Fatal distraction

February 18, 2017

Well, I think we have arrived at the moment in the romance or honeymoon when the lover realizes that the beloved may be just a teensy-weensy bit unhinged.

In other words, we’re Michael Douglas, caught in a relationship with a dramatic blonde who just “won’t be ignored.”

President Donald J. Trump rails in print, online and on TV at the information gatherers – the intelligence community and the press – for his “from Russia with love” scandal that sent Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn from Mr. “Lock Her Up” to Mr. “Should We Lock Him Up?” But the intelligence community and the press are merely the mirrors of his debacle. He’s not sorry his cohorts colluded with the Ruskies. He’s sorry they got caught. So he blames the whistleblowers and the messengers. But the person he’s really mad at is himself. Sad, he would say. ...

Vladdie and The Donald: A fine bromance

February 13, 2017

As a writer of homoerotic fiction, I consider myself a collector and connoisseur of male/male romances. I began with the ancient Greeks, who practically invented homoerotic relationships – all those youths beloved by Apollo, whose depiction reached an apotheosis in the paintings of neoclassical Paris (see Abigail Solomon-Godeau’s provocative book “Male Trouble”); and the relationships of Alexander the Great with his right-hand man, Hephaestion, and eunuch Bagoas, portrayed so movingly in Mary Renault’s “Fire From Heaven” and “The Persian Boy,” respectively.

Then there’s Marguerite Yourcenar’s “Memoirs of Hadrian,” a model for all aspiring historical fiction writers, which tells the story of the titular Greek-loving Roman emperor and his love for the tragic Greek youth Antinous.

Moving on to our own (mostly) gay-friendly, postfeminist time, there’s Gus Van Sant’s ingenious “My Own Private Idaho,” based on “Henry IV,” and Annie Proulx’s hauntingly spare novella “Brokeback Mountain,” made into an equally worthy film by Ang Lee. ...

Strictly business: Trump, Ivanka, Nordstrom and free enterprise

February 10, 2017

President Donald J. Trump campaigned on the notion of a new deal, as it were, for the American worker.

So why is the American worker under siege three weeks into his presidency?

He has threatened to impose a 20-percent tariff on Mexican imports, which would no doubt ensure tariffs on American exports to Mexico like corn and soy.

He has instigated a ban on seven Muslim countries – a ban whose stay the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has just upheld – which would threaten American universities and a tech industry that relies on the best and the brightest worldwide.

And he has shamed a major retailer, Nordstrom, for dropping daughter Ivanka’s line – Neiman Marcus has dropped her jewelry – thereby giving pause to those who would do business with and in America. ...

Trump’s truth: Stranger than fiction?

February 8, 2017

President Donald J. Trump’s “America first” campaign isn’t an original idea, as several historians have pointed out. There was the isolationist America First Committee that sought to keep the United States out of World War II and that featured aviation hero Charles A. Lindbergh as a member. Needless to say, the committee ended with the attack on Pearl Harbor, life having a way of forcing your hand.

But in “Water Music” (2014) – the first novel in my series, “The Games Men Play” – Sen. Morris Severance campaigns on the idea “Keep America Safe, First.” ...

Too big to fail: Trump, Brady and Federer

February 6, 2017

The parade of successful egotists continues – President Donald J. Trump, all-time men’s Slam winner (and recent Australian Open champ) Roger Federer and, now, record five-time Super Bowl champ and record four-time Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady. He led the New England Patriots to a come-from-behind, overtime victory over the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI, 34-28.

These three hardly need more accolades to fan the flames of pride. And while Fed may be more elegant and Brady more circumspect about it, they both have a manner about them that says with Trump, “I’m a winner, and you’re not.” ...

By Jove! Trump as disrupter in chief

February 4, 2017

God created the world in seven days, the Bible tells us.

It took President Donald Trump only 14 to destroy it.

“Destroy” may be too strong a word. “Disturb,” “disrupt” are better choices. In one of the greatest games men play, politics, he is the lord of misrule, tweeting and executive-ordering us into a new world that may or may not be brave; terrifying the already traumatized “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” and insulting world leaders – with the exception of boy crush Vladimir “Rootin’ Tootin’” Putin – in equal stead.

Australians, refugees, refugees in Australia – is there anyone who has not been blasted by Trumpet? ...

Whither Novak Djokovic?

February 2, 2017

When he won the French Open last June – capping a long-held dream and holding all four Slams, the first man to do so in 47 years – the world was Novak Djokovic’s oyster.

That now seems like a long time ago. He won only one title, the Rogers Cup, during the second half of 2016 and lost his No. 1 ranking to Andy Murray. (Because he had won so many tournaments in 2015 and had to defend all those points under the ranking system, he actually lost points, nothing failing in tennis quite like success.)

At the Australian Open, he lost in the third round in a tournament that was won by the returning Roger Federer, who defeated Rafael Nadal. ...