Orlando Shootings a Human Tragedy, First and Foremost
• June 18, 2016

Before the horrific mass murders in Orlando, Florida, become completely enfolded in and submerged by politics and the presidential campaigns, we ought to remember what’s most human and most important […]

Orlando Shootings a Human Tragedy, First and Foremost
• June 17, 2016

Before the horrific mass murders in Orlando, Florida, become completely enfolded in and submerged by politics and the presidential campaigns …

Thank You, Citizens
• June 10, 2016

At the annual meeting of the Citizens Association of Georgetown on May 24, a number of awards were presented.

Annie …

Clinton Has a Few Days to Savor Her Historic Victory
• June 9, 2016

The following is a sampling of the Washington Post’s June 8 front page headlines. Under the Campaign 2016 category: “Clinton celebrates victory” with a subhead of “On second try, faith […]

The Night Muhammad Ali Came to Georgetown
• June 8, 2016

In 1995, the Govinda Gallery, for many years at 34th and Prospect and founded by Chris Murray, had already made a name for itself as a gallery that was as […]

The Georgetowner Endorses
•

Come on, Bernie, you’ve made your point. Now join forces with …

Clinton Has a Few Days to Savor Her Historic Victory
•

The following is a sampling of the Washington Post’s June 8 front page headlines.

Under the Campaign 2016 category …

The Night Muhammad Ali Came to Georgetown
•

In 1995, the Govinda Gallery, for many years at 34th and Prospect and founded by Chris Murray, had already made …

The Last Republican Standing, Presumably
• May 16, 2016

This past Tuesday marked the first time in a very long time that Tuesday wasn’t Super Tuesday, if you discount the fact that Bernie Sanders won another primary, this time in West Virginia.

But it wasn’t Super Tuesday. It was instead, as they might say in the halls of Trump Tower: Day One in the Presidency in Waiting of Presumptive Republican Party Presidential Nominee Donald Trump.

Or the Twilight of the Republicans, the Beginning of the End of Days of the Not Feeling So Good Grand Old Party.

Or it’s just another Tuesday with NCIS and the ageless Jethro Gibbs, and the last two episodes of very special agent Anthony DiNozzo.

One thing is certain: Donald Trump is the Presumptive Presidential Nominee of the Republican Party (not to be confused with presumptuous or pretentious). The Donald — who was apparently planning ahead when he copyrighted the phrase “make America great again” before announcing that he was running — is it.

No matter how Trump’s May 12 confab with Speaker of the House and GOP party chair Paul Ryan, and another meeting with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, went, it might be worth looking at how the U.S. electoral process got to this point.

There is, of course, nothing much anybody in the GOP ranks or, for the moment, anywhere else can do about it. In the immediate aftermath of this development, NBC anchor Lester Holt made a beeline for Trump Tower for an interview in which Trump said he would like to see the coming national campaign elevated to a higher level. He said he would be nice to Hillary if Hilary were nice to him.

That pretty much evaporated when he called out Bill Clinton on his scandalous past with women and said Hillary Clinton was an enabler and so forth and so on.

That was Trump being Trump, as was his reaction to the fact that House Speaker Paul Ryan could not as yet find it in his heart to endorse him. Trump was stumped; he didn’t see that coming and was peeved.

Trump is apparently under the impression that he has already won the election, announcing that Chris Christie would be managing his transition team. It’s fair to say that Christie probably had a bigger job in mind, but Trump hasn’t actually won the election yet. He also said he would be making announcements about his Supreme Court appointments very soon. Rick Perry, the former Texas governor and candidate for president — first out among the many — volunteered that he might be happy to be vice president.

This is what the great 2016 election cycle has come to. Nobody saw that coming. They saw the 17 other people coming like the running of the bulls and assumed that out of this cloud of dust a somewhat moderate candidate might emerge — a very conservative candidate who could reach out to all the voters who voted for Obama twice and snatch a few here and there, just enough to win. That would be Mr. Bush (Jeb), Mr. Rubio (Marcolito) and possibly Mr. Walker of Wisconsin, whose most notable accomplishments in the campaign were to quit early and to win Wisconsin for Ted Cruz. That would not be what’s-his-name, John Kasich, the governor of Ohio.

It turned out that the guy who could turn out the voters was Trump, former host of “The Apprentice,” who spent most of his life on the campaign trail and the rest of it on Twitter and Instagram, just like the rest of us.

Mr. Trump won in spite of the fact that he had little or no impulse control and said and did things that would have knocked out a candidate for alderman, dogcatcher and police chief any other time. He won in spite of the fact that his speeches were notably devoid of content, that he was fair-to-mediocre during debates (the ones he showed up for) and said most of the candidates were “nice” or “a disaster” or “low energy” (Jeb Bush) or untruthful (“Lyin’ Ted”).

This is not the space to talk about Trump’s policies. He seems to be willing to change them if they get him a win, and so cannot be relied upon to offer a clue as to what he actually may think.

It still seems strange that when there were only two and a half people left standing in the GOP race, one of them would be Ted Cruz, perhaps the least liked person on television apart from the girl who calls her car Brad, as in “and then I totaled Brad.”

One by one, 17 little Indians, dropped out, quit, evaporated or disappeared.

Welcome to the Age of Trump, 24/7. Not to worry. Late polls show Trump and Hillary Clinton in a close race. Let the games begin — or continue, as it were.

Cause of Student Death: Swept Under the Rug?
• May 4, 2016

The April 24 death of Edward Blatz, Jr., 21, a Georgetown University undergraduate, is certainly a tragedy for his family — and a cutting, lasting sorrow no parent should have to bear. Our condolences are offered to family and friends during this time of mourning.

The discovery of the death was made more poignant because on this sunny April Sunday people were walking past the fateful house at 1401 33 St. NW — some from the service at nearby St. John’s Church. At the corner, shut down by the Metropolitan Police Department, were police cruisers, an ambulance and a Homicide Division vehicle. With some sharp comments, a few justifiably upset neighbors shook their heads at the well-known student group house and its sad conclusion.

The Georgetown University Athletics Department released a statement April 24 quoting Kevin Warne, head coach of the lacrosse team: “Eddie was a great young man who was well-respected and well-liked by his teammates and the Georgetown lacrosse family. He was a very bright student and a talented player and words cannot express the loss we are feeling right now.”
Along with a general email to students, that was about all that Georgetown University seemed to want the media to report about the death.

The Georgetowner went on to report where that student lived — and the concerns of neighbors over drug and alcohol abuse. Several emails arrived in our inbox — from down the street and across the country. One of those emails came from someone well acquainted with student athletics and the lacrosse world.

The accusatory missive — while tough to hear right now — raises some basic questions and is reproduced, in part, here:

“Hoyas men’s lacrosse players partying after loss to Virginia, three OD, one dies, one revived by paddle defibrillator, another also hospitalized.

“Georgetown University is so tight-lipped on this as it is a clear demonstration of the complicit conspiracy within the quasi-elitist lacrosse community-culture cover up — just as are all schools, coaches, parents and players where the self-ordained immunity to rules violations and consequences tolerate the norm of ‘good boys from good families’ allowed to historically and chronically abuse drugs and alcohol. You needn’t be so disappointed in just Georgetown. This overlooking of the root cause of the problem is systemic and ubiquitous in lacrosse.”

The death of Ed Blatz need not be in vain — and we are not saying it is part of any so-called lacrosse insider culture, as described above. But his death should shine a light on any problems students may have with drugs or alcohol — and any exclusionary sports subculture that would be so selective of the truth. Drug abuse or alcohol abuse survive in the dark, not so much in the light.