In the sentimental commercials for Jared, the so-called “Galleria of Jewelry,” the prospective hubby knows where to go for the ring that will get bride-zilla to say “yes.”
“He went to Jared’s,” her voiceover says, quivering with emotion. “He went to Jared’s.”
I doubt Jared Kushner went to Jared’s for Ivanka’s engagement ring, and therein may lie the problem. “The rich are different from you and me,” said F. Scott Fitzgerald, who knew a thing or two about them. “Yes,” Ernest Hemingway replied, “they have more money.” ...
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Read MoreThe Manchester bombing is just the latest example of man’s inhumanity to man. But it’s hardly the only one.
There’s the caning of two men in Indonesia for no other reason than they engaged in gay sex.
Then there’s the Trump budget, the anti-Robin Hood, taking from the poor to give to the rich. ...
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Read MoreA new novel about tennis that offers an uneasy mix of fiction and reality asks the question, To what extent is fiction protected from libel?
“Trophy Son” by Douglas Brunt (alias Mr. Megan Kelly) tells the story of a fictional tennis prodigy who’s the victim of a stage parent. But at some point, it apparently veers into reality as one character, fictional trainer Bobby Hicks, accuses Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray of using performance-enhancing drugs.
Needless to say, this is all anyone’s talking about. ...
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Read MoreThe recent removal of Confederate monuments in New Orleans – which has hit a raw nerve in the South – says as much about our misconceptions about memorials and winning and losing as it does about racism’s bitter stranglehold on America.
Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative, who appeared on PBS with historian Walter Isaacson to discuss what many blacks perceive to be symbols of lingering racism and some whites see as emblems of political correctness – is right to say that memorials are meant to honor their subjects. They do so not only in the display of what is often great art but in pride of place. ...
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Read MoreWhat can you say about the past week in Washington D.C. except that God is the best screenwriter. I mean, who else could come up with such a beta-ameloid and tau tangle of plot twists and turns replete with a depth of characters – which is not the same as depth of character.
In the latest scene in our saga, Don Donald Trumpet – cue “The Godfather” theme – had sought an oath of loyalty from would-be consigliere James Comey. But Comey had demurred, necessitating his “termination.” ...
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Read MoreTragedy, it is said, returns as farce. Richard Nixon’s insecurity and paranoia – his inability to believe he was loved – earned him Watergate, resignation, reinvention and an Oliver Stone treatment of Greek tragedy proportions (“Nixon,” with a very fine Anthony Hopkins in the title role).
One thing is certain: Donald J. Trump won’t be “Stone”d, not for a long time, if at all. We’re still in the farcical “SNL” stage of our relationship with the president. (But then, Nixon, had his caricaturists, too.) ...
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Read MoreWell, Russkiegate just exploded.
WaPo broke the story confirmed by The Times – that’s the The Washington Post and The New York Times, alias the enemies of the people – that President Donald J. Trump shared super-secret information regarding the Islamic state during a recent meeting with the Russians (you know, the one that took place after he fired FBI Director James Comey), thereby potentially endangering the source. ...
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