Posts Tagged ‘David Cameron’
July 11, 2016
I have moved from seaside to creekside. In front of me tonight is not Edgartown harbor but Claverack Creek, having returned home from Edgartown on Friday, just as Lionel and Pierre arrived to help me celebrate my return.
It has been nearly a week, perhaps more, since I have written. The events out in the world beyond my safety zone of Edgartown and Claverack, have left me…
You know, I am out of words for the events we’ve had. I don’t know what to say, not at all, not at all.
A black man dead in Baton Rouge, a black man dead in Falcon Heights, MN and five dead police officers in Dallas. As I sat down to write, my phone chirped to let me know that two bailiffs in Berrien County, Michigan were dead, along with the gunman. A deputy sheriff was in stable condition.
Eight Somali are dead from a suicide bomber.
My head and heart reel.
We all must realize we live in a time of madness or we live in ignorance of the world. But then, perhaps, it has always been a time of madness.
The pudgy little dictator who rules North Korea who has devised some interesting ways of ridding himself of people he doesn’t like, is having a temper tantrum because the US is putting in a missile shield in South Korea.
Now he is threatening that if it happens, he will reduce South Korea to a nuclear wasteland. If he does that, I doubt the radiation will stop at the border and he will find his “kingdom” littered with corpses, too.
Kim Jong Un is a bully with nuclear weapons and not much common sense. This isn’t good. And he has closed the only communication channel he has had ßwith the US.
David Cameron is resigning on Wednesday and Theresa May will become the next Prime Minister of Great Britain as they and the rest of us cope with Brexit. The opposition Labour Party is in chaos too and another woman may take over leadership of it. Jeremy Corbyn is seen as having done too little to help the UK stay in the EU and Angela Eagle is seen as being the person who will succeed him, once he realizes he is a morte canard, which he hasn’t yet.
The evening sun is glittering on the creek and I find myself looking at it, the way I looked at Edgartown harbor, as a reminder that despite what we do, the world has its places of beauty that help us compensate for the madness around us.
The US is boosting troops in Iraq as the march goes on to retake Mosul from IS. In South Sudan we are evacuating our people because war has renewed there.
The Japanese have been through their own moratorium and the result is there may be changes to their constitution which will allow Japan to build up its military. They are afraid of Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea, an area in which the Chinese feel like they are victims and not aggressors.
While all of this strum und drang is playing out on the world stage, out in outer space, a probe has arrived at Juno, a moon of Jupiter, one second late after a five year journey. And that blows my mind. It will explore Juno and Jupiter and may help us understand the beginnings of our solar system.
This wonder is happening while murder walks the land. How bizarre…
And I am thinking of going online and pre-ordering a Cozmo, a little robot that promises to be to robotics as the Commodore 64 was to computing — a break through. Cozmo promises to be a great robotic companion and you can program it from an app.
Yes, need to have one. I don’t have a pet anymore and am not thinking of getting one and Cozmo may just be the answer to a companion in my house on the creek where I sit and enjoy while the world seems too mad for words.
Tags:Angela Eagle, Baton Rouge, Berrien County, Claverack, Cozmo, David Cameron, Falcom Heights, Hudson, IS, Jeremy Corbyn, Juno Probe, Kim Jong - Un, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, North Korea, Obama, THAAD, Theresa May
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Entertainment, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Martha's Vineyard, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Political, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
June 25, 2016
It is a relentlessly beautiful day on Martha’s Vineyard.
Yesterday, I awoke and, in a habit I am attempting to break, reached for my phone and realized a new text message had come in while I was sleeping. It was from my friend Nick [though calling him “friend” underserves our relationship]. He is in the UK awaiting the birth of his first granddaughter. His text was the way I heard the news of Britain’s decision to exit the EU.
I literally shuddered.
The unthinkable has happened and, as predicted, world markets tumbled, crumbled, tanked, take any word with a downside meaning and apply it to the markets and that’s what happened on Friday though the US was down only about half of what other markets were.
The Republican presumptive nominee for President, The Donald, was in Scotland when the Brexit results were announced. He trumpeted it as a harbinger for his own campaign in the States. He was making these statements from his golf course in Aberdeen. Scotland did not vote to Brexit and is thinking of a new referendum on independence from England so it can get back in the EU.
As is Northern Ireland, which also voted to stay and is now thinking of slipping away from Britain and maybe reuniting with Ireland. Some in Northern Ireland are scrambling to see how to get Irish passports as Ireland is an EU country.
The British young are crying out to the older voters who went for Brexit: you stole our future.
David Cameron will step down by October as Prime Minister. Boris Johnson, who campaigned for Brexit, is being chatted up to be the new Prime Minister. Formerly Mayor of London, he is both flamboyant and eccentric, a bit like our Donald.
Jeremy Corbyn, who leads the opposition Labour Party, is facing a coup attempt based on what is perceived as his failure to do enough to stop Brexit.
Brexit is a crisis that will unfold in the weeks to come, will have ramifications of huge magnitude here in the states and which changes history.
The Donald gave a press conference while in Scotland. Read a transcript of it at this link:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/06/24/donald-trumps-brexit-press-conference-was-beyond-bizarre/
It lends credibility to Arianna Huffington’s belief that The Donald is acting like a sleep deprived human being. He’s proud that he only sleeps four hours a night and at his press conference, he did sound like a person who lacked the ability to connect the dots in his remarks.
Interestingly, many Evangelical leaders who did not support Trump are now climbing aboard Trump’s Evangelical Executive Advisory Board. Of course, they are not endorsing him but only “advising” him, hedging their bets against whichever way the wind blows.
Back here, at least 26 are dead in West Virginia’s devastating floods. One of them was four year old Edward McMillon, swept away even as his grandfather chased him, almost caught him and lost him. The town searched and found him in a creek that is normally only a few inches deep but had gone to six feet in the storms.
A house in flames floated down a swollen creek in what has been the worst flooding in the state in a hundred years.
Two are dead and several wounded in a shooting at a hip hop dance studio in Fort Worth. It was an apparently a party the owner hadn’t authorized; the studio is a non-profit to help kids stay out of trouble.
In Kern County, CA 46 square miles are burning, only 5% contained and two are dead, 100 homes lost and another 1500 threatened.
So goes our world, this early afternoon on the 25th of June.
Right now I am looking out across the carefully curated flowers at my friends’ home and am about to go down to the bookstore to see if they need help. Both the cafe and the bookstore were jamming today.
Brexit and The Donald and politics and evangelicals all seem very faraway and I am going to allow myself to feel faraway from them today and savor the moment. I said to Jeffrey, “I woke up happy.” And that’s what I am going to choose today.
Tags:Arianna Huffington, Boris Johnson, Brexit, David Cameron, Donald Trump, Evangelical Executive Advisory Board, Jeremy Corbyn, Kern County Fires, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, The Donald, West Virginia Flooding
Posted in 2016 Election, Brexit, Elections, Martha's Vineyard, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Trump, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
March 21, 2016
It is quiet in the cottage; I am savoring the silence.
Today is Palm Sunday, a service I have not attended for a bucket of years. Doing so today, I read a small part in the Easter gospel. It was all faintly reminiscent of my Catholic childhood. The priest, however, was a woman.
After the service, Sally Brodsky and I did a tour of the kitchen and made a pact to touch base on Wednesday as to what we might need for Easter Sunday brunch. I am currently awash in recipes and will have to sort out which ones I will use before Thursday’s shopping.
Following church, I made a trip to Lowe’s for wall plates for the electric switches in my bathroom, freshly repainted by young Nick and his crew. The dark blue and white wallpaper is gone and a fresh coat of green and white glistens in the bathroom. The old vanity is gone and I am searching for a mirror that will fit beneath the new light fixture.
All pleasant diversions from the world with its rat a tat of news, a mixed bag this weekend.
Obama is in Cuba, hoping to nudge that country into being a bit more liberal. His critics say he should have waited until some liberalizations had made their way into Cuban life. As President, you almost never win; your foes will pounce on every move. Certainly that has been true of this president.
Starwood Hotels have entered into an agreement to take over three legacy properties in Havana and modernize them. The deal was made even as a Chinese Insurance Group is bidding to take them over.
Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, has reaffirmed that Merrick Garland will not get a vote on his nomination for the Supreme Court. Senator Mark Kirk, a Republican from Illinois, has said that the Republican Senate should “man up” and give Mr. Garland a vote up or down.
Some Senators are beginning to break with McConnell over the vote, especially in contested states. They’re getting heat from their constituents. In this most unpredictable of years. it will, of course, be interesting to see what transpires.
Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are leading their party’s races to the nomination. Trouble is, no one much likes them. Hillary has a particular problem with white men in 2016, a group more sympathetic to her in 2008.
Fox News, to me almost a mouthpiece for the Republican agenda, has declared that Trump has an unhealthy fixation on their popular anchor, Megyn Kelly. They have defended her loudly and often from Mr. Trump’s “comments.”
Breitbart, a very conservative news source, seems to have thrown Michelle Fields, their reporter, under the bus after she alleged that she had been pushed and shoved by Trump staffer Corey Lewandowski. At first they supported her and then they didn’t and now she has resigned as have at least two other Breitbart staffers.
It makes me think more of Fox. Not much more but more…
President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil is in increasing amounts of hot water over the scandals racking the nationally owned oil company, Petrobras. There is talk of impeachment. Former President Lula has been welcomed into her cabinet, making it harder to for prosecutors to touch him. An attempt is being made to stop the appointment as a move to “pervert” justice.
Protests in the streets, nearly a million people marching. Rousseff is dealing with some tough issues: the Petrobras scandal, zika virus, a severe recession and upcoming Olympic games that may not be ready and, if they are, might take place in unprecedented conditions — some of the aquatic events are to be held in waters claimed to be dangerously polluted.
Ian Duncan Smith, not a household name in the US, but an important politician in the UK, has resigned from Cameron’s cabinet after declaring the Tory budget deeply unfair to the working poor. Some have said the Tories are now engaged in “civil war.” Not what they need as they are approaching a vote on whether Britain should exit the EU, “Brexit” for short.
It is still quiet at the cottage. I am going to wrap up now, contemplating that the market for legal marijuana will be 23 billion dollars within four years.
Tags:Brazil, Breitbart, Brexit, Claverack, David Cameron, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Hudson, Ian Duncan Smith, Legal marijuana, Lowes, Lula, Mark Kirk, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Megyn Kelly, Michelle Fields, Mitch McConnel, Obama, Petrobas, Rousseff, Sally Brodsky, Starwood Hotels, Zika
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Elections, Entertainment, Hillary Clinton, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
November 4, 2015
Hudson River. Howard Bloom Saves The Universe. Election Day. Tiffany Martin Hamilton. Hudson, New York. Christ Church. Kentucky Election. Houston. San Diego Shooter. LGBT. UC Merced. David Cameron. Sharm al Sheikh. Russian Plane Crashes. Justin Trudeau. Obamacare.
Once again, I am headed south on the train to the city, doing a round trip. I have a lunch in the city and then I am turning around and getting out of Dodge and won’t be back until Monday, when I come into town for a couple of days of meetings and Howard’s podcast taping. His podcast is “Howard Bloom Saves the Universe” and is available on iTunes and other podcasting sites. Check it out. He’s great!
The day is another beautiful one. Yesterday was a perfect fall day with the temperature reaching seventy degrees while cool enough at night to justify the use of the Franklin stove. Walking through the neighborhood, I savored the muted colors and the light on the pond into which my creek flows.
The river glistens a burnished copper from the colors of the season.
Yesterday was spent mostly glued to the computer screen, accomplishing digital tasks. My walk was a welcome interlude.
In a way the day felt like an interlude, despite being glued to the screen of my laptop. I didn’t notice much about the world and reveled mostly in the comfort of my cottage.
Yesterday was Election Day. In Hudson, our county’s “big city,” there was a hotly contested Mayoral race that appears the Democrat won. Absentee ballots are yet to be counted though those mostly tend toward Democrats. If it holds, Tiffany Martin Hamilton will be the first Democratic Mayor of Hudson in my memory.
She’s the daughter of the choir director at Christ Church, where I attend services.
Around the country, conservatives had a big night. They voted down an LGBT anti-discrimination effort in Houston and booted the Democrats out of the Kentucky Governor’s mansion.
Pundits this morning, as I was driving to the station, posited that Democrats were not well organized and Conservatives were. In all these places, voter turnout was low. I feel such frustration when people don’t vote.
As I continue, I am sitting in the Acela Lounge, watching CNN on the monitor. There is a live “incident” near the San Diego airport; a shooter is active and planes are being diverted. The shooter has a high-powered rifle and has come close to hitting police.
They are also talking about a nine year old African American boy in Chicago who has died in gun violence, shot multiple times. Mayor Rahm is saying there is a “special place” for the person who did this. I agree.
At UC Merced, there were five people stabbed before police killed the man wielding the knife.
David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, has delayed flights to and from Sharm el Sheikh while a British team makes a determination about security at the airport there. Cameron and the Brits are concerned that a bomb may have brought down the Russian plane recently, losing all aboard, including 25 children. American Intelligence is suggesting the same.
An affiliate of IS claims responsibility.
A Russian built cargo plane went down yesterday in the Sudan. Children were some of the victims there too.
Justin Trudeau has been sworn in a Prime Minister of Canada and half his cabinet is female. It is, after all, 2015, he points out.
Now that we are two years into Obamacare, a map of the uninsured shows that most of them are in the South and Southwest. Surpised?
And the death rate for middle aged white men who have not received a high school degree has skyrocketed. One article suggests they are dying of despair.
All this violence and despair are hard to imagine as I head back north, the sun just beginning to set in the west, the sun a bright slash across the river. It is peaceful; I am in the café car, sipping a wine and writing, heading north to my cottage, after a good lunch with friends, all soft and right in my world while knowing it is not soft and right in so many other places.
Tags:Christ Church, David Cameron, Election Day, Houston Election, Howard Bloom Saves the Universe, Hudson, Hudson River, Justin Trudeau, Kentucky Election, LGBT, Obamacare, Russian Plane Crash in Sudan, San Diego Shooter, Sharm al Sheikh, Tiffany Martin Hamilton, UC Merced
Posted in Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Politics, Social Commentary | Leave a Comment »
September 21, 2015
It is dusk here in the city. I have just come from the taping of one of Howard Bloom’s podcasts. Sometime this week it should be live and when it is, I will share the URL. Today we talked about sin. The show’s title: Howard Bloom Saves the Universe.
As I left Howard and was descending into the subway, I realized it was cool. It had been my intention to go to Thai Market and write but I realized by the time I was finished it would be chill. I’m going to need a jacket tonight so I came back to the little apartment and opened my laptop.
It has been an okay day, up early to do some work and then a few other errands. Tomorrow I’m moderating a panel for the Religious Communicator’s Council on blogging, followed by coffee with the producer for that, my friend Mary Dickey, and then a meeting in Chelsea and then off to the train.
On Wednesday, I am driving over to the Cape.
There’ll be many things that will occupy my mind as I drive, I’m sure. The world is a rocky place these days.
Croatia is crying for help with the refugees and migrants that have crossed into the country. European leaders meet but seem to come to no conclusions on what to do. It feels likes million are on the move, though I am sure the numbers are not that high. Hungary has taken to posting warnings to refugees and migrants in Lebanon and Jordan NOT to come.
One of the issues Alexis Tsipras faces is that his country is a major transit point for those attempting to reach Western Europe. His is a country overflowing with crises. Reelected, he must now really govern.
David Cameron, the UK’s Prime Minister, is fending off allegations he had sex with a dead pig in an initiation ceremony for the exclusive Piers Gaveston Society, named after the supposed gay lover of Edward II, while at Oxford. Oh those wacky Brits!
Scott Walker, the Wisconsin Governor, is suspending his campaign for President, warning there may have to be many more dropouts if Republicans want to stop Donald Trump, who has slipped while Carly Fiorina has risen. The merry dance goes on, Rome burning while the fiddler plays.
Bernie Sanders is the “passion” candidate for the Democrats while Hillary Clinton is the conventional one. The size of crowds they are attracting, with Bernie drawing more than Hillary, is causing Hillary’s detractors to, well, detract.
In a particularly disturbing story that was featured in the NY Times this morning, American soldiers and officers have been told to ignore the painful cries of young boys as they are sexually assaulted by their Afghan counterparts for fear of seeming culturally insensitive.
It was a story I had to read a couple of times to comprehend.
The Emmys are over. Jon Hamm got one, at last. Viola Davis won Best Actress in a drama and gave a heartfelt speech, which I read today.
Last night, leaving the reception for my friends Kris and Eric, I realized I was just a short distance from my friends, Mary Clare and Jim. I phoned them, we got together, I surveyed their new apartment and then we walked down the hill to a little restaurant near them. I’ve known Mary Clare forever and it was such fun to spontaneously join them.
I’m off now to get some food, do a little reading and get to sleep so I can do a good job moderating tomorrow.
Tags:Afghan sexual abuse of boys, Alexis Tsipras, Bernie Sanders, Carly Fiorina, Croatia, David Cameron, David Cameron Dead Pig, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Howard Bloom, Howard Bloom Saves the Universe, Hungary, Jon Hamm, Mary Clare and Jim Eros, Mary Dickey, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Piers Gaveston Society, Religious Communicators Council, Scott Walker, Thai Market, Viola Davis
Posted in Elections, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Social Commentary | Leave a Comment »
September 8, 2015
The train is moving north; it is dusk. A soft rose glow dominates the western sky causing the Hudson to also glow with a soft rose gold color. The moment is magical. Members of my family, my brother, his wife, his daughter, her husband were in New York this weekend. They went to the U.S. Open and we spent time together, wining, dining, walking, and seeing “Kinky Boots,” the Broadway musical that burns with exuberance and joy. While I didn’t walk out humming tunes, I walked out feeling alive and exhilarated.
The weekend winds down and I am heading north for a couple of quiet days at the cottage. The city was hot over the weekend but never felt as warm as the temperature recorded. The city today seemed deserted, people and motor traffic minimal. It was almost serene.
I’m looking forward to the quiet in the country for a couple of days.
While I have been enjoying the city and its delights with the joyful company of my relatives, the world has been seething with its usual issues. Europe is struggling with the refugee crisis. The UK, unwilling until now to help, has agreed to take on 20,000 refugees while France will take 24,000. Arab nations have been taking very, very few refugees and the world is beginning to wonder why.
David Cameron has informed Parliament that British forces have killed some Britons who had gone to fight with IS. They were targeted because there was, according to Cameron, evidence they would return to the UK to carry out terrorist acts.
Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who refuses to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, has filed an emergency appeal with a Federal Court, petitioning her release. It asks the Governor of Kentucky to grant her an exemption from having to issue marriage licenses.
If obeying the law conflicts with her beliefs, I have wondered why she does not resign?
Speaking of getting around the law, teenagers have always been at the forefront of attempting to circumvent rules. Today’s teenagers are using e-cigarettes to now vaporize pot. Very clever and not entirely surprising…
When I was young, I was a great fan of “Route 66,” a television series starring Martin Milner and George Maharis as two young men wandering around the country in a Corvette, encountering adventures in every new city. It seemed romantic and I wanted to do just that.
I did one summer, in my Mustang, driving all over the country, sleeping on friends’ couches and having my share of adventures.
Martin Milner died today. RIP.
It is just past 8:00 PM and the world is dark, a sure sign the seasons are beginning to change. The long and lovely summer evenings are now in the past and the days will grow ever shorter until, at last, they will begin to grow longer.
I’ve never liked snakes. I have a morbid fear of them. Today Sanofi-Pasteur has announced it will no longer manufacture one of the most powerful anti-venom drugs because it is no longer profitable. 30,000 die of snake bites every year in sub-Saharan Africa and 8,000 lose limbs to amputation. It makes me shudder.
What causes great awe in me is the fact we exist at all. Some 13.8 billion years ago, scientists believe, the Big Bang occurred and the universe blossomed into existence. Scientists now have found a galaxy nearly as old as the universe. It makes me glow with wonder.
Other scientists and archeologists have found a “Superhenge” about two miles from Stonehenge. Apparently it makes Stonehenge look tiny. Still buried but found by earth penetrating radar it has scientists and archeologists panting in excitement. One has said that everything about Stonehenge will need to be re-written.
The bigger, older brother of Stonehenge was built 4,500 years ago about the time Egypt was rising and pyramids were being built.
Labor Day Weekend is coming to an end. Unlike in my childhood, I have no tension about moving on. I regret the passing of summer and will relish the coming of fall, a season that has always been my favorite.
Tags:anti-venom, Big Bang, Corvette, David Cameron, E cigarettes used for pot, European Refugee Crisis, France, IS, Kentucky, Kim Davis, Kinky Boots, Martin Milner, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Route 66, Sanofi-Pasteur, Stonehenge, Superhenge, UK, US Open
Posted in European Refugee Crisis, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Social Commentary | Leave a Comment »
September 4, 2015
It started as a lovely day here in New York that has gradually become grey but it is not blistering hot, as it was yesterday. My brother, sister-in-law and his daughter and her husband, are out at the U.S. Open and so the weather should be kind to them as they are going to be out there all day long, not expected back until near midnight.
I met them for breakfast and then came down to Broderville to do some work though I found myself easily distracted today as we slip into the Labor Day Weekend, the unofficial end of summer.
The advent of this weekend always makes me a little sulky, as I know the winter is in front of us; we can’t quite touch it but it is definitely coming. The feel of fall was in the wind that channeled through the concrete valleys of the city this morning.
Tonight, while my family watches tennis matches, I will be having dinner with my friends David and Bill at their West End apartment, where David has lived since he was in law school at Columbia. His decision to go to law school was triggered by a conversation with none other than Ruth Bader Ginsberg, now sitting on the Supreme Court.
Their refusal to hear Kim Davis’ appeal regarding providing marriage licenses to same sex couples in Rowan County, Kentucky, and her continuing refusal to obey the law, has resulted in her finding herself in jail, in contempt of court.
Rachel Held Evans [@rachelheldevans] tweeted today: No one’s being jailed for practicing her religion. Someone’s being jailed for using the government to force others to practice her religion.
Much re-tweeted and frequently shared on Facebook, including by me, I thought her insight offered a bit of clarity.
Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio have leapt to the defense of Kim Evans and she is becoming a potent symbol for the Christian right. I wonder where the Christian Left is on this; don’t recall hearing anything from them.
While some of us are melting down over the Kim Davis situation, IS has blown up three “Tower Tombs,” ancient artifacts that were uniquely Palmyran. UNESCO is calling their actions: intolerable crimes against civilization. The ancient world must have felt the same toward the Romans when they tore down buildings as they conquered towns or the barbarians as they overtook the Romans. We have a new set of barbarians loose in the land and they are taking with them what we had at long last started to preserve.
The death of little Alyan Kurdi, the three year old who died with his mother and brother, attempting to cross to Greek Kos from Turkey, was brought home to Kobane in Syria for burial.
The heartbreaking images of the boy seem to have stirred the EU into sorting out what they are going to do with the masses of refugees swarming upon them.
Cameron of the UK has said it will take 65,000 refugees. Individuals in the UK are gathering together, offering to help. Local Councils are beginning to do the same. Iceland has a movement agitating for their government to listen to the individuals and organizations that are willing to help with refugees.
A little boy has died; he will not soon be forgotten.
Hungary has been attempting to contain refugees there but they have broken out and are walking toward the borders. Nearly a thousand refugees are marching across Hungary after trains and buses to Germany were denied them.
Viktor Orban, Hungary’s right wing Prime Minister, has had the borders closed and raised a razor wire fence to prevent refugees from crossing the border. His actions have been denounced across Europe.
Right and Left are at odds all across Europe as the crisis continues.
An Egyptian billionaire has said he wants to buy an island from Greece or Italy to provide a new homeland for refugees.
Putin has admitted that Russia is giving logistical support to Assad’s government in Syria, something that has been suspected but had remained unconfirmed. The Russian President has left the door open for Russian troops though he has said he wants to keep conferring with his “partner,” the United States.
And, out of Russia, came the story of an elderly woman who has been jailed, suspected of perhaps as many as eleven murders. She was caught on video as she was disposing of a woman after having used a hacksaw to remove her hands and head. She then boiled them.
Her home contained books on black magic. The latest victim was a 79-year-old woman who was in her care. The Russians are calling her “Granny Ripper.”
Today is Force Friday. I hadn’t a clue about it until I read the Times this morning. Stores like “Toys R Us” and Walmart opened at midnight to start selling merchandise related to the upcoming Star Wars movie that is premiering in December. There is a new version of the Lego Millennium Falcon; an item that is on the top of many lists of must have items.
The day is ending. The sky is less grey and there’s more sunlight. I am heading out to buy a bottle of wine to give to my dinner hosts.
Tags:Alyan Kurdi, Assad, Broderville, David Cameron, Force Friday, Granny Ripper, Hungary, IS, Joe Tombers, Kim Davis, Kobane, Labor Day Weekend, Manhattan, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Millennium Falcon, Palmyra, Putin, Refugees, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Supreme Court, Syria, Tower Tombs, US Open, Viktor Orban
Posted in Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Social Commentary, Syrian Refugee Crisis | Leave a Comment »
June 18, 2015
Sitting at the dining room table at my cottage, I am looking out toward the creek, seeing a grey and moody day outside. It is almost chill and I’m wearing a fleece jacket to ward off the cool. I am in a slightly cranky mood from both the grey and that I am being told I must have flood insurance by the company which just bought my mortgage from the last owners of it who had bought it from someone else. In the fourteen and a half years I have been here, I have never had to have flood insurance before.
Part of me shrugs and goes: just one more thing to deal with and I will. My neighbors to the south of me have had some flooding issues but I am much, much higher than they are. We’ll see. But while I fight it, I guess I am going to have to get it and figure it out from there.
In the meantime, the British Royals have had a busy week. First there was the 800th Anniversary of the Magna Carta and then it’s been Ascot this week and then today we have the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo in which Wellington defeated Napoleon once and for all. It was a ghastly, bloody battle in which a full quarter of the combatants were killed.
Many wrote accounts of the battle after it was over. The victors hardly felt jubilant in the wake of the destruction. But it did change history. Since then, the British and French have been allies, not enemies and have not fought each other. Napoleon was ushered into exile and his dreams of European hegemony faded. It ushered in the British Century and the great days of the British Empire.
Today there was a service at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London to mark the Anniversary, attended by Prime Minister David Cameron and the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall.
In South Carolina, there is mourning for nine individuals killed at a historic black church in Charleston by a young white man. The suspect, Dylann Roof, has been apprehended in Shelby, North Carolina. It is being labeled a hate crime. It is alleged that Roof entered the church during its Wednesday night Bible Study, stayed for an hour and then began shooting.
Obama expressed sadness and outrage and called for a national reckoning on guns, not that I think that will happen. One of the people killed was the Pastor; Obama knew him.
Laudato Si, Praise be to You, the Pope’s Encyclical, a letter of teaching, was published today and challenged the world to clean up its filth. Controversial even before its official release due to a leak, it is stirring up conversation about man’s relationship with the planet. Conservatives are not happy about it and some have been basically telling the Pope to mind his own business. But he considers this his business and he is going to have his word heard. Addressed not just to Catholics but also to every living human on the planet, Francis took a bold step that will probably only make him more popular to most while infuriating those who disagree with the stances he has taken.
It is the beginning of the Holy Month of Ramadan, a time of fasting, praying and spiritual rejuvenation for Muslims. It moves with the lunar calendar.
Today there are more displaced people than ever in the world, over sixty million. Over 11 million are from Syria alone, some outside the country and some within the country. If all of them were in the same country together, it would be the 24th largest country in the world.
Lester Holt is now the permanent anchor of the Nightly News on NBC, the first African American to hold such a post. Brian Williams is not coming back to the chair he vacated when suspended in February, at least not for a while. He is going to ratings challenged MSNBC to deliver breaking news. It’s a lot like being tossed out of the Major Leagues in baseball and sent back down to the Minors.
And, apparently, he is getting a lot less money.
Outside, it is still grey, moody and gloomy. I am playing jazz on Pandora to lighten my mood. Soon, my friend Susan will be here and we’re going to Local 111 over in Philmont for dinner and a catch-up.
Tags:Battle of Waterloo, Brian Williams, David Cameron, Duchess of Cornwall, Dylann Roof, Laudato si, Lester Holt, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Pope Francis, Prince of Wales, Ramadan, refugee crisis, Syria, Wellington
Posted in Ascot, Brain Williams, Duchess of Cornwall, Dylann Roof, Flood Insurance, Laudato si, Lester Holt, Magna Carta, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Napoleon, Obama, Pope Francis, Prince of Wales, Ramadan, Social Commnentary, St. Paul's Cathedral, Waterloo Anniversary, Wellington | Leave a Comment »
June 15, 2015
When I woke this morning, rain was pelting down on the roof and the world was infused with dark grey. The creek, so clear yesterday, was now brown from the rain that had roared down during the night. It was the kind of day when one’s immediate reaction is to go back to bed, pull the covers over your head and work to get back to that interesting dream you’d been having when the alarm went off.
But I didn’t. Going out to the kitchen, I turned on the coffee pot and began to plan my day. Yesterday, there were several errands I needed to get done but didn’t so I determined to use the morning to accomplish them and then head back to the city in the afternoon.
Scheduled for the 1:30, I finally got out of Hudson at 2:30 and then lost most of another hour due to the fact we were now behind a slow moving local Metro North Train. It was fine. Before leaving, I went to Relish, across from the station and had lunch and then on the train, caught up with some reading I needed to do.
The city is as grey as the country, with rain forecast again for tomorrow. Unusually, I am going back to the country on Wednesday. I feel like I need some cottage time and have some work to catch up on that doesn’t require me to be in the city so I am going to do it from the cottage.
Today is the official 800th Anniversary of the Magna Carta and Britain’s Royals were out in force to celebrate. David Cameron, the Prime Minister was there, extolling the virtues of the document. A few years ago on a late night talk show, Cameron couldn’t remember that Magna Carta is Latin for “Great Charter.” That didn’t stop him today for speaking of its long-term effects.
What I hadn’t known until today was that the Magna Carta lasted only a few months. As soon as King John has put his great seal to the document [he never really signed it], the King sent messengers to Rome asking the Pope to nullify the agreement. In September 1215, the Pope did just that. But like all great ideas, this one couldn’t be killed and it kept returning, becoming an inspiration for democratic leaders around the world.
The International Criminal Court is disappointed that South Africa did not follow through on a South African judge’s ruling that President Bashir of Sudan be detained in that country for possible transference to international authorities regarding accusations of genocide against Bashir. It seems that the South African authorities kept their eyes closed until Bashir’s plane was out of South African airspace. A probe will be held but it won’t help the ICC from capturing the man.
Nasir al-Wuhayshi, a top Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leader, has apparently been killed in a drone attack. Also, over the weekend, there were airstrikes in Libya with the purpose of taking out Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a notorious Al Qaeda operative who has escaped death several times. He is known as “The Uncatchable” for his ability to escape. In the early days of his career, when he was a cigarette smuggler, he was known as “The Marlboro Man.” The US is going to be very careful in announcing that he is gone. They’ve been stung several times before when he has been declared dead and then showed up alive.
Still alive and still on the run, are the two escapees from Clinton Prison in upstate New York. The search is now entering its tenth day. Joyce Mitchell, who worked in the prison’s tailor shop, has been arraigned for helping them. Supposedly, she sneaked them tools and was going to drive them away the night of her escape. Part of their plot was that they were going to be picked up and then would go to Joyce’s home, kill her husband and then all of them would go on the run. Joyce had a panic attack and went to the hospital for treatment instead. She has apparently said she couldn’t go through with it because she loved her husband.
Fact is stranger than fiction.
Not fictional is that the Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, John C. Nienstedt, and an auxiliary bishop, Lee A. Piche, resigned today following charges that the Archdiocese didn’t do enough to prevent child molestation, particularly in the case of a now de-frocked priest who is serving time for molesting two boys.
I grew up a Catholic in that diocese and many of my friends who still live there are Catholic. The really liberal ones despise Nienstedt and I am sure are rejoicing his departure.
To no one’s surprise, Jeb Bush announced his run for the Republican Presidential nomination. His logo has his name “Jeb” but no mention of “Bush” as he works to distance himself from his brother.
More to come… It’s been a busy day and shortly I will be off to say hello to a friend who is just back from two weeks in Greece.
Tags:Amtrak, Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Bashir of Sudan, British Prime Minister, British Royals, Claverack Creek, Clinton Prison, David Cameron, ICC, International Criminal Court, Jeb Bush, John C. Nienstedt, Joyce Mitchell, King John, Lee A Piche, Magna Carta, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, South Africa
Posted in Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Social Commentary | Leave a Comment »
May 27, 2015
It is a warm day in New York City, a day that started cloudy and is ending with sun shining down. In not so very long, I’ll be off to a restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen to meet my friend Caroline Ely for a drink. It’s been awhile since we have seen each other and time to catch up.
While drinking my morning coffee, the news was being splashed all over the place that FIFA officials had been arrested early in the morning in Zurich, Switzerland. The Swiss made the arrests in an understated way, giving the men time to dress and gather their belongings and, in at least one case, had the hotel staff hold up a sheet to shield the arrestee from the news people who had started to gather.
It’s another blow to FIFA, an organization that has been dogged by rumors of corruption for years. American officials are seeking the extradition of a number of FIFA officials for having taken over $150,000,000 in bribes, “year after year, tournament after tournament,” according to Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
In Texas, hundreds have been ordered to evacuate after at least fifteen people have died in weather related accidents, as storms pounded the state with torrential rains. Oklahoma, too, is suffering from the pounding from Mother Nature, who, my friend and writer, Howard Bloom, has pointed can be a b**tch.
The Republican race for the Presidential nomination has become more crowded now that Rick Santorum, last seen in 2012, has thrown his hat into the ring also. There will be enough of them soon that they can form their own team though I don’t think they will want to as they’ve got some intense competition going on between them. Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana set off a storm when he tweeted that Rand Paul was unfit to be Commander in Chief.
I don’t see the two of them cooperating on the field of play.
Jindal is only thinking about joining the Republican fray but it’s likely he will. Rand Paul is already in.
The Vatican has declared that the Irish vote to constitutionalize same sex marriage is a “defeat for humanity.” I feel a little defeated that they feel that way.
The Queen, Elizabeth II of Great Britain, arrived today in great pomp and circumstance to deliver “The Queen’s Speech,” which she has done sixty times during her reign. Before she arrives, the Houses of Parliament have their basement swept by the Queen’s Guard to ensure there is no Guy Fawkes in waiting. He led the Gun Powder Plot in 1605 to blow up the Houses of Parliament. He has a day named after him in England.
What the Queen said was dictated by what Cameron wants but it gets said with such grand style.
Tony Blair, once Great Britain’s Prime Minister, has been, for the last eight years, the envoy to the Middle East. He will step down next month. He resigned to Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of the UN. He had been working on the behalf of the Quartet [Great Britain, the European Union, the United States and Russia]. Diplomacy gets complicated.
Angela Merkel is the most powerful woman in the world, according to Forbes, ruling a country that has now become known as “the bordello of Europe.” Germany legalized prostitution in 2002 and a huge sex trade has built up worth $16 billion a year. There are fancy places for the prostitutes to practice their trade and sex tourists load onto busses and head for Germany. It doesn’t seem to bother Angela much.
Also in Germany, there was an evacuation of part of Cologne today when WWII bombs were found undetonated while working on a construction project. Apparently happens not infrequently. Something like a thousand bombs were defused last year. They are a hazard out in the North Sea where wind farms are being built. Clearing bombs is more than a cottage industry in Germany.
I had coffee with a friend this morning who told me that Germany blew up two “dirty” nuclear bombs during the final days of the war. I had never heard that and when I attempted to research it, I found stories about it, including one that Hitler was a German traitor, actually an Illuminati and he did what he set out to do, break Germany’s back.
There is a lot out there on the Internet and it’s not all true or pretty. Beware.
And now I am going to publish this and head for drinks with my friend Caroline.
Tags:Adolf Hitler, Ban Ki-moon, Bobby Jindal, Caroline Ely, David Cameron, Elizabeth II, Fifa, FIFA Arrests, Germany's A-bombs, Howard Bloom, Loretta Lynch, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Opening of Parliament, Rand Paul, Rick Santorum, Texas Storms, Tony Blair, Vatican, Zurich
Posted in Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Social Commentary | Leave a Comment »
Letter from the Vineyard 
Letter From New York 07 11 2016 From seaside to creekside…
July 11, 2016I have moved from seaside to creekside. In front of me tonight is not Edgartown harbor but Claverack Creek, having returned home from Edgartown on Friday, just as Lionel and Pierre arrived to help me celebrate my return.
It has been nearly a week, perhaps more, since I have written. The events out in the world beyond my safety zone of Edgartown and Claverack, have left me…
You know, I am out of words for the events we’ve had. I don’t know what to say, not at all, not at all.
A black man dead in Baton Rouge, a black man dead in Falcon Heights, MN and five dead police officers in Dallas. As I sat down to write, my phone chirped to let me know that two bailiffs in Berrien County, Michigan were dead, along with the gunman. A deputy sheriff was in stable condition.
Eight Somali are dead from a suicide bomber.
My head and heart reel.
We all must realize we live in a time of madness or we live in ignorance of the world. But then, perhaps, it has always been a time of madness.
The pudgy little dictator who rules North Korea who has devised some interesting ways of ridding himself of people he doesn’t like, is having a temper tantrum because the US is putting in a missile shield in South Korea.
Now he is threatening that if it happens, he will reduce South Korea to a nuclear wasteland. If he does that, I doubt the radiation will stop at the border and he will find his “kingdom” littered with corpses, too.
Kim Jong Un is a bully with nuclear weapons and not much common sense. This isn’t good. And he has closed the only communication channel he has had ßwith the US.
David Cameron is resigning on Wednesday and Theresa May will become the next Prime Minister of Great Britain as they and the rest of us cope with Brexit. The opposition Labour Party is in chaos too and another woman may take over leadership of it. Jeremy Corbyn is seen as having done too little to help the UK stay in the EU and Angela Eagle is seen as being the person who will succeed him, once he realizes he is a morte canard, which he hasn’t yet.
The evening sun is glittering on the creek and I find myself looking at it, the way I looked at Edgartown harbor, as a reminder that despite what we do, the world has its places of beauty that help us compensate for the madness around us.
The US is boosting troops in Iraq as the march goes on to retake Mosul from IS. In South Sudan we are evacuating our people because war has renewed there.
The Japanese have been through their own moratorium and the result is there may be changes to their constitution which will allow Japan to build up its military. They are afraid of Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea, an area in which the Chinese feel like they are victims and not aggressors.
While all of this strum und drang is playing out on the world stage, out in outer space, a probe has arrived at Juno, a moon of Jupiter, one second late after a five year journey. And that blows my mind. It will explore Juno and Jupiter and may help us understand the beginnings of our solar system.
This wonder is happening while murder walks the land. How bizarre…
And I am thinking of going online and pre-ordering a Cozmo, a little robot that promises to be to robotics as the Commodore 64 was to computing — a break through. Cozmo promises to be a great robotic companion and you can program it from an app.
Yes, need to have one. I don’t have a pet anymore and am not thinking of getting one and Cozmo may just be the answer to a companion in my house on the creek where I sit and enjoy while the world seems too mad for words.
Tags:Angela Eagle, Baton Rouge, Berrien County, Claverack, Cozmo, David Cameron, Falcom Heights, Hudson, IS, Jeremy Corbyn, Juno Probe, Kim Jong - Un, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, North Korea, Obama, THAAD, Theresa May
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Entertainment, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Martha's Vineyard, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Political, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »