Woman of the Year, Carole Ghosn

We don't know if Lebanese-Brazilian serial super auto executive Carlos Ghosn is any kind of a criminal or not. The Japanese could easily have an iron-clad case against the plutocrat. Nevertheless, his wife Carole is a modern-day heroine. According to various sources, including the man himself, his lovely wife engineered his escape from his house arrest that began in April after he had spent 120 days in detention. Ghosn had been released on bond of 1.5 billion yen or about $13.5 million, which will be confiscated.

His wife, from her home in the US, had hired a group of mercenaries who posed as a Gregorian band and smuggled Ghosn out of his Tokyo home in a musical instrument case and flew him to Istanbul and thence to Lebanon. It's refreshing to know that there are some women who are willing to assume risks themselves for their husbands, a practice that seems to have disappeared in the civilized world. 

Modern Technology

Isn't it interesting that the same society that can send objects far into space, communicate with and guide them and even return them to earth, uses 14th century technology that involves employing a rapid chemical reaction to drive a metal pellet through the body of someone who fails to obey the orders of a public employee?

The 1619 Project

The 1619 Project is an effort by the New York Times and associated historians to emphasize in education the role of slavery in the social, cultural and economic development of the United States. This has proven to be somewhat controversial, as this article in The Atlantic points out.

The long American intellectual hangover brought about by the peculiar institution, its ultimate rejection and its continuing societal influence is a daily feature of life across the fruited plain. One can't page through a newspaper or spend more than a few moments in other media without being reminded in no uncertain terms of white guilt in the commodification of blacks and their plight after their supposed attainment of liberty. 

No one, at least for public consumption, defends slavery today. Nonetheless, its residue, since the practice involved generally easily identifiable black Africans, seems to have persisted today in a negative regard for the descendants of slaves that is evident most of all in their economic status. The majority of blacks don't seem to have realized the American dream of financial success.

The ideas behind the 1619 Project, that date being selected because that's when the first slaves arrived on the continent, include their contribution to the nascent American economy as being crucial to the success of the country and that servitude was the impetus for the War Between the States.

It's accepted as a given that a shortage of labor existed in the colonies prior to the American Revolution and that compensation for this labor made slavery an attractive choice for southern agricultural pursuits. During their formative years, the colonies, which included the Dutch in the mid-Atlantic area, were a part of a nearly global explosion of ocean transportation driven by improvements in ship design and construction, new navigation techniques, exploration that included detailed maps, and demand for products found at other ends of the earth. The crews that manned these ships were exposed to dangers and living conditions unimaginable today. Square-rigger sailors reefed sails at night in torrential storms, walking out on pitching spars over seas where losing one's grip meant death by drowning in minutes with no hope of rescue. This was for low pay and terrible food. Press gangs circulated in European seaports to gather in drunken sailors to man both navy and merchant ships. Herman Melville accurately described life on the ocean in his books, one of which, White Jacket, led to congressional action on discipline in the US Navy. In other words, working the land was an attractive alternative to sailing the seven seas.

Yet, even so, southern planters bought expensive African slaves to work their tobacco and cotton farms. The reality is that these slaves were looked at in the same light as horses and oxen. They were valuable assets, property, that could be bought and sold, as were farm animals. Their breeding and use added to the profitability of an agricultural enterprise. This was a feature of agriculture for millennia and remains so today in some places. It was hardly unique to southern North America.

The 1619 Project stipulates that opposition to slavery was the primary impetus to the War Between the States. This is by no means universally accepted as fact. The 17th century was an era of exceptional turmoil in Europe and beyond. The Reformation, beginning with Luther's posting of his 95 theses on the door of Castle Church in Wittenburg, Saxony, on October 31, 1517, upset the religious and cultural order of Europe, and the rest of the world, in ways that are still being felt today. 

English Tudor King Henry VIII took advantage of the Reformation to establish the Church of England, his method to secure an heir to the throne when Pope Clement VII refused to go along with his proposed annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Later, beginning in the early 17th century, Puritanism became a major force in anti-Catholic activity in England. Much of the immigration from the UK to North America was made up of Puritans disgusted with what they felt was the licentious behavior of Stuart England. They established their capital in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and were willing participants in the War of the Three Kingdoms, Oliver Cromwell's subjugation of the Stuarts and their Cavalier allies. The reality is that the American Revolution was another, later episode in that war. New England, and particularly Puritan Boston, was the center of revolutionary thought and activity, although some southern colonialists could see the advantages of breaking with the UK and were willing to take the risk of opposing the British crown across the Atlantic, especially with the assistance of French and Polish adventurers.

During the pre-revolutionary era the New England Puritans were pretty much left to their own devices by the UK crown. They were less occupied in defying the British, embroiled in their own problems on the continent, particularly with the Dutch, than they were with the native Americans that surrounded them. Already decimated by European diseases for which they had no immunity, the remaining fragment of the native population was still a problem for the Puritans. Despite some efforts at education and religious indoctrination, the Puritans carried on Cromwell's policy of death and destruction in their relations with the original inhabitants. KIng Phillip's War from 1675 to 1678 was an especially gruesome episode. This became the standard operating procedure for the expansion of the new republic to the Pacific Coast and beyond. "Manifest Destiny", became the rationale for the technologically superior post-Puritan march across the continent, just as it had for Cromwell's conquest of the Irish.

