Hasta La Gadget!

The East Coast places LGBT people often think of when looking to vacation are Provincetown, MA, or Cherry Grove and the Pines on Fire Island, NY. All 100% gay immersion and very expensive. If instead you’re hunting for a beautiful resort with a diverse population that is very gay friendly the place to go is Rehoboth Beach, DE which is also more affordable.

Rehoboth was “founded in 1873 as the Rehoboth Beach Camp Meeting Association by the Rev. Robert W. Todd, of St. Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Church of Wilmington, Delaware, as a site for Methodist camp meetings in the spirit of similar resorts on the New Jersey shore, such as Ocean Grove. The Camp Meeting Association disbanded in 1881, and in 1891, the location was incorporated by the Delaware General Assembly as “Henlopen City”, shortly after which it was renamed Rehoboth Beach.”

Today Rehoboth Beach is a vibrant year-round community that grows exponentially during the summer season. It has for years had many LGBT visitors. In 1991 CAMP (Creating a More Positive) Rehoboth was born. CAMP is now a thriving LGBT community center and since its inception the driving forces behind it have been Steve Elkins and his husband Murray Archibald.

According to a Gay history on the CAMP website “Lore has it the DuPont property along the ocean was where Rehoboth’s gay nightlife began. In the 1940s, Tallulah Bankhead and Hollywood cronies frolicked at the DuPont mansion and the local art league nurtured a cadre of women painters famous both for their canvases and their close camaraderie.” If you have gay life fine dining will follow. “In 1974, three restaurateurs, one gay (Victor Pisapia) and one straight couple (Libby and Ted Fisher), opened The Back Porch restaurant adding fabulous contemporary cuisine to the fried seafood platters in town. In 1980, Pisapia and Joyce Felton opened The Blue Moon, and gay owned and operated restaurants began their ascent.” The Moon as it has been dubbed, at 35 Baltimore Avenue, became the anchor for a bustling LGBT scene. CAMP set up their offices next door at 39 Baltimore Avenue and new gay owned and operated restaurants and shops opened adding to the attraction of a mile long boardwalk, white sandy beaches (poodle beach as it is dubbed is the very fun gay section of the beach at the south end of the boardwalk), salt water taffy, cotton candy, and always tempting Thrashers French Fries.

Baltimore Avenue is a two block stretch from the Beach to Second Street. On those two blocks you have a wealth of gay owned and operated places to eat and shop. On the beach block there are two great restaurants. Eden at 23 Baltimore Avenue and its sister restaurant Jam at 21 Baltimore Avenue being the more casual. Both serving fine food.

On the second block is the venerable Blue Moon and new places and old standbys that continue to improve. The Philip Morton Gallery at 47 Baltimore Avenue was opened ten years ago by Philip Livingston owner of Elegant Slumming, 33 Baltimore Avenue, as a fine arts gallery. It then changed hands and became an art gallery. Philip has it again and it’s the home of unique accent pieces and the unusual and the unexpected in home furnishings. Philip still also focuses his art and talent on his fine jewelry business at Elegant Slumming.

Stop at the CAMP courtyard and browse the new Brick & Mortar, the creation of Kathy and Lynn. They carry a wide variety of affordable gifts including quality classic tees and hats, local pottery, soaps, and candles. Another great reason to visit the courtyard is Lori’s Oy-vey Café this year celebrating its 20th anniversary. Lori Kline escaped to Rehoboth from a life of teaching and opened her café with the goal of providing fresh, quality fare to satisfy any appetite. Stop in and you will see she has succeed royally. Her chicken salad is legendary and today Lori’s will even deliver your lunch to the beach.

