Archive for the ‘Elections’ Category
February 26, 2016
It’s Friday afternoon and I’m sitting looking out the windows of my friends’ rental in Greenville, SC where they are living while their new home is being built a few blocks from where I am sitting. The apartment is gorgeous and their new home will be even more beautiful. They’re liking Greenville and I’m happy for them.
While we were touring the construction site of their home, my phone made one of the noises it does when a breaking news story pops up. Governor Chris Christie has endorsed Trump while continuing to harass Marco Rubio.
Talking politics is always touchy and I can honestly say, as I think almost everyone would agree, that we haven’t seen anything like this in politics during our voting lifetimes.
It’s been a busy week and last night I slept for nearly twelve hours and that was after a two hour nap. I am still worn down it seems. So I am, as my sister suggested, listening to my body and resting when it says to rest. Which is relatively often…
It’s cool here, though very bright and sunny.
My brother has been in Honduras and is on his way home. He texted me this morning and I was glad and will be gladder when he’s home. He goes once or twice a year to give medical care to those living in the back of beyond.
In a quiet little Kansas town, Hesston, not far from Wichita, 38 year old Cedric Larry Ford was served with a restraining order. 90 minutes later he shot 17 people, three of whom died, and among the fourteen others, several are in critical condition.
And the beat goes on…
Former Mexican President, Vicente Fox, told Trump there was no way Mexico was going to “pay for that f**king wall.” Trump asked for an apology. He only got a verbatim repeat from Fox, on live TV, on Fox Business News.
Trump, who is against immigration, uses a lot of immigrants at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida private club, mostly from eastern European countries. He also settled out of court a suit about use of illegal Polish workers on the Trump Tower in New York.
Netflix’s new “Fuller House” got panned by critics. Now I have to watch an episode, just to see what the critics are talking about.
98% of Facebook employees are white. Apparently some of those folks have been scratching out “Black Lives Matter” on Facebook walls and replacing it with “All Lives Matter.” Zuckerberg has told them to stop.
The Americans and Russians have brokered a ceasefire in Syria and it’s one which doesn’t include the Nursa Front or IS so I wonder just how ceased the fighting will be? Hopefully, much needed supplies will reach the desperate and there are lots of them in Syria.
Certainly, it is not desperate here where Jan is prepping shrimp and grits, to be served with a good white wine and where I will shortly raise a martini to friends not present.
Including all of you…
Tags:Cedric Larry Ford, Chris Christie, Donald Trump, Fuller House, Greenville, Hesston Kansas, IS, Marco Rubio, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Netflix, South Carolina, Syrian Cease Fire, Vicente Fox
Posted in 2016 Election, Elections, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Russia, Social Commentary, Syria, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
February 14, 2016
It is Saturday night and I am at the cottage. I have just lit a fire and have finished prepping for tomorrow; I am doing the coffee hour after the 10:30 service. Since it is Valentine’s Day I wanted to do something a little special. I think I have, once again, succumbed to my mother’s philosophy: too much is never enough.
Oh well, hopefully it will be fun and it is the first real thing I have done since being in the hospital. My primary care physician, Dr. Paolino, summed it up: You were sick and now you’re better. You still have to see your gastroenterologist but you are on the mend.
And I am, though I am still sleeping a lot and being very careful about what I eat. My body is working to be normal and I’m grateful. Amazing things these human bodies, they often heal themselves, sometimes with help but they are wondrous.
My brother is now in Honduras, where he goes at least once a year to provide medical care to the back of beyond, to places who only have medical care when teams like his arrive. I’m terribly proud of him. When he is there, I am concerned as Honduras has devolved into one of the most violent places in the hemisphere but every year he goes back, as he has for almost forty years now.
Lionel let me know that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia passed away. I have mixed feelings about it as he spewed some hateful things these last years, particularly about gay rights and marriage equality. About six months ago, I read a speech he gave and was appalled at the intolerance, actually shocked. It seemed so bitter and unforgiving.
Still, may he rest in peace. As may we all rest in peace when our time comes.
Being ill and in the hospital, summoned intimations of my mortality, heightened by my old good friend, Tim Sparke, diagnosed some three or four years ago with a brain tumor, who is now in hospice, the cancer having spread through his body. He wrote me and told me he was now serene, something that I have heard comes to people in their last days if they are given the grace to know they are living their last days.
He is younger than me by a decade I think. Life plays itself out for each of us in its own cadence and only the universe understands it.
