Did you know ancient Rome was "sustainable"?
Romans probably didn't use that exact buzzword, but apparently, they were recycling pioneers. When they weren't creating a mountain made out of garbage, that is.
In Italy, you don’t have one trash can in your house, you have five. Yes, five separate trash cans for the different kinds of trash you accumulate throughout your day.
As someone who's been to Italy recently, I can tell you that that legacy of recycling lives on. Frankly, it's a mixed bag.
If fact, the convoluted waste disposal system in that beautiful Mediterranean peninsula is the perfect embodiment of the current state of Europe.
In America, you take your trash, and you throw it in the can underneath the kitchen sink. Then, when that bag is full, you take it out and throw it in the big can that you set out next to your driveway every week. It’s a simple system. Understandable and logical.
In Italy, you can’t just throw your trash — any trash! — in the bin next to the fridge.
No, in Italy you don’t have one trash can in your house, you have five. Yes, five separate trash cans for the different kinds of trash you accumulate throughout your day. You have one for carta (paper), one for umido (organic materials), one for plastica (plastic), one for vetro (glass), and one for barattoli (metals).
Of course, five different trash cans means five different trash days. Better not miss!
But the fun doesn't stop there: The days aren’t the same every week.
In some towns, they are in a state of continual change. Just when you've gotten used to Monday being umido day, they switch it up to vetro. Until they decide it should be plastica.
Not to worry. You can always print out a schedule from the local trash office. Just remember to dispose of it on carta day.
In Italy, managing your garbage is basically a part-time job.
And it’s not only the trash. There are a bunch of other systems and regulations that basically force you to waste time doing pedantic, pointless tasks, filling out some arbitrary paperwork that will be read by no one but you are legally required to file anyway, or going to the doctor to get a note verifying that you are healthy enough to go to the gym (yes, this is a real requirement to sign up for a gym membership in Italy).
All these reasons, and many more, are why they don’t get anything done there.
I love Italy. It is, without a doubt, one of my favorite places to visit. But it’s just the truth that Italians don’t really get anything done these days. Their economy is in a perpetual state of struggle, no one has kids, and I am not even sure there is a word for entrepreneur or start-up in Italian.
This isn’t just speculation. A good friend in Italy has informed me that the official position of the government is to, more or less, discourage small business and further entrench the larger established corporations started more than half a century ago.
RELATED: When in Italy: Zipping to Lake Como in an Alfa Romeo Giulia
Europe today is basically a museum. It’s the most beautiful museum there is, but it’s a museum. It’s not because the people are actually incapable of doing anything. It’s not because Europe as an entity is inherently incapable of seizing its destiny. All our Western history and culture up to a certain point came from Europe. America sprouted from Europe.
But no one in Europe can do anything today because everyone there suffers under an obscene, time-wasting, Kafkaesque bureaucracy perfectly exemplified by the ludicrous trash system in Italy.
Yes, of course, many there are content with this system. Quite a few really do believe that separating the trash into five bins is a normal part of life and a sign that a society cares for the environment, the future, the children, and Mother Earth ... or something like that.
You might be thinking that separating the trash doesn’t sound like that big of a deal. You might be of the opinion that I’m just a stick-in-the-mud, resisting something just because it’s new. You might imagine that it can’t really take that long. You may say, “So big deal, you just take a little longer with the garbage, you just plan ahead a little more.”
That might sound right if you are doing this whole separating business one time as a fluke, but when you apply this system to everyday life, over and over again, with no escape, it wears people down.
That’s one of the ways European over-regulation turns society into an ossified museum. It’s not just the fact that it is legally difficult to do many things that should not be legally difficult to do. It’s that the pointless inconveniences created by the over-regulation wear people down mentally. At scale, over time, the trash (and every other absurd system similar to the trash) takes a toll on people. The very spirit of a people becomes different.
Many of the regulations in Europe are designed to protect something. Sometimes it’s the environment, sometimes it’s the traditional architecture, sometimes it’s the people. Those things are all fine. Most of us care about protecting those things to some degree.
But you can take protection too far, and if you protect too many things too much, society ends up feeling like a museum where you look but don’t touch. That’s kind of how it feels for many Europeans.
