Don Winslow Films - #TexasWarOnWomen

Who in his right mind would ever vote Republican? There was a time when I held the Republican Party in high regard. No longer! The Party is not fit for purpose. They are destroying the once wonderful USA. The USA used to be a beacon of progressive thought and forward-thinking. That, alas, was long ago.

To think that my own country has cut the umbilical cord with the European Union only to get tied to the apron strings of the USA sends shivers down my spine!

Sooner or later, this country will have to re-join its European brothers and sisters. It is imperative that we do so. We also need to start thinking of a federal Europe, of which the UK could take a leading rôle.

Recent events in Afghanistan should have shown us all that we can no longer depend on America for our security. We need to go it alone. And for that, we Europeans need to work closely together and form our own military: a European army, a European air force, and a European navy.

This crooked Brexit referendum should also have shown us all that it was neither fair nor sensible. IT MUST BE REVERSED. Sooner rather than later.

If we do not re-join Europe, the once 'United' Kingdom, a nation of which I was once so proud, will break up: the regions will go their separate ways. Scotland is sure to be the first country to break away from the disUnited Kingdom. The Scots are proud Europeans; and so they should be. – © Mark

To read my comment on the Texas insanity, click here.

Biden ordnet Freigabe von 9/11-Dokumenten an

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Was steht in den geheimen Dokumenten des FBI über die Anschläge des 11. September? Angehörige fordern seit Jahren Transparenz. Nun will der Präsident ein Versprechen einlösen.

Der amerikanische Präsident Joe Biden hat das Justizministerium angewiesen, Dokumente aus der FBI-Untersuchung zu den Anschlägen vom 11. September zu überprüfen und freizugeben. „Als ich für das Amt des Präsidenten kandidierte, habe ich mich verpflichtet, für Transparenz bei der Freigabe von Dokumenten über die Terroranschläge vom 11. September 2001 auf Amerika zu sorgen“, sagte Biden am Freitag in einer Erklärung. Da sich der 20. Jahrestag dieses tragischen Tages nun nähere, halte er sich an diese Verpflichtung. Justizminister Merrick Garland beaufsichtige die Überprüfung der Freigabe von Dokumenten im Zusammenhang mit der Untersuchung des FBI, erklärte Biden. Deswegen müsse der Justizminister freigegebene Dokumente in den kommenden sechs Monaten veröffentlichen. » | Quelle: Reuters | Samstag, 4. September 2021

In Marseille beginnt Frankreichs Wahlkampf

NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG: Drogenkriminalität, Armut und marode Infrastruktur: Marseille macht selten positive Schlagzeilen. Emmanuel Macron will diese Logik umkehren. Er ist nicht der Erste. Doch Macron pocht darauf, einen neuen Weg zu gehen.

Drei Tage verbrachte Emmanuel Macron, hier beim Besuch einer Schule, in der Mittelmeermetropole. | Pool / Reuters
Nicht einmal dreieinhalb Stunden dauert die Fahrt im TGV von Paris nach Marseille. Doch der Besuch, den Frankreichs Präsident diese Woche an der Mittelmeerküste absolviert hat, glich einer Reise in ein fernes, armes Land. Drei Tage lang blieb er, begleitet von sieben Ministern und Staatssekretären und einem grossen Tross von Journalisten.

Der sozialistische Bürgermeister Benoît Payan sprach von einem «historischen» Besuch und dankte dem Präsidenten fast unterwürfig dafür, dass dieser seiner Einladung gefolgt sei. Macron sagte seinerseits, er werde nicht einfach Geld verteilen. Bereits im Oktober will er wiederkommen, um die Fortschritte bei der Umsetzung des von ihm angestossenen Plans zu überprüfen. «Marseille en grand» hat er diesen Plan genannt. Er soll der zweitgrössten Stadt Frankreichs dabei helfen, aus den Negativschlagzeilen zu kommen – wieder einmal. Ein chronisch kranker Patient » | Nina Belz, Paris | Freitag, 3. September 2021

Afghanistan : des femmes manifestent pour leurs droits, les talibans recourent à la violence

Des femmes manifestent dans les rues de Kaboul, vendredi 3 septembre 2021. FACEBOOK @WPPN.AFG / REUTERS
LE FIGARO : Plusieurs dizaines de femmes ont manifesté vendredi et samedi à Kaboul, devant le palais présidentiel, pour défendre leur droit à l'éducation et au travail.

