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A different kind of “Trump tower” — The Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. District Courthouse, home of the land of no presidential pardons — the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan.

The ultimate farewell Friday

March 24, 2019

On this past “farewell Friday” — a phrase that I believe was coined by NBC News chief White House correspondent Hallie Jackson to describe President Donald J. Trump’s revolving door policy toward staff — special prosecutor Robert Mueller took his leave of the Russia probe, submitting his report.

U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy addressing civil rights protestors outside the Justice Department on June 14, 1963. Courtesy the Library of Congress.

Betting on Beto

March 21, 2019

So Beto O’Rourke, the former Texas congressman who almost defeated Ted Cruz for his U.S. Senate seat, is running for the Democratic nomination for president and has everyone in a tizzy.

Is Beto — no one calls him O’Rourke — the great Democratic hope or is he just another jejune (that was the word one New York Times poster used to describe him) pipe dream?

Fans capture the moment when Justify captures the Preakness Stakes in the slop last year on his way to the Triple Crown. Courtesy Maryland Governor’s Office.

The Triple Crown theory of presidential politics

February 1, 2019

Who’s afraid of Howard Schultz? Everybody it seems. President Donald J. Trump was against the former Starbucks CEO-turned-possible presidential candidate, perhaps fearing he would corner part of the I’ve-done-the-business-thing-so-of-course-I’m-qualified-to-be-president market. Then someone must’ve reminded Trumpet that Schultz is a Democrat who would only rob the Dems of votes as a third party candidate, so Donnie Two Scoops has laid off.

For one brief shining moment: President John F. and Jacqueline B. Kennedy admiring the White House Christmas tree on Dec. 12, 1962. Photograph by Robert Knudsen. Courtesy the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

A not so Merry Christmas?

December 24, 2018

’Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was happy, not even a mouse. Where to begin to recount all the reasons for the winter of our discontent. Start with the stock market collapse. As of 2:52 p.m. EST on Christmas Eve, the Dow was down 653.17, or almost 3 percent., for the worst Christmas Eve plunge in its history. But that may turn out merely to be the tip of the Titanic-slaying iceberg. I know, frightening, isn’t it?

The modern Democratic Party donkey logo in fighting mode.

The Dems claw their way back

November 6, 2018

For a while there, it was looking like déjà vu all over again, with Democratic hopes raised only to be dashed. But by golly, if the Dems didn’t snatch victory from the jaws of defeat to come back late in the evening of a nail-biting election day to take back the House of Representatives.