Frank Lavin

Author, Business consultant, Public speaker. Reagan White House , WWII history , Forbes columnist

[Frank Lavin @HelloFrankLavin]

Veteran's Day

[Niall Ferguson @nfergus]

In Memoriam,
Private D. Sutherland
killed in Action in the German Trench 16 May 1916,
and the Others who Died

By Ewart Alan Mackintosh (1893 - 1917)

So you were David's father,
And he was your only son,
And the new-cut peats are rotting
And the work is left undone,
Because of an old man weeping,
Just an old man in pain,
For David, his son David,
That will not come again.

Oh, the letters he wrote you,
And I can see them still,
Not a word of the fighting
But just the sheep on the hill
And how you should get the crops in
Ere the year got stormier,
And the Bosches have got his body,
And I was his officer.

You were only David's father,
But I had fifty sons
When we went up that evening
Under the arch of the guns,
And we came back at twilight
— O God! I heard them call
To me for help and pity
That could not help at all.

Oh, never will I forget you,
My men that trusted me,
More my sons than your fathers'
For they could only see
The little helpless babies
And the young men in their pride.
They could not see you dying
And hold you while you died.

Happy and young and gallant,
they saw their first born go,
But not the strong limbs broken
And the beautiful men brought low,
The piteous writhing bodies,
They screamed, "Don't leave me Sir,"
For they were only fathers
But I was your officer.

Note: Mackintosh served as an officer in the Seaforth Highlanders (my grandfather’s regiment) and was killed in action in 1917 at the Battle of Cambrai. I know of no more powerful poem inspired by the Great War.

[Frank Lavin @HelloFrankLavin]

Reposting: "Putin knows he is unlikely ever to encounter a more sympathetic American president than Trump..."

https://t.co/xpZRwjUsbo

[Frank Lavin @HelloFrankLavin]

"Mr. Trump can’t escape blame so easily. He and his policies and candidate choices burned the Republican Party to the ground."

The GOP’s Defeat Was Truly Massive by @KarlRove https://t.co/JuxqpGeeAx via @WSJopinion

[Frank Lavin @HelloFrankLavin]

Sometimes in life, your conscience requires you to take a stand....

[S Sebag Montefiore @simonmontefiore]

Rare moral clarity and moral leadership here

[Frank Lavin @HelloFrankLavin]

Sign of a good harvest, or sign of the apocylypse?

[Adam Aaronson @aaaronson]

JULIA LETLOW will be the first US senator whose name contains exactly one of each vowel since EDWIN S. BROUSSARD (a 94-year gap)

[Frank Lavin @HelloFrankLavin]

After having turned it off, no country in the world has been able to turn the population switch back on.

[South China Morning Post @SCMPNews]

China sees nearly 10% drop in marriages, foreshadowing lower birth rate in 2027 https://t.co/ElHNeFUAvz

[Frank Lavin @HelloFrankLavin]

Bad policy, bad character make bad politics:

[Mitt Romney @MittRomney]

Bad policy, bad character make bad politics: erratic tariffs, impulsive Iran war, blanket pardons, apparent corruption, weaponized justice, ICE brutality, mountainous deficits, hiding Epstein, abandoning allies and coddling enemies. Hoping for a course correction, for the country and for my party.

[Frank Lavin @HelloFrankLavin]

"Election Day" -- William Carlos Williams" https://t.co/Sv7bhXoFEg via @biblioklept

[Frank Lavin @HelloFrankLavin]

Coming out against the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 is quite the closing argument.

[Republicans against Trump @RpsAgainstTrump]

Don Jr: "They want to pack the Supreme Court. They want to make Ohio a state."

[Frank Lavin @HelloFrankLavin]

"The United States of America has taken the side of an aggressor against its innocent victim."

