top of the heap to third world status in one generation

Mr D said:

They'd surely be replaced with Stalin statues which would also adorn our southern border.

Click to expand...

In as much as it was only with his most worthwhile contributions that we
were able to prevail in WWII, I would think such a statue might most
appropriately be placed on Wall street.

It merits mentioning, the '"powers that be" in DC, had by 1943, already decided they were going to betray a most loyal ally, and instead embrace the enemy we once fought together.
It's the history least questioned, I find the most interesting.

Can We Blame the Mafia on Lemons?

Economists and historians are connecting the early rise of organized crime with Sicily’s citrus trade.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/can-we-blame-the-mafia-on-lemons?utm_source=pocket-newtab

I blame Reagan-ism on peanut butter and Dole's Honduran bananas.

Throughout its long history, Sullivan & Cromwell has been involved in some of America’s greatest industrial, commercial and financial enterprises.

In 1879, Algernon Sydney Sullivan and William Nelson Cromwell founded Sullivan & Cromwell in New York City’s renowned Financial District. Throughout its long history, the Firm has been involved in some of America’s greatest industrial, commercial and financial enterprises, from the formation of Edison General Electric Company in 1882 and United States Steel Corporation in 1901 to its present work with leaders of the global economy in the 21st century.

The Early Years
Domestic and international finance has been at the core of the Firm's work since its inception. Before World War I, S&C represented European bankers and bond syndicates in financing the development of America's railroads and industrial infrastructure. William Cromwell himself proved instrumental in paving the way toward the construction of the Panama Canal.

Heading into the 20th century, as international capital flows diversified and increased, the Firm responded by opening branch offices in Berlin and Buenos Aires. By 1928, S&C's Paris facility was bustling as a full-service office. As the Firm grew during this period of expansion, it developed close relationships with leading financial intermediaries on both sides of the Atlantic. S&C prides itself on continuing these relationships to this day.

The Great Depression and World War II
The Great Depression spawned a burst of government involvement in business affairs and a new wave of business-related litigation. Several businesses called on S&C's expertise to steer them through this trying period, and, before long, the Firm became known for its agility in defending shareholder derivative litigation and antitrust actions. S&C also was a pioneer among law firms to develop expertise in the complex area of federal income tax law.

Beginning with the Securities Act of 1933, the federal government enacted a series of statutes to regulate the investment industry. S&C holds the honor of having prepared the first major registration statement under the Securities Act, and the Firm continues to make substantial contributions to securities offerings and regulation today. During World War II and its political aftermath, S&C lawyers such as noted partners John Foster Dulles and Arthur Dean played important individual roles in helping shape domestic policy and international affairs.


Sullivan & Cromwell LLP provides the highest quality legal advice and representation to clients around the world

Sullivan & Cromwell LLP provides the highest quality legal advice and representation to clients around the world. The results the Firm achieves have set it apart for more than 140 years and have become a model for the modern practice of law. Today, S&C is a leader in each of its core practice areas and in each of its geographic markets.

S&C’s success is the result of the quality of its lawyers, the most broadly and deeply trained collection of attorneys in the world. The Firm’s lawyers work as a single partnership without geographic division. S&C hires the very best law school graduates and trains them to be generalists within broad practice areas. The Firm promotes lawyers to partner almost entirely from among its own associates. The result is a partnership with a unique diversity of experience, exceptional professional judgment and a demonstrated history of innovation.

Clients of the Firm are nearly evenly divided between U.S. and non-U.S. entities. They include industrial and commercial companies; financial institutions; private funds; governments; educational, charitable and cultural institutions; and individuals, estates and trusts. S&C’s client base is exceptionally diverse, a result of the Firm’s extraordinary capacity to tailor work to specific client needs.

S&C comprises more than 875 lawyers who serve clients around the world through a network of 13 offices, located in leading financial centers in Asia, Australia, Europe and the United States. The Firm is headquartered in New York.

Has the Mystery of Skyjacker D.B. Cooper Finally Been Solved? A TV Newsman's Obsessive Quest

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/f...-been-solved-1236196?utm_source=pocket-newtab

The Four Horsemen
Aphrodite's Child


And when the lamb
opened the first seal,
I saw the first horse.
The horseman held a bow.
Now when the lamb
opened the second seal,
I saw the second horse.
The horseman held a sword.
The leading horse is white,
the second horse is red,
the third one is a black,
the last one is a green.
And when the lamb
opened the third seal,
I saw the third horse.
The horseman had a balance.
Now when the lamb
opened the fourth seal,
I saw the fourth horse.
The horseman was the pest
The leading horse is white,
the second horse is red,
the third one is a black,
the last one is a green.
The leading horse is white,
the second…

Gry said:

The Four Horsemen
Aphrodite's Child


And when the lamb
opened the first seal,
I saw the first horse.
The horseman held a bow.
Now when the lamb
opened the second seal,
I saw the second horse.
The horseman held a sword.
The leading horse is white,
the second horse is red,
the third one is a black,
the last one is a green.
And when the lamb
opened the third seal,
I saw the third horse.
The horseman had a balance.
Now when the lamb
opened the fourth seal,
I saw the fourth horse.
The horseman was the pest
The leading horse is white,
the second horse is red,
the third one is a black,
the last one is a green.
The leading horse is white,
the second…

Click to expand...

I totally had forgotten about Aphrodite's Child. Thanks for the reminder. Well ahead of their time.

