politics

The Not-So-Great Gaetzby

The Not-So-Great Gaetzby

F. Scott Fitzgerald has always been one of my favorite authors and The Great Gatsby a favorite book. It may have been the first Fitzgerald I read (though possibly that was The Diamond Big as the Ritz). Either way, I fell in love with Fitzgerald for his poetic style. The sheer beauty of his choice […]

Nature Conspiracy

Nature Conspiracy

  Because I’m a glass-is-half-full kind of girl, I try to find some sort of positive take-away in every situation. One thing I learned from disgraced former president Richard M. Nixon, America’s 37th: it can be handy to have an enemies list. Of course his got him into trouble. So taking several lessons from history, I will […]

Presidents by State

Presidents by State

Could the fact that he was born in Queens be a kingmaker for Donald Trump? Or that Hillary lives in Chappaqua boost her chances to reign over the U.S.? While more U.S. presidents have been born in Virginia, at eight (which includes the unelected John Taylor, a veep who served out Millard Fillmore’s term), when […]

The Outlaw Hillary Clinton

The Outlaw Hillary Clinton

I’ve made my peace with Hillary Clinton. Initially, I was outraged over the use of a private email server to conduct government business. But my opinion of her improved in inverse proportion to the revulsion that resulted from continued exposure to Donald Trump. Compared to him, she started looking good, then great, and ultimately heroic. As […]

Smith Would Have Voted for Sanders

Smith Would Have Voted for Sanders

He visited Voltaire in Geneva, hung out with Ben Franklin in London, was best buds with fabled Scottish philosopher David Hume and wrote the book known as “the bible of capitalism,” “The Wealth of Nations.” Sounds pretty fancy! But anyone who’s read the feel-good manifesto of the free market knows that Adam Smith was no elitist; nor […]

Giuliani: Muslims Ready for Their Coppola Close-Up

Giuliani: Muslims Ready for Their Coppola Close-Up

Speaking on “Morning Joe,” former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani made a case for Muslims being in a situation not unlike that in which Italian Americans found themselves in the heyday of the mafia. Giuliani vociferously defended “the majority of Muslims” as outstanding citizens, but stuck to his premise that they are a community where the […]