Robert Harrington

“These are dangerous times,” writes Professor Tom Nichols in “The Death of Expertise,” his acclaimed 2017 book. “Never have so many people had access to so much knowledge, and yet been so resistant to learning anything.”

In the space of three years, from 1973 to 1976, I met and befriended three authentic geniuses. I didn't set out to meet any geniuses. It just happened that way by accident.

If you haven't heard yet, here is the insanity so far: About sixteen hundred January 6 rioters, including those who assaulted police officers and shouted to hang Mike Pence, could receive a share of $1.776 billion from Trump. “1776,” get it? Just like the famous year.

Three guesses who gets to pay for Trump's giant, stupid arch in Washington DC. You know, the one that is going to look like a cross between the famous Arc de Triomphe in Paris and a gold-tinselled Turkish whorehouse? You guessed it, the American taxpayer.

Back in 2010, a couple of enterprising young English guys with a dark sense of humour between them created a website called, “Is Thatcher Dead Yet?” It lived (and still lives) at isthatcherdeadyet.co.uk. If you go there today you will find, in huge, black 30-point type, the happy word “YES.

Because his father was a tyrant, intolerant of weakness, dismissive of human emotion, distant, bigoted, dysfunctional, demanding, children must die in Iran. Because his mother was absent, Americans must lose their healthcare, and he has no pity for them.

In 1971 Polish writer Jerzy Kosiński published a novel called “Being There,” which was subsequently made into a film starring Peter Sellers in 1979. It tells the story of a gentle, illiterate simpleton named Chance who works as a gardener in a mansion owned by a wealthy man. Chance is provided with stylish clothes and always wears them nattily.

A few years ago, I was talking with a psychologist friend of mine and I happened to mention to her that I once had two narcissists in my life. She told me something I never forgot. She said that whenever she got a narcissist for a patient she always referred them out. She had a bias against narcissists. They were the only kind of human being that she truly hated.

Once upon a time the most highly qualified candidate in American history ran for president of the United States. How qualified was this candidate to be president, you ask? I'll tell you.

My younger brother and I paid a visit to the Trocadéro in Paris nearly 11 years ago. The place affords a sweeping, beautiful vista of the city with the Eiffel Tower bisecting the view. But we didn't come for the view. We were there for the history.