Posts Tagged ‘IS’
March 10, 2016
The day we all lived through here in Columbia County was physically the most exquisite day of the year and it may hold that crown all year; it’s hard to imagine a day that will be more splendid than this one. The sky was blue, the air was warm — after I finished teaching it was scratching at hot.
My students had presentations to make today and they pleaded with me to let them do it outside and I was game but one of my students was allergic to the sun [as was I as a child] and had been outside for her last class and was feeling the effects. So I let them go ten minutes early and stayed after talking with several students about the graded presentation they were going to be making after spring break.
It was a sweet day. As I drove around the county on errands, bits and pieces of the news filtered in over the radio.
Bernie had won Michigan, either stunning the Clinton camp or, according to some reports, they were just shrugging it off. He is capturing something she isn’t. In Michigan, it was largely, I understood, about his trade positions.
Tonight they are facing off against each other in Miami. I may look at some of it but then again may not. We still have months of this in front of us.
Trump continues his romp, causing, I’m sure, many Republicans to pull their hair and mimic Munch’s “The Scream.” Carly Fiorna has come out for Ted Cruz.
It’s a quiet night, sequestered in the cottage, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald are singing their classics, a martini is nearby and the lights are illuminating the creek. For this minute, the world is my oyster and I’m savoring it.
As we probably all know, “Downton Abbey” has finished its six year run, all the plots and subplots neatly tied up by Lord Fellowes, the creator who rose to the aristocracy himself during the program’s run. Not just knighted but made a Baron. Good job! There is now talk of a “Downton Abbey” movie. I am sure it will come together. Both sides of the Atlantic are mad for the Crawley family and their servants.
Either critically wounded or dead is a man known as Omar the Chechen, a lead military figure for IS. Interestingly, when he was fighting the Russians in his homeland he received training from American Special Forces and was a star pupil. Later he became the “Minister of War” for IS and was largely responsible for the push that took them within a hundred miles of Baghdad.
A captured IS official seems to be spilling the beans about IS’s efforts in chemical warfare. They seem to be centered on the use of mustard gas, used by the Germans in World War I to devastating effect.
A former American soldier has been convicted of attempting to join IS and faces 35 years in prison. He had left a note for his wife telling her he wanted to die a martyr.
Mourners are paying respects to Nancy Reagan, who lies in review at the Reagan Library where she will be buried next to her Ronnie.
And I love — sort of — the story of a Floridian mother who had bragged about her four year old son getting really “racked up” to go practice shooting with her. Hours later, he shot her in the back. They were out for a drive when it happened. WHAT?!
Kathyrn Popper died today at 100. She was the last surviving cast member of “Citizen Kane,” the movie named by the AFI in 1997 as the greatest film ever made. She was also Orson Welles’ longtime assistant.
Kim Kardashian has been posting nude selfies. Outrage has broken out in some circles. In other circles, people are posting their own naked selfies in support of her, including Sharon Osbourne, reality star, talk show host and wife of Ozzy Osbourne. I am NOT going to search it out. No. No, thank you…
Lastly, Sir George Martin passed away today at the age of 90. Longtime producer of the Beatles, he helped shape their sound and redefined the role of music producer.
The evening is rich. There is no sound quite like Louis Armstrong married with Ella Fitzgerald. The cottage is more than cozy. Friends are arriving from Nashville for the weekend and it will be good to share with them my home.
Tags:Bernie Sanders, Claverack, Columbia County, Columbia Greene Community College, Donald Trump, Downton Abbey, Ella Fitzgerald, George Martin, Hillary Clinton, Hudson, IS, Julian Fellowes, Louis Armstrong, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Munch, Nancy Reagan, Omar the Chechen, The Scream
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Elections, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Hudson New York, Income Inequality, IS, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Uncategorized, World War I commentary | 2 Comments »
March 3, 2016
On the nights before the days I teach, not only do I set my iPhone alarm, I also set my clock radio. I want to be sure I am up in plenty of time to get myself centered, caffeinated and to gather everything I need for class.
Since I taught today, the clock radio went off, loudly, and the very first thing I heard this morning was “Trump.” Loudly, gratingly, irritatingly… The moment I heard his name I knew he had won big last night and I shuddered, hit the snooze alarm and buried myself underneath my pillow.
Trump did win big last night. On the way to class I purchased copies of the New York Times, The New York Post, The Albany Times Union and our local Register-Star. I broke the class up into four groups, giving each group a copy of the four papers and asked them to judge them against the points that Rex Smith had made about the ethics of journalism.
