Monday, September 25, 2017

Betty MacDonald, washday and the favourite day of the week

same colour, isn't it.........................

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Betty MacDonald fan club fans,

do you like Mondays?

I'd say: Yes and No!

It depends on the weekend.

If it was a wonderful one and I enjoyed my family, husband and children so much it could last much longer.

But sometimes if the weather is grey and rainy and family stressed me a lot I say to myself: Welcome Monday!

And I adore my job as a teacher!

How does your Monday look like?

Can you remember Betty MacDonald wrote about Monday in the mountains in her golden egg?

Monday—Washday!

Washing was something that the mountain farm women had contests doing to see who could get it on the line first Monday morning. All except me. I had a contest with myself to see how long I could put off doing it at all. I attacked my washing with the same sense of futility I would have had in attempting to empty the ocean with a teaspoon. Bob had been a Marine in World War I and instead of being shell-shocked he carried home a fixation that a helmetful of water was enough to wash anything, including blankets, and on Monday morning he would say cheerfully at breakfast, "Going to wash today?" and I would answer hopefully, "Yes, and it's going to be a HUGE ENORMOUS washing!" And so Bob would go whistling down through the orchard to the spring and bring back about four tablespoonfuls in the bottom of each bucket and then disappear into the woods where he remained incommunicado until lunch. A few times I left the washing until after lunch but learned that a sufficiency of water does not compensate for having to straddle clothes baskets and wash boards while cooking dinner or having to leave the warm house and hang out wet clothes in the dark. So I carried 99 per cent of my wash water and if I was able to get it hot and could scrub the clothes clean they never dried in winter, so what?
Also the water was so hard it should have been chipped out of the spring and even when mixed 40-60 with soap produced70 nothing but a greasy scum and after a day spent scrubbing clothes in that liquid mineral I could peel the skin off my hands like gloves.
I entered all of the soap contests in the vain hope that I would win $5000 and never have to use theirs or any other washing powder again as long as I lived. I failed to understand why farm wives were always talking about the sense of accomplishment they derived from doing a large washing. I would have had a lot more feeling of accomplishment lying in bed while someone else did the washing.

Do you like this one?

Train your mind to see the good in everything?

I'm afraid that's too much for me.

I guess Betty MacDonald would say: It sounds like some of these great advices of Firland Sanatorium.

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Yours,

Carin

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9 Tips to Make Monday Your Favorite Day of the Week

