Posts Tagged ‘Syria’
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.
Tags:Amtrak, Angelina Jolie, Bernie Sanders, Brando/Dean S&M Sex relationship, Brussels, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Hudson, IS, James Dean, Kasich, Marlon Brando, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Merkel, Merrick Garland, Nigerian Mosque Bombing, Obama, Pakistan Bus Bombing, Putin, Syria, World Happiness Report
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 »
March 4, 2016
Chet Baker’s “Jazz in Paris” plays while I am typing, courtesy of Amazon Prime, the service I am learning it is hard to live without. It pays for itself with free shipping around Christmas not to mention being able to find things there I can’t find easily in stores. I mean it seems like everything is there. They have just released a new device, Amazon Tap, that works with their Echo. Have to learn more about that…
When I woke this morning, it was chill but bright and light speckled on the creek as I looked out the window waiting for my electric kettle to boil the water for my tea.
It was an easy day. I spent the morning in the annual great American adventure, preparing information for my taxes for the accountant who does both my business and my personal returns. Finishing that, I went to Hudson and had lunch with my friend Dena Moran, who has moved her shop, Olde Hudson, into larger digs. Afterwards, I had my oil changed and then came home and gathered the piles of receipts and prepared for them to be stored away.
While we were at lunch, Dena and I both checked out what Mitt Romney said about Donald Trump. While I was doing taxes, Mitt was skewering The Donald, calling him a “phony,” “a fraud” and many other things. Good for Mitt… It’s the most I have respected him in years.
Trump responded in The Donald’s way. He looked back on 2012 when he said Mitt would have dropped to his knees to have The Donald’s endorsement. That’s not a pretty picture… According to The Donald, Mitt’s a failed candidate and the only person who “chokes” more than Mitt is Marco Rubio.
Does anyone get tired of this?
Shockingly, among Muslims who vote Republican, he’s the most popular candidate. What? Not something I understand but it’s real. It seems they think once elected, he’ll become pragmatic and work on economic issues, which is their greatest concern, and forgot all the anti-Muslim rhetoric. There is a part of me that suspects they are delusional, rather like Jews who couldn’t really believe Hitler was serious.
Caitlyn Jenner is supporting Ted Cruz, which seems as crazy to me as Muslims supporting The Donald.
In other happy news, Kim Jong Un of North Korea has ordered his military to be ready to use nuclear weapons at any time. Perhaps preemptively, as the UN voted in the most severe sanctions in twenty years against his country. The pudgy young man is determined, desperately determined, the world give him respect. I suspect bad parenting.
In Syria, the fragile truce has given some respite to the desperate inhabitants of that poor country. Thinking about them helped me realize how grateful I am to be here, poised above the Claverack Creek where sun speckles in the morning on the water, where I can listen to jazz and think about the issues of the world while not dodging mortar fire or bombs from above.
Tags:Caitlyn Jenner, Chet Baker, Claverack, Claverack Creek, Donald Trump, Hudson, jazz in Paris, Kim Jong - Un, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Mitt Romney, New York, Olde Hudson, Syria
Posted in 2016 Election, Airstrikes, Claverack, Columbia County, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Syria, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
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 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 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 11, 2016
Amtrak Hudson River Gary and Angel Koven The Knot Bernie Sanders Donald Trump Hillary Clinton Einstein Theory of Relativity Oregon Standoff Ammon Bundy NATO Syria Russia Secretary Kerry Lavrov Saudi Arabia
As I start this, I am riding south on Amtrak, heading into the city to see my primary care physician, who is in the city, to bring him up to date on my medical adventures.
The Hudson is a steely grey, occasionally looking like burnished silver when the sun breaks through the heavy cloud cover. My friend, James Linkin, is sitting beside me, happy to see me up and walking.
The river is choppy, not surprising as the wind is up and biting, making it feel much colder than the temperature. I am tired as I often am these days though grateful to be up and out of bed and on the move.
My world feels altered in some way by my sojourn in the hospital. My friends often describe me as thoughtful and I am more so right now. The last few days, I have lived in quiet, without my usual jazz playing in the background. I’ve started to turn it on and then decided against it, preferring silence as my solace.
Tonight, I will have dinner with my friends Gary and Angel. They have been married now for four + years and I was at their wedding. Today their love for each other is as incandescent as it was the day they married. I recommended them for a shoot for the 20th anniversary of The Knot, a website devoted to marriage. One of the crew told me they were his favorite couple.
