine, alcohol and nicotine, close to bedtime. Guilty. but only because I don't stop to unwind until about an hour before bed. I'm still frantically stumbling through life at "happy hour" so wine o'clock is inevitably very close to bedtime. Why don't you stop drinking wine then? You might be asking me in your head, or in the area designated for comments below which would be cool because then I would know that more than one person reads this blog. And I would even respond. Even if only, and probably, just something like "hahahaha! Hilarious!" but still...   Exercising to promote good quality sleep. As little as 10 minutes of aerobic exercise, such as walking or cycling, can drastically improve nighttime sleep quality.  Cute. I never stop moving in a day but thank you. And also I've been known to exercise up to 2 days a week on a good week. I box almost every week. I'm not sure how much exercise I'm getting but I do a lot of fake-cat punching so it works for me.   Steering clear of food that can be disruptive right before sleep.  Heavy or rich foods, fatty or fried meals, spicy dishes, citrus fruits, and carbonated drinks can trigger indigestion for some people.  So... white rice and baguette for supper?   Ensuring adequate exposure to natural light.  So move to a different province, at least for the months of November through to mid-June. Got it.   Establishing a regular relaxing bedtime routine.  A regular nightly routine helps the body recognize that it is bedtime. This could include taking warm shower or bath, reading a book, or light stretches. When possible, try to avoid emotionally upsetting conversations and activities before attempting to sleep. So... no more falling asleep in my supper while watching Rachel Maddow tear yet another  strip off of Trump on MSNBC, then taking the dog out in -40 degree weather before crawling into bed and listening to my girlfriend's exestencial rants on the trials and tribulations of artificial intelligence taking over the world, right before attempting to re-enter a slumberous state?   Making sure that the sleep environment is pleasant.  Please see the first paragraph of this post   According to WebMD, which I never ever EVER go to, because I am sophisticated lady and sophisticated people do not diagnose themselves on the internet, lack of adequate sleep can contribute to depression, memory loss, impaired cognitive process (it makes you stupid), impaired judgement (makes you do stupid things or let stupid people do things to you), kills your sex drive, promotes chronic diseases and autoimmune disorders, increases the risk of death, and most devastating: makes you fat and ages your skin. My multitude of specialists are not entirely convinced that the cats are 100% to blame for my sleep issues and have asked me to participate in a sleep study.

Needless to say, the night I went to bed looking like this, I got about 2 hours of sleep in total: 

Even though my girlfriend and all of our pets where too horrified by my get-up to come anywhere near the bedroom, much less attempt to disrupt me in it.  

Waiting with bated breath for the results...    Read the full article

[heatherdemetrios-blog]

The Space Between Breaths: Transitions in the Artistic Life

For the past year, I’ve been going through a transition, floating in a space between. It’s been three years since my first book came out. There was the before publication life, when I’d yet to sell a book and was dreaming hard. Then there was the after, where I struggled to learn the ropes of being a published author, yet still managed to write and sell one to two books a year, hustling like a mother. During that time there were aborted projects and disappointments, but I focused laser-like attention on my work and career, with little time for much else. Sometimes that paid off, and sometimes it didn’t. One thing it resulted in was a near-breakdown, spiritual and creative depletion, and an increasing existential dread that followed me around to the point where I felt like Edward Snowden, always looking over my shoulder. 

This was unsustainable. A life of waiting for the other shoe to drop is not a good life. And a writer who doesn’t write, or who writes but finds no joy in it, does not a happy writer make.  It also, incidentally, makes it hard to sell more books. The nervy you feel about a project somehow winds itself through the text, an X factor that makes or breaks a book. My books were breaking. I was breaking. So began my year of transition, which began in July 2016, an awakening of sorts that’s still very much in progress. This wasn’t intentional, not something I planned as a great experiment. It just sort of happened. Out of necessity and desperation and a nameless need. 

This year of transition actually started in Spring 2016, though I had no idea that this was what was happening. I started devouring books like I used to, back when I wasn’t writing three of them at a time. I literally bought and read every single JoJo Moyes book I could find (okay, I’ve saved a couple because it’s too depressing, a life without a JoJo book to look forward to), after discovering Me Before You on a Barnes and Noble table. I was working—I had revisions and copyedits and submissions. But when I sent in the last thing that was due, in mid-June, I unwittingly gave myself a for-real break. It was on accident—I didn’t realize I was taking a break until the month of July passed with me having written only a handful of words, most of them non-fiction. I got ideas, I threw ideas away—I briefly considered learning Russia and moving to Moscow. The bulk of my writing was for a residency application I never sent in, as well as the occasional blog post or lengthy email. I began meditating, reconnected with my spiritual side, read lots of books, treated myself to copies of Vogue, discovered the delights of the French 75 cocktail, and took a poetry class. I basked in sunshine and visited with friends and family. There were still stressful writerly moments: two rewrites gone bad, dismal royalty statements. But for the first time in years, writing was not the most important thing. The most important thing was me. It was as though my soul had given me one of those piercing looks and said, My dear, you are the canvas. 

Eureka. 

I followed my curiosity, each urge a trail of will-o’-the-wisps that led me deeper into my inner landscape, with its turbulent sea, floating glaciers, and craggy mountains set against endless dunes (yes, somehow my innards resemble Morocco, Ireland, and Iceland). In Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert says: I believe that curiosity is the secret. Curiosity is the truth and the way of creative living. She’s absolutely right. I found such joy poking around in New Age stores and going down the Wiki hole of Romanov research and planning a trip to Prague. I delighted in the plethora of self-help books I kept hearing about, got into essential oils, and finally took a Pilates class. I bought strange rings and drank beer and even started liking kale. I got a Reiki treatment and bought my first deck of Tarot cards and I campaigned for Hillary Clinton. I bought a Nasty Woman shirt and protested with thousands of women all over the world, reigniting that little Marxist-Anarchist activist that has been hiding inside me since the Bush years. I made a few big life decisions, some quite seismic, some still in progress. I grieved, felt confusion, wonder, awe, gratitude, love, solidarity, despair. I probably drank more wine after November 8th than in the rest of my life combined. I cooked my first steak. I began living according to these wise words from Elsie De Wolfe: I am going to make everything around me beautiful. That will be my life. Fresh flowers scattered about the house. Crystals lined up on windowsills. A skirt with red roses splashed across the fabric. I see the changes that all this adventuring has wrought everywhere: in my home, my body, my mind, my spirit. And yet, the writing will not budge. 

I am still trekking up a damnably high mountain, hoping to reach a summit and praying there’s a nice little valley on the other side of it, with cool spring water and long, fragrant grass I can lie in when I look at the stars. Alas, creativity is uncharted territory—ever ineffable, a tricksy landscape complete with quicksand, dark forests, and, well, you get the metaphor. I confess, there have been a few occasions in which I actually uttered the phrase, Why am I doing this? Or I don’t want to be a writer anymore. I’m not sure if I meant it or not. I suspect maybe I did. It sounds ever so wonderful to leave work at work, to have boundaries between oneself and what one does for a living, to not be in constant artistic torture. 

The election and its aftermath was a huge blow that I’m still recovering from. I don’t think I realized how much it affected my ability to be creative until quite recently, when I realized I have to rewrite a bogart of a book I’m working on for the third time. I cannot overstate how unlike me this is. I’ve never spent two years after selling a book trying to rewrite it. It’s madness. Maddening. But when I began to connect the dots, I could see that the bulk of the problem began in the beginning of 2016—a coincidence? I think not. As I said in an email to the book’s editor: I’m sorry for being the world’s shittiest writer. I blame Trump. 