The Russian Premier, Medvedev, has declared we have slid into a new “cold war.” Yes, I suppose we have. I’m not sure quite how it happened but it’s been years in the making and lies, I think, largely in Putin’s lap as it serves him to prop up his power in Russia. They’re suffering from the collapse of oil prices probably as much or more than anyone with the possible exception of Venezuela.
Months ago, I read something about a dam in Iraq. It wasn’t being maintained and threatened a half million people with catastrophe. It’s back in the news and it is in bad shape. An Italian firm has been hired to repair it and, hopefully, repairs will happen in time or a half million people may drown. Think Katrina, exponentially worse.
True to form, The Donald is striking out. Apparently he has called Cruz “a pussy.” I had to Google it because polite press wouldn’t tell me exactly what Trump had said. I will need to read more about this but nothing Trump does surprises me.
Back in the olden days of the early Republic, politics was this nasty. Yes, it was. And now we have returned to it, thanks to the Donald. Ah, we shall see how this plays out. Not prettily I think.
It’s getting late. I’m off to bed. I have coffee hour tomorrow. May your tomorrow be good…
Tags:Claverack, Donald Trump, Hudson, IS, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, New York, Obama, Putin, Syria
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Elections, Entertainment, Gay, Gay Liberation, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Political Commentary, Politics, Putin, Social Commentary, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
January 19, 2016
Minnesota Los Angeles Fred Pinkard Rocky II Ron Bernstein Adagio Nik Buian The Eagles Glenn Frey Hotel California Paul Krich David Bowie Donald Trump British Parliament about Trump Martin Luther King Day JFK RFK Nazis Genocide
In the long ago and far away, I left Minnesota and ended up in Los Angeles. Volunteering at a theater as an usher, I met Fred Pinkard, an African American actor who guest starred in television shows and was in Rocky II; never famous but almost always working.
I needed work and he put me together with Ron Bernstein who owned Adagio, a little “Cafe California” kind of restaurant down the street from Paramount. As a favor to Fred, Ron hired me. I was not good. I was actually going to be fired. I could feel it.
Staying up half the night one night, I kept thinking about it and worked out a system. The next day everyone on the staff gathered round me at the end of my shift and asked: what happened? I had worked out a system. I went from being the worst to the best.
Late at night after all the customers had left, Nik Buian, the manager and I, would crank up the music system and pull out all the bottles of wine that had been left behind with something in them. We’d drink them, talk about life and fold napkins for the next day, sometimes to four in the morning.
We’d listen to The Eagles non-stop. They were his favorite and I can never hear “Hotel California” without thinking of those nights with Nik, folding napkins, learning about wines and sharing good times with a good friend.
Eagles founder Glenn Frey died today at 67. Not much older than I am.
I am surrounded by mortality this week. Wednesday I will be giving a eulogy for my friend Paul, much of it written but in need of a bit of burnishing. My friend Paul, David Bowie, Glenn Frey and I now find I am at the time of my life when friends are beginning to go and it is sobering.
Life is sobering. As I am sitting in my dining room the world is full of all kinds of travails. I know that and am frustrated because I can do so little to change any of it.
This morning I had a conversation with an old work friend who confessed to me how scared he is about this coming election. No one appeals to him; they all frighten him and he will vote based on which one frightens him less.
This is not good. It seems worse than the choice between the lesser of two evils.
Extraordinarily there was a debate in Parliament today about whether to ban Donald Trump from the UK because of “hate speech.” Now it is the purview of the Home Secretary to ban someone from the UK but it was an extraordinary opportunity for the Brits to weigh in on the American election process. One member of Parliament described Trump as “an idiot.”
He is far from that. He is manipulative, decisive and pandering. He is bringing out the worst of us. He reminds me of the crass politicians of ancient Rome and that’s not good.
What is good is that today is Martin Luther King Day and we are remembering an extraordinary man who changed the fabric of American life. He taught black Americans to move beyond their fears and called to white Americans to be the best they could be. When he died I was but a boy and already reeling from the death of JFK. His death and that of RFK mangled my mind, probably for the rest of my life. I still reverberate with all those deaths from the ’60’s when I was young and realizing the world for the first time, making my first realizations of what life was about and what life seemed to be about in those days was killing.
And it hasn’t changed. We have not had many high profile murders as those but we have fallen into the grinding news of killings on a daily basis all over the world, killing that is disgusting, motivated by twisted religious beliefs as the Nazis twisted people into genocide.