While I have been recovering, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump won their respective races in New Hampshire. Headlines wonder whether Hillary’s campaign is about to implode and I wonder about the future of the country. The Trump juggernaut continues and that scares the hell out of me.
I’m sure I’m not the only one. The Daily News had scathing headlines about his victory saying zombies had come out to vote. One wonders…
Scientists are wondering less since they have found gravitational waves which fit into Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. Great scientific excitement and my friend, James, was particularly excited. He’s a fan of the physicist and shares his birthday with Einstein.
The Oregon Standoff is over. Bundy, Sr. has been arrested, following son Ammon to jail. And other standoff chapter is finished and this time, thankfully, without mass deaths.
NATO is sending warships into the Aegean to see if it can stem the flow of refugees, many being transported by human traffickers. The seas are rough, dozens are dying and the fighting rages back in Syria.
Saudi Arabia is said to have made a “final” decision to send troops to Syria. That is not going to uncomplicate things.
And while they might be sending troops, they’re not taking in their brethren, rather letting them suffer their fate on water than let them into their own lands.
Russia’s Foreign Minister, Lavrov, says this will result in an terminable, never ending war with the possibility of a new world war at the end of the game. Loverly.
The Saudis might make their move in concert with the Turks, who have been engaged in verbal hostilities with Russia ever since they downed a Russian jet before the New Year.
Secretary Kerry is desperately trying to get the Peace Talks going but it seems hard to get the sides into the same building not to mention the same room. Well, actually, they have no intention of being in the same room. If there is any dialogue, it will be through messengers shuttling between rooms. Could cost a lot of shoe leather but if there is progress, it would be worth it.
The Mideast already seems mired in that “interminable war.” 470,000 have died in Syria since the outbreak of protests against Assad five years ago. Millions of Syrians are in camps and desperate to get out to a better life, somewhere.
The day has faded. I am sitting in a deli in the city, sipping a cup of black coffee [I’m not allowed cream yet], looking out into the night that has fallen, the bright lights of cars heading down 7th Avenue, people scurrying from the cold.
All peaceful here. But for how long?
Tags:Ammon Bundy, Amtrak, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, Einstein, Gary and Angel Koven, Hillary Clinton, Hudson River, Kerry, Lavrov, NATO, Oregon Standoff, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, The Knot, Theory of Relativity
Posted in 2016 Election, Airstrikes, Claverack, Columbia County, Entertainment, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Mideast, Political Commentary, Politics, Putin, Russia, Social Commentary, Syria, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
December 26, 2015
Boxing Day. Shepherdstown, WV, Olde Hudson Cheese. Dena Moran. Sarah Malone. Kevin Malone. Michelle Melton. Jim Malone. Syria. Mosque fire in Texas. Corsican fire. Australian fires. NY Times Virtual Reality. World Food Program. Hope, AK. Bill Clinton. Hillary Clinton.
Outside it is as grey, as it has been for the last few days. It is warm, too, near 50 degrees in Shepherdstown, WV. It will be grey all day with rain probable in the evening.
It is the 26th of December, Boxing Day in those countries once affiliated with the British Empire. Boxing Day derived its name from two traditions. One is that for servants it was the day they had off to celebrate Christmas after devoting the actual day to waiting on their “betters.” The other reason was that on the 26th of December, children would roam the streets of England collecting alms for the poor in boxes.
Often in the past I’ve had a “Boxing Day” party. When Dena Moran, proprietor of Olde Hudson Cheese in Hudson heard I was gone between Christmas and New Year’s, she frowned and said, “What, no Boxing Day party?”
But I am gone, sitting at the dining room table of my friends’ home in Shepherdstown, sipping coffee the morning after a lovely Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
My oldest friend, Sarah McCormick Malone, her husband Jim, their son Kevin and his wife Michelle, and I gathered around the dining table and have feasted. We have sipped wine and consumed appetizers and desserts and wonderful mains, crab cakes and duck.
We spent two hours opening presents around a small tree we purchased on Christmas Eve to ensure that there was Christmas spirit in the house.
Now, on Boxing Day morning we are all gathered in the kitchen, preparing for French toast and more feasting and a concert tonight.
While I’ve been coddled in the warmth of my friends and the coziness of this home, the world has been relatively quiet as I looked at the news this morning.
In Corsica and in Texas, mosques were burned on Christmas Day as antipathy against Islam grows in the West. In Hope, AK the childhood home of Bill Clinton burned in a case of suspected arson. Was he the target of the anger or his spouse, Hillary, who is leading the Democratic field for the Presidential nomination?
Disastrous fires burned over a hundred homes outside of Melbourne, Australia while tornadoes and flooding ravaged northern Alabama.
While we feasted, celebrated, opened presents, and enjoyed the coziness of this house, the war waged on in Syria with a rebel leader killed on Saturday. He was anti-Assad and his death will have ramifications in the confusing cauldron of that country.
As we were prepping our Christmas duck last night, Kevin shared a VR NY Times video about refugees, taking us as visually close as we could to the lives of three young refugees, one from Ukraine, one from Syria and one from South Sudan, two boys and one girl. It was stunning and affecting and each of us experienced it felt closer to their experiences than we would have simply by reading articles.
The Ukrainian boy fled with his family as rebels advanced. When they returned, his grandfather’s body had been in the garden all winter, the school destroyed and most homes damaged. The Syrian girl lives in a refugee camp and gets up at 4 AM to work in the fields. In Syria they had toys, now they only have each other. The Sudanese boy fled with his grandmother into the swamps. His father was killed, his mother has disappeared. They fend as best they can.
VR Video made this painfully real.
When I begin teaching in January and someone asks me what to look at in media, I would suggest looking at Virtual Reality as a career opportunity. It is changing our media experiences.
We spent time after opening presents to discuss what charity we might want to support this year. High of the list was World Food Program which supports the feeding of refugees. I tended toward that organization after seeing the plight of the three children.
We have more refugees since any time since the end of World War II.
It is a great deal to think about as I wander through another day, in a warm house, surrounded by warm friends, knowing that my friends and family are safe but from all but the most normal of hazards, living without, for the most part, any fear of suicide bombers, starvation and having to live with idea of fleeing at a moment’s notice from their homes and towns.
Not like so much of the rest of the world.
Tags:Alabama tornadoes and flooding, Australian fires, Bill Clinton, Boxing Day, Dena Moran, Hillary Clinton, Hope AK, Jim Malone, Kevin Malone, Michelle Melton, Mosque fire in Texas, Olde Hudson Cheese, Sarah Malone, Shepherdstown, Syria
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November 25, 2015
It is 5:12 on Thanksgiving Eve and it is dark out, pitch black. The sun has receded and gone to sleep for the night. As often is the case, jazz is playing and I am writing what probably will be a fairly quick Letter.
In the kitchen, I am preparing pumpkin soup for tomorrow, a quick and easy Jacques Pepin recipe I found some time ago and dearly love — as do the people to whose house I am going tomorrow for the Thanksgiving feast.
When I finish that, I am going on to do the creamed pearl onions with peas.
Tomorrow, I will do the cranberries once I have decided on a recipe. Then, around one, will pack it into the car and head up to Larry and Alicia’s where I’ll be, staying at their place for the night so I don’t have to drive back after all the feasting and fun.
Lionel will be there and has been asked to bring along his sheet music so he can bash out some tunes for us after dinner.
So, for me, this has been a day of prepping, which I find fun. Had a haircut, for which I was overdue.
Even without the fire, it is cozy in the cottage. In about half an hour I am going to head over to Lionel’s house where he is cooking us dinner.
Cooking onions now…
While I am involved in the pleasantries of prepping for The Great American Holiday, which I love almost as much as Christmas, I know the world is not having the fun I’m having.
There is the knotty problem of IS, and Syria, Turkey, Russia, France, the US, Iran, UK, are all working to figure out how to deal with them against the backdrop of Turkey having just shot down a Russian warplane. Russia is deploying anti-aircraft missiles to Syria. Kick it up another notch…
Paris is still recovering. Tunisia has been hit with a suicide bomber.
Video of a young black man being shot by a white policeman in Chicago has stirred protests and residents are being warned of possible gang violence in the wake of its release. The police officer has been charged with First Degree Murder.
The video is online but I don’t have the stomach to watch it on Thanksgiving Eve, while cooking and prepping.
And the magic moment has arrived when I must close this missive and head over to Lionel’s.
To everyone who reads this and to everyone who doesn’t, I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! May you enjoy your day and the people with whom you spend it.
Tags:Chicago Police Shooting, Claverack, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Russian Plane Downing, Syria, Thanksgiving, Tunisia suicide bombing
Posted in Airstrikes, European Refugee Crisis, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
November 24, 2015
Howard Bloom. New York City. Thanksgiving. Metrojet. Claverack. Howard Bloom Saves The Universe. Anne Frank. Jason Rezaian. Nancy Wiard. Penn Station. Chad Dougatz. Metrojet.
It is mid-afternoon and I am beginning this as I am closing in on New York City, on the train. I’m down this afternoon for Howard Bloom’s Podcast [Howard Bloom Saves the Universe, look it up on iTunes or howardbloom.libsyn.com/.
I have a breakfast in the morning and then I am scurrying back north for the long weekend. Trains were getting hard to get yesterday – every other one seems to be sold out.
Depending on when I get finished with breakfast, I may take an earlier train. I’m eager to be back at the cottage, priming for Thanksgiving. I have a few side dishes to make for the feast I am attending.
It’s cold today and it is going down to a mere 14 degrees tonight in Claverack. Yikes! I am wearing my winter jacket and have pulled out my favorite scarf.
But my hardships are minimal. I could be a refugee somewhere in Europe as the cold settles in on the Continent while, at the same time, finding themselves feared by the countries to which they have been fleeing.
Earlier today, in a Facebook posting, I saw that Anne Frank had applied to come to America but was denied. We weren’t very open to Jews before the war. If that visa had been granted we may have been denied her diary but she’d be 77 if she had lived.
That fact saddened me.
People are wrestling with what to do about refugees. Some of most liberal friends are now feeling fearful of accepting them. I have been seeing the postings on Facebook. There is great support for and there is great fear of refugees, both views understandable in the light of current events.
Jason Rezaian, a journalist for the Washington Post and who headed their Tehran bureau is headed for prison for an unspecified period of time. Holding both Iranian and US citizenship, he seemed a natural for the posting. The Iranians have convicted him of espionage.
He has languished in prison since July 2014.
Now, I am sitting just outside the studio while Howard is doing his podcast, discussing with Chad Dougatz, the host, the roots of Islamic terrorism.
Terrorism, the bane of our time… Just moments ago, my phone buzzed with a notice that the US has issued a global travel alert due to increased threats of terrorism.
My friend, Nancy Wiard, is traveling to the European Christmas markets. She sent me a message today from Amsterdam, which is close to Belgium whose major city, Brussels, home for the European Union, is under lockdown.
Multiple operations are underway in Brussels as I type.
It is believed that the bomb that took down the Russian Metrojet was placed under the seat of a fifteen year old girl, seat 31A.
I didn’t get to finish last night. Today is a beautiful, slightly chill, afternoon on the train heading north. I’m seated on the river side of the car and I’m watching the Hudson slide by as I move north.
As I headed toward the train this morning, Penn, not unexpectedly was overflowing with people heading out for Thanksgiving. It, too, had more than its usual contingent of police and soldiers. In the fourteen plus years since 9/11, I have yet to accept their presence as the new normal.
But, it is, and during Thanksgiving the city is on a higher alert level. More police, more soldiers, more…
Yes, the world is a grim place. The Turks have shot down a Russian warplane which kept, according to them, violating its airspace. Let’s just ratchet up the tensions, why don’t we…
However, I also read an article in the NY Times this morning about the positive health affects of being grateful, so I am attempting to settle myself into my “attitude of gratitude” mode. It will be a healthier place for me.
It is two days from Thanksgiving and tomorrow I will be prepping my contributions to our annual feast of gratitude and I will do my best to remember all the many things for which I am grateful.
Tags:Anne Frank, Attitude of Gratitude, Howard Bloom, Howard Bloom Saves the Universe, IS, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Syria, Thanksgiving
Posted in 9/11, Airstrikes, Columbia County, European Refugee Crisis, Iran, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Mideast, Paris Attacks, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Letter from the Vineyard 
Letter From New York 03 16 2016 Riding into New York…
March 16, 2016The 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.
Tags:Amtrak, Angelina Jolie, Bernie Sanders, Brando/Dean S&M Sex relationship, Brussels, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Hudson, IS, James Dean, Kasich, Marlon Brando, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Merkel, Merrick Garland, Nigerian Mosque Bombing, Obama, Pakistan Bus Bombing, Putin, Syria, World Happiness Report
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 »