Spanish Speaking Countries

Occasionally, I see posts from other people who wonder why California doesn’t pave over its incredibly productive farmland. This area in particular produces ~$5 billion per year, and without it, salad greens would become a scarce commodity in the US.

Chelsea Handler looks like she is about to destroy an Arkham City museum while Prince is playing.

811 years ago today, on June 15, 1215, in a riverside meadow called Runnymede, a defeated king changed the world by accident. King John was broke, beaten in war, and despised. He had taxed his barons into the ground to fund failed campaigns in France. So they rebelled, seized London, and cornered him. The deal they forced on him became the Magna Carta, Latin for the Great Charter. A few things almost nobody gets right: He did not sign it. Medieval kings authenticated documents with a wax seal pressed onto the parchment, so John sealed it. The image of him with a quill is a myth. He never meant to keep it. Within ten weeks he begged the Pope to cancel it, and Pope Innocent III obliged, declaring it null and void of all validity forever. England plunged straight into civil war. It should have died there. But John died in 1216, and his supporters reissued the charter to win back the rebels. It was revived again and again until it became permanent law. Of its 63 original clauses, only 3 are still on the books in England today. The most famous promises that no free man can be jailed or stripped of his rights except by lawful judgment of his peers and the law of the land. That single line is the ancestor of due process, trial by jury, and habeas corpus. Four original 1215 copies still survive. A grudging peace treaty that the king tried to kill quietly became the foundation stone of liberty for the English-speaking world. Not bad for a document that was supposed to last nine weeks.

I don't understand the moral appeal of "liquidate assets to fund consumption." Pope Paul sold the papal tiara in 1964 & gave the money to the poor of Rome. So the poor ate a bit better for a few months, I suppose, 62 years ago. But they're all dead now & we have no papal tiara.

Tonight on The Book of Trump, I will be joined by @ParikhClay to discuss the 1983 Beirut Bombing, when 241 Marines were killed in an attack on a military HQ during the first Israeli-Lebanese War. rumble.com/v7baz9a-the-book-… This bombing was purportedly the origin story of Hezbollah, but did Hezbollah actually commit the bombing? Did Mossad have advanced knowledge? Join us in the chat at 7:30 PM est!

If Angelenos wanted to go shopping for clothes in 1956, they could have started on this stretch of Broadway at 6th in #DTLA and shop at Zukor’s (women), Swelldom (women), and Richman Brothers (men). And all of them conveniently located on the same side of the street!

In September 1570 after the Cypriot capitol of Nicosia finally fell to the Turks after a long siege, something bizarre happened: The ship holding roughly 800 female captives bound for enslavement in Constantinople exploded, killing all aboard. According to legend, Maria Syglitiki (also known as Arnaude de Rocas) was aiding her father, a local count, and other soldiers on the front lines when the 3rd assault by the Turks finally took the city. She sheltered with the wounded, including her mortally wounded father, in a church when she was found by the conquering Turks and told she was destined for enslavement in the Sultan's harem in Constantinople, which had been captured over a century before. She and 800 others were marched from the town square to a ship where they conspired to do whatever it took rather than end up in concubinage to the Turks. That night, as legend goes, Maria made her way to the ship's powder storage while the guards slept and lit the match, blowing the ship to pieces. The Turks got Cyprus but lost their usual and expected prize of women and children for s*xual slavery. People have a funny way of downplaying incidents like this (and this is not at all an isolated incident), even claiming Turks were just intermarrying with "local women" when nothing could be further from the truth.

For the first time you have got to appreciate Donald Trump, that he took an America First stand and sidelined the Israeli lobby asking for continued war. He chose to cut his losses and save American economy over Israeli strategic interests. The threats to Rubio & Hegseth inside the White House to fall in line shows that Israeli's have lost currency in Trump White House. Vance with help of Qataris redeemed it for Trump by way of this MoU. Whether its a bad deal or worse than JCPOA under Obama is a secondary question now. The priority for America is to understand that crude crisis, SPR drawdown, Bond Market, Yen Carry Trade & Midterms and consequently the AI trade were all at risk had Trump not decided to pull back. Some of the issues may still arise due to lag effect but a bigger Global catastrophe can be Blunted a little. The Israeli lobby influence has diminished in Trump White House. Netanyahu faces a moment of reckoning as Israel & he himself channeled Donald Trump since 2015-16 to get an America president to sign up on his Iranian mission. Now that card has been played and the utility is over with no favourable outcome. Rather it has been a strategic disaster for Israel. Thus it makes full sense for India to engage United States independent of the influence of Israeli lobby in US & Netanyahu in Tel Aviv. Over reliance on Bibi who now faces legal & political crisis at home could prove to be a folly. Rapproachment with US in Trade, Tech; should however not be at cost of our strategic partnership with Russia be it energy, defence or otherwise. A lot would anyway depend on Midterms & Israeli polls. FCRA Amendment should be leveraged for concessions with Americans.

Barack and I were so honored to have @AkunyiliCrosby create our portrait for the Obama Presidential Center. Her artistic brilliance shines through — and the way she infused such life and joy into the piece is truly extraordinary. We love it, and we think everyone who visits the Center will too!