Stephen Shaiken's Blog, page 11

BANGKOK BLUES TO BE RELEASED FEBRUARY 4

The third novel in my NJA Club Series will be released and available on Amazon starting February 4.  Bangkok Blues will be offered as an e book and a quality paperback print edition. 

The series follows the adventures of American expat lawyer Glenn Murray Cohen and his eclectic friends from the mysterious NJA Club, where Thais and foreigners meet and mingle, and where intrigue is always on the menu.

Bangkok Blues differs from Bangkok Shadows and Bangkok Whispers because it is written in the third person. (The first two were in the first person, told exclusively from Glenn’s point of view.) The third person point of view allows readers to enter the minds of all characters and be present in scenes where Glenn is not. I greatly enjoyed writing about my characters from this vantage point.

The regular cast of NJA club characters is on full display: the enigmatic and powerful General, Sleepy Joe, the trained killer and dope-smoking hippie, Oliver, who can find out anything there is to know, Lek, the honorable and most helpful condo concierge in Thailand, and of course, Glenn’s nemesis, Phil Funston, the loud and obnoxious musical talent and permanent sexpat. There are several new Thai characters introduced, some of whom are likely to appear in future novels. These new faces include the General’s military colleagues, two Thai women who develop as romantic interests for Glenn, and a rather interesting American scientist who becomes dependent upon the NJA gang for protection when he learns about a strange virus reported in China.

The setting is late 2019. Glenn is celebrating another birthday in Thailand. America is getting ready for an explosive Presidential election in less than a year. Glenn was pressured to manage Phil Funston’s musical career, a decision he deeply regrets but his sense of honor won’t allow him to quit until he finds a replacement.Glenn, like most American expats in Thailand, follows the pending Presidential election of 2020 and has rather strong opinions about the incumbent seeking another term. Like his creator, Glenn is vociferously anti-Trump and makes no attempt to hide his feelings. There have been Trumpies who read the first two books, and a few have complained about Glenn’s views on the defeated ex-President. Without spoiling a thing, let me say I’ve doubled down in Bangkok Blues, and if any Trumpies don’t like it, they can kiss my derriere. Anyone who has lived in Thailand knows that many if not most  American expats share Glenn’s views. You have to wonder about people who get all tied up in knots over the views of a fictional character, sort of like when Dan Quayle engaged in an argument with Murphy Brown, a character on a television show.

The arrival of the scientist propels Glenn and company into a web of intrigue and danger far more troubling than managing Funston. Lives are risked, and some are lost. That’s about all I can say right now if I don’t want any “spoilers.”

The regular cast of NJA club characters is on full display: the enigmatic and powerful General, Sleepy Joe, the trained killer and dope-smoking hippie, Oliver, who can find out anything there is to know, Lek, the honorable and most helpful condo concierge in Thailand, and of course, Glenn’s nemesis, Phil Funston, the loud and obnoxious musical talent and permanent sexpat.. There are several new Thai characters introduced, some of whom are likely to appear in future novels. These new faces include the General’s military colleagues, two Thai women who develop as romantic interests for Glenn, and a rather interesting American scientist who becomes dependent upon the NJA gang for protection when he learns about a strange virus reported in China and the NJA gang realize he’s being followed by dangerous characters.

I  worked with a new editor on this book, also engaged the service of a new cover designer, who remained faithful to the styles and logos of the first two books. The text designer is the same talent who redid the first two books and made them error-free and attractive. 

All three novels are published under the imprimatur of  Crosswinds Press.

While all three books in the series can be read as stand-alone novels, I recommend reading the first two because they’re good books and readers will enjoy seeing the subtle changes in Glenn and the NJA gang from novel-to-novel. 

Click here to visit the Amazon page for Bangkok Shadows and Bangkok Whisp

A MORNING E BIKE RIDE, AND A NEW NJA CLUB NOVEL TO BE RELEASED

Taking a morning e bike ride in Old Seminole Heights, Tampa, FL, thinking about the release of the third novel in the NJA Club series, titled Bangkok Blues. It will be released in less than two weeks. The first two novels, Bangkok Shadows and Bangkok Whispers, continue gaining readers, and Bangkok Blues will please old and new readers alike.

