Cross Town Thoughts
Saw “Ray Donovan” on Broadway in Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Liev Schreiber the unlikely Vicomte de Valmont. Although the play stayed incredibly true-to-Laclos’ 1782 French novel, Liev was a big lug of a roué. Not sure why he chose this particular role.
Read the risqué epistolary work in its original French. Graphic and ribald typical of the day. Très débauché. The play kept to the piece all the way. A good thing? Hmmm. It was 3 heures long.
On a perfect autumn day. Strolled around the Lake. Brought ballots to the Post Office. Voted! For whom? Hint. Stayed true to my initial instinct. Wanted a billionaire businessman who had success in both private and public sectors. It was before the tectonic announcement last June 16 of that other so-called buffoon/tycoon. So. Yes. I wrote in. Guess who. 
Dr. Husband. Well. He voted for her. I’m sure. TTSD almost over.
Traumatic Trump Stress Disorder. A malady coined by Dr. Husband from which he suffers. As has been studied, this year’s seasonal syndrome is caused by the remote prospect of Trump as President. Sleep loss. Hand wringing. Combing the internet for stories which afford solace. Trolling for swing state polls showing widening gaps for Hillary. Trying to avoid hearing the next unsavory snipe, yet addicted to cable news like a rubbernecker at a train wreck.
My prescription for Dr.H? Write. Laugh. Find the humor in it. He’s not going to win! Is he?
Can’t the election just be over? It has happened. The coarse discourse of this campaign season has gotten worse. It has devolved into a tit for tat of Donald and Bill doing bad things to women. Pussy bows and pussy footing around. The larger problem of men with fame and power taking advantage of women over the decades. From LBJ to JFK. Congressmen. Newsmen. Creepy bosses. Casting couches. Complicit spouses.
It’s a dynamic that seems to be never ending. Too bad the first woman to become President is the wrong person to shine the light on this ongoing epidemic.
Seems like everything is moving backwards in slow-motion.
Tiger decided not to make his latest comeback at the Safeway tournament this week. He hasn’t hit a golf ball in public for over a year. Will he ever again?
In Miami, it’s the Clinton-Gore retro show. Trying to appeal to millennials with a droning speech on climate change and revisiting hanging chads. Yawn. Meanwhile, Trump has declared war on the Republican party. Solidifying an eponymous third party for the future. Reminding us of his true end-game. This is TNN.
Flashback to M.A.S.H. Ran into Alan & Arlene Alda strolling through Central Park on our daily constitutional by the Lake. Looked like a happy couple of 58 years.
Trump owned beauty pageants, hung out at the Playboy mansion. How is anyone surprised by his boorish behavior. It has always been thus. Men of a certain generation. Ring a ding ding. And such. Rat Pack. Rudy Giuliani. Newt Gingrich. Steve Bannon. Roger Ailes. Bill Clinton et al. Should be a spicy debate.
Okay. 40 minutes into the Veep debate. Kaine is just creepy. Moderator is beyond incompetent and biased. Pence seems sincere. Even if he is defending a petulant adolescent for President. So. Here’s something to cheer us up. West Side Rag’s photo of a creative restaurant in the ‘hood. Enjoy.
Exciting weekend in the ‘hood. Global Citizen concert in Central Park. Saturday night our apartment 10 blocks down shook with the bass and drums of Metallica and Kendrick Lamar. Then came the show stopper. Rihanna. RiRi. She didn’t seem to know much about the cause. Nonetheless she performed. Reminiscent of Amy Winehouse R&B. Generous show. mAdBen got to see it up close. Lucky.
Today as we strolled toward home, guys in suits stopped us from going down our street. Walkie talkies into the lapel earpiece thing. Clearly somebody was coming to our neighbor building San Remo. As a rush of men entered the lobby and the sirens abated, we asked , who was that? They gave us hints. A tall man with white hair. Not American. Met with both candidates today to get their support. Got it. BiBi Netanyahu. Woo hoo. As we watched him leave from our bedroom view, he rolled down the window and waved. Then on to Hamilton.
Bethesda Fountain just a few footsteps away from home. On International Day of Peace. 45th Anniversary Imagine release. John Lennon and his guitar by the Central Park bandshell for a day. Hard to capture without a helicopter. 
Glass-Steagall resurrection won’t heal the banking system. Segregating commercial and investment entities never worked. Senior executives were always able to peer over the so-called Chinese wall. Amalgamations have caused unwieldy national behemoths.
Incompetence at the top. Incestuous Boards. Obscene compensation assured. Cue Stumpf. Wells Fargo’s dufey CEO. Typical of the genre. Isolated from business units. De-centralized disparate cultures left to their own devices. By the time the OCC gets involved at least 5 years of fraudulent practices to rein in. Fire a bunch of low-level guys as a PR stunt.
Too big to manage. Too big to fail.
Side Trek . NYC 