I blamed my mental health and my infernal inability to understand how time works. I blamed New York City for being so goddamn expensive and loud and distracting and fabulous. I also blamed myself, for not taking my own good advice that I give to my clients and that I myself know works. I only give advice when I’ve learned something (usually the hard way), when I know that something is tried and true. As a creativity coach, I tell my clients that each book is a different beast, and that’s true. And also that writing is a marathon (not a race), that you will never be a master, that you will always be learning, and that you should trust the process: the not knowing, the frustration—these are just hazards of the job and an essential part of the process. But each time I find myself uncertain creatively, these lessons are hard to remember. A girl has to eat, you know. 

One thing my meditation teachers like to talk about is the space between breaths. In mindfulness meditation, you focus on the inhale and exhale, using it to anchor your mind in the present. Between each round of inhalation and exhalation, there is a pocket of pure being, where your body has a moment to bask in its existence, where nothing is required of it. It can’t last very long because your lungs need air, but for just a sliver of time, you are infinite. Free-floating. This is also a space for transition, much shorter than my year of transition, but equally powerful. You can discover things there, though it may take you years, or even a lifetime to figure out. You might even see what you’re made of. 

This is an essential part of the meditation process. These pockets of no-breath are not simply a bridge between breaths, links on the path to nirvana. They are teaching moments, rich in the kind of knowledge that lives deep in your bones. It’s the same with the transitions in an artist’s life. The space between projects, between ideas, between inspiration and creative wastelands—this is, paradoxically, where the good stuff lives. Transitions are opportunities to grow, to heal, and to change. They give you space (whether you want it to not) to reassess your work, your craft, your goals. These sometimes involve dark nights of the soul, real reckonings that bring who you are and why you do what you do into sharp focus. Sometimes you won’t like what you see. Transitions, from an artistic point of view, are absolutely necessary. Think about the period when Bowie fled to Berlin, intent on getting clean and reconnecting to his art. He called his cocaine years in Los Angeles, where he embodied the Thin White Duke persona, “the darkest days of my life.” Despite being a rock star, he was going broke and Berlin, at the time, was a cheap place to live while he was in recovery. In Europe, he began visiting galleries, working on self-care through literature and classical music education, and, of course, kicking his cocaine habit and exploring Berlin’s music scene. His roommate was Iggy Pop, and I like to imagine them sitting around late at night, trading notes and blowing each other’s minds. What resulted was the Berlin trilogy, a rich artistic period and a turning point in his life. 

Of course, not all transitions need to be so dramatic, and I’m still trying to figure out what this one means for me. When I look back, what will I call this year (or, God forbid, years)? Will I look on it fondly, or shudder, grateful that it’s over? I can’t imagine not being thankful for it. Already, I’m seeing my interests in what I want to write expand in unexpected ways. Adult fiction, young adult nonfiction, historical. I’m not quite sure where I’ll land. I’m getting ideas, but am wary of investing too much in anything. I think I’m still getting my sea legs. Meditation, exercise, and healthy eating habits are helping. As is travel and working with my clients, who inspire me every day. I’m taking lots of notes because I suspect that as much as I’m learning right now about what it means to be an artist in transition, I suspect there’s even more to glean from this time later, when I can see how all the dots connected. 

Being a creative doesn’t suit our modern world, not if you’re an Artist with a capital A. Because art needs quiet, time, space, privacy. All things that are hard to come by these days, especially in Brooklyn. I stopped using my private Facebook account, rarely leave the apartment, and turn a deaf ear to industry chatter. It’s been a long time since I finished a project. Everything I’m working on is in a different stage and often ends up being cast aside or totally reworked. So of course the age old question of how to make a living as an artist rears its ugly head. If you aren’t producing, you aren’t getting paid. So while artistic explorations sound great on paper, in reality, it’s the paper itself you start worrying about. 

It’s becoming increasingly hard for artists to make a living—just take a look at Trump’s budget proposal, with threatens to cut the NEA out of existence. It’s especially difficult for writers because of the plethora of content out there. Jesus, how many blogs and websites and articles can exist? With newspapers and magazines folding left and right, writers are forced to make some pretty tough choices. These concerns are ever present, and they will be for the foreseeable future. Of course, being an artist has always involved financial acrobatics. Chekhov paid the bills through a medical practice, and Tolstoy had to self-publish War and Peace. I’m in good company. I’ve very much begun to appreciate Elizabeth Gilbert’s words in Big Magic about how your job as an artist is to take care of your creativity, not the other way around. It’s been interesting, cobbling together an income that all leads back to writing, but isn’t necessarily writing. Teaching and coaching and editing allows me to talk about what I love—writing, the artistic process, and creative living—and to help my fellow writers on their own journeys. It also gives me the chance to take care of my writing, rather than requiring it to pay all the bills. I’m already seeing the seeds I’m planting blossoming. For the first time in a long time, I’m allowing myself to consider alternative ways of living and alternative approaches to my writing. Maybe I don’t publish a book every year. Maybe I don’t only write in YA. Maybe I play a whole lot more in my creative process. Maybe I take time to take care of myself. 

The journey continues, endless and exciting and horrible and wonderful, an adventure I’m honored to have. I take a breath, exhale, and rest in the transition, looking forward to whatever comes next.

[10oclockdot]

10 More Times I Spun the Ol' Wheels of Thought

1. Gaming is puppetry.

2a. Donald Trump was the biggest liar in the room (Politifact confirmed, we recall), so he called Ted Cruz "Lyin' Ted" so that no one could call him Lyin' Trump. Donald Trump was the crookedest person in the room, so he called Hillary Clinton "Crooked Hillary" so that no one could call him Crooked Donnie. Has there always been this much projection in our politics? Has each side always impugned the other side with their own worst fault? Maybe all this time that Democrats have been telling white working-class Republican voters that they were voting against their interests, we were disavowing the fact that increasingly the Democratic party was also ignoring white working-class interests.

2b. Throughout the entire election cycle, popular wisdom held that Donald Trump's takeover of the Republican party signaled that the GOP was in ruinous disarray. This was the thing liberals got most wrong, because really, it was the Left that was in disarray. The Republican party successfully rebranded itself without losing very many of its constituents. Meanwhile, it was the Left that lost all its key elections. It was the Left that nominated a pro-war pro-Wall-Street neo-liberal. It was the Left that, over the course of a couple decades, completely abandoned its once-time blue-collar base. It was the Left that ended up alienating its rural voters by stereotyping them as backward, sexist, racist, homophobic gun nuts, rather than working collaboratively with them to get them on board with the intersectional causes of social justice. And it's the Left that doesn't really have a coherent agenda going forward to reclaim the voters it lost. After all, fighting poverty ought to be the central tentpole of any social justice agenda, and yet Democrats never seem to talk about white poverty. To be sure, rural America bears some of the responsibility to educate itself about structural prejudice and microaggressions and purge itself of xenophobia, Islamophobia, homophobia, racism, and such, BUT I think it's reasonable to say that the Left must stand in solidarity with rural America before we can expect rural America to stand in solidarity with other Leftist causes.

3. I used to think that I could measure the rectitude of a given ideological framework by examining its limits or margins. I believed that if there were sexist Christians (and there are, to be sure), that invalidated the whole of Christianity. I believed that, at its heart, there were no good Christians, because churches bred or maintained or at least turned a blind eye toward patriarchy. But now I'm beginning to think that no ideology, no matter how radical, centrist, or conservative, is very good at policing its own margins. It appears that there are plenty of terrible people under the big tent of the left. There are plenty of people who call themselves feminists who are nevertheless racist or pro-capitalist or cultural appropriators or trans-exclusionary or anti-science or anti-logic or what-have-you. Not to mention that human beings are, en masse, liars, hypocrites, manipulative, self-serving, and prone to mental laziness. How, then, do we honestly judge a social movement? By what statistical method can we control for the ignoble outliers in every movement, so that we hold ourselves to the same fair standards to which we hold others?