Tags:Adagio, British Parliament about Donald Trump, David Bowie, Donald Trump, Fred Pinkard, Genocide, Glenn Frey, Hotel California, JFK, Los Angeles, Martin Luther King, Mat Tombers, Mathew, Mathew Tombers, Minnesota, Nazis, Nik Buian, Paul Krich, RFK, RockyII, Ron Bernstein, The Eagles
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Elections, European Refugee Crisis, Gay, Gay Liberation, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Nazis, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Trump, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
January 12, 2016
It’s late afternoon, Tuesday the 16th, and I am in the Acela Lounge waiting for my train north. I could grab an earlier one but it is probable if I wait for the 5:47, I will see one or two friends I haven’t seen for a while.
Before opening the laptop and letting my fingers tap the keyboard, I was reading about the death of David Bowie at 69. He did not much share the news of his health and the announcement of his death did not reveal the kind of cancer which felled him nor the place where he died.
I was told not long ago that he had a place up in the Hudson Valley. The now ex-wife of my friend Paul Krich, Lorraine, was a good friend of Iman, now Bowie’s widow and she was visiting them one night when I was there for dinner. She was quiet and shy and was with their daughter. She and her daughter retired early, smilingly and charmingly.
Bowie has been prolific in the last months of his life, co-writing a play titled “Lazarus” along with a music video of the same name. Now he is dead, they can be seen as his communicating to the world his time was short.
Time is short for all of us. It’s a blip of time we inhabit this planet, no matter how old we get.
Making the most of his blip of time, media mogul Rupert Murdoch has announced his engagement to the ex-wife of Mick Jagger, Jerry Hall, the former supermodel. This is her second marriage, his fourth. She is 59; he is 84. Between them they have ten children.
In Istanbul, not far from the Hagia Sofia, a sixth century Orthodox church now a museum, a young Syrian blew himself up, killing at least ten, mostly Germans, and wounding more. The Turks believe it is IS and the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has decried the event.
Putin has hinted today that if Assad ever feels the need to leave Damascus, he might well find welcome in Moscow. If he made that choice, it would lessen the complications for a Syrian peace.
Humanitarian workers who have reached the town of Madaya have found “barely moving skeletons.” It is the worst they have seen in the five year Syrian wars and the image causes me to think of the photos taken of Jews as the camps were liberated from the Germans.
The political circus continues. ANOTHER Republican debate is upon us with Rand Paul and Carly Fiorina now relegated to the “undercard” debate. Rand Paul says no way and he is off to do more campaigning in person than appearing in the second tier debate. Paul could be smart or desperate. Remains to be seen…
Bernie Sanders has a lead over Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire and has just moved slightly ahead of her in Iowa. Chelsea has been sent out to campaign.
Though it will probably offend my conservative friends, the NY Times today did a scathing piece on Ted Cruz accusing him of exploiting evangelicals and actually espousing actions that are cruel, painful, and harmful — ones that certainly aren’t very Christian.
As Solicitor General of Texas, he went to the Supreme Court to keep a man in jail who had stolen a calculator from Walmart. Because of a judicial mistake, the man got sixteen years instead of two. When the mistake was discovered, Cruz went into overdrive to keep him in jail the full sixteen. Eventually the poor man was freed after six. All over a calculator? Cruz seems petty and mean and mean spirited all the way round.
Not feeling specially mean spirited and with suspicions friends would be on the train, I went down to Penn Spirits and purchased a bottle of a nice Sauvignon Blanc and a small bottle of sake. And I got several cups.
Now the train is moving. My friends are here. Soon we will open the bottle and enjoy good spirited company. Here’s NOT to you, Mr. Cruz!
Tags:Angela Merkel, Assad, Bernie Sanders, Carly Fiorina, David Bowie, Hagia Sofia, Hillary Clinton, Hudson Valley, Jerry Hall, Lazurus, Lorraine Krich, Madaya Syria, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Music Video Lazarus, NY Times, Paul Krich, Penn Spirits, Penn Station, Putin, Rand Paul, Rupert Murdoch, Syrian War, Ted Cruz
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Elections, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Television | 2 Comments »
January 11, 2016
It is Sunday evening and I am at the dining room table, looking out at the creek, lit by the floodlights I have set up to illuminate the creek at night. Soft, classical jazz plays in the background.
For the most part, Christmas is behind me. The tree is down and headed for recycling now that most of the lights have burned out. I think I’ve had seven years from the tree so I can’t complain.
Though I realize as I look around I forgot a few things which I’ll have to take down over the coming week. There is still a wreath on my door and one hanging in the dining room. How I missed that I don’t know.
My heart is not into taking down Christmas. I tend to become a bit melancholy in the process and apologized to young Nick about my moodiness as he dismantled Christmas while I assiduously cleaned up after last night’s dinner party.
While I sit here writing, the world is gearing up for the Golden Globe Awards, which I won’t watch but is the official opening of awards’ season. I did my PGA voting as soon as it came in because I didn’t want to forget.
The question being asked in this awards’ season is whether “Revenant” will finally propel Leonardo DiCaprio towards an Oscar?
I don’t know nor do I much care, truth to be told.
Since 1992 I have been a member of the Television Academy and my membership is up for renewal and while I suspect I will renew I am not sure why. It feels much less relevant than it did when we were fighting to make cable an integral part of the Academy and then to make a place in the tent for “new media.”
I salute my friend Bob Levi, retired now from Turner, who with Jeff Cole and myself and a few others fought and fought hard to make a place in the Academy for those digital pioneers way back in 1999. Jeff and I were the Founding Governors for the Interactive Media Peer Group though I have discovered since then there are others who make that claim. Excuse me! I was there.
It’s Sunday night and most people are wondering what the market will do in the morning. Continue to swoon or make a comeback? Don’t know. I’ll check the futures in the morning.
Sean Penn did an interview with Mexican Drug Lord “El Chapo” at his HQ in the Mexican jungle. It appeared in Rolling Stone. Some laud it, some hate it but it is interesting reading. Celebrity triumphs in journalism in this case…
Ted Cruz was born in Canada of an American mother. Donald Trump is questioning whether is he meets the legal requirements to be President. Some time ago Ted Cruz renounced his Canadian citizenship but that hasn’t stopped Trump who is currently trailing him a bit in the polls in Iowa.
I think it will get worse between now and the caucuses in Iowa.
The world is an unbroken trails of woes right now – and I’m not talking about the Republicans.
Merkel’s generosity to refugees is under question after New Year’s attacks on women by men described as North African or Arabic.
We have people of white origin holding a bird preserve in Oregon demanding a rollback of Federal control of lands in the West.
North Korea may or may not have tested a hydrogen weapon but it did test an atomic something which is always worrisome.
And, you know, everything is worrisome. It always has been and will always be so and so tomorrow I will get up and live my life as best I can in this worrisome state.
Tags:Angela Merkel, Bob Levoi, Claverack, Donald Trump, Golden Globes, Jeff Cole, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Mexico, New Media, North Korea Hydrogen Bomb, Obama, Oregon Standoff, PGA, Revenant, Rolling Stone, Sean Penn, Ted Cruz, Television Academy, The Donald
Posted in 2016 Election, Afghanistan, China stock market rout, Elections, Entertainment, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Paris Killings, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Television, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
January 1, 2016
Happy New Year! It is another grey day in Shepherdstown, WV, which has had nothing but a string of grey days since I arrived here almost two weeks ago. The day, while grey exteriorly is sunny inside, surrounded by old friends. My nephew, Kevin, is prepping to make bacon to go with waffles. His wife, Michelle, is reading the news on her phone and I am beginning my letter while waiting for a call.
My friends, Medora Heilbron and Meryl Marshall-Daniels, and I have convened most Thursdays or Fridays for almost fifteen years to share our week’s experiences, our highs and lows and to love and support each other. It is a gift the universe has given us and we have helped each other through a whole variety of things and have celebrated our successes and supported each other in our bumps in the road.
When one of us is traveling and the call doesn’t happen, it doesn’t feel like the week is quite right. It’s good to be starting 2016 with a call.
I can’t quite believe it is 2016. I never thought I would live this long but here I am, slowing moving into old age and having a better time of it than I thought I would.
My stomach bug has lifted and I woke this morning in fine fettle, eager to burst into the new year. I texted friends to wish them Happy New Years and then came down and made coffee and read another 25 pages of my textbook.
The world, of course, is not coursing as quietly or as joyfully as my life in Shepherdstown.
A suicide bomber struck a restaurant in Kabul last night. Five were wounded in the French restaurant, one of the few still catering to foreigners.
During New Year’s Eve celebrations in Dubai, a luxury hotel and apartment building caught fire and competed for attention with the fireworks at midnight. Officials are investigating the cause of the fire. 12 were injured but there appear to have been no fatalities.
