Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

December 25, 2017 By Fausta

Merry Christmas!

A joyful Christmas to all!

Share

Filed Under: Christmas, Fausta's blog

December 25, 2016 By Fausta

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, with a Medieval concert from Artajona, Spain,

Concert of the early music ensemble “ELFENTHAL” in the “medieval days of Artaxona 2013” (Navarre) with the program “The Return of the Kings”, performing, among others, songs of Alfonso X, Thibaut I of Navarre, or Henry VIII.

CANCIONES / SONGS
Hildegard von Bingen – Caritas abundat
Si habrá en este baldrés – Juan del Encina
Romance de don Gaiferos – Intrumento : Zanfona
A que por muy gran fremosura – Alfonso X
O magnum mysterium – Tomás Luis de Victoria
Mas vale trocar – Juan del Encina
Polorum Regina – Instrumento : Organistrum
Rabelada – Intrumento : Rabel
Si dolce è’l tormento – Claudio Monteverdi
Jançu Janto – Cancionero de palacio
Jota Sanabresa – Intrumento : Gaita medieval

UPDATE

Linked to by the Pirate’s cove.Thank you!

Share

Filed Under: Christmas, music Tagged With: Elfenthal, Fausta's blog, Sunday palate cleansers

December 12, 2016 By Fausta

Venezuela: The grinch steals Christmas

In pictures:

“#Video warehouse full of toys hoarded by Kreisel in Caracas”

#EnVídeo deposito lleno de juguetes acaparados por Kreisel en Caracas #ContactoConMaduro74 @NicolasMaduro pic.twitter.com/GK5Iut98ht

— Sundde (@sundde_ve) December 12, 2016

The headlines:
Venezuela Seizes Nearly 4 Million Toys, Saying They’re Overpriced

Venezuelan president called a ‘Grinch’ after government toy seizure

Venezuela orders store owners to create a Merry Christmas even if it breaks them

I do hope you’re all keeping up with events in Venezuela this year because it’s an important object lesson which I’ve tried to drive home here repeatedly. This is how socialism always ends.

Caracas Chronicles’ “I’m Dreaming of a Sh*t Christmas”

Tim Worstall:
Congratulations To Bolivarian Socialism – Now The Venezuelan Government Steals The Children’s ToysTelesur

Telesur is rather more in favour of Bolivarian socialism than anyone sensible is:
“A total of 3,821,926 toys were seized from two warehouses and they will be delivered to poor children before Christmas Day, officials say.”

x,xxx,926? Not x,xxx,925, or 927? This is evidence that we are dealing with economic idiots. Apologies, but this is, no one ever knows an economic number to that level of accuracy. This is why this Bolivarian socialism does not and cannot work of course. Simply because, as Hayek pointed out, we can never have knowledge to that level of accuracy and thus can never plan the economy to that level of accuracy.

Venezuela’s Confiscation Of Christmas Toys Story Doesn’t Add Up

My opinion is simply that the government itself is so ignorant of basic economics that they don’t understand that corporate hoarding loses money in an inflationary environment. Along with all the other things they don’t get about economics.

Share

Filed Under: Christmas, Communism, Venezuela

November 28, 2016 By Fausta

It’s cyber Monday!

Please shop through my advertisers and support my blog. Thank you!

Share

Filed Under: Christmas Tagged With: Fausta's blog

November 23, 2016 By Fausta

Are you shopping on Black Friday?

Retailers Panic: 63% Of Americans Plan Not To Shop On Black Friday:

participation in this year’s Black Friday looks like it may be the worst in history: according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll of 1,639 adults showed 63%, or nearly two-thirds, did not plan to shop on Black Friday this year. Some 32% said they plan to finish about half of their holiday shopping on that day. While selling tactics are certainly a factor, one wonders how much of decline in spending is due to lack of disposable income for the tapped out US consumer?

“The holiday season is expanding, and Black Friday is no longer the kickoff for the season,” said Natalie Kotlyar, who heads retail and consumer products at business advisory firm BDO Consumer, adding many start holiday shopping at Halloween, Labor Day or even Amazon’s Prime Day on July 12.

Still, retailers are not only not giving up but, as Reuters reports, are on the verge of panic, and have not only redoubled efforts this year to boost sales with familiar tactics but greater intensity, all of which assure even lower margins, but are rolling out the heavy artillery to draw in those consumers who will go out on Friday.

I’ve never understood Black Friday.

Some of it is cultural: I grew up around people who were not shoppers. The women purchased their Christmas items when they were not at work, the men waited until the very last minute, and I don’t recall stores in Puerto Rico doing Black Friday promotions. I’m not certain, but I don’t think stores in Latin America did then, either.

Another reason is that I have been shopping on line for years since, no matter where I live, I always have friends and relatives in other areas. Before the Internet, I shopped at stores that shipped.

The third reason is that, while I certainly like purchasing things, I hate shopping in stores, especially during Christmas season with the sensory overload of music-decorations-parking messes. When I shop in stores, my “inner guy” takes over: I decide ahead of time what it is I’ll get, go directly to find that item, pay, and leave.

And lastly, my gift wrapping skills are woefully non-existent. Thank goodness for colored tissue and decorative little bags.

——————————————

And now for the pitch: If you may want to shop through my Amazon links and my advertisers, you will help support this blog, which I truly appreciate,

Share

Filed Under: business, Christmas, Fausta's blog Tagged With: Black Friday, Fausta's blog

December 25, 2015 By Fausta

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a joyful Christmas Day.

