Home
Latest Posts
Click title to read full posts
So, what are we now – Myanmar?
One of my sisters lives there, working for the U.S. State Department and spending all day every day on the Rohingya refugee crisis. These minority Muslims have been ethnically cleansed from the Buddhist country. More than 600,000 live in camps in neighboring Bangladesh.
I’m glad that America abroad is still standing up to human rights abuses, because America at home is busy creating them – setting up detention camps for the children of those trying to cross the southern border illegally for the sole purpose of deterring future crossings. …
I had a slight meltdown in the supermarket Saturday. The plastic bottle recycling machine wasn’t working. (It rarely is.) But that’s not why I was upset. I took the bottles to the Courtesy Desk where I encountered a photograph on the front page of the Daily News that I had seen in a smaller version on the front page of The New York Times. Perhaps you’ve seen it. The picture, by Getty photographer John Moore, shows a 2-year-old Honduran child crying at the border as her mother, attempting to cross illegally, is searched.
I’m not a particularly maternal woman. And, of all the arts I’ve covered, photography is hardly my favorite. I hate the way people act around photos, always posing even when they’re being “natural.” But the power of photography to move instantly is undeniable. Something about that photo shook me to my core and, as I held it up in outrage to the young woman at the Courtesy Desk, I found myself choking up. …
I won’t pretend to know what will come of President Donald J. Trumpet’s meeting with “L’il Kim” Jong-un. Even the Repubsare in “we’ll see” mode.On the one hand, this is an extraordinary moment, and you can’t help but root for it. But can we “sleep tonight,” as Donnie Two Scoops tweeted? This is not the first time that we’ve been to the North Korea-turns-over-a-new-leaf rodeo. North Korea still has nukes capable of reaching the United States. Nothing has changed, yet. “We’ll see,” the Donald likes to say famously. We certainly will, won’t we?
The psychological dynamics remain the most fascinating aspect of recent diplomatic exchanges. ...