Awake, for morning in the bowl of night has flung the stone that puts
the stars to flight.

And, lo, the hunter of the east has caught the sultan’s turret in a noose of light.

Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable – Christopher Howse: ‘A Pilgrim in Spain’.

Cosas de España/Galiza

After more than 2 weeks (or ‘fortnight’) of chaos sparked by the new EU EES, Spanish airports are set to implement new border rules aimed at supporting thousands of holidaymakers.

Another article on the difficulties face by Spanish young folk – their loss of wealth over the last decades.

Mark Stücklin explains here how successful the attack on tourist flats has been in mitigating Spain’s shortage of rental properties.

Regular readers will know how I feel about Galicia having 3 small, uncompetitive ‘international’ airports, something which compels many of us to take the trouble to use Oporto’s vastly superior facility, 2 -3 hours away. And then there’s the cost of getting there and back. I’ve just booked a car for 6 family visitors arriving in July. €170 each way. But still cheaper than 6 times the price demanded by bus companies in the High Season, possibly augmented by the need to book (high-price) rooms at an airport hotel because of late arrival times. And then there’s the fact that each of the airports charges airlines different costs, meaning that they can be played off against each other. Which sometimes results in flight being switched from one to the other. Madness, stemming from parochial – not even regional – considerations. Let’s kill all the politicians. Especially those being bribed.

Europe

That new EES system . . . Portugal seems to have got it right, at least in Oporto. But others . . .?

A map of main language groups:-

BTW: Hungarian, Finnish and Estonian belong to the Finno‑Ugric sub-group of Uralic, which comprises 20–40 languages spoken by c.25 million people across north-eastern Europe and northern Asia.

The Middle East War

The latest update from Naked Capitalism. Oil rises to 126 dollars a barrel – on the expectation of a further US attack. Woe unto us!

The United States of Trump America

Quotes

• A friend of mine: Suddenly I felt a twinge of envy for Trump – a man who could simply pick up a McDonald’s menu and be exposed to the writings of a mind greater than his own.
• Trump’s war on Iran has been a gift to the e-car industry.
• Trump, on astronauting: You have to be very smart. Have to do a lot of things physically good. So I would have had no trouble making it. I’m physically very, very good.
• Historian Anthony Seldon: Charles is probably the one person in the world whom Trump doesn’t want to offend.

Like me, you might not have been aware of Trump’s Mr Nice Guy credentials but he’s now ripping them up, via an ‘astonishing’ social media message to Iran . . .

But who’s to question a dealmaker of such obvious brilliance?

The truly insane Mr Revenge & Retribution . . . Podcast Video

Are Republicans really powerless to stop Trump’s destruction of their party and their careers? Did they applaud king Charles out of relief that somebody said something, albeit in a way Trump wouldn’t get?

Vance, though, did get the points and is said to be furious at the king’s speech. Only he can interfere in other countries’ politics, it seems. Video

I got to wondering about what appears to be the unconstrained pardoning power of the president. An AI comment on these is at the end of this post. Can any other country compete with this, I asked. And got the answer: While the power to grant clemency is a nearly universal prerogative of heads of state, the US President’s power is uniquely expansive and “plenary,” meaning it is largely unfettered and not subject to legislative or judicial oversight. In most other countries, this power is significantly constrained by institutional requirements, such as the mandatory consultation of judicial bodies, executive recommendations, or ministerial concurrence. Post Trump, maybe some more thought will need to be given to this power. There’s surely no shortage of lawyers in the USA for this challenge.

The Way of the World

A critical article here on Big Oil – the (moribund) ‘most destructive industry in history’.

Spanish

• Casos reseñados: Cases referred to.
• Recabar: To collect, gather, seek.
• Cercenar: To cut, sever, curtail.

English

Tsuris: A borrowed Yiddish word for trouble, distress, or problems

Did you know?

I had quite a few readers in Cambodia overnight, so I wasn’t too surprised to read that: This country has become one of the main hubs for scam centers in Southeast Asia. These are industrial‑scale facilities where organized crime groups deploy large numbers of phones, computers, and sometimes AI‑assisted messaging bots to run mass‑scale online fraud and gambling scams.

You Have to Laugh

Finally . . .

The U.S. president’s pardoning power

This stems from Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution.

• It applies to federal crimes only, including court-martial convictions, and can be granted before charges, during proceedings, or after conviction – without needing a formal application process.
• This plenary authority is broad and largely unchecked by Congress or courts, covering full pardons that forgive guilt; commutations reducing sentences; reprieves delaying punishment; and remissions of fines.
• They require an actual offense to have occurred and cannot cover future crimes or self-pardons (per unsettled legal views, though untested). The Supreme Court has upheld this power as an executive tool for mercy and public welfare, not subject to legislative override.
• Excluded are state crimes, civil liabilities, and impeachment-related offenses.

My thanks to those readers who take the trouble to Like my posts.

The Usual Links . . .

You can get my posts by email as soon as they’re published. With the added bonus that they’ll contain the typos I’ll discover later. I believe there’s a box for this at the bottom of each post. If you do this but don’t read the posts, I will delete your subscription. So perhaps don’t bother if you have other reasons for subscribing . . .

I can also be read And on X at Thoughts from Galicia. I no longer post on Facebook.

For new readers: If you’ve landed here looking for info on Galicia or Pontevedra, try here. If you’re passing through Pontevedra on the Camino, you’ll find a guide to the city there.

If you´re thinking of moving to Spain, this link should be useful to you.