Posts Tagged ‘Aleppo’
November 2, 2016
After an unusually long day for me, I have returned to the cottage, turned on the floodlights over the creek, made myself a martini and am listening to the YoYo Ma station on Amazon Prime.
The bank I have used for a decade or more, First Niagara, was purchased by Key Bank. My business account has been basically unavailable now for three weeks. An earnest and very good young man by the name of Jeff Hannett has been working diligently to help me access it. We’re about 80% there. If it weren’t for Jeff, I would have transferred to another bank. I intend to let the CEO of Key Bank know that. A half dozen friends of mine have pulled their business from Key and gone to other banks.
That was my first stop this morning. Then others and now I am home, looking over the floodlit creek and listening to soft and gentle music, sipping my vodka martini and finding the peace in a long day.
A week from today is the election. I can’t wait for it to be over except that it won’t be over. The rancor raised over the last eighteen months probably will continue until the end of my life. Polarization has become the norm. And worn as I am now, I will be more worn as the years go on.
Some Republicans are pronouncing they will work to see that Hillary Clinton is impeached in her first three months as President, if she is elected.
Some Trump supporters seem to be talking about violence in the streets if the election goes to her.
Earlier today while waiting for Jeff at the bank, I started reading an article that said our beloved “Founding Fathers” were even more rancorous than this election, even less civil, even more brutal. That gives me faith we will get through this. Please, let us get through this. Please.
Bethany Thompson, an eleven-year-old who was left with a crooked smile after fighting for her life against brain cancer, killed herself today because of bullying. She went home, found a gun and shot herself in the head.
My heart is broken and my soul is so angry… So ANGRY.
Speaking of angry, Assad, President of Syria, said today that his country was better off since the civil war that has wracked his country, sent half of them away as refugees and killed a half a million of them.
He has just put his face next to the word delusional in the dictionary.
The pictures I have seen today from Aleppo will haunt me today until the day I die. Another little boy on a stretcher, being treated, in pain and bewildered. And I still wonder: where is that bewildered little boy in the back of an ambulance that captured our attention a couple of months ago? I wonder if he lives? I wonder if he will ever be whole again, if he does live?
Also, in that part of the world, Iraqi forces are said to be on the doorstep of Mosul. Families attempting to flee that are captured find the men separated from their families and are probably being sent off to an inevitable death.
My heart, tonight, is with them also.
In the world of corporate deal making, it is being talked about on “the Street” that Goldman Sachs is encouraging Apple to make a bid to capture Time-Warner from the clutches of AT&T. Interesting.
Apple certainly could afford it. AT&T seems such an odd match for Time-Warner.
Hulu will be launching an OTT service with multiple channels next year. Its viability moved forward today with deals with Disney/ABC.
How can I be talking about the OTT opportunities in the same letter in which I am talking about the slaughter in Aleppo?
I care about both but at the end of the day, what is happening in Aleppo is far more important than what is happening in OTT.
Tags:Aleppo, Amazon Prime, Apple, Assad, AT&T, Bethany Thompson, Claverack, Claverack Creek, Disney/ABC, First Niagara Bank, Founding Fathers, Goldman Sachs, Hulu, Jeff Hannett, Key Bank, OTT, Syria
Posted in 2016 Election, AT&T, Claverack, Columbia County, depression, Elections, Entertainment, Hillary Clinton, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Music, Obama, Social Commentary, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
October 16, 2016
It is a beautiful afternoon in October in Claverack. The leaves that fill my vision as I sit here on the deck are golden and some fallen ones float regally down the creek toward the pond.
It was a day when I had an enormously difficult time waking up; every time the alarm went off, I hit the snooze button. Finally, I staggered out of bed and into the day. Slightly ambivalent about going to church, I reminded myself of the bag of groceries I had purchased for the Food Pantry at the Church and so I made my way there, a little late but still there.
From church, I made my way to the Dot for Eggs Benedict on potato latkes. And then home to wait for my friend Larry to arrive, bringing me some wood from his farm for my winter woodstove fires.
He and I sat on the deck after it was stacked, and admired the beauty of the place, enjoying the moment while listening to jazz. He has now left and I am here, at the end of the afternoon, still listening to jazz and enjoying the beauty of the spot, the moment, and basking in the long friendship Larry and I have enjoyed, stretching back now more than thirty years.
It is always easy here to slip into an avoidance of the world. This is a place of tranquility.
Beyond here – and sometimes I do not want to move beyond here – the world is a mess.
Aleppo is being pulverized and no one seems to know how to stop it. Assad and Putin seem to have no respect or care for the citizens trapped there. It is a strategic notch they need in their belts and so the dying continues. Reports indicate Aleppo looks like Berlin in 1945, a decimated city.
Donald Trump has once more been skewered on Saturday Night Live, not that Hillary got off easily. He has denounced the performance in his famous tweets.
He has increasingly been declaring that the election process is rigged. Some observers think that if he loses he is doing his best to delegitimize a Clinton Presidency.
It is rumored that the CIA is preparing a major cyberattack against Russia for its alleged attacks on American institutions, including the Democratic Party. This is a new kind of warfare.
And in thinking of a new world, a friend told me that every year from now on, 3% of jobs will be lost to robots. I think I’m glad I am at the place in life I am. It will be interesting to see how all of this shakes out.
Soon, I will let you know how my experience with Cozmo goes. It should arrive this week.
It is supposed to learn from me how to react to me. A robot pet of sorts, I guess, and I couldn’t resist experimenting with it.
Cozmo is my birthday present to myself.
Tags:Alec Baldwin, Aleppo, Berlin, CIA, Claverack, Claverack Cottage, Claverack Creek, Cozmo, Donald Trump, Eggs Benedict, Hillary Clinton, Larry Divney, Red Dot, Robots, Trump
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Elections, Entertainment, Greene County New York, Hillary Clinton, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Putin, Russia, Social Commentary, Syria, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | 5 Comments »
October 11, 2016
Well, it’s Monday evening and nearly twenty-four hours has passed since the debate. It was as close to X rated as any debate in the history of the Presidential Elections, what with Hillary bringing up Trump’s vile language in his 2005 tape and Trump bringing up Bill Clinton’s well-documented infidelities.
Oh my! Personally, I thought Trump looked terrible. And that sniffling…
The NY Times [and my conservative readers will not like this] said that there was only one adult on the stage and it wasn’t Donald Trump. I agree.
Trump had a little get together before the debate with four women who accuse Bill Clinton of sexual assault. Look, Bill was a philanderer. We all know that now thanks to Monica Lewinsky. We know Hillary was brutal in her defense of her husband.
AND Hillary is running for President. Not Bill. Bill Clinton was JFK without a compliant press.
It was down and dirty, Trump dominating the stage, sniffling all the time, while Hillary [IMHO] was doing her best to both go there and not go there. Trump’s tape was the elephant in the room.
It’s getting near the end of the day, thank God. There’s not much more of this I can stand.
However, there was one bright spot in the debate. His name was Ken Bone and he asked a question, wearing a bright red sweater and looking like the guy next door that we really like.
He asked about what the candidates would do to both protect legacy power and create environmentally safe sources going forward. He was respectful, he was clear, he was concise and because he looked like the neighbor you wanted to live next door to you, the Internet went wild. He was everywhere.
And that red sweater he was wearing? There are now all kind of Internet leads that will help you buy that sweater.
He was sweet and real in a moment that felt neither real nor sweet in any other way.
Bravo, Mr. Bone.
But in the meantime, Paul Ryan has said he will no longer defend Trump and will concentrate on keeping the down ticket seats safe. It is one of the rare things Paul Ryan has done with which I agree.
It is pitch black outside and the control to turn on the floodlights is broken, soon to be repaired.
This is the night I turned on the heat, the temperature will fall near to freezing this evening. Soon, I may light a fire in the Franklin Stove and watch some video.
The new season of Poldark has started on PBS and I am catching up.
In the meantime, medics are asking to be let into Aleppo as there is no longer an infrastructure to help the wounded. When last I wrote, two of the four working hospitals had been destroyed. Who knows if the other two are still functioning.
The pound has fallen against the dollar due to Brexit. It was $1.57 to a pound. Now it is $1.23 to a pound. Mayhap I shall plan a trip to Britain.
Nigel Lafarge who helped organize the successful campaign for Brexit, praised Donald Trump for acting like a silverback gorilla in the debate last night.
Please! Really? Nigel, you lied through it all and once you’d won, you stepped down to avoid the consequences of your actions.
It is Columbus Day. In many places it is becoming Indigenous Peoples Day. We are beginning to make mea culpa over the damage we had done to the people who lived here when we arrived.
We destroyed them, all in the name of progress. It makes me wonder what the world would be like if we had incorporated their beliefs into the way we developed our New World?
Tags:Aleppo, Bill Clinton, Brexit, Columbus Day, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Indigenous Peoples Day, Ken Bone, Monica Lewinsky, Nigel LaFarge, Paul Ryan, Poldark, Pound, Presidential Elections, Trump Sex Video Tape
Posted in 2016 Election, Brexit, Civil Rights, Claverack, Columbia County, Elections, Entertainment, Hillary Clinton, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
October 2, 2016
It is twilight outside the windows; classical music plays, a gentle piano sonata. In the trail of grey days that we have left in our time wake, the leaves have begun to change outside. Most are still green but yellow branches now sway with the green in the twilight wind.
