Charlie, we are off to France on Thursday to join our daughter her husband and our grandson. We spend about half of every year with them and we now have a Long Stay Visa. This is a first step toward possibly decamping, after a fashion. We are, by definition elderly-I'm 81 and my wife will be 80 in January. We are in very good health for our age so under the circumstances, why not?
There is certainly no perfect place on this small Green planet, but being together with family comes the closest to a priority given the state of the world, much less one's native country. Our daughter has lived in France for almost 20 years and we, as noted above, are regular visitors and find it a most hospitable place. It's history is bloody and not w/o its issues, but as you note, we are also guilty as charged.
We hope to be able to spend time in the Paris area, where our daughter lives, for some portion of the year and then to Lanzarote Island in the Canary Islands for other portions of the year. Fingers crossed we will manage to survive for a few more years in order to enjoy a rich, diverse life away from adolescent fellow Americans who know so very little about this rich planet we still manage to call home.
Enjoy your family visit and though you and I have disagreed much in the past (I'm a retired academic...one of those folks you didn't care much for once upon a time) I appreciate what you and others initiated with The Bulwark and read it every day in order to maintain some semblance of sanity.
There is a quote from Dag Hammarskjold's book MARKINGS that I discovered over 50 years ago while in the Peace Corps. I try to recall it each day:
"TO EXIST IN THE FLEET JOY OF BECOMING, TO BE A CHANNEL FOR LIFE AS IT FLASHES BY IN ITS GAITY AND COURAGE, COOL WATER GLITTERING IN THE SUNLIGHT---IN A WORLD OF SLOTH, ANXIETY AND AGRESSION.
TO BE EXIST FOR THE FUTURE OF OTHERS WITHOUT BEING SUFFOCATED BY THEIR PRESENT."
Have a cognac for me...cheers and take care, Gary R. Lowe (El Paso, Texas)
As an Australian who spent some of his childhood in America, and who has returned there from time to time, I'm always struck by the sense of unquestioned exceptionalism. That (understandable) inability to step outside that star-spangled bubble of "greatness" and see things through a different lens. And to not think of the rest of the world as just "Europe."
It's almost anathema to my country's deification of "mateship".
Even as my aging process nudges me further from my progressive days, I find a compelling commendability watching American conservatives, no matter how belatedly, question some of their inherited mythology.
The media has focused on Project 2024 which is sponsored by the Heritage Foundation. However, the Republican platform is actually Project 47! It’s chilling and can be accessed through Wikipedia. Read it, then vote. 💙🇺🇸
I join others in hoping that your column on a Trump victory will never need to be published. I have absolutely no doubt that what you describe will come to pass, and I continue to be horrified by the naïveté that surrounds us. If he does win, you will need to bring back many cases of cognac for your readers!
Your imagined column is so well written! I sincerely hope that it will never have to be published. If it has, Heaven help us all (including Europe). Regards from Denmark where we are looking at the US in horror at the moment.
I voted yesterday. For Kamala. I fell into a time warp and was looking for election returns last night when, snap, I realized that it was only Fiday night. This is the first time since I started voting forty four years ago that I voted early. This is the most consequential election of my life. I read somewhere that it would be wise to buy a gun “just in case”. I seriously thought about it for a minute and have come to the conclusion that I am sufficiently well armed using only my father’s military dress sword. Take that MAGAs! I cannot shake the sense of unreality that we are teetering on the precipice of some bad shit. I thank God for a wonderful blessed life (dogs,grandkids,still working) and know that no matter what happens, we will endure.
What are you hearing in France about the election?
SOOOOOOOO need the pooches. Thank God for chiens.
Charlie, we are off to France on Thursday to join our daughter her husband and our grandson. We spend about half of every year with them and we now have a Long Stay Visa. This is a first step toward possibly decamping, after a fashion. We are, by definition elderly-I'm 81 and my wife will be 80 in January. We are in very good health for our age so under the circumstances, why not?