Walk to the end of the block and on the South side find Hobos Restaurant and Bar, the creation of the very talented Gretchen Hanson. The food is wonderful and has been described as Eco Global Fusion. Hobos celebrates the subtle simplicity of street food from around the world. Across the street is Aqua Grill owned by Bill Shields and his fiancé Andres. Aqua with its huge outdoor deck and hundreds of hot men is the place to be on a summer evening in Rehoboth. From the moment you enter and are welcomed by Mike at the door, or Bill himself if he isn’t otherwise occupied, the fun begins. You are approached by one of the hunky friendly waiters like Louis, Eric, Griffin, Cody or Matt among many others who will take your order and bring drinks to you with a smile. Or head to the bar and order a drink from the very hot bar manager Josh. Stay and enjoy dinner from their tasty and affordable menu overseen by Andres or stop in for Sunday brunch.

If you decide to wander off Baltimore Avenue which I suggest you do walk through the Rehoboth Mews and stop at the Coffee Mill for freshly brewed coffee and buy some beans to take home. Then on Rehoboth Avenue stop in at Gidget’s Gadgets, 123 Rehoboth Avenue, owned by Steve Fallon for collectables and a wide selection of vinyl records. Cross the street and head to the fantastic ambiance of the Purple Parrot at 134 Rehoboth Avenue. Owners Hugh and Troy have built a restaurant and bar now open year-round serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. The food is great and affordable and the Biergarten is a fun place to hang out. The staff is friendly and with the addition last year of the always hot and fun Chandler behind the bar the Parrot is better than ever.

If you haven’t been before make this summer your first visit to Rehoboth Beach and if you have been there go again and bring all your friends.

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The Markets Got It Wrong – by Jerry Jasinowski

The financial markets were surging early last week and the pound was gaining value because the bright-eyed wizards of Wall Street and the international financial markets were confident the British would vote to stay in the European Union. Not since the experts predicted Thomas Dewey would beat Harry Truman have so many presumably smart people had so much egg on their faces.
The financial markets got it wrong because they no longer reflect an accurate picture of reality — partly because of globalization, partly because of new technology, and partly because the experts who manage the markets sometimes manipulate them, and end up being manipulated by their own creation which seems increasingly out of control.
The financial markets have been losing contact with real people even as they have asserted a dominant role in world affairs. According to the Boston Consulting Group, total global assets under professional management today are about $75 trillion. Money is power. All of that wealth pinging around the globe looking for viable returns is driving everything before it –including commodities, corporations and even governments.
Today as in days of yore, investors try to make sensible investments in the stock market based on their opinion of a given company’s prospects in the real world. But their investments are often managed by 20-somethings sitting in front of computers responding to algorithms. The 20-somethings know virtually nothing about the companies whose stocks they are buying and selling nor do they have any sense of obligation to the people whose money they manage; they are simply youngsters playing with algorithms. They have power without responsibility.
There is a growing sentiment among the public — American as well as British — that the markets are rigged for the benefit of insiders, and that belief has some merit. But just as that rigging serves to enrich the top tier, it also severs insiders from the real world. The wizards were confident rank and file British voters would vote to stay in the European Union but the wizards are based mostly in London and talk mainly to each other. They hadn’t a clue what ordinary people out in the British hinterland were thinking.
The British vote was to a large extent a vote against the establishment — a protest against a system increasingly estranged from the real world needs of ordinary people. The experts — economists, stock brokers, financial strategists — were assuring voters that staying in the EU was in their best interest. But the experts have lost the confidence of the people.
It was also a vote against globalization — from the intense foreign competition that abducts millions of good manufacturing jobs to the immigrants who come with different values and culture. It was at its core a protest against that amorphous superpower — the global financial octopus – that robs nations of their independence. The same anger is driving politics in this country. People are fed up with an establishment — business, government, and financial experts — that no longer reflects their values and concerns. The financial wizards have the money but the people have the votes. A great upheaval is in the works.
Jerry Jasinowski, an economist and author, served as President of the National Association of Manufacturers for 14 years and later The Manufacturing Institute. You can quote from this with attribution. Let me know if you would like to speak with Jerry. June 2016

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MADRID, Spain — The ballots have wiped clean Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias’s smile. The polls, leading up to the general elections on June 26, gave him dreams of an overwhelming victory — but this summer’s dream did not materialize. He could have governed with the PSOE after the December 20 elections, but he felt invincible, and decided to bet on the new elections. He lost.

