This is America This morning, as I prepare to spend the day going into the airport zone, my suspended animation state I adopt when traveling, I am affronted by two things I see on the news. The first is the back and forth that took place yesterday in the Supreme Court over the issue of presidential immunity in the case of Donald Trump v. The United States of America. While I still have a good…
It’s Happening… I am sitting in Eastern Tennessee in the heart of what surely is red America. We are wrapping up our trip here to Tennessee and the Deep South with some Smoky Mountain touring. We will go up on an aerial tramway to a wild animal sanctuary in Gatlinsburg and then come back here to Pidgeon Forge to end our visit with the Dollywood Stampede, whatever that is. It’s been an unusual and fun…
Living Under the Iron Dome I’m killing time this morning on Central Park South, waiting to head out to Brooklyn and then LaGuardia for a flight to Nashville. That’s an unusual place to be for me so I am watching too much news of the world. That’s what gets me thinking about the Iron Dome. That, of course, is the name given to the missile and drone defense system installed by Israel (with lots of…
Rishi Sunak for King of the World I awoke this morning at what I’ve learned MSNC calls “Way too early”. Having flown back to NYC yesterday for a dinner (actually a grazing gathering) at the Pierre Hotel, my circadian rhythms are all messed up. I should have been able to stay up late on west coast time, but I was too tired. That meant that I had lots of time to sleep in this morning,…
Slip Slidin’ Away We’re into the first week of the Trump “Hush Money” trial in Manhattan as the jury selection process or “voir dire” is underway. As of yesterday, seven jurors including the foreman have been chosen. That leaves five more regular jurors and six alternates to go. I have predicted for some time that the criminal prosecution process was going to be the great unraveling of the Trump candidacy and perhaps the Trump existence…
An Uncivil War This afternoon, Kim and I will join brother-in-law Jeff and his wife Lisa at our local Angelika Theater for an opening weekend showing of Civil War, the Alex Garland movie about an all-too-close-to-home dystopian near future for America where certain factions revolt against the established U.S. government leadership. The perspective it takes seems very pertinent in that it follows the actions of a group of imbedded photojournalists who are tracking and reporting…
The Talented Mr. Trump Twenty-five years ago, a young Matt Damon, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow starred in a strangely interesting film called The Talented Mr. Ripley. The story was about an underachiever who has enough education and self-awareness to choose a course of action to improve his circumstances by committing dastardly deeds and assuming someone else’s personality and life. What makes the movie so eerie is that Tom Ripley seems like a polite and…
The World According to Rich I just had an exchange with my red, but supposedly anti-Trump friend Kevin. This is that text group that I have been engaged with for several years that used to be two Florida residents (read that was them being red in political orientation) and one too blue Californian (blue ex-New Yorker…same thing). We added another friend from Arizona, Steve, who is appropriately purple, less by political leaning and more by…
When Did We Get So Stupid? Today’s top New York Times story is about China and its efforts to bolster the Trump presidential campaign, joining Russia in its clear preference for the United States to choose the stupider path for the future of a MAGA resurgence. The Times suggests that there are two reasons for China’s support, first that China, like Russia, wants the U.S. to butt-out of global politics. Russia wants to inflict its…
My Politics I don’t make much of a secret about my political leanings. I keep telling myself that I need to tone it down, but everything going on in the political arena makes it increasingly difficult to do so. Last night I was watching a new series Kim and I are following called Loudermilk and the aggressively outspoken protagonist, who is a [published music critic and currently an addicted drug and alcohol counselor, tries to…