Abolitionist sentiment in the ante-bellum years also radiated from New England, with  reinforcement from British figures like William Wilberforce. Although slavery was a contentious issue at that time there were many other factors involved as well. The principle issue was not existing slavery but its extension to new states, states that were being carved out of territory that once belonged to the native Americans, now considered as vermin. The War Between the States could be called the last engagement of the War of the Three Kingdoms. It could also be said that a major impetus to the War Between the States was Preston Brooks' caning of neo-Puritan Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner on the senate floor in 1856, as recounted here. The North's victory, ultimately resulting in the death of over 600,000 men and destruction of millions of dollars in property, led to freedom and citizenship for blacks who had been slaves. Some of these newly-freed slaves, the Buffalo Soldiers, were organized into military units set up to wage war against the natives. In the end the natives, once owner-occupants of a continent, were shuffled off to the most remote, inhospitable parts of that continent, the areas least desired by the European invaders, to make their way as best they could. They did not become legal US citizens until the 1920's. Even today the US government reserves the right to determine if a group of native Americans can refer to itself as a tribe and be treated as one. The Pamunkey tribe, that once signed a treaty with the British crown in 1646 and one of whose members was the famous Pocahontas, wasn't accepted as a tribe by the federal government until 2015. 

If there is any new focus needed on American history it should primarily be on that of the native Americans. African-Americans today include elected officials like the president of the country, successful businessmen, influential and popular entertainers and respected sports heroes. Native Americans occupy none of those niches.   

 

  

Changing What?

 Absolutely the lamest form of political campaign verbiage. Everyone wants something or other to change. Mealy-mouthed politicians like the above attempt to appeal to this universal without going into specifics that would alienate at least some of the intended audience. Good to see that this dope has failed in whatever mysterious change he had in mind.

Money Guru James Rickards Says:

Financial avalanches are goaded by greed, but greed is not a complete explanation. Bankers' parasitic behavior, the result of a cultural phase transition, is entirely characteristic of a society nearing collapse. Wealth is no longer created, it is taken from others. Parasitic behavior is not confined to bankers; it also infects high government officials, corporate executives, and the elite social stratum.

James Rickards, The Death of Money, Portfolio/Penguin, 2014, pg. 267.

  

A Presidential Opinion

The Kaplan Collection

If the savage resists, civilization, with the ten commandments in one hand and the sword in the other, demands his immediate extermination.

President Andrew Johnson in a message to the U.S. Congress in 1867. 

Another Asset Forfeiture Crime By The Government

This article is part of a series in the Greenville News, Greenville SC, that delves into the techniques and consequences of asset forfeiture in that area.

Asset forfeiture is what occurs when law enforcement ostensibly confiscates assets, cash, automobiles, real estate, etc. that are the fruits of crime. However, no crime needs to be charged and it's very unlikely that the individual that forfeits the asset will ever see it returned. The funds realized by the agency that confiscates the asset become part of its budget. A police department that grabs that cash can use it to purchase whatever it wishes.

German Brandenburger Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist wrote a historical novella, Michael Kohlhaas, in 1810 that describes a famous incident in 15th century Germany where a powerful baron confiscates two of a passing trader's horses and the trader's reaction to this crime results in extensive rebellion. 

In the Twin City metropolitan area, a co-operative effort between various police departments called the Metro Gang Strike Force was found to have grabbed cash and property for their own personal use. While the investigation resulted in the disbanding of the agency and cash awards to the victims, no law enforcement officers involved were fired, censured or charged.

Of course, all Americans are familiar with some of the reasons for the American Revolution, much of which involved disgust with the United Kingdom's financial depradations. The fact that the established government is the predator doesn't necessarily remove it from the consequences of its behavior. In fact, in a country that is supposedly the land of the free and the home of the brave, the citizens are duty-bound to oppose such policies.  It might be time for all presidential candidates to express their opinion on asset forfeiture.

Dog Is Hero In Raid On ISIS Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

US President Donald Trump has identified "Conan", a Belgian Malinois Military Working Dog as a key member of the team that caused the death of the wanted terrorist leader. The dog is said to have been injured in raid, apparently by an  electrical shock.

The dog is being returned to the US where it will visit the White House and receive honors from the POTUS.

Maybe it's time to step back for a moment and take stock of this event. Wonderful as dogs might be, man's best friend and all, they don't have the power of abstract thought that humans do. They're not capable of actually volunteering for military service. 

Furthermore, since they're trained for military and law enforcement work, they really don't have the option of refusing to enter a cave or dark building in search of an armed suspect. They are given such tasks because of their natural sensory gifts and powerful bite and, more importantly, because the humans involved don't wish to be injured or killed. A dog doesn't search for bad guys or contraband because it's concerned. It does so because it knows that it will receive a food treat. That isn't an act of heroism.

