Italy has a lot of hills and a lot of old buildings built on a grand scale, and it has a great many staircases both inside and outside. Many of the staircases have old steps that slope downwards, made of … Continue reading →
I certainly don’t know—even though yesterday I visited the Vatican and did the tour thing. Nary a word was said about the current crisis facing the Pope. It was silence in the Sistine Chapel all the way. One thing about … Continue reading →
More work to be done, but this is promising: But the deal left open the question of whether Canada, the third country in NAFTA, would agree to the changes — and Trump himself said he wanted to throw out the … Continue reading →
I was only in Rome one time before, as a fifteen-year-old traveling on a teen tour that was of the budget variety (we stayed in dorms and hostels, and ate in weird cafeterias), and I guess that coin in Trevi … Continue reading →
From The New Yorker: Ronell, who is sixty-six, is a literary scholar and philosopher at New York University and, by all accounts, one of the great academic minds of our time. Her accuser is Nimrod Reitman, her former doctoral student, … Continue reading →
[See ADDENDUM below.] Think about this for a moment: With John McCain’s death, the governor of Arizona gets to appoint his successor to the US Senate. The timing of McCain’s death is such that this person will get to serve … Continue reading →
John McCain has died of brain cancer. He was a man who lived many lives, and lived them fully. He started out as the son and grandson of four-star admirals, went to the Naval Academy, and was a rebellious young … Continue reading →
[Part I here.] I have come to conceptualize many of the people who are drawn most powerfully (and obsessively) to these extreme activities this way: they don’t want to live without them. And for some of the most extreme practitioners, … Continue reading →
One of the places I’ve wanted to visit for quite some time is Siena. And yesterday, when I finally got there, I wasn’t disappointed. One of the nicest things about the city is the fact that its hilltop location can … Continue reading →
And by “Trump talk” I don’t mean the chatter of the president. I mean the verbiage of those who talk a great deal about him, and who clearly hate his guts. I know quite a few such people, although I … Continue reading →
I think this comment at Powerline is quite descriptive of the Michael Cohen plea situation: So the real trick here is pretty simple. Threaten a man with 8 counts that would cost him millions to defend and could send him … Continue reading →
Perhaps: Top Senate Republicans sent dueling signals on Thursday about whether it would be safe for President Donald Trump to fire the attorney general he can’t stand… The back-and-forth on the Hill came just as Sessions took the rare step … Continue reading →