By Daffnee Cohen

If you’re anything like I used to be, it wouldn’t even be noon on Sunday before I started dreading Monday morning. Sure, you’re a happy and positive person, and you may even be satisfied with your job and the people you work with. Either way, the drudgery and toil of a Monday work day makes you cringe a bit, and easily convinces you that the time on Sundays fly by far faster than any other day of the week. I used to feel that negative knot in my stomach every Sunday, and I realized it had become habit. My thought patterns looked like this: Sunday is here? Oh man, it’s almost Monday. Sigh.
These were pretty toxic thoughts that I needed to vanquish quickly.
While I know firsthand that there’s something so incredibly awesome about spending your weekends at home, with the ones you love doing whatever it is that you please (come on, who doesn’t want more of that?) Monday can, in fact, not suck. Monday can be amazing. It can be stress-free, productive without causing hair loss, and, believe it or not, you can actually look forward to it. Here are eight tips I used personally to spice up my Monday and make it far from dreadful. These apply to everyone — whether you’re working from home or going into the office, or maybe doing the daily routine of housework and kids.
1. Do something weekend-ish today. Go to happy hour, meet a friend (you don’t work with) for lunch, have game night, go on a date or go to a fun event like a movie or festival. Our brains get in extreme Monday mode and we overdo our efforts to get “caught up” and be super efficient. On Monday, do something you would normally reserve for weekends. Your Monday brain may go into shock, but you’ll be proud.
2. Wear something new or dress up. I know you’ve heard that dressing for the role will help you perform better and I hope you believe it. I work from home and truthfully, I don’t leave pajamas most days. Putting on “real clothes” and even some fun earrings makes me feel like I’m ready for Monday and excited to start the week.
3. Eat something different. At times, our dissatisfaction comes from our monotonous patterns. Guess what? You’re the owner of your life and if you want something to change, you need to make it happen. Whether it’s breakfast, lunch or a snack at work, treat yourself to something brand new. Make it exotic, tasty and satisfying. I like to mix in guavas, sesame toasted seaweed, and even homemade hummus! These are the small things that get you moving through the day with a smile on your face.
4. Don’t scramble, just recoup. Monday snooze session. Monday traffic jam. Monday office drama. Monday to-do list that’s unbelievably sky high. Monday emails. Yup, I know what all of that looks like. Rather than trying to do everything on Monday, organize and prioritize. Sort your emails and projects by level of importance. Plan out what you can do the next day and for the rest of the week. We’re not “backed up” from the weekend. Weekend is off time! You are allowed to re-assign stuff, even if it’s to yourself. The quality of your work will improve, and your sanity will remain intact. BAM.
5. Change up the music selection. Create a brand new Pandora station or listen to your favorite song from 10 years ago. Again, these little pick me ups make all the difference. If you’ve never listened to music while you work, try it out. It’s not for everyone, but my stations definitely get me through the week.
6. Add a picture to your workspace. Print a pic from your phone, pick up a frame and stick it on your desk. It could be your spouse, your pet or your favorite place you’ve visited. Let your eyes fall on the things that you know make you happy. Change them up every now and then. This one is golden, trust me.
7. Hydrate... in a fun way. This may sound basic and even off topic but hear me out. Most people do not drink enough water. With the stress of a job, tending to clients, selling, answering phones and emails or whatever your job may entail, we often get distracted and simply forget! Keep water by you at all times and spice it up with something fun. I add frozen fruit, cucumbers or lemons to my water. Your brain will operate more smoothly and you’ll feel better overall moving Monday up on the awesome scale.
8. Smile and show thanks. This is something we should do no matter where we are. Remind yourself of your opportunities and show appreciation to anyone who has helped you get there, including yourself! I like to make fun little cards for my family and friends once a week. Maybe bring in some candy or treats for the people you work with. Get the positive juices flowing and remember, karma is a real thing.
9. Plan something to look forward to. Whatever it is, it doesn’t have to be Monday. In fact, I would recommend planning it for mid or later in the week. It feels so nice having something fun and exciting to look forward to outside of work. It doesn’t have to break the bank either. Have a family member over, visit your neighbor or play a game! Mr. Mike and I love playing Uno... fun times!
“Monday” isn’t the same day for everyone. Maybe it’s not the same day each week. Maybe it’s just the day you have meetings or appointments. Either way, make it awesome. You deserve to feel happy, grateful and light every day. I promise that one or all of the above will seriously help. Good luck!

Sunday, September 24, 2017

Angela Merkel makes history

Angela Merkel Makes History in German Vote, but So Does Far Right

By STEVEN ERLANGER and MELISSA EDDY

SEPT. 24, 2017

Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany at the Christian Democrats’ headquarters in Berlin on Sunday. Credit Alexander Koerner/Getty Images

BERLIN — Angela Merkel won a fourth term as chancellor in elections on Sunday, placing her in the front ranks of Germany’s postwar leaders, even as her victory was dimmed by the entry of a far-right party into parliament for the first time in more than 60 years, according to preliminary results.

The far-right party, Alternative for Germany, or AfD, got some 13 percent of the vote — nearly three times the 4.7 percent it received in 2013 — a significant showing of voter anger over immigration and inequality as support for the two main parties sagged from four years ago.

Ms. Merkel and her center-right Christian Democrats won, the center held, but it was weakened. The results made clear that far-right populism — and anxieties over security and national identity — were far from dead in Europe.

They also showed that Germany’s mainstream parties were not immune to the same troubles that have afflicted mainstream parties across the Continent, from Italy to France to Britain.

“We expected a better result, that is clear,” Ms. Merkel said Sunday night. “The good thing is that we will definitely lead the next government.”

She said that she would listen to those who voted for the Alternative for Germany, or AfD, and work to win them back “by solving problems, by taking up their worries, partly also their fears, but above all by good politics,” she said.

But her comments seemed to augur a shift to the right and more of an emphasis on controls over borders, migration and security.

Despite her victory, Ms. Merkel and her conservatives cannot rule alone, making it probable that the chancellor’s political life in her fourth term will be substantially more complicated.

The shape and policies of a new governing coalition will involve weeks of painstaking negotiations. Smiling, Ms. Merkel said Sunday night that she hoped to have a new government “by Christmas.”

The center-left Social Democrats, Ms. Merkel’s coalition partners for the last four years, ran a poor second to her center-right grouping, and the Social Democrats announced Sunday evening that the party would go into opposition, hoping to rebuild their political profile.

But the step would also make sure that the AfD, stays on the political sidelines and does not become the country’s official opposition.

The Alternative for Germany nonetheless vowed to shake the consensus politics of Germany, and in breaking a postwar taboo by entering parliament, it already had.

Alexander Gauland, one of AfD’s leaders, told party supporters after the results that in parliament: “We will go after them. We will claim back our country.”

To cheers, he said: “We did it. We are in the German parliament and we will change Germany.”

Burkhard Schröder, an AfD member since 2014 from Düsseldorf, was ecstatic. “We are absolutely euphoric here,” he said. “This is a strong victory for us that has weakened Angela Merkel.”

Up to 700 protesters gathered outside the AfD’s election night party, chanting slogans like “All of Berlin, hate the AfD.”

“It’s important to show that it’s not normal that a neofascist party got into the German parliament,” said Dirk Schuck, 41, a political scientist at the University of Leipzig.

While both Ms. Merkel and the Social Democrats lost significant voter support from 2013, her victory vaults her into the ranks of Konrad Adenauer and Helmut Kohl, the only postwar chancellors to win four national elections.

The election is a remarkable capstone for Ms. Merkel, 63, the first East German and the first woman to become chancellor.

It also represents a vindication of her pragmatic leadership and confidence in her stewardship of Europe’s largest economy and of the European Union itself in the face of populism, challenges from Russia and China and uncertainty created by the unpredictable policies of President Trump.

Even so, the advance of the far right was a cold slap for her and the Christian Democratic Union, or CDU. The AfD made particular inroads in the former East Germany but also in Bavaria, where Ms. Merkel’s sister party, the Christian Social Union, or CSU, has long ruled but lost some 10 percent of its vote over 2013.

Horst Seehofer, the CSU leader, said: “We made the mistake of having the right flank open.”

A critic of Ms. Merkel’s immigration policies, he added: “We have a vacuum on the right, we will close it with politics that ensure Germany remains Germany.”

The late leader of that party, Franz-Josef Strauss, said in 1986 that the party should allow no one to run to their right. “To the right of us there is only the wall,” he said.

Mr. Seehofer echoed that insight Sunday night. But others cautioned calm.

“We will remember today in history,” said Thomas Heilmann, a member of parliament from the CDU, in an email interview. “As in the U.S., hate became part of politics. The CDU cannot and must not match this attitude.”

Governing Germany “will become more difficult,” Mr. Heilmann added. “It is definitely not a good day for Germany and most likely not good for Europe either.”

Clemens Fuest, the director of IFO, the Institute for Economic Research in Munich, said that the results showed wide concern about “security, immigration and possible challenges to the German economic model, like globalization,” he said.

These mattered more than the Social Democrats’ concentration on injustice and inequality, he said.

The other parties should make less of the AfD showing “and instead ask themselves what questions they have not answered” — questions of borders, migration and the pressures on Germany to do more to prop up other countries of the European Union.

Ms. Merkel’s conservative bloc won some 32.9 percent of the vote, sharply down from 41.5 percent in 2013, the early results showed.

The Social Democrats slumped to 20.8 percent, a new postwar low, down from 25.7 percent four years ago.

If the Social Democrats hold to their intention to go into opposition, Ms. Merkel will be faced with an unusually difficult task to form a working coalition. Given the numbers, it would seem that she will have to cobble together her own Christian Democrat-Christian Social Union bloc together with two other parties.

The potential new partners inhabit virtually opposite poles on the political spectrum — the pro-business Free Democrats, who won some 10.4 percent of the vote, and the left-leaning pro-environment Greens, who won about 9 percent.

At the Christian Democrat headquarters, Frank Wexler, a Berliner, called the results “a bit depressing.”

Grand coalitions had allowed the small parties to gain ground, he said. “The main parties are getting smaller,” Mr. Wexler said. To counteract the AfD, he said, “We need to address the issue of strengthening the borders.”

But Mr. Wexler said he was most disturbed by the AfD’s hostility to the European Union. “This is what Germany needs to do — be a strong leader in Europe.”