Christmas concert from Madrid’s Palacio de la Zarzuela

Share

Filed Under: Christmas, entertainment, music, opera Tagged With: Fausta's blog, zarzuela

December 24, 2015 By Fausta

Cuba: “Normalization,” the gift that keeps on giving

Obama’s Cuba policy makes life worse for Cubans (h/t Babalu),

Cuba remains the only dictatorship in the Americas, as repressive and hostile to human rights as ever. More repressive, in fact: Over the past 12 months, the government’s harassment of dissidents and democracy activists has ballooned. In November, according to Amnesty International, there were nearly 1,500 political arrests or arbitrary detentions of peaceful human-rights protesters. That was the highest monthly tally in years, more than double the average of 700 political detentions per month recorded in 2014.

On Dec. 10 — International Human Rights Day — Cuban security police arrested between 150 and 200 dissidents, in many cases beating the prisoners they seized. As is usually the case, those attacked by the regime’s goons included members of the respected Ladies in White, an organization of wives, mothers, and sisters of jailed dissidents. The women, dressed in white, attend Mass each week, then walk silently through the streets to protest the government’s lawlessness and brutality. Even the United Nations, which frequently turns a blind eye to the depredations of its member-states, condemned the Cuban government’s “extraordinary disdain” for civil norms, and deplored the “many hundreds” of warrantless arrests in recent weeks.

But from the Obama administration there has been no such condemnation. One might have thought that the White House would make it a priority to give moral support and heightened recognition to the Cubans who most embody the “commitment to liberty and democracy” that the president has invoked. But concern for Cuba’s courageous democrats has plainly not been a priority. Particularly disgraceful was Secretary of State John Kerry’s refusal to invite any dissidents or human-rights advocates to the flag-raising ceremony at the US embassy in August. To exclude them, as The Washington Post observed, was a dishonorable gesture of appeasement to the hemisphere’s nastiest regime — “a sorry tip of the tat to what the Castros so vividly stand for: diktat, statism, control, and rule by fear.”

For all the president’s talk about using engagement and trade to promote the cause of liberty and civil rights in Cuba, his policy of détente has been wholly one-sided. In aninterview with Yahoo! News this month, he was asked what concessions Havana has made over the past year. He couldn’t think of any.

But hey! Supporters of “normalization” justify it because “what we were doing before wasn’t working.”

It wasn’t working because the Communist regime won’t. Instead, it is asking for more.



Share

Filed Under: Barack Obama, Christmas, Communism Tagged With: Fausta' blog

December 25, 2014 By Fausta

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a wonderful, happy Christmas day!

Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducts the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists in a performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio BWV 248

Share

Filed Under: Christmas Tagged With: Fausta's blog, Johann Sebastian Bach

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 6
  • Next Page »
Tweets by @Fausta
retirees_raise-2015_300x250

Pages

  • About
  • Email

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Previous Posts

  • Mrs. Maisel goes full Alinsky on Mrs. Schlafly
  • Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • You need to unfriend me
  • Go ahead and Kiss the Girl, if you dare
  • Ashamed

Recent Comments

  • John on Mrs. Maisel goes full Alinsky on Mrs. Schlafly
  • Today’s hot topics: Democrats’ collusion shift, tax-return rift, Venezuela drift, and more! – PoliticalWitchDoctor.com on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • Today’s hot topics: Democrats’ collusion shift, tax-return rift, Venezuela drift, and more! - AmericanTruthToday on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • Did Venezuela’s Minister of Defense Back Out At The Last Minute? on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • Roseanne Not Back, Khan not Invited, Operaman’s back, Jobs back, Fausta’s back (but not here yet) Thoughts under the fedora – Da Tech Guy Blog on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?

Archives

  • 2019
    • December 2019
    • May 2019
    • January 2019
  • 2018
    • December 2018
    • October 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
  • 2017
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
  • 2016
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
  • 2015
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
  • 2014
    • December 2014
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
  • 2013
    • December 2013
    • November 2013
    • October 2013
    • September 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • May 2013
    • April 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
  • 2012
    • December 2012
    • November 2012
    • October 2012
    • September 2012
    • August 2012
    • July 2012
    • June 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
  • 2011
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • April 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
  • 2010
    • December 2010
    • November 2010
    • October 2010
    • September 2010
    • August 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010
    • May 2010
    • April 2010
    • March 2010
    • February 2010
    • January 2010
  • 2009
    • December 2009
    • November 2009
    • October 2009
    • September 2009
    • August 2009
    • July 2009
    • June 2009
    • May 2009
    • April 2009
    • March 2009
    • February 2009
    • January 2009
  • 2008
    • December 2008
    • November 2008
    • October 2008
    • September 2008
    • August 2008
    • July 2008
    • June 2008
    • May 2008
    • April 2008
    • March 2008
    • February 2008
    • January 2008
  • 2007
    • December 2007
    • November 2007
    • October 2007
    • September 2007
    • August 2007
    • July 2007
    • June 2007
    • May 2007
    • April 2007
    • March 2007
    • February 2007
    • January 2007
  • 2006
    • December 2006
    • November 2006
    • October 2006
    • September 2006
    • August 2006
    • July 2006
    • June 2006
    • May 2006
    • April 2006
    • March 2006
    • February 2006
    • January 2006
  • 2005
    • December 2005
    • November 2005
    • October 2005
    • September 2005
    • August 2005
    • July 2005
    • June 2005
    • May 2005
    • April 2005
    • March 2005
    • February 2005
    • January 2005
  • 2004
    • December 2004
    • November 2004
    • October 2004
    • September 2004
    • August 2004
    • July 2004
    • June 2004
    • May 2004
    • April 2004
    • March 2004
Content Copyright Fausta's Blog

Site Developed and Managed by 300m.com