If people had a genuine love and respect for canines they wouldn't expose them to dangers that they can't understand.

 

The Living Dead

In what was no doubt a simple little mistake, a Texas woman was declared dead by the Social Security Administration. But she wasn't. The living lady's bank account and credit cards were cancelled, she was no longer eligible for Medicare.

OK, there was some kind of an accounting screw-up, these things happen. In fact, Social Security says that somewhat less than 1000 people are erroneously declared dead monthly.

But what if in the future this sort of thing isn't accidental but instead used as a form of social control, as is now being done in China.  Chinese that don't toe the line, that don't pay their bills, that are social misfits, can't get travel documents. hotel rooms, maybe even jobs.

Normal American would think "that couldn't happen here". But, in fact, that same American has no idea who will be running the purple mountain majesty in the years to come. The records of the government and big business, the "big data" that plays a bigger and bigger role in US society will be accessible to and used by whomever takes over. It's certainly possible that Adam Schiff and his co-conspirators, successful in their coup, could use government data to punish who they wish, even as they are doing now.  Government record-keeping is a bad deal for even the most patriot and true.

KTRK The Social Security Administration declared Sherry Ellis of Magnolia, Texas, dead.

One Third of Farm Income

According to this article, more than a third of U.S. farm income in 2019 will come from the U.S. government in the form of the trade war bailout, crop insurance payouts and other federal assistance. This seems like a big deal until we realize that the total US farm income is only $88 billion. At the same time, US grocery sales are roughly $800 billion. The US medical complex generates over $3 trillion in economic activity. In 2014 US auto sales totaled $1.1 trillion. The New York Federal Reserve bank has added $115.14 billion in short term liquidity to US financial markets. Even though everyone has to eat daily, and what they eat originates in the earth, food itself is a minor part of the national economy.

People Killed by U.S. Police in 2018

Super-spy Maria Butina Back In Russia

Maria Butina, the Siberian Mata Hari that infiltrated the US National Rifle Association and influenced naive Americans, has returned to Russia after being deported from the USA.


The world's greatest democracy literally dodged a bullet by wrangling a guilty plea from the femme fatale over her attempts to brain wash innocent American gun owners. Her transgressions earned her an 18 month prison sentence and deportation to hell on earth.
Miss Butina's legal experience was described by the US media as a "conviction" while the reality was that she was given a plea bargain where she admitted guilt to being an unregistered foreign agent. Of course, US authorities have an unlimited amount of funds to prosecute cases of even the most dubious merit. Eventually their quarry becomes insolvent and is forced to admit to something or go to jail for a long time.

The lady's first interview with RT upon her return to Russia is here.

1953 Mark Rothko Could Sell For More Than $25 Million

Southeby's intends to auction the above Rothko canvas at its  contemporary art auction in New York on Nov. 14. Is a painting from 1953 actually contemporary in 2019? How can a work of art that's 66 years old be contemporary? Or, for that matter be worth as much as well-cared for F-15 Eagle fighter jet?

The painting is 163.8 x 89.5 cm or 64 1/2 x 35 1/4".  If it's sold for as much as expected it will go for $11,000 per square inch.



Rothko himself, when still alive. He hung up his spray gun in 1970.

 
This Rothko was auctioned off at the May 13 Christie's sale for $5,382,500.

Help Wanted

More proof, if any is needed, that self-driving cars, aka autonomous automobiles, are a long way into the future. There's no application for vehicle autonomy more easily put into action than an ice re-surfacer. The ice is flat, there's no other traffic, the area is uniform, pedestrians are minimal. Yet there are as of yet no autonomous Zambonis.

The Appearance Of An Asian Girl 100,000 Years Ago

Denisovan teen. Photo by: MAAYAN HAREL

Israeli researchers have been able to reconstruct the appearance of an individual that lived 100,000 years ago through the use of DNA methylation, a process whereby methyl compounds are added to DNA molecules and the changes made are compared to other similar processes, as this article explains.

You might wonder what  kind of real benefit this research might bring about. As in so many other technological breakthroughs, it's use may very well be important to law enforcement forensics. Brilliant scientists make discoveries that aren't particularly useful to ordinary citizens. Turning these discoveries into negotiable funds means that a market must be found and that market is government, government that has money and a fixation with finding responsible parties. Few private individuals have breathalyzers on their Christmas list. Lie detectors are seldom found at Target or in pawn shops. 

In the case of molecular genetic profiling, like many other new forensic techniques, only the most educated and experienced researchers even know how the process works. Used in forensics this means that their results are basically irrefutable by a layman. Should these results be introduced in a court case, defense teams demand the relevant software and technological information to make their own evaluation of the evidence. Most of the time this information is not made available for proprietary reasons. It's a secret, like the recipe for Coca-Cola.

Should the DNA methylation technique prove somehow useful in fighting crime, its developers stand to become wealthy. 