Interesting podcast on
The Palestinians Who Built Israel

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-palestinians-who-built-israel/id78900506?i=1000449412909

My Family’s Slave

She lived with us for 56 years. She raised me and my siblings without pay. I was 11, a typical American kid, before I realized who she was.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/my-family-s-slave?utm_source=pocket-newtab
Very powerful.

My Brother's Passing, God, and the Origins of Life

https://www.thestranger.com/feature.../the-origins-of-life?utm_source=pocket-newtab
The doctor, with legs crossed and eyes not looking at me but down at the carpet, said that they all want to live. All of them who come here do the exact same thing—they fight as hard as they can. She had never seen a patient who just gave up. We are animals. This is in our nature. To endure, to thrive. Conatus. The worst thing that can happen to any animal is to be no more.

I will miss you, Kudzai.

Click to expand...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lyu1KKwC74

Gry said:

My Brother's Passing, God, and the Origins of Life

https://www.thestranger.com/feature.../the-origins-of-life?utm_source=pocket-newtab
The doctor, with legs crossed and eyes not looking at me but down at the carpet, said that they all want to live. All of them who come here do the exact same thing—they fight as hard as they can. She had never seen a patient who just gave up. We are animals. This is in our nature. To endure, to thrive. Conatus. The worst thing that can happen to any animal is to be no more.

Click to expand...

Great prose; thanks Gry

Been hearing discussion of Afghanistan as our longest engagement.
Seems to be some confusion as to a start point.
I can take it back to 1978, but wonder if in fact it may extend even further back.
I find myself consistently needing to revise my understanding of so many things.
It was not long ago that I ran across something which enabled me to push a start point
to the conflict in SE Asia back to the closing days of WWII.
Would be most interested in agency relations and involvement with Pakistan
from WWII forward.

How to Disagree with Someone More Powerful than You

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/...re-powerful-than-you?utm_source=pocket-newtab

The Hardest Props I Ever Made

https://www.vulture.com/2019/09/the-hardest-props-i-ever-made.html?utm_source=pocket-newtab

How Giving Up Refined Sugar Changed My Brain

Consuming refined sugar can impact mood, decision-making, and memory. Here’s how good it can be to give it up.



https://getpocket.com/explore/item/...gar-changed-my-brain?utm_source=pocket-newtab

How to Break the Dangerous Cycle of Loneliness

Social isolation kills, and in the process it makes it harder to reach out to others. A psychologist explains how to stop the feedback loop.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/...-cycle-of-loneliness?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Falling

There are a lot of people like me, exiles from the middle class who suddenly find themselves on Grub Street.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/falling?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Salute to the striking GM Workers.

Gry said:

How to Break the Dangerous Cycle of Loneliness

Social isolation kills, and in the process it makes it harder to reach out to others. A psychologist explains how to stop the feedback loop.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/...-cycle-of-loneliness?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Click to expand...

I have a different take on social connectedness, Gry. I think we're hard-wired to seek social contact, group identity and membership, etc., going all the way back to the days of cave-dwelling, agrarianism/family farms, etc.

But technologically, and in re. to community function, we've gone way past that for the most part, all but for the hard-wired cravings that remain in our minds, often to our own demise.

These days, folks subjected to violent crime are often victims of their friends, lovers, family, etc. Divorce rates are over 60% in some places, and if you want to see proverbial red meat and veins in folks' teeth, observe all the once-private pillow talk or confidences that become fair game once in divorce court, while 'proving who dunnit.'

Likewise, it's often folks who know JUST ENOUGH about us to make any slander or libel SEEM well-informed or accurate. A stranger can grasp at straws, and often never come close to touching on personal private wounds, let alone sharing them. But others in our social circles, once motivated, either out of malice or plain old slack-jawed ignorance, and maybe a desire to make themselves feel better by putting someone else down, are capable of causing emotional injuries that can feel like they cut to the bone.

I say deal systematically, personally, with the hard-wiring that often has us inviting entities into our private world who ultimately are the sources of betrayal.

If others make you the butt of their jokes, discard them. If others do not reciprocate commitment and support in the ways that a person needs, discard them. If family or friends are more of a source of struggle or pain than not, discard them.

I think dealing with those issues, and causing the self to struggle to sort out what matters, demanding respect for the self from the self, as well as from those in the personal sphere, is a part of true evolution for us to undertake.

Not that we need to be cold-hearted. Just less naïve about who it is we confide in, or invite into our most personal worlds.

Aside from a loving & giving wife, whom I refused to battle or even consult an attorney when we were talking divorce over 20 years ago (I mostly refuse to war with folks I truly love; leave or walk away, but I will not war with them), and my youngest son, who is mostly the best part of my having been on this planet for these long and sometimes-tedious years, I have dogs. Their betrayal, breeching of confidences, etc., is more rare than with any other being I've known. They will literally die for me, and if need arises, or justice calls, me for them.

Still trying to discard parts of my farmer and cave-man heritage, I guess. But only those parts that cost the most in the end.

I trust you're well.

I have a radiology appointment tomorrow. They want to take a gander at my liver and gall bladder. I figure it's time I got better acquainted with my liver and gall bladder, too. I've been shoveling all sorts of stuff at them forever. Probably owe them a no-holds-barred, in-person apology. At least for the early 80s... and most of the 70s, too. Come to think of it, the 90s probably weren't that kind on them, either.