The Catskills are covered with a soft haze as I move south on the train; the Hudson River glistens like rippled, burnished steel. I am headed to the city for a few social get togethers, more about pleasure than business. Tomorrow morning, I am going to the exhibit “Pergamon” at the Metropolitan Museum. It chronicles the art of the Hellenistic period, from the death of Alexander to the rise of the Roman Empire.
I have a late lunch with my childhood friend, Mary Clare, and then drinks with Nick Stuart, of whom I have seen too little in the last few weeks and then back to Hudson on tomorrow’s 5:47.
The sun glitters but it is not yet warm and yet so pleasant that it feels decadent. Speaking with friends this morning, we reminded each other that we were incredibly lucky: we are not Syrian refugees or fleeing Boko Haram or fearing suicide bombers in Baghdad.
Nor am I in southern Japan where an earthquake measuring 6.5 struck, toppled houses and buckled roads.
All those things happened today, the 14th of April, 2016 CE.
It is a good day for Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who will not be charged with battery over his altercation with a reporter recently.
It was a good and bad day for mothers whose daughters were kidnapped two years ago by Boko Haram. CNN aired a “proof of life” video that showed many of the lost girls alive and at the same time highlighted the failure of the Nigerian government to free them.
For 3 hours and 40 minutes Putin fielded questions on his annual call-in show. He described the Panama Papers as an “American provocation” and assured viewers that the economy will get better next year. He ordered an investigation into two women’s complaints they hadn’t been paid in months. It gave him a chance to seem grand and magnanimous while underscoring the illusion that Russia is a democracy.
As he chatted with his constituents, Putin’s jets flew low passes over a US warship, something that disturbed Secretary of State John Kerry.
We are putting combat troops into the Philippines as the South China Sea dispute ratchets up with the Chinese, who have now deployed combat jets in the area.
Isn’t there a better way?
Governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, a Republican and a supporter of gay sex marriage, was booed off the state at an event in Boston when he didn’t say he would support a bill that would give transgender people the right to use the bathroom of their gender identity rather than that of their gender at birth. It’s not what he expected.
Trump and Cruz are accusing each other of strong arming delegates to the Republican Convention, which has been pointing out to the general population on both sides of the political spectrum what an arcane world convention politics is, with super delegates, strange rules, and all sorts of other traditions that can manipulate the popular vote.
That is what Kasich and Cruz are hoping for the Republican convention, a brokered one that will allow one of them to grab the nomination.
Hillary is counting on those same things in the Democratic Party to ensure that she gets the nomination on her side.
Brings up images of “smoke filled rooms” from past generations.
The Hudson River in the afternoon sun is impossibly beautiful and I am privileged to enjoy the view, comfortable that I am probably not going to have to flee in the night, that I will get an evening meal and that I will be safe as I sleep.
It is these simple things we need to keep remembering or, at least, I need to keep remembering.
Letter from the Vineyard 
Letter From New York 05 03 2016 Trump triumphs and the world shakes…
May 4, 2016Just now, a CNN update flashed across the screen of my laptop while I was finishing the final exam for my class. It projected that Trump will win Indiana and the first thing I thought was: I wonder how many Republicans are wishing they had hemlock tonight?
The impossible is happening. The Donald is on pace to win the Republican nomination, a thing thought unthinkable only six months ago. There seems no stopping him.
Cruz, I am sure is bereft, not that I feel much for him. Cruz or Trump? What a choice?
Speaking of bad choices, medical errors are now the #3 cause of death in the US. I was shocked but somehow not quite surprised. In my recent medical experience at Columbia Memorial Hospital, the gastroenterologist there diagnosed me with conditions I didn’t have. I learned that after seeing my usual gastroenterologist in New York City.
I just went to the great god Google and discovered the US is number 37 in terms of how good its health care is though I think we spend more than any other country in the world on health care. And now medical errors are our #3 cause of death? What gives here? Who is paying attention? Frankly, I am more scared than I was…
Today is World Press Freedom Day. Who knew? Though it has been on my mind today as I wrote the final exam for my “Media & Society” class. The importance of a free press to a democracy is incalculable. And so few countries really have a free press.
It is that magical time of night when the light has almost faded and there is still just enough light to see the budding trees outlined against the sky. There is such beauty in this place, softening the harshness of the world outside.
An American Seal today was killed in a skirmish with IS in Iraq. The wars go on and will continue to go on. IS is retreating but is not broken. The Iraqis do not have a really credible fighting force in the field as far as I can tell. The Kurds seem to be doing yeoman’s work while Turkey pushes them down.
Recently it was the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, which, according to the Turks never happened. Yet there is credible evidence it did. Why do we get caught up in keeping mythologies alive? Would it not be better to move beyond the past? It was a century ago, another time. Man up.
Putin, the problem…
When oil prices were high, he took the credit for the country’s uptick. Now that oil prices have collapsed he his not manning up to the fact it’s a problem. It’s the West’s fault. To keep attention off the failures of his regime, he has been pointing fingers at the West.
He is like the Tsars of old. And that is what Russia has been always used to.
Here in New York, Sheldon Silver, once one of the most powerful politicians in the state, just received a sentence of twelve years in prison for corruption. New York rivals Illinois in the corruptness of its politicians. Several more are up for sentencing in the weeks to come.
The Tony nominations are in and “Hamilton” has scored a record breaking sixteen. It is hard to see “Hamilton” as it is sold out for months to come and scalper’s tickets are almost $2,000 a ticket. You have to be in the 1% to make that happen. I certainly can’t.
And as I am finishing this, there is an alert from CNN that Ted Cruz is dropping his bid for the nomination after a stinging defeat in Indiana. Is this true? I am finding it hard to believe. We must wait for the morning to see what happens. Wait! The BBC has just announced Cruz is gone…
It is beginning to look like Trump versus Hillary and that will be a slugfest to watch, if not to enjoy.
Tags:American Seal, Armenian Genocide, Carly Fiorina, Claverack, CNN, Donald Trump, Google, Hamilton, Hillary Clinton, Isis, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, New York, Putin, Sheldon Silver, Ted Cruz, Tonys, Tsar, World Press Freedom Day
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