Hard times build determination and inner strength. Through them we can also come to appreciate the uselessness of anger. Instead of getting angry nurture a deep caring and respect for troublemakers because by creating such trying circumstances they provide us with invaluable opportunities to practice tolerance and patience. Dalai Lama
My brother Danny continues his fight against cancer despite a setback last week when he was over come with infections common to long hospital stays. But his outlook is strong and positive.
MISH MOSH..........................................
Mish Mash:
noun \ˈmish-ˌmash, -ˌmäsh\ A : hodgepodge, jumble
“The
painting was just a mishmash of colors and abstract shapes as far as we could
tell”. Origin Middle English & Yiddish; Middle English mysse
masche, perhaps reduplication of mash mash; Yiddish mish-mash, perhaps
reduplication of mishn to mix. First Known Use: 15th century
Buddy Holly final photo on his final tour on the last day of his life.
DON’T WORRY-BE HAPPY
HERE'S PLEASANT POEM FOR YOU TO ENJOY................
HERE'S SOME NICE ART FOR YOU TO LOOK AT....ENJOY!
Mark Rothko, Untitled, 1953
I LOVE BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOS FROM FILM
The work of Vivien Maier.
To Drug Test
Shakespeare's Bones Or Not To Drug Test Them? That Is The Question
Kristina
Killgrove
No one is entirely sure what is in the grave
of William Shakespeare, who was buried in Stratford, England, on April 25,
1616, two days after his sudden death, perhaps from fever. Presumably, most of
his skeleton is there, but it’s possible that Shakespeare’s skull was stolen in
the 18th or 19th century. Art historian
Horace Walpole supposedly put a bounty of £300 on Shakespeare’s head in 1769,
daring people to brave the curse on anyone who would disturb his bones. And
legend has it that someone named Dr. Frank Chambers did just that… but then
returned it. Another rumor says the
skull was stolen and removed to St. Leonard’s Church at Beoley, Redditch,
around 15 miles away. This centuries-old rumor is back in the news this week as
clergy at St. Leonard’s petitioned to DNA test a lone skull found in a church
vault to see if it is that of the Bard.
Shakespeare’s
skull raises questions about the purpose of identifying the remains of
historical people. From Richard III to
Lisa Gherardini (Mona Lisa), it seems that archaeologists, clergy, art
historians, and other lovers of history are keen to disinter the famous and
pore over their bones for clues to their lives, while others are content to let
the dead rest in peace. This is not even the first time that someone has asked
to dig up and test Shakespeare, though.
In 2001, a group
of South African forensic scientists including Francis Thackeray of the
Insitute for Human Evolution at the University of Witwatersrand analyzed the
residue from a couple dozen 17th century clay pipesunearthed in the garden at
Shakespeare’s home in England. They claimed to have found traces of tobacco,
cannabis, and cocaine. The latter
assertion is the most difficult to buy, since cocaine comes from the New World
plant coca and is assumed not to have been made in the Old World until well
into the 19th century. Hemp, of course, was used in Elizabethan England, mostly
as a fabric. The researchers also found traces of myristic acid (from nutmeg,
possibly a hallucinogen), and quinoline (which contains quinine, long used to
treat malaria). This pipe study stirred up quite a controversy by suggesting
that Shakespeare did all kinds of drugs, buoyed by some references in his
Sonnet 76 that refers to the “noted weed.”
Then in 2011,
Thackeray was back in the news with a plan to test hair or nails — if there are
any remaining — of Shakespeare to see if he smoked weed. He also wanted to look at dental wear on
Shakespeare’s teeth to see if he smoked a pipe. As Thackeray told LiveScience
at the time, his team planned to use laser surface scanning of Shakespeare, his
wife Anne Hathaway, and his daughter Susanna, then create 3D models of the
bones and skulls, with the possibility of doing digital facial reconstructions.
Thackeray also wanted to do DNA analysis to confirm the relationship among the
family in the Shakespeare grave, and to do chemical testing of hair and nails,
which contain keratin, to see if any evidence of drug use could be found. Although Thackeray floated his proposal by
the Church of England, it appears to have been denied (although, by some
reports, the request was never actually filed).
This week’s news
similarly comes with a negative result for people who are interested in testing
bones purported to be those of the Bard himself. The application, the Telegraph reports, was
denied by the Chancellor of the Diocese of Worcester, ruling there was no
convincing evidence that the skull was that of Shakespeare. Scholars of
Shakespeare also deny the claims that his skull was stolen and ended up
elsewhere, and agree that there is no reason to think that the skull at Beoley
is in any way related.