 

Irrational Man

A society that is going through a process of dislocation and upheaval, or of revolution, is bound to cause suffering to individuals, but this suffering itself can bring one closer to one's own existence. Habit and routine are great veils over our existence. As long as they are securely in place, we need not consider what life means; its meaning seems sufficiently incarnate in the triumph of the daily habit. When the social fabric is rent, however, man is suddenly thrust outside, away from the habits and norms he once accepted automatically. There, on the outside, his questioning begins. Thrust out into the cold air of the Western Enlightenment, with its ideals of reason, progress, and liberalism . . . .

William Barrett, Irrational Man, Anchor Books, 1962.

The Return of Ivan the Terrible

The proposed sale of a painting by a couple in Connecticut has resulted in its return to the Ukraine, where it had been stolen by the Nazis in WWII, according to this story.

"Secret Departure of Ivan the Terrible Before The Oprichnina" had been looted by German troops from the Dnipropetrovsk Art Museum and then disappeared until discovered hanging on the wall of Gabby and David Tracy. Intending to offer it on auction, they contacted the Potomack Company auction house in Virginia. Anne Craner, a European art specialist there identified the work from a list of those stolen. 

The FBI, who has a department dedicated to stolen art, took some credit in the painting's return to Ukraine, although the couple could have personally delivered it to the Ukrainian embassy themselves. 

Epstein Guards Were Working Overtime

The jailers in charge of pedophile Jeffrey Epstein in Manhattan's federal lock-up were working extended hours over a period of days, which, of course, is a very good reason for not keeping an eye on a prisoner and allowing him to commit suicide.

Looking at the whole thing rationally, what does a night-shift jailer actually do? Well, he doesn't do any heavy lifting or inventory minute items. His job is to stay awake and make sure that the inmates don't saw their way through the bars, bash a hole in the wall, share narcotics with one another or commit suicide. A long list, to be sure, but  one that should be easily handled. We can't know how often this simple task is failed because few of the prisoners are as well-publicized as perv Epstein.

Odd as this event may have been, there are other aspects of it yet to be explored. New York Times journalist James Stewart says that in a 2018 interview with Epstein at his home in Manhattan, the wealthy financier shocked him by stating that "criminalizing sex with teenage girls was a cultural aberration and that at times in history it was perfectly acceptable". In reality his statement is perfectly factual and sex between post-pubescent humans is a biological norm regulated by cultural practices. In many societies, even today, women as young as 13 or 14 become wives and mothers. It's regarded as normal.

There's no consistency in the age of consent in the US. Federal law establishes it as 12 yrs, subject to regulations and legal everywhere at 18. Each US state has an age of consent, none younger than 16. According to Wikipedia in the US Virgin Islands "The age of consent is 18. There is however a close-in-age exemption that allows minors 16 and 17 years old to consent with someone no more than five years older than themselves and minors 13 to 15 years old to consent with one another, but not with anyone 16 or over."

Epstein was said to be facing 45 years in prison for his sexual misbehavior. In the East Bay area of northern California, the daughter of an Oakland police dispatcher, Jasmin Absulin, known as Celeste Guap, testified to having sex with over 30 local law enforcement officers while seventeen years of age. One cop committed suicide, others were disciplined or fired by their departments. None went to jail. Absulin received a  substantial settlement from the City of Oakland.

Dennis Hopper, Amy Irving, Hal Holbrook and Gary Busey starred in the 1996 motion picture "Carried Away", the story of a rural school teacher confronted by a sophisticated and manipulative teen-age girl that moves into the neighborhood. It ain't pretty. But neither was Vladimir Nabokov's book and Stanley Kubrick's cinema adaptation of "Lolita". Both stories demonstrate that the females hold the cards in these situations.

A generally ignored  aspect of the Epstein affair is that if indeed the females  of whom he took advantage were children and not responsible for making personal decisions about sex, and other matters, where were their parents? Isn't it the duty of parents to protect their offspring, both female and male, from harm of any kind? They make their children wear helmets when riding their bikes down to the playground. They don't let them roam the inner city late at night. They get them vaccinations for childhood diseases. How does someone like Epstein get a 17 year-old girl on his private plane and fly her to St. Thomas?

Finally, wealthy men, like Epstein and Harvey Weinstein, have the ability to bestow favors that include career possibilities. Young females enthusiastically explore those opportunities. If they work out, we don't hear much about them. When they don't, people make a noise.   

New Gopher State Driving Regs

Effective August 1st, it's no longer permissible to use a hand-held cell phone in a moving automobile in Minnesota or to drive more slowly than the rest of traffic in the left lane of freeways or multi-lane state highways. 

In terms of safety and efficiency these are both likely to be improvements to the general scheme of things. However, they're not enough. It might be illegal to drive around with a German shepherd on your lap but evidently no one knows about this. Statistically, it's inevitable that some crashes are caused by canines romping around in the passenger compartment of automobiles. No records are kept of wrecks that involve dogs so no one really knows how significant a factor they might be.

Certainly drivers in a hurry to get home to watch Seinfeld re-runs should have the right to an open left lane but this modification of existing regulations should also have stressed an even greater highway danger, following too close. Applicants for a driver's license should be required to watch this instructional video:

Tonight, August 6, is National Night Out in Minnesota

It's also the 74th anniversary of the delivery and detonation of the first atomic bomb over the heads of teen-age girls walking to school in Hiroshima, Japan.

