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Scales of justice: In “The Egyptian Book of the Dead” (1275 B.C., papyrus), the heart of the deceased is weighed against the feather of truth. Woe to any heart that does not balance with the feather. *Courtesy British Museum.*

Not 12 but one angry man -- Trump and the hush-money trial jury

April 23, 2024

In the civil fraud case brought by the state of New York — as opposed to the criminal fraud case that began Monday, April 22, in Lower Manhattan — former President Donald J. Trump complained that he was denied a trial by jury, even though his lawyers failed to ask for a jury trial.

Now Trump has his jury — seven men and five women of various races, ethnicities and professional backgrounds — and he, of course, is still not happy. It’s understandable. He’s forced to sit quietly — well perhaps not so quietly outside the courtroom and on Truth Social — listening to people say unpleasant things about him when he could be out on the campaign trail saying unpleasant things about others. (It’s the saying of unpleasant things in violation of his latest gag order that could net Trump fines or worse.) Life is not fair, he thinks. But then, how fare is it to jurors and the hush-money trial jurors in particular?

Mug shot from O.J. Simpson’s arrest for the murder of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Time magazine would be criticized for darkening the photograph when it ran on the cover, underscoring a trial that proved to be less about domestic violence and more about race in the United States.

O.J.Simpson's 'Appointment in Samarra'

April 11, 2024

When I think of O.J. Simpson, who died Wednesday, April 10 of prostate cancer at age 76 in Las Vegas, I think of the short story '“Appointment in Samarra,” often retold in novels. The protagonist encounters the figure of Death, and to elude the dreaded specter, runs off to Samarra, only to find Death waiting there at the place where they were destined to meet. You cannot escape fate — or the consequences of your actions, no matter what else you do in life. Such is the Hindu and Buddhist principle of karma.

Lou Gehrig during his rookie season with the New York Yankees, 1923. A private man, he would face a health crisis that would be the subject of much speculation and misinformation. *Photograph by Pacific & Atlantic Photos Inc.*

Catherine, Princess of Wales' Lou Gehrig moment

March 25, 2024

Catherine, Princess of Wales’ video announcement of her cancer has brought me to another famous and famously private figure diagnosed in his case with an incurable illness also in the prime of life. New York Yankees’ first baseman Lou Gehrig was 36 when he was diagnosed in 1939 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the disease that would bear his name. Then as now there were speculations and misinformation, and a private person had to make his pain public. Now as then we are confronted with what it means to be “lucky,” as Gehrig described himself.

Catherine, Princess of Wales, at the May 5, 2023 Realms Lunch Coronation Event. *Photograph by Ian Smith.*

Catherine, Princess of Wales, that photo and the limits of privacy

March 13, 2024

The year is still young but already the Mother’s Day photograph of Catherine, Princess of Wales and her three children — Princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte — taken by her husband, Prince William, has become one of the photographs of the year.

The photo caused a sensation for being killed by the Associated Press (AP), Getty Images and Reuters, which regularly supply photographs to news organizations around the world, because it was doctored. Catherine apologized for the clumsy Photoshopping, but that was just the beginning of the firestorm in the media about how the PR debacle came to be.

Andy Murray surving at the 2015 Australian Open. *Photograph by Brendan Dennis.*

Mitch McConnell, Andy Murray and the art of letting go

March 2, 2024

News that tennis star Andy Murray plans to retire this summer after the Paris Olympics and that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to become a backbencher has brought me back to a very bad summer day two years ago and thoughts of what it really means to let go of a a career — and your ego.

Alexei Navalny, who died in a Siberian prison Feb. `16, seen here in 2011. *Photograph by* *Mitya Aleshkovsky*.

Trump, Assange and the Navalny complex

February 24, 2024

Donald J. Trump is Alexei Navalny, haven’t you heard? And so is Julian Assange.

Indeed, just about anyone with an ax to grind who feels put upon is Navalny, the Russina opposition leader who died mysteriously in Siberia on Feb. 16 just as the Munich Security Conference, which wife Yulia Navalnaya attended, was underway and Russia was making headway in its war on Ukraine, thanks to the Republicans in the House of Representatives.

From left, A 73-year-old President Ronald Reagan meets with Sen. William Cohen and a 42-year-old Sen. Joe Biden in the Oval Office in 1984. Though Americans discussed Reagan’s age and mental agility at the time, the discussion of age and politics did not have the desperation it has now. There was also a bipartisanship that doesn’t exist now. *Courtesy the White House Photographic Collection.*

The not-so-'golden' age of American politics

February 15, 2024

Recently, I was talking with two of my writers about an older person in the workforce. When asked how old this person was, I said, “88,” and the two, a married couple, let out shrieks of horror.

“Isn’t there a rocking chair and a porch somewhere?” the husband asked. Just so. These are not the best of times for older people in the workplace, particularly when that workplace is American politics. Many Americans polled are worried about an 81-year-old President Joe Biden squaring off yet again against a 77-year-old former President Donald F. Trump.

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