But the fact
that Shakespeare’s bones are back in the news gives me the chance to reiterate
my problems with the majority of these historical fishing expeditions: is it an
appropriate use of scientific resources to dig up or destructively test a
famous dead person to find out bits and pieces about his or her life because
we’re curious? I tend to come down on the side of “no,” but this may be because
I am trained as a bioarchaeologist rather than as a forensic anthropologist.
Bioarchaeologists
work with individual skeletons to answer questions about populations; we can’t
make much sense of one skeleton except in its relationships to others within
the population. Forensic
anthropologists, on the other hand, take the individual as their research
subject. Their field is about
identifying unknown, modern individuals, which is possible because they have a
reference population: all of us currently alive. Forensic archaeology is at the intersection
of these two fields, when researchers attempt to find out information about a
specific ancient or historical person.
In the recently newsworthy case of Richard III, the excavation and
analysis solved longstanding historical questions, and was therefore, on
balance, about a greater scientific good.
Read More: The
Hunt for Mona Lisa’s Bones Is a Publicity Stunt, Not Science
But forensic
archaeology, while undeniably “sexy science” that lets us act as detectives
with a high-profile ancient case to solve, can be problematic when historical
people are excavated without a clear research question and without a good
understanding of the population and culture from which the person comes.
Basically, without a thorough understanding of the ancient population (the
Average Joes) from which an individual (the VIP) was drawn, it’s hard to
reconstruct their lives – from Mona Lisa to Zachary Taylor, Shakespeare to
early Christian martyrs. And this kind
of investigation almost always singles out the privileged few who “shaped”
society while ignoring the millions of others who did the actual hard work to
make that society function.
Circling back to
Shakespeare, though, does testing the Bard’s hair or nails for cannabis or
cocaine tell us how widespread the practice was in Elizabethan England? Or
whether it was an acceptable thing to do in that society? No. If
drug tests eventually show that Shakespeare indulged in mind-altering
substances, what does that tell us about his craft? Nothing, really. Are you more likely to slog through Titus Andronicus
if you thought Shakespeare was high while writing it? Highly unlikely.
Although I am
professionally more interested in the nameless people whose skeletons reveal
more about an ancient culture than historical records can alone, personally I
can understand the fascination with the people who made history. We look in our own culture to celebrities to
set clothing trends, to politicians to set legal precedents, to religious
leaders to direct our moral compasses. Being able to know more about these people
as individuals - how they lived and how they died – gets at two fundamental
aspects of being human: curiosity and sociality. Getting new personal
information about history-makers and cultural touchstones helps us feel
connected to our culture, both in the present and in the past.
But I still
don’t think we should dig up Shakespeare. It’s simply not scientifically
rational.
Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich.
I quit being afraid when my first venture failed and the sky didn't fall down. -Allen H. Neuharth
I
doubt this writer is correct, I’m fairly certain the London Police arrested the
right guy, still, this is interesting.
Did an Australian teacher solve
the mystery of Jack the Ripper?
In his new book, Richard
Patterson proposes that the notorious serial killer was a poet. But dozens of
suspects have been proposed since the gruesome murders in 1888, and the case
remains unsolved.
By Cathaleen Chen
Notorious serial killer Jack the
Ripper's real identity has been ardently debated for well over a century. Now,
an Australian teacher says that he may have solved the mystery: It was writer
Francis Thompson who committed the heinous crimes, he claims.
In 1885, before he became a
well-known poet, Dr. Thompson moved to London with dreams of being a famous
writer. Three years later, the five women were found gruesomely murdered in the
Whitechapel district of London’s East End.
About 100 years after that,
literature student Richard Patterson came across Thompson’s poetry. Upon
discovering that the "The Hound of Heaven" poet had also been a
medical doctor, Mr. Patterson became convinced that Thompson was Jack the
Ripper.
An English teacher in Byron Bay,
Australia, Patterson has been researching the topic for 20 years. In his
forthcoming book, "Francis Thompson – A Ripper Suspect," he presents
evidence implicating the British poet.
"I'm grateful to have played
some part in helping people understand Thompson, and why he might have been the
Ripper," Patterson told Mercury Press.
During Thompson’s years in
London, he became addicted to opium. As Patterson tells the story, the young
writer was homeless in Whitechapel until a prostitute offered him lodgings.
