TheNextReport

Today, the circus was in town again -- The damage from the government shutdown has begun to take a foul turn. ts toll. The message: an economy that is not paying its workers is an economy that's headed for the dumper. All aboard!

Just when we thought it safe to go back  to Paris...or Bordeaux...or Toulouse... with everything collapsing around him, French president Emmanuel Macron tried a dribbler. In baseball terms, that means getting the ball back to home-plate before another player (most often the pitcher, catcher or first baseman from the opposing team can do the same. In this case it didn't work. Acting on a plan hatched by the previous government, the proposed cure in French politics turned out to be an attack on the third base line, more suited to a remark by the man guarding third than anyone. The awarding of 100 euros monthly has the rancid aroma of a bribe. The SMIC, the Salaire Minimum Horaire as it is known in France as a bribe) adds some money to the monthly check workers get Macron, who received 70% in some areas of France when he was elected, was not as popular this time.

Just when we thought it safe to go back  to Paris... with everything collapsing around him, French president Emmanuel Macron  tried a dribbler. In baseball that means getting the ball to home-plate before another player (most often the catcher from the opposing team can do the same, In this case it didn't work. Acting on a plan hatched by previous governments, the proposed cure in French politics turned out to be an attack on the third base line, more suited to a remark by  than Woodrow Wilson. The awarding of 100 euros to that the SMIC, the Salaire Minimum Horaire as it is known in France) The the  response by the maddening crowd? "c'est pas just.!"  It was called "Too little, too late Macron, who received  a count of a 70% in some areas of France when he was elected, was not as popular this time.

Tears flowed onto the streets of the Champs Elisee yesterday, as they have been so often in French history;  so often in France the weeping came, the elder cobblestones were being excavated, recruited to act as projectiles aimed at the police. Now did the batons fly, finding bones and flash cracked and crumbled. It was not the first time the French people had thrown rocks and invectives at each other. The vast social revolution of 1968 comes immediately to mind; there was that matter in 1870 when the Kaiser and his hungry Prussian troops entered Paris and ended up dining on rats and other available proteins. The culprit this time? You guessed it---taxes. That little five-letter word so often at the root of social unrest. This time, it was a proposal to raise taxes on carburants--those ranting, carbon-based fuels no one really likes; the ones that eventually spell doom for the planet. Thinking he could do something crazy (like planing for the future by learning from the past) Fr...

The Democratic Party lost the Senate though it won the House of Reps in what was viewed as one of the most important mid-term elections in history. Why see it as a loss for the GOP and a victory and a win for the Dems? The Senate is made up of 100 members called senators. Each state is equally represented two senators, regardless of the state’s population. Unlike members of the House, who represent individual geographic congressional districts within the states, senators represent the entire state. Senators serve rotating six-year terms.

They're almost here. The caravan of lies has reached our shores so get prepared, the mounted hoards will soon be at the gates, knocking down the barriers, heating up the oil. Grab your pitchforks folks, they're sharpening their swords getting their shovels in place, because the great Central American waves--the dark ones-- have breached our defenses; burning the fields, they are breaking the catapults, attacking the protectors of the young ones-- getting their arrows ready; now they are here, taking the women and children, pillaging and raping--making them one of us, making them one of our own.

70 billion dollars in the deaf Defcon president surfaced unexpectedly on the White  House lawn yesterday shocking just about every body in the press corps. For over 20 minutes--that seemed like an  eternity ---the reporter's limited in-your-face--gaggle became a shocking, spur-of-the-moment opportunity to back the president into a corner and pepper him with rarely detailed explanations of the administration's policies. The press corps took the advantage, shouting every question that came to mind. The question that lingered: will the president ever give the First Amendment the chance again?

Pittsburg, Pennsylvania found itself in the gun-sights of a racist anti-Semite on Thursday and learned about a dark corner of American life. It's a world of shadows, of ghosts of the past, a world where atrocities--in spite of the benign changes of  post WW history--never really disappear. It is indeed a world of rule by mindless militarism, of hidden realities that lie in wait for the right moment-- the moment to strike. It is a world that challenges us to be ever vigilant in order to prevent those who feed at the troughs of hatred from achieving their goals. Tragically, they seem today to see far too much, far too often.

Blink your eyes and watch the world change in the Middle East... well maybe not. One thing is for certain--it was one of the most brazen political crimes in recent memory. News columnist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in a Saudi Arabian consulate right under the noses of the Saudis, a key regional ally of the Trump Administration. The outrage allowed the Trump team to re-direct the international argument over control of immigration, giving the president a boost as the mid-term elections dawned in the east. This week, The NextReport gets back in the saddle after moving its offices temporarily to France. We expect to be back in the thick of things with reports from the United States and from Europe. As we say here in TheNextReport; Stay Tuned and Look out.