Did I write Sullivan's Speech?

 

Reading the transcript of the American-Chinese meeting in Alaska last week, it jumped into my sleepy brain: I wrote this thing, did I? 

SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Secretary, and welcome to Director Yang and State Councilor Wang. It's fitting that we're meeting here in Alaska. We may be far from the continental United States, but there are few places that are as quintessentially American: big-hearted, resilient, intrepid. This is truly a fitting place for us to host this meeting.

Prof. Moshe Many, President of Tel Aviv University, had to speak at a Board of Governors Meeting and asked me to write him the opening speech. I wrote "It's fitting that we are meeting here in TAU campus, in Israel..." etc. I too used the recherche word quintessentially. The speech was a great success and I was paid 200 dollars. Prof. Many was Syrian Jew who specialized in venereal diseases and travelled frequently to Saudia to treat King Saud. Since then, I keep finding my rhetorical inventions recycled on the most unexpected occasions. For example, in every Annual Meeting since then. "This is truly a fitting place for us to host this Annual Meeting of TAU's Board."

Th. Nöldeke and Allah

Th. Nöldeke, a German academic specialized in the Quaran, writes:   A closer investigation of the apparent Jewish and Christian elements in the Koran will lead to the conclusion that the primary elements shared by Christianity and Islam are of Jewish colouring. For example, the familiar Muslim creed: 

 is derived from a Jewish formula; verse IISamuel 22:33 = Psalms 18:32  מבלעד יי השה מי-אל and appears in the Targum as ליחא להא אלא יי

Shocking Data from Beijing

 

There are already signs that China’s birth rate and population are falling, with some experts warning of grave consequences. According to data released this month from Beijing Municipal Health Commission Information Center, the nation’s capital, Beijing, which has a population of around 21 million, suffered a 24.3 percent decline in its birth rate in 2020 compared with a year earlier. The total number of births in Beijing in 2020 was 100,368 – a decline of 32,266 compared with 2019’s 132,634, and the lowest figure in a decade. 

One birth per 200 i.e. 0.5%. I told them a generation ago that their one child diktat was a big mistake. They answered that they were too many of them. 

EPA offers 6.5 Billion for Water Infrastructure (in the US)

 President Biden is pumping money into the American economy. 

• Supporting economically stressed communities.
• Protecting water infrastructure against the impacts of climate change.
• Reducing exposure to lead and addressing emerging contaminants.
• Updating aging infrastructure.
• Implementing new or innovative approaches including cybersecurity and green infrastructure.

Cyber and green is our specialty, is it? We could also save the California Delta smelt. 

But I am so old.

On the other hand, the environmental regulation is so heavy that I doubt that they can spend half of the money on significant projects.

A cutting-edge drinking water treatment facility planned for one of the country’s most water-scarce states now appears in danger of being blocked by regulatory requirements.

“Recommended terms for a permit to build Poseidon Water’s controversial desalination plant in Huntington Beach would make it impossible to get financing for the $1.4 billion project, according to the developer,” The Orange County Register reported. For years, leaders of the project have been attempting to get a permit from the local water quality control board. Subsequently, the project would also need permission from a regional board and from the state’s Coastal Commission to go through with actual construction and implementation.

P.S.: The Economist asks: "What impact then would an infrastructure bonanza have, if it makes it through Congress?"  I can answer - for the EPA portion of the spending: None. Tearing up perfectly good lead water distribution pipes and laying instead plastic lines adds nothing to the GDP. It is a hysterical - and wrong - reaction to the Flint racial panic (caused by the lack of buffer in the supply). 

Credit Suisse Caught Stealing Client's Money

 

The Swiss Gnomes cannot give up their habits. Credit Suisse Group AG must face allegations that it engineered a complex fraud to sink an investment vehicle and profit on investors’ losses after an appeals court revived the claims.
"The lawsuit, filed in 2018, claimed investors lost $1.8 billion in the Feb. 5, 2018, collapse of the market for VelocityShares Daily Inverse VIX Short Term Exchange Traded Notes, known as “XIV Notes,” a derivative investment that increased in value when the stock market was calm and decreased when it was volatile."
A group of investors led by Set Capital LLC alleged that they and others lost the money while Credit Suisse made $475 million. The suit also names as defendants two top executives at the bank.
Ten years ago, observing the incompetence of Swiss and English banks,  I thought that Israeli financial organizations could easily take over a share of the world markets. The Swiss and the English kept deteriorating but the Israelis are not in sight. 

Israel, Developed

 

Forbes magazine ranked Israel number 20 among the wealthiest/developed countries by Gross Product per Capita. It is an artifact of the overvaluation of the sheqel and the worldwide depression caused by the epidemic. Anyway, it is an impressive expression of the success of Israel and the Zionist movement that built it. To emphasize how impressive this is, just remember that when I arrived in 1976 I received ration cards from my employer Tahal, had to buy eggs in the black market, and in general, people were poor. I had a hard time deciding if to buy an apartment here, as was unsure that Israel would last. 

Granddaughter