The gentlemanly surrender of British Gen. John Burgoyne to Patriot Gen. Horatio Gates after the Battle of Saratoga on Oct. 16, 1777, as depicted by John Trumbull in this 1818 painting, is how we tend to think of the American Revolution after the fact — nice and stately. Instead, it was a long, brutal guerrilla conflict, and though Saratoga would prove its turning point for the Patriots, it would still drag on for six more years.

Blood debt – kings to pawns in a zero-sum game of liberty and death

November 27, 2025

Next year marks the United States’ 250th birthday and already plans are underway for the celebration, with the nonprofit America250 Commission https://america250.org/ charged with staging different events and programs to mark the occasion. (Each of the 50 states has also created its own commission, with plenty of cultural organizations contributing exhibits and performances.)

Though ostensibly bipartisan, America250 has come under the aegis of the Trump Administration, which wants to ensure that American history is portrayed in such a way that Americans don’t feel ashamed of their past. But Ken Burns – whose “The American Revolution” aired on PBS Nov. 16 through Nov. 21 and is streaming free there through Dec. 14 – has said in interviews that we owe it to ourselves to tell the truth about the revolution and let the chips fall where they may. Far from shaming us, Burns and producing partner Sarah Botstein have said, the revolution should inspire and enlighten us as ordinary citizens overcame seemingly insurmountable odds to buck the British Empire and create the world’s oldest modern democracy.

From Truss bust to dishy Rishi: Can Sunak save Britain?

October 26, 2022

When Princess Anne presented Daniel Craig with the Order of St. Michael and St. George — the same order his character, James Bond, is presented with — all I could think was that right now, we could use 007, Craig, the Princess Royal, St. Michael, St. George, Elizabeth I, Elizabeth II, Henry V and anyone else who can lend a hand to right the RMS Titanic that is otherwise known as the United Kingdom.

A world lit by fire

February 4, 2020

The wildfires in Australia are a poignant metaphor for our time — a world out of control, untold collateral damage.

The Iowa Caucuses are in meltdown due to “inconsistencies in reporting data,” whatever that means. Results are due later today, Feb. 4. (Gee, they missed Groundhog Day just by two days. It would’ve been so appropriate.) Remember when we had voting machines that worked?

Meanwhile, President Donald J. “Everything’s Up to Date in Kansas City (Kansas)” Trump will be acquitted in his witness-less impeachment trial. The Republicans say they voted against witnesses for the good of the country, which would be torn apart if Trump’s presidency were declared illegitimate. There’s nothing that lends an air of ease to a non-choice quite like one whose expediency is couched in faux nobility.

Stay of (Brexit)cution

April 7, 2019

Brexit Day is now Oct. 31, the European Union granting the United Kingdom yet another stay of Brexit-cution, which was supposed to have taken place March 29 and then April 12. Let’s leave aside that Oct. 31 is Halloween. I don’t think the E.U. is ironic enough to have chosen that day for its gallows humor. And indeed Nov. 1 is the day the new president of the European Commission is set to take office, so presumably the E.U. needs to have this resolved by then. But will it be resolved?

Baby Donald in Europe

July 13, 2018

Well, that went well.

President Donald J. Trumpet’s meeting with NATO allies was akin to the belligerent uncle who insists on reminding you at the holiday dinner that you still haven’t repaid the money he loaned you to buy the house – with interest.

Donnie Two Scoops came out with guns blazing, bullying the allies to ante up more for defense and dumping on Germany for, well, everything …

A high stakes game on the road to Damascus

April 15, 2018

The United States – using what President Donald J. Trumpet called its “righteous power,” which is an interesting turn of phrase from Stormy Daniels’ alleged one-night stand – has joined longtime allies Great Britain and France in launching 100 missiles at Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s chemical weapons depots and research facilities in Damascus and Homs.

Already, El Presidente – who has the attention span of a flea – has declared “Mission Accomplished.” I really wish American presidents would stop using that I’m-a-tough-guy-even-though-I-never-served-in-a-war phrase. Some 15 years after President George W. Bush declared “Mission Accomplished,” we’re still in Iraq and Afghanistan. You see where we’re going with this. ...

Brexit – the ultimate in Le Divorce

March 31, 2017

Just when we needed a well-deserved break from the circus that is the Trump Administration – what with former National Security adviser Michael Flynn seeking immunity to testify about Ruskie hacking and oxymoronic House Intelligence chair Devin Nunes skulking around the White House bushes like the star of some third rate Tom Clancy thriller and President Trumpet and Ayn Rand-reading House Speaker Paulie PowerPoint trying to keep the No, No Nanettes of the Freedom Caucus in line for another pass (God help us) at repeal and replace – Brexit is back to remind us that it is just a transatlantic mirror of all of the above. ...