Pericles's Funeral Oration
The Greatest Statesman of Athens
The 5th century B.C. is often called Greece's 'Golden Age.' Democracy became a legal and political reality, Greek city states successfully deterred a massive Persian invasion and secured two centuries of independence, and philosophers like Socrates began asking probing philosophical questions that continue to concern humanity.
Playwrights
, Sophocles, Aristophanes, and Euripides wrote some of the most famous dramas to this day, while the physician Hippocrates laid the foundations for modern medicine and the traveling bard
turned history into an intellectual discipline in its own right.
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New York Post
16 hours ago
- New York Post
Zohran Mamdani's NYC could look like Sadiq Khan's far-left London
Many of my friends and former neighbors in New York — where I lived for 27 years — are anxious about the city's future if it elects as mayor a self-proclaimed Muslim socialist. Another great world capital already offers a glimpse of what might lie ahead: London, under its far-left mayor, Sadiq Khan. I recently returned to my native London for the first time in more than two decades. What I found wasn't the inclusive, cosmopolitan capital I had known and loved but a city so altered in tone and appearance that I scarcely recognized it. Over the course of a fortnight in June, neighborhood after neighborhood left me feeling not just like a visitor, but like a stranger in my own birthplace. At times, I felt more as though I was in Dubai rather than London. Mayor Sadiq Khan — a Muslim of Pakistani heritage — has aggressively pursued a pro-immigration agenda during his last eight years. Kahn's London offers housing and social services that are a magnet for the record number of illegal immigrants flooding into Britain. Kahn was reelected for a third term in May 2024. Advertisement 5 Many of my friends and former neighbors in New York — where I lived for 27 years — are anxious about the city's future if it elects as mayor a self-proclaimed Muslim socialist, says author Patricia Posner. This isn't about race or immigration alone. Nor is it nostalgia for some imagined golden era. I'm the daughter of first-generation Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe and grew up in multicultural London during the 1950s and '60s. My childhood circle included Afro-Caribbean and Persian friends. Our high street bustled with South Asian-owned shops and takeaways run by newly arrived strivers from former British colonies. My father's kosher tailor shop stood proudly on Brick Lane, even as the East End transformed from a Jewish enclave into a Bangladeshi stronghold. These shifts felt organic —imperfect, yes, but cohesive. There was a sense of shared direction. The antisemitic bullying I experienced at school came exclusively from native-born white Britons — not immigrants. This time, the transformation felt fundamentally different. Advertisement What struck me wasn't just the arrival of new communities but the visible dominance in many neighborhoods of conservative Middle Eastern and Muslim cultural norms. It wasn't just demographic change but a palpable shift in the very atmosphere of public life. In shops, pharmacies, cafés, and on the Tube, I repeatedly encountered women in full niqab and men in traditional thawbs. What was missing was the gradual integration I remembered from my youth. I saw no sign these communities were blending into the broader civic culture — or even being encouraged to. What I saw wasn't diversity but cultural segregation. Not integration, but parallel societies. 5 London Mayor Sadiq Khan speaks to the media ahead of the open Iftar in Trafalgar Square on April 08, 2024 in London, England. Getty Images Advertisement Some have suggested my timing — arriving during Eid al-Adha — might have skewed my impression. Perhaps. But while that might explain the Rolls-Royces and Lamborghinis with Emirati plates outside Mayfair hotels, it doesn't explain the sense of dislocation I felt in ordinary boroughs, far from the luxury districts. I wore my Star of David necklace every day, as I always do. Given the alarming rise in antisemitic incidents in Britain since Oct. 7, I was prepared to feel uneasy. I avoided the large pro-Hamas marches that openly call for the expulsion of Jews from the UK. I was warned about no-go zones governed by informal sharia norms, where Western faces are unwelcome. Even so, in public spaces, when someone spotted my necklace, I noticed sidelong glances, whispered comments, the occasional nudge. It was subtle — but unmistakable. 5 A woman walks past as a man believed to be an asylum seeker stands outside of a hotel in protest at the condition of his accommodation, in London, Britain, June 2, 2023. REUTERS Advertisement At the Wallace Collection museum in upscale Marylebone, I struck a conversation with a small group of fellow Brits who were there admiring the art. When I happened to mention that I was Jewish, things took an awkward turn. 'I hope that doesn't make anyone uncomfortable,' I joked. What followed was a long, brittle pause — then a few polite smiles and the obligatory, 'Of course not.' But the silence said far more than the words. This is not the London I left in 1978, when I moved to the United States. Nor is it the city I returned to often in the '80s and '90s for extended family visits. Back then, London had become a truly global capital — vibrant, polyglot, and mostly harmonious. I never lived in a bubble. 5 Zohran Mamdani rides the subway following a campaigning stop in NYC on April 1. REUTERS While I now live in Miami, I've followed UK news closely and stayed in touch with friends and relatives. I knew London had changed. What I did not expect was how alienated and unwelcome I felt in the city that raised me. To express these concerns is to risk accusations of bigotry or reactionary nostalgia. But acknowledging what many Britons — of all backgrounds — quietly feel is not an act of prejudice. It's an act of candor. I write this not to stoke division but to urge honest dialogue. The promise of a pluralistic society isn't that we live side-by-side in self-contained silos but that we build a common life together. Advertisement 5 People on the water in blue pedaloes on the Serpentine in Hyde Park in Londonon July 30. In Pictures via Getty Images A Zohran Mamdani New York will not be transformed overnight. But if Mamdani moves to double down on sanctuary policies for undocumented migrants while driving out the tax base needed to fund his socialist ambitions, the city I love could soon follow London's path. London's diversity once made me proud. I still believe in its potential. But I say this with sorrow, not anger: London no longer feels like home. It has been taken over. Advertisement Is New York next? Patricia Posner is the executive director of Antisemitism Watch.
Los Angeles Times
17 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
How a fizzled recall attempt actually helped Mayor Karen Bass
Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It's Julia Wick, with an assist from David Zahniser, giving you the latest on city and county government. Several millennia ago during the Trojan War, an army of Greeks built a massive wooden horse, feigned departure and left it as a 'gift' outside the walled city of Troy. The Trojans brought the offering — filled, unbeknownst to them, with Greek soldiers — into their fortified city and unwittingly wrought their own downfall. At least that's how the legend goes. So if an attack disguised as a gift is a Trojan horse, what do you call a gift disguised as an attack? One could argue that the attempted recall of Mayor Karen Bass inadvertently fits the bill. Back in early March, Silicon Valley philanthropist and former Robert F. Kennedy Jr. running mate Nicole Shanahan launched an effort to recall Bass. At the time, Bass was still on her back foot — an incumbent, first-term mayor who'd become a national target for her initial response to the Palisades fire. It's notoriously difficult to gather enough signatures to trigger a recall. But Shanahan's extremely deep pockets (her ex-husband co-founded Google) made anything possible. With the mayor already wounded and Angelenos feeling angry and frustrated, a well-funded recall effort could have been the spark that torched Bass' reelection chances. That did not come to pass. Proponents didn't even finish the paperwork necessary to begin gathering signatures, then tweeted in June that a recall would 'no longer be our vehicle for change' and that they would instead focus on holding elected officials accountable at the ballot box in 2026. Their spokesperson has not responded to several emails from The Times. But the short-lived recall effort had one effect its proponents likely did not anticipate. During a tenuous moment for Bass, they may have unintentionally handed her an extremely useful tool: the ability to form an opposition committee unencumbered by limits on the size of the donations she collects. The threat from Shanahan's group allowed Bass to form her own anti-recall campaign committee — separate from her general reelection account, which cannot collect more than $1,800 from each donor. Now, she could raise more money from her existing supporters, in far larger amounts. Flash forward to this week, when the latest tranche of campaign finance numbers were released, revealing how much was raised and spent from the beginning of the year through the end of June. While Bass' official reelection campaign took in an anemic $179,589, her anti-recall coffers hoovered up more than four times that amount. The nearly $750,000 collected by the anti-recall campaign included two major donations at the end of March that we previously reported on: $250,000 from the Bass-affiliated Sea Change PAC and $200,000 from former assembly speaker and Actum managing partner Fabian Núñez's leftover campaign cash. Along with Núñez and Sea Change, the largest donors were philanthropists Jon Croel and William Resnick ($25,000 each), businessman Baron Farwell ($25,000) and former City Councilmember Cindy Miscikowski ($15,000). Several others gave $10,000 a piece, including pomegranate billionaire and power donor Lynda Resnick. It's far easier to rally donations when you're dealing with an impending threat. ('Save the mayor from a right-wing recall!' is much catchier than asking for reelection dollars when a serious challenger has yet to jump into the race.) And it's infinitely faster to stockpile cash when you aren't limited to $1,800 increments. 'After the fires and what had happened, anything was possible, and we had to mobilize, and that's what the mayor did,' said Bass campaign strategist Doug Herman. 'But the people of the city didn't want to have a recall in the midst of what they thought were more serious problems.' Shanahan declined to comment. When the recall effort officially times out on Aug. 4, the Bass camp will no longer be able to raise unlimited sums to fight it (with a few exceptions, such as expenses related to winding down the committee or settling debt). But the anti-recall committee will still have quite the extra arsenal to fire off in her favor. Sometimes your loudest enemies are really friends in disguise. —WHITHER CARUSO? Brentwood resident and former Vice President Kamala Harris announced this week that she would not be running for governor, intensifying questions about whether former mayoral candidate Rick Caruso might jump into the gubernatorial race ... or potentially challenge Bass again for mayor. Through a spokesperson, Caruso declined to comment. — RACE FOR THE 8TH FLOOR: City Attorney candidate Marissa Roy outraised incumbent Hydee Feldstein Soto during the latest fundraising period, delivering a major warning shot about the seriousness of her campaign. For now, Feldstein Soto still has more cash on hand than Roy, who is challenging her from the left. — COASTAL CASH: In the race for a Westside council district, public interest lawyer Faizah Malik raised a hefty $127,360, but her stash pales in comparison to the $343,020 that incumbent Councilmember Traci Park brought in during the most recent filing period. That's far more than any other city candidate running in the June 2026 election. — AHEAD OF THE PACK: Council staffer Jose Ugarte, who's hoping to succeed his boss, termed out Councilmember Curren Price, in a crowded South L.A. race, raised a whopping $211,206, far outpacing his rivals. — VIEW FROM THE VALLEY: During this filing cycle, Tim Gaspar and Barri Worth Girvan both brought in real money in the race to succeed outgoing Councilmember Bob Blumenfield in the West Valley. Girvan outraised Gaspar during the past half-year, but Gaspar entered the race earlier and still has substantially more cash on hand. — WHERE'S MONICA? One incumbent who didn't report any fundraising is Valley Councilmember Monica Rodriguez. When reached Friday, Rodriguez said she is still planning to run for reelection and was in the process of changing treasurers. She did not answer when asked whether she was also considering a potential mayoral bid, as has been rumored. — WHAT ABOUT KENNETH? City Controller Kenneth Mejia does not have any campaign finance numbers listed because he qualified his reelection committee after the June 30 fundraising deadline. He'll be required to share fundraising numbers for the next filing period. — LOWER LAYOFFS: The number of employee layoffs planned for the 2025-26 fiscal year continued to decline this week, falling to 394, according to a report released Friday by City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo. Bass' budget had proposed 1,600 earlier this year. Szabo attributed much of the decrease to the transfer of employees to vacant positions that are not targeted for layoff. — TOKENS OF APPRECIATION: According to her disclosure forms, Bass' reelection committee spent more than $1,100 on gifts 'of appreciation,' including flowers sent to Mayer Brown lawyers Edgar Khalatian, Dario Frommer and Phil Recht; Fabian Núñez; lawyer Byron McLain; longtime supporters Wendy and Barry Meyer; author Gil Robertson; former Amazon exec Latasha Gillespie; L.A. Labor