It is a quiet, magical moment here in the cottage. Marcel lays sleeping on the couch, tired after taking me on a tour of his domain across the street. I am a bit tired too, for no great reason. Waking at a reasonable hour, I did some early morning work, showered and went off to church.
Going home, I briefly walked Marcel and went off to the gym and from there to the Red Dot for my normal Sunday brunch, visiting with all the folks I know who also frequent there.
While sitting at the Dot, I read the NY Times on the phone and perused my emails.
The world was rocked today that Trump in 1995 claimed a loss of nearly a billion dollars. It shielded him from many taxes for the next eighteen years. It was legal and staggering at the same time. A billion dollars in losses in one year? In 1995?
Badly managed businesses provided that loss, especially the catastrophe of his Atlantic City Casinos. And it seems to me that those catastrophes kept happening over the decades.
The returns were mailed to the NY Times anonymously with a return address of Trump Tower. His campaign called the NY Times an arm of the Clinton campaign.
In another report today, a commentator reminded us that several weeks after the death of Princess Diana, Trump was on Howard Stern’s program declaring he thought he could have “nailed” the Princess. He was apparently between wives and sent Princess Diana mountains of flowers. A few years ago, a woman who had been close to Diana said that she felt creeped out by them and a bit like she was being stalked by the American billionaire.
Barely cold in her grave, he was boasting he could have “nailed” her. How gallant!
How disgusting.
A person very close to me sent me an email, asking me to disseminate it widely. It was in support of Trump. Having known this woman for eons, I wondered how she possible could be thinking I would do anything to support Trump? Perhaps she was just tweaking me, even though she knows I know she will vote for Trump.
Columbia has been at war for over fifty years with the rebellious FARC. A peace deal was negotiated and put to a national referendum. It appears to have been voted down, leaving all of us to wonder if Columbia is to face another fifty years of internal war?
My sister lives in central Florida and has been wondering if Matthew [spelled with two t’s} was going to land upon them but it appears it will weaken once it has scoured Haiti, a country that can’t seem to get a break.
Another young black man was shot in Los Angeles and activists are calling for transparency.
There is no transparency or mercy, it seems, in Aleppo. The Syrian government of Assad, supported by Russia, are pummeling Aleppo into submission, apparently deliberately targeting the resources they have to handle the bombings: hospitals. The healing capacity of the city has been halved.
And where is the boy? Where is the boy?
We, the US, have been warned by Russia to not target the Damascus government.
We are living on this island Earth, not really paying attention to the tectonic shifts in the eco-system while we kill each other all over the place.
It is now totally dark outside but it is not totally dark in my soul. When I witness what is happening in the world, I also remember that for every dire act there is an act of kindness, of balance, of work to make this place, this planet, a better place.
It is why I still go to church.
Tags:Aleppo, Assad, church, Columbia, FARC, Hillary Clinton, Howard Stern, Islam, Lionel White, Los Angeles shooting, Marcel, Media, New York Times, Politics, Princess Diana, Red Dot, technology, this island earth, Trump, Trump tax claim
Posted in 2016 Election, 9/11, Civil Rights, Claverack, Columbia County, Daesh, Education, Elections, Entertainment, Hillary Clinton, Hollywood, Homelessness, Hudson New York, Income Inequality, IS, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Obama, Political, Political Commentary, Putin, Russia, Social Commentary, Syria, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Trump, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
September 27, 2016
Twilight is beginning to settle on the Hudson Valley, outside a silvery light surrounds the trees outside my window. The trees remain mostly green, some falling, still green. Over the weekend I listened to a report on NPR informing us that the turning of the leaves has been delayed by two weeks due to the long, hot, dry summer. It’s fine with me; I am enjoying the illusion it is still more summery than it is.
Yesterday, I had a fire in my Franklin stove to take the edge off the chill in the cottage as I couldn’t bear the thought of turning on the heat.
Today has been a magical fall day, warm but not too warm, sunny and joyous.
It is Tuesday and therefore I taught my Public Communications class. One of the questions I asked was, of course, who watched the Debate yesterday as it is an example of public communication with the highest of all possible stakes. Of the twenty-one people in my class, five had watched the debate.
With the exception of one, they were millennials. All of them found both candidates unacceptable. And that surprised me. Both Clinton and Trump failed to resonate with these five. To them, Trump was a buffoon and Clinton was insincere. They did not indicate to me which way they will vote, if they vote at all.
Last semester my students were exhausted by the campaign and turned off by it by the length and acrimoniousness of it. And that was true today; my students, almost all of them of voting age, are bored to death with this election campaign, feeling no one is reaching out to them.
That is worrisome.
Personally, I really liked Hillary and thought she did a very decent job. Trump started strong and then seemed to slide into exhaustion, an individual worn down and beyond really, really caring.
He did not shoot himself in the foot in the way I hoped but something was definitely off in the last part of the debate. It seemed the helium had escaped from his balloon.
Howard Dean, once himself a potential Presidential candidate, tweeted about Trump’s sniffles during the debate, wondering if he might have used cocaine before going on. I don’t remember sniffles but it has been retweeted across the blogosphere. Trump said this morning there were no sniffles.
Chill Jazz plays in the background. The silver light seems suspended over the creek, caught in a magic moment that promises it will eternally be this way…
Of course it won’t be. Twilight will become dusk and dusk will become night.
Some weeks ago I wrote a letter that featured a photo of a little boy in Aleppo, in the back of an ambulance, traumatized, a face that haunts me tonight as the Syrian forces of Assad coupled with their Russian allies, are bombing the daylights out of Aleppo with bunker busting bombs.
All day, I have wondered if that little boy, who captured the world’s attention, is still alive? Has he survived this new level of brutality? The violence has become unimaginable and I feel broken for not knowing how to alleviate it.
This week I am dog sitting Marcel, the poodle of my friend Lionel, who owns the house across the street from me, my great friend I gained in the wondrous startup that was Sabela Media in the late 90’s.
He has been a magical friend to me and we have shared every Thanksgiving together since then, save two.
Marcel and I went on our afternoon walk together. He brings me to their house and cannot understand why he cannot go home.
He enjoys me and he wants to be at home. He is about to be sixteen and he soldiers on and I am impressed with his determination.
It is a time to be determined. There are those who feel the future of the American experiment is on the line. They may well be right.
What has happened in America in the last two and a half centuries has been amazing. We have been blessed to be part of one of the most glorious experiments democracy has ever had. We have been flawed and we have persevered.
Today I was reading all kinds of documents from Columbia Greene Community College about campus policy and I thought: we are just working to do it right.
That is the thread that has kept us going. We are just working to do it right. And I applaud American democracy, for it all its flaws, for trying to do it right.
Tags:Aleppo, American Experiment, Claverack, Columbia County, Columbia Greene Community College, Donald Trump, Hilary Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Howard Dean, Hudson, IS, Lionel White, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, New York, Obama, Putin, Russia, Syria, The Donald
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Education, Entertainment, Greene County New York, Hillary Clinton, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Life, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Politics, Russia, Social Commentary, Space Exploration, Syria, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
September 9, 2016
Three days of grey clouds portended but did not produce rain. Tonight, after seeing Woody Allen’s “Café Society,” I left the theater to be greeted by a soft rain falling, driving home over glistening roads.
Mixed reports had me slightly ambivalent about seeing “Café Society.” Some said it was good. Some said it wasn’t. One wag commented, “It isn’t the worst Woody Allen film.” No, it definitely wasn’t. It wasn’t “Annie Hall” or “Manhattan” or “Bullets Over Broadway.” It was a slightly overlong, mostly charming view of a family in the late 1930’s in New York and Hollywood. As usual, there was a pantheon of stars giving good performances including Jesse Eisenberg, Steve Carrell, Blake Lively [the first time I have liked her], Parker Posey, Corey Stoll and Kristen Stewart.
Mostly it looked beautiful and poignant and timeless and full of love gone round the wrong corner.
It was the second day of class and we’re all still alive and at least all my students seemed moderately engaged, except, perhaps, for the young woman who seemed to be fighting off falling asleep. When I did a survey, all but three of my students are working jobs as well as attending school. Some of them, many of them, have full time jobs as well as being full time students. No wonder they sometimes yawn.
Out there in the world, beyond my quiet Creekside world, the strident tone of politics continues.
Last night, Matt Lauer moderated interviews, not at the same time, of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, supposedly about their views on issues related to national security.
Lauer, who, once upon a time I liked, devoted a third of Clinton’s half-hour to her email server issues. Then, according to the news reports, didn’t handle the rest of the interview well.
It is the general consensus of the press that Lauer screwed up; was unprepared and unable to stand up to Donald Trump when he repeated he had been against the Iraq War when, in fact, he is on record of supporting it in 2002.
Alas, no TODAY for me going forward. Shame on NBC for blowing this opportunity. Shame on Matt Lauer for blowing his opportunity.
Depending on who you listen to, Trump is beating Clinton or Clinton is beating Trump. The polls are rocky right now. There are only 60 or 61 days left to the election. While I can’t conceive of it, there is a possibility Donald Trump will be President.
Libertarian Presidential nominee Gary Johnson, who has been getting close enough in the polls that he might be included in the debates, made a major gaffe the other day when he had no knowledge of Aleppo. “What is Aleppo?”
Aleppo is the epicenter of the catastrophe that is Syria, where it has been reported Assad’s forces used chlorine gas on citizens. There are frightful images of Syrian civilians needing oxygen. Chlorine gas was the scourge of the WWI and now it is back in Syria.
In news of the future, Google and Chipotle are experimenting at UVA with drone delivery of burritos. Buzzing in the sky will become normal…
In other news from the present, Apple’s stock was down 3% today after the announcement of the iPhone 7. The no jack situation has many people [and investors] spooked. Me too. My iPhone 5s will not connect, for whatever reason, wirelessly with my speakers. Everything else, easy peasy, but not from my phone. And, in the end, I might succumb to the iPhone 7 Plus but might end up choosing the iPhone 6 Plus because it has a jack. I have been waiting for the iPhone 7 and feel just a little cheated. Much thought ahead.
Fifteen years ago tomorrow, my now ex-partner and I made an offer on the cottage, from where I write this. Which means that two days later we will have the fifteenth anniversary of 9/11.
It is an anniversary that always brings me back to my experience of horror on a scale I had never known. It takes me to the corner of West Broadway and Spring Street, looking at the Towers burning and feeling stunned and knowing at that moment there was nowhere to turn. We had just turned a page in history.
Tags:9/11, Aleppo, Blake Lively, Cafe Society, Chlorine Gas, Claverack, Columbia Greene Community College, Corey Stoll, Donald Trump, Gary Johnson, Hillary Clinton, Hudson, iPhone 7, iPhone7, Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Matt Lauer, New York, Parker Posey, Steve Carrell, The Donald, TODAY, Woody Allen
Posted in 2016 Election, 9/11, Claverack, Columbia County, Columbia Greene Community College, Education, Elections, Entertainment, Hillary Clinton, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Social Commentary, Syria, Television, Trump, Uncategorized, World War I commentary | Leave a Comment »
August 24, 2016
It is later in the evening than I normally write; I did a roundtrip to the city today. There were a couple of meetings and then I turned around and returned to the cottage. It is dark. I have turned on the floodlights so I can see the creek glitter with their light. The trees are silhouetted by the light, green and verdant. Nights like this are ones I love, with the floodlights giving an eerie beauty to what I see in the day.
Earlier today I had a long and good conversation with Sarah, who is my oldest friend. We have known each other since we were three and except for one brief period have been a close part of each other’s lives. She is one of the most loving and caring women I have known in my life and has always been that way.
In 7th grade, when Sister Jeron knocked me on the back of the head with a Gregorian Hymnal, humiliating me in front of our class, Sarah turned up that evening with one of her brothers and we went sledding down the hill by our house. She knew I was hurting and came to help take the hurt away. I remember that night as if it were yesterday.
Since I last wrote not much has changed in the world. Aleppo is still a horror show. Omran, the child in the photo, still haunts my dreams.
There are bombings hither and thither. A Turkish wedding was destroyed by a suicide bomber who may have been no more than fourteen. It was not the only bombing but it seems the most tragic with a child being used as a weapon.
Trump is attempting to moderate his tone and I hope it is too late. Hillary is caught in the crossfire of the Foundation and her emails, which probably will never go away. Even if she wins the Presidency, the Republicans will be chasing those emails and Benghazi into the next century.
The state of our politics this year is deplorable. While discouraged, I remain hopeful that some good will come from all of this. It must.
Out there in the wide world, North Korea has fired a missile from a submarine toward Japan. Provocative as ever, the chubby little dictator is testing the limits of what he can get away with.
Remember the Boko Haram? One of their leaders may have been badly wounded in a Nigerian airstrike. I hope so.
The Iraqis are intent on reclaiming Mosul. More than a million people will be displaced if they do it, according to estimates. More refugees in this horrific war that never ends…
The Brits voted for Brexit and Brexiting are a large number of corporations who are moving their money out of Britain. Not good for Britain who is going to have to do a lot of juggling with this Brexit thing…
It is late. I am distracted.
Long ago and far away, I was friends with the Elsen family. Don Elsen, patriarch of the clan, passed away today. He was 90, lived a good long life. I saw him a year ago. Unable to walk, he managed the world with a motorized wheel chair, mentally sharp as ever.
They were descendants of Germans and when I was with them, they could be screaming at each other and then burst into laughter and hug and hold each other. It was amazing. They were all full of love and Don was one of the most generous souls I have known in this life.
God rest. Keep safe. Be reunited in heaven with your beloved wife, Betty. Your son, Jeffrey, and your brothers who went before you.
May I have such a homecoming someday.
Tags:Aleppo, Benghazi, Boko Haram, Brexit, Claverack, Don Elsen, Donald Trump, Elsen, Hillary Clinton, Hudson, Iragis, Iraq, IS, Isis, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Mosul, Nigeria, Obama, Omran, Politics, Russia, Sarah Malone, Sister Jeron, Syria, The Donald
Posted in 2016 Election, 9/11, Afghanistan, Boko Haram, Claverack, Columbia County, Hillary Clinton, Hollywood, Homelessness, Hudson New York, IS, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Obama, Political, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Syria, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Taliban, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
August 21, 2016
It is not all that late on a Saturday evening, about 6:45 EDT as I start putting my fingers to the keyboard. When I woke this morning, the sight outside my windows was a patchwork of hues of green, mixed with sunlight, all of it changing with the soft wind blowing this morning. When I touched base with myself as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes I was happy. As I am most days…
The creek is low; we’ve not had enough rain but it still flows. The trees are exquisite in their leafy greenness but just across the creek the tree that has always been the first harbinger of fall has begun its turn.
In a very few weeks that tree will be joined by the others and we will be in the riot of Hudson Valley colors that come with September and October.
The world has not blown itself off its axis today, for which I am grateful.
A devotee of “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me!” I heard the current head of FEMA talk about how they prepare for asteroid strikes and other disasters we don’t generally think of…
And it also made me smile, as it often does, which is why I do my best not to miss it on Saturday mornings. It takes the realities of the news and makes light of them, which we often need to do.
Today, the NY Times had a long article about the complicated finances of Donald Trump and another about the complicated relationship that Hillary Clinton has with the Clinton Foundation. And if there have ever been two more complicated candidates for President, I would like to know. Can’t think of any… Though I am sure there may have been. It just maybe my knowledge of history is not as sharp as it should be.
Anti-Trump activists put up eight statues of Trump, naked. It was called: The Emperor Has No Balls. Which the statue didn’t and had a very small penis as well. The one in Central Park was taken down almost immediately with a very tongue in cheek statement from the Parks Department.
The last time I wrote, I included a picture of a five-year-old child, Omran Daqneesh, who has become the symbol of what has been happening in Aleppo. His brother died today. And I need to keep thinking of what I can do to help.
In the soft and safe place of my cottage, I am hurting at the hurt in the world. I am sure half the civilized world that saw the picture of Omran wanted to rescue him from the world in which he lived. I did.
And we can’t. Though I have to think about the work I can do to help the world in which Omran lives.
Tags:Aleppo, Claverack, Donald Trump, FEMA, Hillary Clinton, Hudson, Hudson Valley, IS, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, New York, Obama, Omran Daqneesh, The Donald, The Emperor has no balls, Wait, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me!
Posted in 2016 Election, 9/11, Columbia County, European Refugee Crisis, Hillary Clinton, Hollywood, Hudson New York, IS, Life, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Syria, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
August 19, 2016
I am cozied in the cottage, the Smooth Jazz station playing on Amazon Prime Music, having returned only two hours ago from two days in the city.
Yesterday, I was in the city to have lunch with my friend David Arcara, a quarterly event for many years now; our conversations are wide ranging, deep, emotional and to the core of what is happening in our lives. Yesterday’s underscored my appreciation for them.
There were drinks last night with Nick Stuart of Odyssey and Greg Nelson, formerly of Odyssey, who has returned from some weeks in Peru and that, too, was good. It gave me a chance to catch up with Greg, whom I have not seen for some months and, of course, to spend some time with Nick, my great friend.
When I woke this morning, I made my morning coffee at the apartment on the Upper West Side, and while sipping it, pursued the news of the day. I read the NY Times and scrolled through the BBC News.
There I found a haunting image of a five-year-old Syrian boy in Aleppo, an image that has now gone viral. Frightened and alone, covered in blood and dust, he sat on an orange seat in the back of an ambulance. You may have seen the picture already. If not, here it is:
It shattered my morning. I sat staring at this image for many, many minutes and my heart screamed to the universe. It became hard to move on, to not want to go and do SOMETHING to stop the madness. It reminded me of pictures I had seen taken during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930’s; comparisons between that conflict and this will be made.
Later, I went to have lunch at the Ace Hotel with my friend David McKillop; we talked of new, upcoming adventures for him. We talked of the: what WERE they thinking? moment of Ryan Lochte and the other swimmers claiming to have been robbed when in reality they were a bit drunk and screwed up. What were they thinking?
And, unfortunately, this is what will follow them for the rest of their lives, this moment of dishonesty.
And then, there was the moment of what was President Obama thinking when he said that the $400,000,000 turned over to the Iranians wasn’t “ransom” but a previously scheduled release of funds. Today it was revealed that the US wouldn’t let the plane with the cash take off until prisoners were released. Dancing with the truth?
The Syrian boy’s picture has colored my whole day. I have thought about what can I do to stop this debacle the world has created, so complicated, so odorous, so lacking in humanity, so not a moment of “our better angels.”
When I wake up in the morning, I do my best to have a moment of gratitude. I am not living in Aleppo. Today that came home so much because of the photo of the five-year-old. It is a picture that has come to represent the Syrian crisis as much as the photo of the three-year-old dead child washed up on the coast of Greece did to galvanize the world about the refugee crisis, much of it a result of the Syrian war.
Closer to home, the Blue Cut Fire in California has consumed 31,000 acres and it still rages.
In Louisiana floods have consumed 40,000 homes and at least thirteen lives. A preacher man who “testified” that natural disasters were God’s way of punishing us for same sex marriage was forced to flee his home in a canoe.
I have been so lucky to have been born when and where I was. Our world is changing. It is becoming global and integrated and reactionary and frightened and fundamentalism is having a heyday. But we still care…
The answers aren’t in front of me right now. But seeing that little boy in Aleppo makes me realize I must do better. That we all have to do better.
Tags:9/11, Aleppo, Amtrak, Blue Cut Fire, Boy in Aleppo, Claverack, Greg Nelson, Hudson, Hudson River, IS, Louisiana Floods, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, New York, Nick Stuart, Obama, Odyssey, Putin, Ryan Lochte, Syria, Syrian Boy, The Donald
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Daesh, Elections, Hillary Clinton, IS, Life, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Obama, Political, Political Commentary, Politics, Putin, Russia, Social Commentary, Syria, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
June 4, 2016
The sun is laughing down Main Street in Edgartown, with cars slowly moving down the street, toward the water but without the congestion that is coming toward the end of the month when “the season” really gets going. Across the street, Sundog, selling clothes, is as empty as we are.
A few people have wandered into the store and have wandered out, rarely with a book in hand. A lovely mother and daughter came in, the mother buying her daughter a copy of “A Man Named Ove,” by Fredrik Backman, a book she insisted her daughter read before they left the island next week.
It’s been interesting, watching people come and go, looking at books, some are wildly enthusiastic, some are just looking as they look languidly at titles, hoping something will spark their interest.
As I said to someone yesterday, I have a whole new respect for those who work in retail.
The morning was foggy, the afternoon sun blessed. Music from the 1960’s plays gently in the background, the soundtrack of my youth. It is easy here to put away the woes of the world and believe in the loveliness of life.
Unfortunately, the reality is quite different in the off island world.
Muhammed Ali is being mourned everywhere. A figure in my youth, I watched with fascination, not quite understanding his moves but also not being bothered by them. If he no longer wanted to Cassius Clay, then why not? There were days then I didn’t want to be Mathew Tombers.
Many of his moves outraged the world and shook people up. All for the ultimate good… Rest in peace, Muhammed Ali, rest in peace and may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
Bernie Sanders has announced he will contest the Democratic Convention, fighting down to the last moment.
In France, floods are beginning to recede but not until after claiming three more lives. My friends, Chuck and Lois, who have an apartment in Paris, are somewhere else with friends, waiting to get back to their place when the waters do recede. Guards are standing watch at Louvre and artwork has been moved to higher ground as a precaution. It has been nearly 34 years since this kind of flooding has been seen in the City of Lights.
It has been determined that Prince died from an accidental, self-administered dose of fentanyl, a pain killer 100 times more powerful than morphine and 50 times more powerful than heroin. One doctor described self-administration of fentanyl as playing with death; it is not to be used outside of hospitals.
The opiate crisis is enormous. Even here on bucolic Martha’s Vineyard, meetings are being held to combat the island’s heroin problem. Everywhere you turn right now, opiates are a critical problem. It may be that Prince’s death will be a catalyst for change.
It is the 27th Anniversary of the massacre in Tiananmen Square and tens of thousands have gathered in Hong Kong to commemorate the event, shunning the official memorial because it has become too “Chinese” oriented.
In the Mediterranean, with the beginning of warm weather, more migrants/refugees are risking the sea to reach Europe and what they hope will be a better life. It is believed a thousand have drowned in the past week alone. It will only grow worse.
Many are fleeing IS, which now finds itself fighting on four fronts in Syria and Iraq. The unofficial capital of IS is Raqqa and Syrian forces, under the cover of Russian airstrikes and with help from Hezbollah have reached the border of Raqqa province.
Attempting to follow who is fighting whom in that part of the world is not easy. IS is struggling for control of a town called Marea, which is controlled by the anti-Assad Nursa Front, which is associated with Al Qaeda. There is also heavy fighting around Aleppo, once Syria’s largest city and commercial center.
The sun is beginning to set in Edgartown. The streets are still quiet. Anita, who works in the shop, has gone home as we are completely quiet. Last night, after everyone had left and I was closing down, I had the most remarkable moment of peace, surrounded by books with the walls resonating with the laughter and voices of the people who had passed through yesterday, just looking for a good read.
Tags:A Man Called Ove, Al Qaeda, Aleppo, Bernie Sanders, Chuck and Lois Bachrach, Donald Trump, Edgartown, Fentanyl, Fredrik Backman, IS, Louvre, Martha's Vineyard, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Muhammed Ali, opiates, Paris Flooding, Prince, Tiananmen Square
Posted in 2016 Election, Airstrikes, Daesh, Elections, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Hillary Clinton, IS, Life, Literature, Martha's Vineyard, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Music, Political Commentary, Russia, Social Comentary, Syria, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Letter from the Vineyard 
Letter From Claverack 11/01/2016 The dichotomy of things…
November 2, 2016After an unusually long day for me, I have returned to the cottage, turned on the floodlights over the creek, made myself a martini and am listening to the YoYo Ma station on Amazon Prime.
The bank I have used for a decade or more, First Niagara, was purchased by Key Bank. My business account has been basically unavailable now for three weeks. An earnest and very good young man by the name of Jeff Hannett has been working diligently to help me access it. We’re about 80% there. If it weren’t for Jeff, I would have transferred to another bank. I intend to let the CEO of Key Bank know that. A half dozen friends of mine have pulled their business from Key and gone to other banks.
That was my first stop this morning. Then others and now I am home, looking over the floodlit creek and listening to soft and gentle music, sipping my vodka martini and finding the peace in a long day.
A week from today is the election. I can’t wait for it to be over except that it won’t be over. The rancor raised over the last eighteen months probably will continue until the end of my life. Polarization has become the norm. And worn as I am now, I will be more worn as the years go on.
Some Republicans are pronouncing they will work to see that Hillary Clinton is impeached in her first three months as President, if she is elected.
Some Trump supporters seem to be talking about violence in the streets if the election goes to her.
Earlier today while waiting for Jeff at the bank, I started reading an article that said our beloved “Founding Fathers” were even more rancorous than this election, even less civil, even more brutal. That gives me faith we will get through this. Please, let us get through this. Please.
Bethany Thompson, an eleven-year-old who was left with a crooked smile after fighting for her life against brain cancer, killed herself today because of bullying. She went home, found a gun and shot herself in the head.
My heart is broken and my soul is so angry… So ANGRY.
Speaking of angry, Assad, President of Syria, said today that his country was better off since the civil war that has wracked his country, sent half of them away as refugees and killed a half a million of them.
He has just put his face next to the word delusional in the dictionary.
The pictures I have seen today from Aleppo will haunt me today until the day I die. Another little boy on a stretcher, being treated, in pain and bewildered. And I still wonder: where is that bewildered little boy in the back of an ambulance that captured our attention a couple of months ago? I wonder if he lives? I wonder if he will ever be whole again, if he does live?
Also, in that part of the world, Iraqi forces are said to be on the doorstep of Mosul. Families attempting to flee that are captured find the men separated from their families and are probably being sent off to an inevitable death.
My heart, tonight, is with them also.
In the world of corporate deal making, it is being talked about on “the Street” that Goldman Sachs is encouraging Apple to make a bid to capture Time-Warner from the clutches of AT&T. Interesting.
Apple certainly could afford it. AT&T seems such an odd match for Time-Warner.
Hulu will be launching an OTT service with multiple channels next year. Its viability moved forward today with deals with Disney/ABC.
How can I be talking about the OTT opportunities in the same letter in which I am talking about the slaughter in Aleppo?
I care about both but at the end of the day, what is happening in Aleppo is far more important than what is happening in OTT.
Tags:Aleppo, Amazon Prime, Apple, Assad, AT&T, Bethany Thompson, Claverack, Claverack Creek, Disney/ABC, First Niagara Bank, Founding Fathers, Goldman Sachs, Hulu, Jeff Hannett, Key Bank, OTT, Syria
Posted in 2016 Election, AT&T, Claverack, Columbia County, depression, Elections, Entertainment, Hillary Clinton, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Music, Obama, Social Commentary, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »