May Wreckxits Brexit

Posted on November 18, 2018November 25, 2018 by bfaure Leave a comment

An original 1951 economic compact developing a proposed improved internal post war trade zone between the former allies France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, and their erstwhile enemies, Italy and West Germany, was seized by idealists and over the decades grew into something altogether more imposing. By 1993, the dream of a continental free market […]... Read More

The Election Cometh…

Posted on November 3, 2018 by bfaure Leave a comment

November 6th, 2018 brings that time honored tradition in the United States – the biennial national election day. Ramparts has had its own election tradition – of generally doing a poor job of predicting results – maybe just a little too much leaning on hoped for outcomes, and not enough objective recognition of the fickle nature […]... Read More

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Tumult

Posted on October 28, 2018October 28, 2018 by bfaure Leave a comment

Jair Bolsanaro has just capped off a most tumultuous month. Surviving an leftist assassination attempt in September, 2018, the former Brazilian army officer and long time congressman has blown through a primary, then, run off election, with a crushing defeat of his socialist opponent. Brazil, a country that has been dominated by socialist populist […]... Read More

Mob Mentality

Posted on September 30, 2018September 30, 2018 by bfaure Leave a comment

When you are so sure you are in the right, that there is no place for the concept of truth, you have arrived at mob rule. America and its reliance on the two hundred and forty some year old Constitution, and a tradition of rights of the individual and rule of law, teeters at the […]... Read More

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Maverick

Posted on August 26, 2018 by bfaure 1 Comment

At 10:51am July 29, 1967, the USS Forrestal, an American aircraft carrier positioned in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of Vietnam prepared a flight deck for participation in the strategic bombing campaign, Rolling Thunder, and had a deck full of fighter aircraft loaded with ordinance. Completing the dangerous process of loading live ordinance […]... Read More

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JMW Turner – At Romanticism’s Edge

Posted on August 19, 2018 by bfaure Leave a comment

JMW Turner (1775-1851) lived the life of a radical genius. You know you are making an intense impression when two avowed art critics can look at your work , one critic seeing an artist that “most stirringly and truthfully measures the moods of nature“, the other that sees only “blots“. In 2016, I had the […]... Read More

How Did We Get Here?

Posted on August 12, 2018August 19, 2018 by bfaure 1 Comment

A respite from this blog for a few weeks to recharge my creative juices hasn’t made the world seem to be an any more enlightened place. We are seeing across the world a progression in dissonance and downright strife when anything short of a passive acceptance of another’s world view is expressed. Express free speech […]... Read More

July 2nd, 1776

Posted on July 1, 2018 by bfaure 1 Comment

In 1776, the highest form of capital crime in the United Kingdom or the vast expanse of colonized lands under the sovereignty of King George III was the crime of high treason, disloyalty to the Crown. The concept of high treason represented the ultimate attempt to distort or erode the authority of the sovereign and […]... Read More

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Beethoven’s Glorious Ninth

Posted on June 17, 2018June 17, 2018 by bfaure 2 Comments

Ludwig Von Beethoven died in 1827, likely not hearing reflected in performance a single note of his composed music in the last 13 or so years of his life. An all occlusive deafness stole any semblance other than vibration of the complex sound paintings he was continuing to create, with nothing but his memory of […]... Read More

The Power and Duality of Richard Wagner

Posted on June 3, 2018 by bfaure Leave a comment

We are often called on these pages to speak of genius. The story of western civilization is replete with epic personalities and talents. The accomplishments in art, music, literature, philosophy and science often soar to heights that elevate humankind to a special, almost immortal transcendency. But inevitably, the source of such genius is at base […]... Read More

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