It’s a sunny, warm day in New York. Waking up in the New York apartment, I was disoriented and not quite sure where I was. Then I got a cramp in my left leg that catapulted me out of bed and into the realization I was in New York. During the morning I worked out of the apartment and then headed down to the offices of Broderville.
It is supposed to scrape ninety degrees today but it didn’t feel that warm when, around noon, I reached the office. Since then, I have been cossetted in the air conditioning while doing my afternoon’s online work.
While I have been hammering on the laptop’s keys, the market has been swooning over more bad news from China. The Wall Street Fear Index is up again today but not as high as it was a week ago.
No longer standing at all is the Temple of Bel/Baal at Palmyra. Satellite photographs have shown clearly that it has been demolished. Until these shots came through there was some hope but it is now gone, forever, a temple which has stood since the time of Christ.
Video of a man who appeared to have raised his arms in San Antonio and was then shot by police is posted online by a local television station, KSAT, and can be seen on their website. http://www.ksat.com/news/ksatcom-exclusive-unedited-video-of-fatal-deputy-involved-shooting
I couldn’t watch. I didn’t want to see a man gunned down, rightly or wrongly, though it is looking very suspect at this moment.
In Chicago, a manhunt is on for three men who allegedly shot a police officer there.
All in all, according to a NY Times article I read, murders are soaring in a number of cities. People are struggling to understand after years of falling murder numbers. One reason posited is that gangs are better organized and better armed.
Kim Davis, the County Clerk in Rowan County, Kentucky, filed an appeal with the Supreme Court to prevent her from having to issue gay marriage licenses. The Supreme Court was having none of it. Nope. No way. We’re not hearing this.
This morning a rowdy group showed up demanding their marriage licenses. She now must show up in Court on Thursday for a hearing. Gay couples that want licenses don’t want her to go to jail but do want her fined.
Rand Paul, erstwhile candidate for the Republican nomination for the Presidency, thinks Ms. Davis’ protest is all just part of the American way. Unfortunately, I agree with him but not for the reasons he has, I suspect. I’m only surprised there aren’t more holdouts like Ms. Davis.
The migrant crisis is growing in Europe. Today, trains were halted in Hungary and migrants, even those holding tickets, were not allowed to board. Hundreds have died at sea, attempting the crossing from Africa to Italy, just in the last week.
The number of Syrian refugees accepted by Britain would barely be enough to fill a car on the Underground, hence all the rush to get to Germany where Angela Merkel is fending off a rising right that wants to put a stop to it.
The EU has had, at best, a slapdash approach to the refugee crisis, ignoring or suspending its own rules willy-nilly with no central government organized response.
All of this, after the Greek Crisis, further strains the credibility of the EU.
My credibility is not feeling strained today. I’m going to close up shop for the night, head up to Café du Soleil for a bite to eat and then go back home and read a book for a while.
All good. Hope it is for you, too!
Letter From New York 03 16 2016 Riding into New York…
March 16, 2016The Hudson River is nearly mirror still as I rumble south on the train, into New York for a visit to my gastroenterologist for a [ugh] colonoscopy, a follow-up to my stay in the hospital last month.
The morning was full of news about the primaries. Trump, as had been expected, trounced Marco Rubio in his home state of Florida and Rubio, also as expected, withdrew from the race.
Bernie Sanders is wondering about what next as Hillary Clinton handily beat him in Illinois, Ohio, North Carolina and, of course, Florida. It is looking like she eked out a win in Missouri, beating Bernie by a mere 1500 votes the last time I looked.
Kasich took his home state of Ohio so he is still playing the Republican game of musical chairs.
53% of Americans would choose Trump to be the Republican nominee. 61% don’t like him. Go figure.
Trump is preening in his victories, winning everywhere but Ohio. He claims there will be riots if the Republican Party denies him the nomination. Even in victory he summons images of violence.
While there will likely not be physical violence, there will be much name calling and shouting now that Obama has nominated Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court seat left vacant by Scalia’s death. Republicans have vowed not to move on the matter until there is another President, keeping their fingers crossed a Republican will occupy the White House.
Congressional chaos…
In the streets of DC and its environs there was another piece of chaos on the streets. After two electrical fires within the last year, the new head of the Metro ordered it shut down for twenty-four hours while they inspect it to ensure it is safe.
Having once lived in DC, I can only imagine what the day was like and be grateful I wasn’t there. It’s how I usually get around DC.
Also, the Fed is being dovish about raising rates. The dollar falls, gold rises as do the markets, modestly.
In Brussels, an Algerian, illegally in the country, was killed in a raid by police. At least two others were detained; an Islamic flag was found with them. Belgian police are promising more raids.
In Nigeria, two female suicide bombers killed twenty-four at a mosque. A bomb placed on a bus in Pakistan killed fourteen.
Angelina Jolie has met with refugees in Lebanon and Greece in a bid to bring the spotlight on them. Germany’s Merkel thinks only Turkey can stem the flow and has called for a Pan-European meeting to address the issue.
The Kurds in Syria are calling for a Federalization of Syria, creating more independence for them. No else seems very much in favor of the solution, especially Assad, who sees it as the beginning of the break-up of his country.
Putin has announced in the last couple of days that Russia has accomplished its mission in Syria and is beginning a withdrawal of a majority of its forces. Indeed, half the Russian planes have departed but eyebrows are raised as to whether this is actually going to be the kind of withdrawal that Putin intimates.
“The Happiest Place on Earth” is Disney owned. However, the happiest country on the planet is Denmark, which has held the top spot for three of the four years that the World Happiness Report has been issued.
Next are Iceland, Norway, Finland, Canada, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia and Sweden.
Poor Burundi is the unhappiest country. Just above it on the list are Syria, Togo, Afghanistan, Benin, Rwanda, Guinea, Liberia, Tanzania and Madagascar. Poor and riven with war or disease or both, they are at the bottom.
You’re wondering where the US is on this scale, aren’t you? We’re number 13, actually a little higher than I thought we might be.
Russia is number 110 and China is 83rd and India is 118th.
If interested in Hollywood and the often salacious stories that come out that place, a new book is due out, “James Dean: Tomorrow Never Comes,” by Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince, claiming that James Dean and Marlon Brando had an on/off sadomasochistic sexual relationship from their meeting to Dean’s death in a car accident in 1955.
Long dead but still capable of steaming up the book sales.
New York approaches.
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