RIP America, 1776-2016

The election is over, and America has shot herself in the face. 

I am shocked, dismayed, amazed, and disgusted. A majority of voters in my nation voted in favor of misogyny, fear, buffoonery, stupidity, greed, oppression, racism, cheating, bigotry, lying, and hatred. You're seeing the successful completion of a 30-year GOP smear campaign against Hillary Clinton. I am sick to my core, and really don't know what kind of country I will come home to.

Despite the struggles and heartbreak and effort it has taken to get to this point in my life, I'm still a white male. Despite my personal disgust at the values, actions, and mindset of Trump and his voters, I will be fine. I'm afraid my dear friends who are black, LGBT, female, Hispanic, Asian, Muslim, and more will have big targets painted on them in January and it will be open season. Because Pandora's Box has been reopened, and it may be decades before it can be nailed shut again.

When George W. Bush “won” the election against Al Gore, with the massive help of a conservative Supreme Court, I was stunned and disappointed, but I never doubted he could do the job. Of course, all my worst fears and predictions about him came true, and it took President Obama years to undo much of the damage, and we’re still stuck in Bush’s wars of retribution with no way out, and still paying for them.  Trump? He has proven himself incompetent and unqualified for the job. If he does half the shit he has said he would do, I don’t think there will be a recovery for a generation. 

So who am I upset with for all this? 

First, the GOP, who while controlling both houses of Congress, made it their sole business to obstruct the President for 8 years, and to do so in lieu of making any attempt at governance. Then they sold the lazy, weak-minded, and ignorant on the idea that government is broken. Genius. Pure evil genius. Their pandering to the worst extreme elements of our society led directly to the results of this election. And the GOP have almost totally guaranteed to keep themselves in power through the very creative use of gerrymandering congressional districts. Brilliant! The only problem is they don’t really know how to govern any more, and for the past 8 years removed themselves from participating in the process. Unreal. I’m a big believer in an effective 2-party system, but it doesn’t work when one party just won’t play.

Second, the narrow-minded, tunnel-vision single issue voters who listened to Trump say anything he thought they wanted to hear. Take abortion, for example. Conservatives have been taught to think that liberals are out on the streets looking for pregnant women we can talk into having an abortion.  No, that’s just a favorite GOP fairy tale. Rather, we think that it is a woman’s right to make her own choice – you know, that “free will” thing religion talks about. Mr. Trump, until recently, also believed in the right to choose – until it benefitted him to change his mind. But this wasn’t a single-issue race. Focusing on your particular issue and hearing what you wanted to hear while blocking out every other piece of the mountain of evidence that this guy is a professional charlatan will cost all of us dearly.

Third, the media. Journalism can now be officially declared dead. In its place, we have tabloid sensationalism in search of profit. The media followed Trump around like a puppy follows its little kid, waiting for any scrap to fall.  He played them like a fiddle, and they treated him like a king from the beginning because he brought ratings. They would lose money if they factually reported on things, so they elevated all of the GOP’s lunatic ravings against Hillary into front page headline news. And they ignored or minimized all but the most egregious of Trump’s lies, exaggerations, crimes, court cases, tax issues, sexual assaults, bad temper, etc., etc., etc.  

Fourth, all of you Bernie voters who were so pissed off that he lost the primaries, and were determined to use your vote to make a statement by voting for one of the beyond-the-pale third party candidates rather than for Hillary.  Thanks a lot guys – once again your combined votes were the margin of difference between Trump and a totally qualified candidate. I hope you have many sleepless nights ahead as you ponder having wasted your vote after all.

Lastly, American fear, laziness, and stupidity. Unwilling or unable to read, research, and think for themselves, too many Americans are wide open to lies and fear-based rhetoric from a party that relies on it to lead their base.  Those voters are happy to have someone else to tell them what to think, what to do, who to be mad at, and how to vote. 

The UK recently voted for and approved Brexit – the UK withdrawal from the European Union. The next day the number one UK Google search was “What is Brexit?”  I’m afraid the US yearning for the good old days when white men were in charge and women were property and anyone who didn’t look like me was worth nothing is going to lead to a return to those days, and worse. Great for white American men, pretty horrible for everyone else.  I wonder how long before the reality and remorse set in for what American conservative voters have done to themselves and the rest of us.

