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The American Dream Is Now a European Vacation
LaGuardia Airport, July 13th
As I sit here waiting for my connection to Cincy, the one that was supposed to leave from JFK but..cancelled. Then it was to slingshot me outta this other outer-borough airport by 8pm et…but creeps later and later into the evening with delays…
As this has me wondering when I’ll get home, I’m also really having a hard time answering another question that’s on repeat—like a broken record or treasonous Trump acts—in my head. Why did I come back?
Yeah, I know the obvious reasons. It’s where my wife and I are raising our kids. We have older family members we wish to be here for. Etc. But the more existential one, I gotta tell you, I’m having some trouble with that.
For the first time in a while, I’m seriously thinking about a not-too-distant future when I don’t call our reality-bites politics and eternally exhausting, dog-squatting-by-a-fire-hydrant culture, home.
Yes, I just flew in from 10 days in Rome and Sicily, and it’s always hard to leave. Especially when it’s these areas on the Mediterranean I’ve found myself returning to again and again (I lived in Nice, France, and have spent ~2 months of my life in and around Italy).
But it still feels different this time.
And it’s not the pasta (ok, maybe a bit). Or the incredible wine (ok, maybe…). Or even the gorgeous Mediterranean sun and fantastically fun people I always meet.
It’s that these fantastically fun people live in a country where having a life is still a thing, and the government, both national and local, still function like they’re supposed to: to serve the people. And this is Italy under Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, who runs one of the most conservative governments the country’s had since World War II.
Let’s call to two items above personal culture and political culture. They interact to a great degree, as, for example, the control you exercise over your body will certainly going to influence your ability to enjoy passions and hobbies. But some of this is just a general belief system regarding what government should do and work/life balance.
America is drastically failing on both of these, like Stephen Miller trying to keep his wife from pulling a “The Graduate” with Elon Musk.
Regular people in Italy aren’t stressed, anxious and depressed like we are—especially our kids—for a variety of reasons. Nobody worries they won’t be able to afford to treat an illness, because it just never would happen. Like every sane democracy, which is to say every single one but ours, healthcare is universal because OF COURSE IT IS.
Like knowing Trump would be in Jeffrey Epstein’s little black book. Universal, unless you’re a MAGA birdbrain with a chronically malfunctioning sympathetic nervous system, such that fight or flight is set off by schools without Christmas trees or Superman movies.
But back to our European friends, specifically in Rome and Sicily. They don’t have to start saving for their children’s college from their own first job post-puberty because it wouldn’t cross their minds they’d fall hundreds of thousands of Euros into debt to attend college. Depending on family income, you can go to a great public university for €500-€4,000 per year (the latter = ~$4,665 right now).
So while you’re busy being all relaxed about that and the fact that your President is not a monumental f*kwit, you’re taking siesta during the day because you had a late one last night where you tied one on with friends (remember seeing them regularly?).
And nobody ever thought it was cool to brag that “dude, I'm an I-banker, I work 90 hours a week” like so many of the emotionally defenestrated droogs with whom I attended college. And, yeah, this is real, and so are they (sadly).
America, where mainstream culture says we must not be proud of having learned how to paraglide off a Swiss Alp (I actually did this…and definitely find it cooler than my income statement. Really wish I knew where the pics were to share—but I promise I shall find them!) or brew the perfect beer. But of how many GD hours we work. How much money we make. Those boys I went to college with? They for damn sure were proud of having memorized the Gordon Gekko speech from “Wall Street” …
The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed -- for lack of a better word -- is good.
Greed is right.
Greed works.
Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.
Greed, in all of its forms -- greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge -- has marked the upward surge of mankind.
And greed -- you mark my words -- will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.
Back in the Mediterranean region I just visited, when they’re not finding that work life balance, they’re taking advantage of a political culture that has ensured they have, at any new job: a minimum of 20 days of vacation time from the start, up to 10 months of partially paid parental leave. It’s almost as if they have time for— and stick with me here my American friends—concepts known as “healing,” “bonding with a newborn,” “leisure time” and “rest.”
No, these concepts weren’t infected by a consumerist ethos brought to you by Reagan and reinforced by a monopoly Mitch McConnell, bought-and-paid for by creepy corporate creeps to steal as many judges—by any means necessary, how very Malcolm X of him—til they ensured this kinda of crazy talk would never take hold here in ‘merica.
Our work til ya drop creed is backed up by billionaires robbing us in broad daylight, with the full support of its political wing—the GOP. A group of putzes who once paid a 91% top tax rate under Republican, Eisenhower, is now not so concerned about being squeezed for every last dollar or even many first ones.
Mrs. Jeff Bezos will have the funds for every last 3D printed body part, hell, she can go full cyborg if she wants! And while we’re talking about Italy, it’s worth mentioning that incel-it-to-you-make-it Jeff Bezos rented out the island off Venice [ [link removed] ]—San Giorgio Maggiore—and spent a sickening $46-$56 million on it, while one in six American children—over 13 million—don’t have enough food to eat each day.
If I start, I won’t stop with the expletives explaining how gauche, how utterly repulsive this is, so I’ll just leave it at, any society allowing him to spend that on his wedding and taxing the living s*t out of him is failing. What I would have given to watch the crew from The Italian Job stick-up that squirrely, self-indulgent, self-congratulating, still-socially inept SOB.
The tragedy of this all is you didn’t just imagine the 60s. America once tracked countries like Italy pretty closely with respect to our feelings on everything from work v. leisure to not allowing ping-pong-ball brains access to *all the guns.* But then 30 years of right-wing billionaire investment in changing our political culture with its media, think tanks, liars, scoundrels and thieves, paid off.