No spoilers, so all I can say about Bangkok Blues is  that it is written in the third person this time, so readers can see what other characters are thinking, and experience scenes where Glenn Murray Cohen, the main character and protagonist, is not present. Most of the regular cast of characters appear: Sleepy Joe, the hippie who is also a trained killer, the General, an enigmatic and powerful presence, Oliver, the man who can find out anything, and, Edward the Money Launderer who has caused Glenn many problems in the past. Of course, the talented guitarist  and thoroughly obnoxious Phil Funston  is back, with Glenn as his reluctant manager. Readers will meet several new characters, both Thai and other nationalities. As with the first two novels, Bangkok Blues is an exotic noir thriller, with the fascinating City of Bangkok as a backdrop.  

Click here to reach the Amazon page for the NJA Club series

COMING THIS FEBRUARY!

NOW MORE THAN EVER, INSPIRATION FROM DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING

MLK Memorial, Washington, DC (Courtesy Tampa Bay Times).

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”

START THE NEW YEAR WITH THE WISDOM OF THE DALAI LAMA

Inspiring Quotes, January 4, 2022

Whatever our faith, we can all learn from one who says, “My religion is kindness.”

 

 

Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, turns 86 on June 6. Throughout his life, he has been a source of inspiration and wisdom — not just for Tibetan Buddhists, but for people everywhere.

The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader and monarch of Tibet. When he was just two years old, in 1937, Tenzin Gyatso was found to be the reincarnation of the previous Dalai Lama. All the Dalai Lamas are believed to be earthly manifestations of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva embodying compassion, and the patron saint of Tibet. It’s believed the Dalai Lama is delaying their own attainment of nirvana in a constant reincarnation cycle to help ease suffering in others.

Peace and compassion are central tenets of the 14th Dalai Lama’s life, and his commitment to them has made him an international icon. In 1989, he received a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to find a peaceful solution for the political unrest in Tibet. He has also earned more than 150 awards and honorary degrees for his continuing push toward nonviolence and universal compassion and understanding, and is known around the world for advocating for harmony between people and nations alike.

These 14 quotes are nuggets of wisdom the 14th Dalai Lama has imparted in an effort to fulfill his mission to end suffering. Think of them as an instruction manual for living a life of peace, happiness, and compassion.

True happiness comes from a sense of inner peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved through the cultivation of altruism, of love and compassion and elimination of ignorance, selfishness, and greed.

Reason well from the beginning and then there will never be any need to look back with confusion and doubt.

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

True peace with oneself and with the world around us can only be achieved through the development of mental peace.

The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater our own sense of well-being becomes.

There is a saying in Tibetan that “at the door of the miserable rich man sleeps the contented beggar.” The point of this saying is not that poverty is a virtue, but that happiness does not come with wealth, but from setting limits to one’s desires, and living within those limits with satisfaction.

I try to treat whoever I meet as an old friend. This gives me a genuine feeling of happiness. It is the practice of compassion.

Inner peace is the key: If you have inner peace, the external problems do not affect your deep sense of peace and tranquility.

It is very important to generate a good attitude, a good heart, as much as possible. From this, happiness in both the short term and the long term for both yourself and others will come.

Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend — or a meaningful day.

Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned.

Compassion and tolerance are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength.

Human happiness and human satisfaction must ultimately come from within oneself. It is wrong to expect some final satisfaction to come from money or from a computer.

The root of happiness is altruism — the wish to be of service to others.