Though he never revealed her identity, their friendship is believed to have
turned into Thompson’s only romantic relationship. But as he slowly gained
recognition in the literature world, she disappeared.
This is when Thompson had a
mental breakdown, Patterson said.
"The moment he told her he
was finally published, she said she was leaving him because the public would
not understand their relationship. This was after Thompson's year-long romance
with the woman,” Patterson said.
Before and after the murders, the
author explained, Thompson wrote about stabbing female prostitutes.
"Thompson kept a dissecting
knife under his coat, and he was taught a rare surgical procedure that was
found in the mutilations of more than one of the Ripper victims,” Patterson
said.
The case was officially closed in
1892, 15 years before Thompson's death at age 47.
But the investigations never
truly ended. Scholars and sleuths have obsessed over the mystery through the
years, producing up to a hundred different suspects and transforming
"Ripperology" into a global phenomenon.
Some Ripperologists believe the
murderer was a woman. Some say he was painter Walter Sickert, or writer Lewis
Carroll. Some propose that he was a butcher, or a famous surgeon, or just a man
with profound mommy issues. In London, tourists can take a dozen competing Jack
the Ripper walking tours. A search for "Jack the Ripper" on Amazon
fetches more than 4,700 books.
But what exactly is the
murderer's popular appeal? What is the importance of solving 127-year-old
crimes?
The grisly and sexualized nature
of the murders make for a salacious and riveting story, but gender historian
Julia Laite argues that the real appeal lies in the lives of the victims: Mary
Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Mary Kelly, and Catherine
Eddowes.
Most of them are believed to have
been sex workers, and in studying their lives, Ripperologists have become
pseudo-anthropologists, discovering overlooked cultural information about poor
and working-class women of the Victorian era.
"Jack killed flower sellers.
Jack killed charwomen. He killed mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives,"
Ms. Laite writes in the Guardian. "These women are infinitely more
interesting to me than the identity of their killer. Finding out about their
poverty, their work and their experiences of injustice and inequality is far
more important than their killer’s DNA."
Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. Marcel Proust
How to Raise an Emotionally Resilient Child
By Kenneth Barish, Ph.D.
All children, even the most
fortunate, suffer emotional injuries. At home, in school and on the playground,
all children experience disappointment, frustration and failure; criticism and
disapproval; and exclusion by peers. In every family, there will be moments of
anger and misunderstanding.
In healthy development, children
recover from these moments. Whether on their own or with our support, most
children bounce back. Emotional injuries are, in many respects, analogous to
physical injuries. Just as our cells must repair physical injuries, emotional
injuries also must be healed. Without this healing, the injurious process will
spread.
As parents, it is important for
us to recognize these common injuries and provide some healing of a child’s
discouragement and anger. Often, a simple acknowledgment of her disappointment
or frustration is all that is necessary.
Children learn invaluable lessons
from moments of repair. They learn that, although it is not always easy,
moments of anxiety, sadness and anger are moments and can be repaired.
Disappointments, in themselves and in others, are part of life, and feelings of
anger and unfairness do not last forever.
A Pathway Toward Emotional
Maturity
These are critical moments in the
emotional life of a child—when admired adults are able to help a sad, anxious
or angry child realize that she will not always feel this way; when we help a
child who is disappointed or discouraged regain some measure of confidence in
her future. In these moments, we have strengthened her inner resources for
coping with disappointment and distress, and built a foundation of optimism and
resilience.
We have also opened a pathway
toward emotional maturity. In moments of repair, children begin to develop a
more balanced, less all-or-nothing perspective on the disappointments and
frustrations in their lives. As a result, they will be better able to
“regulate” their emotions—they will be less urgent in their expressions of
distress, less insistent in their demands, and able to think more constructively
about how to solve emotional problems. Moments of repair may also reduce a
child’s level of physiological stress.
Ten Minutes at Bedtime
Because these moments are so
important to children’s emotional health, I recommend that parents set aside
some time every day (perhaps ten minutes at bedtime) for kids and parents to
have a chance to talk, and use this time to repair moments of conflict and
misunderstanding. This may be the most important ten minutes of a child’s day.
In these brief daily
conversations, we should ask kids if there is something they might want to talk
about—perhaps a problem at school or with friends, something they are angry
with us about, or what they may be anxious about the following day.
When there has been conflict in
our relationship with our kids, it is especially important for us to take the
lead and begin to repair hurtful interactions. We need to make a deliberate
effort to set aside criticism and judgment as long as we can and hear their
side of the story. Discussion and disagreement, even problem solving, can come
later. Especially, don’t stay angry.
Of course, children do not always
make this easy, especially when they are angry and demanding, or when they
insistently blame others. And sometimes we may not know what to say. But our
willingness to make the effort is important in itself.
Often, when we are able to listen
patiently, we will find some truth in their side of the story, perhaps some
previously unnoticed provocation or hurt feeling. We can also let children know
that we know how they feel—because we have also had these feelings. We have
also suffered frustrations and disappointments, and moments of embarrassment.
We can say, for example, “Yes, I know, it feels really bad when other kids
won’t let you play…I also felt bad and angry when those kinds of things
happened to me.” Many children will respond to these statements with
astonishment. “That happened to you!?” And, of course, it has.
Then we can help them put their
disappointments in perspective. We can remind them (when they are ready to hear
it) of the good things they have done and will be able to do, and that no one
succeeds all the time.
And we should let them know that,
win or lose, we are proud of them for their effort. A child’s feeling that her
parents are proud of her may be the deepest and most lasting emotional support
we can offer—an anchor that sustains her in moments of anxiety and self-doubt.
Patient listening receives far
less attention than it deserves in current parenting debates, in our
understandable concern with children’s achievement and character development.
In my experience, however, there is no more important parenting “skill” than
this, and nothing we do as parents that is more important for our children’s
emotional health—and for their success in life.
About Kenneth Barish, Ph.D.
Kenneth Barish, Ph.D. is Clinical
Associate Professor of Psychology at Weill-Cornell Medical College. He is the
author of Pride and Joy: A Guide to Understanding Your Child’s Emotions and
Solving Family Problems. Pride and Joy is winner of the 2013 International Book
Award (Parenting and Family) and the 2013 Eric Hoffer Book Award (Home
Category).
*** FREE
THEATER IN NYC ***
THE TEA PARTY
Written and directed by Ethan
Ness
A suburban family sits down to
enjoy dinner together. However, when daughter Alice returns home, things begin
to change in unexpected and mysterious ways.
Saturday, Nov. 14th, at 7:30pm.
Dixon Place
161A Chrystie Street, between
Rivington and Delancey
web site:
http://dixonplace.org/performances/the-tea-party/
***
PLAYWRIGHTS OPPORTUNITIES ***
THE PRESIDENT PLAYS challenges
your creativity to write an original play using a “president” or “presidency”
as the springboard, subject or theme. Think outside the box! ANY elected or
appointed official can be featured, from a U.S. president to a chief officer of
an institution to the president of the International Scrabble Club! Or find
inspiration from a famous myth, speech or motto (“I cannot tell a lie” – “Yes
we can!” – “Ask not what your country can do for you…”). We are seeking plays
written in any style that reveal a fresh plot, sufficient conflict and a
running time of 10 minutes, maximum.
***
A juried showcase of the year’s
best original one-act plays
Lower Denton Theatre. Wolfville,
Nova Scotia
March 31 - April 2, 2016,
The Acadia Theatre Company (ATC)
is pleased to announce its 22nd annual MiniFest, to be held in Wolfville, Nova
Scotia, Canada March 31 - April 2, 2016.
Once a year, hundreds of the best
plays from around the world are submitted for a juried evaluation. The best
make it to the short list, from which the winning plays are chosen by the
Executive Committee.
***
Little Black Dress INK is
creating production opportunities for female playwrights through its Female
Playwrights ONSTAGE Project; a short-play festival dedicated to producing
peer-selected works by women. In addition to contributing to the selection of
plays, participating playwrights are able to review and revise their work via
online-streaming of play readings, and are encouraged to blog about the process
along the way.
Submissions are now being
accepted from awesome female playwrights for consideration in this year’s
festival! This festival utilizes a peer-review process for evaluating
submissions.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION on these
and other opportunities see the web site athttp://www.nycplaywrights.org ***
*** THE GHOST OF OLIVE THOMAS ***
Olive Thomas (October 20, 1894 –
September 10, 1920) was an American silent film actress and model.
Thomas began her career as an
illustrators' model in 1914, and moved on to the Ziegfeld Follies the following
year. During her time as a Ziegfeld girl, she also appeared in the more risqué
show, The Midnight Frolic. In 1916, she began a successful career in silent
films and would appear in over twenty features over the course of her four-year
film career. That year she also married actor Jack Pickford, the younger
brother of silent film star Mary Pickford.