Wayne Rogers, “Trapper John” from the TV series “MASH” passed away last night, surrounded by family. A much beloved star, he was also a shrewd investor and successfully managed money for a variety of clients while also acting.
Less than an hour ago, it was announced that Natalie Cole, one of the great voices of the 20th century and the daughter of the legendary Nat King Cole, passed away. She was 65.
In a Tel Aviv pub, two were killed and four seriously injured by a gunman. Investigators are working to determine if it was a crime or terrorism. Isn’t terrorism a crime? Yes, I think so.
In Turkey, President Erdogan, who was Prime Minister for ten years, is seeking to change Turkey’s constitution to make the President, not the Prime Minister, the senior position. An example he quoted: Hitler’s Germany. He did not elaborate. No wonder the world thinks he may not be committed to democracy.
What I am committed to today is to enjoy feeling well, my spirits boosted by the sun breaking through the clouds and the camaraderie of friends and family.
Tags:2016, Dubai, Ergogan, Hitler, Kabul, Kevin Malone, Mash, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Medora Heilbron, Meryl Marshall-Daniels, Michelle Melton, Natalie Cole, Shepherdstown WV, Tel Aviv Pub, Trapper John, Turkey, Wayne Rogers
Posted in 2016 Election, Afghanistan, Elections, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Nazis, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
December 23, 2015
It is relatively early in the morning and I am on the train, heading to New York City, where I will board a train to DC where I will board a train to Martinsburg, WV where I will be picked up by my friends Sarah and Jim Malone for the Holidays in Shepherdstown.
As I move south, rushing now between Rhinecliff and Poughkeepsie, the fog is so dense, it is impossible to see the Hudson River to my right. It provides an eerie atmosphere to the morning, so warm that a light jacket is all one needs. It is supposed to be seventy in Claverack on Christmas Eve.
Yesterday, I celebrated Christmas twice. Once with young Nick, his partner Beth, and their three year old daughter, Alicia. It gave me great smiles and bright eyes to see a three year old devour Christmas. Earlier I gave her a “communicator” that allows her to talk with Santa Claus each day from December 1 to Christmas. Nick and Beth tell me she is having a blast.
Then I cooked “Christmas” dinner for Lionel, Pierre and myself, mushroom soup, salad, a roast pork loin, mashed sweet potatoes and asparagus with a butter garlic sauce. We had no room for dessert.
All day yesterday, I pretty much ignored the world, living in the solitude of the cottage, listening to Christmas carols and prepping for dinner. The exception was at the gym, on the treadmill where I listened to the sad story of the young woman accused in the car rampage in Las Vegas. A troubled youth who turned her life around and then…Las Vegas. People are attempting to understand.
Then there was a long exegesis of the Middle East with Wolf Blitzer, the CNN perennial, and a Congressman and retired General, that left me feeling depressed.
The Congressman predicted that we will be engaged there for decades and the retired General opined our efforts are inadequate. The Congressman wants more bombing, forget the civilians. They are the necessary sacrifices to move the needle. It underscored for me that “W” let the genie out of the bottle and he’s never going back in.
The Afghans have the best army they have had in years but corruption in Kabul is keeping them from getting bullets.
The Iraqis are fighting to retake Ramadi and have sent more troops in to help in the effort to hand IS its biggest defeat in two years.
The Donald keeps marching forward in the polls, up to 39% at this point, twice Ted Cruz’s standing and, according to recent polls, the Republicans are beginning to accept that Trump will be their standard bearer. What? Is this really happening? Can’t I change the channel?
I lightened my mood a bit by reading the wild adventures of Madame Claude, arguably the most famous brothel owner in Paris’ history. Her clients included most of the great names of the ’60’s and ’70’s. She died in France at the venerable age of 92.
The fog is still thick as we begin the last leg into New York, having just pulled out of Croton Harmon. There are forty minutes left before we hit the city. At noon I will board an Acela for the next leg.
Behind me there is a woman who has been on the phone now, non-stop, for well over an hour. Occasionally when she needs to do something, she puts her caller on speakerphone. I didn’t realize anyone talks on the phone that way anymore just like I can’t believe the Republican Party is thinking Trump is the hope for 2016.
