Is President Obama in Control?

I (try to) approach my politics as an indie. Despite what writer/journalist and Ernest Hemingway's 3rd wife, Martha Gellhorn, opined a long time ago about "Fuck all that objectivity shit," I need to keep an open mind to both sides, resist the Fascism of political correctness, and go with my writing gut.

But watching today's Barack Obama press conference--subject ISIS and the Paris attack--broadcast from the G20 Summit in Turkey (and doing so from Europe) was a very painful experience (one journalist cavalierly queried, "Why can't we take out these bastards?"). The leader of the free world not only seemed out of touch with reality, his answers were filibuster-long, disjointed, devoid of hard facts, defensive and, in a word, rambling.

In my opinion, we see a foreign policy failure unmatched since Chamberlain in the months leading up to WWII.
But don't take my word for it. Catch the full press conference here.

Critical questions loom:

--Is the US prepared to handle an attack like that which has consumed France?
--Is taking in 10,000 Syrian refugees, 90% of whom are fighting age young men, really a good idea at this time?
--Since we know precisely where the majority of ISIS members live and thrive, shouldn't we enter into a series of decisive blows that obliterates them, and neutralizes their capabilities overnight, despite the President's sentiment of not wanting to engage in an "immediate solution"  (Huh?)?
--Is the President, not pushing moderate Muslim nations in the Middle East to both fight Radical Islam and take in Muslim refugees because of his new alliance with Iran?
--Was it wise of him to release more Gitmo detainees only a couple of days after the Paris strike (Is this the result of his new alliance with Cuba?)
--Is the President truly concerned with the safety of America, or with his own political (philosophical) agenda?
--Is Barack Obama in control?

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France's Hollande Says Attack an 'Act of War'

Despite a US State Department claim yesterday that ISIS is being "contained," a massive terrorist attack was carried out in Paris last evening killing upwards of 158 and wounding scores more.

Get the full story here from the Reuters.

In a statement just moments ago, French President Hollande  stated that the attack was an "act of war" and that France would show no pity for those responsible. While an ISIS cell has been identified as that responsible party behind the attack, the President has declared a state of emergency, closed all borders, and initiated the first curfew in the country since WWII.

This is a developing story...

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Radical Islam's War Against the West Rapidly Going Global

Radical Islam's war on the west is rapidly going global. Australia, Canada, Kenya, and now Paris have been the recipient of organized, if not militaristic, terrorist attacks. The most recent attack in Paris, in which a newspaper that often denounces Radical Islam, became the target of at least four well-armed killers, is strong evidence that what up until now have been termed 'lone wolf' attacks are actually organized operations targeting both western civilians, and now, freedom of the press.

The Obama administration, while referring to the violent action as a "terrorist" attack, has yet to give it the designation of a Radical Islamist attack, despite eyewitness accounts of gunman declaring their love and obedience to Allah as they hastily made their escape in a black getaway car. In a speech declaring US solidarity with France, Secretary of State Kerry backed the sentiments of a Paris Imam while also falling short of faulting Radical Islamists for the murderous attack.

Is it possible the US is about to fall victim to a similar attack soon?
Many agree that such an attack is not only possible but inevitable given our current political climate.

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Travel Day

In 1937 the young journalist Martha Gellhorn traveled to Spain to to observe the Spanish Civil War and to get a little private face-time with Ernest Hemingway. She carried only a knapsack, a portable typewriter, and fifty dollars in her pocket. I think for Martha, or Marty as Ernest would call her, it wasn't what she brought along on her travels that bore importance, it was more about what she left behind. There's nothing romantic in packing up your entire apartment and dragging it along with you on your travels. Far more romantic to leave it all behind. Everything.

Martha would become a life-long traveler, never staying in one place for very long. She would go on to have homes in Cuba, Mexico, Rome, East Africa, and eventually London. Her homes were always small if not humble and in terms of mod cons, sparsely equipped. Instead the layover-homes contained the essentials for a writer who spent most of her time on the move: books, a typewriter, booze, and an ashtray for her never ending cigarette. Even into her late eighties she was always ready to travel at a moment's notice and often found herself making difficult journeys on her own dime in order to research a new novel she was writing or to find the truth behind an armed conflict or the resulting carnage of that conflict.

She had a son, Sandy (adopted), but she would claim herself to be the worst mother in the world. She had several husbands (including Hemingway), but she would claim to not only be a poor wife, but also very bad in bed. Once, she spent a couple of years playing the house-frau to the then editor and chief of Time Magazine, complete with weekend house parties in the suburbs and she nearly committed suicide from the boredom and despair. I think it safe to say that Martha Gellhorn was not the domestic type.

I've just packed my knapsack. I have considerably more than fifty bucks stuffed in my pocket, but given the more than three quarters of a century that's lapsed in between 1937 and now, I'm not carrying much more than its 2013 equivalent. I'm heading back to Italy for two months and then onto France for the New Years. When I'm gone I will be rewriting two books, MOONLIGHT WEEPS and THE BREAKUP. I'll also be mapping out another new standalone that at present has no title. I'll be taking care of my normal journalistic duties for some magazines I work for (I have a deadline tomorrow which I'll make as a soon as I land in Rome). It will be a busy time that will also include some four-wheeling in the Tuscan Mountains and short trips to other countries. Traveling light without the burden of possessions is important. Traveling without regret is essential.

I'm not sure who pointed out to me that if sharks don't move forward they die. Probably some dude in a bar. But no one wants to be that dead shark laid out on the couch watching the flat screen in his living room whispering shoulda, coulda, woulda. Not me anyway.

Passport...check.
Boarding pass...check.
Wallet and euros...check.
Kindle...check.
Backpack...check.
Laptop...check.

I'm off to the airport.
So long and farewell.

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Pigs On a Leash and a Writer Nearly Breaks His Neck

Look at the Writer nearly break his neck at the Da Vinci Childhood Home!

Maybe it's got something to do with April Fools day, but while jogging this morning along the Arno, I passed a grown man walking a pig on a leash. It was a big black pig (as opposed to a small black pig), and the man was walking him/her on a red lease like the pig was your garden variety golden retriever. It sort of made me feel like I was caught up in one of those trippy psychedelic music promos from the late 60s that the Beatles would put out. "I am the Walrus...Goo Goo G'Joob."

I'm nearing the end of a near month long stay in Italy to write, research and just generally have fun. I've jogged around 150 miles, walked more than that, contracted a nasty case of bronchitis, motorcycled the Tuscan mountains, sneaked a peak at a lost Da Vinci, written nearly 100 pages of a new Moonlight book, and rewritten sixty pages of Aziz, plus numerous small articles and blogs.

On Wednesday I fly to Paris for a week of more writing, thinking, eating, and running. Paris is a more or less gift to myself. A place where I can do more research and work while spending some of my T&M advance dough on French food and wines. There's something about walking the river in Paris, especially when it rains. I'm hoping for some rain.     

 On April 11, I'll fly to New York then directly on to San Fransisco, where I'll meet up with my sig other, L. We'll see some special old friends, run on the beach and, if I have my way, take a boat to Alcatraz. I'll also meet up with an old college buddy to plan out a late Fall excursion to South East Asia. Mostly I'm excited to see L.

There's a baby crying outside my open window right now, and the smells of roasting garlic, olive oil, and tomato sauce are permeating the air like a perfume fragrance from newly spread rose petals. It's just as seductive. Sexy even. Food sex....

See you all upon my arrival in Paris....

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Bar Pool with the Sig Other!

Who's stupid enough to play bar pool with your sig other?
This Guy!!!!
Get the story here at RT's Dangerous Dispatches!