Credit: Photo courtesy of Petr Kratochivil

WSJ: Mandates Working in Austria

I’ve often said the WSJ separates its very conservative editorial stance from its reporting. WSJ journalists have as free if not freer hands than journalists working elsewhere. Their editorials regularly denounce mandates and restrictions as ineffective, but their independent reporters found otherwise. Let me get one thing straight: I wouldn’t want to see such measures used anywhere, but that of course depends on people voluntarily engaging in responsible behavior that protects themselves and others. People get sick and die and economies take nosedives. If people reject vaccines, masks and social distance on a voluntary basis and we keep getting deadly new surges, what should governments do? If someone opposes mandates, it is incumbent upon them to produce a medically and scientifically valid plan to end this worldwide pandemic. Virtually all the scientists and doctors give the same advice to get vaccinated and wear masks and socially as necessary. Places that listen to them to much better than those who don’t. Click here to read the Wall street Journal article “Austria’s Restrictions on the Unvaccinated Appear to Be Working”.
 #trustscience

A TALE OF THREE MURDER VERDICTS

Ahmaud Aubrey, Courtesy of New York Times Courtesy The Independent George Floyd, Courtesy CBS News

Between April and November of this year, Americans were fixated on three criminal murder trials: Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis, Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha Wisconsin, and the Georgia trial of three man accused of murdering African-American jogger Ahmaud Arbery.

Issues of race, inequities in the criminal justice system, and laws governing self defense and open or concealed carry laws lurked in the background of all three cases, but the facts and circumstances of each were very different. They should be evaluated in light of their specific facts and laws at issue before predicting they establish new precedents. All three cases were ultimately decided by videos, and all defendants argued they were acting lawfully. The actions and inactions of law-enforcement before charges were filed is a serious issue in all three but were not dispositive of the issues at trial. The cases were decided by the juries, based on the evidence they were shown and the laws on which they were instructed. This is how trials America are supposed to be decided.  

I won’t spend much time on the Chauvin verdict, as it was the least controversial of the trials, although the matter of African-Americans dying at the hands of police was the most important issue raised by any of the cases. Chauvin’s defenses were that his choking to death of George Floyd was both necessary and within department guidelines, and that his choking Mr. Floyd to death was not really what killed him. Virtually no one from any political quarter defended this rogue police officer; his cruel and deprived act of murder was seen on video with scores of citizens pleading with him to stop. What makes the trial unique in the annals of American legal history was the more than just an officer being held accountable for their actions. The willingness of fellow officers, from the top ranks to the street officers, to testify against Chauvin may turn out to be the most significant impact of any of these three trials and would indeed be a fine precedent.

Trump hosts Rittenhouse after acquittal. Courtesy NY Post

The Rittenhouse Trial Was About Self-Defense, So the Verdict Is Neither  Surprising Nor a Precedent.

While many pundits declared the Rittenhouse case the beginnings of a new wave of judicially approved vigilantism, this retired criminal defense lawyer isn’t quite so certain. Days after Rittenhouse’s acquittal, a Georgia jury with eleven whites convicted three white men of murdering Ahmaud Arbery in cold blood. The self-defense law in Georgia wasn’t all that different from Wisconsin’s; there is no duty to retreat to the wall before using deadly force, and the Georgia law allow the alleged self-defender to shoot the purported aggressor even as they flee and all danger is gone. (Called “Stand Your Ground” in Florida, the law that allowed George Zimmerman to kill Trevan Martin and be acquitted.) The Georgia killers also had the assistance of a Jim Crow law that allowed anyone to make a citizen’s arrest under the weakest of suspicion. (It was repealed after this case was filed.) The jury didn’t believe there was any reason to arrest Mr. Arbery because there wasn’t. They saw the tape and they heard one of the defendants-the actual shooter-explain his alleged fear that justified deadly force, which they rejected. In the Rittenhouse case, there was also a compelling video and testimony by the defendant, but the video and the testimony helped the defense in Rittenhouse’s case and buried the defense in Georgia.

There’s no question the judge put his finger on the scale and tipped things in favor of Rittenhouse, but it’s not so clear any of it would have made a difference. There wasn’t any evidence presented at trial that Rittenhouse had any particular racial or political animus; we can speculate all we want based on who supports him and who he seems to support, but that wasn’t before the jury. All three victims were white. And yes, there is a built-in prejudice within the criminal justice system that gives greater credibility and respect to a clean cut looking, well-spoken white youth than to someone of a different race or demographic, I have little doubt that a young African-American youth seen carrying a firearm at a demonstration would be stopped by police if not killed, and if a minor like Rittenhouse, at a minimum, the weapon would be seized. Surely, after shooing three people and killing two, it is impossible to believe the police would have released a young African-American male  to return home to a different state. It’s by no means assured a mostly white jury would view a young African-American male the same way they viewed Mr. Rittenhouse. These are serious problems, horrendous examples of unequal justice, but they were not facts relevant to whether on that day the defendant was acting in self defense under Wisconsin law. Wisconsin laws on self-defense and open carry of weapons at demonstrations need to be addressed and changed, but that is not the role of the courts; it is up to Wisconsin voters to elect state legislators to change the laws.

