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!
Travel News
Having struggled to find the petrol station Google Maps was sending me to this morning and then taking my daughter, her son and a puppy to the train station. I set off from Valencia to Peñiscola to see the impressive Templar castle there. To find that it was perched above a seaside resort that did nothing for me. So, I quickly left for Alcañiz in Lower Aragón. passing a much more impressive sight above the village of Morella.
In Alcañiz tonight, I plan to enjoy the local speciality lamb dish of ternasco aragonés. Tomorrow,onto Valladolid, where they are said to speak the purest Castellano.
As is usually the case, the roads today were excellent. And almost empty of traffic, once I turned inland. Very pleasant driving. And a welcome change from the challenges of Valencia city. Where Google Maps were again not the greatest of help.
Cosas de España/Galiza
The country is gearing up for a general strike on Wednesday. Will petrol stations be open, as I travel back to Pv city, I wonder.
One small town in central Spain battles against the construction of a macro data centre.
The Middle East/West Asia War
The latest update from Naked Capitalism. More confusing signals from Trump.
The United States of Trump America
Given how much (US)Americans have achieved in so many fields of endeavour, it’s nothing short of staggering that they have twice elected Trump to power and, worse, seem incapable of removing him before he destroys even more than he has already.
Nice quote: When you listen to the President, these are the musings of an imbecile. An idiot. And I don’t use those words to name call. I use them because they are the precise words of the English language to describe his behavior. His comportment. His actions. We’ve never seen a level of incompetence, a level of ineptitude so staggering on a daily basis by anybody in the history of the country who’s ever been charged with substantial responsibilities.
There’s no shortage of siren voices warning of what this madman will so next. The psychologist who’s been warning us for at least 2 years of what Trump is and what he’s capable of sets out here what he will surely do now that he’s been rejected. Adding that, in practice, there’s nobody who can stop him, other than – as I’ve said – the Grim Reaper. It’s ironic that – in a country of millions of weapons – none of them have been used successfully against the monstrous Trump.
There are, of course, dozens – if not hundreds – of critical articles on Trump et al appearing in the media. Here and here is a nice brace of them, ‘starring’ the repulsive Stephen Miller. Who has moved from being the eminence grise to the de facto position of king. Could anything worse be said about the US Constitution than that it allowed this to happen? It surely can’t stay unrevised.
And . . . Can you believe that this statement came from Trump’s attack dog, the supine AG, Todd Blanche: It is important that the Democrats exercise oversight responsibility, that Congress exercises oversight responsibility. They are not allowed to just go around threatening existing members of the administration, to go around threatening companies. And that’s what President Trump is extremely worried about, and he should be. [Or: Please don’t impeach me].
Did you know?
The world’s first traffic light didn’t go exactly to plan . . .
You Have to Laugh
A nice combo . . . And a catchy little C&W number.
Finally . . . .
Some relevant books on US history – recent and beyond.
- Betrayal: Trump, Putin and the New Age of Conquest
- Wtf America?!: The Way Out of This Hell and Back to Democracy. This is not simply a book about Trump. He is the vessel, not the disease – the product of a system decades in the making, fueled by powerful interests, weakened democratic institutions, and a media ecosystem that too often chose access and complicity over accountability. The book confronts the defining questions of our time: How did we get here? Why did so many institutions fail when they were needed most? And what must we do now to defend democracy before it is too late?
- The final pages of Kurt Andersen’s fascinating run through the USA’s history – Fantasyland: How America went haywire. A 500 year history.
- Profiles in Cowardice, by Jacob Weisberg. Cited in this podcast.
My thanks to those readers who take the trouble to Like my posts.The Usual Links
NB: If there’s a RV in brackets after a (paywalled) link, you might be able to read it via a Reader View extension to your browser, avoiding the paywall. If there is no RV, it will mean that the article is free to view or listen to. If there’s RV2, it means a second click on RV might let you see the article though the first RV click didn’t work.
This – from veteran blogger Lenox Napier – is an excellent weekly newsletter (Business Over Tapas) on all matters Spanish. Indispensable for those who needs insights on how and why things happen here.
Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable – Christopher Howse: ‘A Pilgrim in Spain’
I can also be read on X at Thoughts from Galicia. And on Substack here. 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.
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If you´re thinking of moving to Spain, this link should be useful to you. And this, on the annual costs of owning property here.