On September 10, 1920, Thomas
died of acute nephritis in Paris five days after consuming mercury bichloride.
Although her death was ruled accidental, news of her hospitalization due to the
poison and Thomas' subsequent death were the subject of media speculation.
Thomas' death has been cited as one of the first heavily publicized Hollywood
scandals.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_Thomas
***
Images of and related to Olive
Thomas in Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&profile=default&search=olive+thomas&fulltext=Search&uselang=en
***
A Gang of Ghosts Ready to Rumble
1993
For years, workmen at the New
Amsterdam Theater on West 42d Street reported seeing a young woman, crying, in
a white dress trimmed in silver. They were seeing the ghost of Olive Thomas, a
star of the Ziegfeld Follies, which were presented at the theater from 1913 to
1927 (excepting 1921). After appearing with the Follies and serving time as Flo
Ziegfeld's mistress, Thomas headed west and became a star in silent films. She
attained semi-royal status when she married Mary Pickford's brother, Jack. In
1920, she collapsed on the floor of a hotel room in Paris, a victim of
poisoning. The exact circumstances of the death were never explained. She was
buried in a white dress trimmed in silver.
http://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/29/arts/a-gang-of-ghosts-ready-to-rumble.html?pagewanted=2
***
In this Theater - New Amsterdam
Two postscripts to the history of
this theatre must be added. First is the legend that it is a haunted house. In
his book Ziegfeld, Charles Higham reported that in 1952 a handyman at the
theatre was alarmed by the appearance of a beautiful, ghostly showgirl in a
white dress with a gold sash on which appeared the name “Olive.” When he
followed her, she vanished. Two weeks later, the apparition returned. Another
worker identified her as Olive Thomas, a statuesque Follies girl whom he knew
and adored. She had committed suicide in Paris, reportedly after discovering
that her husband, Jack Pickford (Mary’s brother), had given her syphilis.
During the restoration of the New Amsterdam in the 1990s, a crewman on the
project called PLAYBILL and stated that there had been spooky incidents in the
theatre while he worked. Things moved mysteriously backstage, and a woman’s
voice behind him asked, “Hey — how’re you doin’?” He turned around and no one
was there.
http://www.playbillvault.com/Theatre/Detail/History/276/New-Amsterdam-Theatre
***
Poor Olive Thomas, Lost in the
Wings
In his article ''A Palace for a
New Magic Kingdom, 42d St.'' $(May 11$), Herbert Muschamp didn't mention the
legend attached to the old New Amsterdam Theater, that it is, or perhaps was,
haunted by the ghost of Olive Thomas, a Follies showgirl. She appeared in the
balcony late at night to cleaning ladies, janitors, projectionists or patrons
as a beautiful woman in a white gown carrying a blue bottle. Thomas died of an
overdose of medication probably kept in such a bottle.
Perhaps the racket of
reconstruction scared her ghost away. Maybe she is waiting until the hoopla
quiets down to reappear, or maybe she has reappeared, though people now think
she's a wayward hooker or a homeless person.
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/01/theater/l-poor-olive-thomas-lost-in-the-wings-348783.html
***
Appaition of Olive Thomas
A phone rang in the bedroom of
Dana Amendola, the man whom the Disney corporation had put in charge of its
latest acquisition, the derelict New Amsterdam Theatre. Amendola squinted at
the clock. Who could be calling at 2:30 a.m.? He picked up the phone. It was
the security guard he's hired to patrol the New Amsterdam. The man was
hysterical. During his rounds of the theatre, he was crossing the stage when
his flashlight picked up a beautiful young woman who had absolutely no business
being there at that hour. She had a green beaded dress, a beaded headpiece, a
sash and was holding a blue bottle. He shouted at her and she left the stage -
by walking right through the wall on the 41st Street side.
The watchman wanted to resign on
the spot.
Amendola, who is still in charge
of the New Amsterdam as vice president of operations, had heard the stories of
the ghostly Follies girl. He did some research and found, among many
photographs, the one that accompanies this story.
Workers who renovated the theatre
for its 1997 reopening reported numerous encounters with Olive. She appears
almost exclusively to men, and often acts flirtatiously. Once or twice she's
been reported to speak, saying "Hi, fella!" in a coquettish voice.
As Olive's host, Amendola has
become something of an authority on her life. He told Playbill that she is a
regular visitor to the theatre - appearing, or making her presence known - only
after audiences depart. She's generally benign, but can be temperamental. Two
portraits of her now hang backstage, and everyone who works there makes a habit
of saying "Good morning, Olive!" when they arrive for work, and
"Good night, Olive," when they leave. As long as they do so, Olive
seems appeased.