One thing that surprised me was that local officials in Rittenhouse’s home town didn’t take any action against the adults who induced impressionable young men like Rittenhouse to take rifles they weren’t old enough to possess, and travel two hours to Kenosha on some bogus property protection scam. A Kyle Rittenhouse doesn’t appear out of thin air; others created him.

I’d also like to see a serious investigation of the Kenosha police who allowed Rittenhouse to walk around with a deadly weapon in the midst of unfolding violence,  and then allowed him to go home after the shooting. However important, those issue played no role at trial.

One reason I don’t see the Rittenhouse verdict as ushering in a wave of vigilante killings-in addition to the Georgia verdict — is because they have already been occurring regularly. The neo-Nazis who killed people at prayer in synagogues in Pittsburg and San Diego and in a church in Charleston didn’t need a verdict to inspire them. Nor did the Nazis and white supremacists who were just found liable for death and mayhem in Charlottesville. We can never forget the maniacal mob of Nazis and white supremacists Trump unleashed on the Capitol on January 6. None of those criminals needed a Kyle Rittenhouse acquittal. The Rittenhouse case should be seen as limited to its facts because of the self-defense issue and the favored stature that a young white man like Rittenhouse carries into a criminal trial. But as three racist murders in Georgia just learned, it doesn’t work out the same way when you’re a different defendant under a different set of facts.

The racial issue in the Wisconsin case is too say the least unclear. Rittenhouse traveled almost a hundred miles to carry a firearm in a demonstration protesting the killing of an African-American at the inducement of adults and with the apparent approval of the Kenosha police. The evidence showed he was given a rifle and induced to travel to a neighboring state to protect property against looters. A more mature person might have asked if that weren’t properly the job of local and state law enforcement, but this was an impressionable teenager whose judgment is not the same as an adult’s. (How many times have we defense layers made this argument on behalf of minors charged with felonies?) The victims were all white, and two of them were armed. 

The evidentiary stars were aligned for Mr. Rittenhouse before he got even luckier and drew this particular judge and prosecution team. To make matters even worse for their case, the prosecution promised in their opening statement  to present a witness who would testify he heard Rittenhouse say he wanted to kill protesters. The problem was that this witness said under oath at trial that he lied and Rittenhouse never made the statement. By the time the jury got the case, it’s inevitable that the prosecution had a credibility issue while the defense lawyers had great credibility with the jury

  The Ahmaud Arbery Case Was All About Race

There were racial issues hovering over all three cases, but were front-and-center only in the Georgia trial. Two Georgia prosecution offices declined to file charges in Mr. Arbery’s death. One office falsely said the killing was justified because Mr. Arbery was a burglar, and the second office declined because their elected DA was close with two of the defendants, who had worked in law enforcement. One line prosecutor goes on trial next week for obstructing the investigation in order to avoid charges being filed. This is the kind of justice African-American face when they are murdered in the streets for no reason whatsoever; Chauvin’s conviction was a rare instance of a white police officer held accountable for murdering an innocent African-American. There was a clear racial component to the Georgia trial, and the defendants’ racism was evident to all. They weren’t charged with hate crimes in state court because Georgia has no such statute. (They face a federal hate crimes trial early next year.)

