The holiday season here at home is in full swing.  By this, I mean that tourists from all over place are converging here, taking advantage of the fantastic weather.  My vacations always coincide or are directly tied to those of my friends and family that are finding their way over. 

Rarely do the planets align so that my wife and I take time off, so the time taken to spend with people who come not only to go to the beach, but to also include us in their itinerary, is like the vacation we can’t seem to take on our own.  In the last couple of weeks alone, there have been many kilometres driven, many late nights, and many great meals.  An uncle visiting from Toronto, a family reunion set up around my sister’s birthday, (first at our house, then off to a restaurant for cabrito and bacalhau.  Then, back to our house).  Niece and nephew visiting with respective beaus; seeing the local sights that will wow just about anybody, and albeit these four have travelled extensively, their level of enjoyment told me that here, we have something special.  Sunday, off to Porto to see the Cure in a packed stadium.  Those sixty-somethings played a two-and-a-half-hour set! It was sweet to see a band as iconic as that for the first time.  I had never seen so many old timers wearing band attire.

Before all this, we had received a couple of dear friends from Toronto, and then another from Tomar, who came to visit bearing tickets to the theatre for the four of us.  This is more action than we experience in a year!  Makes me think we may need to consider taking a little more initiative.  I’m exaggerating, but you get my drift.  Sometimes we spend too much time thinking about things, something that eventually may end up taking up all of our time.  Plus, it’s nice to also do things in your own time.  It’s so easy to sit back and relax the same way you always do, hell, it’s even very pleasurable, but there’s so much out there, even close by, that anyone can enjoy.  It’s like being invited to a party, not really wanting to go, but you can’t say no, yet soon after arriving you’re glad you went.  We really need to get off our butts and start enjoying ourselves.  Who cares about CNN and Netflix.  They’ll always be there, but it doesn’t mean you have to be.  One of the best moves my wife and I pulled off was cancelling cable.  We got sick and tired of watching the same crap every day.  That was 12, or so, years ago.  Since then, we’ve watched whatever we find interesting on the half-dozen open signal channels available.  Actually, since three of them are riddled with soap operas and reality shows, we really only have three to choose from, on a good day. But that’s ok, miraculously one finds other things to do! Go figure!  Even at night, there are other things to do besides TV.

Let’s get out there, folks, who knows what you’ll find.  If you can, stay up good and late every once in a while, I find it energizing!

Fiquem bem!

Raul Freitas/MS

Another week, and more of the same.  In the middle east there are cease-fires announced while the bombing and killing continues, and DT announcing that he’s told Israel to cease attacking Lebanon, whilst Israel attacks Lebanon.  It’s like a bad soap, (not that there are any good ones), the story keeps getting spun the same way, and we go about our business, knowing full well that we’re just being played. 

The problem is that the atrocities committed are all boiled down to no more than another news story, whose narrative we can’t control or even truly understand.  We are nothing more than spectators; helpless and shell-shocked to a point of ineptitude.  We are now just game pieces on a board and the elites are having a great time rolling the dice.  DT runs freely on the backs of every leader, and in turn, the rest of us.  The press struggles to tell the truth, as oligarch-run media outlets spin the tales in favour of the perpetrators.  Seasoned journalists in the US are being turfed for trying to tell the facts as they really are, while others stay quiet as their country’s leader insults them for asking pertinent and obvious questions that he doesn’t want to answer.

There’s already a trail of journalists and other TV personalities that have been let go, following a public rant by fearless leader.  And those who support him, (besides the Israeli lobbyists), seem to be either in a delusional state, or in sheer panic of losing whatever they might have that they hold dear.  The blatant lying to support their leader’s buffoonery is beyond any scope.  Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, Peter Hegseth, and many others have put their neck in the noose for this guy.  They must be as deranged as he is.  Even if initially, they didn’t see how this would pan out, from what I can see, they’re in way too deep to back out now, although that would be the only way they could attempt to make things right.  It would be the cleanest way to break this troglodyte.  Don’t make him a martir, and don’t give him any excuses.  If he dies, there’s backlash, if he loses, he won’t accept it, but if his own staffers turn on him, then he will be cornered, like a cockroach.  No excuses, even for the dummies that love him, seeing as they believe everything that spews out of his mouth.  Many are convinced that he’s sent by a higher power!  Of course they do.  Many don’t care what he says, even if they know he’s lying.  That is the level of ignorance that has been created in the United States; your’re free, but also unsupported in any way.  You’re free to be an idiot, and your ignorance is as respected as someone else’s intelligence.  Hell, DT has already stated that he doesn’t like intelligent people, (no s**t).  But he has weapons and credit, so the intelligent and rational world is forced to use diplomacy, stretching it to its ripping point.

  At least there have been a few small victories that have torn down some of his egotistical and racist wonts; feel good victories for us, but they barely scratch the surface.  The truth is that he continues to do whatever he pleases, while Israel hides under his skirt.  Both are destroying whatever we have achieved globally, in terms of any semblance of order and peace, all for the gain of individual profits and power.  In the meantime, there’s the world cup of soccer, the circus that will serve to distract while ‘Rome burns’.  We’ll all be happily cheering for our teams while others can’t.  They’ll be busy with more important things.  Imagine what the good ol’ boys will be able to get away with while we’re lining up to trade our savings for a ticket.

Fiquem bem!

Raul Freitas/MS