Posts Tagged ‘Kasich’

Letter From Claverack 08 06 2017 Thoughts from Sunday…

August 8, 2017

IMG_2062

It is a quiet night; the creek is crystal clear and a squirrel has just paraded down the deck, padding along, obviously unafraid of me.

This morning I did coffee hour at church, bringing, as I frequently do, too much food though everyone was appreciative and there should be almost enough for coffee hour next week, when I am in Minneapolis.

Returning home, I put the extra food I had in the refrigerator and then returned to have a late lunch with my friends, Larry and Alicia.  Arriving early, I wrote a poem while waiting.

 

Sun and shadow dapple road,

curving toward town where

friends await.

 

A different life now,

slow, time for noticing

the dappled road;

 

for clasping close

all kind of friends.

To stretch my brain a bit, I am working to write a poem a day.  Most days I do, not always, but most days.

Looking up, there is a canopy of green above me and nature is humming around me.  It’s amazing that in the peace of my deck there is so much noise.  Insects and birds, soft sound of water, far off the sound of trucks now and again, traversing the highway almost half a mile away.

It’s been a day when I have not listened to news or read anything until just a bit ago.  There is, you know, only so much one can take.

It is interesting that Vice President Pence is going to great lengths to deny he is making “campaign style” visits to places.  Governor Kasich is, I think.  However, it is not possible to deny that even at this early stage Republicans are beginning to look to take the place of The Donald on the stage he now holds.

The Donald is in New Jersey at one of his golf clubs in a retreat from the White House will three million dollars plus in renovations are being made.  It was just last week that President Trump is reputed to have said the place was “a dump.”

Really, I hope not too much gold is being added.

Venezuela is tottering toward dictatorship and economic collapse which will not be good for gas prices, I keep reading.

Tuesday, I am heading to Minnesota where, to my dismay, a mosque was bombed in Bloomington, the suburb in which my brother lives.  That was not “Minnesota nice.”

The world is a very strange place.  I mean really, really, strange and, you know, this has gone on forever but it just seems like somehow we should have moved beyond  so many of these things and, hopefully, we will in generations to come.

It is there I must place hope.

In this time of my life, I am being as active as I can and, at the same time, treasuring more than I ever have the wonders of my life:  an interesting life now and in my past, a creek that flows quietly by a home I think I imagined once and made reality, good friends, good dinners, times of good conversation, some travel for good reasons, a sense I have been luckier than most in keeping alive friendships from my past and carrying than into my present.

There is a tree along the creek that is always the first harbinger of fall and it is beginning to tell me fall is coming.

I’m not ready for it.  Though I will accept it as one must.

 

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Posted in 2016 Election, Civil Rights, Claverack, Columbia County, Entertainment, Gay, Gay Liberation, Hudson New York, Life, Literature, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Matthew Tombers, Media, Political, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Letter From New York 04 25 2016 From beheadings to Deflategate…

April 25, 2016

I’m not sure where the term “dog tired” came from but that’s what I am today, “dog tired.”  When I woke it was a grey, chill day, unremittingly grey.  At class I was struggling to get my rambunctious students to pay attention while I was helping them fill in the background of what they needed to know about media history.   

Most of them are graduating in three weeks and there are only four more classes for them and you can sense them stampeding toward the doors. 

Leaving them, I went down to Relish, the little cafe by the train station and had an egg white omelet, reading a mystery by Louise Penny while eating.  Coming home, I did a conference call and then prepped for some interviews I am doing for our community radio station tomorrow.

The American Dance Institute has purchased a rundown lumberyard in Catskill and is converting it to performance spaces and living quarters for artists while they’re in residence.  It’s an exciting project…

I am talking to Chris Bolan, their Community Relations Manager, tomorrow about the project.

So right now, I am listening to jazz, sipping a much needed martini and working on  figuring out kitchen organization.  I have more stuff than space.  What goes?  What stays and where does what stays, go?

One of the reasons I felt tired or maybe a bit depressed was that as I was walking toward my class, the phone pinged and the BBC reported a leading gay activist in Bangladesh had been hacked to death, not too long after a liberal blogger had been similarly dispensed.  I felt sad, angry, helpless, wanting to do something to change the tide of hate sweeping the world and not knowing at all what to do about it.