4. In the age of the internet, we model the distribution of knowledge in terms of the network or the viral outbreak. Through these models and metaphors, we track trends on twitter, shares of videos, and reblogs of posts. We can map the spread of an idea. What would happen if we applied this kind of model retroactively to earlier times in history? Could we map the network of papal proclaimation spreading from Rome to local Catholic parishes? What was the rate at which scientific discoveries traveled from the Arab world back to Europe in the middle ages? What was the "bandwidth" of the silk road? Did the know-how of the bronze age or the iron age spread quickly or slowly? What carried this knowledge and why?

5. As the resources on the planet dwindle, the markets for stamp collecting, wine collecting, art collecting, antique collecting, et al continue to prosper, and the value of the rarest and most prized objects within these markets continues to increase. Why so? I argue that it's because as there's less land and gold and other natural resources for each wealthy person to own, the market must imbue other objects with value. Consider the raw material value of the paper, glue, and ink in an album of very valuable stamps. It's minimal. But what majestic alchemy that market forces in the modern and post-modern era have imbued such worthless scraps with such enormous social value! Never has it been possible to own so much social value in so little matter.

6. Don't tell me that El Chapo's cartel functions like a corporation unless you're also willing to say that corporations function like El Chapo's cartel. Capitalism functions the same whether the market is legal or illegal.

7a. I would be much more interested in moral philosophy if its sole aim were to determine WHY we make the intuitive moral judgments that we make, rather than to propose some code of moral behavior. I'm not interested in any moral philosopher who comes up with a set of reasons for pulling or not pulling the lever in the trolley problem. I'm interested in whoever could tell me WHY I'm more likely to pull the lever than to push the large man. What calculations is my brain doing? What's it weighing? Where did this moral architecture come from? What was its adaptive advantage? What ancient ancestral dilemmas gave it its strongest leanings? If our brains' snap moral judgments don't have much to do with utilitarian mathematics, what DO they rely on? Are our intuitions outmoded for our present way of life? If so, which ones? Do some which don't comport perfectly with cold logic nevertheless retain an adaptive advantage?

7b. Because if we could figure this out, we'd be able to understand our politics VASTLY better than we do now. Some time ago, I wrote a post on the justice or injustice of the way Henrietta Lacks and her descendants were treated (here). I came to the conclusion that ultimately our moral judgments all come back to one thing: poverty is wrong. Full stop. I don't think that anyone feels, deep down, that poverty is a good thing. People might think it's natural or to be expected or necessary or deserved or whatever, but no one, deep down, considers it good. BUT, poverty is everywhere. SO: if poverty is wrong, BUT it's everywhere, the brain has to do some complex gymnastics to account for that. Perhaps the individual decides that poverty is usually the result of sin or some bad choice, and thus poverty is merited and deserved. Perhaps the individual decides that poverty is the result of greed, and thus that greed must be combatted so that resources may be distributed more equitably. Perhaps the individual decides that poverty is structurally necessary for the economy to function (since it provides an incentive to work?), and therefore any attempt to eliminate it would be disastrous. Maybe we say they're lazy. Maybe we say that they live in a "backwards" culture that doesn't know any better. Maybe we tell ourselves it doesn't matter because they live far away. Maybe we point out that even if we gave all of our income away, poverty would continue, so we're powerless to stop it. Maybe we blame poverty on a desert (they should move!). Maybe we blame the number of kids they have (too many mouths to feed!). And so on. By giving poverty a cover story (a myth), we give it a reason for being. And thus we make poverty reason-able to ourselves.

7c. I suggest that because our inborn aversion to poverty so powerfully and diametrically conflicts with the realities of poverty, that we have built up a whole superstructure of religions, philosophers, storytellers, and pundits and grown them over millennia to justify poverty to us. We do not spend so much time rationalizing or explaining away poverty because we believe, deep down, that poverty is acceptable. We do it because deep down we know that we know that we know for certain that poverty is terrible, and thus our justifications for it must be powerful and constantly repeated. "Everybody's giving a reason why all these people are in poverty, therefore poverty seems reasonable, therefore I guess it isn't that big of a moral ill." (By the way, what other areas of the status quo have we constructed vast industries to rationalize? Rather than spend the same energy to change them?)

7d. Perhaps, deep down, all of our complex moral judgments boil down to very basic innate brain chemistry. Poverty = bad, death = bad, hurt = bad. Stuff like that. But now, thrust into the emergent complexity of the world around us, grappling with our vast knowledge of this world, of having regular and precise news of stuff happening at every point on the planet (historically amazing and pretty new for our species), we have to come up with a constant stream of justifications and rationalizations to keep the bad-alarms from going off in our brains constantly, all the time. And because these ideological prostheses of justification are so numerous and so elaborate, we think that THOSE are moral philosophy. But I think moral philosophy should concern itself instead with the question of why do we feel the NEED to come up with these incredibly complex systems of "that's ok, that's not ok, that's sometimes ok but only if...".

8. The harder we are to impress, the easier we are to oppress.

9. Dear Trump cabinet: It's becoming clear that he chose nearly all of you to function as his useful idiots. He selected you precisely for your lack of education, your dearth of relevant qualifications, and your almost-certain incompetence to fix complex 21st-century problems. He chose you because he wants to be able to think he's the smartest guy in the room. And the 1% always profits when the government is weak and inattentive to the needs of the 99%. Trump isn't your teammate. He forces you to embarrass yourself to prove your loyalty to him, but he has no loyalty to you. He's setting you up for failure and he's ready to blame you for everything. He probably laughs at you behind his back. He hopes you'll never realize what contempt he has for you. But there's hope. Because one day you'll figure it out. And when you do, America's best scientific and political minds will be waiting, secretly, in the wings, to help you take him down.

10. Dear Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: Just because Nixon won the presidency doesn't mean you have to give Best Picture to Oliver!.

[anthonybialy]

Bye Bye Barack

A shallow memory spurs happiness on a planet stocked with bad memories. Humans who are trying to outrun the napalmed trash trail behind them naturally face forward.  In positivity's name, many are already hating the new president and everything he does.  Loathing politicians is America's pastime, especially considering who's being inaugurated.

But don't forget to indulge in a little nostalgic contempt for the trailblazer we'll always recall as the first crummy black president.  It's time to wish good riddance to Barack Obama, who's memorable as the guy we wish we could forget.  

Circumstances never improved for a teen in his 50s who spent every moment bitching about them.  A purported leader set a record for whining so much about what he was handed, which is one of the many mature dignified aspects he brought to an office typically associated with grownups. The catastrophe he left despite his promises to make Heaven look like Detroit by comparison was to show the next guy how unfair life is.  Or maybe he just is a historically inept buffoon.

Scorching the ashes could be a way of saying screw you to Trump.  But the rest of us suffer, too.  If Obama was planning to leave everything as a despondency-spurring mess as an ironic meta-joke about the inheritance he's leaving, than I apologize for saying he's never been farsighted about anything.  Progressive policies are tricky that way.  If we're all supposed to feel upset, then he succeeded at equality.

Irony is cruel in indifference.  Take how America fought at least one war every day the Nobel Peace Prize laureate was in office.  It wasn't that he tried to make fighting cool.  Emasculating the hero made villains ballsier, as the community organizer's astounding unwillingness to learn what motivates human behavior was thorough.

