Brexit - Stage Right

For those select few among us on this side of the pond who actually paid attention, the vote in England (except London) and Wales to leave the European Union came as a shock.  British Prime Minister David Cameron announced his resignation as the hopes of the Obama admnistration and much of the international community were dealt a serious blow in a close vote.   Donald Trump, in Scotland primarily promoting his new golf resort, claimed victory in Britain "taking back" its independence while ignorant of the fact that Scotland itself had actually voted to remain in the EU as the likelihood of a new Scottish independence move increased.   Stock markets tumbled around the world.

That's not all.   In addition to Scotland talking again about breaking away from the UK, there are rumblings in other European nations about divorcing themselves from the EU.   Right wing nationalist and isolationist politicians are capitalizing on fear as immigration and terrorism become an even hotter topic.   Here what makes this British divorce from the EU so scary.   Europe has had decades of relative peace thanks in large part to effective cooperation amomng nations.   Military alliances alone such as NATO are no check against rampant isolation, hyper nationalism and ethnic divisions.  

I get it... mostly.   There are lots of older blue collar, rural, white and less educated Americans and Europeans who feel alienated by increasing globalism and technology in the economy.  There's a feeling that they're "losing" their countries to immigration and political correctness, but I think much of that fear is misguided.   The gap between the one per cent wealthiest and the rest of us is almost unprecedented.   Bernie Sanders is right in hammering this point home and forcing Hillary Clinton to pay more attention to where the true outrage should be directed.  Trump and Clinton are both part of that financial elite, yet Trump's demagoguery would place most of the blame on immigration and the intellectual elites who routinely refute his faulty "pants on fire" statements.   Unfortunately, passions seem to be overwhelming logic these days and it's not likely to get better soon.   Even if Trump gets clobbered in November, the polarization on both sides of the Atlantic needs to be addressed without jokers like Trump exploiting it. 

Memories of Muhammad Ali

"The Greatest" has passed away at 74.   Many of us in the Baby Boomer generation have memories of Muhammad Ali going back half a century.   My father never followed sports much, but boxing was the one exception.   I recall one of those rare father-son sports moments when my dad took me to see The Super Fight, a fictional boxing match between Rocky Marciano and Muhammad Ali shot in 1969 where the result was based on probability formulas entered into a computer and shown once in theatres via another new technology: satellite.   Marciano was the projected winner based on statistics from his prime.   

I remember March 8, 1971, going skiing for the first time at Powder Ridge.   After a series of backwards falls, this impatient bnovice called it a night and waited at the base for the two more experienced skiers to finish up.   On the AM radio, sure enough, was the Frazier-Ali Fight of the Century when Joe Frazier took the heavyweight title.   With that kind of entertainment, I didn't feel deprived of extra "ski time".   Ali would come out on the winning end through most of his storied career but, win or lose, this man's bigger-than-life charisma would steal the show.

Muhammad Ali's fighting days would continue through the end of his life, battling the effects of Parkinson's Disease and promoting invaluable awareness in the fight against it.   Mike, my best friend from high school who has Parkinson's himself, proves you don't have to be heavyweight champ to be a fighter with class.   Mike once told me during Ali's controversial Vietnam War protest days, "They never should've taken away his title."   He was right.   As with so many stories of American exceptionalism, Ali proved it wasn't a matter of winning every battle.   It is about perservering in what we stand for.