The afternoon brought news that a Canadian in the Philippines has been killed by an Islamist militant group.  His name was John Ridsdel, described as brilliant and compassionate; he was a 68 year old tourist from Calgary, Canada.  Beheaded, of course, in keeping with tradition.

On the American political scene, Cruz and Kasich made a pact to stop Trump by Kasich withdrawing from Indiana in favor of Cruz and Cruz withdrawing from Oregon in favor of Kasich.  After great fanfare this morning, it seems to have fallen apart by the afternoon.

It was not a good day for the New England Patriot’s Tom Brady as the courts upheld his suspension from the first four games of the season.  Deflategate has not gone away; its repercussions are still being felt and Brady’s legacy is at stake.  He could still appeal but his chances aren’t good.  The NFL may well have won.

Hard for me to figure this out as I am not a football fan; never a big fan, I was totally lost to the sport when the concussion revelations began to happen.

It is a mellow night at the cottage.  It is 7:30 and the sun has not yet gone away.  There are buds on the trees and the rhododendron are starting their bloom.  The jazz has energized me and I am happy now.  Somehow, in writing this, I have shed this day.  And I am grateful.

Thank you.

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Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Daesh, Elections, Entertainment, Gay, Gay Liberation, Greene County New York, Gun Violence, Hudson New York, IS, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Letter From New York 04 12 2016 Too hard to think about children suicide bombers…

April 13, 2016

It has been a long day; I was up early because I am getting new appliances and the Columbia County Habitat for Humanity was coming early for my old stove.  They came and went and I waited for the new appliances to arrive. 

It all started with my dishwasher finally starting to give up the ghost which proceeded to all new appliances — a new stove, refrigerator, over the stove microwave and, of course, a new dishwasher.

When they arrived, the dishwasher, which started all of this, was the wrong one and so it had to go and the right one finally arrived.  In the meantime, I spent the day preparing for tomorrow’s lecture on magazines for “Media & Society,” the class I teach at Columbia Greene Community College.

Term papers were due last week and I graded them over the weekend, sending three back for revisions as I was working to help them achieve their goals for “good” grades.  One of the students got very upset with me for trying to help her get a better grade.  She had too many other things to do.

Such is the life of a teacher.  It was this way when I taught high school and it is now when I am teaching at a community college.

The good news story of the day is that a 72 year old woman, who was lost in the Arizona wilderness for nine days, was found alive after drinking pond water and eating plants.  She spelled help in twigs, stones and bones and was seen.  Suffering from exposure, she’s in the hospital in fair condition which is pretty good for an elderly lady who had been lost in the wilderness.

Paul Ryan has told the world to count him out.  He is not, repeat NOT, going to be the Republican candidate for President if it comes to a brokered convention. 

That is what Kasich is counting on; a brokered convention that will take him to heart as the only sane person in the party who could conceivably win. 

The Governor of North Carolina is back pedaling on the anti-gay law he signed into law as he is, rightfully so, rocked by the backlash he has received.  Hell hath no fury like corporate CEO’s who don’t agree with what you have done.

And that includes the very important banking community that has moved into North Carolina in recent years.  Deutsche Bank, who was going to build a presence there, has said:  no, not now, not because of this.

It was a year ago that Freddie Gray died in police custody in Baltimore and there is a feeling there that the mindset has changed.  I hope so.  It was one of those shocking moments in American life that leave you gasping.

What I have also learned in the last year is the passionate way people who live in that city have love for that city.  My friends, Lionel and Pierre, moved there the week before the riots and are now huge boosters of the city, passionately engaged there and loving it.

David Gest died in London today.  A successful producer, he married Liza Minnelli and that may be the thing for which he will be forever remembered.  It was a huge affair with Elizabeth Taylor as a Maid of Honor and Michael Jackson as Best Man and in a year they were divorced with all kinds of ugly rumors abounding.  He had been living in York in England for the last few years, far from the madding crowd, regretful for the cosmetic surgery he had, which did not turn out well.

Tonight, I am focussing on lighter things.  It’s the mood I’m in —  who wants to process that Boko Haram is manipulating children into being suicide bombers?

Yuri Milner, a Russian businessman, has joined forces with Stephen Hawking, wanting to send probes about the size of iPhones to Alpha Centauri, the star system closest to us.  They need to raise ten billion dollars but it sounds interesting.