But Hans Kundnani, an expert on Germany with the German Marshall Fund, said that Ms. Merkel might fail to create the three-party coalition, putting the Social Democrats under great pressure to join another coalition rather than forcing new elections.

To Mr. Kundnani, “the big shock is not the AfD,” but the loss of support for Ms. Merkel’s conservatives and the increasing fragmentation of German political life.

Germany has a complicated system of proportional representation, in which each voter casts one ballot for their local representative and one ballot for a political party. Those elected locally get their seats.

But the parties’ overall share of seats in parliament is determined by the percentage of votes they win. Turnout was 75.9 percent, up from 71.5 percent in 2013, but a long way from the 90 percent turnout figures of the 1980s.

Though initially reluctant to run for a fourth term, Ms. Merkel threw herself into the campaign, especially as the government has brought some order to the chaos engendered in 2015 when she threw the country’s borders open to refugees and migrants.

But the backlash over the migrant crisis, coupled with her long period in office and the wishy-washy nature of grand coalition politics, has led to more support for the more extreme, anti-European parties like the AfD and The Left, the heir of the East German Communist Party, which came in third in 2013 and won about 9 percent of the vote on Sunday.

In Dresden, Gert Frülling, 75, a retiree, declined to divulge his party preference, but made it clear that he was sympathetic to some of the Alternative for Germany’s proposals.

“It all happened too fast,” he said, referring to the time after Germany’s reunification. “Dresdenis a city of bureaucrats and soldiers, and they dumped all this multiculturalism on us at once. I know we had to change, but it should have happened more gradually.”

He said it would be wrong for other parties to refuse to work with the AfD in Parliament. “If they present good ideas,” he said, “I think it’s not fair to boycott them.”

In Neustadt, a gentrifying area of Dresden, Rebecca Klingenburg, 20, was clearly excited to be one of an estimated three million first-time voters.

“One gets to decide on what country one wants to live,” she said. A mechanical-engineering student, Ms. Klingenburg said she was voting to maintain Germany’s orientation toward Europe, at a time of rising nationalism.

“I learned four languages in school,” she said. “I want to make sure that we stay internationally oriented.”

Reporting was contributed by Jack Ewing, Edmund Heaphy and Victor Homola from Berlin and Christopher F. Schuetze from Dresden.

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Betty MacDonald and the most colourful season

HAPPY FALL TO YOU

From one pumpkin to another...

A woman was asked by a co-worker, "What is it like to be a Christian?"

The co-worker replied, "It is like being a pumpkin." God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. Then He cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff.

He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, and greed. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see."

This was passed on to me by another pumpkin. Now it's your turn to pass it to other pumpkins.

I liked this enough to send it to all the pumpkins in my patch.

All the best and many greetings

Greta

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Donald Trump and Stephen Curry

Trump’s Comments on N.F.L. and Stephen Curry Draw Intense Reaction

By BENJAMIN HOFFMAN

SEPT. 23, 2017

The days of superstar athletes being unwilling to speak their minds for fear of damaging their earnings or reputation appear to be at an end.

President Trump decided to take on some of the biggest names in pro sports on Friday and Saturday, including Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors. Unlike Michael Jordan, who famously did not want to offend anyone who might buy his signature sneakers, players around the country’s leagues have begun firing back.

Mr. Trump has found himself criticized by players in both the N.F.L. and N.B.A., with the focus on two specific areas: The protests of the national anthem at N.F.L. games, and the open question of whether or not the Warriors would visit the White House after their recent N.B.A. championship. Neither topic is particularly fresh, but with Mr. Trump urging N.F.L. owners to “fire” the protesting players, and tweeting that the Warriors were no longer invited for a visit, the embers on both issues have been thoroughly stoked.

Mr. Curry made some waves at the Warriors’ media day on Friday when he said of a potential White House visit: “I don’t want to go. That’s really it. That’s the nucleus of my belief.”

The debate over any visit proved irrelevant, however, when Mr. Trump weighed in on the subject with a tweet on Saturday.

The response from players was swift. Several players in both leagues condemned the announcement, in a throwback of sorts to the days when political statements by star athletes like Muhammad Ali, Bill Russell, Tommie Smith and John Carlos were more common. Potentially the boldest response to Mr. Trump came from the Warriors’ chief rival, LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers:

Mr. Curry was also supported by Chris Paul, the Houston Rockets point guard, who also happens to be the president of the N.B.A.’s players association.

