The Donald is hurt. An idea he floated was labeled “absurd” by the prime minister of a tiny European nation. Denmark. President Trump considered buying Greenland, of even lesser global importance with a population of 57,700, about half that of West Palm Beach, Florida. Problem is, Denmark owns it. Trump doesn’t bother with details. […]
Dr. Mehmet Oz Wouldn’t you think that a country ranking at or near the bottom of the advanced nations in life expectancy and infant mortality would question the axioms of its leading health organizations and doctors? The United States holds that distinction, while erecting halos around the heads of such institutions as the American Medical […]
Barack Obama Folks, in case you weren’t watching, this country is in deep trouble. I’m shelving the world of books for the moment to talk about a dangerous crisis. We have a president, Donald Trump, who has committed every criminal act conceivable except for shooting someone in downtown Manhattan (stay tuned), a lawless attorney general […]
In New Smyrna Beach, Fla., the century began on a high note that has been celebrated every year. We speak of the Jazz Festival in late September, the 19th now in the history books. Jazz lovers everywhere, this is an event that belongs on your calendars. Marc Monteson and a jazz fan I discovered […]
George Orwell At a point near the end of The Blue Rat, an extraordinary novel by Michael Hartnett, I was transported back many decades to my boyhood, when I sat with my dad on the living room floor next to a radio as we listened to a dramatization of George Orwell’s 1984. The only […]
Judge Curtis E. Chillingworth Curtis and Marjorie Chillingworth The most sensational, lurid crime in the history of Florida occurred in 1955 in the town of Manalapan, just south of Palm Beach. A revered judge, Curtis E. Chillingworth, and his wife, Marjorie, were forced at gunpoint from their ocean-side home after midnight and ordered into a […]
The Breakers hotel, Palm Beach Tribalism and elitism go hand-in-hand. As the rich get richer, to the point where 1 percent of the country’s population now owns 99 percent of the wealth, they separate themselves from their material inferiors with ever-increasing exclusivity. No better illustration of this is found than in Palm Beach, Florida. […]
Thomas Paine Dear Friends, And y’all are mah friends, be you from the South where I am (well, Florida) or, as Woody Guthrie would have it, from the California to the New York island, from the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters. This land is your land, this land is my land. Alas, […]
If you have any interest in national politics, I think you’ll find Mark Spivak’s political thriller, The American Crusade, captivating. The book is a roman à clef (say clay), a term you’re probably unfamiliar with unless you’ve written one or are steeped in literary jargon. It simply means: a novel based on real events and/or […]
Voila! I’ve got it. A book – or books. The holidays are over, but winter sure as heck isn’t. With the shopping and celebrating done, and the cold weather (even down here in Florida – sort of) continuing for a few more months, there’s not much reason to venture outside. Television shows these days are […]