Après Herat, Kaboul. Vendredi et samedi, des femmes sont descendues dans les rues de la capitale afghane, inquiètes pour le respect de leurs droits d'étudier et travailler alors que les talibans ont désormais le contrôle du pays. «Elles étaient quelques unes hier, elles sont plusieurs dizaines aujourd'hui, femmes et filles rassemblées devant le palais présidentiel réclamant leurs droits et la justice», a ainsi tweeté samedi un journaliste de la chaîne afghane ToloNews.

Vendredi, sur les vidéos relayées par plusieurs journalistes locaux ainsi qu'Amnesty International, des femmes de tous âges étaient entièrement voilées, brandissent des pancartes appelant au respect de leurs droits. «La liberté est notre devise, elle nous rend fières», peut-on lire sur certaines d'entre elles. Elles ne seraient «pas plus d'une centaine» selon Sharif Hassan, correspondant afghan pour le New York Times, «mais leur courage vaut un millier», commente le journaliste, alors qu'elles «risquent leur vie en marchant dans les rues» sous les yeux des soldats islamistes. » | Par Le Figaro | samedi 4 septembre 2021

À LIRE AUSSI : L’INTERVIEW : Jean-Yves Le Drian: «L’Afghanistan n’est pas synonyme de déclin américain» »

Hilary Mantel: I Am Ashamed to Live in [a] Nation That Elected This Government

THE GUARDIAN: Double Booker prize winner tells La Repubblica she may take Irish citizenship to feel European again

Hilary Mantel also said in a wide-ranging interview given to an Italian publication that Boris Johnson should not be in public life. Photograph: Jeff Morgan/Alamy
Hilary Mantel has said she feels “ashamed” by the UK government’s treatment of migrants and asylum seekers and is intending to become an Irish citizen to “become a European again”.

In a wide-ranging interview with La Repubblica, the twice Booker prize-winning novelist also gave her view on the monarchy, told how endometriosis has “devastated my life”, and how Boris Johnson “should not be in public life”. She also addresses the criticism of JK Rowling and her stance on transgender rights.

In response to a question about Priti Patel’s rhetoric on migration and asylum seekers and whether it marks the “ugliest side of the new ‘global Britain’ post-Brexit”, the writer told the Italian publication: “It was my grandparents’ generation who were immigrants [from Ireland]; sometimes my life gets confused with my fiction, because a number of my characters have Irish parents.

“We see the ugly face of contemporary Britain in the people on the beaches abusing exhausted refugees even as they scramble to the shore. It makes one ashamed.

“And ashamed, of course, to be living in the nation that elected this government, and allows itself to be led by it.” » | Nadeem Badshah | Saturday, September 4, 2021

Hear! Hear! Long live Europe! Es lebe Europa! Vive l'Europe ! – Mark

Lebanon as We Once Knew It Is Gone

Electricity is a luxury many in Lebanon can’t afford. | Bryan Denton for the New York Times
OPINION : GUEST ESSAY
THE NEW YORK TIMES: BEIRUT — I never thought I would live to see the end of the world. But that is exactly what we are living today in Lebanon. The end of an entire way of life. I read the headlines about us, and they are a list of facts and numbers. The currency has lost over 90 percent of its value since 2019; 78 percent of the population is estimated to be living in poverty; there are severe shortages of fuel and diesel; society is on the verge of total implosion.

But what does all this mean? It means days entirely occupied with the scramble for basic necessities. A life reduced to the logistics of survival and a population that is physically, mentally and emotionally depleted.

I long for the simplest pleasures: gathering with family on Sundays for elaborate meals that are unaffordable now; driving down the coast to see a friend, instead of saving my gas for emergencies; going out for a drink in Beirut’s Mar Mikhael strip without counting how many of my old haunts have shut down. I never used to think twice about these things, but now it’s impossible to imagine indulging in any of these luxuries.

I begin my days in Beirut already exhausted. It doesn’t help that there’s a gas station around the corner from my house. Cars start lining up for fuel the night before, blocking traffic, and by 7 a.m. the sound of blaring horns and frustrated shouting from the street is fraying my nerves.

It is nearly impossible to sit down to work. My laptop battery lasts only so long anyway. In my neighborhood, government-provided power comes on for just an hour a day. The UPS battery that keeps the internet router working runs out of juice by noon. I’m behind on every deadline; I’ve written countless shamefaced emails of apology. What am I even supposed to say? “My country is falling apart and there’s not a single moment of my day that isn’t beholden to its collapse”? Nights are sleepless in the choking summer heat. Building generators operate for only four hours before going off around midnight to save diesel — if they are turned on at all. » | Lina Mounzer | Friday, September 3, 2021

More Oriental Beauty

A handsome Indian.
lotus on Pinterest for this lovely photo.

