The USS John S. McCain conducts a routine patrol in the South China Sea, Jan. 22, 2017. . U.S. Navy photograph by Petty Officer 3rd Class James Vazquez.

Anchors away for 'Tariff Man'

June 2, 2019

The recent revelation that the White House tried to get the U.S. Navy to “hide” the destroyer USS John McCain during President Donald J. Trump’s visit to Japan — lest he be disturbed by a reminder of his late adversary — coupled with Trump’s attempt to strong-arm Mexico into stepping up border security by imposing a five percent tariff on our biggest trading partner continues the prez’s narcissistic narrative. Trump doesn’t care whom he hurts — the senator’s grieving family, the people who will ultimately pay the price for the tariffs (you and me) — because, hey, that’s the way he rolls.

Donald Trump and the 'I' words

May 29, 2019

So we’ve finally heard from Robert Mueller about his investigation into Russkiegate and while we didn’t learn anything new, we did have the extraordinary experience of the special prosecutor emphasizing that while he couldn’t prove the Trump campaign was guilty of a crime, he still wasn’t exonerating the president from obstruction of justice.

A Manchester Brexit protest ahead of Great Britain’s Conservative Party Conference Oct. 1, 2017, with a caricature of Prime Minister Theresa May clearly visible. The more she catered to the extremists in her party, the more unpopular she became with… — A Manchester Brexit protest ahead of Great Britain’s Conservative Party Conference Oct. 1, 2017, with a caricature of Prime Minister Theresa May clearly visible. The more she catered to the extremists in her party, the more unpopular she became with them and the opposition.

(Theresa) May Day

May 26, 2019

In Jenni Russell’s fine May 24 column for The New York Times, she compares soon-to-be former British Prime Minister Theresa May to the queen at the end of “Game of Thrones” — lost, abandoned, her realm destroyed. I gave up on the series after the first season, finding it misogynistic. Besides, who needs such popular fiction when we have history and current events themselves? After all, we must account God — or, for the atheistic crowd, life — as good a writer as George R.R. Martin, n’est-ce pas?

Rounding the first turn, Bodexpress (far right) goes it alone. There’s something poignant and noble about that. Courtesy MarylandGovPics.

Lessons from the Bode(xpress)sattva

May 21, 2019

In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is one who has attained enlightenment but continues to struggle on the Earth to help others. The Dalai Lama is considered a bodhisattva.

Bodexpress – the trending racehorse who shucked off his jockey, John A. Velazquez, Saturday in the Preakness Stakes, then ran the race riderless and more before finally being corralled – offered his own brand of enlightenment for viewers:

Pimlico paints its weathervane the colors of the winning Preakness horse. After this Preakness, the track should paint it the colors of Bodexpress.

That's why they call it a horse race

May 18, 2019

Perhaps the commercial that used a subtle version of Fleetwood Mac’s great “Go Your Own Way” was a harbinger, but the 144th Preakness Stakes was as nutty as the Kentucky Derby. We can only wonder what the Belmont Stakes will bring in three weeks.

Justify after winning the Preakness Stakes on his way to becoming the 13th Triple Crown winner. (That’s trainer Bob Baffert in the red tie.) With no Triple Crown on the line this season, the action remains centered on the fallout from Maximum Securi… — Justify after winning the Preakness Stakes on his way to becoming the 13th Triple Crown winner. (That’s trainer Bob Baffert in the red tie.) With no Triple Crown on the line this season, the action remains centered on the fallout from Maximum Security’s disqualification at the Kentucky Derby. Photograph courtesy Maryland Governor’s Office.

Maximum insecurity

May 17, 2019

April is the cruelest month,” T.S. Eliot began his poem “The Waste Land.” But T.S. — we hesitate to be overly familiar and call him Tom — what about May?

Threats to and from Iran, the continuing abortion divide, tariff wars, the stock market bouncing around like a knuckleball again: The only thing that is certain these days is, of course, uncertainty, making us all uneasy.

In the past, culture — specifically, arts and entertainment and sports — has provided stability in a destabilized world. But the real world keeps intruding on these parallel worlds that are framed differently by time and space.

Bartholomeus Spranger’s “Diana-Luna” (1566-1611), oil on canvas. Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest. The work captures the way art eroticizes the virgin archetype.

America's psychological virgin

May 15, 2019

With the passing of movie star Doris Day May 13 at her home in Carmel Valley, California, at age 97, much has been made of her goody two shoes image on film in the 1960s and the way it was pooh poohed in subsequent decades when attitudes toward women’s sexuality were expanding in the advent of feminism. (It was an image that Day, who had a number of troubled marriages, herself dismissed on “The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson,” and indeed she often played complex wives, most notably in Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Man Who Knew Too Much” and as the torch singer Ruth Etting in “Love Me or Leave Me.” )