On November 25, 2016, the New York Times Editorial Board issued a blistering editorial entitled “Donald Trump and the Lawsuit Presidency.” With sabers raised, amid thundering hooves, the editorial proclaimed: Donald Trump will take office as president facing a tsunami of litigation over his business practices and personal behavior. He may have settled the fraud suits involving Trump University, but…
There’s a great exhibit on at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC: Max Beckmann in New York It highlights Max Beckmann (1884–1950) connections with New York City and includes works from his time living in New York as well as works from 1920-1948 that are in New York collections. One of the first works in the exhibit is a self-portrait…
This 1809 cartoon by the political caricaturist James Gillray is in the National Portrait Gallery. London. It is entitled Pandora Opening her Box. It depicts spokesperson Kellyanne Conway letting loose all the evils of the world as proposed by the Trump administration. The story behind the woman in the cartoon – Mary Ann Clarke – is fascinating.
On #VeteransDay #ArmisticeDay #RemembranceDay it is wise to reflect on what we fought and defeated in WW2. Trumpism is what we defeated then and must now defeat again.
As Donald Trump spirals deeper into madness and depravity the toll on the collective psyche just grows. Fortunately help is at hand in the form of the example of Hillary Clinton who recently demonstrated her tremendous problem-solving and self-calming abilities. We all know that cats saved the internet. Now it seems they are saving people from the stress of this…
And then of course there’s #FeelTheKerm Kermit and Joey Say the Alphabet
Earlier today, a friend posted on Facebook an article by Charlie Pierce, “This Thing Is Nowhere Near Over,” which sent me down a trail of my own thoughts about where this election is headed, and needs to head, right now. Here, first, are a couple of thoughts about the Pierce article itself. The subheading for the article is “Trump has…
It’s the first day of Fall and here’s the perfect dish – pappa al pomodoro. And it’s simple to make. Tomatoes are still abundant, tasty and fresh and the frost has not bitten the basil yet. While you are at it – make a couple of extra pints to freeze for the dark days ahead. You’ll be glad you did one…
You’ve heard of projectile vomiting. It’s when vomit exits the mouth with such force that it is propelled over a short but significant distance. It’s not a pleasant topic but then neither are presidential politics right now. I’m certainly not the only one to see that one of our major party candidates has a compulsive habit of projecting onto others the crimes and…
As I know a number of us are, I’m concerned not only by the lack of media coverage of the Newsweek story, “How the Trump Organization’s Foreign Business Ties Could Upend U.S. National Security,” but also by how little interest I’m seeing about it in my feed and among some friends. A link to the story is here. Generally, I…
Every election cycle has its themes and a language all its own. Words and phrases rise up to capture the attention of the moment. Here are a few from this season. Doubling Down This comes from the world of gambling and is apparently what Trump does after saying something outrageous and being called out for it. The first outrage, insult…
In celebration of Labor Day: It’s Steel Workers 1939 by Philo B Ruggles and his brother John Ruggles, a study for an unrealized mural for the Post Office in Bridgeport, Ohio. It’s part of the current exhibit Celebrating Heroes: American Mural Studies of the 1930s and 1940s from the Steven and Susan Hirsch Collection at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar…
Sometimes things just get too delicious. Here’s how #TacoTrucksOnEveryCorner met #HillaryHastheHotSauce First there was the incomparable Joy Reid interviewing a hapless Trump surrogate. Then along came Twitter with the hashtag: #TacoTrucksOnEveryCorner Twitter was alight with gleeful responses. Here was my contribution. A reminder of the GOP outrage when Hillary mentioned that she travelled with a bottle of hot sauce. Pandering they…
My title line is from Kevin Kelly whose new book The Inevitable is about the deep trends in the next 20 years that will shape our lives. And a little reflection helps us understand that truth. The future happens very slowly and then all at once. First it seems outlandish, strange, unusual and possibly impossible. Then it looms over us and then…
Ok – so you wanted to be a head of school and you applied for a job and then you got it. Congratulations. Among all the things that you now have to make a priority is becoming the expert on the history of your school. This will take time. Schools are not alike and independent schools often take pride in…