<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="auto">Merry Christmas from Berlin! It must be Farolitos time now in Santa Fe, right? Here in Berlin we have plenty of Christmas markets where you get hot mulled wine. At Christmas Eve I was in the "American Church of Berlin" which is over 120 years old. It was mostly empty though. </div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">While Donald Trump embodies the bad site of America - adultery, fraud, hate, lies, greed and the rest of the mortal sins - the church classically represents the good side of America: the selfless care for others, Christian values and the feeling that everybody is welcome.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">It is sad to see churches slowly dying out like the old lighthouses at the coast which showed ships the right way for centuries but are now turning into mere tourist attractions. Will democracy die out together with the churches too? </div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">This article about the last lighthouse keeper in the U.S. makes me wonder if president Biden will be the last keeper of democracy in America before the land falls into the darkness of a Trump dictatorship. What do you think? </div><div dir="auto">https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/11/06/the-last-lighthouse-keeper-in-america</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">-J.</div></body></html>