May 2016 / In a little noticed New York Times article, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir was reported as telling President Barack Obama that Saudi Arabia will sell hundreds of billions of dollars of US assets if Congress approves legislation that puts the Saudi government squarely in the crosshairs of lawsuits which hold the Saudi government responsible for the 9/11 attacks. This means that...
Trumped on the Way to the Castle
April 2016 / Anatole France in his novel PENGUIN ISLAND made the point that people have an almost uncontrollable instinct to get behind anyone who is perceived as more powerful, more robust at life than they think themselves to be. They do this, they tell themselves, for self-survival, but all too often they become victims of the leaders they surrender themselves to. Richard Nixon understood this...
Powerball Politics
February 2016 / A little commented-upon fact of the recent Powerball lottery was that the winning tickets were sold in the sunbelt states of California, Florida and Tennessee. As New Yorkers we like to believe that our town is the center of the universe but demographic shifts are signaling otherwise. The sunbelt states not only won the lottery largess but continue to win transplants from our...
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