In the Georgia case, there was nothing on the video to suggest any defendant had a rational basis for fearing Mr. Arbery, who in fact was seen trying to avoid any contact with them. There was zero evidence of a crime that justified  invoking the racist citizen’s arrest law. (They did not raise this claim until they were charged, and never mentioned it when questioned by police.) There isn’t any doubt the convicted killers were hunting a Black man as if it were a sport. The Arbery family persisted until they found an able and honorable prosecutor and a fair trial before an impartial judge, but the road was rocky. In other words, the verdict in Georgia was a great moment for equal justice, and the commitment of the Arbery family,  but the difficult road and the resistance from those who are supposed to help shows there is more work to do.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Courtesy San Diego Community College District

THOUGHTS ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF KRISTALNACHT

    Photo by Stephen Shaiken Today is the 83d anniversary of the horrors of Kristalnacht, when the racist Nazi leader of Germany and his party incited violence and murder against those they considered disloyal and “the other.” The Nazis of course denied responsibility, claiming it was a spontaneous outburst by decent German citizens enraged that their country was being taken from them by these outsiders, these “others.” The assassination of a Nazi official by a teenage Polish Jew in Paris was offered as justification. Hundreds of synagogues and Jewish institutions were destroyed, 7,500 Jewish business looted and forced to close, scores of Jews killed and thousands injured. During the three days of pogrom, 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and imprisoned in concentration camps. The Nazis even levied a fine upon the German Jewish community as punishment for causing Germans to commit these acts and the cleanup it entailed. (“Kristalnacht is best translated as “the night of the broken glass,” referring to the mountains of glass filling the streets of Germany after the pogrom ended.) Yet today, knowing this history, there are people in America who don swastikas and glorify Hitler and his monstrous regime. It is beyond shocking to see any American wear a shirt stating “Camp Auschwitz” or the acronym for ” 6 million wasn’t enough,” especially when trying to overthrow the government and retain in power a man who regularly expresses his solidarity with neo-Nazis and white supremacists. Equally unsettling and disturbing are false claims we “control the Congress,” the banks, “control foreign policy” own all the media, veiled antisemitic references to the “Israel Lobby,” or “Zionists.” Most astonishing are delusional claims by Republican lawmakers like Taylor-Green, Gosart, and Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, alleging dangerous, crazy lies that we are starting fires with lasers or smuggling in immigrants to replace white people. As partisans, many of us like to believe the hatred and bigotry comes from one side or one narrow viewpoint. While law enforcement reports the greatest threat comes from neo-Nazis, white supremacists and the far right, antisemitism runs through various ideologies, and Nazism is not its only form. Ilhan Omar is as much an antisemite as Marjorie Taylor Green or Paul Gosart; the political labels may be different, but the hatred is the same. But we can’t overlook reality: the massacres of Jews at prayer in synagogues in Pittsburgh and San Diego by neo-Nazis shouting Trump’s comments on Soros and immigrants as their assault rifles murdered people. We can’t overlook the Charlottesville chants of “Jews will not replace us” greeted with Trump’s “good people on both sides” and his joyous embrace of an outright Nazi group like the Proud Boys. Yes, there is antisemitism in other quarters as well, but the last three annual reports by the FBI and DHS say, the violence is almost all from the neo-Nazis, white supremacists and far right. The Republican Party is becoming a toxic blend of those three strands of hate, egged on by Donald Trump and racists. They purge anyone who speaks out or resists. Some may call these statements political, but I say it’s just reciting the facts. We can’t hold back the truth when combatting hatred and racism. Sadly, the Holocaust is being forgotten and distorted. Cheap tinhorn politicians who call mask or vaccine mandates “Nazism” are trivializing racism and genocide. Every American ought to be able to see that on Kristalnacht, the Nazis were not requiring masks or COVID vaccines; they were launching the Holocaust. Do we really want a generation to grow up thinking “if all Hitler did was make people wear masks and get vaccines during a pandemic, maybe he wasn’t such a bad guy at all”? Jews have been victims of genocide for at least two millennia, and once again we see citizens of a country adopting Nazi racism against the fellow citizens who are Jewish, and this time, it is in our country. It’s tolerated and accepted by one of our two political parties, which makes no attempt to even acknowledge the problem.  Rest assured, the hatred is not limited to us; we know that African-Americans, Latinos, Muslims, Asians LBGTQ and select “others” are equally despised. That’s why we Jews must unite with and stand up for those people just as we stand up for ourselves. In the words of the great Sage Hillel the Elder (110BCE- 10CE): If I am not for myself, who will be for me?If I am only for myself, what am I?And if not now, when? Once again, I can also use one of my favorite philosophical quotations, by the Spaniard George Santayana:“Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.”  