While Mr. Curry has yet to respond, his teammate, the outspoken Draymond Green, unsurprisingly weighed in.

As an organization, the Warriors were far more politically reserved than Mr. Green, saying in a statement, “In lieu of a visit to the White House, we have decided that we’ll constructively use our trip to the nation’s capital in February to celebrate equality, diversity and inclusion — the values that we embrace as an organization.”

No stranger to controversy involving Mr. Trump, Jemele Hill, the ESPN host, also supported Mr. Curry. Ms. Hill was recently embroiled in a debate centered on her reference to the president as a white supremacist, and his office’s call for her firing.

Mr. Trump has found just as swift a response from players and personalities connected to the N.F.L. over his comments about players like Colin Kaepernick who have sat or knelt during the national anthem to protest the treatment of black people by the police. At a rally in Alabama, Trump said: “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these N.F.L. owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out. He’s fired! He’s fired!’”

Among the players to respond to Trump’s statements was Chris Conley, a wide receiver for the Kansas City Chiefs.

In a series of strongly-worded tweets, Martellus Bennett, a tight end for the Green Bay Packers, said he was fine with being fired for what he believes in and rejected the labels put on players by the president.

Richard Sherman, the outspoken Seattle Seahawks cornerback, said:

The topic seemed to elicit opinions from all over, with Sean Combs, the businessman and music mogul, asking N.F.L. players to make a statement before tomorrow’s games.

And none other than Ed Asner, the 87-year-old actor, tackled the subject.

Amid all the chaos online, Ayesha Curry, the wife of Stephen, took the high road in the matter, refocusing the discussion on bigger events going on around the world.

Kim Jong and Trump

The Meaning of Kim Jong Un's Rebuttal to Trump

The Trump administration has been sleepwalking through a dream. It’s time to wake up.

Kim Jong Un watches the launch of a Hwasong-12 missile.

In the last two weeks, tensions with North Korea are approaching an important limit. Pyongyang’s threat to conduct an atmospheric thermonuclear test is perhaps the most provocative action the regime could take, short of mobilizing for an attack. It is too grave to be ignored. To prevent the launch, the Trump administration must evolve beyond the failed policy of its first nine months, issue a credible deterrent response to a North Korean threat, and propose a tenable deal to reduce tensions.
In New York, President Trump told the United Nations that “if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.” On Thursday, he released a new executive order allowing sanctions against any foreign bank transacting with North Korea, not only in areas previously prohibited by the UN.
In response to Trump’s remarks, Kim Jong Un delivered a personal response, a highly unusual step for the North Korean leader. In a collected, methodical statement Kim called Trump’s behavior “mentally deranged,” his threat to obliterate a sovereign country “unethical.” The speech, Kim says, “convinced me, rather than frightening or stopping me, that the path I chose is correct.” Following this statement, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho suggested that one option could be “the most powerful detonation of an H-bomb in the Pacific.” The statement apparently validates the fear that North Korea could fit a thermonuclear warhead to a ballistic missile, fly it over Japan, and detonate its payload over the Pacific as a final demonstration of their ability to deliver a warhead.

A test of this type would not be unprecedented; the United States, China, and possibly the Soviet Union, all conducted tests of nuclear warheads launched on a ballistic missile into the open ocean. Yet, it would be the first atmospheric test of a nuclear weapon since China’s airdrop of a nuclear warhead over its desert test site in 1980. As the shockwaves of the explosion spread across the Pacific, the tremors would also be felt in the unstable foundations of the international organizations that manage the nuclear order; in a Beijing increasingly willing to confront an erratic Pyongyang; and in Washington, where some still seek an excuse to strike.
Even aside from the international response, the launch would be extremely dangerous in practical terms. If the missile failed while overflying Japan, it could scatter fissile material onto the territory of a U.S. ally. Even if inadvertent, this would effectively be a WMD attack against an ally the United States is pledged to defend. If the warhead detonated in the atmosphere over the Pacific, winds could carry the cloud of radioactive particles to the shores of a U.S. territory or an ally. U.S. aircraft could collect these particles, helping to determine the composition of the warhead. If the missile or warhead failed to function as intended, it could undermine the credibility of North Korea’s deterrent forces.
A highly rational and even canny adversary, North Korea is increasingly concerned with deterrent credibility. Kim Jong Un appears constantly in Korean state media as a guiding hand and an object of admiration—yet, he rarely delivers threats in his own voice. For example, when Pyongyang threatened to launch missiles near Guam in August, state media said that the strategic forces were preparing a plan to do so for Kim Jong Un’s approval. On the allotted date, the supreme leader was briefed on the plan but did not issue a decision, leaving the option on the table. This practice is in fact quite clever: it conserves the personal credibility of the supreme leader in the event that he decides not to order the action in question—it increases options by allowing him to back down without losing face. This stands in stark contrast to Trump’s improvised threat to unleash “fire and fury” on North Korea if they “make any more threats” to the United States.