Fed head honcho Yvonne Wheeler; lobbyist Arnie Berghoff; Faye Geyen; and LA Women's Collective co-founder Hannah Linkenhoker. The most expensive bouquet ($163.17, from Ode à la Rose) went to Lynda Resnick. — PIZZA INTEL: Bass has not, to my knowledge, publicly shared the names of her reelection finance committee. But her forms list a $198.37 charge at Triple Beam Pizza for food for a 'finance committee meeting' with Cathy Unger, Victoria Moran, Ron Stone, Kellie Hawkins, Todd Hawkins, Cookie Parker, Stephanie Graves, Leslie Gilbert-Lurie, George Pla, Wendy Greuel, Byron McLain, Chris Pak, Travis Kiyota, Areva Martin and Kevin Pickett. Bass' consultant did not immediately respond when asked if that list constituted her finance committee, and if anyone was missing. — FAMILY-FRIENDLY PROGRAMMING? Speakers at Los Angeles City Council meetings will be banned from using the N-word and the C-word, the council decided Wednesday. But my colleague Noah Goldberg reports that the council's decision to ban the words could be challenged in court, with some legal scholars saying it could violate speakers' 1st Amendment free speech rights to curse out their elected officials. — ZINE O' THE TIMES: City Councilmember Bob Blumenfield finally named his pick for the city's Charter Reform Commission: Dennis Zine, who served on the council for 12 years, representing the same West Valley district as Blumenfield. Zine spent more than three decades as an officer with the LAPD while also serving on the board of the Police Protective League, the union that represents rank-and-file officers, and should not be confused with progressive former Santa Monica mayor Denny Zane. That's it for this week! Send your questions, comments and gossip to LAontheRecord@ Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Saturday morning.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Greek government cautious on new EU-US trade deal reached with Trump
The Greek government appears hesitant and cautious in commenting on the EU-US trade deal on tariffs reached between Ursula von der Leyen and Donald Trump. Greek Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis, speaking in the parliament, outlined the government's thoughts on this burning issue. He noted that it puts an end to months of uncertainty following Trump's election and the "back and forth" with the tariffs, and that is a positive thing. He stressed, however, that the government is studying the agreement to see how it can better manage the problems that will arise in areas of Greece's commercial interest. "The agreement puts an end to months of uncertainty regarding the status of perhaps the most important bilateral trade relationship in the global economy. It secures transatlantic unity and prevents a trade war with a chain of negative effects on international trade and on international distribution and production chains," Pierrakakis outlined. "The agreement also strengthens the energy security of the European economy for the foreseeable future. From this perspective, the development is positive." "As you know, as a matter of principle, Greece supports free trade based on stable rules. The agreement provides for the application of tariffs of 15% on European exports to the US, with some asterisks," Pierrakakis continued. "Based on the principled position I have described to you, the Greek government would like a lower tariff rate, ideally zero for all transatlantic trade flows. On the other hand, the announced tariff rate is lower than what was scheduled to be applied on 1 August." "The government is closely following the relevant consultations and, to the extent that the framework of the agreement will allow, possibilities will be explored that could help to better address issues related to products of particular interest to our country." Related US-EU trade deal wards off tariff escalation but threatens growth Von der Leyen and Trump strike EU-US trade deal with 15% tariff for the bloc 'Ending intra-European tariffs' The Greek finance minister also raised another issue, which concerns Europe itself. He said there are still intra-EU barriers that act as tariffs and should be eliminated. "If we really want a strong, competitive and single European economy, we have to tear down the last invisible walls that still prevent the free movement of goods and services within the Union," Pierrakakis said. "It is not possible that, decades after the Single Market was established, there are still regulatory or administrative barriers that in practice act as intra-European 'tariffs'." "In manufacturing there are equivalent internal tariffs of 45% and in services the equivalent is 110%. This is what the International Monetary Fund has documented, and Mario Draghi has mentioned it in his column," he explained. "So, what needs to be conquered and achieved is to remove the barriers, especially between the European economies. And of course we as a country should also be able to systematically address more and more markets, such as India and the Middle Eastern markets, for our exports." 'A defining development' The president of the Hellenic Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Yannis Bratakos noted that the agreement is a defining development for global trade as things are now more predictable. On the other hand, he stressed that it creates serious challenges for Greek and European production. "The recent agreement between the United States and the European Union, which includes a new tariff framework, is a decisive development for transatlantic cooperation and the global economy," Bratakos said. "The new tariff framework resulting from the agreement creates conditions of greater predictability, but at the same time incorporates challenges for specific sectors of European production." Related Oil prices rise on EU-US trade deal and Trump comments on Ukraine Bratakos continued: "The exemption of strategic sectors, such as aeronautics, generic medicines, chemicals and certain agricultural goods, is a positive development." "However, the imposition of uniform tariffs on high-value-added products - including pharmaceutical, industrial and agri-food exports - may hurt the competitiveness of companies that support critical shares of the Greek economy." "Particular attention is needed to protect iconic Greek products, such as olive oil, feta and wines, which risk being burdened by the new regime. In this environment, the need for constant monitoring of developments and effective participation in the shaping of European decisions becomes crucial," Bratakos explained. "At the same time, the strengthening of energy cooperation with the US, through increased imports of LNG and investment in infrastructure, opens up new opportunities for Greece, especially in the fields of logistics, shipbuilding and regional energy interconnection." "The Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry calls on the Greek government to ensure, within the framework of the European institutions, that the final implementation of the agreement will not disrupt the competitiveness of Greek exports and will not increase the dependence of specific sectors on third markets." "It is time for our country to invest concretely and more actively in interconnection with the US and at the same time to broaden its export prospects to alternative markets. The Hellenic Business Association (EBEA) will continue to support this national effort with informed interventions, services to its members and the continuous promotion of Greek entrepreneurship abroad". Related Educated but still unemployed: How does unemployment vary among university graduates across Europe? Spain's economy grows 0.7% as it continues to outshine eurozone peers Hopes of 'manageable' situation The port of Piraeus is a very large trade hub, the main seaport of Athens and plays a key role in the commercial and industrial traffic of Greece and Europe. "We want to believe that the agreement to impose tariffs at the 15% level is a manageable situation and we hope that it will not create losses in US-EU bilateral trade," President of the Piraeus Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Vassilis Korkidis said. "In international trade, any agreement is always better than no agreement and the unilateral imposition of measures and countermeasures. The fact that it was agreed to impose a 15% general tariff on all products including cars is an element that restores balance to US-European trade relations and seems to satisfy both parties," Korkidis explained. "However, the tariffs on steel and aluminium remain at 50%, and it is not clear whether pharmaceuticals and semiconductors will eventually be subject to separate tariffs." "The agreement also provides that the EU will buy US military equipment and energy worth a total of $750 billion, while making significant investments of $600 billion." "The European side calls it an 'all-inclusive' trade agreement between the two major trading partners that brings stability. Regardless of the details and exceptions, it is significant that after months of negotiations, the agreement was reached less than a week before the August 1 deadline and the imposition of higher tariffs that would have had serious repercussions," he said. "We want to believe that the agreement to impose tariffs at the 15% level is a manageable situation and we hope that it will not create losses in US-EU bilateral trade," Korkidis concluded. Sign in to access your portfolio
