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Americans who live abroad — more than six million of us worldwide (not counting those who work for the U.S. government) — often face hard questions about our country from people we live among. Europeans, Asians, and Africans ask us to explain everything that baffles them about the increasingly odd and troubling conduct of the United States.  Polite people, normally reluctant to risk offending a guest, complain that America’s trigger-happiness, cutthroat free-marketeering, and “exceptionality” have gone on for too long to be considered just an adolescent phase. Which means that we Americans abroad are regularly asked to account for the … Continue reading →

For those of us who normally listen to Radio 4 with half an ear, it was confusing. Just hours after its sublime day-long dramatisation of War and Peace on New Year’s Day, it started to speak of Prince Andrew’s troubles. Prince Andrew is perhaps the most attractive male character in Tolstoy’s great novel – a brave soldier who lay on the field of Austerlitz, wounded, staring at the sky, contemplating the mystery of things. Suddenly, it seemed, by some surreal leap, Prince Andrew had become a character in the news bulletins, and was behaving wildly out of character. Our man, … Continue reading →

For several weeks now the anti-Russian stance in the US press has quieted down. Presumably because the political leadership has moved its attention on to other things, and the media flock has followed suit. Have you read much about Ukraine and Russia recently? I thought not, despite the fact that there’s plenty of serious action — both there as well as related activity in the US — going on that deserves our careful attention. As I recently wrote, the plunging oil price is a potential catalyst for stock market turmoil and sovereign instability. Venezuela is already circling the drain, and numerous … Continue reading →

For the avoidance of doubt, I will begin by saying that the murders this week at Charlie Hebdo were a barbarous crime, and deserve the strongest punishment allowed by law. This being said, the smug chanting of the politicians and media people is getting on my nerves. Here, without further introduction, are the more objectionable mantras: Je suis Charlie I will repeat that this was a barbarous crime. But there seem to be barbarous crimes and barbarous crimes. Suppose the attack had not been on a cultural leftist magazine, but on the headquarters of the Front National, and the victims had … Continue reading →

Sibel Edmonds’ first novel is more than a spy story or a geopolitical thriller. It is a work of fiction that makes us confront the dark structures of our contemporary existence. It makes us ask perennial philosophical questions about the meaning of justice and truth and the utility of individual and collective rebellion. It makes us come face to face with the reality of the world we live in, the reality which Edmonds describes as more monstrous than our worst nightmares because there appears to be no escape except death. Weaving together the traumatic life stories of the FBI analyst … Continue reading →

Arizona – -(Ammoland.com)- Jeff Preach, pictured above, is 63. He believed that his days as a high school football center were long gone.   He has been a pillar of his community, town council member, a Lions Club president, president of the Chamber of Commerce, member of the Violin Canyon Corporation. He lives in a large house on a dirt road in the country near Castaic, California.   Confused motorists have often stopped and asked for directions, according to a commenter who claimed to be related. It was about 10:30 on Sunday night when he answered the door. From abc7.com: “I opened … Continue reading →

There’s nothing like a warm shower when we want to relax or even warm up on a cold winter day. The idea of subjecting ourselves to cold showers can actually seem crazy at times given how luxurious it has become to enjoy hot showers. But the truth is a cold shower can provide a lot of benefits that you may want to consider. 1. Improves Immunity & Circulation Running cold water over your body at the end of a shower can improve circulation as blood is sent throughout your arteries to surround your organs. It can be viewed in the … Continue reading →

This will be the third, and final, installment of Pictorial Essays on (only) American Automobiles. With a couple exceptions at the very end, this article does not cover current concept cars … cars that fly, cars that go underwater, cars shaped like a wheel, cars that get 500 miles per gallon on a cup of peanut oil, cars that go 400mph, etc. etc., … it is about concept cars of the past. The focus here will be the pictures of the cars. I will attempt to keep the narratives on each car to a bare minimum, so as to not … Continue reading →

Banks in the USA now are required to report any wire of $3,000 or more and any cash withdraw as well. If you want to withdraw $5,000 in cash, you have to now fill out a form. Your money is no longer yours. Big Brother and his entire Family is now here to stay. Little by little, government needs money so desperately to keep funding their pensions at the expense of the people that they have now put in place a stranglehold on the global economy. This is setting the stage for the worst economic decline since the birth of … Continue reading →

A pro-style jihadist commando attack in Europe’s heart. Cui bono? Careful planning and preparation, Kalashnikovs, rocket-propelled grenade launcher, balaclavas, sand-colored ammunition vest stuffed with spare magazines, army boots, easy escape in a black Citroen… And the icing on this particularly lethal cake: faultless Paris-based logistical support to pull it all off. A former top French military commander, Frédéric Gallois, has stressed the perfect application of “urban guerrilla technique” (where are those notorious Western counter-terrorism “experts” when one needs them?) Some said they spoke perfect French, while others maintained their command of the language was mangled and broken. Anyway, what matters … Continue reading →