What Would The Proper Punishment Be?

Zachary Wester and bride.

According to this CNN article , Jackson County, Florida sheriff's deputy Zachary Wester has planted drugs and drug paraphernalia on hundreds of innocent motorists. His activity was, however, defended by higher Florida authorities which led to the resignation of the prosecutor investigating the affair.

Wester comes from a law enforcement family. His father was also a deputy in the Jackson County sheriff's department. With a record as indicated by this story it's obvious that everyone is in imminent danger, not as much from terrorists or violent criminals as from cops. Since these public servants spend most of their time cruising around in automobiles, if a person wishes to minimize their exposure to false arrest and imprisonment they might be advised to walk, ride a bike or take the bus.

On the basis of the 52 felony counts filed against him, if found guilty of all Wester could serve 13 1/2 years in jail. At the same time, Bernie Madoff, who at age seventy-one,  pleaded guilty to 11 federal felony charges involving losses of $18 billion to wealthy investors, was given a sentence of 150 years in prison.

Rope As A Symbol Of Hate And Discrimination

A teapot tempest has blown through the storied halls of the University of Michigan University Hospital after an employee reported finding a piece of rope knotted in such a manner as to terrorize somebody. An investigation by University police determined that the knot was made as practice in the tying of one used in sport fishing, the "uni-knot".


It's interesting that people who seem to be unable to identify knots that have been in common use for ages should be able to determine that any particular knot has some cultural significance. In this case, and many others like it, a "noose" is deemed to be somehow threatening to particular ethnic minorities. In reality, a common method of execution of all shades of criminals by state authorities through the centuries has been by hanging. The knot used to form the noose used for this punishment is quite similar to the Uni Knot:


While hanging has gone out of style as a method of execution by state authorities, it's still a legal potentiality in both Delaware and Washington. The last such hanging took place in Delaware in 1996.

 

Billy Bailey, hung in 1996 for the robbery/murder of a Delaware couple in 1979.

The Great Emancipator, Abraham Lincoln, authorized the mass hanging of 39 Sioux Indians in Mankato, Minnesota in 1862 in retribution for their part in a short-lived rebellion against the white invaders taking over their land.

 

Japanese Resume Commercial Whaling On July 1

Japan had suspended commercial whaling operations in 1988, following an International Whaling Commission moratorium, but will now resume the practice on Monday, July 1, according to an article in NHK and this video.  Japan decided in December to leave the IWC because under current conditions the resumption of whaling seemed to be impossible at any level.

This article explains the Japanese justification for an industry that has become anathema over much of the world.

Sea Shepherd, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, is expected to confront Japanese whalers with units of its own fleet of vessels. This is likely to result in some form of violence, based on past experience. Expect to hear more about the Japanese whaling hunt and the responses to it.

Old Glory At Half-Mast

Ever notice flags flying at half-mast and wonder who might be "honored" by this? It's easy enough to find out. This website lists current and past individuals for whom the flag is lowered. A curiosity of this process is the make-up of these people. They are all either deceased public employees; government office holders, law enforcement figures, firemen, military active duty or veterans, and victims of mass murderers. It's hard to be sure how many victims of a mass murderer are needed to prevent the flag from being raised to normal height but it's more than two. 

In the case of a law enforcement officer who is also a military veteran, US flags in his state of residence will be raised to half-mast upon his internment and nationally during Peace Officers Memorial Day (May 15 in 2019) as well as Memorial Day. Eventually he will be honored, with others, at least twice a year, maybe forever.

Prominent members of the general public without a government background don't seem to qualify for this memorial.

A Forgotten Event

Americans seem to cherish many events in their short history, especially events of a military nature. Oddly, one of the most significant events occurred in 1667 but awareness of it has become rare.

From June 9-14, the Dutch fleet under Michiel de Ruyter sailed into the Thames Estuary and attacked the British warships anchored at Chatham, capturing three capital ships of the line, including the British flagship, the Royal Charles, and destroying ten others.

 The Royal Charles at Medway


The Dutch raid on the Medway was the greatest defeat in British naval history, one more disaster in the unlucky life of Stuart king, Charles II, and the impetus for the signing of the Treaty of Breda at that Dutch city on July 31. In this agreement the English agreed to give up any claim to the lucrative "spice islands" of the East Indies in exchange for the minor Dutch holdings on the east coast of North America. These colonies became New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. Later, in 1674, both countries signed the Treaty of Westminster, which further delineated the terms of the previous accord.

In the absence of these happenings it's quite likely that the population of at least the eastern area of North America would be a Dutch-speaking land and very much different than it is today.

Paul Manship Sculpture Hidden Away

Paul Manship, 1885-1966, was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota but spent much of his working life in the eastern US. Widely known as one of the founders of the Art Deco movement, Manship's work decorates such places as the Rockefeller Center in New York City and is found in museums all over the world. At one time, one of twelve castings of his 1926 "Indian Hunter and Dog" was found near the Como Park Conservatory in St. Paul. Then it was removed. It turns out that the statue was reinstalled in Cochran Park, a small green spot at 375 Summit Ave. Presently there is no indication at the site who might have created it.

