This afternoon, President Trump finally laid into France's President Macron. Macron could have gone through the weekend and just hyped the end of World War I.....but no....he decided that via his intellectualism and brilliant gift for talking....he'd go and dump on President Trump.
So the Twitter comments came. I suspect they were written out weeks ago in anticipation of this moment.
“There is no country more Nationalist than France.”
Then came “Make France Great Again!”
Here's the thing....if you go back to the France of the 1700s and through the Napoleonic era....France was this iconic society that thrived upon some great character of nationalism. To be French....was some great achievement in life (at least French people used to believe that).
Since the 1940s? There's been this odd 'loser' mentality bleeding over on society and an intellectual battle taking place to chip away at this great character of Europe.
As for making "Make France Great Again"? I suspect that MFGA will start to appear as bumper stickers and some younger French folks will pick up on this chatter. Macron? All he had to do was give some decent weekend speeches and he could have avoided this whole public spectacle. Now he's gone and invited some Trump-like game to be played out on his front porch.
Tuesday, 13 November 2018
The Fire Story
On the far northwest end of Los Angles, there's a massive suburb called Santa Monica. It's maybe two miles by three miles in size. Heading west....you got the ocean. South and east....Venice Beach and Beverly Hills. North....the hills and 'forests' (state parks and protected land).
The folks who live there....have money. You can't really afford to live there unless you got some income level of $500,000 or more per year.
On the far north 'edge' of the suburb....this is where the real wealthy folks live....inches away from the state park, limited houses around you....everyone having some status of some type and semi-important in the entertainment industry.
This week, most of their houses caught on fire. Blame will shift around....global warming will end up being the most utilized blame for the fire and massive destruction.
Here's the thing about this discussion, the fire, and the urbanization that has taken place.
The wealthy want a piece of property that is large....way out away from public viewing....with a magnificent view. They will pay for that property. You can list some three-acre lot for two-million-plus dollars and no one bats an eye.....they shell out the money and start building their mega-structure house.
Most folks with common sense would view this in a different way. A kinda dry landscape with a few trees and a fair number of shrubs which have adapted to this weather landscape. Various political positions taken to avoid cutting back on vegetation or clearing away the extreme dry or dead vegetation. Everyone patting each other on the back for their pro-environment positions but no one sizing up the threat to their housing via fires.
All of these folks wanted risk. They may not have recognized risk....but they signed up for massive risk. Rebuilding? More than likely but you have to figure....within thirty years, the possibility of your house burning down again will be better than 50-percent. Insurance? My guess is that as the companies pay out the hundreds of millions....they will review factors and decide that a 50-percent increase in yearly premiums will be necessary, and the risk-crowd will go ahead and pay the increased cost.
They wanted maximum risk....it's part of this game for the view and status-symbol lifestyle.
The folks who live there....have money. You can't really afford to live there unless you got some income level of $500,000 or more per year.
On the far north 'edge' of the suburb....this is where the real wealthy folks live....inches away from the state park, limited houses around you....everyone having some status of some type and semi-important in the entertainment industry.
This week, most of their houses caught on fire. Blame will shift around....global warming will end up being the most utilized blame for the fire and massive destruction.
Here's the thing about this discussion, the fire, and the urbanization that has taken place.
The wealthy want a piece of property that is large....way out away from public viewing....with a magnificent view. They will pay for that property. You can list some three-acre lot for two-million-plus dollars and no one bats an eye.....they shell out the money and start building their mega-structure house.
Most folks with common sense would view this in a different way. A kinda dry landscape with a few trees and a fair number of shrubs which have adapted to this weather landscape. Various political positions taken to avoid cutting back on vegetation or clearing away the extreme dry or dead vegetation. Everyone patting each other on the back for their pro-environment positions but no one sizing up the threat to their housing via fires.