It's tough to grasp the difference between winning and ending wars.  The latter doesn't work if the enemy is still trying to murder you. Voting for coolness twice was supposed to extinguish contempt.  But everyone who loathes us interpreted dousing ourselves in gasoline as weakness.

Draining the hope reservoir means more realistic expectations.  Some of our gentler rubes were surprised that a politician didn't deliver.  In fact, it's as if the opposite happened.  Still, don't let semipermanent stagnation make you cynical just because life's problems were supposed to have been eliminated for eight years now. Deciding that some earning more than others is a moral stain actually causes more poverty.  But that's only because we were too selfish to relinquish our natures.  We deserve to suffer for our wavering faith.

If you're going to uproot our crops, you may as well salt the earth. Obama is greater than mere ineptness.  We've never satisfactorily answered whether he's screwing up as a putz or because he takes comfort in smashing wine casks.  The chicken/egg dilemma has left us flabby despite all the apparent protein.

Blame contempt for the nation from the top.  Put a Daily Kos commenter in the White House for eight years and the results would be the same.  It's bad enough the nation is crammed with so many petulant twerps who loathe it.  Let's not elect another one again.

The toughest challenge in assessing legacy is trying to encompass every horrifying moment into a few sentences.  Things will be stupid in a slightly different way now, as America is in for populist spending blamed on free market Randians through 2020.  But at least we'll get relief from someone who thought a country dedicated to personal liberty will be swell once we eliminate everything for which it's known.  It's really the right's fault for thinking humans are capable.

He destroyed to his utmost, and Obama's lack of practical skills was a blessing.  The checks and balances he loathes were there precisely to trip up cloddish wannabe tyrants.  Neither the ineptness nor successful disasters will humble with such healthy self-esteem.  The consummate loudmouth won't be going away just because he's supposed to now.  You'd think someone who did for us what Mariah Carey did for melody would feel embarrassed.  But the tone-deaf never hear their musical atrocities themselves.

Other than everything Obama said or did, he was great.  We're going to hear far more curious boasting about the sea of broken spirits if you were innocent enough to think the nightmare would end upon awakening. Nobody deserves to golf in shame more.  But his failure is only matched by his arrogance.  A president who disliked everything American will stay near the bullhorn to remind us of his staggering wholesale errors.  The favor won't be intentional.

[cksmart-world]

The Completely Unnecessary News Analysis

By Christopher Smart

Nov. 19, 2019

U of U SHOPS FOR NEW IMAGE

& HOW TO BEAT JON HUNTSMAN

What do you do when you're the new president of a major university and the school's police department does nothing to prevent the murder of a young student athlete — despite her repeatedly pleas — who was on the cusp of a beautiful life? If you are University of Utah President Ruth Watkins, you huddle with attorneys to make sure you don't accept blame because sure as shootin' you're going to get sued. Of course, by not taking any responsibility for the shooting death of Lauren McClusky at the hands of a prison parolee who was stalking her, you'll come off looking like something that stinks. But hey, there's liability to think of. Making matters worse, Salt Lake Tribune ace Courtney Tanner ripped the scab off the U's police department to reveal a cancer of incompetence and a general disregard for women's well being. Now that Lauren McClusky is gone and the university's good name is completely in the toilet, Watkins, apparently, believes its time for a change and maybe a little public relations. The U of U is now searching for a new police chief. Too bad they can't just go out and get a new reputation. That's a little bit more difficult.

HOW TO BEAT JON HUNTSMAN

Earlier this week, Salt Lake Tribune metro columnist Robert “Ponce de Leon” Gehrke disclosed strategies for Spencer Cox and others to defeat Jon Huntsman in his quest for another term as governor of Utah. As you recall, Huntsman was was elected governor in 2004 only to leave in 2009 for an ambassador post in China under Obama. He most recently served as ambassador to Russia for Trump. Now, the scion of one of Utah's wealthiest families wants his old job back. Well, here at Smart Bomb, our political analysts also have come up with strategies to knock the Once-And-Future-Governor out of the race: 1) Spread the rumor that Huntsman is angling for ambassador to Cambodia and won't be around for the whole term. 2) Tell voters that Huntsman said Trump was a pervert and sex predator. 3) Produce TV ads showing that Huntsman wants to preserve public lands for all Utahns. 4) Release old Huntsman family video showing him drinking white wine and eating quiche with Obama. 5) Make photo-shopped billboards of Huntsman with Stormy Daniels on the beach. 6) Get trolls to post on Facebook that Huntsman spent all his time in Russia golfing. 7) And finally, spill the beans in newspaper ads that Huntsman has a secret computer server in Ukraine and thinks Hillary Clinton is the hottest thing since sliced bread.

HOMELESS PEOPLE EVERYWHERE

Why are there homeless people everywhere? Why don't they just go home. Everyone is sick and tired of looking at homeless people. Plus, their camping gear is tacky. Haven't they heard of REI? Homeless people should pull themselves up by their bootstraps and become real estate developers. Think of all the money they could have. Recently, us taxpayers built three new shelters in Salt Lake City so homeless people wouldn't be homeless any more. But just when you thought that was a done deal, more homeless people appeared. Where do they all come from? Some people say there was a time in this country before Reagan when there weren't homeless people. Everyone had a home and a job and a car. But we can't go back to that because raising the minimum wage would destroy everything. Making education and health care available would also destroy everything. Affordable housing? That's just socialism. Some of those liberal types say it's better and less expensive to keep people from getting homeless in the first place. But then we'd be Norway and everybody would be happy. It's almost un-American.

THEM INDIANS IS TAKING OVER

Things continue to go straight to hell in San Juan County, where white folks are getting shafted — again. As County Commission Bruce Adams once said, “my ancestors settled this land.” The Native Americans, who have occupied southwest Utah for millennia, apparently don't count because, well, just because. Recently, San Juan County voters turned down Prop 10 that would have opened the door to change the present three-member commission to an elected council of five or more members. That was in reaction to a federal court finding that changed voting boundaries resulting for the first time in a majority Navajo 2-1 commission. Many San Juan County anglos labeled the ruling by Judge Robert Shelby as gerrymandering that deprived them of representation. Since Utah gained statehood, non-Indians have governed the county that includes a portion of the Navajo Nation, despite the fact that Native Americans make up 56 percent of the population. Traditionally, Utah Navajos have lacked services, particularly in remote regions of the sprawling desert county and have been criticized for not acting like white people. What is wrong with them, anyway.

Post Script

Holy smokes, what a week it has been: Chris Stewart's hemorrhoids flared up in the middle of a congressional hearing right as he was questioning former ambassador Maria Yavonovich. Somebody spiked Mike Lee's Mountain Dew and he tweeted that “Trump is the gift that keeps on giving.” None of the Republicans in Congress could find the secret server in Ukraine. (Just think of what a great board game that could be.) And Rudy Guliani was spotted in a Speedo on a beach at the Black Sea eating caviar with someone named Natasha.

  Unlike the rest of the staff here at Smart Bomb, Wilson and the band have been actively ignoring the impeachment hearings in our nation's capital. Instead, they've been seeking out Pagans who know secret ceremonies to make it snow. Right now, things are looking a bit grim for the ski season. Of course, that can change quickly if the snow gods smile on us. In the meantime, red rock country and the ghosts of the Anasazi beckon. OK Wilson, wake up the band and take us on outa here: On the first part of the journey / I was looking at all the life / There were plants and birds and rocks and things / There was sand and hills and rings... I've been through the desert on a horse with no name / It felt good to be out of the rain / In the desert you can't remember your name / 'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain / La, la, la, la, la, la...

