Johnny Cash and June Carter !!!

Nice to know about M. Jordan and St. Jude's hospital - wonderful
(as you may have noted, the opinion piece was by a guy in his 60s so I swallowed it)

thanks

True Ms Harmony, but as i recall, you mentioned 'naked greed' in an earlier post.

Without getting distracted by technicalities, any kin of former president, not only wife, but even son, brother; smacks of monarchy. Does it or not?

Sure, I understand the importance of having a woman president in society; Margaret Thatcher did a world of good not only for UK; but as an icon. And the reason was she came through on her own power, not on family brand name. That's what I meant; you see once a person needs a crutch; it becomes part of the image & actions are defined by it. Obama is a towering example. He was cautious and did a great job; but there were some omissions in world affairs, or came late.

The 8 year term limit is what differentiates US democracy from rest of world. Our PMs in India could continue for life, if elected. Astonishing.


One valuable point you mentioned is Senate Term Limits:


The 'unlimited' is true in India; we have seen many a son / daughter fill the vacancy (win on sympathy factor). High time, Cinderella was banned in schools.

There are great movie stars and celebrities but was wondering how many of us think this guy made a difference. Or anybody else like him.

Aha, an agreement!
was expecting fireworks in defense of the Guardian / BBC

W.r.t. your points:

1. Yes Sir, been watching Yes Minister for a long time - same situ here in India.
will check out the links you've given.

2. Leading newspapers in India - all leaning left.
Economic Times (India) gives close to neutral info.

As a socialist democracy we had 70 years of almost uninterrupted Leftist party in government. They left us with an oligarchy where the son of a PM or CM became the next PM / CM. Then there was unchecked increase in corruption. In spite, we survived.
Animal Farm - George Orwell

As an outsider I always look for intentions - not words. Hillary for instance, after 8 years in White House and 4 years as Secy of State; why can't she let go?
--xx--

Used to scan the BBC & Guardian, still do, but with reservations.
BBC we know was the bulwark against Nazi propaganda
VoA against Russian Pravda

The Guardian is a recent phenomenon,
it became a world media after Wiki Leaks.
That was then.

Now, once the shareholders began to clamor for returns which advertisements could deluge them with, (in India, front page headlines are now the second page with fill page ads taking over the front page) integrity of the content became secondary.

After Wiki Leaks (including declassified materials going back to Nixon days)
Guardian faced possible charges from the US Government and so by UK
and started back footing.

Now whether it is the Washington Post or NYT,
if we want to source the headlines it is the UK Guardian

- and that's disturbing - UK meddling into US politics.

R2D2, I hope you are reading this!

Wiki terms it as: News Aggregator
from, Associated Press, Reuters ...

Yahoo USP is: it trawls through Yahoo mails
Trawling as we know is nothing new, even Google admits to having done that
but this made it a popular rag and revived it's failing finances

What escaped notice is when it began to form opinion collector in India, China
and this began during the campaign when China Trade (& IP) became Trump's issue
it began to tilt reader's perspectives

After all tilted reports would find preferences when at the core:
Yahoo's founder is Asian born or,
Google's CEO is now an Indian origin American
(there's this tendency for people including CEO's to look the other way)

Yet, Yahoo or Google cannot be singled out for playing in the shadows
when US media follows the lead set by The Guardian / BBC

Why news headlines are same was explained by a senior newspaper man (retired from Times of India) during a conversation in 2013
it's a tacit understanding for survival and a shield from court cases

So if the UK Guardian takes the lead with a certain headline
similar headline has to ensue from the US network (affiliated or not)
The problem is UK time is 5 hours earlier to US
So the Guardian works harder to get it's headline right
In other words, US media had it made for them from WWII

The general opinion here seems to be that a person committing Violent Crime may turn a new leaf while in the case of Sexual Assault it is unlikely; prison term or no prison term. I'm also inclined to believe so. It's then puzzling why judges allow sex offenders to serve part of their sentence on probation.

In India, we had a case where a minor (17) was convicted of aggravated sexual assault (extreme) and the victim (22) eventually died. The minor was let off after detention for 2 years in a Juvenile Center. His ID was protected as he was a minor.

Certainly, judges are supposed to know more or refer to some publications?
My interest, since I'm working with teens.

Beautiful in Hindi translates to 'Sunder'

which is also first name of CEO;,

when used as a name denotes 'perfect' as in divine perfection


Google gave the poetic version: Khoob Sooorat

It's literal breakup is: 'Very Imagery' implying beautiful face

now thinking if this machine translator can get into my head, what next?

it really works.
English to Hindi (beautifully)
English to Hindi (खूबसूरती से)

Google also has a Speech translator
Imagine Kim Jong un using it to follow Trump on Fox, gets CNN instead..

So a new product for Kim: Google Lip Reader

You know Tom, for $500 per mo, you could live like a barbarian
in a luxury hotel here (India). Includes western cuisine, your choice.

Another 5 mins to your happiness.

Knowing Mingle members can be extraordinarily generous when appealed to with such sincerity and love, I too would have moved on and allowed this thread to lapse.

But since millions of lives are 'technically' still under threat, I am compelled to set the record straight. This because, the American public is not getting the Eastern (or Indian) side of events.

