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Commentary & Opinion

Commentary & Opinion

  • I didn’t turn on Game 2 of the New York Knicks vs. Philadelphia Seventy Sixers playoff series Monday night until the 4th quarter, largely because it felt inappropriate watching the game during a Passover Seder. But like a lot of folks, I actually turned it off with less than a minute to go, I believe switching to House Hunters, or something like that. That’s because the Sixers went up four and heading to the free throw line with only 47 seconds left. So by all accounts, this game was over. The best of seven series would be tied at a game apiece heading to Philadelphia.
  • Though it grows mostly in the southeastern United States, the sweetgum strikes me as an All-American tree. It is, as it were, nature’s version of good old American ingenuity: a supremely versatile resource in the nation’s arboretum that has, over the generations, yielded easily to inventive people who transformed its botanical riches.
  • China’s exports are surging, and there is a strong likelihood that there will be a backlash on a worldwide basis. We are certainly hearing it from Mr. Trump who wants to increase tariffs but other countries including those in Europe and South Asia are all likely to lose jobs which will cause them to take action.
  • I assumed Jake Samascott had heard everything, at least everything related to apples, when I reported to his family’s sprawling Kinderhook, NY orchard last Saturday morning. The reason was a workshop on apple tree care sponsored by the Columbia Land Conservancy.
  • The day I recorded this commentary, the print edition of the New York Times published an OP ED by Michelle Cottle entitled “Inside the MAGAverse on the Eve of Trump’s Trial” (April 17, 2024: A20). In it, Ms Cottle captured the self-satisfaction of the cult-members she interviewed at a Trump rally Saturday, April 12 in rural Pennsylvania.
  • It's that time again! Here are this week's highlights from the WAMC Listener Comment Line.
  • Of all the differences between American soccer and the sport played around the world, perhaps the most notable is the concept of promotion and relegation. That’s a system where the highest finishing teams from one league move up to a higher division next season, and the lowest teams move down.
  • I’m giving my spirits a break with a more light-hearted classically trained musician’s take on immigration.
  • The cherry trees that line Washington’s Tidal Basin are not a species bred to yield tasty pies, jams and jellies. Washington’s cherry trees live mainly to display abundant clusters of delicate pinkish-white flowers. I was admiring them a couple of weeks ago, at the peak of what the Japanese call Sakura hanami — the season of viewing the cherry blossoms.
  • If media reports are to be believed, Governor Hochul and the state’s legislative leaders are inching toward a budget deal this week. The big issues – housing, K-12 education funding, Medicaid – have been getting all of the airtime, but there are many other important policies that are in play.
  • A major celestial event occurred at our house this week. It’s not the one you’re thinking of. Indeed, the total eclipse of the sun turned out to be a partial bust. Thick clouds rolled in approximately half an hour before totality – or the ninety-five percent of it we were granted in our part of the Hudson Valley – and didn’t part for a good sixty minutes.
  • It's time to roll back this week's highlights from the WAMC Listener Comment Line.