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

It always pays to be able to afford the best lawyers . . . After 9 years of judicial wrangling, the Supreme Court has ordered the Tax Office to repay more than €60m to singer Shakira. Who possibly doesn’t actually need it.

A nice comment on the Madrid region Presidenta, after her aborted trip to Mexico . . .

Six things that Pv city that it didn’t have 25 years ago:-

• Second hand/charity shops.
• ‘Vintage’ (previously loved) clothing stores
• Antique shops
• Tourist-flat beds (which now outnumber hotel beds).
• Private albergues for Camioners (of which there are now a lot),
• Vending machines for Caminoers.

Walking 15 minutes from the centre of Pv city to the train station at midday today, I was passed by at least 150 Caminoers heading in the opposite direction. Quite a variety. That I will write about. Soon. Maybe even mañana.

I didn’t get the escritura from the notary today but my lawyer is on the case now. She’s  apparently waiting for one too.

But I did succeed – after a bit of pillar-to-posting – in getting the denuncia cancelled at the courthouse. Despite the fact it was coffee-time.

The Middle East War

The latest update from Naked Capitalism. Another TACO from Trump. What next, as the economic consequences of the war gather pace.

The United States of Trump America

Well, Trump – via his corrupted Justice Department – has succeeded in setting up his slush fund for his supporters – at the cost of c.1.8bn dollars of taxpayers’ money: The Trump administration [ie. Trump]has announced it will drop its 10‑billion‑dollar lawsuit against the IRS in exchange for the creation of a fund to compensate alleged victims of “lawfare” or political targeting during the Biden administration. This fund is officially called an “anti‑weaponization” or “weaponization‑victims” measure, to compensate individuals and groups who claim they were investigated or prosecuted for political reasons. In other words, for exactly what the Trump Justice Department has been doing for a while now, under the instructions of the vindictive president. Needless to say, Trump claimed he wasn’t involved in any of this.

I asked yesterday whether there’s any other democratic country that has a Constitution that allows an unpopular, insane person to be its head of state who stays in power via a mixture of corruption and the terrorisation of his party, the media and the leaders of major companies, making himself billions along the way? But, when you think about it, if a country operates this way – under a president with extremely low popular approval – it’s surely forfeited the right to call itself a democracy. Which rather endorses the comment that the US’s 250 year old experiment in democracy is at an end. Leaving the question – How can things be changed for the better? Assuming they can.

Meanwhile, perhaps things in the USA would move more quickly if the entire annual budget were paid into a Trump account and he was allowed to do whatever he wanted with the cash, without any need for congressional pre-facto approval or any post-facto accounting. Life wouldn’t change much, if at all. At least not until he’s out of office.

At least one person in the USA has the measure of Trump . . .

Today Trump said, ‘I don’t want to be stupid.’ Too late, Donald. Too late.

And at least one who doesn’t . . . A farmer reacting to the comment that Trump has made things bad for him.

Yes, it’s true. I’ve vote for him 3 times. I have to believe he has a plan.

[That’s irrational faith for you. He possibly also believes the Christian god put Trump in place.]

Why Trump a desperate Trump is in free fall.

Spanish

• De cara a (verano): For the (summer)
• Tertuliano: Commentator
• Estancamiento: Stagnation, stalemate, gtidlock, plateau, etc.

Did you know?

Dogger Bank is a large, shallow sandbank in the central North Sea, about 100 km off England’s east coast, and was once part of a now‑submerged landmass. It’s named after the “doggers,” a type of 2‑masted Dutch fishing boat that worked the area during the Middle Ages and early modern period, trawling for cod in the rich fishing grounds over the sandbank, and the name gradually stuck to the sandbank itself.

You Have to Laugh

Another uncomfortable Finn . . .

Definitely not a Spanish thing.

Finally . . .

One of those headlines you see from time to time . . . A passenger bites a flight attendant and forces the plane to divert: “I want to go outside for a smoke”. The ensuing text explains that the man showed clear signs of alcohol consumption. Naturally, he was arrested and banned for life from the airline-

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

The Usual Links . . .

The US commentators I follow, all on Podbean and/or YouTube for free:-

• The Daily Beast Podcast/Video

• Inside Trump’s Head Podcast/Video

• The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent Podcast

• The Rest is Politics US Podcast/Video

• The DSR Network Podcast

• The Politics Girl Video. Amusing

• The Daily Show Video. Very amusing

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

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.