I hoped we had improved as a society to a place where we could all share a voice, all take part, all contribute, all have opportunities. I was wrong.  Mr. Trump has continually expressed and demonstrated contempt for all those things, and for government, for the rule of law, for common decency and courtesy, for ethical behavior, for respect for anything but what he wants.  He has continually telegraphed his worst, most awful traits by trying to paint his opponent with those things (Crooked Hillary, she’s a liar, she should be in jail, etc.) Lately he’s been taunting at every opportunity that the election is rigged. We should believe him, and start investigating how he pulled this off.

This essay is not an invitation to an argument. I’m hoping to clear the turmoil in my head so I can sleep tonight. It’s been a long, disappointing, depressing sad day – I just cannot believe that America has elected this guy.  I need a strong drink. Final thought from one of my favorite presidents, eerily prescient and yesterday proven correct: 

     “America will never be destroyed from the outside.  If we falter, and lose our freedoms,
       it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” - Abraham Lincoln, 16th U.S. President

Cars I saw in the past 2 weeks

The folks in Abu Dhabi are crazy about their cars. Normal ones, fast ones, luxurious ones, and exotic ones. Just for fun, here's a listing of some that I’ve seen recently.

Aston Martin twins – one grey, one black, parked side by side at the hotel. Sleek and fast while just standing still.

Lamborghini – I saw one pull onto the highway with driver texting, head down, with very sedate behavior that you know could just explode down the highway in an instant. On the way to Dubai last week I had one zoom past at probably 200 kph.

Bugatti – Bugatti makes one of the fastest and most powerful cars in the world - the Veyron -  and I have seen one of them here many months ago (below). Last week I was on the highway to Dubai – 8 lanes and busy. The left lane is for serious fast, and I was passing several cars, at the speed limit, when I saw a car behind me flashing its bright lights.  I got over into the next-to-fastest lane just in time for a big, blazing red Bugatti sedan to pass by – sounded like a race car at full throttle, and he was going at least 120 mph. Below - Veyron; this thing is only about 4 feet high with 1000 HP!

Brand new red Corvette – I was out walking with a friend and saw, heard, and felt this Corvette racing past us down a long brick driveway at full throttle. The sound was magnificent, but it must’ve been a very bumpy ride!!

Audi R8 – mid-engined Tony Stark model - windows tinted so dark couldn’t see the driver even in bright daylight. Terribly expensive machine. Below, a lesser Audi, but still worth 10 of most other cars, parked on the street at work.

Maserati – the lower end of the luxury performance car market, granted, but still it is a beautifully styled machine, and there’s something cool about the trident emblem

Ferrari – just beautiful shape, sound, and red! It is just surreal to see one of these parked in the garage right next to my Toyota rental! The one below you can actually rent from Ferrari World to drive it for 15 minutes. You must have one of their drivers with you. This is a pretty simple model - not one of the exotics that will take your breath away when it goes by - but still impressive.

Rolls Royce – gold with silver trim. One of the largest passenger cars I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen 4 of them this week including a pearl white 4-door with a 3-digit license plate – the lower the number, the higher the status here! Here is a classic Rolls just out in the parking lot with all the other cars.

Original Mini Cooper – one of the tiniest cars ever – this one in mint condition in Abu Dhabi. Somebody paid a fortune to restore this little gem!

Red Jaguar – after riding around the Formula 1 track on a great bicycle, I came across a fellow loading his bike onto a rack installed on his Jag! Having never seen such an unlikely thing before, and it being a new and absolutely gorgeous Jaguar, I just had to get a picture!! 

Red Bull Formula 1 race car – one of the fastest cars ever. After 6 months living literally across the street from the Yas Marina Formula 1 track, yesterday saw and heard the real thing for the first time. 

I’ve seen hundreds of cars on this track, from street cars for the “bring your own wheels” night, to team training events by Mercedes, Porsche, etc., to an actual circuit race with Ferrari racers. But this thing screams – literally. The sound was incredible, and I suspect this driver wasn’t even pushing hard. Just a sole car on the track for training, practice, or fine-tuning. I got lucky and actually got a shot of it going by at maybe 100 mph (above).  The image below is from their website just to give you a good look at this insane machine.