TWO GREAT EXOTIC NOIR THRILLERS SET IN BANGKOK

Bangkok Series: Espionage Mysteries by Stephen Shaiken

SALLY ROONEY’S RACISM MASQUERADING AS PRINCIPLE: ANOTHER BDS-HOLE EXPOSED

Irish author Sally Rooney refuses to allow her most recent novel to be published in Hebrew. She recently clarified that her refusal was not based on antipathy to the Hebrew language, but rather on her antipathy to the Jewish people who speak and the world’s only Jewish state, where Hebrew is the official language. Not surprising, as Ms. Rooney is a devoted follower of BDS, a neo-Nazi cult described as such by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron. 

 The controversy was the subject of a recent article in tThe forward, America’s leading Jewish newspaper.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE FROM FORWARD

Sally Rooney is not a particularly good writer. she’s been dubbed “the first millennial writer,” a way of messaging that her work is not universal. Her ratings on Goodreads, the “gold standard” for reader reviews,  are well below 4 stars. (Both of my novels did far better than not, and I’ll happily agree to have them translated into Hebrew or any other language.) She is however, a fairly transparent racist, who singles out Israel for discrimination, but happily allows her work to be translated into Chinese, Russian and Arabic.

As a writer, perpetually seeking new readers, I find it odd and disturbing that a fellow author seeks to exclude readers on the basis of religion or nationality. It shows how hatred, racism  and antisemitism can twist all minds, including those of artists. Racist writers are nothing new: Pound, Celine and Eliot were known antisemites, Rudyard Kipling was a colonialist racist, and American literature is filled with racist portrayals of minorities. I hoped we were past that point, but people like Ms. Rooney remind me that’s not the case. 

I am against all cultural boycotts, even from countries that have governments I despise. So long as the art is not racist or promoting values all decent people ought to reject, I say bring it on, let the people be the judges. I certainly don’t want anyone boycottong Rooney or anyone else on purely political grounds. A personal example: I loathe roger Waters, see him as an unreconstructed neo-Nazi antisemite, but I still listen to Pink Floyd music. I can’t hold his bigotry against the rest of the and or the music itsel, which was fre from Waters’ hatred.

Sally Rooney is by no means a “bad” writer, thought critics seem to love her more than readers do. Some dissenting critics have protested that she is overly romantic and drifts into erotica instead of creativity. I tried getting through one of her books, and that’s how i felt, but that’s a question of taste, not talent. These criticism must rankle Ms. Rooney. I say this because the  September 21, 2021issue of The Atlantic contained an article arguing that not only was hr work overly romantic, but even more offensive, it was not political! Days afterward, Ms. Rooney unleashed her antisemitic tirades against Israel, believing we were all idiots and referring to Jews as “Hebrew” fooled us. 

We may never know precisely what  motivates Ms. Rooney to single out Jews and urge the world to shun us. Whatever the reason, it’s racist, stupid, counterproductive for artists, and  a cheap publicity stunt from an author who really isn’t living up to her hype and is looking for another avenue for fame and fortune.i

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

I’m really interested in hearing what others think of Ms. Rooney’s position, and cultural boycotts in general. Feel free to post a comment.

 

NORTHERN CHINA TIGER CLAWING WAY BACK FROM NEAR-EXTINCTION

It is rare indeed to to find anything good to say about China’s environmental policies, despite promises to improve. However, there’s evidence of genuine transformation in the area of endangered species. Twenty years ago, the population of Amur tigers, native to China’s North, was seven; today it is  fifty five, thanks to protection of habitat and tiger. Experts say when the population reaches three hundred, it will be stable and continue to grow.

Now that’s good news!

Here’s a photo taken by China’s wildlife services, showing a mother and two cubs happily strolling about the forest. (At least I think they’re happy.)

CREDIT: Feline Research Center of National Forestry and Grassland