Of birds and fish...

Retired philosopher professor friends of our recently shared something interesting.  They said that we were to watch where the seagulls fly, swoop, and feed over the Bay of Angels here in Nice that we might also see dolphins.

We didn't realize that dolphins worked the area and were excited to try this dolphin spotting technique out.

Yesterday was a very stormy day, here.  We had wind.  We had rain.  We had storm like we hadn't seen since last year when we were here.  By early morning the strum und drang had moved on and the skies were clear and still.

This morning after sunrise the seagulls were flying, swooping, and feeding just on the other side of the breakwater of the Nice port.  We could see them from our apartment.  There was a lot of activity over and on the water.

We grabbed the binoculars and watched.

Sure enough, leaping up out of the water were, um, huh, not dolphins in this case, but rather large silvery flat sided fish.  

Yes, they did leap.  Some nearly completely out of the water.  Most just broke the surface in a dramatic fashion.  It was very entertaining.  All it required was a little patience.

We'll talk with our friends and compare notes.

20 January 2021 was a very good day...

On one day two unrelated events took place.

Yesterday was an important day in the US.

Many here in France sighed a sigh of deep relief that the USA had uninstalled the orange haired diaper pooping would-be autocrat.  

Earlier, when things looked bad after the audio recording of the conversation with the Georgia Secretary of State came out, and after the Capitol had been stormed by insurgents, French President Macron came on national TV and talked about the importance of defending democracy. 

This morning Segolene Royale shared her thoughts about America (France 2 TeleMatin).  It is clear the Europeans know they need to "get on with it" and can't rely on former US stability on the world stage to help the world become a better place.  Though they'd like to feel they had a good friend to walk the path with.

Here are a few of our favorite quotes from Joe Biden's speech.

"We'll press forward with speed and urgency, for we have much to do in this winter of peril and significant possibility."

"A cry for racial justice, some 400 years in the making, moves us. The dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer."

"We see the first woman in American history elected to the national office, Vice President Kamala Harris. Don't tell me things can't change." 

"This mob thought they could use violence to silence the will of the people, to stop the work of our democracy, to drive us from this sacred ground. It did not happen. It will never happen. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever."

"We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal. We can do this, if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts."

 

Yesterday was an important day for us, too, and our small lives here in France.

One of our own meager efforts at helping make the world a better place has been to live car-free for nearly 9 years.  We could get many places by TGV, RER, Metro, taxi, and rental car.  But, with the arrival of Covid-19 coupled with the realization that some of the places we would like to see are not easily serviced by public transportation, Judith and I made a decision to buy a car.  We took delivery of it yesterday.

Of the many interesting and wonderful things that happened on our way to taking possession of our first car here in Europe there was one that stands out.

Before we could take delivery of the new (to us) used (in reality - 4 years old) Prius Hybride we needed to purchase automobile insurance.

I thought we had everything we needed to show we had coverage in the US.  Our USAA insurance policy includes cards that, I thought, showed we were clear and "good" anywhere we went.  Alas, no, that was not at all the case.  The French needed to see what they call a quittance.  Our situation was complex enough that separating out the auto portion out of the overall policy was impossible.

This meant in the French system I would be considered a "jeune conducteur" or a young driver.  This after decades of automobile ownership in the US that included Jaguars, Fiats, Chryslers, Fords, and Toyotas.  The price difference between being able to prove three prior years of coverage and not is rather significant (400-Euro-ish versus 2500+Euro).

As we worked through our situation with an agent local to Nice (where we currently are for the winter) I came to the realization that this was going to cost us a bit of money.  Of course this all took place after we had paid for the car.  Had we known, right?

I explained and shared all the documentation we have and learned how the French system works, and what it needs to be properly aligned with all aspects of an automobile purchase.  There seemed no way "out."

Unexpectedly on the day we were resigned to pay whatever we had to pay, the agent called and we talked.  She said that having to pay for insurance as a young driver was unjust.  That word, unjust, is a powerful word here in France.  It has the power to move mountains and to plumb the depths of an ancient legal/social/cultural system.

She said "here's what we can do..." and made a very reasonable proposal to which I gratefully accepted and complied with.

It is one of the things about living here that never ceases to amaze us.  Just when things feel blocked, just when things feel like there's no going further, the French help us find a way.  

Justice. We love it.

... on to better things...

A better topic.  

Sun.  Balcony.  Kitty sunbath. Bikini Bottom Flats. Cote d'Azur.  13 and 14 January.

If that's the question, then the answer is YES!!!

Who could imagine while Paris sits in the low digits temperature-wise centigrade (near freezing, in fact) that we'd be out sunning ourselves down on the south coast of France?  

When the sun comes around to the west-facing side of the apartment we're out on the deck soaking up the rays.

It's really crazy, but my wife and I actually get our tans during the winter.

 

Les Etats-Unis ~ just to be clear about something potentially important

 I grabbed this out of the comment section in one of the subreddits -

 

"...From the article:

"Trump violated 18 U.S.C. sec. 2383, which prohibits incitement of rebellion or insurrection. It provides for 10 years in prison for anyone who “incites … any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto.” If convicted of this crime, Trump “shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States"...

"...Trump also committed seditious conspiracy in violation of 18 U.S.C. sec. 2384, by conspiring “to oppose by force the authority [of the government],” and “by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States.” Seditious conspiracy carries a 20-year prison sentence."

..."Trump could also be charged with solicitation to commit a crime of violence, that is, murder, under 18 U.S.C. sec. 373. It is a crime to solicit, command, induce or endeavor to persuade another person to commit a felony involving the threat or use of physical force. If prosecutors can prove that whomever killed Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick was incited to violence at the rally where Trump exhorted his followers, he could be convicted of inciting murder"...

Add to all of this that the Deutsche Bank wants to repossess his assets and properties because he defaulted on loans to them for hundreds of millions of dollars. So unless he flees the US before he can be detained he will die in prison from dozens of unpardonable state crimes he is guilty of...that doesn't even include the felonies..."

 

Relatedly, here is an interesting article from the right of center website Politico. 

Historically, this is not the first time huge whopping lies were believed by far too many people. A good recent example are the German generals who at the end of World War One said that German had _not_ lost the war (contrary to all evidence).

Les Etats-Unis ~ troisieme part

 

 

My brothers and I grew up watching Arnold take various bodybuilding championships.  Never thought he'd marry a Democrat, be a Republican, and be Governor of California... a life has a long arc... sometimes...

... before I let this blog-post end...  

... I feel it should be recognized the value of one single man...

Les Etats-Unis ~ deuxieme part

Very recently I posted a rant about what happened in the Capitol building. Without explanation the post probably looks rather political.  So I wanted to take a moment to explain something that is potentially very important to American ex-pats.

To the outside world the storming of the Capitol building in Washington DC has come as a shock.  It was terrifying to watch.  

America the strong.  America the brave.  America the solid.  America the country that helped liberate France twice in the 20th century.  America the country that quite nearly collapsed into a lie-believing supply-side Jesus white supremacist Confederate flag waving the South Will Rise Again strong-man Trump loving heap of an emerging world-style mess.

"..."Thank god [the coup d'etat] didn't work because I can't imagine how hard it would be to sanction the US financial system," said the official. By sanctions, he means the imposition of the usual diplomatic, military, and trade blockages that democratic nations usually reserve for dictatorships..."

This, right here, is why Americans living overseas have every right to be terrified over what happened in Washington DC.  

Many of us rely on easy, quick access to our financial resources back in the States to live.  Social Security deposits, IRA, savings, and 401K plans can be our only but usually reliable lifelines.  If the United States is suddenly registered on the list of backward nation states, of third world counties, of regions controlled by dictators who ignore, subvert, and crush democratic elections, then we ex-pats have severely limited means of contributing to the local economies we've integrated into.

The Almighty Dollar would suddenly be nothing more than a pip-squeak backwater currency of little to no value.

I imagine that the adults in the room (CEOs, politicians with consciences, bankers, and policy makers) in the US are working overtime to reassure the world that America can handle this little problem and that the US is actively working to put itself back on the world stage in a solid, consistent, meaningful way.

It will be a topic of critical interest to many of us off-shored people watching how the adults deal with this.

This is no laughing matter.

Les Etats-Unis...

Et voila les États-Unis sont arrivées desormais au monde moins développer.

The news of armed militants storming the Capitol has spun the world.  

This morning there have been long, serious discussions on French TV about the fragility of American democracy.  These were not in the tone of "we're better than that."  Rather they were deeper philosophical discussions of what democracy means and what it enables and the dangers of its collapse.

How is it that a sitting President is allowed to encourage what to many around the world see as a coup d'etat, and there are no hard, real world consequences?

The contrasts between how anti-fascists, Black Lives Matter, and Trump supporters are dealt with is all too telling to even the most casual observer.

UPDATE 18 January, 2021 - So this is what the birth of a Third World Country looks like?

[From the original post]

There is of course more...

Police let insurrectionists come right on in

Enabler cowers as the Capitol is stormed by those he enabled

The Confederate flag finally made it into the core of the Capital

Police remove barriers so insurrectionists can take "selfies"

And just a bit of irony thrown in

... with something that's no better than aged milk

Is civility too much to ask for?

UPDATE 19:47 -

'Today I am briefing my government that we believe with a reasonable level of certainty that Donald Trump attempted a coup'

 

Nice ~ swallows on 5 January 2021?

Last year we noted the very early arrival of a flock of swallows here in Nice at the port.

This year I just saw a swallow flying around the courtyard of the apartment complex just in front of us.

The main migration of swallows isn't normally expected before March.  Yet, here we are.  Swallows in early January.