2.29 Fintan O’Toole in NYRB: “Trump is America’s biggest comedian. His badinage is hardly Wildean, but his put-downs, honed to the sharpness of stilettos, are many people’s idea of fun. For them, he makes anger, fear, and resentment entertaining. For anyone who questions how much talent and charisma this requires, there is a simple answer: …
FEBRUARY 2024: “YOU’VE GOT TO PAY. YOU’VE GOT TO PAY YOUR BILLS.” Read More »
President Biden has called on voters to defend democracy by repudiating Donald Trump and his anti-democratic agenda. That’s a start, but it’s not enough. We can’t just defend democracy; we have to advance it. Let’s face facts: Defending Democracy in America today is like defending a house that has no roof. Yes, we have to …
1.31 Two of Trump’s political action committees, Save America leadership PAC and the Make America Great Again PAC, spent $55.6 million on legal bills in 2023, according to campaign filings. 1.31 Eric Klinenberg in The New York Times: “The very different people I spoke with that year all had one thing in common: a feeling …
JANUARY 2024: “AS IF THE COUNTRY WAS WANDERING THROUGH A MIST” Read More »
12.30 Adirondack Thunder 5 Newfoundland Growlers 5 (OT) 12.30 Tom Wilkinson dies at 75. 12.28 Joe Country by Mick Herron. 12.27 Jonathan Karl, in Tired of Winning: Donald Trumpand the End of the Grand Old Party, “quotes ”a very senior official who spent day in and day out with Donald Trump for over a year in …
DECEMBER 2023: “MAY THEY ROT IN HELL! MERRY CHRISTMAS!” Read More »
11.30 Matt Bai in Washington Post: “Whether you like Biden or not (I do), the Democratic Party right now is taking a shockingly reckless gamble with the country’s future. The oldest president in history is about to become an even older nominee, backstopped by a vice president whom barely a third of the country likes. …
NOVEMBER 2023: “THIS IS A TIME, THIS IS A PLACE” Read More »
10.30 For the first time in franchise history, the New York Rangers sweep a road trip consisting of at least five games. 10.28 Ivy visits. 10.28 Matthew Perry dies at 54 10.27 Bloomberg: “The population of the Land of the Rising Sun is sinking rapidly and, by the turn of the next century, will shrink …
OCTOBER 2023: “IT LEAVES YOU WITH THE NEED TO MAKE WAR TO BRING PEACE” Read More »
9.30 What the Constitution Means To Me, at Capital Rep. 9.30 The Washington Post: “Thumbing through the tanned pages of centuries-old records in the basement of the British Library, Nicholas Radburn came across an illustration that took him aback. A crown resembling the iconic St. Edward’s headpiece from British coronations sat atop the letters S …
8.31 Joseph Biggs, a onetime lieutenant in the Proud Boys, is sentenced to 17 years in prison after his conviction on charges of seditious conspiracy for plotting the attack the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. 8.31 In a filing, the NY AG alleges that Trump and his associates fraudulently inflated his net worth by between $812 …
AUGUST 2023: “MY SON IS MUCH MORE INVOLVED THAN I AM” Read More »
7.31 Paul Reubens—PeeWee Herman—dies at 70. 7.31 Megan McArdle at the Washington Post: “Kids who attend Ivy Plus schools don’t actually end up earning all that much more on average than those who attend selective public universities, but they are significantly more likely to end up in the top 1 percent of earners. And while it would …
JULY 2023: “WE’RE GOING TO START SLITTING THROATS” Read More »
To mark our mutual embarkation this year on our eighth decades, Ginny and I took a Viking Cruise down the Rhone River through Provence. A wonderful experience–food, service, facilities and activities were all well done. We visited Lyon, Vienne, Arles, Avignon and other remarkable places. Among the sites: the Basilica in Lyon; a Roman temple …