The Guardrails Hold, Almost Odd country, ours. Most of us are coming off a weekend in which we ate too much, shopped (on- and off-line), and celebrated the pause in campaign ads and the wide choice of football games on the flat-screen, high-definition television sets in 81 percent of American households (52 percent have multiple […]
The FAANGs (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Alphabet) have real problems. To hear the moans on Wall Street, you’d think the end of the world is no longer coming-it has arrived. Successive waves of selling have pushed share prices down this year. To about where they were at the beginning of the year. Hardly a […]
Midterm elections that result in divided control of government typically are followed by pledges of cooperation. Last Tuesday’s, which shifted control of the House of Representatives to the Democrats, was followed by just such a love-in. Mitch McConnell, leader of Senate Republicans, immediately met with Nancy Pelosi, likely to resume her job as speaker of […]
We have now had several opportunities to see just what the president, practitioner of the art of the deal, can do when given an opportunity to negotiate with other heads of state. Short answer: give away the store. Start with North Korea. Trump gave Kim Jung-un the gift of prestige and credibility by meeting with […]
There seems to be some confusion about the president’s foreign policy, so here is a guide that might prove useful. By the policy-maker in chief, himself, as told to this writer during a nightmare. * * * It starts with my devotion to the Rule of Awe. Unlike the wimps that proceeded me in office, […]
Jews worry too much. That seems to be the point of a recent article in the otherwise sensible Economist. Sure, two German rappers won that country’s highest music award by bragging their torsos are “better defined than an Auschwitz inmate’s” and vowing to “make another Holocaust.” But, says the Economist, the intended targets of this […]
Boomerangs can be harmful, especially if what comes back is an adult child, previously seen off with sighs of relief. A study of people over 50 in 17 European countries finds that the return of adult children to the nest-“multigenerational co-residence” in the jargon of the social scientist’s trade-causes a major decline in parents’ well-being. […]
News you might have missed: A hotel and spa in Arizona has this item on its food service menu: Best Friend Protein Bowl, served with 5 ounces of Arizona prime beef or free range chicken with farro grains and mixed steamed vegetables and bottled water on appropriate petware. $18. Britain’s Prime Minister, Theresa May, responding […]
Irwin Stelzer, in defense of New Yorkers www.irwinstelzer.com 8/7/17 Enough, already! It is time for the commentariat to stop attributing every vulgarity erupting from this administration to the fact that the president, like his now-defenestrated potty-mouthed spokesman, is a New Yorker. Sure, the president was brought up in Queens and Anthony Scaramucci on Long Island. […]
I hope you will find my effort to analyze Trump and Trumpism worth a read. Donald Trump The Person is flawed but the President has put the US on track. PPP. That’s what you need to keep in mind if you are to understand American politics: Trump the Person; Trump the Policymaker; Trump the President. […]