ON MATTERS OF DUBIOUS INTEREST
It’s easy to get tired of writing about Trump. I used to write a lot about jazz but got taken over by a fascination with political disasters and outrage. I’m too old and divorced from the jazz scene now, but here are some great jazz photos you may not have seen. They show the vibrancy of a music that once reflected the art and soul of America. Continue reading “Remembering Jazz”
What follows is a meditation on getting old attributed to Clint Eastwood but in fact seems to be written by its poster, Ed Davidson. The piece has gotten a ton of downloads because it’s so true.
Of course there’s a good deal more to getting old, as this 92-year-old can testify. For me, the physical decline dominates though your brain does weird, squiggly, surprising things too. I’ll talk about that later. Continue reading “Aging is not gentle.”
Of all Trump’s depraved doings, this one has really captured the public’s attention and ire. It’s a personal slap in the face to JFK and his memory, to the arts, to Washington. It has gotten national attention and has truly galvanized the District.
I lived and worked in DC for about eight years. It was an extraordinary town then, with plenty of problems, yes, and Trump is now doing all he can to destroy it. Continue reading “Chaos at the Kennedy Center”
Trumpworld Begins will not please everybody since it’s my contentious perspective on the madness in Trump’s first term. Anyhow, here are some reactions from a friend. Now, please make your move and buy a copy here (US) or here (Mexico). Thank you. Continue reading “One Reader’s Reaction”
My friend John Velie lives in Minneapolis and part-time in Oaxaca. He tells us graphically how ICE has lately changed its tactics but not its strategy. Continue reading “The Minneapolis Story Continues”
To no one’s great surprise, Kim Jong Un recently denounced U.S. actions in Iran, calling them acts of state-sponsored terrorism and aggression.
Eight years earlier at their first meeting, it was all happy hokum, or so Trump thought. He actually believed Kim was ready to give up his nukes. My observations on this are now published in Trumpworld Begins, which I hope you will buy here (US) or here (Mexico). Continue reading “The Worm Turns”
Don: You know they’re giving us a lot of crap about our “relationship.”
Natalie: The media has no respect for what you do or who you are. I just want to do whatever I can to help you do your job, Binkie. You’re like a father to me. My real one killed himself. Continue reading “Natalie and Don Talk It Over”
I haven’t heard much from Ann Coulter lately, but then I don’t subscribe to X, where she hangs out. She did say back in 2024, “The best thing Trump could do for America is die.” I gave her a short chapter in Trumpworld Begins back in 2017. It’s worth reposting here as a way to introduce you to the book—which I want you to buy here or, in Mexico, here. And it helps you remember how one of the great universities caved on freedom of speech. Continue reading “A True Conservative Nut Case”
Each day we hear about another mind-blowing Trumpian disaster. They are now beyond shocking. Trumpworld Begins traces their beginnings in his first term. You’ll learn how it was all predicated and primed in the years 2016-2018—if only we’d been smart enough to read the signs. Continue reading “What We Learned about Trump and Forgot”
I’ve been reading the New York Times daily since I lived in New York in the late 1960s. It was a very different paper (a “paper,” that is) then. Now, despite a few very pertinent newsworthy stories, they are giving us a bunch of lightweight flaky stuff on their web’s front page. You must go below the fold (the double line) to get the real news and opinions. Why is this happening? Continue reading “The No-News NYT”
Here’s all you need to know about Trump’s Correspondents’ Dinner:
President Donald Trump attacked a slew of journalists and some of his favorite political foils at a slimmed-down redo of the White House correspondents’ dinner on Friday, comparing one female reporter to a transgender social media star, mocking politicians’ physical appearances, and bringing his audience to mostly stunned silence for more than an hour before pulling out a red Trump 2028 cap and declaring he was running for another term. Continue reading “Another Day, Another Dinner”