The Writer's Life 4/24 - Popi

The NY Post is at its best today. Unfortunately, it is mostly doom and gloom, the more discouraging because all of it is plausible. Here are snippets from three op-ed pieces: Retired Army Colonel Ralph Peters writes: "Russians are much better off financially than they were before Putin appeared and — most important of all — Russians expect life to stink. Deprivations that would shock Americans don’t even register. And Putin’s stage management of the economic downturn has been masterful. His popularity rating remains higher than Hillary Clinton’s and Donald Trump’s combined. Unlike our leaders, Putin knows his people. He came from the streets, not from Harvard."... Kyle Smith quoted a liberal from an outfit named Vox: “There is a smug style in American liberalism,” wrote Emmett Rensin. “It is a way of conducting politics, predicated on the belief that American life is not divided by moral difference or policy divergence — not really — but by the failure of half the country to know what’s good for them... Nothing is more confounding to the smug style than the fact that the average Republican is better educated and has a higher IQ than the average Democrat... Stupid hicks don’t know what’s good for them. They’re getting conned by right-wingers and tent revivalists until they believe all the lies that’ve made them so wrong. They don’t know any better. That’s why they’re voting against their own self-interest.”... Peggy Noonan laments: "Because my country is in trouble. Because I felt anguish at all the estrangements. Because some things that shouldn’t have changed have changed. Because too much is being lost. Because the great choice in a nation of 320 million may come down to Crazy Man versus Criminal." (Although I'm not happy about Trump's ascendance, I don't believe he's crazy. I do believe Hillary is a criminal.)

And of general interest, Larry Getlen produced yet another great article. Here are excerpts, pared and edited by yours truly: "It was one of the most expensive films ever made, plagued with set problems, cost overruns and a mercurial, egomaniacal director. It was Titanic. No, not that one. In his new book, The Nazi Titanic, Robert P. Watson reveals a little known chapter of the Third Reich, when film buff Joseph Goebbels tried to produce the ultimate propaganda movie for Adolf Hitler. The hero was German, the villains were Brits. When Goebbels finally saw the film, which ran just under 90 minutes, simply titled Titanic, it was clear that the original director and his replacement had created the ­perfect propaganda film — for Britain. Goebbels realized the entire project was a catastrophic mistake, a film about helpless people on a sinking ship commandeered by a foolish leader that mirrored the situation in Germany. Goebbels initially banned the film but relented the following year, allowing it to be shown outside Germany, where it became a smash. Still, following those limited runs, he ordered the film locked away. Other than a brief release in West Germany in 1955, it was forgotten until 2005, when it was rediscovered, restored and re-released. The director, jailed for inflammatory remarks, was hanged in his cell."

In 2007 65% of Americans had investments in stocks. That figure is now down to 52%.

My thanks to the kind folks who bought books in Park Slope today, especially the lovely young Latina who purchased two romances and six of the J. R. Ward Lover series. She said: "Thank you, Popi." It was music to my ears, Mommy. A woman openly smoking a joint in front of her two young sons, neither older than seven, bought the Coraline DVD. I hope her kids aren't as at risk as I fear they are.

Vic's Short Works: http://tinyurl.com/jy55pzc

Vic's 5th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/okxkwh5Vic's 4th novel: tinyurl.com/bszwlxh

Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3

Vic's Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
Vic's Short Story Collection: http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tiny.cc/0iHLb Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kx3d3uf
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tinyurl.com/l84h63j

Website: http://vicfortezzaauthor.my-free.website/