You know those speed bumps they put on residential roads so that you slow down? Imagine if those were everywhere, on every road. That’s kind of what all the overbearing regulations feel like. That’s the general kind of system at every level.
If “move fast and break things” is American, “move slow and sometimes repair stuff” is European. It’s good to repair stuff, it’s nice that Europe maintains much of its cultural inheritance. Perhaps, that’s its role in our era, one of a museum curator. And the Italian trash system and its demand that you fastidiously separate your waste is, in some strange way, related to that spirit.
But that’s not our role in America. That’s not our spirit. We aren’t a museum, we look and touch and change. We don’t have time to waste separating the trash. We have things to do, stuff to build, a future to seize. And the truth is, I’m not sure you can do any of those things if you spend all your time and energy separating your trash into five careful little bins.
Irish political scientist Benedict Anderson defined a nation as an imagined political community — “imagined, because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow members, meet them, or even hear them.”
As a young man, I used to read those words and feel he was right. After all, nations are merely physical landscapes on Earth, each with a finite and demarcated boundary.
Years of working in kitchens had made me immune to heat and stove burns, but this was a whole new level of pain. 'Put your damn gloves on, you idiot!' the skipper cried.
I later came to realize that these arbitrary lines created by cartographers are part of a shared common vision and hold substantial meaning because we believe in them. Our homeland exists as a result of both will and love. A country, at the risk of sounding clichéd, is a dream shared by its citizens. As long as enough people believe in its existence, this dream lives on, and the country, no matter how small, endures.
This was most evident when I packed my bags and moved to an island off the East Coast of the United States for two months.
Robinson Crusoe had Mas a Tierra, Al Capone Alcatraz, and Napoleon Elba. For me it was Grand Manan. Remote island exile provides a unique opportunity for man to confront his existence in solitude.
While Crusoe was deep in thought about theology and reflected on his barter experiences, which shaped the allegory of economic individualism, my reasons for being there were a bit simpler. For instance, my trip to the island wasn’t spur of the moment — I’d planned my visit. Instead of landing by chance like Crusoe from a wooden ship battling the waves, I chose to purchase a ticket with British Airways.
However, the reason for my getaway was a bit rock and roll. I had just gone through a tough breakup with a girl, and to be honest, I was drinking heavily and acting like a complete idiot. What I really needed was some time to clear my mind, get myself together, and decompress, to borrow a well-worn Hollywood term.
I am British, but I’ve always been drawn to North America. I come from a place known for its compact landscape. Neat and orderly hedgerows delineate the embankments along small waterways, while matchbox-size vehicles navigate the county’s narrow arterial roads. These roads lead past rows of identical homes, each accompanied by meticulously maintained gardens, amid a landscape sprinkled with uniformly square fields.
Even places we think of as wild, like the mountains of Snowdonia National Park in North Wales, have a history of centuries of human interaction with the land through farming, quarrying, and mining.
In comparison, North America stands as a vast continent characterized by its towering mountains, expansive desert, and striking canyons, complemented by monumental architecture and inhabitants possessing a distinct sense of self-assurance.
This immense scale and untamed nature have profoundly influenced its identity, serving as a muse for artists such as Albert Bierstadt, whose oil paintings of the frontier remain vividly imprinted in my memory.
Meanwhile, its physical environment has influenced its behavior and politics. As a Brit, I never valued gun rights until I lived in the middle of nowhere, where a cop might not show up for hours. Self-reliance is woven into the fabric of the nation. This belief enabled the people to conquer and dominate this vast land.
The way I ended up here was a delightful mix of serendipity and fate, really. My dad, Peter, who has since passed away, went through a midlife crisis and decided to buy some land and build a house on an island 4,000 miles away from where we lived. My sister was in Canada, training for the Olympics. When he went to visit her, he just fell in love with the place, and, well, the rest is history.
On a chilly fall morning, I found myself in Maine, driving along I-95 toward the New Brunswick border. I was headed to Black’s Harbor to catch a ferry to the island.
I was exhausted. I had left home in England the previous day. By this point, I was running on adrenaline. It didn’t help that the flight over was horrendous. Even though you might be soaring through the sky at 500 mph, watching that little graphic on the in-flight monitor slowly inch across the Atlantic can make time feel like it’s crawling. No matter the size of the plane, you always feel a bit like a sardine in a can. It was like being squished on the subway during rush hour but with even less legroom.
So when I was picked up from the airport in a 1980 Buick Century, I beamed from ear to ear. It wasn’t fast or flashy, but it was reliable and, more importantly, spacious. I slid into the maroon velour seats and glanced at the wood-grain side panels as this beast of a car ate up the miles. It was a long journey. The radio was broken, so I listened to the Eagles on my iPod until it ran out of charge.
After a less-than-pleasant encounter with customs at the border, we crossed the Saint John River and made our way south to the terminal. A small kitchen on board served clam chowder, which was the first warm food I’d had in about 48 hours. There were a lot of people on the boat, most of whom were islanders. A few folks picked up on my British accent and asked if I was staying with Pete. “I am his son,” I answered, sounding a bit nervous. But after a few hours, I finally made it to the island.
Grand Manan is a place that defines solitude. The first permanent settlement on the island was established at the end of the American Revolution by the loyalist Moses Gerrish. At 58 square miles, it is the largest of the Fundy Islands and the main island in the Grand Manan archipelago.
Most of its roughly 2,000 residents live on the eastern side of the island, as the high winds, storms, and jagged, rocky cliffs make the western side uninhabitable and it has not been developed. Luckily, the place I was to call home for the next few months was on the eastern side. I rolled in around midnight and hugged my father. I was just about to head to bed when he had an epiphany: I should immerse myself in island life.
As a child, my father taught me how to line fish, which involves baiting hooks with lugworm that you dig up yourself, often finishing up with the tide around your ankles. He wanted me to learn how to catch crab and lobster, which I first tried and loved when I was 8 years old. Dean, the guy who drove me to the house, was a fisherman, with his own boat. So after a few hours of sleep, I awoke at 4 a.m. to go to sea. It was an event that was to have a profound effect on my life.
Bringing in a lobster pot requires a great deal of skill and patience. You must lean over the side of a boat and use a long metal hook to lure a rope attached to a buoy into your hands before pulling it up.
As expected, I was useless. Needless to say, productivity came to a standstill. I slowly started to get the hang of it. But with this newfound confidence came arrogance. To make up time, I was pulling the ropes quickly. Then it happened. The boat drifted when the tide changed. Remember that scene in "Jaws" where Quint’s hand is shredded while pulling in a barrel? It was like that.
Years of working in kitchens had made me immune to heat and stove burns, but this was a whole new level of pain. “Put your damn gloves on, you idiot!" the skipper cried. I think he was getting annoyed with the newbie who, besides holding them up, was now dripping blood on his boat’s deck.
Luckily, I had time to make amends. What I stupidly expected to take a few hours turned into a backbreaking 12-hour day. During downtime, we bonded over Budweiser and sang Hank Williams songs. By the time we sailed in, the sun had set, and we were unloading the catch in the dark. This was hard work. But I’d made new friends. And it changed my life. From that day on, I have had a profound respect for the job these guys do.
Tradition cements identity. In Britain, the small handful of fisherfolk scattered around the coastline are the last surviving vestiges of a 300-year-old fishing community. I have seen for myself how crabbers and lobstermen in Cornwall and Norfolk have more in common with others of their kind in North America than either has with any inhabitants of the interior. The strength of bonds made by shared language and shared culture and reinforced through a sense of labor is profound.
These folks reflect what writer David Goodhart refers to as the "somewheres" — those rooted in place and tradition. In general, somewheres are less educated and place a higher emphasis on security, familiarity, and group attachment. They are fearful of change. In contrast, "anywheres" have achieved identities. The college-educated mobile class who think nothing of relocating to major cities. They pursue professional careers based on their personal achievements. In general, "anywheres" are liberal and progressive, whereas "somewheres" are patriotic and socially conservative.
Traditional ways of life are dying. But on Grand Manan, fishing the old-fashioned way is being kept alive by "somewheres" like Dean and his family. Skills like this are taught by people who pass them on to the next generation.
The respect I feel for these people is not founded on politics, economics, or history. I base my decisions on a sense of civic duty and responsibility for others, both living and yet to be born.
Society is, as Edmund Burke remarked, “a contract between the dead, the living, and the yet to be born.” These islands of ours are rented. This world is not our own; we are simply passing through. Sooner or later we must vacate the premises for a new tenant. We were given dominion over the fish of the sea, so it is our duty to protect it for the next generation.
Dozens of Carnival cruise ship passengers reportedly were placed on a "Do Not Sail" list after they engaged in a massive brawl while disembarking from the vessel in Galveston, Texas.
The fight erupted as passengers left the Carnival Jubilee cruise ship after it docked Saturday following a week-long Caribbean voyage with stops in Mexico and Honduras, according to CruiseMapper.
'We will not tolerate such behavior.'
Video obtained by NBC News shows fists flying and pushing and shoving inside the cruise terminal.
“It went down this morning,” wrote Trelle Ray, who posted video of the fight on Facebook.
People are seen throwing punches and throwing fellow cruise passengers to the ground, who appear to get stomped.
Several security guards are seen on video running toward the melee, but they were not immediately able to stop the violence.
Multiple open suitcases could be seen on the video strewn around the terminal in the aftermath of the massive brawl.
In total, 24 people were placed on the "Do Not Sail" list and have been banned from Carnival Cruise Line.
Carnival Cruise Line issued the following statement to KPRC-TV: “The incident occurred in the debarkation area under the authority of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. The matter was turned over to law enforcement. We will not tolerate such behavior, and 24 people have been placed on our Do Not Sail list.”
Authorities informed USA Today that the Port of Galveston Police Department responded to "an altercation" at Cruise Terminal 25.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents "detained several individuals," and police arrested one person who allegedly played a role in the brouhaha.
Police did not specify charges against the arrested person.
It was unclear what sparked the brawl among the Carnival Cruise Line passengers following their vacation.
Authorities did not specify if there were serious injuries or if any travelers were hospitalized.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to a request for comment from USA Today.
This wasn't the first time cruise ship passengers have engaged in fights:
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A United Airlines flight from California to China was forced to turn around mid-flight because the pilot made the egregious mistake of forgetting to bring his passport, according to reports.
A United Airlines flight departed from Los Angeles International Airport just before 2 p.m. on Saturday. United Flight UA 198 was flying from LAX to Shanghai, China.
'How could someone mess up this badly at work?'
However, the pilot reportedly realized that he had forgotten to bring his passport on the international flight to China.
Radar shows the airliner traveling over the Pacific Ocean before making a U-turn and flying back to California.
Two hours into the flight, the plane had to turn around and divert to the San Francisco International Airport, according to CNN.
Citing a statement from United Airlines, NBC News reported that the "pilot on the flight did not have their passport."
“We arranged for a new crew to take our customers to their destination that evening," United stated.
Yang Shuhan — a Chinese passenger aboard the flight — told CNN that the pilot sounded “frustrated” while announcing on the intercom that he “forgot (his) passport.”
Data on FlightAware.com showed the plane landing in San Francisco shortly after 5 p.m. on Saturday.
“Your flight diverted to San Francisco due to an unexpected crew-related issue requiring a new crew,” a United Airlines spokesperson stated, according to travel site View from the Wing. “Once they arrive, we’ll get you back on your way to Shanghai as soon as possible. We sincerely apologize for this disruption and appreciate your patience.”
The failed flight touched down in Shanghai approximately six hours behind schedule. The New York Post reported that passengers were provided with "$15 meal vouchers and compensation."
There were 257 passengers and 13 crew members onboard the United airliner.
Alleged travelers on the plane vented on social media regarding the rerouted flight.
An alleged passenger wrote on the X social media platform, "UA 198 diverted to SFO because the pilot forgot his passport? Now stuck 6+ hours. Completely unacceptable. United, what compensation are you offering for this total mishandling?”
United Airlines replied, “Hi there. We sincerely apologize for this unexpected travel disruption."
An alleged passenger reportedly said on the Chinese social networking platform Rednote, "How could someone mess up this badly at work?"
Shukor Yusof — founder of Singapore-based Endau Analytics, an advisory company for the aviation industry — called the "absent-mindedness" mistake “embarrassing” and “unacceptable” for a prominent international airline like United Airlines, adding that it “shows a lack of discipline.”
A reported traveler told CNN, “I’m feeling pretty frustrated. Because of the delay, I have to reschedule all my plans for Monday, which is really inconvenient.”
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In the latest air traffic emergency, a United Airlines plane was forced to abort a takeoff after an engine burst into flames while accelerating down an airport runway in Texas.
United Airlines flight UA1382 was departing Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport on Sunday and was bound for New York City's LaGuardia Airport. The Airbus A319-100 plane was carrying 104 passengers and five crew members on board.
"We've had a heart-wrenching week in aviation."
The plane began to taxi down the runway at 8:35 a.m., when passengers noticed that a fire broke out on one of the wings.
Ashlyn Sharp, a passenger on the malfunctioning plane, provided video of the fiery plane to KRIV-TV.
The video shows large flames and black smoke flowing from the wing of the plane.
Sharp told KRIV-TV, "It sounded like something flew into the engine or something. [It] scared everyone. That's when we all looked out our window and saw the engine and the wing on fire, and we could smell the smoke inside."
The video shows a flight crew member instructing the passengers to stay seated when someone on the plane yells, "No! It's a fire!"
Another passenger is heard saying on the video, "Please, please get us out of here."
The Aviation Herald reported that the Airbus A319-100 plane was traveling at a "high speed" of about 115 knots (approximately 130 mph) when the engine malfunctioned.
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement, "The crew of United Airlines Flight 1382 safely aborted its takeoff from the George Bush Intercontinental/Houston Airport in Texas due to a reported engine issue around 8:35 a.m. local time on Sunday, Feb. 2."
The United Airlines plane stopped on the runway, where emergency vehicles rushed to the scene to put out the fire.
The passengers were evacuated from the plane and bused to the airport terminal.
The Houston Fire Department stated it assisted in deboarding the passengers and that there were no reported injuries.
The FAA has launched an investigation into the engine malfunction.
There have been multiple air traffic emergencies in recent times.
As Blaze News reported last week, an American Eagle passenger jet collided with a Black Hawk military helicopter on Wednesday. All 62 passengers and two crew members of the doomed plane as well as the three soldiers on the Black Hawk helicopter are presumed dead.
As of Sunday, the remains of 55 of the 67 victims had been recovered and positively identified, according to John Donnelly — the chief of Washington’s fire and emergency medical services department.
The mid-air collision is the deadliest domestic plane crash in nearly 20 years.
Dive teams have been surveying the wreckage and are expected to begin to extract the aircraft out of the Potomac River on Monday.
Officials said they expect to remove all of the plane and helicopter wreckage by Feb. 12, according to the New York Times.
The Navy unit involved in recovering the wreckage was also involved in the response to the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore last spring, said Col. Francis Pera of the Corps of Engineers.
Two days after the collision involving the passenger plane and Black Hawk helicopter, a small plane crashed into a neighborhood in Northeast Philadelphia. All six passengers on the plane as well as a person in a car are believed to have been killed in the plane crash. There were also 22 people injured in the plane crash. Five of the victims remain hospitalized, and three are reportedly in critical condition.
The Learjet 55 departed from an airport in Florida and arrived in Northeast Philadelphia around 2:15 p.m. on Friday. The jet was on the ground for a few hours before departing for the Springfield-Branson National Airport in Springfield, Missouri, around 6:06 p.m. on Friday.
GPS data revealed the medical jet climbed approximately 1,500 feet into the air before taking a slight right turn, followed by a slight left turn, and then a steep descent before the plane went into a "high-impact" crash, according to officials.
The entire flight was reportedly less than one minute.
The airplane slammed into a busy intersection near the Roosevelt Mall — an outdoor shopping plaza in Philadelphia.
According to CBS News, a small medical jet was transporting a Shriners Children's Hospital patient, her mother, and four crew members. The girl was being treated for a "life-threatening" illness in the United States before returning to Mexico.
Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that six people on the plane were Mexican nationals.
The FAA is investigating the plane crash in Philadelphia.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Saturday, "We've had a heart-wrenching week in aviation."
"A couple days ago, I had a chance to sit down with a few of the family members who lost loved ones in the D.C. crash. Their pain is unimaginable," Duffy stated. "I committed transparency to them. When I know information, I'm going to share it with them, but also with the American people."
"Up in Philadelphia, we've sent a team of FAA investigators in conjunction with the NTSB," Duffy continued. "We're not going to have answers right away. It's going to take time. But as I get those answers, I'm going to share that with all of you."
Duffy vowed to provide any resources from the Department of Transportation to assist Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
Duffy said helicopter travel is restricted in the airspace around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump named Chris Rocheleau as acting FAA administrator to fill the position that has been unfulfilled since Inauguration Day.
Rocheleau has served the FAA for more than 20 years in multiple roles, including deputy associate administrator for aviation safety, chief of staff, deputy associate administrator for policy, international affairs and environment, executive director for international affairs, and director of national security programs, emergency operations, and investigations.
Watch the Blaze Media original documentary "Countdown to the Next Aviation Disaster," which first debuted in November.
BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere went on a mission to discover why there have been so many "close calls" of commercial airliner collisions in recent times.
Burguiere's investigation revealed several eyebrow-raising developments on how airports are using outdated technology, DEI practices that exclude the most qualified would-be air traffic controllers, and severely understaffed air traffic towers.
Billionaire Elon Musk shared the documentary on the X social media platform last week.
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An Alabama woman was arrested for allegedly assaulting a passenger on a cruise ship. Meanwhile, the woman's son was kicked off the ship after allegedly striking the same senior citizen victim.
Kelli Lyn Ryan, 49, and her 23-year-old son Dylan Ryan sailed on the MSC Seascape cruise ship on Oct. 5. A day after leaving Port Miami, the mother and son from Huntsville allegedly got involved in a physical confrontation with a 65-year-old woman in the ship’s two-deck theater.
Authorities did not specify whether the victim and alleged assailants knew each other or what ignited the altercation.
WHNT-TV reported that the ship's deputy chief of security informed the Miami-Dade Police Department that Kelli Lyn Ryan was seen "hitting the victim with an open hand" after an argument around 9:30 p.m. Oct. 6.
The Miami-Dade Police Department said the altercation was captured on surveillance video.
The ship's deputy chief security officer said Dylan Ryan was caught on video striking the victim multiple times.
The police report said the senior citizen victim suffered multiple injuries on her face and head.
Dylan Ryan was booted from the MSC Seascape at the first port of call in Falmouth, Jamaica. Authorities said he was removed from the ship for unspecified “excessive behavior.”
Kelli Lyn Ryan was allowed to remain on the week-long cruise as it made stops in the Cayman Islands, Mexico, and MSC Ocean Cay — the cruise company’s private island in the Bahamas.
However, Kelli Lyn Ryan was arrested once the ship docked in Miami. She was taken to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center and charged with battery on a person 65 or older.
Authorities did not specify whether the victim and alleged assailants knew each other or what ignited the altercation.
MSC Cruises has not commented on the incident.
The FBI said it had received 180 reports of alleged criminal activity on board cruises in 2023.
FBI Tampa Special Agent Mat Pagliarini and FBI Los Angeles Special Agent Matt Parker noted that incidents of sexual assault were the most common crime on cruise ships, followed by physical assaults.
The Department of Justice said there were 24 physical assaults with serious injury on cruise ships in 2023 — 14 physical assaults happened on Carnival cruise ships. There were reportedly 33 sexual assaults on cruise ships last year.
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Cracker Barrel is done. Woke executives killed it, wrapped the corpse in a rainbow flag, and then made it do a little puppet show in New York City for the entertainment of all their woke little friends.
People don’t visit Route 66 to change America; they come to be changed by it.
Christmas is for celebrating the arrival of the Savior of the world, not for ‘celebrating and luxuriating’ in your ‘holiday aloneness.'
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