Click on this link to see a little video I shot the other night - a Formula 1 car doing wet track testing. The braking power of this car as it comes into a hairpin turn is insanely powerful!

 

Of course, there are dozens of Mercedes, BMWs, Audis, Porsches, Mustangs, Camaros, and Challengers, and other very cool cars. There's nothing like seeing a $150,000 Porscshe wedged into a parking space in the same row as my rental car, or a $200,000 Audi double parked on a narrow company street, with cars already parked on both sides, and it stays there all day. Crazy.

And hundreds of Toyota, Hyundai, Nissan (including the giant Patrol SUV – there must’ve been a giveaway one weekend cause they’re everywhere!), Mitsubishi, VW, Kia, and other “normal” cars. The taxis are almost all Toyota Camry, because it is a good size and very reliable.

I can’t talk about cars without a mention of parking. Parking here is insane. Lots are design with chaos in mind, lots of lines and arrows and lanes and DO NOT PARK HERE markings. These are all ignored in favor of helter skelter, first come takes the first spot whether it is actually a parking space or not. There are large generous paved medians, but the folks here didn’t learn what the Saudis did, to make all the curbs 12-15 inches tall so people can’t drive over them. Here the medians become additional parking spaces. Lots of cars get blocked in every day.  

And the lots are full of abandoned vehicles.  There is a brand-new yellow Camaro that has been parked in the main lot at my work since I arrived, unmoved, with an inch of dust on it. Nobody knows why – just parked there one day and left.  Some cars were left while owners take a long trip abroad, but they do get recovered. Others have vague stories of drivers who lost their jobs, or for other reasons left and went home, parked the car, locked it, and walked away.  Abu Dhabi has been cracking down on this and impounding these vehicles. I wish they’d make it out to my lot – I think we counted 40 of these and parking would be a lot easier if those were removed!

Hopefully this was a light, fun read just to share some of what I see around here every day. More soon! Mark

#AbuDhabi, #cars

Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque

I gained many wonderful Islamic friends while I was in Saudi Arabia, and several of them told me if I could ever go to Abu Dhabi I must take photos of the Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque.  At the time it seemed unlikely, so I just filed that information away.

But when I arrived in Abu Dhabi to work, one of the first things I saw in a magazine was a full-page ad for a photo competition at the mosque. Sheik Zayed was the founder of modern Abu Dhabi and the UAE - he was a visionary man who took the massive influx of oil money and used it for the good of his people and his nation. He is revered and beloved, for good reason. One of the many structures he commissioned, as a gift to the nation, is the Grand Mosque.

So with little preparation or research, I visited the mosque half a dozen times in April to see what photos I could get to enter in the competition, which ended 5 May. I whittled it down, made my selections, prepared the final image files and uploaded them on 1 May. And didn't hear or so anything else about it until last week!

I'd pretty much assumed none of my images were selected (I was correct) and that they just didn't publicize the result. Turns out they just hadn't gotten around to it yet. At the beginning of last week I got an email inviting me to attend the awards ceremony downtown. It was a fairly simple proceeding, and I'm glad to have gone. It started 20 minutes late because the dignitary VIP guest presenter wasn't there yet, the intro video took 15 minutes, the actual awards took 15 minutes, and that was it!

No surprise to me, I didn't win anything. The winners were mostly Filipino photographers, and there were 2 Emirati women and 4 men who also won. I have no complaints about the images selected - one of them was a very unique approach - but you know about beauty and the eye of the beholder.
My images are in my style, and were my vision of the place, and it wasn't what they were looking for. I am pleased with my results.

I've been busy, and forgot that I'd not shared these, so without further ado, here are my submitted photos of Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque:

(note - I don't know what's up with the white interference over the dome in the shot above. I've loaded 4 different versions of this shot, and they all show up in here with that blotch - sorry! I'll keep trying to get it clean! mwg)

(note - I don't know what's up with the white interference over the dome in the shot above. I've loaded 4 different versions of this shot, and they all show up in here with that blotch - sorry! I'll keep trying to get it clean! mwg)

#AbuDhabi, #UAE, #SheikZayedGrandMosque, #uaeexpat

A Holiday in Austria

{AUTHOR'S NOTE: I wrote this over the past few days, but couldn't load any images into the page while on the road. I'm back in Abu Dhabi and can get this finished up now!]

