Friday, May 23, 2025

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Welcome to Real Estate Friday!

Kate Lascar of Compass offers a beautifully renovated former stagecoach stop that blends modern comfort with historic charm. See how architect Pamela Sandler transformed a lake house on the shores of Lake Onota. A report on real estate sales in the first quarter of 2025. Plus, recent sales and gardening columns and a home-cooking recipe.

CAPITAL IDEAS: What happens to stocks after Middle East crises?

The U.S. produces about 13 million barrels per day and consumes 21 million, so higher oil prices could depress economic growth. But I’m not worried about that yet.

ORANGE ALERT: The (almost) daily outrage

The president of the United States is effectively scolding our intelligence services for doing their jobs.

Mueller for Dummies, Part II: Obstruction of justice

Mueller lists the actions that prompted his decision “that there was a sufficient factual and legal basis to further investigate potential obstruction-of-justice issues involving the President.”

REVIEW: ‘The Threat’ offers a nuanced look at the always-complex challenges of trying to enforce law and order

Andrew McCabe has spent his life on the front lines and appreciates the stakes in a way most of us can’t. His passion is matched by his sense of urgency. It says something when some of the toughest folks in the land—FBI officials, former CIA officials—are frightened.

BOOK REVIEW: ‘House of Trump, House of Putin,’ the plot to put a Russian operative in the White House

Unger makes several startling claims: Trump was but one of dozens of U.S. politicians and businesspeople targeted over more than 20 years who became indebted to Russia.

CONNECTIONS: The plots to subvert democracy

It is harder to understand why American citizens would undermine elections. Yet, in American history, the movements to be inclusive have been balanced by the movements to remain exclusive.

‘Unhinged’: The World According to Omarosa Manigault Newman

These days we are all a bit unhinged. Omarosa Manigault Newman helps explain why.

PREVIEW: Tanglewood performance by Igor Levit, JACK Quartet to highlight notorious demagogues

Beethoven suffered fools from time to time, but he wanted nothing to do with despotic megalomaniacs.

Smoke Signals from the Swamp: The Russians and more Russians

Thanks to special counsel Mueller’s July 13, 2018, indictment of 12 Russian military intelligence officers, we’ve learned in excruciating detail about the extensive hacking of the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and cyberattacks on the boards of elections of various states, and companies that supply software and other technology related to the administration of U.S. elections.

CONNECTIONS: America’s core values: A refresher

Those focused on the job and intent on completing the work assigned to them, those working for benefit of others and without an undue need to take a bow or toot a horn, those are the ones with the confidence to allow for others to thrive.

REVIEW: ‘The Plot to Hack America,’ the untold war on American soil

We are used to the images of war: bombs and bullets and blood. But Nance knows what many Americans are unwilling to recognize: We are at war and this war is being fought on our land.

Jeff Beals is true progressive choice for NY-19

In a letter to the editor, Steve Dunda writes: "Jeff Beal's diplomatic work under both Republican and Democratic administrations will help Republicans and Democrats work together."

Smoke Signals from the Swamp: Comey on Comey in ‘A Higher Loyalty’

Critical reviews of “A Higher Loyalty” are easy to find. Instead, I’m going to offer some excerpts many critics have neglected—reminiscences that reveal why James Comey has become the man he is, providing perspective about why he responded the way he did to the Clinton email investigation and the improper demands of Donald Trump.

BOOK REVIEW: ‘Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump’ by Michael Isikoff and David Corn

Isikoff and Corn try to answer an essential question: Why is Trump so enamored of Putin? So willing to turn a blind eye to Russia’s efforts to sabotage American democracy, so unwilling to strike back when he continually brags about his commitment to answer every blow with 10?

A NOVEL: ‘Over the Edge,’ Chapter 9

The machines probably thought it was improper that both a Russian agent and a now-supposed American asset had eaten Hungarian food at the same place. It could have been as simple as the machines just didn’t like palatschinke.

CONNECTIONS: The makings of a dictator

There are handbooks on becoming a dictator. You have to have the taste for it and the talent but, if you do: create an oligarchy, encourage thuggery, undermine checks and balances and silence the press.
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