Not surprisingly, perhaps, the New York Times got the best reviews for objectivity, followed by the Albany Times – Union. One of the students pointed out that in the New York Post, owned by Rupert Murdoch, that all the coverage of the Republicans was in color and had more pages than they gave for the Democrats, whose coverage was all in black and white. Very interesting…
The poor Register Star didn’t really even register. It had almost no coverage of Super Tuesday.
Hillary Clinton won but not as decisively as her supporters would have liked. She battered Bernie but didn’t knock him out. Yesterday did make his march to the nomination more difficult and possibly impossible. Hillary won Massachusetts, which had been expected to go to Bernie.
Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican candidate, is expected to give a speech shortly about the 2016 race. He has been very hard on Trump in his Twitter feed of late. It will be interesting to hear what he has to say on Thursday. I didn’t much like him as the Republican nominee as it seemed, to me, that he had no center which I had once thought he did. Perhaps now that he is finished with running he will have returned to the center and will say things from his heart.
Ben Carson has signaled he may be ending his candidacy. Ted Cruz is positioning himself as the only one who could possible beat Trump. Rubio won Minnesota, my home state, last night. I think they thought of him as the least of all evils.
Aubrey McClendon, an energy entrepreneur in Oklahoma, died today in a fiery crash while he was speeding down a road. Yesterday, he had been indicted. Today he is dead. It will take two weeks to figure out what really happened. He was fifty-six. He was accused of rigging bids.
Astronaut Scott Kelly returned to earth today after nearly a year in orbit. He has an identical twin brother, also an astronaut, and NASA is attempting to find out just what a year in space does to a person. They are thinking toward Mars. Pretty amazing, don’t you think?
The UN has imposed the severest sanctions on North Korea in twenty years as a result of its continuing to develop nuclear weapons and delivery systems. From what I have observed and certainly I am not a foreign policy expert, it’s the people of North Korea who will suffer and there is no way I can see they will push for a regime change. The pudgy little dictator of North Korea will still find ways to get his delicacies while his people resume eating grass.
The Pentagon has begun using Special Forces to capture IS leaders. They have had one success and aim for more. But the Pentagon doesn’t want to get back into the prisoner business so after questioning, the IS individual will be turned over to the Iraqis.
The evening is coming to a close. The dryer has just buzzed, announcing that the last load of clothes has been finished. The only sound I hear now is the ticking of an old clock that my parents had which one of their parents had. I think of it as the heart of the house, ticking time away, each moment taking us further into the future, which none of us can know.
I have some friends who live down in the Caribbean. I am tempted to ask them what it would take for me to go there should Trump become President.
Tags:Albany Times Union, Aubrey McClendon, Ben Carson, Bernie Sanders, Claverack, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, IS, Marco Rubio, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Mitt Romney, NASA, New York, North Korea, Register Star, Rupert Murdoch, Scott Kelly, Ted Cruz
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Hollywood, Hudson New York, IS, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
February 28, 2016
As my train heads north out of Penn Station, the setting sun glints golden light off the towers that have sprung up over the years on the Jersey side of the Hudson River. In the relatively balmy weather, runners are trotting up the paths that line the Manhattan side of the river while traffic on the West Side Highway is bumper to bumper. I am skimming by it all.
This is the second to last leg of my trip back from Greenville, South Carolina, where I visited friends. From their house to the airport, airport to Newark, the Rail Train to NJ Transit to Penn and now from Penn to Hudson, then by car to home. I think I will be tuckered out by the time I get to the cottage tonight.
It’s the Academy Awards tonight and Lionel and Pierre are having folks over to watch on their large screen television. I’ll go there but am not sure how long I will last.
The individual who has been showing all the qualities of lasting is Donald Trump, the much mocked man of the combover has defied his critics and all the pundits and the Republican Party is starting to realize he probably has a good chance of being the nominee.
He has stepped into some trouble [when hasn’t he?] when he refused to disavow the support of David Duke, the former head of the Ku Klux Klan and by failing to disavow the KKK itself. His opponents, of course, jumped on it. Rubio declared this failure made him unfit to be President.
As usual, Trump backpedaled on Twitter once he got a handle on the fact his foot was in his mouth.
Will he live to fight another day? Of course.
According to many reports, the Republican grandees are horrified, frightened and desperate to stop him and have no idea about how to do so. They have been losing their grip on the party since the Tea Party genie got let out of the bottle and now this…
Clinton, as in Hillary, is gleefully delighted in her win yesterday in South Carolina. She and Sanders are on the march to Super Tuesday from which she hopes to emerge with a daunting delegate lead.
The game is afoot, would say Sherlock…
An Ohio Baptist minister was shot to death today as he was walking back to the pulpit as the choir sang. The shooter may have been his brother.
In Indiana, three young Muslim men were shot “execution style” and the police are working to understand what has happened and how it happened.