[thisdaynews]

Relief and trepidation as Trump looks to rebrand the G7

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/relief-and-trepidation-as-trump-looks-to-rebrand-the-g7/

Relief and trepidation as Trump looks to rebrand the G7

BIARRITZ, France — Who needs golf when there’s even more money to be made playing global politics?

Before Donald Trump’s first G7 summit in Sicily in 2017, leaders of the world’s other advanced democracies fretted that the combative American would dismantle the international order by snubbing them and even not showing up.

Now, after the conclusion of this year’s gathering on France’s Basque Coast on Monday, is it clear that the G7 will survive Trump’s four-year term, and his fellow leaders face an entirely opposite problem: Trump intends to use his role as host of next year’s summit to make the G7 wholly his own — a fully Trump-branded extravaganza that will likely be held at Trump National Doral Miami, one of his luxury golf properties in Florida.

“Each country can have their own villa, or their own bungalow, and they have a lot of units in them, so I think it just works out well,” Trump crowed at a closing news conference in Biarritz, where he waved off queries from reporters about a potential conflict of interest.

In dismissing the question of any impropriety, Trump repeated his assertion that he is losing billions of dollars in potential income by serving as president. He even told reporters that he would try to come up with a precise estimate of his projected losses.

Trump raved repeatedly about what a great time he was having, apparently relishing the chance to refute media assertions that he was increasingly isolated.

Still, Trump’s enthusiasm, for the just-finished G7 in France and for serving as host in Miami, highlighted French President Emmanuel Macron’s success in averting the sort of major conflict or blow-up that has marred other international gatherings in recent years, including the 2018 G7 in Quebec, and a NATO leaders’ summit a month later in Brussels.

Macron emerged triumphant from this weekend’s proceedings, largely by playing to Trump’s interests and ego throughout, essentially adopting an approach of keeping his friends close and Trump closer. Macron was waiting for Trump at his hotel when the American arrived on Saturday, immediately putting him center-stage for a one-on-one lunch.

And he kept Trump close at hand, literally and figuratively, for the next 48 hours, right up until a rare joint news conference late Monday afternoon. In between, Macron took a gamble by inviting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to attend meetings on the sidelines of the summit — but not before consulting Trump. And while Trump fired off some of his trademark raging invective against journalists, calling American reporters “disgusting” in one Twitter post, he did not turn any of that venom on his fellow leaders, as he had before and after the Quebec summit.

Instead, Trump raved repeatedly about what a great time he was having, apparently relishing the chance to refute media assertions that he was increasingly isolated on the world stage. Of course, it was mostly an alternate reality of Trump’s own making. From a policy perspective, Trump continues to stand apart — disagreeing with his fellow leaders on trade matters, on climate policy, on the Iran nuclear deal and on Russia.

U.S. Presisdent Donald Trump’s empty chair, during a work session focused on climate in Biarritz | Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images

While most of the G7 leaders said they adamantly oppose readmitting Russian President Vladimir Putin to the club, citing Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine and its illegal annexation of Crimea, Trump happily told reporters that he is seriously considering inviting Putin to next year’s summit.

“It would be better to have Russia inside the tent than outside the tent,” Trump said at the news conference, after Macron had left him alone to spar with the White House press corps, which the president did with his usual gusto.

“Would I invite him? I would certainly invite him,” Trump said, though he acknowledged Putin might likely turn down the offer to come as a guest rather than as a fully readmitted member of the G8.

Trump quickly pivoted from Russia to denigrating his predecessor, repeating his old assertions that Barack Obama is to blame for the annexation of Crimea and had been “outsmarted” by Putin.

But in his appearances with Macron, Trump was all smiles.

He repeatedly congratulated the French president for a successful summit and thanked him for his “leadership.” Indeed, their joint news conference ended with Trump acknowledging his wife Melania’s love of French wine, even as he ducked a question about his previous threats to impose U.S. tariffs on French wine and other EU products.

There is little doubt that some of them will be hoping that the G7 next year in Miami is Trump’s last.

In Sicily, two years ago, leaders were content to end the summit with a communiqué that showcased a rare disagreement among the seven economic powers — the result of Trump’s unwillingness to join the rest of the group in their commitment to the Paris accords on climate change.

“There were fears: Would he attend the G7?” one senior EU official said at the time, noting that Trump’s election had called into question “the entire Western architecture, post Second World War.”

“Now he’s here,” the official said with evident relief. “He engages.”

Of course, over time leaders have learned that engaging with Trump is often painful. And there is little doubt that some of them will be hoping that the G7 next year in Miami is Trump’s last. The U.S. presidential election will take place just a few months later in November.

This year, Macron gave up on the idea of producing a joint G7 communiqué in part to prevent Trump from sabotaging the final statement. Instead, Macron produced a one-page set of conclusions that other leaders, including Trump, endorsed. And he claimed victory, saying action is more important than some wordy policy document.

A work session in the Casino of Biarritz | Ian Langsdon/AFP via Gety Images

In fact, the bare-bones statement left much uncertainty. It declared the leaders’ shared commitment to preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. But it is far from clear that Macron would be able to organize a meeting between Trump and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani aimed at ending the tensions that have worsened since Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear accord.

Trump used the news conference to repeat some of his threats of force against Iran, and he showed no inclination to back away from the economic sanctions that he has reimposed as a way of drawing the Iranians to the negotiating table.

On climate change, the leaders didn’t even attempt to come up with any new ambitious joint effort, settling instead for a plan to create a €20 million fund to help fight fires in the Amazon. And the leaders appeared to make very little progress in easing trade tensions that Trump has inflamed across the globe, including in his escalating trade war with China.

Macron, speaking at his own news conference after parting from Trump with a big hug, said the secret to working successfully with his American counterpart is to focus on direct, personal, one-on-one interactions. Some of those interactions over the weekend had left Trump administration officials criticizing Macron even as their boss was praising him.

In any event, Trump appeared to leave Biarritz happy, tweeting “THANK YOU FRANCE.”

Trump in Biarritz | Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images

Before taking off, however, he put in a strong plug for his Doral resort as next year’s summit site. And just as there is no way for other leaders to stop Trump from inviting Putin, there is no way for them to stop Trump from holding the event at his own hotel. Their only recourse would be to boycott — precisely what they feared Trump would do in 2017.

“With Doral, we have a series of magnificent buildings, we call them bungalows, they each hold from 50 to 70 very luxurious rooms with magnificent views. We have incredible conference rooms, incredible restaurants, it’s like such a natural,” Trump said, while noting that a final decision has not been made.

“We wouldn’t have to do the work that they’ve done here — and they’ve really done a beautiful job. And what we have also is Miami and we have many hundreds of acres so that in terms of parking, in terms of all of the things that you need, the ballrooms are among the biggest in Florida and the best, it’s brand new.”

Read More

[gyrlversion]

I hope you drop dead in the next 100 yards: Remain marcher jeered

My husband took his dose of Remainer abuse cheerfully enough. After ten years in frontline politics, he accepts it as part of the job

With every passing day, the Brexit shambles more and more seems to resemble a half-built Ikea daybed.

It looks nothing like as enticing as it did in the showroom, none of the bits fit together as they are supposed to — and the chances of getting a good night’s sleep any time soon are distinctly unlikely.

Joking apart, whether you voted Leave or Remain, the one thing everyone seems to agree on is that Brexit is driving us all bonkers.

It’s got to the point where most people don’t care what happens — they just want it to stop. And who can blame them?

I sincerely hope Parliament manages to do this, either by approving Theresa May’s deal at the third attempt or by some other means. But whatever the final outcome, one thing is certain: we have to change the tone of our national conversation.