[Jay Nordlinger @jaynordlinger]

"It cannot be stated often enough or vociferously enough," writes Kori Schake. "The Trump administration is helping Russia to conquer Ukraine. The United States of America has taken the side of an aggressor against its innocent victim." Dark and true. https://t.co/fuhSBkH2N8

[Frank Lavin @HelloFrankLavin]

Nicely done: A List of Things Democrats Might Do If They Retake Power https://t.co/HTtXH2WtH8

[Frank Lavin @HelloFrankLavin]

Great Changi Prison story, based on the author's WWII experience....

[John Hood @JohnHoodNC]

On this date in 1965, Columbia Pictures premiered its new prisoner-of-war film “King Rat” in New York City. Directed by Bryan Forbes and starring George Segal as the conniving Corporal King, the picture was adapted from a 1962 novel by former British officer who had himself been a POW of the Japanese at Changi Prison in Singapore.

The author was James Clavell. “King Rat” was the first of six novels in his “Asian Saga” that would earn him international fame and fortune — including “Tai-Pan” (1966), “Shogan” (1975), and “Noble House” (1981) — but Clavell actually begin his writing career not for publishers but for movie producers. He adapted a French short story into the script for the sci-fi horror classic “The Fly” (1958). The following year, he did the screenplay for the 1959 film “Watusi” (a sequel to “King Solomon’s MInes”) and not only wrote but directed “Five Gates to Hell,” an adventure film set in Indochina. After selling several other scripts, Clavell was sidelined by a writer’s strike and decided to try his hand at a novel. “King Rat” was the result.

If you’re only familiar with Segal from his later roles in farcical films or as Jack Gallo from the TV sitcom “Just Shoot Me!,” his performance in “King Rat” may surprise you. It is far from comic. Other notable actors in the movie are Tom Courtenay, James Fox, John Mills, Patrick O'Neal, and Denholm Elliott, who 23 years later appeared in the TV miniseries adaptation of Clavell’s “Noble House.”

[Frank Lavin @HelloFrankLavin]

On LACMA: curators have indulged the contemporary ideological delusion that art can be experienced without reference to history, culture, context or ideas, and the results are also amorphous, hostile to curiosity, exhausting and ultimately depressing https://t.co/Cf53FWRYPi

[Frank Lavin @HelloFrankLavin]

Strong lede, looking at strength of US financial markets.

[Dean W. Ball @deanwball]

American chattering classes love to hate our country’s financial services sector, but mark my words: the depth and versatility of U.S. capital markets will be our mightiest weapon in the singularity. Anti-finance sentiment, still fashionable on both left and right, is low IQ.

[Frank Lavin @HelloFrankLavin]

Are China's policies directed by habit and inertia, even when they do not redound to China's benefit? My latest in Forbes: Note To China: Turn Off The Autopilot via @forbes https://t.co/RkBVUBFfWb

[Frank Lavin @HelloFrankLavin]

The Trump Administration’s Outlook Toward Ukraine Is a Moral and Strategic Atrocity https://t.co/dGlSNPugke

[Frank Lavin @HelloFrankLavin]

@kausmickey Paul Tsongas campaigned with a "Pander Bear."

[Frank Lavin @HelloFrankLavin]

There is no such thing as national interest. But there are customers.

[Ryan Hass @ryanl_hass]

@niubi It’s a weak effort by Trump to suggest the US sells to everyone, so a few arms to Taiwan isn’t a deal. In other words, Trump is neither comfortable nor fluent enough on policy to hold firm when Xi pushes him on Taiwan arms sales. This isn’t a joke and it isn’t funny.

[Frank Lavin @HelloFrankLavin]

Trump has invited Putin to the Miami G20 summit. Should he also invite Zelensky?

[Carl Bildt @carlbildt]

Not entirely surprising that Trump 🇺🇸 has invited Putin 🇷🇺 to the G20 summit in Miami. I think European G20 members should make their participation in the meeting conditional on Trump inviting also Zelenskyy 🇺🇦 as a guest.

[Frank Lavin @HelloFrankLavin]

The history of the world in 60 seconds.

[Brilliant Maps @BrilliantMaps]

Watch The Entire History of the World Every Year In Just 60 Seconds

Watch the full video: https://t.co/SMJehOiW8S