Temple I at Tikal (in modern-day Guatemala), one of the most powerful cities of the Classic Maya period (250-900). It was a funerary temple in honor of King Jasaw Chan K’asill I.

The gang that couldn't shoot straight

February 4, 2020

The Iowa Caucuses debacle has had posters straining for sporting metaphors. The Democrats in disarray are down 10-1 to President Donald J. Trump and the Republicans in the first inning, some say. The Dems are the San Francisco 49ers down to the Kansas City Chiefs in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, which has a nice Blue State-Red State ring to it since the Niners play in California and the Chiefs in Kan, er, Missouri. (Just thought everyone needed a musical break with the great band Kansas’ surprisingly fitting “Carry On Wayward Son.”)

I, however, have a more apt sports analogy. The Iowa Caucuses are like the figure skater billed as the next Peggy Fleming who after four years of Winter Olympics prep falls on the first jump in the short program.

I think that sums things up perfectly — the Iowa Caucuses, a triple toe loop away from unmitigated disaster.

The way you look tonight: Lower Manhattan, symbol of New York City’s resilience.

Start spreading the news: Trump's outta here

November 6, 2019

Start spreading the news,

He’s leaving today.

He’ll no more be a part of it,

New York, New York

His con-artist shoes

Are longing to stray,

Right from the very heart of it

New York, New York

He wants to wake up in a city that always sleeps

To find he’s king of the hill, top of the heap….

Well, it’s official: President Donald J. Trump, who knows a thing or two about divorce, and New York are splitsville. The grounds? Apparently, extreme mental cruelty. New York was mean to him, don’t you know, forcing him to pay huge, huge, city and state taxes, investigating him and his cronies. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

On Oct. 30, 2001 — six weeks after 9/11 — President George W. Bush threw out the first pitch of Game Three of the World Series between the New York Yankees and the Arizona Diamondbacks at Yankee Stadium. Somehow we can’t imagine President Donald J. … — On Oct. 30, 2001 — six weeks after 9/11 — President George W. Bush threw out the first pitch of Game Three of the World Series between the New York Yankees and the Arizona Diamondbacks at Yankee Stadium. Somehow we can’t imagine President Donald J. Trump doing this. Photograph by Eric Draper/White House.

Don't take him out to the ballgame -- Trump and criticism

October 30, 2019

When I was a child, I would avoid watching or hearing and reading about my beloved New York Yankees. Part of it was superstition. If I ignored them, they would win. But mostly this was about my avoiding the pain of their losing. If I didn’t know it happened, it was as if it didn’t happen and they would remain perfect in my mind.

Blondie ambition: Then British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson greets President Donald J. Trump at the United Nations General Assembly, Oct. 2 2017. White House photograph by D. Myles Cullen.

Send in the clowns -- Boris and the Donald

July 29, 2019

Graig Nettles, the great New York Yankees’ third baseman of the 1970s, once observed that if you want an entertainer, hire (comedian) George Jessel — meaning that he was paid to hit and vacuum up ground balls from opposing batsmen, something he was quite entertaining at.

But in today’s world, it’s not enough to be good at what you do. You have to be relatable.

The Kentucky Derby, the Run for the Roses, still features Stephen Foster’s poignant “My Old Kentucky Home” albeit with some changes to the lyrics. Courtesy kentuckytourism.com.

Against political correctness (with a caveat)

April 27, 2019

My cousin-hosts served up an intense political discussion along with delicious herb-crusted lamb chops for Easter dinner. As with most American families, mine is made up of Democrats and Republicans, Trumpettes and never-Trumpers. Me, I’m a moderate-independent, although I caucus with the Dems, so to speak.

About the only thing we all agree on is that we’re lifelong Yankee fans. So what did I, they wondered, think of the New York Yankees banning Kate Smith’s rendition of “God Bless America” because she sang a song about “darkies” that Paul Robeson, the great African-American actor-singer, also sang?

Don Rodolfo Giuliani de la Mancha, a tragicomedy in two acts

May 8, 2018

Tragedy, they say, returns as farce and so it is with Rudolph Giuliani – former New York City prosecutor and “America’s mayor” – who in defending his new client President Donald J. Trumpet to “Fox News’” Sean Hannity contradicted him on the Stormy Daniels matter, perhaps putting him in legal jeopardy. More tellingly, Rudy Two Shoes told Hannity he might have “to get on my charger and go into (Robert Mueller’s) offices with a lance” to defend his damsel in distress, his Dulcinea – Ivanka Trump. (I think I speak for women everywhere when I say Ivanka can take care of herself.) …

Whose art is it anyway? Harvey Weinstein and the film fan

October 22, 2017

Among the questions to emerge from the Harvey Weinstein scandal is one that human beings of conscience have been grappling with forever: Is it ethical to support the work of a scoundrel?

At first glance, the answer would appear to be simple: Art transcends biography. You wouldn’t rebuff a child because his father was a murderer, would you? So why hate the brainchild of a Weinstein or a Woody Allen – who, tellingly cautioned about a “witch hunt” against Weinstein – or a Mel Gibson or any other artist/athlete accused of heinous behavior?

But it’s more complex than that, isn’t it? ...