Tags:Afghanistan, Christmas, CNN, Donald Trump, Irag, IS, Kabul, Las Vegas Car Rampage, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Polls, Ramadi, The Donald, Wolf Blitzer
Posted in 2016 Election, Afghanistan, Claverack, Columbia County, Elections, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
November 23, 2015
Anniversary of Kennedy’s death. Lionel White. Pierre Font. Brussels. Paris. National Registry for Muslims. Donald Trump. Marco Rubio. Jeff Cole. George Stephanopoulos. Jeb Bush. Ebola. Liberia. Earthquake in Afghanistan.
It is the 22nd of November and for some reason I remembered that today is the 52nd anniversary of the death of John F. Kennedy. When I was reading the Times this morning with my first cup of coffee, it struck me.
I was in middle school and the principal came in and whispered to the teacher, who told us and we were all sent home from our Catholic School and began a mourning that I am not sure we are over.
It was a grayish day today and on the chill side but tonight there was the most spectacular sunset I have ever seen in my time here. The sky was a lush red that filled the horizon. I attempted a photo but it didn’t do the colors justice.
Also, the deer have returned. There was a family of them scattered on the road, on my property and across the street at Lionel and Pierre’s home. Standing proudly in Lionel’s yard was a young buck, watching as his family crossed the road in front of my very slowly moving car.
While I listen to jazz and wait for Lionel to arrive for Thanksgiving week festivities, the world itself goes on its crazy way.
Brussels seems to be in a virtual lockdown and a series of raids have been held during the course of the evening. The city is on the highest level of alert, the Metro will not run tomorrow and schools are closed. People are being advised to stay home and inside.
In Paris, they are searching for a third suspect and some are saying many “red flags” for the attacks were missed.
The world has changed, again, since the Paris attacks. Trump is talking a “national registry” for Muslims. He also claims that on 9/11 “thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey cheered as the Towers fell. He claims to have seen it himself, on television. Really? George Stephanopoulos reminded him that the police say it didn’t happen. But it did, George, but it did.
The Washington Post did an evaluation of the top Republican candidates and estimated that the nominee is likely going to be Marco Rubio, which my friend Jeff Cole suggested when we had lunch six weeks ago.
Jeb Bush comes in at number 5. Number two is Donald Trump. Is this really happening? I have stopped laughing because The Donald might just pull it off and that is a really scary thought.
The Paris attacks have changed the tone of our electoral campaign and will continue to influence it as we progress toward this, to me, most bizarre of electoral cycles.
Sadly, Ebola has re-emerged in Liberia and 153 people are being watched to see how it develops in them.
There has been a 5.9 magnitude earthquake in Northeast Afghanistan, bringing even more misery to that land of misery.
Thankfully, the jazz is soothing and the fire cheery. So I end the day, curled up in the comforts of the cottage, Tempting as it might be, I am not yet retreating into blocking out the news of the day.
When I was younger, globe trotting, I felt like a citizen of the world. I still feel that way.
Tags:Brussels, Donald Trump, Earthquake in Afghanistan, Ebola, George Stephanopoulos, Jeb Bush, Jeff Cole, Kennedy Assasination, Liberia, Lionel White, Marco Rubio, National Registry for Muslims, Paris, Pierre Font
Posted in 2016 Election, 9/11, Columbia County, Earthquakes, Elections, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
September 21, 2015
It is dusk here in the city. I have just come from the taping of one of Howard Bloom’s podcasts. Sometime this week it should be live and when it is, I will share the URL. Today we talked about sin. The show’s title: Howard Bloom Saves the Universe.
As I left Howard and was descending into the subway, I realized it was cool. It had been my intention to go to Thai Market and write but I realized by the time I was finished it would be chill. I’m going to need a jacket tonight so I came back to the little apartment and opened my laptop.
It has been an okay day, up early to do some work and then a few other errands. Tomorrow I’m moderating a panel for the Religious Communicator’s Council on blogging, followed by coffee with the producer for that, my friend Mary Dickey, and then a meeting in Chelsea and then off to the train.
On Wednesday, I am driving over to the Cape.
There’ll be many things that will occupy my mind as I drive, I’m sure. The world is a rocky place these days.
Croatia is crying for help with the refugees and migrants that have crossed into the country. European leaders meet but seem to come to no conclusions on what to do. It feels likes million are on the move, though I am sure the numbers are not that high. Hungary has taken to posting warnings to refugees and migrants in Lebanon and Jordan NOT to come.
One of the issues Alexis Tsipras faces is that his country is a major transit point for those attempting to reach Western Europe. His is a country overflowing with crises. Reelected, he must now really govern.