German Subversion

The Catholic Diocese of St. Paul put the 90 year-old St. Andrews Church near Como Ave. and Lexington Ave. in the capital city up for sale in 2013. The property was purchased by the German Immersion School, a publicly funded charter school. This article, by pseudo-journalist Joey Peters, details the controversy since then in an article in the City Pages, a "cutting edge" subsidiary of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Never known for coherent content, it's described as an "alternative newspaper". Peters describes himself thusly: I'm a freelance reporter based in Minneapolis. My work has appeared in Reuters, NYTimes.com, Public Radio International, Columbia Journalism Review, KFAI Radio, Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages, St. Paul Pioneer Press, MinnPost, Stateline and more. I previously served as senior reporter at NM Political Report and staff writer at the Santa Fe Reporter, both based in New Mexico.

The German Immersion School, now owner of the property, plans to demolish the church and replace it with a structure more suited to their current mission. This has roused the ire of locals who, as is normal in nimby St. Paul, don't wish to see the local landmark replaced with something of less significance.

The sale of the church was no secret and the local population, who, according to the article, greatly value the structure, could have gone to the trouble and expense of buying it themselves. They did not.

Interestingly, Peters' account of the controversy contains many emails  he maintains are between church administrators, contractors and others regarding the process of altering the property. At no time does Peters tell us how he came by what appears to be private communications between these parties, if, indeed, such emails are genuine.

As is often the case in matters such as this, the offended party has no monetary "skin in the game". They've offered no money to the German Immersion School to curtail its plans. They somehow hoped to simply  talk them into forgetting about the project and leaving the church pretty much exactly as it currently stands. They also feel that a growing number of students will raise traffic issues in the neighborhood, a few blocks from the city swimming pool, Como Park, the Como Lakeside Pavilion, soccer and baseball fields, a railroad main line, and more. 

In the late 19th century, St. Paul, home of Canadian immigrant James J. Hill, the Empire Builder, and founder of the Great Northern Railroad, experienced a building boom. Log cabins and tar-paper shacks were demolished to make way for the newest forms of architecture. If there was any objection to this process we are unaware of it today. Perhaps there were a few Victorian nimbys that resented the replacement of placid views of cabins with cloud obscuring multi-story granite buildings. But there were no historical preservation organizations or bureaucracies to stand in the way of progress then. The rights of property owners were also respected then.

University of Minnesota Won't Change Building Names

The regents of the University of Minnesota have decided, in a 10-1 vote, against renaming four campus buildings as recommended by a student/faculty task force, as described here.

The task force had found that the four individuals for whom the buildings had been named were in some sense bad people who did not deserve to be so honored. 

This may indeed be a matter of some importance but the reality is somewhat different than the substance of the argument. The fact is that the University is engaged in a never-ending search for more funding, both from increasing legislative appropriations and increased tuition, as well as contracts for exclusive access (Coca-Cola), event sponsorships, and other sources, all to finance a massive administrative machine. The naming rights for the football stadium were sold to Twin City Federal, a bank, for $35 million over 25 years. Other structures bear the names of individuals who donated significantly to their cost. It only makes sense to sell the naming rights to other buildings as well. Why not sell the space above the doors of Coffman Union to someone like Target Corporation, who is already in the name business at the Minnesota Twins ballpark and the Minnesota Timberwolves basketball arena? Other big businesses could surely be enticed to have their name and logo emblazoned on a campus building and the price wouldn't have to be in the millions. The TCF Stadium financing scheme costs students $25 a semester so every dollar counts.

Names On Their Backs

This from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Edition, page 563:

15.19 "Jr.," "Sr.," and the like. The abbreviations Jr. and Sr., as well as roman or arabic numerals such as II or 3rd, after a person's name are part of the name and so are retained in connection with any titles or honorifics. Note that these abbreviations are used only with the full name, never with the surname only. See also 6.49, 9.47.

Superstar Ken Griffey Jr. could not only hit a baseball, he knew something about composition and the English language.

Book Thrown At Russian Spy

The sentence has come down. According to this Wall Street Journal account, Siberian espionage vixen Maria Butina has copped a plea in the US government's case initially describing her as an intelligence prostitute and admitted that she attempted, without government permission or license, to influence some people in the land of the free and the home of the brave. She was given a sentence of 18 months which includes time served in solitary confinement since July of last year so she might make it home in time for Christmas this year if her deportation goes smoothly.

Miss Butina wasn't actually accused of ferreting out any classified information, like plans for nuclear weapons or the code to the celebrated "football", but was instead identified as part of Russian state plan to influence key figures in US government and industry. It was pointed out that she was acquainted with Russian central bank figure Alexander Torshin and she admitted to US interrogators that she did indeed know this man. It's no stretch of the imagination that US Federal Reserve officers like Chairman Jerome Powell and Vice Chairman Richard Clarinda would be putty in the hands of a lady with an accent.

 There's no doubt that Yankees are very susceptible to the influence of foreigners and that they should be gratified that the various federal agencies designed to protect them from eastern hemispheric hordes are operating so efficiently. While the exploits of Miss Butina don't seem  to be in  the same class as the Rosenbergs or the loathsome Jonathon Pollard, the US activity in her case does afford an opportunity for myriad federal employees assigned to counter-espionage to perfect their craft.

Cynics might have the opinion that the investigation and prosecution of Miss Butina were simply exercises designed to garner favorable publicity for the agencies involved. Since their other probes into Russian and Chinese influence have achieved mixed results, the obvious success in reining in the Russian firearms enthusiast is certain to cast them in the glow needed to offset their dubious role in the 2016 US election controversy.

There's yet another way of looking at the situation. Since Miss Butina made no effort to hide her nationality and openly discussed gun rights in both countries, it was a small matter to the federal authorities. It was easy for them to corral her and, more important, since she had no connection to Russian intelligence, her arrest didn't jeopardize any ongoing justice department investigations or compromise any American agents or their sources. Miss Butina was an innocent gift. There have been further developments in the story. And this viewpoint.

Washington Sports Hero A Russian Spy?

Not the short guy, he's some Russian bureaucrat. The big fella, however, is a born and raised Russian hiding in the uniform of Washington Capitals hockey player on at least 82 evenings a year and often many more.

It's probably OK for Alex Ovechkin, the tie-less individual, to practice his trade in the vicinity of the Pentagon and it might not mean all that much for people with significant security clearances to practically worship the guy and cheer his every move in the local ice arena. On the other hand, how much does he know? And how much is he telling to the little fellow?

Tamara de Lempicka Masterpieces Go On The Block

Six Art Deco masterpieces painted by Russian artist Tamara de Lempicka are to be up for auction during the May 14, 2019 New York Christie's  Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale.

La Sagesse, estimated sale price $800,000 - $1,200,000

Etude pour le couple, $50,000 - $70,000

Nu debout, vu de dos $100,000 - $150,000

La Liseuse  $250,000 - $350,000

Nu assis $1,000,000 - $1,500,000

Jeune homme au livre  $50,000 - $70,000

Is This Collusion?

In May 2015, the British Labor Party hired Obama election campaign svengali David Axelrod to add his expertise to the attempt to win an election that would bring Labor star Ed Miliband the job of prime minister. Axelrod's fee for this service was 
£300,000 or $392,000.

According to the Manchester Guardian:
 
"Still, the early signs about Miliband’s electoral instincts were not good. In the weeks before the European elections that May, Miliband’s pitch to the public remained mostly incoherent. On 15 May, a week before the vote, Miliband met with David Axelrod – Barack Obama’s chief campaign adviser, who had signed on as a consultant to the Labour campaign for an astronomical fee – at Corrigan’s, an upscale Mayfair restaurant. During the meal, Beales was fielding calls from Miliband, who was still asking him to think of a slogan for the remaining week of the European election campaign; Axelrod was appalled by the low quality of the ideas being discussed, which he derisively characterised as “Vote Labour and win a microwave”. Unless Miliband could present the public with a bigger and more inspiring message, Axelrod told him, it would be impossible to regain the support of the white working-class voters who were deserting the Labour party."

Labor party nabobs were not only upset about the size of Axelrod's fee, they were also very disappointed at the small amount of time he spent in Britain during the campaign and the paltry amount of direction and advice he brought to the election effort, which, of course, turned out to be futile.

Axelrod also failed in his election advisory efforts for Italian Prime Minister incumbent candidate Mario Monti.

 

In fact, another Obama aide, his deputy chief of staff and campaign manager for the 2012 US presidential election, Jim Messina was a paid consultant for  Conservatives David Cameron in 2015 and Theresa May in 2017. Messina also worked on election campaigns for Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. He and his namesake firm have received over $1.2 million for mostly failed European election engineering.

The point of this description is that neither of these two political gurus are British or Italian or Spanish yet they've received millions of dollars to influence the democratic process in those countries. Their actual election influence, while generally a failure, is orders of magnitude greater than anything the Russians might have been able to pull off in the Trump-Clinton battle. Is there a corresponding effort by a British or Italian Mueller clone to investigate this? Doesn't seem like it. This makes the Russian collusion thing seem even more ridiculous.   

The Real Chicago Hate Crime

Some bozo in the Windy City made national news over a staged hate crime. Coverage of this semi-event went from the alleged crime itself to its performance to the arrest of the perp to the dismissal of charges against him. This raised so many hackles that a retired judge felt compelled to comment on the matter in one of the nation's most prestigious newspapers.

The most interesting and significant fact in this entire affair is the retired judge, Sheila M. O'Brien. According to the website CWB:

 O’Brien, 63, retired from the First District Appellate Court in 2011 after 16 years of service. She previously served nine years as an Associate Judge. Before rising to the bench, she worked as an assistant public defender, trial lawyer, and instructor a the St. Louis University Law School.