Background I've to return to the famous meeting between General MacArthur and President Truman where the General insisted on pushing beyond the 38th parallel. What you may not be aware is that the Indian Government relayed / cautioned and warned (Mao did not have diplomatic relations with US then) about Chinese involvement if the Americans pushed further. This info was brushed aside and we know all about Korea's split up.

Domino Effect What we in India see as the domino effect from McArthur’s misadventure. The Chinese view changed. The Americans were now on the defensive, their forces cordoned off to S Korea in the East.

This left Tibet on the West open; and India in the South. India had just gained independence and in the fifties we still had equipment from WWII. Moreover we were have a socialist government with what we call the Gandhi effect - a policy of peace and non-involvement in the cold war.

When they took over Tibet, the Chinese also gained the altitude to position missile launches. They also had an easy run across India's eastern border (then Mao seemed to have changed his mind because they returned back).

Ping Pong Diplomacy So when Nixon (who unlike Kennedy, was against India; the Cold War era) sent Kissinger to China, we Indian’s heaved in relief. At least the Chinese (we hoped) would now be responsible as a global player.

Part II - Was N Korea, a cat's paw?
While modern China under President Xi appears to be more responsible (world trade surplus) we suspected that they were using N Korea as their cat’s paw. N.K. was open source for nuclear blueprints. In fact, Pakistan’s military leaders had planned visiting NK; but dropped it after Trump declared the sanctions.

So we appreciated Trump's daughter visiting Seoul for winter games
and we looked forward to Trump's & Kim's meet in Singapore (last May)
We were stunned when a top gun in Trump’s cabinet warned Kim that he would meet the fate of Libya’s Gadafi.

Now this recent Cohen enquiry, the timing is not it a sabotage?

What we don’t understand is how when the CnC of USA is on a sensitive mission, negotiations with the enemy; the fate of millions - is it not treason? The problem is the World has seen this display - and the consequence is if it happens in US, it's okay all over. From now on wards, any war by responsible governments would be labelled as 'for election reasons'.

Iran next We are in a hurry because after N. K we anticipated Iran would be brought to the table and Iran has been important to India for strategic reasons.

We know that with this deal now set in motion, it will come through either by Trump or by the next administration. Whether the manner in which Trump is pushing it through (as if it were another Hollywood version of hostage negotiations) or whether he carries the entire US Congress step-by-step - is an internal matter of the US. As I said, it does not concern people like me whether Trump closes this deal or a Democrat; we are interested in defusing tensions so close to India.

So do I think negotiations have failed? I think it is under process. I hope it works out because in India we still feel the chill of the Cold War.
Thanks for reading.

Today's headlines in the Wall St. Journal :

CIA Korea Expert Who Spurred Talks Sees Hope in Summit

Interesting and here I was thinking Mingle had many moderates like Pelosi who agree with Trump on the way forward, slowly and cautiously, since an agreement would eventually re-unify the North and South.

Trump: We had great talks. You know Kim Jong wanted to bring down the border between him and South Korea.

Post: What was your response Sir?

Trump: I said, fine with me; but what do I get for all the trouble all these years?

NBC: And, what was the deal?

Trump: We get two Koreas and we save billions of dollars each year. From now on, he will protect S. Korea at his costs. Kim is a good guy. He offered to do Japan for us.

CNN: What did you say Mr. President?

Trump: I said, hold on Bro; I've to talk to the American people.

From the S&P chart it appears that the bulk of the lift occurred during Obama's years. - 300 to +200. Add to this the following employment figures.



Clearly Obama years were good for the economy and a period of greater tranquility compared to Bush years. Hillary should've walked in to Presidency.

Didn't happen...

May be charts don't give us the complete story or, as in this case, the inside story.

we seem to agree on quite a few things.., like the comparisons with Ali,

who wore no clothes.

In a CNBC interview, Anthony Scaramucci explains it as a 3 legged stool with,

Leg 1 – Economy,
Trump, Scaramucci says, looks at the S&P index every morning; been on the rise

Leg 2 – Foreign Policy – with China and N. Korea;
N. Korea has been a blinking light since 9 years - Al Gore to AS

Leg 3 – Border Security
His base of people are very excited about it

Given the above, S feels Trump is going to be tough to beat in 2020

I agree in part because like many outside US, I don't see candidates in Blue and Red; and, as mentioned elsewhere, the reality is the Blues don't seem to have a candidate with any sharp focus on issues. This is important because of Trump's style. He thinks he is Mohamed Ali; & he is.

I've quit a few times and there's a pattern.
Last time:
Was after 3 months of quitting, feeling on top of the world, I announced it to a good friend. The bright guy says, 'Once an addict always an addict'. Talk of fragile egos, same evening bought a pack.


I do know a couple of practicing hypnotherapists. Problem is, cannot seem able to trust them; for obvious reasons.

Been thinking of self-hypnotism; if this was possible.
The problem is once you get into deep subconscious state - who will wake you up?
Is waking up to an alarm, a good idea?

Thank you Ms Harmony.

Sowell's first job as he says, was in the labor department and he saw firsthand that good intentions don't trickle down through government agencies to those in need.

Listening to him I thought he was talking about the situation we face here in India. For example, our government institutions fundamental purpose is to propagate their existence (authority actually) and listening to him as he uncloaks these; was like rain on dry earth.

But I digressed from the topic.

Sowell says, introducing pills and contraceptives in schools had a dramatic rise in school pregnancies in US; and here I was thinking of becoming an evangelist for sex education in schools.

interesting, very.