David Cameron, the UK’s Prime Minister, is fending off allegations he had sex with a dead pig in an initiation ceremony for the exclusive Piers Gaveston Society, named after the supposed gay lover of Edward II, while at Oxford. Oh those wacky Brits!
Scott Walker, the Wisconsin Governor, is suspending his campaign for President, warning there may have to be many more dropouts if Republicans want to stop Donald Trump, who has slipped while Carly Fiorina has risen. The merry dance goes on, Rome burning while the fiddler plays.
Bernie Sanders is the “passion” candidate for the Democrats while Hillary Clinton is the conventional one. The size of crowds they are attracting, with Bernie drawing more than Hillary, is causing Hillary’s detractors to, well, detract.
In a particularly disturbing story that was featured in the NY Times this morning, American soldiers and officers have been told to ignore the painful cries of young boys as they are sexually assaulted by their Afghan counterparts for fear of seeming culturally insensitive.
It was a story I had to read a couple of times to comprehend.
The Emmys are over. Jon Hamm got one, at last. Viola Davis won Best Actress in a drama and gave a heartfelt speech, which I read today.
Last night, leaving the reception for my friends Kris and Eric, I realized I was just a short distance from my friends, Mary Clare and Jim. I phoned them, we got together, I surveyed their new apartment and then we walked down the hill to a little restaurant near them. I’ve known Mary Clare forever and it was such fun to spontaneously join them.
I’m off now to get some food, do a little reading and get to sleep so I can do a good job moderating tomorrow.
Tags:Afghan sexual abuse of boys, Alexis Tsipras, Bernie Sanders, Carly Fiorina, Croatia, David Cameron, David Cameron Dead Pig, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Howard Bloom, Howard Bloom Saves the Universe, Hungary, Jon Hamm, Mary Clare and Jim Eros, Mary Dickey, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Piers Gaveston Society, Religious Communicators Council, Scott Walker, Thai Market, Viola Davis
Posted in Elections, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Social Commentary | Leave a Comment »
July 29, 2015
It is a sunny and blistering hot day in New York. I had a lunch today at Sarabeth’s in Lord & Taylor on 5th Avenue. It is not a terrible walk but by the time I arrived there, I was more than damp and glad I had topped off with a cold drink of water before I left. Coming back, I caught the bus right outside the store and rode it to Penn Station, walking from there to the office.
When I left the apartment this morning, I turned off the air conditioning but it may have been wiser to leave it on. Heat warnings are in effect for NYC until tomorrow at 8:00 PM. People are to restrain outside activities between 11 and 4 and cooling centers are open for those who might not have air conditioning.
As the day begins to fade, I am gathering my thoughts about the events of the world.
Mullah Omar, head of the Taliban, has apparently been dead for the last two years, according to the Afghans. US Intelligence is examining the claim closely. Supposedly, he died in a Pakistani hospital of an undetermined illness. If he is dead, it may help the peace process. Or not. Some of his supporters have broken from the Taliban and proclaimed their allegiance to IS.
The murkiness continues.
Some parts of a plane washed up on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. They are being examined to see if they are pieces to the missing MH 370, the Malaysian Airlines flight that disappeared in March of 2014, leaving behind no trace. Despite huge search efforts, nothing has been found and the mystery has been unabated.
Another Malaysian Airliner was shot down over Ukraine. Effort has been being made to initiate a UN tribunal to look into the events surrounding the downing of the flight but they are being blocked by Russia.
Two young Florida boys went fishing. Their boat was found capsized 180 miles from where they started. The search continues, without a trace of them so far.
There is a religious festival that is held every five years in Nepal. Five hundred thousand [500,000] animals have their throats cut. It won’t be happening this year. Priests at the temple of Gidhimai have said that there will be an indefinite halt to the sacrifices to this Goddess of Power. Animal activists are pleased but don’t intend to lower their watch. I think it’s the use of the word “indefinite” that concerns them.
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend” is an old saying that is not holding up between the Turks and the Kurds. Both are fighting IS but they haven’t quit fighting each other. Erdogan, President of Turkey, is concerned because the Kurdish party won 13% of the vote in the last election. Something it has never done. Erdogan is accusing some of the Kurdish members of Parliament of having ties to terrorism. The Erdogan accusations are getting a lot of play; Kurdish rebuttals are receiving little attention.
