Archive for the ‘Gay’ Category
May 20, 2016
It is a bit hazy as I rumble south, down the river, toward the city. I am having dinner tonight with my good friends Annette and David Fox. About once a quarter, we get together, order Indian from Indus Valley near their West End Avenue apartment and visit, over wine and an Indian dinner.
All day my mind has wandered back to the Egypt Air flight that crashed on its way from Paris to Cairo, in the Mediterranean off Crete. My phone screen was clustered with updates when I awoke this morning.
It is appearing that the plane’s crash is likely the result of terrorism though nothing can be known until the plane’s debris is studied. Why did it make wild turns just before it disappeared? What must have the passengers been experiencing? I shudder to think. It’s one thing to be there one moment and another not but what must have been in their minds as the plane made a 360 degree rotation?
Chaos erupted on the floor of the House today over a bill that would have denied contracts to Federal contractors if they discriminated against LGBT individuals. It was lost by one vote and reporters heard jeers and shouts from the House floor. Championed by Representative Sean Maloney, Democrat of New York in a district just south of me. Moments before the vote, the measure had 217 votes and House Leader McCarthy twisted Republican arms to change their vote as the presiding officer kept the vote open longer than is normal.
Ah, politics… All the remaining candidates, Trump, Sanders and Clinton hurled invectives and innuendoes today, as they do every day.
To put it kindly, Megyn Kelly and Donald Trump have been “at odds.” They had a sit down at Trump Tower and then another on Megyn Kelly’s premiere of her new interview show as she pursues becoming the next Barbara Walters. It was roundly panned and accusations flew that she played easy with her former adversary.
A week ago the legendary CBS reporter, Morley Safer, retired. A long planned special tribute to him aired on “Sixty Minutes” this past Sunday. Today, he died. He covered the world, from war to art, with panache and precision, exuding a style that is hard to find, particularly now.
The wonderful Hubble Telescope, hovering in space for twenty-five years now, has sent home spectacular views of Mars which is swinging in and will be as close as it gets to earth on Sunday, May 22nd. From these photos we have learned there were mega-tsunamis on Mars in the long ago. With luck, it will continue working at least until 2020 or, perhaps, a little longer.
This week, a Chibok girl, kidnapped two years ago by Boko Haram in Nigeria was freed. Today, another girl has been rescued, two out of two hundred. The first one has met with the Nigerian President but it may be hard for any rescued girls to be reintegrated. The first girl has a Boko Haram “husband” apparently.
In Venezuela, Maduro is cracking down as his regime seems to be cracking up. Tear gas was fired on a crowd of thousands who were demanding his recall. Chants of “food, food, food” are being heard in the streets of many cities. Hospitals are often without power or medicine. Patients are reported to lie in pools of blood.
Even his fellow leftists are beginning to think him crazy. One called Maduro “crazy like a goat.” But maybe that’s a compliment?
The train arrived in New York and then I was off to dinner and sleep. Now it is a beautiful Friday morning in the city, sunlight streaming through the blinds and shortly I’m off to Baltimore to visit friends.
Yesterday’s drumbeat continues today. Debris has been found from the Egypt Air flight. Accepting the inevitable, the Republicans are rallying behind Trump and it will make an interesting fall campaign as Trump and Clinton seemed to be disliked in comparable numbers, meaning no one likes either of them much.
Oklahoma has passed a bill making it a felony to perform an abortion thereby making it virtually impossible to get an abortion in the state.
Israel’s Defense Minister has resigned, accusing Netanyahu of “extremism.” And if he continues on the current path, Netanyahu’s government will become the most right wing in Israel’s history.
Now, as it is nearing noon, I need to prepare to leave, with another coffee in my future and some work for WGXC.
Tags:Annette and David Fox, Bernie Sanders, Boko Haram, Claverack, Donald Trump, Egypt Air Crash, Hillary Clinton, Hubble Telescope, Hudson, Maduro, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Megyn Kelly, Morley Safer, Netanyahu, Oklahoma Felony for abortion, Sean Maloney, The Donald, Venezuela
Posted in 2016 Election, Boko Haram, Civil Rights, Claverack, Columbia County, Gay, Gay Liberation, Hillary Clinton, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
May 2, 2016
Five years ago Osama Bin Laden, a rich kid who definitely went bad, was killed in his hiding place in Pakistan, apparently with a stash of video porn. Born privileged, he rejected privilege and embraced fundamental Islam and wreaked havoc on the world, partly supported by his personal wealth as a scion of a family that had made a huge fortune in construction in the great oil years in Saudi Arabia. It was said he only wore a shirt once and then discarded it.
