Category Archives: Uncategorized

Alert #27: The Kindness of Strangers

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After James Comey’s testimony the other week, some commentators noted the similarities between Trump’s treatment of Comey (luring him into one-on-one meetings, appealing to his loyalty, calling for complicity) and Comey’s reaction (embarrassment, shame, reluctance to call him out) and the way that sexual harassers and abusers treat their targets: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/08/opinion/james-comey-and-the-predator-in-chief.html http://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/news/a45863/james-comey-donald-trump-sexual-harassment-victim-blaming/ Which puts me… Continue Reading

Alert #26: A Virtual Museum of Ephemera from the Resistance

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Material evidence of the anti-Trump resistance has been flooding in. When there were just two pages, they went on the refrigerator with a magnet (part 1). As the volume increased, the stuff went into a file folder (part 2). Then it started spilling over into my little living space (parts 3-5). Now it’s all online.… Continue Reading

Alert #25: Vigil

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Okay. So I’m back. Yes. Sorry. False alarm. I didn’t go on a trip, as some of you thought, nor is writing these Alerts terribly time-consuming or difficult, as some of you sympathetically suggested. (The hardest part is keying in all of the addresses. There. Now I’ve revealed my technological backwardness.) And writing them serves… Continue Reading

Alert #24: La Belle France

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And here’s what they’ve been saying about Trump and related matters in France over the past week, again, selected, excerpted and translated by yours truly: Le Monde 25 February: Yoo-hoo, Washington–is anybody home? One month into the Trump presidency and confusion on foreign policy, Europeans have grasped one thing: the lights are off and nobody’s… Continue Reading

Alert #22: From March to Movement

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Nattering nabobs of negativism* The trash from the Women’s Marches had barely been swept away (which did not take long at all) when the nattering nabobs of negativism began their nay-saying: Self-styled Deep-Thinker-In-Chief and Head Mansplainer David Brooks chided demonstrators for engaging in identity politics: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/24/opinion/after-the-womens-march.html Did Brooks see the photo of Donald Trump surrounded… Continue Reading

Alert #21: Heroes, A Roundup

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As PVL (Popular-Vote-Loser) Trump said yesterday in his Judenrein comments on International Holocaust Remembrance Day (yes, folks, his comments about the Shoah made absolutely no mention of Jews or anti-Semitism. What’s next? Jim Crow without African-Americans?): “It is impossible to fully fathom the depravity and horror inflicted on innocent people  [during the Nazi genocide]… Yet,… Continue Reading

Alert #20: March 21 January 2017 NYC and the World

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I’ve had a soft spot for The New York Daily News ever since New York City declared bankruptcy back in 1975. (I was 10 years old and thought that the city would literally cease to exist. As in: Poof!) When the feds declined to bail out the city, The Daily News ran that famous headline:… Continue Reading

Alert #19: Let the Wild Rumpus Begin

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My impulse is to apologize for the lengthy period that has elapsed between the last Alert and this one, but… maybe it wasn’t missed! And this reminds me of a story: In the late 80s, a battered, out-of-tune grand piano appeared under the semi-permanent scaffolding at Columbus Circle. A bedraggled man, not only unschooled, but… Continue Reading

Alert #18: Confirmation hearings for Jefferson Sessions for Attorney-General

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This week begin the confirmation hearings for Popular-Vote-Loser Trump’s cabinet picks. First up is Jeff Sessions for attorney-general, starting Tuesday. (For those of you who are uncomfortable with the informal mode of address, note that his full first name is “Jefferson,” as in Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy. A coincidence? I have no… Continue Reading