It is only three days until the best performer of our lifetime opens his world tour.

On Feb. 1, Tampa will be the first American City to welcome Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band on its 2023 American tour.

For non-Springsteen fans, the question is often asked: What is the big deal with The Boss?

Read this wonderful, personal story from Luis Viera, who is Tampa City Councilman for District 7, where he just won his third term.

”Nobody does the outcasts and underdogs who defiantly stand up when others command them to sit down like Springsteen”

I am an unapologetic and passionate Springsteen fan for many reasons. But none greater than the Jersey native’s role as our unifying American storyteller. Not the storyteller of “Red America” or “Blue America” but our United States. All of it.
And he tells the tale of so many narratives of our America. Taken together, they unify our experiences outside of many of our identities and they tell one hell of an American story.

”No popular artist responded to the tragedy of our time, September 11th, like Springsteen”

In the end, Springsteen’s songs are our America: our best and worst moments, with a reminder that our best moments serve as a guide to overcome our worst injustices and tragedies. It is part of our American journey. These are our ties that bind us—all of us.

To read more – click here: Luis Viera reflects on the importance of The Boss

Source: Citampa.com

The United States yesterdayjoined customs administrations around the world to celebrate International Customs Day and the founding of the Wiröd Customs Organization, the only intergovernmental organization dedicated to enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of customs administrations worldwide.

In the spirit of this important day, Acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Troy A Miller formally announced that Deputy Assistant Secretary Ian Saunders of the U.S. Department of Commerce is the official U.S. candidate for the position of Secretary General of the World Customs Organization.  Saunders’ vast career spans 30 years of work on international customs and trade issues.

“Visionary and skillful leadership is needed at the WCO as complex trade and security challenges proliferate around the globe,” Acting Commissioner Miller said.  “Ian Saunders is prepared to provide that leadership and ensure that the WCO remains effective, efficient, accountable and transparent moving forward.”

To mark the occasion of International Customs Day, CBP and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement held a ceremony to commemorate the excellent work of employees and awarded 188 individuals with WCO certificates of merit.  Deputy Assistant Secretary Saunders served as the keynote speaker at the event.  

“The WCO is important for global trade because it’s the venue where the conversations happen about the guidelines and the rules that allow customs to manage international trade effectively,” Deputy Assistant Secretary Saunders said. “The WCO influences the day-to-day work of its members to maintain the safety of international trade and to keep legitimate goods moving.  Our support of the organization into the future can only help preserve and improve the standard of life enabled by trade.”

Every five years, WCO members elect a Secretary General to lead the organization and provide strategic direction. The Secretary General is elected via secret ballot by a majority of the WCO Council, a body comprised of the heads of the 184 customs agenciesthat are members of the WCO. The current WCO Secretary General is term-limited and the WCO Council will elect a new person to that position in June 2023. No U.S. official has held the Secretary General position since the tenure of James Shaver, former U.S. Customs Service Assistant Commissioner for International Affairs, from 1994 to 1998.

From Amazon’s Echo to an assembly line in China, the work behind the scenes is on display at the Museum of Modern Art.

At a small gallery tucked behind the cavernous atrium at the Museum of Modern Art in Midtown Manhattan on a recent day, visitors lingered before a sprawling work, a series of dots, lines and diagrams in a seemingly abstract design against a stark, black background. 

The piece, laced with text in tiny print, is nothing like the museum’s more familiar art, including paintings by Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol prints. Instead, the swath of black wallpaper displays a detailed description of the life cycle of an Amazon.com Inc.

Source: WSJ