A B-list actor’s smile and a lot of lies from a domestic psy-op that on close inspection looks a lot like things we did in places like Iran, Chile, Angola, Guatemala, Cuba. To put it another way: information warfare (or “disinformation”).
The kind that helped convince the American public to allow this kindly-seeming old flibbertigibbet to engage in a pantsing of our welfare state, destructive deregulation and deliver a death blow to political and lifestyle views that had been as American as apple pie—or Italian and gelato—since FDR.
In other words, we once were found and then were lost.
And with that psy op more ruthless and effective than ever, we re-elected, Grover Cleveland style, a traitor, and convicted criminal, and adjudicated rapist, and lifetime conman, a guy with a jackknifed cerebral cortex and preference for Saddam Hussein chic in working and living quarters…with the piss cotton candy hair, ill-fitting suits and a new dollop of dementia every day.
Gaudy AF
So, now Trump’s right into the middle of the Rubicon. We haven’t crossed it yet, as Julius Caesar did with troops to end the Roman republic. But we are definitely having a later-stage Roman Empire moment, as a palpable difference can just be felt in the air if one goes to a country like Italy now. People aren’t worried about a masked Gestapo every bit as much as they’re not worried about having to work an 80-hour (and then bragging about it).
They’re happy, healthy, enjoying their lives.
Guys and gals, we’ve been sold a con so big, even Bernie Madoff has to be sitting somewhere saying, “JFC, this is somer seriously f*ked up s*t.” Italy is happy. We are not. Italy has a conservative leader who has promised to abide by the Italian Constitution, personally opposes gay civil unions (that’s what they have there) and abortion but has promised to do nothing about it and is a staunch supporter of Ukraine.
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None of these things can be said about our jack-in-the-box President, which is part of the reason we’re so damn on edge these days. Or could it be that in a recent study, kids in the United States are three times more likely to die than kids in other wealthy countries? Let me repeat that—kids. You know, the "precious lives" conservatives claim to care so much about when they’re busy forcing births and banning books.
But, once those kids are born? Good luck, junior. Donald Trump’s creeping around your beauty pageants. You get gunned down in Newtown or washed away in Texas [ [link removed] ]. Hey, you're on your own, that’s what we voted for.
Italian happiness vs our marked depression isn’t a mystery. It’s a choice. It's what happens when billionaires buy off Congress like it’s a Black Friday sale. Rewire our system like Elon and his little helpers in the Treasury Department payment system. And treat working people like they’re their first wives.
We’ve gutted public education, turned college into a luxury item, and take away people’s retirements. Then we hand ‘em a flag, a gun and a bootstrap speech and tell them to how America is the greatest country evah!
It’s not. We’re not. And this isn’t normal, or an acceptable way to live. It’s a rigged, soul-crushing, monopoly-led con game. Americans don’t even realize how stressed they are—because if you weren’t around before St. Ronnie, you may have never even had the luxury of feeling inner peace and personal security.
So yes, people in Italy were much happier. They were free. Not in the fake “Don’t tread on me” gun-humping way—but free to live, to breathe, to age, to vacation, to try a hobby, go out late with friends, raise kids without wondering if their next dental cleaning or ER visit will lead to homelessness. America still has some incredible people, resilient communities and deep wells of creativity.
But til we get the billionaire boots off our necks and build a government that once again serves us—and we are currently headed in literally the opposite direction, led by President Numbnuts and rich Heiling-Hitler [ [link removed] ] guy who built the exploding ugly trucks. Hell, the entire oligarch class and their Congressional concubines.
And if we don’t fix this kneecapped republic soon, well then I’m gonna need to keep taking European vacations to remember what dignity feels like. And think heart-attack seriously about living there again soon.
But perhaps, this time, on a permanent vacation.
…Yo, Check This Out!
Pam Bondi & the Epstein Files
Feb 27, 2025
As U.S. Attorney General, Bondi announces the first phase of declassified Epstein documents—mostly previously leaked items—calling it “lifting the veil.” She claimed the department initially handed over ~200 pages but that “thousands of pages” remain
Feb–Mar 2025
Promises ratchet up as Bondi hints she has a “list of Epstein’s clients” sitting on her desk, and that more revelations are imminent. Conservative voices rally behind her, expecting bombshell disclosures.
May 2025
MAGA influencers receive bulky binders marked “Epstein Files” —but once opened, they're underwhelming: public info, redactions, nothing explosive The Sun+10Vox+10The Independent+10 [ [link removed] ]. Both sides start rolling their eyes.
July 7, 2025
DOJ and the FBI release a memo stating “no client list exists”, no evidence Epstein blackmailed anyone, and that his death was suicide Business Insider+13NPR+13Wikipedia+13 [ [link removed] ]. Bondi’s earlier claim about the client list is effectively debunked ABC+13Wikipedia+13TIME+13 [ [link removed] ].
July 8–9, 2025
House Democrats (Jamie Raskin and others) demand unredacted Epstein files mentioning Trump from Bondi, accusing her of sheltering Trump New York Post [ [link removed] ]The Wall Street Journal+2The Guardian+2The Daily Beast+2 [ [link removed] ]. Meanwhile MAGA hardliners begin blaming Bondi, accusing her of political grandstanding The Wall Street Journal [ [link removed] ].
July 11–12, 2025
Heavy pressure mounts. Trump pleads: “let Pam Bondi do her job,” urges MAGA faithful to stop the infighting YouTube+5Forbes+5ABC+5 [ [link removed] ]. Bondi becomes the target instead of Trump.
July 13–14, 2025
Justice Department doubles down: no further documents will be released, citing court seals and victim privacy New York Post+15AP News+15YouTube+15 [ [link removed] ]. Conservative frustration boils over—Bondi gets blamed, not Trump, for the closure.
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A Sleeping Beauty making the Teatro Romano in Catania, Sicily, a nice spot to crash
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