I have always been a great proponent of space exploration.  “Ah, but man’s reach should exceed his grasp. Or what’s a heaven for?”  Robert Browning…

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Posted in 2016 Election, Boko Haram, Civil Rights, Claverack, Columbia County, Entertainment, Gay, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Life, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Letter From New York 03 21 2016 Of Nicotine Addiction and murderous souls…

March 21, 2016

A young, good looking man fell into his fifteen minutes of fame last month when he had sex with a strange woman on the Ferris wheel in Las Vegas, one of the biggest in the world.

Phillip Panzica III had had a falling out with his fiancé, went partying, drinking and gambling and got into trouble 550 feet in the air.  His fiancé bailed him out two days later and they kissed and made up.

Back in Dallas, they were carjacked.  Phillip was fatally shot while his fiancé was told to get out of the car once they had taken her money.  It’s a tragic ending to a story that had me smiling a bit when I read about the Ferris wheel.  As a sex scandal, it seems pretty tame in this day and age.

Vadym Kholodenko, a 29 year old renowned pianist, Ukrainian by birth and now Texas based, went to pick up his two young daughters from his estranged wife only to find them dead and his wife covered in blood from what appear to have been, according to police, self inflicted knife wounds. 

Both stories remind me of the uncivilized ways we can behave in civilized places, that there are moments when murderous madness descends and death ensues.  Phillip looked a bit like one of my students and Vadym and his wife appeared in earlier pictures as a textbook happy couple.

It is a stark contrast to my place in the world.  I am in the process of replacing items in my bathroom now that young Nick and his team have finished their work, making my bathroom all fresh again.

It was so lovely today I could wander about with just a sweater for most of the day.

My friend Patrick and I met at Kozel’s Restaurant here in Claverack and had lunch in a place that reminded me of nothing so much as the best restaurant in Bemidji, Minnesota when I was a youngster and we stayed part of the summer at a lake nearby.

He and I chattered about the lot of things, from The Donald to the joys of life in Columbia County, particularly on sunny, crisp days like today.  It felt a carefree day as a meeting in the city was moved and I could spend the day here, doing errands, some cleaning and visiting with friends.

Moments ago, Lionel texted me “martini time” which he does most evening when he is about to make one for himself.  I’m going to join him, finishing this while sipping one.

A very civilized ending to a day when events almost everywhere reminded me that we have evolved but still are sometimes victim to our murderous souls.

The former Vice President of Congo was convicted at the ICC in The Hague of war crimes; murder, rape and pillage.  It apparently is a landmark case.

Also a landmark moment is that death in the US from heart attacks is falling, continuing a forty year trend.  That’s good and the result of work on the betterment of man.

My father had a massive coronary two years before he died from a stroke.  He was younger than I am now when he passed, a moment I noted when I reached the age he died.  We tend now to be healthier and more sensitive to our bodies and we have decreased the amount of smoking.

My father could never quite quit smoking.  After his heart attack he had packs of L&M’s stashed here and there, like an alcoholic has his bottles stashed.  He rolled his own, telling us they were better for him.  Nicotine addiction contributed to his heart attack and his death.

So long ago…

But not so long ago, Governor Rauner of Illinois, said he would support whoever the party nominates, which means he will support Trump if nominated.  Some Republicans have begun to move away from being party liners, saying, ah, no, anyone but Trump.

Kasich, however, has not ignited the fires of any Republicans, including the establishment, who I rather thought would choose him over Cruz.  But apparently not…

Pink clouds dance on the horizon; I expect then good weather.  Good night and good evening…

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Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Entertainment, Hillary Clinton, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Life, Literature, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Obama, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Letter From New York 03 16 2016 Riding into New York…

March 16, 2016

The Hudson River is nearly mirror still as I rumble south on the train, into New York for a visit to my gastroenterologist for a [ugh] colonoscopy, a follow-up to my stay in the hospital last month.

The morning was full of news about the primaries.  Trump, as had been expected, trounced Marco Rubio in his home state of Florida and Rubio, also as expected, withdrew from the race.

Bernie Sanders is wondering about what next as Hillary Clinton handily beat him in Illinois, Ohio, North Carolina and, of course, Florida.  It is looking like she eked out a win in Missouri, beating Bernie by a mere 1500 votes the last time I looked.

Kasich took his home state of Ohio so he is still playing the Republican game of musical chairs.

53% of Americans would choose Trump to be the Republican nominee.  61% don’t like him.  Go figure.

Trump is preening in his victories, winning everywhere but Ohio.  He claims there will be riots if the Republican Party denies him the nomination.  Even in victory he summons images of violence.

While there will likely not be physical violence, there will be much name calling and shouting now that Obama has nominated Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court seat left vacant by Scalia’s death.  Republicans have vowed not to move on the matter until there is another President, keeping their fingers crossed a Republican will occupy the White House.

Congressional chaos…

In the streets of DC and its environs there was another piece of chaos on the streets.  After two electrical fires within the last year, the new head of the Metro ordered it shut down for twenty-four hours while they inspect it to ensure it is safe.

Having once lived in DC, I can only imagine what the day was like and be grateful I wasn’t there.  It’s how I usually get around DC.

Also, the Fed is being dovish about raising rates.  The dollar falls, gold rises as do the markets, modestly.

In Brussels, an Algerian, illegally in the country, was killed in a raid by police.  At least two others were detained; an Islamic flag was found with them.  Belgian police are promising more raids.

In Nigeria, two female suicide bombers killed twenty-four at a mosque.  A bomb placed on a bus in Pakistan killed fourteen.

Angelina Jolie has met with refugees in Lebanon and Greece in a bid to bring the spotlight on them.  Germany’s Merkel thinks only Turkey can stem the flow and has called for a Pan-European meeting to address the issue.

The Kurds in Syria are calling for a Federalization of Syria, creating more independence for them.  No else seems very much in favor of the solution, especially Assad, who sees it as the beginning of the break-up of  his country.

Putin has announced in the last couple of days that Russia has accomplished its mission in Syria and is beginning a withdrawal of a majority of its forces.  Indeed, half the Russian planes have departed but eyebrows are raised as to whether this is actually going to be the kind of withdrawal that Putin intimates.

“The Happiest Place on Earth” is Disney owned.  However, the happiest country on the planet is Denmark, which has held the top spot for three of the four years that the World Happiness Report has been issued. 

Next are Iceland, Norway, Finland, Canada, The Netherlands,  New Zealand, Australia and Sweden.

Poor Burundi is the unhappiest country.  Just above it on the list are Syria, Togo, Afghanistan, Benin, Rwanda, Guinea, Liberia, Tanzania and Madagascar.  Poor and riven with war or disease or both, they are at the bottom.

You’re wondering where the US is on this scale, aren’t you?  We’re number 13, actually a little higher than I thought we might be.

Russia is number 110 and China is 83rd and India is 118th.

If interested in Hollywood and the often salacious stories that come out that place,  a new book is due out, “James Dean: Tomorrow Never Comes,” by Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince, claiming that James Dean and Marlon Brando had an on/off sadomasochistic sexual relationship from their meeting to Dean’s death in a car accident in 1955.

Long dead but still capable of steaming up the book sales.

New York approaches.

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Posted in 2016 Election, Afghanistan, Elections, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Hillary Clinton, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Life, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Politics, Putin, Russia, Social Commentary, Syria, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Letter From New York 03 13 16 Quieter but not more peaceful…

March 13, 2016

It is grey and overcast outside; warmish but not so much as yesterday, a bright and beautiful day in the Hudson Valley.  Yesterday, with my friend, Pam, I went down to the Farmer’s Market, still held this time of year in the Parish Hall at Christ Church, purchasing a ganache for dessert, a freshly baked baguette and a few other things.

Since I have volunteered to lead the charge for Easter Brunch at church, I tarried while Sally Brodsky, the chief kitchen person at Christ Church, showed me how to operate the stove and ovens, which had befuddled me.

As I type this on Sunday morning, I am sitting in the living room with shards of sun slipping between the clouds.  Pamela is showering and Tory is catching a few more winks of sleep.  In a bit of time, I will be taking them down to the Hudson Train Station, sending them off to New York, where both have business this week.

They have been together for twenty-six years; Tory and I have known each other for thirty-one.

As everyone does these days, we talked politics as the fantastic scenario of this year plays out.

Trump rallies have grown violent, left wing protestors and Trump supporters clashed in Chicago.  Conservative reporter Michelle Fields has claimed that Trump’s campaign manager assaulted her when she tried to pose a question to the candidate.

Marco Rubio is making Tuesday’s Florida primaries a make or break it for him, as Kasich is doing in Ohio.  If they cannot carry their home states, what hope is there?

Just moments ago, former Speaker of the House, John Boehner, endorsed Kasich.

There seems to be an effort by many Republicans to rally around Ted Cruz in an effort to stop the Trump momentum, a thought only slightly less scary than having Trump as the Republican nominee.

Hillary Clinton made an appearance at Nancy Reagan’s funeral and absurdly praised the Reagans for their leadership in the AIDS crisis which unfolded during his administration.  Anyone who lived through that era, and I did, will remember that they were famously silent on AIDS. 

What was Hillary thinking?

While all eyes here are focused on the race for the presidential nomination for the Democratic and Republican parties, there are major elections happening today in Germany, a major test for Angela Merkel’s open door to refugees and migrants.

I don’t think of the Ivory Coast as a vacation spot but in that country, Grand-Bassam, is a popular destination for Ivorians and foreigners.  Gunmen roamed its beaches and killed many; the number still undetermined and for reasons still unknown.

Suspicion, of course, goes immediately to IS for this kind of attack.  At the same time, it has been revealed that IS is forcing females to use birth control so that pregnancy will not interfere with their use as sex slaves.  You can’t rape a woman if she’s pregnant, so birth control is being use to prevent pregnancy and allow for continued rape.

The world’s oldest man is a 112 year old survivor of Auschwitz, a former confectioner, living in Haifa, Israel.  It took awhile to confirm his status as so many records were scattered during the war.  But he has been now affirmed, a living monument of a terrible time.  The oldest living person is a 115 year old American woman, who was born in 1899.  What they have seen…

Not so long ago, the head of IS’s chemical attack force was captured.  It did not prevent them from launching a chemical attack in which 600 were wounded, a child died and thousands fled their homes.

I’m home now, after dropping Tory and Pam off at the train station for their trip into the city.  We had lunch at Vico, on Warren Street, where we all had a great burgers and wonderful fries.

In the time since I’ve left home, now about three hours, the Ivory Coast has confirmed 14 dead and there has been a suicide bombing in Ankara that has killed at least 27 and wounded 75. 

So the world beat goes on, while I am now seated on the deck, looking at the creek slowly passing by, a mallard having just taken flight to the north, bleating as it ascended into the sky.

When I came here, there were hundreds of mallards.  Most are gone now.  It is quieter but somehow less peaceful.

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Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Daesh, Elections, Entertainment, Gay, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Letter From Martha’s Vineyard 08 07 15 The day after the night before…

August 7, 2015

Sitting at the kitchen table at my friends’ home on Martha’s Vineyard, I have a stunning view of the harbor in Edgartown. The sky is a muted blue, I am facing Chappaquiddick, sailboats bob at anchor. I came in on the ferry from Woods Hole and Jeffrey picked me up in his motorboat, the “Mata Hari.”

It seemed fitting, as today is the anniversary of her birth, back in 1876. The French executed her as a German spy in October 1917.

The easiest way to get to Martha’s Vineyard from the cottage was for me to drive to Woods Hole and take the ferry from there, which I did. The drive was about 4.5 hours, longer than it needed to be because I made a few stops.

Listening to “The Roundtable,” a morning panel discussion of the news on Albany’s NPR station, WAMC, I heard an exegesis of last night’s Republican debate, dominated, as all supposed it would be, by The Donald. One of the panelists, when asked what he thought, stuttered for a moment and said, “It was good television.” Not necessarily a good debate, but good television.

Telling for what was to have been a serious policy conversation. My friend, Jan Hummel, wrote to me once that she did think Trump was saying what was on his mind and she wished all politicians would do that and stop their political correctness. Trump declared the Presidency of George W. Bush “a catastrophe.”

Apparently Ohio’s Kasich presented himself well. It was 50/50 on Jeb Bush. Good marks for Fox’s format and a fair amount of commenting on the amount that Roger Ailes, President of Fox News, involved himself but that’s not unusual for Ailes, who is more “hands on” than most Presidents.

The talk then turned to our state’s Senator, Chuck Schumer, who came out against the Iran Nuclear Deal. The panel felt it came down to the fact he is running for re-election and needs, politically, to be against it. Schumer, who is Jewish, is very close to Netanyahu and strong armed Democrats to go to the speech Netanyahu made to Congress. Most of the emails coming in during the broadcast castigated Schumer though some were supportive.

It is a problem for Obama [who arrives today on the Vineyard for his two week vacation]. It gives cover for other Democrats to say no to it.

Jon Stewart said good-bye last night and the reviews of the show were very good. As suspected, even if I had been able to watch, I wouldn’t have been awake for it. I dozed off about 9:30; book tumbled to my side and woke up at 4:30 with the light still on.

IS captured a town in Syria and, as they do, rounded up a number of citizens, including dozens of Christians, and herded them up a mountaintop. There is no word as to their fate.

A typhoon is bearing down on Taiwan, thousands are fleeing and two are dead already.

North Korea is creating its own time zone, moving the clock back half an hour. It doesn’t want to be in the same time zone as South Korea and Japan. It wants to break free from Imperialism. When the Japanese occupied Korea they brought the peninsula into coordination with their time zone. So there!

Some reports are saying that the piece of 777 debris washed up on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean is from MH 370. Some are saying that it probably is. The conflicting statements are causing anguish for the survivors of those onboard. Some feel there is a great cover-up occurring and that their relatives and friends may be alive somewhere but hidden.

What is not hidden from me is that Jeffrey has finished his shower and is now ready to get a drink in town. So I need to get myself ready to join him.

Good evenings, all!

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Letter From New York 07 21 15 Of cabbages and kings…

July 21, 2015

In the past eight hours, I think I have done at least eight loads in the dishwasher. Last night, my friends Alana and Patrick were here for dinner along with Jeremiah and Jim. In prepping the dinner and setting the table, I used many dishes and most of my pots and pans. The cleanup was formidable but worth it. The night was a success.

Since I am working from home, I granted myself extra sleep this morning and sat on the deck with my coffee and NY Times. The day has shifted from sun to clouds, with a spattering of rain about thirty minutes ago. We’ve been warned to watch for stray thunderstorms. I’m watching.

Before the sun was too high in the sky, I meandered through the neighborhood and spent most of the walk swatting bugs from around my eyes. But it was a peaceful, restful moment and I was glad for the time by myself. My phone was in my pocket but I was undisturbed.

Except for a few conference calls and emails, there wasn’t much on my agenda today.

I’m treasuring this week at the cottage, letting things flow through my mind, as they will, without the distraction of traffic and congestion and the noise of the big city. Today, I have not left the neighborhood.

It has been delicious.

When I went online to take a look at the news, it seemed all rather grim. Or maybe it is just the grey sky outside.

Though Donald Trump has managed to bring me a laugh or two today. He gave out, for who knows what reason, Lindsey Graham’s personal cell phone number whom then told him to stop being a “jackass.” No way that is going to happen. Let us watch the game play out! Bombastic and irrational, he is stirring up this race in interesting ways. Everyone wants him to go away but Donald is not going to go away, at least while he is leading in the polls.

Ohio Governor Kasich is joining the Republican herd seeking the Presidential nomination. He will be the 16th person seeking that party’s nomination. I don’t ever remember a time when the field was this crowded, on either side.

Stephen Hawking, who is, unbelievably, 73 years old, has launched a quest to find out if we are alone. Backed by US based Russian billionaire, Yuri Milner, a hundred million dollars has been committed to seeing if we can find intelligent life out there. Bravo!

Have you ever been to Ottawa? I was once, a thousand and two years ago. It’s the capital of Canada and is the place where 20% of the population is on Ashleymadison.com, a website devoted to people who want to have an affair, highest percentage of any city in the world. Ottawa! You Canadians go! I’m astounded but not totally surprised.

Prince George is turning two tomorrow. Cute pictures of him are everywhere on the web. We may have declared independence from Britain but we still love their royal family.

There are no more splatters of rain. The sun is setting. We have a pearl grey night shining upon us. I am happy. Hope you are too.

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