Today began bright and sunny. I decided to wear shorts. So now the cloud has moved in. Was I a little overoptimistic in choosing summer wear? I may have to change clothes. We shall see.
And Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys has died, aged 82. There goes another one. No more good vibrations!
When I was a sixth form student I began to learn German. I had to stop so that I could take an O Level in Latin instead, a requirement at the time if you wanted to study Modern Foreign Languages at a good university. I passed my Latin exam but I think I remember more German than I do Latin. My German teacher was young and enthusiastic and friendly with her sixth form students. She brought in photos of her wedding for us to see. We marvelled to each other, but not to our teacher for fear of offending her, about how alike she and her new husband were. They could have been brother and sister. Arwa Mahdawi, writing in yesterday’s Guardian, appealed to people to stop asking if she and her wife are twins. They do say we are attracted to people who resemble us but I don’t think Phil and I look like siblings.
Troubles continue in Los Angeles. And maybe in other parts of the USA. Here’s something from a report in today’s Guardian:
“An estimated 14 million undocumented immigrants live in the US. A 2017 study estimated that two thirds of such immigrants at the time had been in the US a decade or more. These people typically work jobs, pay taxes and build families, frequently with US-citizen spouses and children. They are Americans in all but legal status. Deporting them rips holes in households and communities.
If not for the polarized politics of Washington, these longtime residents would have long ago been given a path to regularize their immigration status. If we decline to prosecute most crimes after five years, in part out of recognition that at some point people should be able to move on with their lives despite what they have done in the past, why not have a similar statute of limitations for deportations?”
So many undocumented people living and working there!
Somebody commented on social media that it’s hard to believe that the person who has been making pizza in his restaurant for the past 15 years is a bad guy and possibly a terrorist and that the armed men who come wearing masks and bulletproof vests are the good guys! Quite so!
I read an article today about two Frenchmen, furniture restorers, who carried out a fake antique furniture scam. They convinced clients that the chairs they sold them were centuries old, possible sat upon by Marie Antoinette! They told the trial: “We said we’d do it as a game, to see if the art market noticed or not.” Now they face prison and a huge fine. There is something wrong with our society if people are prepared pay inflated prices for antiques, leaving themselves open to that kind of scam
And here’s a little Michael Rosen for today:
“Somewhere,
people will be discussing
the 'problem'
of how to build apartments, shops and hotels
on land where thousands of bombs fell
and corpses
and parts of corpses
are buried.”
And a bit of Jeremy Corbyn:
“For the past 20 months, UK government ministers — Conservative and Labour — have aided and abetted crimes against humanity.
Recently, some politicians have attempted to backtrack and change their tune. Perhaps they are frightened by the consequences of their complicity.
If they had any integrity, they would weep for the 61,000+ Palestinians who died as a result of their moral and political cowardice.
We will not rest until the government finally listens to the demand being made by millions of people of all backgrounds and faiths: end all arms sales to Israel, now.
Momentum is shifting. We will expose the full scale of UK complicity in genocide. We will bring about justice. And we will continue to campaign for the only path to peace: the liberation of Palestine.”
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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