If this is true it means that the honorable justice O'Brien retired from the state bench at age 53. Now it's possible that the feminine legalist could have simply quit work one day and moved on to other things, like her current affiliation with Loyola University. We can't know for sure without access to the lady's tax returns. The use of the word "retirement", however, doesn't seem to indicate that this is what occurred. It appears more likely that she has moved to that country called "public employee retirement", a place she's likely to inhabit longer than the 25 years that she made courtroom decisions for the state of Illinois.

According to Taxpayers United of America, Justice O'Brien is the beneficiary of an annual pension of $192,039 and is statistically likely to collect in excess of $7.9 million in taxpayer-funded retirement benefits. In 2015, the mean annual household income in the US was $79,263, about 40% of what Justice O'Brien will receive in taxpayer funded benefits. Her retirement income alone puts her in the top 6.2% nationally.

We've already heard much about the dire status of  Illinois state finances. A large part of that noise has been the Prairie State's overwhelming pension obligations. According to Forbes, 23,000 retired state employees receive over $100,000 annually in pension payments. Dr. Leslie Heffez, a dentist retired from the University Chicago Circle, now operating a practice in Highland Park, Illinois, is receiving an annual retirement payment of nearly $600,000, the largest in state history.

But it isn't just about the money. The most important feature of American culture has always been its embrace of the "Protestant work ethic". The enthusiasm for hard work is a foundational value in America, and to the mind of most, the quality that makes the country perhaps the most successful in world history. Those that don't embrace that moral, that are instead lazy and feckless, are pariahs in their own communities. The idea that an elite can establish a system where they can receive benefits for things that they did and were compensated for decades ago is a rejection of the Protestant work ethic that puts them morally in league with the lowliest members of American society.

 Justice Sheila O'Brien

    

Stolen Picasso Recovered

Buste de Femme

A portrait stolen from a yacht moored at Antibes in 1999 has been recovered by Dutch art theft specialist Arthur Brand, according to this article and this one. The picture is said to be of Picasso muse Dora Maar,  was painted in 1938 and is estimated to have a value of $25 million.

Stolen art, especially valuable, well-known works, have a function in the criminal world but their very value makes them a problem for whomever has them in their possession. Brand has become the go-to guy to arrange transfers between the anonymous keeper and insurance companies with an interest in the work, as previously detailed here.

The Costs of Elections, and Investigatiions

The figures haven't been finalized but it's estimated that the cost to taxpayers of the Mueller investigation into Trump-Russian collusion prior to the 2016 presidential election will be in the range of $32 million to $35 million. After all, the process took almost 2 years, making the expense roughly $1.5 million a month. 

An article in the San Diego Union-Tribune states that the Russian state media agency, Russia Today, spent as much as $247,000 on Twitter during the run-up to the election. Facebook admits that it sold about $100,000 in ads to a Russian "troll farm", starting as early as the summer of 2015.

According to an article in TechCrunch.com:

 Russian information troll farm the Internet Research Agency spent just 0.05 percent as much on Facebook ads as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump’s campaigns combined in the run-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election, yet still reached a massive audience. While there might have been other Russian disinformation groups, the IRA spent $46,000 on pre-election day Facebook ads compared to $81 million spent by Clinton and Trump together, discluding political action committees who could have spent even more than that on the campaigns’ behalf.

Saving Water With Plastic

The answer to the dearth of fresh water is plastic toilets. It's also the answer to the enormous expense of updating America's crumbling sub-terranean sewer infrastructure. Instead of digging up and replacing plugged and rusted pipe, simply abandon it and place a plastic toilet outside every home and business in the country. Of course, that will mean that further millions of gallons of fresh water will be available, perhaps flooding low-lying areas and filling basements. Just the same, much water will be saved and building owners won't be faced with the expense of sophisticated bathrooms. The money can be spent on special access features for the handicapped instead.

Big Bucks For Blue Cross Boss

The non-profit Michigan health insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield paid CEO Daniel Loepp a salary of $1.5 million in 2018, according to this article in the Detroit Free Press. While substantial compensation for someone that doesn't face a rising fastball with men on base in the course of his work day, performance incentives raised Mr. Loepp's income by another $16.2 million and he also received $1.4 million in payment for automobile transportation and life insurance. The total of checks written to Mr. Loepp, likely to be from an account made up of premiums paid by Michigan residents worried about contracting serious diseases, comes to $19.2 million for the year.

 

It's a little difficult to imagine what, exactly, Mr. Loepp, an employee, not an owner, can be doing to earn what amounts to $9600 per hour on a normal annual basis. After all, there's nothing particularly novel in the insurance business. It's not like inventing a new treatment for cancer. 

Magritte Painting Auctioned For £18,366,250.

Belgian artist Rene Magritte's 1964 painting "Le lieu commun" was auctioned at Christie's London "The Art of the Surreal" sale on the evening of February 27 for the equivalent of $24,266,958.80.

Three other Magrittes were sold during the evening.

 Le grande guerre

 L'homme au chapeau melon

Les fils de l'homme