Around the Globe

On cue, the mainstream media put a negative spin on the killing of the world’s most notorious terrorist. The Democrats, holding private impeachment hearings, are miffed that they weren’t informed of the raid, and the NY Times carps that it would have happened sooner had Trump not pulled troops from Syria. I loved that the president willingly walked into the lion’s den at the World Series last night. I wonder how much of the crowd was comprised of swamp employees and those whose business depends on them.

Here are sad excerpts from a Bob McManus op-ed piece at nypost.com: “… A recent RAND Corporation study reports that Americans spent just shy of $150 billion on illegal narcotics in 2016. The bulk of this money goes to Mexico… Americans, in other words, love their illegal chemicals… they have the ready cash to indulge themselves — and they are not particularly mindful of the consequences of this for others… avocado farmers are taking up arms to protect their increasingly valuable crop from the country’s ­rapacious cartels, always on the lookout for a quick buck.” There seem to be only two solutions: legalization or all out war, although recent events have shown the cartels are more powerful than authorities, making the latter scenario less likely.

Headline at nypost.com: “Kurt Cobain’s unwashed Unplugged cardigan sells for $334K in auction.” The Nirvana front man’s widow, Courtney Love, gave the sweater to a nanny and personal assistant after the grunge legend killed himself in 1994. It sold for $137,500 four years ago. Despite cigarette burns, the article brought in almost as much as Cobain’s custom-made left-handed Fender Mustang guitar, which sold for $340,000. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

From foxnews.com: A painting had hung on the kitchen wall of an elderly French woman’s home for so long she could not remember how she acquired it. It has been attributed to 13th century Italian painter Cimabue. Titled Christ Mocked, ten by eight inches, it sold for $26.6 million at auction, the most ever for a painting so old. Here’s a pic:

Also from FN, an article by Jarrett Stepman lays a lot of the blame for the California wildfires and blackouts on environmentalists. Here are excerpts: “Renewable energy has been prioritized over reliable infrastructure, while there has been an uptick of vulnerable power lines to connect distant wind farms to urban centers… PG&E shifted its priority to the overpriced renewables at the behest of politicians… the utility skimped on safety upgrades and repairs while pumping billions into green energy and electric-car subsidies to please its overlords in Sacramento… a decline in the allied efforts to clear brush, build and maintain access roads and firebreaks led inexorably to a decades’ long build-up in the fuel load… Twenty-first century green dreams have led to 19th-century realities.”

The sun is ready for Halloween, as shown by this picture from NASA:

My thanks to Steve, poet laureate of Sheepshead Bay, who bought CDs by Malcolm McClaren and Slade, and Inside a Pearl: My Years in Paris by Edmund White; and to the woman who purchased The Jewish Family Book by Sharon Strassfeld & Kathy Green, and a Natasha Bedingfield CD.

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