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A week ago, President Trump declared, “After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated, pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States.” The strait will then host Trump’s latest real-estate development. As real-estate agents say, property’s three top selling points are location, location, location. Is the…
Donald Trump’s wars on Iran and vaccines evidence the president again taking this nation down the rabbit hole. I detest Iran’s ayatollahs and the Iranian Republican Guard Corps—vicious theocrats and corrupt power mongers. I also despise life-threatening diseases. But Trump’s lack of common sense—a value of which he incessantly boasts—has destabilized the Middle East and…
Carolyn and I traveled to Houston and New Orleans for our son Seth’s 50th birthday celebration. It was a total family affair, and we brought back many wonderful memories and a few souvenirs—one of which we could do without. Yes, Covid. Of note: each for the first time. We’re fine. My symptoms were so light…
What do Robert Louis Stevenson, Milton Caniff, John Derek, Johnny Depp and Donald Trump have in common? You’re stumped? No prob. Here’s the skinny: Stevenson (1850–94) wrote “Treasure Island,” published in book form in 1883.The novel gave us one of fiction’s most unforgettable characters, the pirate Long John Silver. Milton Caniff (1907-88) was a cartoonist responsible for…
This past Fourth in Washington, wishing America “Happy birthday” was a sad affair. Love and respect for the nation and our Declaration of Independence are always called for. But the celebration was manhandled with overkill. The traditional fireworks staged in the nation’s capital fizzled in a misguided effort to make the Guinness Book of World Records with…
Two hundred and fifty years post-Declaration of Independence, is America’s glass half-full or half-empty? I’m no Pollyanna. I junked my rose-colored glasses and other items from the ’60s a long time ago. But last week, in “Flying With Resilience,” I wrote that air travel these days demands resilience—the ability to roll with the punches when…
What’s worse than one badly delayed flight to a far-off city? Two—within 48 hours. But these flights reinforced a valuable lesson. Two weeks ago, Carolyn and I flew to Dallas-Fort Worth International to connect to a flight to Waco, Texas. We’d attend her 60th high-school reunion. Two days later, we’d fly to New York. People…
June means a great deal to me as an individual, an American and a Jew. Sunday is the 123rd birthday of my father, Morris, in Warsaw, Poland. In February, 1906, age two-and-a-half, Dad came to America with my grandparents—Sam and Kaylah—along with Aunt Alice (older) and Aunt Etta (Younger). As half the team of Morris…
The 1962 New York Mets, 2026 San Francisco Giants and current White House administration share a lot in common. Incompetence. On May 28, 1957, the National League gave permission to the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants to leave Gotham for Los Angeles and San Francisco. I was a Yankees fan but felt the loss.…
The Getty Villa in Malibu and California State University Northridge offer a key message to America. A week ago, Carolyn and I—along with our sons Seth and Aaron, and son-in-law Jeremy—flew down to Los Angeles for our son Yosi’s graduation ceremony. Yosi completed the demanding bachelor’s coursework for CSUN’s music therapy program—hard to get into,…