More on Assad Shalhoub

Screenshot taken from Assad Shalhoub's YouTube channel.
Upon further investigation, I have discovered that this handsome man is a model and bodybuilder. I believe he is Lebanese. Here’s his YouTube channel. You might wish to follow him.

Words Unnecessary !

With men as beautiful as this around, who’d want to be straight? His name, it seems, is Assad Shalhoub. I have no idea whether this man is gay or not, but he sure is handsome! I know from the time I spent in the Middle East years ago that Arab men can be stunningly handsome.
With many thanks to Pinterest for this super photo. But what you see above is actually a screenshot of the picture on Pinterest. If you click over, you’ll see why.

Ach, die Freude!

Oh, the joy ! / Ah, la joie !
Danke an Pinterest für dieses Foto.

Ella Fitzgerald : I Love You Madly - Gay through the Ages

Donald Trump Makes Lewd Remarks about Women on Video | NBC News

Oct 7, 2016 • In a 2005 conversation with Access Hollywood Donald Trump discusses his approach to some women.

How any decent American could ever vote for this licentious, very crude man is truly beyond my comprehension! He disgusts me! He has no principles, no honesty, no morality, no ethics. Nothing! Yet Christian fundamentalists were / are in thrall to him! Go figure! I know where I think he belongs; and it 'ain't' in Mar-a-Lago! Please note: Viewer discretion is advised for what is shown above. This video is certainly NOT suitable for children. – © Mark

Don Winslow Films - #TexasLearnedFromTrump

Supertramp: The Logical Song

Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group | Views on YouTube: 17,835,780

Simon & Garfunkel : The Boxer

Provided to YouTube by Legacy Recordings. | ℗ Originally released 1970. All rights reserved by Columbia Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment

Art Garfunkel : Traveling Boy

Provided to YouTube by Sony Music Entertainment

Art Garfunkel : Bright Eyes

Views on YouTube: 7,267,020

Art Garfunkel : I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever)

Provided to YouTube by Columbia

Afghans with Ties to U.S. Who Could Not Get Out Now Live in Fear

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Thousands did not make it onto U.S. military evacuation flights. Many of them are now in hiding, worried for their safety and their future.

Armed Taliban militants were looking for Shah. They knew he worked as an interpreter for the United States government, and came to his provincial home at night. “Someone inside worked for the U.S. Army!” they shouted, threatening to shoot down the door.

Shah had already left for Kabul, where he is now in hiding. But he believes he is a hunted man. “I’m not feeling safe here anymore,” said Shah, whose application for a special immigrant visa to the United States is still in the works.

“The Taliban say they are not taking revenge, and they are forgiving everybody,” he said. “But I can’t believe them. Why did they come to my house looking for me?”

There are thousands like Shah, stuck in Afghanistan under a capricious and unpredictable Taliban rule, who did not make it onto U.S. military evacuation flights — those who worked for the U.S. Army or the government, and their families, and who were eligible for U.S. humanitarian visas. They know they are potential targets as the Taliban tighten their grip since taking over Kabul fully this week.

Taliban leaders have pledged to allow those with visas to leave once they reopen the main airport, which remained closed to commercial flights on Friday.

But those like Shah doubt the pledges of a group that they feel they cannot trust and that has ruled Afghanistan ruthlessly before. Trying to leave — or showing a special immigrant visa — could itself expose them to danger if the Taliban renege on their promises. » | Adam Nossiter | Friday, September 3, 2021

U.S. Employers Added 235,000 Jobs in August, a Marked Slowdown

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The American economy slowed abruptly last month, adding 235,000 jobs, a sharp drop from the huge gains recorded earlier in the summer and an indication that the Delta variant of the coronavirus is putting a damper on hiring.

The Labor Department report on Friday follows a sharp increase in coronavirus cases and deaths that has undermined hopes that restrictions on daily activities were nearing an end.

The unemployment rate was 5.2 percent, compared with 5.4 percent in July. Economists polled by Bloomberg has been looking for gain of 725,000 jobs.

“There’s no question that the Delta variant is why today’s job report isn’t stronger,” President Biden said. “I know people were looking, and I was hoping, for a higher number.”

The August showing would have been respectable in pre[-]pandemic times. But after gains of 962,000 in June and 1.05 million in July — and with more than eight million people unemployed — it was a sharp deceleration.

“Delta is a game-changer,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton, an accounting firm in Chicago. “It’s not that people are laying off workers in reaction to Delta but people are pulling back on travel and tourism and going out to eat and that has consequences.” » | By Nelson D. Schwartz | Friday, September 3, 2021