On the nights before the days I teach, not only do I set my iPhone alarm, I also set my clock radio. I want to be sure I am up in plenty of time to get myself centered, caffeinated and to gather everything I need for class.
Since I taught today, the clock radio went off, loudly, and the very first thing I heard this morning was “Trump.” Loudly, gratingly, irritatingly… The moment I heard his name I knew he had won big last night and I shuddered, hit the snooze alarm and buried myself underneath my pillow.
Trump did win big last night. On the way to class I purchased copies of the New York Times, The New York Post, The Albany Times Union and our local Register-Star. I broke the class up into four groups, giving each group a copy of the four papers and asked them to judge them against the points that Rex Smith had made about the ethics of journalism.
Not surprisingly, perhaps, the New York Times got the best reviews for objectivity, followed by the Albany Times – Union. One of the students pointed out that in the New York Post, owned by Rupert Murdoch, that all the coverage of the Republicans was in color and had more pages than they gave for the Democrats, whose coverage was all in black and white. Very interesting…
The poor Register Star didn’t really even register. It had almost no coverage of Super Tuesday.
Hillary Clinton won but not as decisively as her supporters would have liked. She battered Bernie but didn’t knock him out. Yesterday did make his march to the nomination more difficult and possibly impossible. Hillary won Massachusetts, which had been expected to go to Bernie.
Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican candidate, is expected to give a speech shortly about the 2016 race. He has been very hard on Trump in his Twitter feed of late. It will be interesting to hear what he has to say on Thursday. I didn’t much like him as the Republican nominee as it seemed, to me, that he had no center which I had once thought he did. Perhaps now that he is finished with running he will have returned to the center and will say things from his heart.
Ben Carson has signaled he may be ending his candidacy. Ted Cruz is positioning himself as the only one who could possible beat Trump. Rubio won Minnesota, my home state, last night. I think they thought of him as the least of all evils.
Aubrey McClendon, an energy entrepreneur in Oklahoma, died today in a fiery crash while he was speeding down a road. Yesterday, he had been indicted. Today he is dead. It will take two weeks to figure out what really happened. He was fifty-six. He was accused of rigging bids.
Astronaut Scott Kelly returned to earth today after nearly a year in orbit. He has an identical twin brother, also an astronaut, and NASA is attempting to find out just what a year in space does to a person. They are thinking toward Mars. Pretty amazing, don’t you think?
The UN has imposed the severest sanctions on North Korea in twenty years as a result of its continuing to develop nuclear weapons and delivery systems. From what I have observed and certainly I am not a foreign policy expert, it’s the people of North Korea who will suffer and there is no way I can see they will push for a regime change. The pudgy little dictator of North Korea will still find ways to get his delicacies while his people resume eating grass.
The Pentagon has begun using Special Forces to capture IS leaders. They have had one success and aim for more. But the Pentagon doesn’t want to get back into the prisoner business so after questioning, the IS individual will be turned over to the Iraqis.
The evening is coming to a close. The dryer has just buzzed, announcing that the last load of clothes has been finished. The only sound I hear now is the ticking of an old clock that my parents had which one of their parents had. I think of it as the heart of the house, ticking time away, each moment taking us further into the future, which none of us can know.
I have some friends who live down in the Caribbean. I am tempted to ask them what it would take for me to go there should Trump become President.
Letter from the Vineyard 
Letter From New York 03 09 2016 Sequestered with my thoughts in the cottage…
March 10, 2016The day we all lived through here in Columbia County was physically the most exquisite day of the year and it may hold that crown all year; it’s hard to imagine a day that will be more splendid than this one. The sky was blue, the air was warm — after I finished teaching it was scratching at hot.
My students had presentations to make today and they pleaded with me to let them do it outside and I was game but one of my students was allergic to the sun [as was I as a child] and had been outside for her last class and was feeling the effects. So I let them go ten minutes early and stayed after talking with several students about the graded presentation they were going to be making after spring break.
It was a sweet day. As I drove around the county on errands, bits and pieces of the news filtered in over the radio.
Bernie had won Michigan, either stunning the Clinton camp or, according to some reports, they were just shrugging it off. He is capturing something she isn’t. In Michigan, it was largely, I understood, about his trade positions.
Tonight they are facing off against each other in Miami. I may look at some of it but then again may not. We still have months of this in front of us.
Trump continues his romp, causing, I’m sure, many Republicans to pull their hair and mimic Munch’s “The Scream.” Carly Fiorna has come out for Ted Cruz.
It’s a quiet night, sequestered in the cottage, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald are singing their classics, a martini is nearby and the lights are illuminating the creek. For this minute, the world is my oyster and I’m savoring it.
As we probably all know, “Downton Abbey” has finished its six year run, all the plots and subplots neatly tied up by Lord Fellowes, the creator who rose to the aristocracy himself during the program’s run. Not just knighted but made a Baron. Good job! There is now talk of a “Downton Abbey” movie. I am sure it will come together. Both sides of the Atlantic are mad for the Crawley family and their servants.
Either critically wounded or dead is a man known as Omar the Chechen, a lead military figure for IS. Interestingly, when he was fighting the Russians in his homeland he received training from American Special Forces and was a star pupil. Later he became the “Minister of War” for IS and was largely responsible for the push that took them within a hundred miles of Baghdad.
A captured IS official seems to be spilling the beans about IS’s efforts in chemical warfare. They seem to be centered on the use of mustard gas, used by the Germans in World War I to devastating effect.
A former American soldier has been convicted of attempting to join IS and faces 35 years in prison. He had left a note for his wife telling her he wanted to die a martyr.
Mourners are paying respects to Nancy Reagan, who lies in review at the Reagan Library where she will be buried next to her Ronnie.
And I love — sort of — the story of a Floridian mother who had bragged about her four year old son getting really “racked up” to go practice shooting with her. Hours later, he shot her in the back. They were out for a drive when it happened. WHAT?!
Kathyrn Popper died today at 100. She was the last surviving cast member of “Citizen Kane,” the movie named by the AFI in 1997 as the greatest film ever made. She was also Orson Welles’ longtime assistant.
Kim Kardashian has been posting nude selfies. Outrage has broken out in some circles. In other circles, people are posting their own naked selfies in support of her, including Sharon Osbourne, reality star, talk show host and wife of Ozzy Osbourne. I am NOT going to search it out. No. No, thank you…
Lastly, Sir George Martin passed away today at the age of 90. Longtime producer of the Beatles, he helped shape their sound and redefined the role of music producer.
The evening is rich. There is no sound quite like Louis Armstrong married with Ella Fitzgerald. The cottage is more than cozy. Friends are arriving from Nashville for the weekend and it will be good to share with them my home.
Tags:Bernie Sanders, Claverack, Columbia County, Columbia Greene Community College, Donald Trump, Downton Abbey, Ella Fitzgerald, George Martin, Hillary Clinton, Hudson, IS, Julian Fellowes, Louis Armstrong, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Munch, Nancy Reagan, Omar the Chechen, The Scream
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Elections, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Hudson New York, Income Inequality, IS, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Uncategorized, World War I commentary | 2 Comments »