Setting out yesterday for Burgazada, one of the Princes Islands in the Sea of Marmara, here are some of the sights.
Sarayburnu (Topkapi palace on the famous promontory).
Aya Sofia standing in all her glory, just as seafarers have seen her for a thousand years.
A late afternoon small boat regatta off Fenerbahce (Asian side).
The ferry.
Kınalıadı (ferry’s first stop).
A ferry landing at Burgazada (37/day). Photo from the dinner table at waterfront.
Our favorite restaurant. Ask for Erol.
The view from hotel room. You can see how close the city is (in view is Bostancı on Asian side). It’s like having Martha’s Vineyard in NY harbor. Unreal.
My favorite manavcı (green grocer).
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In the fall out from Munich-in-Anchorage, something’s being missed. The bristling boasts that our military are “war fighters” seems curiously absent when it comes to Ukraine.
Ukraine, where there’s the largest land war on the European continent simce the end of WWII. Where there are actual ‘war fighters’ dealing lethally with the regime that our NATO allies regard as our biggest threat (the regime against which NATO was formed).
Ukraine, where for pennies on the dollar, the U.S. has the chance to radically degrade Russia’s war fighting capabilities for years if not decades.
I feel Maxwell's transfer clearly indicates that a deal has been done: a pardon will be issued but only after the mid-terms. To keep her 'sweet' until then, the transfer was arranged (i.e., they told her she'd have to sit tight, but would ensure her comfort while doing so).
Implications of the above scenario: 1. Maxwell has dirt on Trump but is not (yet) prepared to ‘exonerate’ him (i.e., she won’t play ball with a whitewash unless a pardon is in the bag).
2. Trump judges that the backlash from a pardon now, before mid-terms, is a bigger danger than the shellacking he’s taking from DOJ’s stonewalling on the ‘files.’ He’s prepared to stick with the stonewall. Lesser of two evils.
🧵Interesting convo with an old friend this a.m. Raised in a trailer up a dirt road in rural Missouri. Military officer for 10 years, then successful entrepreneur. Now living a ‘red neck’ life (his description) on a NH mountainside. ‘Libertarian,’ anti-DEI and anti-‘woke.’
Says Dems are “their own worst enemy,” should “stop all this lawfare crap, trying to impeach Trump for made up stuff,” etc. You get the drift.
But guess what ? HE’S VOTING FOR HARRIS ! Why ? “It’s about the Constitution. Trump’s dangerous.” Cited Trump’s praise of Orban at NY Economic Club y’day. Quoted Franklin’s “a Republic, Madam, if you can keep it.”
🧵 The epithet ‘quisling’ is much on my mind. Vidkun Quisling was the Norwegian PM who collaborated with the Nazi invasion of Norway and presided over German occupation of his country. He was executed for treason in Oct. 1945.
It was Churchill, in 1940, who introduced ‘quisling’ to the English language as a synonym for ‘traitor.’
For me, ‘quisling’ connotes something deeper and more prolonged than a one-off traitorous act (like Benedict Arnold delivering the plans of West Point and then defecting to the British). It stands for active, long term collaboration with the enemy.
🧵 IN MEMORIUM. It grieves me to share that ‘Harry Godwyn,’ @harrygod, one of Twitter's brightest lights, died on August 17th in Ohio.
Because of the privacy with which ‘Harry’ treated his illness and hospice care, his closest Twitter friends learned of his passing after a slight delay.
‘Harry’s' real name was Charles Hankey. He was at the forefront of a pioneering generation of software designers and programmers, held in high regard by his professional peers. His debut novel, Headhunter Jazz (published in 2022 and available on Amazon), was a tour de force.
🧵 I believe these are objective facts: 1. Trump is a life long malignant narcissist and sociopath. As part of that, he is an inveterate liar and cheat. 2. Trump is a career criminal, closely tied to organized crime (which is why he may have been an FBI informant).
3. Trump has entered into deeply corrupt and treacherous relationships and transactions with foreign governments, for personal gain.
4. Trump is a racist. 5. Trump is a misogynist, and an adjudicated rapist. 6. Trump abhors the Constitution and has actively subverted it.