The process of trying to exit the EU has done more than simply underline the intransigence of Brussels; it has also exposed fundamental flaws in our own political system.

In particular, the way certain individuals may have seen Brexit as an opportunity to further their own ambitions, to manipulate perceptions, to capitalise on the difficulties of obtaining a deal, to attack rivals and thrust themselves into the limelight.

There are examples on both sides, from the shocking case of Remain MP Anna Soubry, who can no longer return home because of death threats, to the experience of my husband Michael Gove this weekend when, walking back from a meeting in London, he came across a People’s Vote marcher

It’s understandable the voters should feel frustrated. But there is something about the level of vitriol our politicians face that goes beyond an expression of dissatisfaction — and shades into something more sinister.

There are examples on both sides, from the shocking case of Remain MP Anna Soubry, who can no longer return home because of death threats, to the experience of my husband Michael Gove this weekend when, walking back from a meeting in London, he came across a People’s Vote marcher.

‘I hope you drop dead in the next 100 yards,’ the man shouted, to the delight of his companions. And when I then observed, in a tweet, that any Leave voter was at risk of being ‘lynched’ by furious Remainers, I was subject to so much online abuse I was forced to turn off my notifications. Ironically, I was reported to Twitter for using offensive language.

My husband took his dose of Remainer abuse cheerfully enough. After ten years in frontline politics, he accepts it as part of the job. But it’s undoubtedly getting worse.

Death threats and intimidation are now the norm. And while very few people ever follow through, it only takes one nutter. None of us will ever forget MP Jo Cox, whose murder remains one of the great tragedies of our times.

But even if no blow is ever struck, the long-term repercussions of such a siege mentality can leave lasting wounds. I know how being the object of constant low-level hostility can deplete one’s capacity for resilience and ultimately lead to mental health problems such as anxiety and depression.

And if I feel like that, God knows how someone like Labour MP Luciana Berger — who has suffered a torrent of anti-Semitic abuse — or Anna Soubry cope.

There’s no doubt this rise in abusive behaviour is part of the reason Parliament is so paralysed by Brexit. They are terrified of what might happen to them if they get it wrong.

The result is a House of Commons that is exhausted at a time when, more than ever, we need MPs to be fighting fit and focused 100 per cent on the job in hand.

Of course, politics is by its nature passionate, and no modern debate has elicited quite as much passion as Brexit. But it’s one thing to care deeply about something; quite another to use it as a legitimate excuse for abuse, hatred and the threat of violence.

The sooner this chapter in our history draws to a close, the sooner we can begin to repair the rifts and divisions.

I just hope that it’s not too late.

Car hire firms run out of credit 

Yet another brilliant Mail campaign pays off: the regulator has ruled that car hire firms abroad will no longer be able to rip off customers with hidden fees. But they’ve got another scam under the bonnet. If you book and pay online using a debit card (as I do), when you pick it up they will not release the car unless you have a valid credit card (which I do not).

The upshot is that the only way to obtain your car is to pay for the hire firm’s own insurance — even if you have already taken it out through a third-party broker. Either way, car hire companies fleece everyone. Plus ca change.

It pains me to admit it, but I am one of those tipsy women shoppers making headlines, who, after a couple of glasses of wine on the sofa, ends up online buying their 427th handbag. Of course, there’s the risk that, under the influence of a chilled white, one might splash out a little too much. But there’s always free returns. Cheers!

It’s a subject that divides families, comes between spouses and has, in the past week, been the subject of much online debate. Not Brexit, but crisps.

On Sunday night, Channel 5 set out to find the nation’s favourite — and concluded it was a toss-up between Pringles, Walkers and Doritos.

But the matter is far from settled, with many contesting the result of the referendum. Sorry, survey. I think the results say more about Channel 5’s viewers than the crisps. Had it been Radio 4, the winner would have been those truffle ones you get in M&S which cost a fortune.

Channel 4 would have chosen something artisan and free-trade. BBC2? Tyrrell’s, for sure.

As for me, I can’t resist a Wotsit. No idea what that makes me. Fat, probably.

Full Marks from me

Anti-obesity campaigners say High Street shops are posing a risk to ‘public health’ by using vanity sizing to lure customers, and kidding them into thinking they’re not as tubby as they really are. Apparently, even Marks & Spencer is at it.

Maybe — but so what? There are so few genuine pleasures left in life these days, are they really going to take this last one — the joy of presenting a size 14 at the till instead of a 16, or noisily requesting ‘a smaller size’ in the changing room — away from us, too?

Former Spice Girl Mel B is desperate for one last hurrah. But her latest revelation, that she and Geri Halliwell had a Sapphic encounter, has backfired, since Geri is now reportedly reluctant to extend the band’s lucrative reunion tour. The irony is that Mel B badly needs the tour for financial reasons.

If she’s not careful she’ll end up like Katie Price: flogging the depths of her soul in exchange for ever-scanter rewards.

A rather sour Apple 

After posting a snap with her 14-year-old, Apple, on Instagram, Gwyneth Paltrow was told off in no uncertain terms. ‘Mom, we have discussed this. You may not post anything without my consent’

It’s a relief to discover that even such super-soignee celebrities as Gwyneth Paltrow are cut down to size by their teenage daughters.

After posting a snap with her 14-year-old, Apple, on Instagram, Paltrow was told off in no uncertain terms. ‘Mom, we have discussed this. You may not post anything without my consent.’

Impressive — and, believe me, a lot more politely expressed than what own my daughter says if I so much as come within ten yards of her with my camera.

Emily Maitlis, the new lead presenter of Newsnight, struck a chord with me when she said: ‘I weep after interviews.’ Some people interpret this as a sign of weakness, but it is actually a tremendous strength because it shows that as well as having a mind like a steel trap, Emily also possesses a degree of empathy.

You get a far better insight into people by treating them as humans than you do from barking at them à la Jeremy Paxman.

25 years on Liz wears its swell 

I think Liz Hurley wears it rather better now than she did back then. Sure, the face and body were more youthful in the first version, but there is something about the assuredness and life experience of the older woman that trumps the bloom of youth

It’s not quite the same — the safety pins are in strategically different places — but there is no mistaking the look: 25 years after she stepped out in ‘that’ dress, Liz Hurley proves, in the new Harper’s Bazaar, that age is no barrier to glamour.

Actually, I think she wears it rather better now than she did back then. Sure, the face and body were more youthful in the first version, but there is something about the assuredness and life experience of the older woman that trumps the bloom of youth.

I certainly know which one I would rather sit next to at dinner, anyway.

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AP FACT CHECK: Trump puts fighting words in Macron's mouth

New Post has been published on https://www.articletec.com/ap-fact-check-trump-puts-fighting-words-in-macrons-mouth/

AP FACT CHECK: Trump puts fighting words in Macron's mouth

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump put fighting words in his French counterpart’s mouth this past week and assailed the special counsel’s Russia investigation with a familiar and false characterization of the man leading it.

Also familiar, on a week honoring the sacrifice of America’s warriors, was his inaccurate assertion that veterans, thanks to him, no longer face long waits for medical care.

A look at the president’s recent rhetoric and the reality:

RUSSIA INVESTIGATION

TRUMP, on special counsel Robert Mueller and his team conducting the Russia investigation: “These are Angry People, including the highly conflicted Bob Mueller, who worked for Obama for 8 years.” -tweet on Wednesday.

THE FACTS: Mueller, a longtime Republican, was chosen to lead the FBI by Republican President George W. Bush in 2001. Democratic President Barack Obama kept him in the job, and Mueller left in September 2013 after six years under Obama. Mueller is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and relationships between Russian figures and Trump campaign operatives.

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NATO

TRUMP: “Emmanuel Macron suggests building its own army to protect Europe against the U.S., China and Russia. But it was Germany in World Wars One & Two – How did that work out for France? They were starting to learn German in Paris before the U.S. came along. Pay for NATO or not!” – tweet on Tuesday.

TRUMP: “President Macron of France has just suggested that Europe build its own military in order to protect itself from the U.S., China and Russia. Very insulting, but perhaps Europe should first pay its fair share of NATO, which the U.S. subsidizes greatly!” – tweet on Nov. 9.

THE FACTS: Macron never suggested assembling a European army to stand against the United States, its steadfast military ally. Instead, he joined German Chancellor Angela Merkel in proposing a continental army that would give Europe more responsibility for its own security, supplementing NATO. Trump has repeatedly pushed NATO members to spend more on their own military capabilities to relieve pressure on the U.S. to protect Europe. A European army would be aimed at doing that, though in theory outside the NATO umbrella.

Macron said in a radio interview before Trump’s arrival in France that Europe should be able to defend itself more than it now can, without only relying on the United States.

At another point in the interview, Macron discussed hacking and other cyberthreats and asserted that on that front, France must protect itself from China, Russia and even the United States. His concern about U.S. hackers had nothing to do with military threats or forces.

Trump misrepresented Macron’s position on the matter before they met and again after they discussed it.

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WHITE HOUSE

SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, on a judge’s order that CNN reporter Jim Acosta be allowed back into the White House: “Today, the court made clear that there is no absolute First Amendment right to access the White House.”

THE FACTS: The court made no such determination. U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Kelly issued a ruling of a “limited nature” that restored Acosta’s credentials temporarily while a CNN lawsuit against the Trump administration proceeds. Kelly essentially found support for CNN’s claim under the Fifth Amendment that Acosta hadn’t received sufficient notice or explanation before his credentials were pulled. As a result, the judge didn’t get to the First Amendment issues in the case.

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TRADE

TRUMP: “On Trade, France makes excellent wine, but so does the U.S. The problem is that France makes it very hard for the U.S. to sell its wines into France, and charges big Tariffs, whereas the U.S. makes it easy for French wines, and charges very small Tariffs. Not fair, must change!” – tweet on Tuesday.

THE FACTS: Yes, U.S. wine is desired in France.

Trump, who’s been in the wine business, is wrong about France applying tariffs. The European Union does.

He’s right about a disparity in wine duties.

Tariffs vary by alcohol content and other factors. A bottle of white American wine with 13 percent alcohol content imported into the EU carries a customs duty of 10 euro cents (just over 11 U.S. cents). A bottle of white wine from the EU exported to the United States has a customs duty of 5 U.S. cents.

The gap in duties is narrower for red wine with an alcohol content of 14.5 percent.

Bulk wines are another story. The U.S. tariff is double the EU one, a break for American producers because bulk wine represents 25 percent of the volume of U.S. wine coming into the EU, according to the French wine exporter federation.

The value of wine imported by France has jumped 200 percent over a decade. Meantime Americans are the top consumers of French wine exports.

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VOTER ID

TRUMP: “The disgrace is that, voter ID. If you buy, you know, a box of cereal, if you do anything, you have a voter ID …The only thing you don’t is if you’re a voter of the United States.” – interview on Wednesday with The Daily Caller.

THE FACTS: He is meaning to say that shoppers use a photo ID to make purchases, so it should not be a burden to show a photo ID for voting. But as shoppers know, no photo is required to purchase a box of cereal or other items at a grocery store when using cash or to make routine purchases with credit or debit cards.

Identifications are required to purchase limited items such as alcohol, cigarettes or cold medicine and in rapidly declining situations in which a customer opts to pay with a personal check.

According to the National Grocers Association’s most recent data, the use of checks as a percentage of total transactions dropped from 33 percent in 2000 to 6 percent in 2015, due in part to the popularity of debit cards, which use PIN codes. The group’s members are independent food retailers, family-owned or privately held, both large and small.

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VETERANS

TRUMP: “In June, I proudly signed into law the most significant VA reform in half a century, called Veterans Choice. … Now if a veteran cannot get the treatment they need from the VA in a timely manner, they can see a private doctor. They don’t have to wait 12 days or 20 days. … There is no more waiting on lines.” – remarks on Thursday.

THE FACTS: He continues to spread a misleading claim about veterans now receiving immediate medical care because of his improvements. In fact, the care provided under the Veterans Choice program is not as instantaneous as Trump suggests nor will it necessarily be the biggest overhaul at the Department of Veterans Affairs in decades.

Trump signed legislation in June to expand the private-sector Choice program, which was first approved in 2014 during the Obama administration after a scandal at the Phoenix VA medical center in which some veterans died while waiting months for appointments. The current Choice program allows veterans to see doctors outside the VA system if they must wait more than 30 days for an appointment – not “12 days or 20 days.” But many are waiting much longer than the program prescribes.

How much Choice will be expanded under his law will depend on yet-to-be-completed regulations that will determine eligibility for veterans as well as available money for the program. The VA has yet to resolve long-term financing due to congressional budget caps that could put money for VA or other domestic programs at risk of shortfalls next year.

The program’s success will also depend on an overhaul of the VA’s electronic medical records to allow seamless sharing of medical records with private physicians, expected to take up to 10 years.

Meanwhile, the current Choice program isn’t always timely. A report released this year by the Government Accountability Office found that despite the Choice program’s guarantee of providing an appointment within 30 days, veterans waited an average of 51 days to 64 days.

___

TRUMP: “Veteran unemployment has reached its lowest level in nearly 21 years, and it’s going to be better.” – remarks on Thursday.

THE FACTS: The veterans’ unemployment rate fell to 2.9 percent in October, the latest data available, but that is still higher than the 2.7 percent rate reached in October 2017, also under Trump. That was the lowest joblessness rate for veterans in nearly 17 years.

Veterans’ unemployment has fallen mostly for the same reasons that joblessness has dropped generally: strong hiring and steady economic growth for the past eight years.

In May 2000, veterans’ unemployment dropped to a low of 2.3 percent, and he hasn’t reached that.

In any event, it’s impossible for Trump to claim an achievement not seen in 21 years on veterans’ unemployment. The data on joblessness for vets only go back 18 years, to 2000.

___

CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES

TRUMP: “There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!” – tweet on Nov. 10.

THE FACTS: Both nature and humans share blame for California’s devastating wildfires, but fire scientists say forest management is not a leading contributor.

Nature provides the dangerous winds that have whipped the fires, and human-caused climate change over the long haul is killing and drying the shrubs and trees that provide the fuel. That’s not to say California is blameless: Urban development encroaching on wildlands also is a factor.

The wildfire that incinerated the Northern California town of Paradise and surrounding areas is the single deadliest such blaze in California history.

The other major fire, in Southern California, has burned through shrub land, not forest.

“It’s not about forest management,” said University of Utah fire scientist Philip Dennison. “These aren’t forests.”

The dean of the University of Michigan’s environmental school, Jonathan Overpeck, said Western fires are getting bigger and more severe. He said it “is much less due to bad management and is instead the result of our baking of our forests, woodlands and grasslands with ever-worsening climate change.”

Wildfires have become more devastating because of the extreme weather swings from global warming, fire scientists said. The average number of U.S. acres burned by wildfires has doubled from 30 years ago.

California also has been in drought for all but a few years of the 21st century and is now experiencing its longest drought, which began on Dec. 27, 2011, and has lasted 358 weeks, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Nearly two-thirds of the state is abnormally dry.

The first nine months of the year have been fourth-warmest on record for California, and this past summer was the second-hottest on record in the state.

Because of that, there are 129 million dead trees, which provide fuel for fires.

___

Associated Press writers Jessica Gresko, Darlene Superville, Christopher Rugaber and Seth Borenstein contributed to this report.

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Find AP Fact Checks at http://apne.ws/2kbx8bd

Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheck

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Wisdom, Kanye, Trump and the Bible

Wisdom, Kanye, President Trump and the Bible

by Pastor Paul J. Bern

For a website view, click here :-)

One of the primary purposes of this weekly blog of mine is to juxtapose current events with the Bible in an effort to derive some truth and teach some life lessons for the mutual benefit of all my viewers. As I write this I have a total of just over 10,000 followers, with a decent percentage (it fluctuates) of those actively engaged at any given time. In keeping with this 'tradition' of sorts, I will once again endeavor into recent occurrences in an effort to share some useful nuggets of truth. This week, my topic will be the meeting in the Oval Office between Kanye West and President Trump. I'm not going to bother commenting on anything that Mr. West said. By now, everybody has already seen and heard what “Kanye” said and how he said it. Suffice it to say he didn't present himself very well. Not only that, he didn't represent his Black brothers and sisters very well, either.

I do recall at one point where I heard Mr. West say he had once been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but that he had sought other forms of treatment instead. Speaking as a man who is in my 9th year of being in recovery from a bipolar diagnosis, I would respectfully advise Kanye West to return to whomever told him that and seek his or her counseling. Whether he agrees with that therapist or not has nothing to do with how beneficial therapy may be for him. That's all I care to say, since I am not here to judge Kanye West. What I am here for this week is to shed some light on something we all need more of – wisdom! There is no such thing as someone who does not need any more wisdom. Such an individual would be a complete idiot to think that. Not only that, but people who have stopped learning have effectively died already. Even though they walk around, eating, sleeping, breathing and talking, they are already dead because they are reacting to life instead of living it.

I do not blame anyone who has these kinds of issues that they must deal with, and that includes Kanye and myself, by the way. I take medicine daily to control my symptoms, and it works reasonably well. Mr. West would do well to consider doing the same as myself, based on what little I've seen of that Oval Office meeting this past week. I maintain that the reason people sometimes say and do seemingly irrational things is because of the way we were educated. It's not all their fault! By all accounts America has a failing public school system, although to be fair there are notable exceptions to this. Too many people today lack wisdom while failing to realize it. I'm certainly no genius myself, so I will use the Bible to point out some authentic, God given definitions of what real wisdom is supposed to look like.

1) “Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice? 2) At the highest point along the way, where the paths meet, she takes her stand; 3) beside the gate leading into the city, at the entrance, she cries aloud: 4) “To you, O people, I call out; I raise my voice to all mankind. 5) You who are simple, gain prudence; you who are foolish, set your hearts on it. 6)  Listen, for I have trustworthy things to say; I open my lips to speak what is right. 7) My mouth speaks what is true, for my lips detest wickedness. 8) All the words of my mouth are just; none of them is crooked or perverse. 9) To the discerning all of them are right; they are upright to those who have found knowledge. 10) Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, 11) for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.” (Proverbs 8, verses 1-11)

Now you can all see what I mean about Kanye West, President Trump, stupid TV shows and everything else that goes with them. All these people and current events are the result of a completely backward educational system, where everyone thinks they have to go and get knowledge imparted to them by some third party they don't even know! Going to an educational institution is the opposite of what the Bible says: “1) “Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice? 2) At the highest point along the way, where the paths meet, she takes her stand; 3) beside the gate leading into the city, at the entrance, she cries aloud: 4) “To you, O people, I call out; I raise my voice to all mankind.” While there is certainly nothing wrong with wanting to obtain knowledge – internet use is a good example – obtaining wisdom is not the same process. Wisdom can oftentimes come and seek us through the life lessons we learn along the way. This is sometimes called “the school of hard knocks”. Those who learn their lessons the hard way often turn out to be the ones who benefit the most from the lessons learned.

“10) Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, 11) for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.” Life lessons are worth more than 1,000 bachelor's degree's. Period – end of story! And if this is not enough evidence to prove my point, then good!! I will take it upon myself to serve up another scrumptious chunk from the following chapter in the Book of Proverbs.

“ 3) She has sent out her servants, and she calls from the highest point of the city, 4) “Let all who are simple come to my house!” To those who have no sense she says, 5) “Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed. 6) Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of insight.” 7) Whoever corrects a mocker invites insults; whoever rebukes the wicked incurs abuse. 8) Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you. 9) Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning. 10) The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. 11) For through wisdom your days will be many, and years will be added to your life. 12) If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you; if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.” (Proverbs 9, verses 3-12)

Let's not forget that these are the words of King Solomon of Jerusalem, son of King David, and the wisest human who ever lived besides Jesus Christ, who was half God and half man. Now let's be honest, everybody has made mistakes in life that were real whoppers – I'm certainly no exception! But what did Solomon say about this? “To those who have no sense she says, 5) “Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed. 6) Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of insight.” Very few people are born geniuses. Albert Einstein was one, Stephen Hawking was another.

And yet to those who seem to have no sense at all, such as this past week's Oval Office meeting between Kanye West and President Trump. There is a solution for all those people who won't read it, or who don't believe in it. All they have to do is read the Bible for themselves. Never mind what you've heard from some televangelist who says you owe God 10% of your paycheck. I'm writing about some real, authentic wisdom. President Trump says he reads his Bible and he self-identifies as Christian. I hope Trump knows better than to lie about that.

Somewhere along the way, a lot of people seem to have gotten the idea that reading the Bible is really dumb, or just plain bad or otherwise offensive, or 'politically incorrect'. But the following verses define the problem very well indeed. “7) Whoever corrects a mocker invites insults; whoever rebukes the wicked incurs abuse. 8) Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you. 9) Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.” There are those people in life who perceive this issue and resolve to do something about it. And then there are those who mock, harass and bully those who are trying to better themselves. They are verbally abusive and relentless in hounding people whom they love to hate. That's why they're called 'bullies'.

One thing is for sure – it's plain to see that our Bibles can be used as a tool to determine who our real friends are. If they mock your beliefs, do not hesitate to correct them. If their mockery gets all the worse and they are people you know, you might as well cross them off your 'friends' list and delete them from your social media. They are not your friends, they are there to work against you. But if we rebuke the wise, they will love us for it. So, never be afraid to rebuke someone if they get too far out of line. It will gain you new friends, while forcing your enemies out into the open.

“10) The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. 11) For through wisdom your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.” Fear of the Lord, isn't that what it says? Does that mean we're all expected to be running around like delinquent children, trying to evade horrible punishment from some angry-as-hell God? No way, nowhere near that, in fact. While “fear of the Lord” can be the expectation of punishment for doing wrong, in the original translations this actually reads as counting on the benefits of doing right. Because, and this is what the mockers can't seem to understand, the benefits of doing right outweigh the “benefits” of doing wrong. One may well be able to get ahead for the short term by doing wrong – that is, turn a quick profit – but the long-term consequences can outweigh the benefits by a long shot.

America has reaped the benefits of scrambling for the profit motive. We've become the richest country in the world, but to me this rings hollow because of the means we have used to obtain the gains received. Our penchant for greed and for gain has left us with a debt-based economy that has run its course. The entire world is soaked in debts it cannot repay. When the economic crash comes, and it will be fairly soon, we will have deserved every bit of loss that we sustain. And it's all because we've lost all touch with wisdom.