In Baghdad, seventy have died from suicide bombers linked to IS.
In the European Refugee Crisis, 70,000 may be trapped in Greece next month as borders are closing. Spring cannot come soon enough for the refugees.
36 Russians have died in a methane gas explosion in a coal mine.
The Syrian Truce is fraying as the army has attacked and the Russians have been sending out airstrikes.
I could go on. The litany of bad news is seemingly endless. And while there aren’t a lot of “feel good” stories today, the sun in the west is glowing red orange as I move north. Red sky at night, sailor’s delight.
In the room at my friends where I stayed there was a pillow that was stitched with the phrase: old friends are the best friends. That’s very true. Old friends are old friends for a reason. We have endured and are still there for each other.
My mantra of gratitude was said today as I rode up the escalator at Penn from the NJ Transit train. A little late but not forgotten…
Tags:Academy Awards, Bernie Sanders, David Duke, Donald Trump, Greenville, Hillary Clinton, Indiana Muslim Killings, IS, KKK, Ku Klux Klan, Marco Rubio, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, New York, South Carolina, Syria, Syrian Truce
Posted in 2016 Election, Elections, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Gun Violence, Hollywood, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Syria, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
February 26, 2016
It’s Friday afternoon and I’m sitting looking out the windows of my friends’ rental in Greenville, SC where they are living while their new home is being built a few blocks from where I am sitting. The apartment is gorgeous and their new home will be even more beautiful. They’re liking Greenville and I’m happy for them.
While we were touring the construction site of their home, my phone made one of the noises it does when a breaking news story pops up. Governor Chris Christie has endorsed Trump while continuing to harass Marco Rubio.
Talking politics is always touchy and I can honestly say, as I think almost everyone would agree, that we haven’t seen anything like this in politics during our voting lifetimes.
It’s been a busy week and last night I slept for nearly twelve hours and that was after a two hour nap. I am still worn down it seems. So I am, as my sister suggested, listening to my body and resting when it says to rest. Which is relatively often…
It’s cool here, though very bright and sunny.
My brother has been in Honduras and is on his way home. He texted me this morning and I was glad and will be gladder when he’s home. He goes once or twice a year to give medical care to those living in the back of beyond.
In a quiet little Kansas town, Hesston, not far from Wichita, 38 year old Cedric Larry Ford was served with a restraining order. 90 minutes later he shot 17 people, three of whom died, and among the fourteen others, several are in critical condition.
And the beat goes on…
Former Mexican President, Vicente Fox, told Trump there was no way Mexico was going to “pay for that f**king wall.” Trump asked for an apology. He only got a verbatim repeat from Fox, on live TV, on Fox Business News.
Trump, who is against immigration, uses a lot of immigrants at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida private club, mostly from eastern European countries. He also settled out of court a suit about use of illegal Polish workers on the Trump Tower in New York.
Netflix’s new “Fuller House” got panned by critics. Now I have to watch an episode, just to see what the critics are talking about.
98% of Facebook employees are white. Apparently some of those folks have been scratching out “Black Lives Matter” on Facebook walls and replacing it with “All Lives Matter.” Zuckerberg has told them to stop.
The Americans and Russians have brokered a ceasefire in Syria and it’s one which doesn’t include the Nursa Front or IS so I wonder just how ceased the fighting will be? Hopefully, much needed supplies will reach the desperate and there are lots of them in Syria.
Certainly, it is not desperate here where Jan is prepping shrimp and grits, to be served with a good white wine and where I will shortly raise a martini to friends not present.
Including all of you…
Tags:Cedric Larry Ford, Chris Christie, Donald Trump, Fuller House, Greenville, Hesston Kansas, IS, Marco Rubio, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Netflix, South Carolina, Syrian Cease Fire, Vicente Fox
Posted in 2016 Election, Elections, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Russia, Social Commentary, Syria, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
February 23, 2016
Outside, the world is dark, though the moon is full and bright and big overhead. It has been a clear, sunny day with temps in the mid-40’s, pretty perfect for the 22nd of February.
Yesterday, I went to church and then to Albany and by the time I got home, the stuffing had been knocked out of me and I tumbled into bed about five and ended up falling asleep somewhere around nine. Going to a party up there exhausted me. Carrying a crockpot up a small hill was nearly impossible. I felt old and fragile and I was not happy.
Today, I woke up early and it has been the most active day I’ve had since I was out of the hospital. I was doing just fine and then, about twenty minutes ago, the wall was hit and I sank back into bed.
My sister, the nurse, has been telling me to listen to my body and I have been. When it says rest, I do. I stretched too far yesterday.
So here I am, propped up in bed in my sweats, jazz playing and my laptop in my lap.
It was a good day. Good class. Isaac Phillips, a young entrepreneur, Skyped in from Mexico City where he is working on an app for the Latin American market. This sounds promising. Ads delivered to your phone in exchange for your data bill being paid.
Isaac is a really good young man. And he is not much older [and younger than some] of my students. He spoke about following your passion also meant suffering for your passion. It was a great dose of reality about what it takes to make it in the high tech world.
I also showed a short film about the history of media which featured a poster of “The Jazz Singer,” the first talkie. A lifetime ago I had lunch with May McAvoy, who was the female lead in “The Jazz Singer.” She and three other stars of the era talked of the ’20’s as if they were yesterday and were a window into a world that was gone.
One of the other stars that was there that day was Leatrice Joy, who was divorced by John Gilbert so he could marry Greta Garbo, who left him at the altar. She was one of my mother’s favorites.
Esther Ralston was another, top billed over Gary Cooper in her day, who talked about having to beat off her husband with her umbrella when he tried to push her into the Grand Canyon after the stock market crash so he could collect the insurance.
These were women who had lived and were still seizing life when I met them.
On Twitter, I posted an article about the controversy between Apple and the Feds over unlocking a phone used by the terrorist couple in Riverside who killed fourteen and wounded many more. Apple is not wanting to do it; the Feds are demanding it and everyone is thinking about it. I have made no decision about it and was a bit surprised when my post brought forth strong comments on both sides of the issue.
And then I realized it was really important and how we decide this is going to be important going forward. How does a free society remain free in a time of terror? I don’t have the answers but appreciate the questions being asked.
Meanwhile, Ted Cruz has fired his spokesman for a tweet, inaccurate, about Rubio. Cruz is getting a slimy reputation and he is trying to shake it. He’s not shady but he hires people who are… Excuse me?
Jeb Bush spent $130,000,000 running for President and has now bowed out of the race. I actually thought he would be the candidate; it seemed logical. My friend, Jeff Cole, picked Rubio. I think Jeff is smarter than I am.
In Kalamazoo, Michigan an Uber driver shot eight people, killing six and picking up rides between the killings. Officials are describing it as “unexplainable” and it is but then so much is “unexplainable.”
Russia and the US have agreed to help implement a ceasefire in Syria, which is great if it works though it doesn’t include the Nursa Front or IS so who knows what actually will happen. Hopefully, some relief for the tortured souls living there…
Also tortured, but not as viscerally as Syria, is Yahoo, a tech giant who has lost its way. In 1999, it was the Google of its day. Now it’s not and there is lots of talk about dismembering the company, selling it off in pieces. Marissa Meyers may well be its last CEO.
And that’s the last I can do for today. I am worn out. Need to quit now and allow myself to fall asleep watching something good, start tomorrow all over, hopefully as fresh as I felt today.
Tags:Apple, Claverack, Esther Ralston, Gary Cooper, Greta Garbo, Hudson, IS, Isaac Phillips, Isis, John Gilbert, Leatrice Joy, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, May McAvoy, Melissa Meyers, New York, Putin, Russia, Syria, Ted Cruz, The Jazz Singer, Yahoo
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Entertainment, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Putin, Russia, Social Commentary, Syria, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Television, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
February 21, 2016
It’s a wild Saturday night here in Claverack. The creek is illuminated with floodlights. I am having one of the first martinis since I got out of the hospital, now almost two weeks ago. My body is working very hard to be normal; I am not as tired as I was and while there are still some tests to be done I think Dr. Paolino was right: I was sick and now I am better.
On Pandora is Hipster Cocktail Music, a channel I added by accident but thought I would try out. What I am discovering is I’m not a hipster. Probably time to change to another channel soon. An interesting experiment.
Life is an interesting experiment. Cooking certainly is. I have been cooking for the last three hours, prepping dishes for an off the train, train party. Those of you who know me, know that our train community is tight knit and we party off and on the train. Tomorrow, Loretta, who is one of the conductors is throwing a party that will include her family and friends, which includes those of us from the train.
In the slow cooker, I have BBQ ribs cooking and I have in the oven something I have never attempted before, a casserole. Never in my long life have I cooked one so I thought I would attempt one. This one is ham and rice and vegetables and who knows whether it will work out or not.
All of these have been diversions from the real world. Or what we think of as “the real world.” Hillary has narrowly won Nevada, which she needed to do and Trump, God Help Us, has won South Carolina. He is now in for the long haul.
Trump may very well win the Republican nomination. I suspect it will be as catastrophic as Goldwater was in 1964 but in this campaign, all bets are off. Everyone I know is, as the Brits would say, “gob smacked.” I know I am. Like many others I thought Trump would burn out by end of summer but here he is, stronger than ever.
Spring is on us. [It was 63 degrees here in Claverack today. No need for the winter coat I wore when I left the house. People were in shorts.] And Trump is with us more than he ever was.
Look, it’s Saturday night and people are out celebrating whatever they do on Saturday night while I am tucked away in the cottage writing and thinking about world events.
And while I am sitting here, still listening to Hipster Cocktail Music, I noticed that the last survivor of Treblinka, a Nazi concentration camp, has died. His name was Samuel Willenberg, a man who said he survived “by chance.” They are leaving us, the witnesses to that incredible, horrible time that was World War II. The unspeakable horrors of that time are being resurrected in these days, with IS and its atrocities.
While they boggle our mind, they continue. There is no World War to stop them. All is fractious politics in the Mideast.
It is sweet to be here in the cottage, my dining room table a mess of papers from my teaching, the lights illuminating the creek, music on Pandora, the hum of my dishwasher in the background, plans to redo my bathroom.
All the lucky things I enjoy because of the moment in time and place in which I was born, coupled with the luckiness that my life provided me. When I wake in the morning, I work to take time to say my mantra: thank you for this day in which I find myself, thank you for the resources to live through this day and thank you for the luck that has brought me to this place, cozied in my cottage, surrounded by friends and living a magical life.
Tags:Claverack, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Hudson, IS, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Obama
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Greene County New York, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Nazis, Obama, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Syria, Trump, Uncategorized, World War II | Leave a Comment »
February 18, 2016
Since being in the hospital, I have developed a taste for tea. No coffee has passed my lips since my release from the hospital. My fellow patient, Anthony, called what they served “jail coffee” and I think he spoke from experience. It certainly tasted like the only place they would serve it was somewhere where you were for punishment.
I get up in the morning, brew a cup of tea and crawl back into bed to sip it and read the NY Times on my phone. Very civilized, I think.
Today, I taught. Larry Divney, an old, old friend who was my boss for about forty- five minutes at A&E, gave a guest lecture today. Almost as soon as I began reporting to him, he left for the Comedy Channel which then merged with Ha! and became Comedy Central. The rest is history. He became Comedy Central’s President and then retired. That lasted four months. The he “un-retired” and became President of Ad Sales for all of MTV Networks and after a few years of that, he actually did retire.
We reconnected when our mutual friend, Chuck Bachrach, told each of us one day we must be close to each other because, I mean, how big was Columbia County and we were both there? That day, we ran into each other at Walmart and have celebrated most Thanksgivings and some Christmases together.
He spoke today about his career and how he dealt with people, with honesty and integrity, which he always has and he inspired some of the people in my class. It was great to watch him do the Divney magic with my class.
Honesty and integrity – so important, no matter what you’re doing and occasionally not always in the forefront of people’s minds and actions. They always were for Larry and I like to think for me, too, when I marched through the world of business.
This morning in something I read there was an exegesis of Hillary’s relationship with Kissinger which she has been touting recently. It has made me think less of her. Kissinger was/is a bad apple. He didn’t, as far as I can tell, play honestly or with integrity. He was an opportunist of the worst sort.
Once, in New Delhi, I was in a restaurant, Bukhara, then considered the best restaurant in the city. Might still be. He was there with Nancy, close enough I could almost touch him. We were all laughing and enjoying ourselves but there was a heaviness to his part of the room. It was darker than where we were. I still remember thinking about that, even now, all these years later.
He is not a good man. And Hillary hurts herself with her association of herself with him. He has the blood of many from the Vietnam War era on his hands. He could have forestalled their deaths but I don’t think that mattered to him. It was all politics.
My friend, Greg Harrigan, was one of those who died in Vietnam who might not have had to if Kissinger had not fiddled with the peace process.
Am I bitter about what I know about the past? Yes, a little…
Things did not have to be the way they were if men like Kissinger and Nixon had been men of integrity and honesty.
My friend, Bruce Braun, messaged me on Facebook; all politicians have been cut from the same cloth, all the way back to the Romans. I responded: further back. There were Egyptian politicians, Babylonian ones. All of them about what was “necessary.” And “necessary” did not always mean what was honest but what was expedient for those who held power.
I’m getting old now and there will be a moment when I pass away and I will think: I made it through. My god, but I made it through this interesting thing called life.
However, I am still here and will be for awhile longer and since I haven’t quite made it through yet, I will still write and think and postulate about life and the future.
Today, in the Times, there was a report about the fact that while it is all quite wretched out there what with IS and Syria and Iraq and everything else, it is still so much better than it has been. We are rising from the darkness more than we have ever been despite the horrors of the world. Fewer people are in abject poverty. Technology is empowering us. We have not had the nuclear destruction of the world we feared during the Cold War.
Our better angels seem to be speaking, despite all the horrors that surround us…
Tags:Bruce Braun, Bukhara, Claverack, Comedy Central, Hillary Clinton, IS, Kissinger, Larry Divney, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, New Delhi, Syria
Posted in 2016 Election, Afghanistan, Claverack, Columbia County, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
February 14, 2016
It is Saturday night and I am at the cottage. I have just lit a fire and have finished prepping for tomorrow; I am doing the coffee hour after the 10:30 service. Since it is Valentine’s Day I wanted to do something a little special. I think I have, once again, succumbed to my mother’s philosophy: too much is never enough.
Oh well, hopefully it will be fun and it is the first real thing I have done since being in the hospital. My primary care physician, Dr. Paolino, summed it up: You were sick and now you’re better. You still have to see your gastroenterologist but you are on the mend.
And I am, though I am still sleeping a lot and being very careful about what I eat. My body is working to be normal and I’m grateful. Amazing things these human bodies, they often heal themselves, sometimes with help but they are wondrous.
My brother is now in Honduras, where he goes at least once a year to provide medical care to the back of beyond, to places who only have medical care when teams like his arrive. I’m terribly proud of him. When he is there, I am concerned as Honduras has devolved into one of the most violent places in the hemisphere but every year he goes back, as he has for almost forty years now.
Lionel let me know that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia passed away. I have mixed feelings about it as he spewed some hateful things these last years, particularly about gay rights and marriage equality. About six months ago, I read a speech he gave and was appalled at the intolerance, actually shocked. It seemed so bitter and unforgiving.
Still, may he rest in peace. As may we all rest in peace when our time comes.
Being ill and in the hospital, summoned intimations of my mortality, heightened by my old good friend, Tim Sparke, diagnosed some three or four years ago with a brain tumor, who is now in hospice, the cancer having spread through his body. He wrote me and told me he was now serene, something that I have heard comes to people in their last days if they are given the grace to know they are living their last days.
He is younger than me by a decade I think. Life plays itself out for each of us in its own cadence and only the universe understands it.
The Russian Premier, Medvedev, has declared we have slid into a new “cold war.” Yes, I suppose we have. I’m not sure quite how it happened but it’s been years in the making and lies, I think, largely in Putin’s lap as it serves him to prop up his power in Russia. They’re suffering from the collapse of oil prices probably as much or more than anyone with the possible exception of Venezuela.
Months ago, I read something about a dam in Iraq. It wasn’t being maintained and threatened a half million people with catastrophe. It’s back in the news and it is in bad shape. An Italian firm has been hired to repair it and, hopefully, repairs will happen in time or a half million people may drown. Think Katrina, exponentially worse.
True to form, The Donald is striking out. Apparently he has called Cruz “a pussy.” I had to Google it because polite press wouldn’t tell me exactly what Trump had said. I will need to read more about this but nothing Trump does surprises me.
Back in the olden days of the early Republic, politics was this nasty. Yes, it was. And now we have returned to it, thanks to the Donald. Ah, we shall see how this plays out. Not prettily I think.
It’s getting late. I’m off to bed. I have coffee hour tomorrow. May your tomorrow be good…
Tags:Claverack, Donald Trump, Hudson, IS, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, New York, Obama, Putin, Syria
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Elections, Entertainment, Gay, Gay Liberation, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Political Commentary, Politics, Putin, Social Commentary, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
February 2, 2016
Nick Stuart Tickety boo James Green Hillary Clinton Bernie Sanders Marco Rubio Jeb Bush Zika Virus Brazil Olympics WHO Apple Google Alphabet Yahoo Melissa Mayer IS Boko Haram Assad American Airlines United
When I drove into the drive of the cottage, behind me was a brilliant rose gold sunset illuminating the western sky. After spending the afternoon running a variety of errands, I was grateful to be home.
My very English friend, Nick Stuart, if he is concerned about either my physical or mental well being, will text me a message that says, “Everything tickety boo?”
And tonight, not everything is tickety boo.
I have been headachy and achy since about noon today and so, once the errands were accomplished, I slid home and lit a fire, changed into comfortable clothes, also warm, and began to rest.
I don’t want to get sick. I have class on Wednesday; my friend James Green is Skyping in to discuss digital advertising. It is not possible to get sick; the show must go on!
The show that is going on right now, as I write, is the Iowa caucuses and the let the games begin. The first “showdown” is happening. Hillary and Bernie are neck and neck. Trump has a lead over everyone. Marco Rubio is desperately hoping he will come in third in Iowa.
I am worn to a frazzle by all this. This campaign will go down in history, I hope, as the longest election campaign in the country’s history. I can’t imagine anything longer than this. Shouldn’t the elections be next Tuesday so we can get this all over with? We have something like another 280 days of all of them slugging it out.
As the caucuses begin, Jeb Bush is on his way to New Hampshire where he hopes to do better. Once the wind was in his sails and now he finds himself becalmed. The son of a President, the brother of another, he seemed anointed. Not so much now…
While we are bemoaning the campaign cycle [or at least I am], the Zika virus has become worse than originally thought. Brazil is harder hit than first thought. The World Health Organization has declared an emergency. And the world will be traveling to Brazil this year for the Olympics. Bring lots of mosquito repellant and use birth control while there and afterwards until you’re sure you don’t have it…
For three years now Apple has been the most valuable company in the world. Today Google became more valuable. Alphabet, the holding company for Google and its other enterprises, rose sharply as there has been a renaissance in its advertising. Ah, heavy is the head that wears the crown…
Yahoo, which once wore that crown, is now shedding 15% of its workforce. Ms. Mayer has not turned the corner.
Oil prices continue to slump and there is a slowdown in manufacturing both in China and the US. Worrisome. Pundits are wondering if we are in for another recession. Say it not so…
IS is working its wrath upon the world. Boko Haram, which has declared its loyalty to IS, killed 70 in a suicide bombing attack in Nigeria. Not to mention the trouble in Syria; 3500 have fled into Turkey as Assad’s forces advance. The Taliban have killed twenty in Kabul.
And my oh my… Free snacks have returned to American and Untied. Is this an alternative universe? Free snacks on planes? Have I been transported back to the 1990’s? No, don’t think so. Not until they make the seats bigger. I’m not big and the seats are a challenge to me. To get a good seat in economy one must upgrade to Economy Plus, which I usually do.
My fire is burning happily. I am happy and feeling better, more “tickety boo.” The flood lights illuminate the creek and I am more ready than ever to crawl into my great queen sized bed and pull the covers up to my neck, watch a little video and head off to sleep. I need it.
The show must go on!
Tags:Alphabet, American Airlines, Apple, Assad, Boko Haram, Brazil Olympics, Claverack, Google, IS, James Green, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Melissa Mayers, Nick Stuart, Obama, United Airlines, WHO, Yahoo, Zika Virus
Posted in 2016 Election, Afghanistan, China stock market rout, Claverack, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Nigeria, Obama, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Trump, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
January 30, 2016
Hudson Valley Lionel White Pierre Font Downton Abbey iTunes Hillary Email Crisis Hillary Clinton Bernie Sanders Iowa Caucuses Zika Virus Putin Russian Economy Ammon Bundy
It is a beautiful day in the Hudson Valley, the sun generously warming us into the mid-forties with a high of fifty promised for tomorrow. The light glints off the creek and the wind is shaking the branches of the trees just outside the dining room window.
When I found myself cognizant this morning, I realized I was happy — for no particular reason, just caught up in a pleasant kind of joy that has remained with me during the day.
Tonight I am cooking for Lionel and Pierre and we’ll watch a movie from my collection. Having subscribed to iTunes in order to watch the program, I now am in possession of the rest of the season of “Downton Abbey” and can binge if I so choose.
Not one of my students had heard of “Downton Abbey” when I asked them.
A LOT, I suspect, is going to be heard in the next few days about the twenty-two “top secret” emails found on Hillary’s server. The question remains whether they were “top secret” when she received or sent them; there has been much classification after the fact with her emails. One of the “top secret” ones seems, according to sources, to have been a publicly published article.
Whatever the truth, it will be made much of in the days to come and it is especially inconvenient as it is only three days to the Iowa caucuses and Hillary has been losing ground to Bernie.
Suddenly, the Zika virus has become a major health threat, spreading rapidly through the Americas but nowhere more prevalent than in Recife, Brazil. An impoverished city is being made more miserable by the mosquito born virus which results in some infected mothers to give birth to children with microcephaly, with heads and brains smaller than normal.
At least five countries have advised women not to get pregnant until more is known. Some are saying Zika could be more of threat than Ebola.
A Russian plane violated Turkish airspace again. Turkey did not shoot it down but did warn of consequences.
One wonders if Putin is playing with fire because he needs diversions from the rapidly declining Russian economy? His budget has been slashed again because of the declining price of oil. The Russian budget has been built on the basis of oil at $50.00 a barrel, which it’s not.
There are reports that the average Russian citizen is beginning to get restless and are beginning to protest, particularly in towns away from Moscow. Retirees are having their pensions cut. And, after a taste of a better life, Russians may not want to suffer silently for Mother Russia.
While I sit watching the placid Claverack Creek, the European Refugee Crisis continues; 37 drowned yesterday while attempting to reach Greece.
Three dangerous inmates escaped from an Orange County, California jail and all three have been returned to custody. One turned himself in and the other two were captured in a stolen van in a Whole Foods parking lot in San Francisco after an alert woman notified police of the presence there of a van matching the description of one being used by the escapees.
While Ammon Bundy is in custody, the Oregon stand-off continues with some of his followers still at the refuge even though Bundy has told them to stand down.
The sun is beginning to set, a golden light is falling on the barren trees across the creek. It is time for me to sign off and begin to cook, distracting myself from the world’s woes.
Tags:Ammon Bundy, Bernie Sanders, Claverack, Hillary Clinton, Hudson Valley, IS, Lionel White, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Pierre Font, Putin, Russian economy, Zika
Posted in 2016 Election, Columbia County, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Political Commentary, Social Commentarhy, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Letter from the Vineyard 
Letter From New York 03 09 2016 Sequestered with my thoughts in the cottage…
March 10, 2016The day we all lived through here in Columbia County was physically the most exquisite day of the year and it may hold that crown all year; it’s hard to imagine a day that will be more splendid than this one. The sky was blue, the air was warm — after I finished teaching it was scratching at hot.
My students had presentations to make today and they pleaded with me to let them do it outside and I was game but one of my students was allergic to the sun [as was I as a child] and had been outside for her last class and was feeling the effects. So I let them go ten minutes early and stayed after talking with several students about the graded presentation they were going to be making after spring break.
It was a sweet day. As I drove around the county on errands, bits and pieces of the news filtered in over the radio.
Bernie had won Michigan, either stunning the Clinton camp or, according to some reports, they were just shrugging it off. He is capturing something she isn’t. In Michigan, it was largely, I understood, about his trade positions.
Tonight they are facing off against each other in Miami. I may look at some of it but then again may not. We still have months of this in front of us.
Trump continues his romp, causing, I’m sure, many Republicans to pull their hair and mimic Munch’s “The Scream.” Carly Fiorna has come out for Ted Cruz.
It’s a quiet night, sequestered in the cottage, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald are singing their classics, a martini is nearby and the lights are illuminating the creek. For this minute, the world is my oyster and I’m savoring it.
As we probably all know, “Downton Abbey” has finished its six year run, all the plots and subplots neatly tied up by Lord Fellowes, the creator who rose to the aristocracy himself during the program’s run. Not just knighted but made a Baron. Good job! There is now talk of a “Downton Abbey” movie. I am sure it will come together. Both sides of the Atlantic are mad for the Crawley family and their servants.
Either critically wounded or dead is a man known as Omar the Chechen, a lead military figure for IS. Interestingly, when he was fighting the Russians in his homeland he received training from American Special Forces and was a star pupil. Later he became the “Minister of War” for IS and was largely responsible for the push that took them within a hundred miles of Baghdad.
A captured IS official seems to be spilling the beans about IS’s efforts in chemical warfare. They seem to be centered on the use of mustard gas, used by the Germans in World War I to devastating effect.
A former American soldier has been convicted of attempting to join IS and faces 35 years in prison. He had left a note for his wife telling her he wanted to die a martyr.
Mourners are paying respects to Nancy Reagan, who lies in review at the Reagan Library where she will be buried next to her Ronnie.
And I love — sort of — the story of a Floridian mother who had bragged about her four year old son getting really “racked up” to go practice shooting with her. Hours later, he shot her in the back. They were out for a drive when it happened. WHAT?!
Kathyrn Popper died today at 100. She was the last surviving cast member of “Citizen Kane,” the movie named by the AFI in 1997 as the greatest film ever made. She was also Orson Welles’ longtime assistant.
Kim Kardashian has been posting nude selfies. Outrage has broken out in some circles. In other circles, people are posting their own naked selfies in support of her, including Sharon Osbourne, reality star, talk show host and wife of Ozzy Osbourne. I am NOT going to search it out. No. No, thank you…
Lastly, Sir George Martin passed away today at the age of 90. Longtime producer of the Beatles, he helped shape their sound and redefined the role of music producer.
The evening is rich. There is no sound quite like Louis Armstrong married with Ella Fitzgerald. The cottage is more than cozy. Friends are arriving from Nashville for the weekend and it will be good to share with them my home.
Tags:Bernie Sanders, Claverack, Columbia County, Columbia Greene Community College, Donald Trump, Downton Abbey, Ella Fitzgerald, George Martin, Hillary Clinton, Hudson, IS, Julian Fellowes, Louis Armstrong, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Munch, Nancy Reagan, Omar the Chechen, The Scream
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Elections, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Hudson New York, Income Inequality, IS, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Uncategorized, World War I commentary | 2 Comments »