Fast forward and Al Qaeda is in decline while its successor, IS, is on the rise. Or is it? Its territory has shrunk this year and there is a full on assault about to happen on Mosul, one of the chief cities it has conquered.
However, they are not a country per se and attack places like Brussels and Paris as terrifying terrorists. The world is a crazy place, isn’t it? Full of anger, full of hate, full of vitriol and absolutism. I certainly hope we survive this as well as we survived the vitriol and absolutism of Nazism. That thought gives me hope.
On Tuesday, Indiana votes. It looks like it is going to be another Trump victory. Some polls have hime with a 15% lead. Others have him with a smaller lead but in all polls he has a lead. It may be a “make it or break it moment” for Ted Cruz.
And as so much of the 2016 campaign has been, this is a fraught moment. Cruz fights for his political life and Trump sails on, turning every disadvantage into an advantage. It has been mind boggling to watch and frightening to contemplate.
This is where we are in politics. And it is Ted Cruz who helped set the stage for the current scene.
Last night was the White House Correspondents Dinner and while I didn’t watch it in real time, the video clips have been good and demonstrated that Obama has a ready wit [I am sure helped by good writers]. People I know found it great fun and I will look at clips tonight, once I have finished this missive.
The days are growing longer. It is nearly eight and there is still light and I am looking at the creek in twilight but not darkness. I love this time of year as the world moves towards the longest day of the year.
It is a moment of happiness.
It has been a sweet day. There was a good dinner party last night. My guests were Larry and Alicia. A while ago had been his birthday and last night we celebrated it. Today Larry and Alicia invited me to join them at Ca’Mea for lunch after church, which I did and which was great fun.
I am sitting at my dining room table and am looking out over the creek and am so grateful for this place and this time.
May you be happy in your place and time.
Tags:Al Qaeda, Alicia Vergara, Carl Black, Claverack, Donald Trump, Hudson, Indiana Primary, Iran, Iraq, IS, Isis, Larry Divney, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, New York, Obama, Red Dot, Ted Cruz, The Donald, White House Correspondents Dinner
Posted in 2016 Election, Afghanistan, Claverack, Columbia County, Entertainment, Gay, Hillary Clinton, Hollywood, Life, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Nazis, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
April 25, 2016
I’m not sure where the term “dog tired” came from but that’s what I am today, “dog tired.” When I woke it was a grey, chill day, unremittingly grey. At class I was struggling to get my rambunctious students to pay attention while I was helping them fill in the background of what they needed to know about media history.
Most of them are graduating in three weeks and there are only four more classes for them and you can sense them stampeding toward the doors.
Leaving them, I went down to Relish, the little cafe by the train station and had an egg white omelet, reading a mystery by Louise Penny while eating. Coming home, I did a conference call and then prepped for some interviews I am doing for our community radio station tomorrow.
The American Dance Institute has purchased a rundown lumberyard in Catskill and is converting it to performance spaces and living quarters for artists while they’re in residence. It’s an exciting project…
I am talking to Chris Bolan, their Community Relations Manager, tomorrow about the project.
So right now, I am listening to jazz, sipping a much needed martini and working on figuring out kitchen organization. I have more stuff than space. What goes? What stays and where does what stays, go?
One of the reasons I felt tired or maybe a bit depressed was that as I was walking toward my class, the phone pinged and the BBC reported a leading gay activist in Bangladesh had been hacked to death, not too long after a liberal blogger had been similarly dispensed. I felt sad, angry, helpless, wanting to do something to change the tide of hate sweeping the world and not knowing at all what to do about it.
The afternoon brought news that a Canadian in the Philippines has been killed by an Islamist militant group. His name was John Ridsdel, described as brilliant and compassionate; he was a 68 year old tourist from Calgary, Canada. Beheaded, of course, in keeping with tradition.
On the American political scene, Cruz and Kasich made a pact to stop Trump by Kasich withdrawing from Indiana in favor of Cruz and Cruz withdrawing from Oregon in favor of Kasich. After great fanfare this morning, it seems to have fallen apart by the afternoon.
It was not a good day for the New England Patriot’s Tom Brady as the courts upheld his suspension from the first four games of the season. Deflategate has not gone away; its repercussions are still being felt and Brady’s legacy is at stake. He could still appeal but his chances aren’t good. The NFL may well have won.
Hard for me to figure this out as I am not a football fan; never a big fan, I was totally lost to the sport when the concussion revelations began to happen.
It is a mellow night at the cottage. It is 7:30 and the sun has not yet gone away. There are buds on the trees and the rhododendron are starting their bloom. The jazz has energized me and I am happy now. Somehow, in writing this, I have shed this day. And I am grateful.
Thank you.
Tags:ADI/Lumberyard, American Dance Institute, Chris Bolan, Cruz, Dog tired, Gay Activist hacked to death in Bangladesh, John Ridsdel, Kasich, Louise Penny, New England Patriots, Relish, Tom Brady
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Daesh, Elections, Entertainment, Gay, Gay Liberation, Greene County New York, Gun Violence, Hudson New York, IS, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
April 13, 2016
It has been a long day; I was up early because I am getting new appliances and the Columbia County Habitat for Humanity was coming early for my old stove. They came and went and I waited for the new appliances to arrive.
It all started with my dishwasher finally starting to give up the ghost which proceeded to all new appliances — a new stove, refrigerator, over the stove microwave and, of course, a new dishwasher.
When they arrived, the dishwasher, which started all of this, was the wrong one and so it had to go and the right one finally arrived. In the meantime, I spent the day preparing for tomorrow’s lecture on magazines for “Media & Society,” the class I teach at Columbia Greene Community College.
Term papers were due last week and I graded them over the weekend, sending three back for revisions as I was working to help them achieve their goals for “good” grades. One of the students got very upset with me for trying to help her get a better grade. She had too many other things to do.
Such is the life of a teacher. It was this way when I taught high school and it is now when I am teaching at a community college.
The good news story of the day is that a 72 year old woman, who was lost in the Arizona wilderness for nine days, was found alive after drinking pond water and eating plants. She spelled help in twigs, stones and bones and was seen. Suffering from exposure, she’s in the hospital in fair condition which is pretty good for an elderly lady who had been lost in the wilderness.
Paul Ryan has told the world to count him out. He is not, repeat NOT, going to be the Republican candidate for President if it comes to a brokered convention.
That is what Kasich is counting on; a brokered convention that will take him to heart as the only sane person in the party who could conceivably win.
The Governor of North Carolina is back pedaling on the anti-gay law he signed into law as he is, rightfully so, rocked by the backlash he has received. Hell hath no fury like corporate CEO’s who don’t agree with what you have done.
And that includes the very important banking community that has moved into North Carolina in recent years. Deutsche Bank, who was going to build a presence there, has said: no, not now, not because of this.
It was a year ago that Freddie Gray died in police custody in Baltimore and there is a feeling there that the mindset has changed. I hope so. It was one of those shocking moments in American life that leave you gasping.
What I have also learned in the last year is the passionate way people who live in that city have love for that city. My friends, Lionel and Pierre, moved there the week before the riots and are now huge boosters of the city, passionately engaged there and loving it.
David Gest died in London today. A successful producer, he married Liza Minnelli and that may be the thing for which he will be forever remembered. It was a huge affair with Elizabeth Taylor as a Maid of Honor and Michael Jackson as Best Man and in a year they were divorced with all kinds of ugly rumors abounding. He had been living in York in England for the last few years, far from the madding crowd, regretful for the cosmetic surgery he had, which did not turn out well.
Tonight, I am focussing on lighter things. It’s the mood I’m in — who wants to process that Boko Haram is manipulating children into being suicide bombers?
Yuri Milner, a Russian businessman, has joined forces with Stephen Hawking, wanting to send probes about the size of iPhones to Alpha Centauri, the star system closest to us. They need to raise ten billion dollars but it sounds interesting.
I have always been a great proponent of space exploration. “Ah, but man’s reach should exceed his grasp. Or what’s a heaven for?” Robert Browning…
Tags:Baltimore, Boko Haram, Claverack, Columbia Greene Community College, Donald Trump, Freddie Gray, IS, Kasich, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media & Society, Paul Ryan, Robert Browning, Stephen Hawking
Posted in 2016 Election, Boko Haram, Civil Rights, Claverack, Columbia County, Entertainment, Gay, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Life, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
April 6, 2016
Dusk is descending on the creek; I am watching the light fade from my dining room table while classical music plays.
And I am thinking over the day, one of seemingly endless frustrations with an email problem Apple could not seem to fix and a group of errands squeezed into a short period because of all the time Apple had consumed.
When they couldn’t fix the issue, I turned to the local computer guru, Jonathan Simon, who does not work on Macs but who solved my problem in about twenty minutes. My Apple Faith is shaken.
There was a meeting this afternoon in which one of the participants became so upset they walked out; unnerving for all. The rest of us retreated to a local restaurant, had drinks and food and attempted to continue.
In other words, a day that did not run smoothly.
Last time I wrote, the predicted snow had not fallen. The next morning it was all there and more; instead of three inches we had close to seven. Only five intrepid students made it to class. We called it early and went home.
Last night, I fell asleep reading a mystery and woke lazily into a sunny but chill day. Predictions are that tonight and tomorrow are to be two of the coldest of the season. What climate change?
“The Panama Papers” have exploded onto the world stage and the President of Iceland is no longer President, having resigned today after he was named in them. As were several of Putin’s closest friends including one who was once close but had a rift with Putin and is now dead after blunt force trauma in a DC hotel.
It seems the President of Ukraine, a chocolatier billionaire did not, as he said he would, divest himself of his holdings but transferred them to offshore companies. Prime Minister Sharif of Pakistan is distraught that relatives are named with having accounts. China has tightened censorship; one can only wonder what will happen there?
These leaks create messy, messy situations while one cannot help occasionally having a moment of schadenfreude, relishing the misfortunes of others; thinking these others deserve their misfortune.
While I am typing exit polls are being held in Wisconsin. Cruz and Sanders are both hoping to take a little wind out of the frontrunners’ sails there. Hillary has not had a good history in Wisconsin, having lost it in 2008 and Trump is facing a coalition of conservative talk show hosts who are determined to bring him down, exploiting all his wonderful gaffes to the fullest.
Governor Phil Bryant of Mississippi signed into law a bill that allowed for anti-gay discrimination. As in North Carolina, he is facing a barrage of blowback. Long lamenting the lack of a Fortune 500 company in his state, he is less likely to get one now. Mississippi’s largest employers are not happy, including Toyota and Nissan and MGM Resorts.
Is the Civil War being fought again over gay rights?
As a gay man, I am astounded at the progress made in my lifetime. Gay marriage was something I thought would never happen and yet, here I am, not yet dead and it has happened. That states like Mississippi and North Carolina would attempt to turn back the clock is disheartening, if not surprising. They are setbacks, not defeats and they are not on the right side of history.
What is amazing is that the Governors of those two states are ignoring the businesses in their states; pandering instead to bigoted voters. Well, they do have to re-elected!
The soft classical music is mellow, comforting and encasing the living and dining rooms with a gentle feel. I’ve turned on the floodlights over the creek and am thinking it is close to time to curl up with my mystery and slip out of the night into the land of Nod.
Tags:Apple, Bernie Sanders, Claverack, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Jonathan Simon, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Mississippi Gay Law, New York, Panama Papers, Phil Bryant, President of Iceland, President of Ukraine, Primaries, Primary in Wisconsin, Putin, schadenfreude, Ted Cruz
Posted in 2016 Election, Civil Rights, Claverack, Columbia County, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Gay, Gay Liberation, Greene County New York, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Life, Literature, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Political, Political Commentary, Putin, Russia, Social Commentary, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
March 29, 2016
It is Tuesday afternoon, late; my version of “God’s Little Acre” is bathed in golden sunlight with the temp in the 40’s.
How that really feels like, I haven’t a clue. Prepping for the Easter brunch took it all out of me, I’m afraid.
I slept most of Monday, drifting off at 5:00 last evening and waking at 8:00 this morning. My meetings out of the house were all, thankfully, moved to other days and I rested, doing conference calls from the warmth of my bed and my terry cloth bathrobe.
As that saying goes, I guess I’m not as young as I used to be…
It’s not bad and I’m not upset about it; it is just that I have to learn what my new limits are at this age. I can’t go almost straight for 72 hours and not feel some serious consequences.
Everyone has told me it was a great success and I’m glad. Sally Brodsky did a yeoman’s job of helping me even though she was under the weather. There would have been no clean-up if it weren’t for Katerina. Thanks to April, also, and a couple of others whose names have flitted out of my head.
Going to Christ Church with Lionel and Pierre started giving me a sense of community and after they left, I have continued going, making some new friends along the way.
Not so long ago, I did a call with Louise Rosen who has worked in television as long as me and has been doing that and producing the Maine Jewish Film Festival the last four years. We, of course, talked about the changes in the business and the differences of living in Maine and Columbia County and that of living in New York City or Boston or DC.
“It’s nice sometimes to be a bit removed from the chaos,” she said and I agreed.
On Friday, I am moderating a panel on “How To Build A Better Blog” for the Religious Communicators Conference and as I was prepping for my call and scouring the Internet for some topics to throw at my panel, successful bloggers all, I was wondering what I might do to improve my blog?
I find that I am in the group who blogs to give their voice a platform but perhaps there is more that I should be doing.
Do any of you have ideas? Let me know what I can do to make this better, to resonate more for you. I do it because I enjoy it and am glad that there are folks out there who read it and sometimes comment.
But seriously, what can I do to be better?
P.S. RIP, Patty Duke, aka Anna Pearce
Tags:"God's Little Acre", Claverack, Columbia County, Hudson, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, New York
Posted in 2016 Election, Afghanistan, Claverack, Columbia County, Entertainment, Gay, Greene County New York, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Political, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
March 13, 2016
It is grey and overcast outside; warmish but not so much as yesterday, a bright and beautiful day in the Hudson Valley. Yesterday, with my friend, Pam, I went down to the Farmer’s Market, still held this time of year in the Parish Hall at Christ Church, purchasing a ganache for dessert, a freshly baked baguette and a few other things.
Since I have volunteered to lead the charge for Easter Brunch at church, I tarried while Sally Brodsky, the chief kitchen person at Christ Church, showed me how to operate the stove and ovens, which had befuddled me.
As I type this on Sunday morning, I am sitting in the living room with shards of sun slipping between the clouds. Pamela is showering and Tory is catching a few more winks of sleep. In a bit of time, I will be taking them down to the Hudson Train Station, sending them off to New York, where both have business this week.
They have been together for twenty-six years; Tory and I have known each other for thirty-one.
As everyone does these days, we talked politics as the fantastic scenario of this year plays out.
Trump rallies have grown violent, left wing protestors and Trump supporters clashed in Chicago. Conservative reporter Michelle Fields has claimed that Trump’s campaign manager assaulted her when she tried to pose a question to the candidate.
Marco Rubio is making Tuesday’s Florida primaries a make or break it for him, as Kasich is doing in Ohio. If they cannot carry their home states, what hope is there?
Just moments ago, former Speaker of the House, John Boehner, endorsed Kasich.
There seems to be an effort by many Republicans to rally around Ted Cruz in an effort to stop the Trump momentum, a thought only slightly less scary than having Trump as the Republican nominee.
Hillary Clinton made an appearance at Nancy Reagan’s funeral and absurdly praised the Reagans for their leadership in the AIDS crisis which unfolded during his administration. Anyone who lived through that era, and I did, will remember that they were famously silent on AIDS.
What was Hillary thinking?
While all eyes here are focused on the race for the presidential nomination for the Democratic and Republican parties, there are major elections happening today in Germany, a major test for Angela Merkel’s open door to refugees and migrants.
I don’t think of the Ivory Coast as a vacation spot but in that country, Grand-Bassam, is a popular destination for Ivorians and foreigners. Gunmen roamed its beaches and killed many; the number still undetermined and for reasons still unknown.
Suspicion, of course, goes immediately to IS for this kind of attack. At the same time, it has been revealed that IS is forcing females to use birth control so that pregnancy will not interfere with their use as sex slaves. You can’t rape a woman if she’s pregnant, so birth control is being use to prevent pregnancy and allow for continued rape.
The world’s oldest man is a 112 year old survivor of Auschwitz, a former confectioner, living in Haifa, Israel. It took awhile to confirm his status as so many records were scattered during the war. But he has been now affirmed, a living monument of a terrible time. The oldest living person is a 115 year old American woman, who was born in 1899. What they have seen…
Not so long ago, the head of IS’s chemical attack force was captured. It did not prevent them from launching a chemical attack in which 600 were wounded, a child died and thousands fled their homes.
I’m home now, after dropping Tory and Pam off at the train station for their trip into the city. We had lunch at Vico, on Warren Street, where we all had a great burgers and wonderful fries.
In the time since I’ve left home, now about three hours, the Ivory Coast has confirmed 14 dead and there has been a suicide bombing in Ankara that has killed at least 27 and wounded 75.
So the world beat goes on, while I am now seated on the deck, looking at the creek slowly passing by, a mallard having just taken flight to the north, bleating as it ascended into the sky.
When I came here, there were hundreds of mallards. Most are gone now. It is quieter but somehow less peaceful.
Tags:Amtrak, Angela Merkel, Ankara bombing, Auschwitz, Claverack, Donald Trump, German Elections, Hillary Clinton, Hudson, IS, Isis, Ivory Coast Killings, John Boehner, Kasich, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, New York, Pamela Carter, Rubio, Ted Cruz, Tory Abel, Trump Rallies, Vico, World's oldest man
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Daesh, Elections, Entertainment, Gay, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
February 16, 2016
Columbia County Ben Franklin Pandora Antonin Scalia Obama Mitch McConnell Oil Prices Saturday Night Live Cruz Rubio Trump
Outside, a light snow is falling and I am sequestered in the cottage, where I have been all day. It’s very chill though tomorrow we are supposed to hit the low fifties. We are all rolling our eyes about this winter which seems unlike any winter I have experienced since I’ve been up in Columbia County. For the most part, it’s been like a long, chill fall and not like winter.
There is a fire in the Franklin Stove though I have the door closed. I am not after aesthetics tonight, I am after heat. There has been a chill to the cottage all day and I am seeking to counter it with the stove, which could almost heat the house when I keep it stocked with logs and the door closed. Good old Ben Franklin; a fount of inventions…
Jazz is playing on Pandora. I am getting better so I am no longer feeling the need for silence. It is the first day I haven’t spoken to my sister since this began. I’m healing but am still so tired; I sleep a deep sleep every night and usually for nine to eleven hours. Ah, “sleep that knits up the raveled sleeve of care…” My sleeve has been raveled and needs knitting up…
Several friends have called today to check on the state of my health and after I have assured them I am on the mend, our talk seems to go to politics and all express a dismay at the political world we are living in. Scalia is dead and McConnell has sworn to delay an appointment until we have a new President. And, frankly, I rolled my eyes at that. Somehow, it seems the Republicans think of Obama as an eight year constitutional crisis and I don’t understand that.
I haven’t always agreed with him and I don’t think he is a constitutional crisis personified. I have never understood what seems a pathological hatred for the man by Republicans.
After a discussion of Scalia, we immediately go to Trump who has caused the campaign for the Republican nomination to resemble a Saturday Night Live comedy sketch.
And yet it’s all very real. And the vitriol between the Republicans is so unseemly. I am appalled. But they are taking it very seriously. And that’s more than a little frightening… Cruz, Rubio, Trump are espousing the politics of fear and hatred from what I see. Where is hope? Belief in the future?
The rest of the world is ticking on. The Australians have uncovered a ring of drug smugglers using bras to carry meth. The WHO is working to figure out Zika. Ehud Olmert, a former Israeli Prime Minister, is off to prison while proclaiming his innocence. Gas is under $2.00 a gallon in most places.
The world is nuts. When hasn’t it been? It is just this is our nuts and we have to deal with it.
Tags:Antonin Scalia, Ben Franklin, Claverack, Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Mitch McConnel, Obama, Pandora, Saturday Night Live, Ted Cruz
Posted in 2016 Election, Afghanistan, Claverack, Columbia County, gas prices, Gay, Gay Liberation, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Putin, Russia, Social Commentary, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
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 22, 2016
Winter Storm Jonas DC Claverack James Green Magnetic Media Jerry May Stock Markets European Refugee Crisis Alexander Litvinenko Putin Film Academy Diversity Crisis X Files
I slipped out of the city today on the 11:20 and headed north. It was chill in the city, feeling colder than the temperature. Once I reached the cottage I decided to remain in for the rest of the day. A fire is burning and jazz is playing on Pandora. I will probably turn in early, watch some video, read a book, have a rest…
The eyes of the East coast are all turned on Winter Storm Jonas, which threatens havoc to the coastal cities. Washington, DC might get as much as two feet of snow and the Mayor there is calling it potentially life threatening. And it well could be; DC is not particularly adept at dealing with severe winter weather.
Just now I looked at the weather forecast for Claverack and it looks like the storm might miss us. Precipitation forecast is only 10%. The storm will batter the coastal areas and leave us relatively unscathed. But that could, of course, change. I’ll let you know tomorrow.
Thursday I had lunch with an old boss, James Green, who is now CEO of Magnetic Media and they are doing very well, thank you. It was good and comforting to spend a couple of hours with him. He is a warm and generous soul.
Dinner was with my long time friend, Jerry May, a chance to catch up, hear about the heart valve replacement he had had last year and to cherish each other’s friendship. I am hoping his plane gets out of JFK tonight for Seattle, where he lives.
All the major financial indices were up today after a brutal week that challenged anyone faint of heart.
My well seasoned wood is burning wonderfully. The music is lovely and I am glad to be home, snuggled in the warmth of the cottage. There feels no reason to stir from here tonight.
It has been a week to recover from…
Paul’s Memorial Service took more from me than I thought it would though being there gave back to me and I am so glad to have been part of it.
The world remains a brutal place.
Dozens have drowned in attempting to flee Syria, continuing the flow toward Europe even though the seas are dangerous this time of year. In ancient days, no ships sailed during this part of the year. The dozens included more than a dozen children.
It has been ten years since Alexander Litvinenko died as a result of drinking polonium laced tea in London. Once a Russian operative he became a fierce critic of Putin. One of the things he accused Putin was that Tsar Vladimir was a pedophile.
And there are creepy, creepy photos of Putin on a stroll in 2006 calling a five year old boy over to him, pulling up his shirt and kissing his stomach. Seems really inappropriate. Litvinenko said that Putin had the films of him and underage boys destroyed when he gained power.
And it is those accusations think some that made Litvinenko a marked man. A British judge said today that “probably” Putin ordered the removal of Litvinenko. And polonium poisoning is not a pretty way to go. The poor man lingered in horrific pain for three weeks.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences is embroiled in a controversy about the lack of diversity in its nominations. It’s the second year there have been no people of color in them.
The Academy says that it is going to work to broaden its membership. As it should. It is primarily male, white and the average age is 63. Less than 2% are African American and less than 2% are Latino. There are about 6,000 members.
Charlotte Rampling, an actress that was very big in the 1960s and is nominated this year decried the protests as “anti-white racism” during an interview in Paris, where she now lives. I used to really like her.
The “X Files” are returning in a six part mini-series. Looking forward to that. Hopefully better than the films.
It’s dark but not late. No snow yet. Looking forward to the morning. I’m going to believe we’ll miss the hit and I will be just fine.
Hope you are just fine too!
Tags:Alexander Litvinenko, Claverack, European Refugee Crisis, Film Academy Diversity Crisis, James Green, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Putin, Stock Markets, Winter Storm Jonas, X Files
Posted in Civil Rights, Claverack, Columbia County, Entertainment, Gay, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Syria, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Television, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Letter from the Vineyard 
Letter From New York 05 20 2016 Thoughts from yesterday and today…
May 20, 2016It is a bit hazy as I rumble south, down the river, toward the city. I am having dinner tonight with my good friends Annette and David Fox. About once a quarter, we get together, order Indian from Indus Valley near their West End Avenue apartment and visit, over wine and an Indian dinner.
All day my mind has wandered back to the Egypt Air flight that crashed on its way from Paris to Cairo, in the Mediterranean off Crete. My phone screen was clustered with updates when I awoke this morning.
It is appearing that the plane’s crash is likely the result of terrorism though nothing can be known until the plane’s debris is studied. Why did it make wild turns just before it disappeared? What must have the passengers been experiencing? I shudder to think. It’s one thing to be there one moment and another not but what must have been in their minds as the plane made a 360 degree rotation?
Chaos erupted on the floor of the House today over a bill that would have denied contracts to Federal contractors if they discriminated against LGBT individuals. It was lost by one vote and reporters heard jeers and shouts from the House floor. Championed by Representative Sean Maloney, Democrat of New York in a district just south of me. Moments before the vote, the measure had 217 votes and House Leader McCarthy twisted Republican arms to change their vote as the presiding officer kept the vote open longer than is normal.
Ah, politics… All the remaining candidates, Trump, Sanders and Clinton hurled invectives and innuendoes today, as they do every day.
To put it kindly, Megyn Kelly and Donald Trump have been “at odds.” They had a sit down at Trump Tower and then another on Megyn Kelly’s premiere of her new interview show as she pursues becoming the next Barbara Walters. It was roundly panned and accusations flew that she played easy with her former adversary.
A week ago the legendary CBS reporter, Morley Safer, retired. A long planned special tribute to him aired on “Sixty Minutes” this past Sunday. Today, he died. He covered the world, from war to art, with panache and precision, exuding a style that is hard to find, particularly now.
The wonderful Hubble Telescope, hovering in space for twenty-five years now, has sent home spectacular views of Mars which is swinging in and will be as close as it gets to earth on Sunday, May 22nd. From these photos we have learned there were mega-tsunamis on Mars in the long ago. With luck, it will continue working at least until 2020 or, perhaps, a little longer.
This week, a Chibok girl, kidnapped two years ago by Boko Haram in Nigeria was freed. Today, another girl has been rescued, two out of two hundred. The first one has met with the Nigerian President but it may be hard for any rescued girls to be reintegrated. The first girl has a Boko Haram “husband” apparently.
In Venezuela, Maduro is cracking down as his regime seems to be cracking up. Tear gas was fired on a crowd of thousands who were demanding his recall. Chants of “food, food, food” are being heard in the streets of many cities. Hospitals are often without power or medicine. Patients are reported to lie in pools of blood.
Even his fellow leftists are beginning to think him crazy. One called Maduro “crazy like a goat.” But maybe that’s a compliment?
The train arrived in New York and then I was off to dinner and sleep. Now it is a beautiful Friday morning in the city, sunlight streaming through the blinds and shortly I’m off to Baltimore to visit friends.
Yesterday’s drumbeat continues today. Debris has been found from the Egypt Air flight. Accepting the inevitable, the Republicans are rallying behind Trump and it will make an interesting fall campaign as Trump and Clinton seemed to be disliked in comparable numbers, meaning no one likes either of them much.
Oklahoma has passed a bill making it a felony to perform an abortion thereby making it virtually impossible to get an abortion in the state.
Israel’s Defense Minister has resigned, accusing Netanyahu of “extremism.” And if he continues on the current path, Netanyahu’s government will become the most right wing in Israel’s history.
Now, as it is nearing noon, I need to prepare to leave, with another coffee in my future and some work for WGXC.
Tags:Annette and David Fox, Bernie Sanders, Boko Haram, Claverack, Donald Trump, Egypt Air Crash, Hillary Clinton, Hubble Telescope, Hudson, Maduro, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Megyn Kelly, Morley Safer, Netanyahu, Oklahoma Felony for abortion, Sean Maloney, The Donald, Venezuela
Posted in 2016 Election, Boko Haram, Civil Rights, Claverack, Columbia County, Gay, Gay Liberation, Hillary Clinton, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »