Yin and Yang III

The theme of man made glory vs. natural beauty continues with beaches.  Singaporean beaches are, indeed, man made with sand imported from Cambodia and Myanmar.  The beaches are primarily intended for locals, with such attractions as a Universal Studios theme park.  Living less than 10 miles from the original Universal Studios, we passed.

In lore, Bali beaches have an exotic lure.  The reality is more mundane.  The beaches are nice, but probably not on a par with those of Thailand, nor as inexpensive as those in Cambodia.  For us, it was a 2 night pace stop: No sightseeing, just being.

When Horace Greeley said, "Go west young man," he could have been talking about Kuta.  Kuta on the western shore is party central.  For those looking to drink and hookup. either through their charm, or with their wallet, Kuta is the place.  A street of night clubs, as well as the fledging Bali sex trade, are domiciled there.  Other, less extreme scenes are available in the West, but we went East to Sanur.  The strip of land is narrow, so Sanur is only 8 miles from Kuta.

We chose Tandjung Sari, one of the first boutique hotels in tropical Asia, dating back 50 years.  Our beachfront bungalow had living space on the first floor and a ocean view sitting area on the second floor.  We had a private garden and both indoor and outdoor showers.

We woke to breakfast with a view.

Every evening ended with entertainment.

Our short stay was the perfect antidote to the prior week of sightseeing.

Turkey On A Rope

Blue Mosque

Our Turkey trip is a prime example of the Traveler On a Rope philosophy.  The traveler on a rope expects value, but with a budget, and expectations, that go beyond a shoe string.

The impetus for the trip was a Gate1 heavily discounted offer including airfare and 4 nights in a 4 star Istanbul hotel, upgradeable to a 5 star property.  As with most such offers, multiple dates were available.  Usually you can pick a start date, and then a later return date, based on other tours.  We elected a February 27 start date, but with a March 19 return.  This placed us squarely in off season, but with a good likelihood of reasonable weather.

The traveler on a rope always travels in shoulder or off season.  Ephesus with 100 people spread along the grounds evokes the glory of the Roman Empire.  With 5,000 people, it simulates the hell of Los Angeles rush hour.

Although crowd avoidance is the primary lure of off season, substantial savings is a close second.  Hotels are less expensive, and even the best reviewed, have availability.  When we were shopping for a rug is Selcuk, the owner let us know that the rug we fancied would have the fancy price of 2500 Turkish Lira in summer (just under 500 dollars), before offering the winter price of 1200.  In summer further bargaining would have been hard, with multiple tourists seeking his attention.  In an empty store I negotiated down to 600 lira.

The package, was independent travel only including the hotel and airfare.  One half day walking tour was included free, with others offered for a fee.  We slept in and ignored the free tour, and all others.

The traveler on a rope sets priorities.  Moving at your own pace is one of them.  More to come, but with the current crisis, I wanted to reach back and post from a time of mobility.

For those interested in books in the traveler on a rope series, please check out your favorite source for online books.  The most recent is 4 AMERICANS IN CUBA, A TRAVELER ON A ROPE GUIDEBOOK.  The SOUTHEAST ASIA ON A ROPE  series includes a guide to Thailand and Laos, a book on Cambodia and Myanmar, as well as a shorter book on Bangkok and Chiang Mai.  All are under my name, Larry Stein.

Central Casting

Trump has taken to calling himself a wartime president.  The only wars he has waged are on science and his own government.  In crisis his inadequacies are magnified by the weakness of his cast.  It is like a commercial break at the Oscars, when stand-ins (or rather sit-ins), take the seats of attendees.  But in this administration, when the lights come back on, the substitutes are still in place.

Obama prepared the Trump administration for a respiratory pandemic eerily similar to COVID-19. The exercise paired 30 top Trump appointees, with their Obama counterparts, as they worked through the pandemic response.  Two thirds of those Trump appointees are gone.  Across the government Senate confirmed expertise, and next tier experienced bureaucrats, have been replaced with lackeys or not replaced at all.

For instance, the top level of Homeland Security, so crucial in a crisis looks like this:

Secretary (acting), Chad F. Wolf | Secretary's Corner

• Deputy Secretary (vacant), Ken Cuccinelli, Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Deputy Secretary
• Chief of Staff (acting), John Gountanis
• Executive Secretary (acting), Juliana Blackwell
• General Counsel (acting), Chad Mizelle
• Military Advisor, Rear Admiral Brendan C. McPherson

Trump has no government experience.  He has crafted an administration in his own image.  His choices come from central casting, and none are long lasting.

Misread

My career as an employment lawyer included cases of discrimination and sexual harassment.  Harassment cases were the most likely to have a kernel of truth.   Whether or not it met the bar for legal harassment, usually some act had occurred.  So my tendency is to give great credibility to a complaint.

Circulating on twitter, and in right wing media, is an allegation by a short term former Biden staffer, Tara Reade, that in 1993 she was digitally penetrated by the former Vice President.  Even with my tendency to credit such claims, this appears spurious.

In 2019 she had a column published in Medium about her mistreatment as a staffer for then Senator Joe Biden.  She claims that she was asked to be a cocktail server at a fundraiser, because Bidden though she had nice legs, but also noted she was cautioned not to dress sexy at the event.  More importantly, she repeated the often made complaints of non sexual touching, in this case of her shoulder and neck.

Markedly missing is the much more sexually explicit claim.  Certainly it is understandable and common for a woman to go many years before asserting a claim of harassment.  But quite unusual is to mention shoulder touching and leave out sexual assault.

The article is also ambiguous about whether she quit or was fired.  She vaguely implies that she complained, but is quite unclear whether she ever mentioned the touching.

In 2019 she remembered shoulder touching in 1993, but did not remember digital penetration until Joe Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee in 2020.

Also curiously she recently deleted her string of tweets which passionately embraced Putin and Russia.  Just a little suspicious.

High Sea Robbery

Carnival Corporation, owner of Carnival and Princess lines, wants to commit high sea robbery.  These petri dishes of the sea, pay nothing to you and me.  Below is a section from their financial filing know as a 10K.  They claim to be exempt from U.S. Taxes. Additionally all their ships fly foreign flags, and virtually no Americans work in their crews.  So if they pay no taxes to us, we should pay no tax payer funded bailout to them.

XX. Taxation
A summary of our principal taxes and exemptions in the jurisdictions where our significant operations are located is as follows:
a. U.S. Income Tax
We are primarily foreign corporations engaged in the business of operating cruise ships in international transportation. We also own and operate, among other businesses, the U.S. hotel and transportation business of Holland America Princess Alaska Tours through U.S. corporations.
Our North American cruise ship businesses and certain ship-owning subsidiaries are engaged in a trade or business within the U.S. Depending on its itinerary, any particular ship may generate income from sources within the U.S. We believe that our U.S. source income and the income of our ship-owning subsidiaries, to the extent derived from, or incidental to, the international operation of a ship or ships, is currently exempt from U.S. federal income and branch profit taxes.
Our domestic U.S. operations, principally the hotel and transportation business of Holland America Princess Alaska Tours, are subject to federal and state income taxation in the U.S.

Time

Like a broken clock, even Trump can have a rare moment of inadvertent clarity.  Following his natural tendencies to exclude "the other," blocking flights from China was correct.  But it did not save lives.

Rather it bought us time, that could have been used to save lives.   Pandemics do not respect borders for long.  All experts warned it was coming.

We had time to buy, and develop, tests so the virus could be tracked, and its spread limited.  We had time to acquire masks and respirators.  We had time to build temporary  hospitals.

Instead, our president sold the time he bought at a loss.

Friendly Skies, Troubled Waters

Lobbyists are twinkling around the GOP stimulus Christmas Tree.  Some will shine bright, others must be turned off.

Airlines are essential, but cruise ships are not.  Airlines serve business as well as recreational needs.  Cruise ships are merely recreational.  Airlines employ Americans, by and large, cruise ships do not.  Working seven days a week, while squeezing into a shared bunk bed for nominal wages, has no 1st world takers.

The lights getting the juice must be visible.  The proposed bill includes 150 billion in discretionary  dollars.  Even if the GOP proposes on bended knee, we must say no.  Equally important, as with the 2008 bailout, a carefully appointed committee must approve all grants and loans.  Trump has the girth of Santa Claus, but not the equanimity.