"All of us can take fright, but it requires greatness of soul to laugh at the moment when not merely life, but humanity itself is endangered."   In my ongoing celebration of all things France I am reading a book called 'The Banquet Years' by Roger Shattuck. It is about the origins of the avant-garde in France from 1885 - World War I. From this book I regal you with the story of Henri Rousseau and the ridicule he faced while keeping his childlike innocence intact. Then our July fireworks reach their crescendo with the spectacular story of Alfred Jarry and his groundbreaking play Ubu Roi that created a scandalous riot when it premiered at Theatre L'Oeuvre in Paris in 1896. Alfred Jarry was the precursor to the Dada art movement, surrealism and the Theater Of The Absurd. Learn all about this man who rode his bicycle around Paris with a rifle over his shoulder, two pistols in his belt and tried to make his life a living hallucination.   I talk about the triumph of France at the World Cup and how they did what Napoleon failed to do and that is to be victorious in Russia.   I talk about how Vladimir Putin and the good people of Russia are the real winners of the World cup and how we could all learn to conduct our lives in victory and defeat the way the team of Japan does.   The opposite of Japanese politeness and concern for others is President Trump, who I am now calling the Urine Pawn. Just this week he called Canada and the European Union the enemies of America and stood with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki never mentioning the Russian influence on the 2016 election. When asked directly by a reporter if he had anything to say to Putin about this or the 12 Russians indicted days ago for hacking our election he said that he takes Putin's word for it when he said he didn't do it and asked why no one has found Hillary Clinton e-mail server yet. This is theater of the absurd on the world stage, which makes me think that this video of Trump with Russian prostitutes urinating must be worse than we could ever imagine. Where is the outcry from the American people over this treasonous act at the highest level? Thanks to the Urine Pawn we are now living in a world where our allies are now our enemies and our enemies are now our allies. The tough bully president of America acted like a neutered cat in the lap of the ultimate chess master Putin. And yet, this is somehow Hillary's fault? Back to reasons to be cheerful...

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