- See more at:
http://www.playbill.com/features/article/the-ghosts-of-broadway-329561#sthash.Vbgtqw6i.dpuf
***
Disney on Broadway: the Ghost of
Olive Thomas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-bRM4QHwTw
***
Review: ‘Ziegfeld’s Midnight
Frolic’ Explores the Murky Death of the Actress Olive Thomas
Olive Thomas, the “Ziegfeld
Follies” beauty whose teary ghost is said to haunt the New Amsterdam Theater,
has taken up residence down the block. Her stage is the Liberty Theater, a
long-ago Broadway house now tucked incongruously at the back of the Liberty
Diner, on West 42nd Street. When she died scandalously in Paris in 1920, a
Jerome Kern musical was running there.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/30/theater/review-ziegfelds-midnight-frolic-explores-the-murky-death-of-the-actress-olive-thomas.html
***
GHOST LIGHT: THE MUSICAL
According to backstage lore, the
ghost of a Ziegfeld Follies star haunts the New Amsterdam Theatre. Ghostlight
excavates the true story of Olive Thomas, a small-town girl who rises to
headline alongside Fanny Brice. Seduced by the decadent world of the theater,
Olive stumbles into a secret affair, an unfulfilling Hollywood marriage, and a
downward spiral into drugs and alcohol. An homage to Broadway's Golden Age,
Ghostlight captures the glamorous and tragic lives of those who changed the
face of the American musical forever.
http://www.ghostlightthemusical.com/index2.php
***
“The Flapper” silent movie
starring Olive Thomas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4N7kxtjaf4
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The worst loneliness is to not be
comfortable with yourself. Mark Twain
MUSIC FOR THE SOUL
One of the most powerful pieces
of music in the 1930’s was the song “Strange Fruit”, sung by Billie Holiday.
This song depicted the horrific tragedy of lynchings, hangings and other
terrors facing the African American communities of the South. The lyrics are
absolutely haunting and Ms. Holiday’s voice decries these tragedies with enough
soul to make us weep with heartache.
Awareness is a flower that blooms but never dies. Author Unknown
GOOD WORDS TO HAVE………………..
Lucullan \loo-KULL-un\ Definition: lavish,
luxurious. Lucullan echoes the name of
Roman general Lucius Licinius Lucullus. The general had a distinguished
military career (including the defeat of Mithradates VI Eupator, king of
Pontus, at Cabira in 72 B.C.E.), but he is best remembered for the splendor of
his opulent retirement. Lucullus established a reputation for magnificent
banquets, at which he wined and dined the leading poets, artists, and
philosophers of his time. His feasts were sufficiently extravagant to establish
a lasting place for his name (in adjective form) as a synonym of lavish in the
English lexicon.
There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see. Leonardo da Vinci
Bad stuff does happen, sometimes. Always remember that. But remember that you have to move on somehow. You pick your head up and stare at something beautiful like the sky, or the ocean, and you move the hell on. James Patterson, Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas
Get Covered
Nov 3, 2015 | By CAP Action War
Room
Open Enrollment Under The Affordable Care Act Is Underway
It’s that time of year again! Open enrollment for the Affordable
Care Act is officially underway, which means consumers can once again shop for
health care coverage through the federal health insurance marketplace. Open
enrollment started over the weekend and runs through January 31st. For coverage
that starts January 1st, the deadline to enroll isDecember 15th.
More than 9 million Americans are already benefiting from having
quality, affordable health insurance through the federal and state marketplace
and that number is expected to increase to 10 million by the end of next year.
And the good news doesn’t stop there: more than 80 percent of people who signed
up through HealthCare.gov receive financial assistance to make their monthly
premiums more affordable. In fact, most people’s premiums are $75 or less a
month. Already insured through HealthCare.gov? Call or go online to renew your
plan, and take the opportunity during open enrollment to shop around and make
sure your current plan is still the best fit for your needs and your budget.
Millions of Americans have already seen the benefits of the
Affordable Care Act, and many more stand to benefit from this open enrollment
period. Unfortunately, the fight to make sure every American sees the benefits
of the Affordable Care Act remains a struggle. After two Supreme Court cases,
more than 50 repeal votes, and years of partisan fighting, Medicaid expansion
remains a struggle in many Republican-controlled states.
Yesterday, Montana officially became the 30th state to expand
Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, bringing 70,000 Montanans out of the
coverage gap. But today’s statewide elections in Kentucky threaten Medicaid in
the Bluegrass state. The state saw the steepest drop in the uninsured rate
thanks to the Affordable Care Act. And around half a million people, or a
quarter of the state’s population got health care coverage after outgoing
democratic Governor Steve Beshear expanded Medicaid through an executive order.
But now the GOP gubernatorial candidate has threatened to repeal Medicaid
expansion, putting hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians back in the coverage
gap. If you need another reason to get out and vote today, read this.
BOTTOM LINE: Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, the uninsured rate
is at a historic low. It’s time to build on that success and make sure every
American has access to quality, affordable health insurance. Visit
www.healthcare.gov to renew your existing plan or shop around for a new plan
that fits your needs and your budget.
TODAY'S ALLEGED MOB GUY
An FBI surveillance photo of Joseph D. Pistone (left)—a.k.a. Donnie Brasco—and Mafia associates from the 1980s. With him are mobsters Lefty Gun Ruggiero (Middle) and Tommy Rossi
Real
Estate investor Tamara Rand killed after messing with the mob
Reported
by: Tom Hawley
Email:
thawley@sbgtv.com
LAS
VEGAS (KSNV News3LV) – This month marks the 20th anniversary of the release of
Martin Scorsese’s "Casino” – a movie which unlike many others set in Las
Vegas – gets it right.
In
this Video Vault, we look at one small scene from that movie that happened 40
years ago.
“Well
it was based on a woman named Tamara Rand who was a real estate investor in San
Diego,” says the Mob Museum’s Geoff Schumacher.
Alan Glick
“Who was really the front man for the Argent*
Corporation, which owned the Stardust and three other hotels in Las Vegas,”
explains Schumacher. “But, of course, which was secretly operated by the
Chicago outfit and other Midwestern mob groups.”
Joe
Bonpensiero picked up the story, talking about his uncle, Frank “Bomp”
Bompensiero: “Frank had a good reputation in the Midwest, in the East Coast --
Chicago, Kansas.”
Bompensiero
operated out of San Diego, where Rand lived and Glick had gotten his start. Joe
says his uncle Frank was acquainted with Las Vegas muscle man Tony Spilotro,
played in the movie by Joe Pesci as Nicki Santoro.
“Spilotro,
being from Chicago, etcetera, or back and here. Not familiar with the area,”
Joe said. “Turned to somebody he knew that lived there he could trust. And that
would have been Frank.”
Bonpensiero
Spilotro
had been sent to San Diego because Rand was suing Glick, having been a silent
partner in his enterprises.
“She
invested in it on the premise that she wanted to get into the casino business,”
says Schumacher. “But she felt like Glick had betrayed her, and that he had not
honored his obligations.”
The
lawsuit would have meant opening the Stardust account records, exposing the
skim.
“But
before she could start counting her money, the boys back home decided to settle
the case out of court instead. So they called me,” says Santoro/Spilotro in the
movie.
Rand
was shot five times with a .22-caliber gun, Spilotro’s weapon of choice. The
movie implies Spilotro made the hit solo, and Bompensiero is not represented.
“They
were together,” Joe explained emphatically. “No question about it.”
Was
Frank just a wheelman, or did he pull a trigger? All people can do is
speculate.
“Where
are they gonna get the information?” asks Joe rhetorically. “From the source?
And they ain't talkin'! Or they're gonna go to the dead guy?”
The
two men sent on the hit went out gangland style themselves. Bompensiero was
shot in a phone booth in 1977; Spilotro, whose legal counsel in Las Vegas was
future mayor Oscar Goodman, was beaten to death and buried in a cornfield in
1986.
Finland considers paychecks for all
Finns may be able to get a paycheck just for
being Finland citizens.
Finland may pay citizens just for being Finns.
Finland could
become the first country to introduce a universal basic income.
An official at
the Finnish Social Insurance Institution, known as KELA, said last week that
each Finn could receive 800 euros ($876) a month, tax free, that would replace
existing benefits. Full implementation would be preceded by a pilot stage,
during which the basic income payout would be 550 euros and some benefits would
remain.
KELA will
present a proposal by November 2016, but for now the idea sounds unrealistic.
Finland has one of the European Union's shakier economies. It has been in
recession almost continually since mid-2012 and lacks growth opportunities. The
traditionally strong pulp and paper industry is in decline and the tech sector
hasn't lived up to expectations after Nokia lost its place as the mobile-phone
market leader. Giving 800 euros a month to every Finn (population 5.4 million)
would cost 52.2 billion euros a year, and the government projects revenue of
49.1 billion euros for 2016.
Even wealthier
Switzerland, which will hold a referendum on a basic income program next year,
is unlikely to adopt the idea because of the expense. The proposal to pay each
citizen about $2,500 a month would cost about $210 billion a year, or 30
percent of gross domestic product. The Swiss federal government and the
parliament have called on citizens to reject it. According to a recent poll, 49
percent of the voters support a universal basic income, but to achieve a
majority, the allowance would have to be smaller than proposed.
Finland,
however, may go through with its plan, perhaps moving ahead of the Netherlands,
where universal income pilot projects will begin next year in Utrecht and
possibly in several other cities. The reason for the project’s good prospects
in Finland: a political consensus that it is necessary.
Earlier this
year, Helmuth Cremer of the Toulouse School of Economics in France and Kerstin
Roeder of the University of Augsburg in Germany showed that modern democracies
are far more likely to adopt a means-tested social security system than a
universal basic income. Giving away taxpayers' money to people whether they
work or not is not a popular notion.
The Finns are
different. In a recent poll commissioned by KELA, 69 percent said that they
would support a basic income plan and that about 1,000 euros a month would be
the appropriate amount. There is broad support for the idea across political
parties and Prime Minister Juha Sipila favors the idea as a way to simplify the
welfare system. The poll showed there was especially high backing for a basic
income implemented as a negative income tax. Such an arrangement, which was
initially proposed by economists Milton Friedman and Robert Lampman, would
provide payments from the state that would increase in inverse proportion to
income.
U.S. experiments
in the 1960s showed that a negative tax wouldn't work “as long as the median
income remains within striking distance of the poverty line.” In Finland, the
median income is about 3,000 euros a month, far more than KELA's 800 euro
target. But it also is a country where some people pay more than 50 percent tax
on incomes of 70,000 euros a year, and there may be a greater acceptance of
further redistribution, especially if it means more security. A jump in the
unemployment rate to 11 percent earlier this year (it is 8.4 percent now)
raised alarm in Finland, possibly making a basic income even more appealing.
One draw is that giving all citizens the same benefits would remove the stigma
attached to joblessness.
Many experiments
have shown that people provided with a basic income don't lead idle lives. A
study conducted in Uganda indicated that people given such assistance invest in
their personal development and end up in more qualified positions, working
longer hours and earning more than those who don't have a safety net. In
wealthier countries, people slightly reduce the amount of time they spend at
work. The extra time is often spent with children, on personal development or
healthy activities.
There probably isn't
much danger that Finns will stop working if they get a basic income. The bigger
risk is that the government won't be able to pay for it.
Bloomberg
Leonid
Bershidsky, a Bloomberg View contributor, is a Berlin-based writer
Because one believes in oneself, one doesn’t try to convince others. Because one is content with oneself, one doesn’t need others’ approval. Because one accepts oneself, the whole world accepts him or her. Lao Tzu
I call people rich when they’re able to meet the requirements of their imagination.Henry James
The Observation and Appreciation of Architecture
A man’s errors are his portals of discovery. James Joyce, Ulysses
The great thing to remember is that, though our feelings come and go, God’s love for us does not. It is not wearied by our sins, or our indifference; and, therefore, it is quite relentless in its determination that we shall be cured of those sins, at whatever cost to us, at whatever cost to Him. C.S. Lewis
GREAT WRITING
I had also to be careful in regard to a Mrs. Holigan, a charwoman and cook of sorts whom I had inherited with the vacuum cleaner from the previous tenants. Dolly got lunch at school, so that this was no trouble, and I had become adept at providing her with a big breakfast and warming up the dinner that Mrs. Holigan prepared before leaving. Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita
Sculpture this and Sculpture that
THE BEAT POETS
Beat poetry evolved during the 1940s in both New York City and on the west coast, although San Francisco became the heart of the movement in the early 1950s. The end of World War II left poets like Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Gregory Corso questioning mainstream politics and culture. A Brief Guide to the Beat Poets | Academy of American Poets https://www.poets.org/poetsorg
THE ART OF WAR...............................
AND NOW, A BEATLES BREAK
ALBUM ART
THE ART OF PULP
DON'T YOU JUST LOVE POP ART?
AND HERE'S SOME ANIMALS FOR YOU...................
