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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?

By George: A British World War I recruitment poster invokes St. George, England’s patron saint. England could use him right about now.

Britain's long goodbye

March 20, 2019

Like the student or reporter who simply cannot meet a deadline, the United Kingdom will today ask the European Union for a short (three-month) extension to the March 29 deadline for its leave-taking from that organization. No, that’s not the right analogy. The British are like the soon-to-be-ex hubby, who needs to spend a few more months on your couch as he ponders his commitment to the woman he betrayed you with. How well does that end? The other 27 members of the E.U. must approve such a request. And they’re not inclined to a longer goodbye without a new game plan, which the Brits don’t seem to have. As Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte said, there’s really no point to the British “whining on for months.” Yes, quite.

Lestat, the rapturous protagonist of Anne Rice’s “The Vampire Chronicles,” has the right attitude toward (unending) life.

Fear itself

March 17, 2019

Three friends, the same reaction: They’re all in a tizzy — bewitched, bothered and bewildered — by Trump world.

One is appalled at the Trump Administration’s restrictive treatment of pregnant undocumented immigrants. Another is angry about President Donald J. Trumpet’s policies and tone in general. And speaking of which, the third is severely stressed by his threats to the American resistance, which preceded the massacre of 50 Muslims — and the injury of just as many — at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand by yet another young man with a disproportionate rage at life’s rejections, one who counted El Presidente as a white power inspiration.

New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand — a fighter against sexual harassment — finds herself accused of fostering it. Photograph by Rebecca Hammel for the U.S. Senate Photographic Studio.

Gillibrand's glasshouse

March 12, 2019

So now New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand — who has made zero tolerance for sexual harassment the cornerstone of her heretofore successful career — is facing her own #MeToo moment. It comes with revelations in Politico that a young woman who worked for her resigned after she said the senator failed to take appropriation actions when a close aide allegedly made unwanted advances toward her. Gillibrand has defended her office’s response to the situation, saying that the aide, who has also served as the senator’s driver, was denied a promotion and given a final warning.

Is it the end of the U.S.-North Korean affair?

March 4, 2019

Don’t kill those Nobel Peace Prize hopes just yet.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in is eager for talks to resume between President Donald J. Trumpet and North Korean Supreme Leader “L’il Kim” Jong un and pointed to the cancellation of U.S.-South Korean military exercises as an act of good faith. If I were Moon, however, I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Study for Norman Rockwell’s “Murder in Mississippi,” an illustration that accompanied a June 29, 1965 Look magazine article about the June 21, 1964 murders of three civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Mississippi. Photograph by Louie Lamone. From … — Study for Norman Rockwell’s “Murder in Mississippi,” an illustration that accompanied a June 29, 1965 Look magazine article about the June 21, 1964 murders of three civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Mississippi. Photograph by Louie Lamone. From the Norman Rockwell Museum.

The week that was (thus far)

February 27, 2019

If you’re a blogger, these are boon times. Every day seems to bring a fresh controversy, a breaking news story.