There is certainly no perfect place on this small Green planet, but being together with family comes the closest to a priority given the state of the world, much less one's native country. Our daughter has lived in France for almost 20 years and we, as noted above, are regular visitors and find it a most hospitable place. It's history is bloody and not w/o its issues, but as you note, we are also guilty as charged.
We hope to be able to spend time in the Paris area, where our daughter lives, for some portion of the year and then to Lanzarote Island in the Canary Islands for other portions of the year. Fingers crossed we will manage to survive for a few more years in order to enjoy a rich, diverse life away from adolescent fellow Americans who know so very little about this rich planet we still manage to call home.
Enjoy your family visit and though you and I have disagreed much in the past (I'm a retired academic...one of those folks you didn't care much for once upon a time) I appreciate what you and others initiated with The Bulwark and read it every day in order to maintain some semblance of sanity.
There is a quote from Dag Hammarskjold's book MARKINGS that I discovered over 50 years ago while in the Peace Corps. I try to recall it each day:
"TO EXIST IN THE FLEET JOY OF BECOMING, TO BE A CHANNEL FOR LIFE AS IT FLASHES BY IN ITS GAITY AND COURAGE, COOL WATER GLITTERING IN THE SUNLIGHT---IN A WORLD OF SLOTH, ANXIETY AND AGRESSION.
TO BE EXIST FOR THE FUTURE OF OTHERS WITHOUT BEING SUFFOCATED BY THEIR PRESENT."
Have a cognac for me...cheers and take care, Gary R. Lowe (El Paso, Texas)
Swiss Shepherd? She looks like my white husky. She’s my lucky charm too. Harris has got this.
Yes, the dog photos are essential. Mine dogs certainly ground me.
I was actually really touched by this.
As an Australian who spent some of his childhood in America, and who has returned there from time to time, I'm always struck by the sense of unquestioned exceptionalism. That (understandable) inability to step outside that star-spangled bubble of "greatness" and see things through a different lens. And to not think of the rest of the world as just "Europe."
It's almost anathema to my country's deification of "mateship".
Even as my aging process nudges me further from my progressive days, I find a compelling commendability watching American conservatives, no matter how belatedly, question some of their inherited mythology.
The media has focused on Project 2024 which is sponsored by the Heritage Foundation. However, the Republican platform is actually Project 47! It’s chilling and can be accessed through Wikipedia. Read it, then vote. 💙🇺🇸
Sorry- Project 2025
I join others in hoping that your column on a Trump victory will never need to be published. I have absolutely no doubt that what you describe will come to pass, and I continue to be horrified by the naïveté that surrounds us. If he does win, you will need to bring back many cases of cognac for your readers!
https://open.substack.com/pub/rbdgeologist1/p/a-few-thoughts-from-a-geologist-4ab?r=48rfsc&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Your imagined column is so well written! I sincerely hope that it will never have to be published. If it has, Heaven help us all (including Europe). Regards from Denmark where we are looking at the US in horror at the moment.
I am also nauseously optimistic from here in Georgia. I feel relatively confident that Harris will win and will win here in Georgia.
Yes, I'm nauseously optimistic also- I like that phrase.
Enjoy your vacation! Charlie. Will try and make sure you've still got a country to come home to.
Listen to Friday's post from Tim Snyder. Chilling. It scared the sh!t outta me.
https://open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p/the-strongman-fantasy-text-and-audio?r=xhx53&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Chilling! I agree.
I voted yesterday. For Kamala. I fell into a time warp and was looking for election returns last night when, snap, I realized that it was only Fiday night. This is the first time since I started voting forty four years ago that I voted early. This is the most consequential election of my life. I read somewhere that it would be wise to buy a gun “just in case”. I seriously thought about it for a minute and have come to the conclusion that I am sufficiently well armed using only my father’s military dress sword. Take that MAGAs! I cannot shake the sense of unreality that we are teetering on the precipice of some bad shit. I thank God for a wonderful blessed life (dogs,grandkids,still working) and know that no matter what happens, we will endure.
Where would we be in all this without man’s best friends?! Thank you, thank you for the pics!!
Thank you Charlie!