The Wednesday Curator – 7/20/2016

July 19, 2016

This week, the golden rays should be emanating from Donald J. Trump. Here’s the smart writing about him:

The Republicans waged a 3-decade war on government. They got Trump. Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann wrote this long piece for Vox. They’re smart guys, and their observations resonate.

Josh Marshall, editor and publisher of TalkingPointsMemo.com reaches what may be the essence of the Trump campaign in Violence, Blood and Betrayal inside the Trump Potemkin Village.

From Jane Mayer for the New Yorker, here’s Donald Trump’s Ghostwriter Tells All. Ms. Mayer’s piece captures Mr. Trump’s essential awfulness.

[Honestly, the Curator looked for essays, written well, which say positive things about Mr. Trump. There were none.]

The Curator had intended to leave the Melania Trump fiasco alone. But you do need to read Trump Time Capsule #44: Melania Channels Michelle by James Fallows. Mr. Fallows wrote speeches for a living, so he knows a bit about that world. And, while he acknowledges straightaway that the “umm, overlaps … don’t ‘matter’ in any cosmic sense,” he spends a very few words demonstrating why the episode makes the Trump campaign “look seriously bad.”

The Library of Last Resort, written by Kyle Chayka for New Left Review, reports on the ways in which the Library of Congress has failed to adapt to the digital age. Leadership was the issue, and in plenty of other Luddites have been slow about adapting to modern times.

Lewis Cullman and Ray Madoff wrote The Undermining of American Charity for the New York Review of Books July 14 issue. Their thesis: Donor-advised funds (or DAFs) give donors all of the tax benefits of charitable giving while imposing no obligations that the money be put to active charitable use.

Mr. Cullman and Professor Madoff are experts in philanthropy. They are provocative, and have given the Curator’s alter ego food for thought. This is a must read piece for anyone who is serious about philanthropy!

Four Seasons, Lunch Spot for Manhattan’s Prime Movers, Moves On by William Grimes, The Four Seasons: A Most American Experience by Holly Brubach, and The Last Dinner at the Four Seasons by Tejal Rao, were published in the New York Times on July 8, 15, and 17, respectively. Each piece provides a different take on the The Four Seasons, the landmark New York City restaurant which opened in 1959 and closed after dinner service on July 16, 2016.

For something more Plebeian, the Curator offers up a cheeseburger and fries, from Husk in Charleston, SC:

huskcharleston_burger.0

 

 

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