News squib#11 -Thanksgiving in Palm Beach (with Donald Trump)

Extra News TodayIt’s Squib Saturday. Time to share the best, most interesting (or most entertaining, or most outrageous) tidbit of information I’ve gleaned from all the stuff I’ve read –or done– this week. Today: Trump causes (a little bit of) traffic chaos for locals on A1A

 

 

7.30am, Wednesday, November 23, on A1A
7.30am, Wednesday, November 23, on A1A

I had not yet read the local newspapers or watched the local news on TV when I set out on Wednesday morning, for my 8am tennis game at Phipps, an ocean front Palm Beach Town facility. So, I had no idea how bad traffic would be. I wasn’t even sure Trump and family had arrived at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s winter resort which is also a private club. Continue reading “News squib#11 -Thanksgiving in Palm Beach (with Donald Trump)”

News Squib#10 – The Bad Sex Writing Award

Extra News TodayIt’s Squib Saturday. Time to share the best, most interesting (or most entertaining, or most outrageous) tidbit of information I’ve gleaned from all the stuff I’ve read this week. Today: Writing Bad Sex Scenes Gets You an Award — in the UK.

 

It’s called the Bad Sex in Fiction Award. It is supposed to discourage authors from writing an “outstandingly bad scene of sexual description in an otherwise good novel.”  The Literary Review, an upscale British magazine started giving out this annual prize 23 years ago in 1993.  This year, nominees, initially selected by readers,  included best selling authors Ian McEwan, and Jonathan Safran Foer who was nominated for the following gem from Here I Am: Continue reading “News Squib#10 – The Bad Sex Writing Award”

News Squib#9- Are You Stupid, Cablevision ? Or Is It Moi?

Extra News TodayIt’s Squib Saturday. Time to share the best, most interesting (or most entertaining, or most outrageous) tidbit of information I’ve gleaned from all the stuff I’ve read this week. Today: Quelle Horreur! My Internet and Cable Tv Company Was Bought by the French. This is What Happened Next

 

I was too wrapped up in Election 2016 to pay much attention to a nugget of local news, namely that Altice, a European telecom corporation, snapped up Cablevision, my cable tv and internet provider in July for $17.7 billion. So, while I knew the company and its service arm Optimum had been sold,  I had no details about the deal.

Monsieur Cheapskate

bethpage-welcome-sign

For example, I had no idea that Altice owner, French billionaire Patrick Drahi, is apparently a bit of a “hard-nosed cheapskate,” and has reportedly stated on the record: “I don’t like to pay salaries.” Nor did I know that he had started laying off (the highest paid) employees and introducing draconian cost-cutting measures as soon as the deal for Cablevision was signed. Continue reading “News Squib#9- Are You Stupid, Cablevision ? Or Is It Moi?”

News Squib#8 – Last Words (Hopefully) on Tiny Hands Trump


Candidate Donald Trump speaks at press conference
It’s Squib Saturday. Time to share the best, most interesting (or most entertaining, or most outrageous) tidbit of information I’ve gleaned from all the stuff I’ve read this week. Today: Why I’ll Never Eat Lunch at  Mar-A-Lago Again

In the seventeen months since we witnessed Trump’s glide down the Trump Tower escalator and his announcement that he was running for President of the United States, hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of words have been written about the man who still might possibly become the next occupant of  the White House.

img_0241 Here is but a meager smattering of my pithy favorites from the last couple of months together with photos I took at Trump’s Florida estate, Mar-A-Lago, on my last visit  (as in: I will probably never again be invited, and, even if invited, probably will not go.) I was there with teammates to play the Mar-a-Lago tennis team — and for a buffet lunch (Trump’s team won;  lunch was “amazing”, “beautiful,” “terrific.” ) Continue reading “News Squib#8 – Last Words (Hopefully) on Tiny Hands Trump”