The Government of Kim Jong-un, everyone’s favorite pudgy little dictator, looks like it is getting ready for a new missile test, having just finished upgrading its rocket launch facility. It will raise tensions between North Korea and the rest of the world, again, and probably result in more sanctions. It will probably happen in October when there is a big political celebration.
Over the last couple of days, hundreds of migrants have stormed the Chunnel, between England and France, desperate to make it to the UK. Riot police have been called out. The Mediterranean problem is sweeping north.
A Minnesota dentist paid $50,000 for a big game hunt in Zimbabwe. He hired a couple of locals. They lured a lion out of a park and he was felled with a crossbow. It turns out the lion was a local tourist favorite, Cecil the Lion. The uproar is horrific. Walter Palmer, the dentist, is apologetic, saying he relied on the locals to ensure a legal hunt. But it looks like the website to his practice has been taken down and he has been thoroughly trashed on social media.
I was not aware that one could still legally hunt wild game in Africa. I thought the only shooting that could be done was with a camera. I was wrong.
It took the hunters forty hours to locate Cecil and to end his misery with a gunshot.
And in ending today’s blog, how better to end it than with an update on The Donald? He has gone on record saying he would welcome Sarah Palin in his administration.
Oh my.
Tags:Afghanistan, Cecil the LIon, Chunnel, Donald Trump, Erdogan, Gidhimai, IS, Kim Jong - Un, Kurds, Malaysian Airlines, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, MH17, MH370, Migrants at Chunnel, Minnesota Dentist who killed lion, Mullah Omar, New York Heat Wave, Reunion Island, Russia, Sarah Palin, Taliban, The Donald, Turks, Ukraine, Walter Palmer
Posted in Elections, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary | Leave a Comment »
Letter from the Vineyard 
Letter From New York 02 26 16 As the beat goes on…
February 26, 2016It’s Friday afternoon and I’m sitting looking out the windows of my friends’ rental in Greenville, SC where they are living while their new home is being built a few blocks from where I am sitting. The apartment is gorgeous and their new home will be even more beautiful. They’re liking Greenville and I’m happy for them.
While we were touring the construction site of their home, my phone made one of the noises it does when a breaking news story pops up. Governor Chris Christie has endorsed Trump while continuing to harass Marco Rubio.
Talking politics is always touchy and I can honestly say, as I think almost everyone would agree, that we haven’t seen anything like this in politics during our voting lifetimes.
It’s been a busy week and last night I slept for nearly twelve hours and that was after a two hour nap. I am still worn down it seems. So I am, as my sister suggested, listening to my body and resting when it says to rest. Which is relatively often…
It’s cool here, though very bright and sunny.
My brother has been in Honduras and is on his way home. He texted me this morning and I was glad and will be gladder when he’s home. He goes once or twice a year to give medical care to those living in the back of beyond.
In a quiet little Kansas town, Hesston, not far from Wichita, 38 year old Cedric Larry Ford was served with a restraining order. 90 minutes later he shot 17 people, three of whom died, and among the fourteen others, several are in critical condition.
And the beat goes on…
Former Mexican President, Vicente Fox, told Trump there was no way Mexico was going to “pay for that f**king wall.” Trump asked for an apology. He only got a verbatim repeat from Fox, on live TV, on Fox Business News.
Trump, who is against immigration, uses a lot of immigrants at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida private club, mostly from eastern European countries. He also settled out of court a suit about use of illegal Polish workers on the Trump Tower in New York.
Netflix’s new “Fuller House” got panned by critics. Now I have to watch an episode, just to see what the critics are talking about.
98% of Facebook employees are white. Apparently some of those folks have been scratching out “Black Lives Matter” on Facebook walls and replacing it with “All Lives Matter.” Zuckerberg has told them to stop.
The Americans and Russians have brokered a ceasefire in Syria and it’s one which doesn’t include the Nursa Front or IS so I wonder just how ceased the fighting will be? Hopefully, much needed supplies will reach the desperate and there are lots of them in Syria.
Certainly, it is not desperate here where Jan is prepping shrimp and grits, to be served with a good white wine and where I will shortly raise a martini to friends not present.
Including all of you…
Tags:Cedric Larry Ford, Chris Christie, Donald Trump, Fuller House, Greenville, Hesston Kansas, IS, Marco Rubio, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Netflix, South Carolina, Syrian Cease Fire, Vicente Fox
Posted in 2016 Election, Elections, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Russia, Social Commentary, Syria, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »