President Joe Biden made two talks in Europe: Yesterday at  D-Day ceremonies in Normandy, France.  Today  along the cliffs of Pointe de Hoc about heroism . The value of democracy and how we got here fades with the passage of time.   Who remembers  that 4,415 allied troops, including 2,501 Americans were killed on D-Day 80 years ago.  Worse, in the ensuing Battle of Normandy, 73,000 Allied forces were killed and 153,000 wounded.  German deaths?  between 4,000 and 9,000.   For the sake of tomorrow, let me provide a comparison:        Democracy                                                            Dictatorship        Heroes                                ...

We spent some time at the Westquay Shopping Centre located across the street, and had lunner at, again, Wagamama.   We ate at one of these restaurants  when we were in Copenhagen after visiting Tivoli Gardens.  Had an excellent pork ramen there with beer. What we experienced at Westquay was amazing.  We thought  Southampton  was just a dull port town with maybe a stoplight.  Not so. Has a population of more than a quarter million, and is famous more than anything else as the departure point for several fatal ships. In 1620 the Mayflower carried 120, Pilgrims to America, making anchor near Cape Cord, Massachusetts.  Many died on the way, and only 50 survived the first winter. Of course, the other that left here was the RMS Titanic in 1912 on a maiden voyage to New York, something we will also do soon, but hope to succeed.  That's an actual photo of the ship leaving Southampton.  Around 550 of the 2224 passengers and crew died, the de...

So what's happening today?   Benjamin Netanyahu could well have been ousted by the time you read this.  Next, a court date for corruption.  Sounds like another Donald Trump. Joe Biden is still in Europe, and will meet with Vladimir Putin in Geneva on Wednesday.  They will not hold a joint press conference to deny Putin an international stage. Otherwise, the big event of the day is the Westminster Dog Show.  It is currently showing on FS1.  The winner last year was Siba, a Standard Poodle. Magawa, whose official job title is HeroRAT, is retiring this month after a five-year career detecting land mines in Cambodia.  Trained in Belgium, this African giant pouched rat detected 71 land mines and 38 other items of unexploded ordnance to clear 2.4 million square feet of land.  Other rats do things like detect tuberculosis .  Apparently many in Florida got them as pets, but some escaped, and this is now considered to be an invasive species , sai...