 I am in Linz, Austria for a few days.  Part of this week is an Islamic holiday (Eid Mubarek to all my Muslim friends!) and the UAE government made the entire week a national holiday. Coincidentally, our daughter and son-in-law, Shannon and David, just moved to Linz. David recently and successfully defended his PhD thesis, and will complete a post-doc here at Johannes Keppler University. Congratulations David! So it seemed like a good time for a quick trip to Austria!

below: A picturesque side street in Vienna.  There are overhead wires everywhere, for lights or to power the numerous trams.

below: Courtyard of the Air BnB Shannon and David stayed at in Vienna. Lovely, shaded, and cool, from an era when designers and builders knew how to use the elements to their best advantage.

It is beautiful and green here! Such a lovely difference from the Middle East. I've been in the UAE for 6 months now, and have started many times to write a post but something always stops me - uncertainty. Issues and questions of employment, the work to be done, and the, hmmm, let's say business practices of one of the companies I'm dealing with, have made it difficult to keep looking forward. So it's nice to be here for a short break from all that nonsense.

below: St. Stephen's Cathedral, or Stephansdom in German. The original structure was completed in 1160, but construction continued until 1511.  It is an awe-inspiring Gothic structure

 below: old and new in Wien

We spent the first day of my trip walking around Vienna - oh my, history on every corner! It's like walking through a giant movie set trying to showcase the best of European architecture, and every hundred meters is a historical sign about a Kaiser, a prince, a king, or a composer did something here. Classical music as we know it today was developed and nurtured here - Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven. And it seems like every few blocks there is a cathedral, each insanely complex and beautiful.

below: at a back corner of the Opera House, and a lovely tree-lined avenue

I'm staying in a student hotel adjacent to the university campus, on the 11th of 12 floors - I have a great view of the hills and trees north of the city through my window, which doubles as the air conditioning. Which is needed because it has been unseasonably warm this week. This weekend fall will begin with rain and a temperature drop, but for now the highs are upper 80sF (near 30C).

 

 

On Monday we walked around Linz. It's about the size of Little Rock, Arkansas, and nestled in lovely green mountains with the Danube River flowing through the center of town. There is an impressive public transit system of trams and buses that can get you across town easily and inexpensively. And again, history everywhere. Churches everywhere. And it is mid-September and unseasonably warm this week, so shorts and T-shirts and tank tops are out. Next week fall is forecast, with a big temperature drop and rain. The trees will be gorgeous soon!

below: the Danube River, or Donau in German

Last nighthawk we ate in a garden and enjoyed authentic Wiener Schnitzel. Wien is the German word for Vienna, so it is literally schnitzel of Vienna! No, it isn't a sausage or hot dog. Schnitzel is veal or pork, tenderized and pounded thin, then battered and fried. Served with new potatoes and a haus bier (house beer) it was a great meal to finish the day!

below: at the bier garten, a lovely open green space restaurant with trees and shade, and this one enclosed by a building. We tried to stay out of the open spaces because smoking is widely practiced here, and it twitches some of our noses pretty fierce!

 below: authentic Wiener Schnitzel!

below: this lady just finished filling her metal water bottle from this fountain, took a drink, then pedaled off! Don't you wish you could do that?

I just had a nice breakfast in my hotel dining room. Dozens of people were eating and chatting, and two ladies were refreshing the buffet, when two elderly women came in and called out a cheery greeting in German to the room. They were trailed by their large German shepherd, who seemed quite at ease here. No one batted an eye at this! How delightful?!

below: the city feels like a big park - it is immaculately clean, beautifully landscaped, and wonderfully green! Especially for a desert rat.

 below: fun with light and shadow

This has been my first non-work trip abroad without Dana, and it has been unusual to do so, but she couldn't make the trip now. It was her generous suggestion and insistence that I come. Thank you sweetheart - it's been wonderful to be here with Shannon and David! Next time we'll all be here together!

Best to all, more soon! Mark

#Austria, #ViennaAustria, #LinzAustria, #AustrianTourist, #WeinerSchnitzel