The fact that Kim Jong Un is now prepared to put his personal credibility on the line signals a considerable escalation for the regime. Yet, here too, it was Ri who made the threat toward the Pacific and not Kim, who pledged to “think hard” about how to “tame” Trump with “results beyond his expectation.”
Repeatedly this year, North Korea has shown new dexterity in issuing credible, coercive threats in its campaign to weaken American alliances. Like Guam, the threat to conduct an atmospheric test is coercive: If Trump does not moderate his rhetoric and force posture, the test will occur. Like threats to test an ICBM, a thermonuclear weapon, and to overfly Japan, Ri’s statement regarding a nuclear test in the Pacific is a test balloon to evaluate how the United States responds. The Trump administration has neglected to mount a tailored and specific response to each of these threats and each oversight paved the way for the next.
US analysts are not certain the Kim regime has the capability to carry out the threat, though many consider it likely. Furthermore, the threat may not materialize in the near term (like Guam). Kim Jong Un may opt for an alternative response.
The exchange of threats proves beyond a doubt that the Trump administration’s stance is not moderating North Korea but causing dangerous instability. The theory behind U.S. actions is that it is possible to generate a crisis sufficiently risky that Kim Jong Un will decide to acquiesce and agree that eliminating his nuclear arsenal is better than the risk of a war, regime change, and death. Nine months of this tactic has proven it has had the opposite effect: Pyongyang has tested new missiles at an accelerated rate, a possible thermonuclear weapon, and has signaled that it will overfly Japan regularly. Rhetorical threats cause North Korea to escalate the situation, not back down. If anything, sanctions are causing nuclear weapons to be detonated, not disarmed. To continue this strategy would be like stepping off a cliff and expecting to ascend into the clouds. The evidence shows the opposite. At the same time, ignoring Pyongyang’s threats and hoping they go away is clearly not working; it only emboldens North Korea to make good on their threat and to pose another.

Before a nuclear weapon is detonated over the Pacific and we find ourselves on the precipice of war, the United States must urgently shift strategy. First, get serious about issuing deterrent threats to halt the escalating spiral of tests and provocations. For example, the United States and its allies could credibly argue that an atmospheric nuclear test is an act of hostility against the international community and innocent civilians and as such will move to revoke North Korea’s credentials to the United Nations. In order to be credible and effective, any deterrent threat should be issued in simple, credible language by U.S. government agencies and its allies who stand prepared to implement it.
Second, engage North Korea in reducing tensions. While eliminating North Korea’s nuclear arsenal is an important long-term objective, there is an urgent need for talks in the near-term to stabilize the situation in and around the peninsula. For example, we could restrict overflight of sensitive military assets: North Korea agrees not to overfly South Korea or Japan with its missiles if the United States agrees to refrain from flying B-1B bombers and stealth aircraft within a certain distance from North Korea’s borders. An agreement along these lines could effectively prevent an atmospheric test over the open ocean, prevent long-range testing of missiles, and take a modest step to assure Pyongyang that the United States and its allies are not practicing for an aerial assassination attempt. In August, both North Korea and the United States said that they had tried to show restraint in their military postures, but for restraint to take hold, negotiators must meet and reach a concrete agreement.
In recent months, the Trump administration has been sleepwalking through a dream in which North Korea will volunteer to abandon its nuclear weapons, oblivious to the crisis gathering around it. An atmospheric nuclear test cannot be allowed to happen. It’s time to wake up.