All of these folks wanted risk. They may not have recognized risk....but they signed up for massive risk. Rebuilding? More than likely but you have to figure....within thirty years, the possibility of your house burning down again will be better than 50-percent. Insurance? My guess is that as the companies pay out the hundreds of millions....they will review factors and decide that a 50-percent increase in yearly premiums will be necessary, and the risk-crowd will go ahead and pay the increased cost.
They wanted maximum risk....it's part of this game for the view and status-symbol lifestyle.
Monday, 12 November 2018
Ocasio-Cortez and DC Rent
I noticed a short story over the weekend where the NY City soon-to-be House Representative.....Ocasio-Cortez....did a chat and admitted that she's shocked at rental prices in DC, and won't be moving until she gets her first 'pay-check'.
So the basic truth is that if you wanted a decent two-bedroom apartment, in a guarded or secure building, with some privacy....it's going to be in the range of $2,400 (minimum). This is the base cost for someone in her position, living within five miles of the capital building. Going outside of the 'zone'? If you made it around ten miles out, you might be able to get your rent situation down to the $1,500 range.
My guess is that she's going to 'accidentally' find someone who has a condo in the region and will be out-of-town most of the time, and they will sub-lease it to her for 'super-nice' price (maybe $1,000 a month). Rigged-up? More than likely, but no one conducts audits on Congress folks, and there's probably well over fifty of the House members who live in this type of arrangement.
This is one of the serious problems in procuring a seat in the House or Senate. No one has ever conducted a survey of living arrangements of the Senate or House members, and they'd balk if you attempted one. For a number of years....one particular US Senator lived out of a basement apartment of his chief-of-staff's home. There's also the story of the one House member who slept in his office Monday through Thursday night, and flew back home each weekend (his wife balked at moving to DC).
If you go back historically, in the 1800s, a lot of the political folks stayed at boarding houses, and even shared beds with each other.
But this brings out a weird question to ask Ocasio-Cortez....how did you survive in the NY City rent situation? No one seems to ask that question.
So the basic truth is that if you wanted a decent two-bedroom apartment, in a guarded or secure building, with some privacy....it's going to be in the range of $2,400 (minimum). This is the base cost for someone in her position, living within five miles of the capital building. Going outside of the 'zone'? If you made it around ten miles out, you might be able to get your rent situation down to the $1,500 range.
My guess is that she's going to 'accidentally' find someone who has a condo in the region and will be out-of-town most of the time, and they will sub-lease it to her for 'super-nice' price (maybe $1,000 a month). Rigged-up? More than likely, but no one conducts audits on Congress folks, and there's probably well over fifty of the House members who live in this type of arrangement.
This is one of the serious problems in procuring a seat in the House or Senate. No one has ever conducted a survey of living arrangements of the Senate or House members, and they'd balk if you attempted one. For a number of years....one particular US Senator lived out of a basement apartment of his chief-of-staff's home. There's also the story of the one House member who slept in his office Monday through Thursday night, and flew back home each weekend (his wife balked at moving to DC).
If you go back historically, in the 1800s, a lot of the political folks stayed at boarding houses, and even shared beds with each other.
But this brings out a weird question to ask Ocasio-Cortez....how did you survive in the NY City rent situation? No one seems to ask that question.
Sunday, 11 November 2018
The Last Time That The US Came Uninvited to France
I sat and read over various comments by French President Macron today. A day or two ago, he was suggesting that the EU needed to build up an Army to handle the potential threat one day from Russia, China or the US (hinting that we might invade).
Twice, the US has come over to France.
The first time, we were invited. It was one of those grave and serious moments when a worn out British and French Army could not mount some major attack and end World War I. You can go over the list of battles and the change of the war from the moment of arrival....it doesn't matter. It ended in roughly eighteen months, and we quietly packed up and left. We didn't stay.....we had no need to stay.
The second time, we were not invited. To be honest, the French government in 1944 was dominated by the Germans, and there just wasn't going to be an invitation.
So we came on landing craft....upon a beach or two, and left young dead American GI's there upon the beach. To be kinda honest, we ensured that there were a lot more dead German GI's than American ones.
We didn't stick around the beach much or have a chance to really mingle with local Normandy folks (things were pressing for time and movement).
In six to eight weeks, we'd kinda crossed the French countryside....met a number of French people who seemed to want to hug us, offer up plenty of wine, and shed some tears over what had to be done. For this type of business....you need rough men who are capable of going out into the night, and stormy weather....with a preoccupation to settle wrongs. It's hard to find men like this, but we seem to have found enough to do the job.
When 1945 ended, the beaches of Normandy were silent....graves were dug....and memorials were being prepared.
To be honest, I've traveled around a fair bit of Europe, and found that around regular working-class French folks....we Americans tend to be more like them....than our Brit cousins. Course, with the French intellectual class.....it's not the same story.
I look upon Macron's commentary as one delivered by someone with a political agenda and hyped to send a message. The general public trend for Macron? It's spiraled down since the election and he able has a 25-percent approval rating in the country.
I think we can mostly all assure Macron....we have no real intentions of invading France. Yeah, if some Nazi folks were to show up and things were going badly for the French....we'd probably find more landing craft, and stage another landing at Normandy, if required.
Twice, the US has come over to France.
The first time, we were invited. It was one of those grave and serious moments when a worn out British and French Army could not mount some major attack and end World War I. You can go over the list of battles and the change of the war from the moment of arrival....it doesn't matter. It ended in roughly eighteen months, and we quietly packed up and left. We didn't stay.....we had no need to stay.
The second time, we were not invited. To be honest, the French government in 1944 was dominated by the Germans, and there just wasn't going to be an invitation.
So we came on landing craft....upon a beach or two, and left young dead American GI's there upon the beach. To be kinda honest, we ensured that there were a lot more dead German GI's than American ones.
We didn't stick around the beach much or have a chance to really mingle with local Normandy folks (things were pressing for time and movement).
In six to eight weeks, we'd kinda crossed the French countryside....met a number of French people who seemed to want to hug us, offer up plenty of wine, and shed some tears over what had to be done. For this type of business....you need rough men who are capable of going out into the night, and stormy weather....with a preoccupation to settle wrongs. It's hard to find men like this, but we seem to have found enough to do the job.
When 1945 ended, the beaches of Normandy were silent....graves were dug....and memorials were being prepared.
To be honest, I've traveled around a fair bit of Europe, and found that around regular working-class French folks....we Americans tend to be more like them....than our Brit cousins. Course, with the French intellectual class.....it's not the same story.
I look upon Macron's commentary as one delivered by someone with a political agenda and hyped to send a message. The general public trend for Macron? It's spiraled down since the election and he able has a 25-percent approval rating in the country.
I think we can mostly all assure Macron....we have no real intentions of invading France. Yeah, if some Nazi folks were to show up and things were going badly for the French....we'd probably find more landing craft, and stage another landing at Normandy, if required.
Upon Reaching Age Sixty
I've made it to sixty years old. There are ten things that I've come to observe....particularly over the past forty-odd years:
1. There's probably five-percent of population reading, watching or listening to seventy hours per week of political drama via TV, radio, or internet. These folks can name more political and journalist figures than Bible characters, and live/breathe by the actions that occur each single day.
2. The Braves can have a payroll of 82-million and yet still not make it to the World Series.
3. You'd be better off spending six months in some Air Conditioning school, or plumber qualification course.....than attending most university degree programs (unless engineering or medical). There are people actually borrowing in the range of $80,000 for a four-degree in English literature.
4. There's at least sixty hours a day via various networks on TV.....telling you something about the President of the United States. In 1976, it might have been sixty minutes per day with the options that you had.
5. In 1973, you tended to get the best low-down on local politics either at the barbershop or general store. Today, the barber is usually some lady who wants to chat about the View, or man-problems.....with the general stores mostly all shut down.
6. County fairs are still the best place to drop off a 12-year old kid for the afternoon, but he'll need $30 instead of $6.
7. As a kid, there was one single McDonalds existing within a 25-mile radius. Today, there's close to twelve of them.
8. There's at least 300 women appearing on the various TV networks who I would deem harlot, jezebel, slut or 'loose woman'.....and no one says much about the increasing number.
9. Around 1977, out of the Huntsville Airport....you could end up on a plane with 80-percent of the seats empty. Today, most every single is filled.....course, you can still only go to Atlanta, Dallas or Chicago. And it's still curious that a can of Coke at the airport can run in the range of four dollars.
10. Probably the best burgers ever made, in the history of man, were produced at the Florence Pool Hall, on East Tennessee Street. Whatever the mystery ingredient was.....is still unknown.
1. There's probably five-percent of population reading, watching or listening to seventy hours per week of political drama via TV, radio, or internet. These folks can name more political and journalist figures than Bible characters, and live/breathe by the actions that occur each single day.
2. The Braves can have a payroll of 82-million and yet still not make it to the World Series.
3. You'd be better off spending six months in some Air Conditioning school, or plumber qualification course.....than attending most university degree programs (unless engineering or medical). There are people actually borrowing in the range of $80,000 for a four-degree in English literature.
4. There's at least sixty hours a day via various networks on TV.....telling you something about the President of the United States. In 1976, it might have been sixty minutes per day with the options that you had.
5. In 1973, you tended to get the best low-down on local politics either at the barbershop or general store. Today, the barber is usually some lady who wants to chat about the View, or man-problems.....with the general stores mostly all shut down.
6. County fairs are still the best place to drop off a 12-year old kid for the afternoon, but he'll need $30 instead of $6.
7. As a kid, there was one single McDonalds existing within a 25-mile radius. Today, there's close to twelve of them.
8. There's at least 300 women appearing on the various TV networks who I would deem harlot, jezebel, slut or 'loose woman'.....and no one says much about the increasing number.
9. Around 1977, out of the Huntsville Airport....you could end up on a plane with 80-percent of the seats empty. Today, most every single is filled.....course, you can still only go to Atlanta, Dallas or Chicago. And it's still curious that a can of Coke at the airport can run in the range of four dollars.
10. Probably the best burgers ever made, in the history of man, were produced at the Florence Pool Hall, on East Tennessee Street. Whatever the mystery ingredient was.....is still unknown.
Me and Musicals
Most Alabama guys are lucky in their life to have avoided any attendance at musicals or operas.....that's my humble opinion. I've been more or less dragged off to five musicals in my life, which two were probably worth the effort, and the rest were something 'less than enjoyable'.
So this past weekend, I ended up at the another musical. The catch here, which I felt real positive about....this was 'Bat Out of Hell', which was supposed to feature a lot of Meatloaf's music (from the late 1970s). It's a memorable album, which I tend to rate as one of the ten best albums overall to listen to.
My wife and I showed up in Gelsenkirchen (2.5 hours north of the house) and had a whole weekend planned out of this.
The musical? It was basically a bastardization effort and they used maybe five or six of his tunes, then threw in some tunes for the musical to work. Their background story? Destruction of the Earth, a bunch of young punks, some romance between teens, some fighting with the authorities, and then some wrap-up.....with this Meatloaf music in the background. I know.....it's pretty weird.
If they'd just come out and done twelve to fourteen of his tunes with no theatrics or jumping around....it would have been a fine show. But they just couldn't do that.
The audience? Well....Saturday evening and only three-quarters of the seats filled. Probably at least a hundred seats empty.
Not to complain or nothing, but if you spoke up about some opera business in Alabama, it means you'd be going off to Nashville, and attending the Grand Ole Oprey, with some five-star tunes. Here? It's mostly some kind of tale over woes, marginal music, and a bunch of skipping around the stage.
So this past weekend, I ended up at the another musical. The catch here, which I felt real positive about....this was 'Bat Out of Hell', which was supposed to feature a lot of Meatloaf's music (from the late 1970s). It's a memorable album, which I tend to rate as one of the ten best albums overall to listen to.
My wife and I showed up in Gelsenkirchen (2.5 hours north of the house) and had a whole weekend planned out of this.
The musical? It was basically a bastardization effort and they used maybe five or six of his tunes, then threw in some tunes for the musical to work. Their background story? Destruction of the Earth, a bunch of young punks, some romance between teens, some fighting with the authorities, and then some wrap-up.....with this Meatloaf music in the background. I know.....it's pretty weird.
If they'd just come out and done twelve to fourteen of his tunes with no theatrics or jumping around....it would have been a fine show. But they just couldn't do that.
The audience? Well....Saturday evening and only three-quarters of the seats filled. Probably at least a hundred seats empty.
Not to complain or nothing, but if you spoke up about some opera business in Alabama, it means you'd be going off to Nashville, and attending the Grand Ole Oprey, with some five-star tunes. Here? It's mostly some kind of tale over woes, marginal music, and a bunch of skipping around the stage.
Friday, 9 November 2018
The Problem for a Antifa Dude
'Winston' (my name for a 20-year old kid in some college program somewhere)....has been sitting around classes and gotten enough chatter from Professor Wendy....that he believes he can right 'wrongs'. To be honest, he's probably not sure about the 'wrongs' thing, but Professor Wendy says by protesting and getting ACTIVE....you can make a difference.
So one day...'Winston' shows up at some rally or downtown area, and some folks get hyped up to go and protest at some guy's house. It's a right-wing guy of some type. The crowd is convinced of the great deed they are going to accomplish. Somewhere in the middle of this mess....'Winston' encounters 'Claude' the maintenance guy, who pulls out a baseball bat, and whoomps on 'Winston' and six others.
Broken bones, ribs, concussions, and in 'Winston's case....he's got some brain damage. 'Winston' probably won't be able to function as a member of society and will have the behavior of a six-year old kid for the rest of his life.
The court? After seeing enough video of threats made by the crowd, they believe 'Claude' did the right thing in protecting himself and the owner of the house.
The sad thing here is that 'Winston' and literally hundreds of others are going to face off and find that there is a real situation where massive violent reaction will occur, and lives hang in the balance.
It's a sad end for guys like this. They were hustled around by stupid college professors to believe something, and naive enough to believe anything told. They could have led productive lives, and instead.....sit in some artificial 'battle' thinking they are saving the world.
And the really sad thing is that there are literally thousands of 'Winston's' around in America....who will never lead productive lives.
So one day...'Winston' shows up at some rally or downtown area, and some folks get hyped up to go and protest at some guy's house. It's a right-wing guy of some type. The crowd is convinced of the great deed they are going to accomplish. Somewhere in the middle of this mess....'Winston' encounters 'Claude' the maintenance guy, who pulls out a baseball bat, and whoomps on 'Winston' and six others.
Broken bones, ribs, concussions, and in 'Winston's case....he's got some brain damage. 'Winston' probably won't be able to function as a member of society and will have the behavior of a six-year old kid for the rest of his life.
The court? After seeing enough video of threats made by the crowd, they believe 'Claude' did the right thing in protecting himself and the owner of the house.
The sad thing here is that 'Winston' and literally hundreds of others are going to face off and find that there is a real situation where massive violent reaction will occur, and lives hang in the balance.
It's a sad end for guys like this. They were hustled around by stupid college professors to believe something, and naive enough to believe anything told. They could have led productive lives, and instead.....sit in some artificial 'battle' thinking they are saving the world.
And the really sad thing is that there are literally thousands of 'Winston's' around in America....who will never lead productive lives.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)