CULTURE & HISTORY

RAMIN MAZAHERI—French unions have done a woeful job leading the strike despite having everything going for them at the beginning. The alleged superiority of the so-called “independent” union model – favored by the West but opposed by any country with a revolution after 1917 – is once again failing the nation, if maybe not their dues-paying members.  The general strike is wobbling, and by January 24th the pension bill will be formally presented to the government. It is amazing rapacity, because presenting a bill amid such strikes is obviously rushing it into the safe arms of a system dominated by President Emmanuel Macron.

ANDRE VLTCHEK—What is exported are primitive beats and computer-generated images, falsely described as films. It is that toxic food, sold in chain eateries. It is the plastic cartoon production of soulless movies for children, as well as theme parks which are destroying the imagination and ability to dream.

ERIC ZUESSE—tarting in 2015, Gallup has asked over 133,000 people around the world the following 3 questions, to score (from 0 to 100) and rank nations on “Law and Order” — and they issued their first, the “2016 Global Law and Order” report, on this basis.

Most people before the 20th century didn’t travel far. Even in the days of Rome, the most common reasons to travel between cities was to move home, march as a soldier or cross the empire as a merchant or travelling actor. Most people, Roman or not, would spend their entire lives in their home provinces, with travelling beyond that often being considered some grand endeavour.

PHILIP A. FARRUGGIO—Yes, those were truly the ‘ Dog days of summer’ that August of ’69. This writer’s ‘ street smarts ‘ were fine tuned a bit by becoming a yellow cab driver during my summer break from college. Driving the day shift in Brooklyn and Manhattan revealed so much to me. Like Travis Bickell in the film Taxi Driver, the smell and sense of the Big Apple was eye ( and ear ) opening. From the businessmen in Manhattan to the hookers going from score to score, to the blue collar working stiffs of Brooklyn , this talkative young man learned so much about people.