It could be that the social-democrat suit that he had custom-made was not convincing to his supporters. He definitely did not win over those loyal to Izquierda Unida (Left United), who did not feel represented by the Unidos Podemos alliance. His success in Catalonia and the Basque Country — where he won first place in votes and seats — was not enough. People who voted for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s conservative People’s Party (PP) even stole their slogan on election night: “Yes we can!” they cheered at the top of their lungs when Rajoy appeared on the balcony on Genova Street.

The PP’s victory on June 26 — it gained 14 more seats and 600,000 more votes — is a very personal victory for Mariano Rajoy. He has taken down all his rivals with one strike: He has left the PSOE trembling and Podemos in ruins. He has also burst the Ciudadanos bubble by taking back the popular vote that had been handed to the youthful party.

For this electoral campaign, Rajoy stepped out of the TV screen, and traipsed through urban and rural Spain. He appeared on all the television shows he had previously mocked, and polarized the constituency.

There will be time investigate if Brexit, and the resulting uncertainty over the future of Europe, has influenced voters who had been undecided until the last minute.

The wave of arrests and revelations surrounding political corruption scandals that had hit his party over the past six months have not deterred his voters. In fact, in Catalonia, the PP has obtained one more seat than in December, with Jorge Fernandez Diaz coming out as number one.

Mariano Rajoy’s PP had much to celebrate on Sunday night. The conservative party added to its support base but still remains short of a majority government. It will be seeking a coalition partner once again.

There will be time investigate if Brexit, and the resulting uncertainty over the future of Europe, has influenced voters who had been undecided until the last minute. And there will be time for polling companies to evaluate their resounding failure in detecting the voting trends of the Spanish population. The disparity between the polls and the actual results imply that we either lie like Cossacks, or that there’s something wrong with the thermometer.

Despite the forecasts, the PSOE was able to maintain its strong position on the left, even though five seats and 127,000 votes were lost in the process. The voters have not rewarded its effort to reach a governing agreement after the December elections, but they have also not abandoned the party en masse for the sake of Podemos. While the leadership of Pedro Sanchez is still in question, he will remain in charge.

Susana Diaz, Secretary-General of the Andalusian branch of PSOE, had her hopes of taking power in Andalucia slashed by the PP’s victory. The PP was not only successful in the south: its victories spread to all other regions, except for Catalonia and the Basque Country.

Albert Rivera’s centrist Ciudadanos was hit the hardest by the low voter turnout — which was 68 percent compared to 73 percent during December’s elections — and by the electoral law. With 32 seats, eight fewer than in December, the center has been weakened, although it will continue to play a key role with the formation of the next government.

In Europe, the administrators of austerity have generally failed. The PP is an exception.

The big question now is: In light of these results, what would a new government look like? The success of the PP renders a leftist alternative very complicated. The PP had 33 more seats than the PSOE before these elections, and now the difference has increased to 52. Mathematically, a leftist government with 156 representatives is still possible, if it gathers together the rest of the political spectrum, except for the Popular Party. But now, it’s all in Rajoy’s hands, and this time, he will not say ‘no’ to the head of state.

Rivera will sell his support at a high price, and the PSOE will have to decide if it will enter into a coalition government — Rajoy’s favorite, albeit unlikely, formula. Alternatively, it could stand aside and let him govern, or make another attempt for an agreement with Iglesias (an even more unlikely scenario).

Four years and six months later, the Popular Party’s performance is astounding. In Europe, the administrators of austerity have generally failed. The PP is an exception. Rajoy has convinced nearly eight million Spaniards that under his leadership, employment and prosperity will return. The campaign based on fear of change and adventure has won.

This post first appeared on HuffPost Spain. It has been translated into English and edited for clarity.

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