A Dominion ImageCast precinct count optical ballot scanner. *Photograph by Douglas W. Jones.*

A voting system has 'Dominion' over Fox

April 14, 2023

Defamation — the slandering (spoken) or libeling (written) of another — is notoriously hard to prove in the United States, where you must demonstrate not only that the person lied about you but also knowingly or recklessly inflicted harm.

This is the famous malice clause, which became precedent in the 1964 case The New York Times Co. v. Sullivan. Legal experts have said that Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News Network — which was slated to go to trial Tuesday, April 18, in Delaware Superior Court after a one-day delay that may have involved settlement talks — would have had equally far-reaching implications, not only for the First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and of the press but for the continuing conspiracy theories surrounding the 2020 presidential election. But Dominion and Fox settled out of court for a staggering $787.5 million, with Fox acknowledging the “court's rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false.” Yeah, and who made those claims?

Giotto’s “Washing of the Feet” (1303, fresco), from his “Cycle of the Life of the Christ.” Scrovegni Chapel, Padua. *Photograph by José Luiz. In the* *public domain in the United States.*

In Holy Week, a day of reckoning for Trump

April 7, 2023

In the end, it was, as one observer said, like Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade — only without the talent. On one side of the police barricades in a small Manhattan park were the Trumpers; on the other side, the anti-Trumpers. In the middle was a whole lot of booing, shouting, whispering and whistling, the last courtesy of the Trump whistle guy.

Donald J. Trump, seen here in his 2017 presidential portrait by Shealah Craighead, has become the first American president to be indicted by a grand jury.

Interlude with the vampire -- the Trump indictment

March 30, 2023

I’ve just returned from one of the worst meals of my life. A bit of background: I meet virtually every week with two couples — one liberal, one conservative, with me as the swing vote — for dinner at a local restaurant. Indeed, we used to all eat at separate tables until a waitress put us together — an arrangement that has proved mostly harmonious. Mostly.

Tonight things got a bit acrimonious as the conversation turned to former President-turned-writer-and-editor Donald J. Trump. I was accused of hitting the subject hard by the conservative bloc. But I think that’s because I insisted on delivering a message that they and other conservatives and Republicans don’t want to hear: You’re screwed.

Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald J. Trump during the G20 in Osaka, Japan in 2019. *Shealah Craighead/White House.*

Bad hombres, tippy-toes edition

March 20, 2023

Well, we’re all walking on eggshells aren’t we, waiting for the Gucci pump to drop. No sooner was Russian President Vladimir Putin indicted as a war criminal in the International Court of Justice for forcibly bringing Ukrainian children to Russia — an utter disgrace — than new BFF, Chinese President Xi Jinping, showed up in Moscow offering his support and a joke of a peace plan to end the war in Ukraine that would keep Russian troops in place.

Meanwhile, erstwhile Putin BFF, former American President Donald J. Trump, is facing an indictment of his own in New York over his alleged coverup of hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, a misdemeanor that could be bumped up to a felony if it is tied to campaign finance. For Trump — a man for whom there is no such thing as bad publicity — this plays into the martyr aspect of a paradoxical personality in which everything he is and has is the best but yet, poor, poor, poor, poor him.

A 2009 Miami Open match between Juan Del Potro and Rafael Nadal. *Photograph by Alex Lee.*

Why do we project ourselves onto others?

March 13, 2023

There is no March Madness for Novak Djokovic.

The un-Covid vaccinated world No. 1 isn’t playing in the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, (otherwise known as the Indian Wells Masters) this week, and he won’t be playing in the Miami Open (March 19 through April 2), this despite appeals from notables like Billie Jean King that went all the way to the White House and from tournament directors, who, faced with the retirement of Roger Federer and Serena Williams and injury to Rafael Nadal, need all the superstars they can get.

With my books prior to Westfair Communications Inc.’s first literary luncheon, “History: Fiction and Nonfiction,” held Feb. 23 in White Plains, New York. *Photograph by Sarafina Pavlak/Westfair.*

Adventures in publishing, continued: Westfair’s first literary luncheon

February 27, 2023

There are few things in life more satisfying than living the life you see in your head. Such moments are rare, but when they happen, you have to savor them. Such was the case Thursday, Feb. 23, as Westfair Communications Inc. presented its first literary luncheon in White Plains, New York.

“History: Fiction and Nonfiction” was the theme of “Literary Westfair,” featuring Mary Calvi’s new “If a Poem Could Live and Breathe: A Novel of Teddy Roosevelt’s First Love” (St. Martin’s Press) – about his first wife, the former Alice Hathaway Lee – and John A. Lipman’s biography “Alfred B. DelBello: His Life and Times” (Atmosphere Press). As Westfair’s chief cultural writer and luxury editor, I had a lot of skin in this game, serving as moderator and one of the authors who would be reading.

I’ll be reading from my new historical thriller (JMS Books) at Westfair Communications Inc.’s first literary luncheon, Feb. 23 in White Plains, New York, and March 25 at the Greenburgh Public Library in Greenburgh, New York.

More adventures in publishing -- upcoming appearances and awards

February 21, 2023

I pause here from my usual ruminating — and venting — to mention several upcoming appearances involving my new historical thriller “Riddle Me This” (JMS Books), part of “The Games Men Play” series, as well as my day job.