Cross Town Thoughts
Genius journalist Richard Engel reports on the destruction of artifacts in Assyria. Modern iconoclasts’ obliteration of civilization. Bibi invades Congress as his election looms. Netanyahu is not Israel. False premise. Scott Walker likens American union workers to ISIS. Frank Underwood would be a better choice. Streaming!
As our false idols defile the culture on every cover. Kardashians. Meanwhile, American Idol does have lots of talent this season. Bon weekend.
Neo-Con Alert! Jeb Bush is his own man? Then, why is Paul Wolfowitz on his list of advisors? Danger. Danger. Nation building warning. Leaning toward Jeb on domestic issues? Think again. Boots everywhere forever. Bush Doctrine 3.
Alternative not great. Dynasty 2. Clintons better but too much baggage. Old. Stale. Sketchy. Warren is not the answer. However. New ideas. New names. Please.
GOOD
mAdBen & Neil deGrasse Tyson at CannesLions. 
Parts Unknown. Bourdain in Massachusetts.
MadMen7. Bobby Morse’s dancing exit.
Of Mice and Men O’Dowd Franco
Realistic Joneses. Letts Collette Hall Tomei
Sushi Nakazawa
Eleven Madison Park
BAD
Rape of the leaves. Construction next door.
Sochi Olympics. Return of Putin.
Crying Wolfowitz. Right-wing and media fear-mongering.
Ebola.
Or is it? Same critics suing Obama for abusing executive power are calling for him to go to war. Now Lone Ranger good. McCain warning against more home-grown ISIS terrorist converts named McCain. Oops. What strategy does that fit?
Contradictions abound on both sides of the debate. It’s that pesky gray area again. We need bad guys in one country so we can invade it. That was so 20th Century. Should have left the tyrants alone. Krauthammer calls Prez’s foreign policy adolescently naïve. Like Mission Accomplished?
Again. Texas Gov Rick Perry is joining the old NeoCons’ chorus warning another terrorist attack on our shores. Darth and Liz Cheney, Donny Rummy, Paulie Wolfowitz on every channel predicting (hoping for?) another 9/11. Those hijackers came from Afghanistan. Not Iraq. NeoCons broke it anyway under false pretenses. Now we are left with ISIS savages. Could they hit us here? Of course. Recruit from UK beheaded our poor journalist. But, it is beyond unseemly to hear these aging apologists lining up to say they told us so if it does happen.
Flashback. Rory hitting golf balls with Jimmy Fallon. Tiger acting as caddy. He didn’t look much different than the toddler on the Mike Douglas show years ago. No. Not Michael Douglas-Zeta Jones. Merv Griffin-era afternoon talk days. Yeah. I’m old. Bon weekend.
OK. It’s Fall. Low sun. Chill nights. Last roses. 
Goldenrod. Ragweed. Football. Matt Weiner previewing last 7 episodes of MadMen on Morning Joe. Kids going back to school. College. Whew. Porch-friendly summer. Lots of books. So.
Civilized communication exhumed in the heartland. Bloodless coup in Iraq. Todd takes over MTP from Gregory. No Curry-esque humiliation on-air. Another Sunday surprise. Holder nominated to replace Ginsberg on the Supreme Court? Tiger gives Watson cover. Takes himself out of Ryder Cup. Euro-year anyway.
Black cherry tomatoes. Neighbor’s novel garden treat.
Bon weekend.
Absurd alliances. Global shift. Ted Cruz and Katrina vanden Heuvel agree on what U.S. should do about Syria. Really. Rand Paul, too. Has the world gone completely mad? Charles Blow thinks so. Putin writes a column in the NYTimes, encouraging appeasement. It’s better than bombast and bombs. Vatican leads a peace march. Pope Francis puts Goodness over Godliness. Going mad in the right way, I say. It does give me pause when Armed Services Committee and Generals don’t know the difference between a weapons cache and caché.
Naomi Watts looks more like Tina Brown than Princess Di. Performance panned. Probably why. End of the line for Burn Notice and Breaking Bad. Tiger playing at BMW. Hope Lindsey’s dalliances won’t make him sad. Cool weekend!
Never a show fan, its reprise seems apt. Everyone in government is infected with the disease. Including the White House. IRS chief, Lois Lerner, pleaded the 5th on our local law school commencement speech the day before. Whatta mess.
Weiner’s name a deal-breaker. If that’s your moniker, pick a different deviant behavior than package tweets. Can’t even say he played stick ball. Jodi jury deadlocked. How are they going to seat a new one that hasn’t seen her on every television outlet? And, how do you say ‘fried chicken’ in Spanish, Sergio?
Good arrested development. Cancer patients’ survivor longevity and improvements in post-treatment care. Congrats to E. Gould on 5 years as patient editor of MSKCC’s award-winning Bridges newsletter.
WeekEnder. Oscars maybe. Depends on travel conditions Sunday. Catch them on replay. Don’t care. Saw none. Better writing Showtime, HBO. Friends liked Argo.
Match play golf in Arizona. Wait for melting snow, freeze out. Tiger and Rory already gone. Where do Republican losers go? FauxNews. Brown. Romney? NBC last in ratings. Ditch Lauer, Gregory. Replace Today with Morning Joe.
Storm dodge. Weekend adventure. Manhattan, ho! Bon weekend.
Downton out. Killing off cast faster than General Hospital. Heartwarming liaisons formed. Baby boy born. Happy. And then, poof. No more Matthew. Speaking of silly, GH bringing geezer couples (Luke&Laura) back. Fast-forward.
Woodward smacks down Rove on Fox! Bob looked at Karl and told him he’s writing a book called, Some People Never Go Away. Priceless. McCain and Graham non-stop steaming as Obama and Woods tee off together. Hope Tiger doesn’t take Prez “out” while Michelle and girls are skiing in Aspen. Dangerous.
Sweet to meet the lovely and captivating Lilly Leigh at La Fiorentina.
Another visit to my favorite Bryant barn in winter. Thanks Dr.Photog.
Side Trek . NYC 