Kieran Mulvaney

I wrote a thing.

As the election gives way to the transition, feelings are still raw on both sides; heads continue to be scratched on one side and chests thumped on the other - although even the chest-thumpers include among the ranks plenty who are more than a mite apprehensive about what has been done and what lies ahead. Amidst all the recriminations and autopsies, both sides are still talking past each other and neither seems to be doing a great deal of soul-searching. Many are missing the fact that it is entirely possible that a number of seemingly contradictory statements can all be true: Read More 

Man, I need to stop buying things. But in January, I am going on the vacation of a lifetime, on safari in Kenya, and I figure I'll kick myself if I come back without enough beautiful photographs to hang on several walls. And when you're in for several thousand dollars, you might as well be in for several hundred more. Read More 

I was recently introduced to a movie musical called 'Across the Universe' which tells a tale that is set to a soundtrack of Beatles songs, somewhat in the style of 'Mamma Mia.' I hadn't head of it before, and was surprised to find that it came out in 2007, apparently to mixed reviews. I thoroughly enjoyed it - unsurprisingly, perhaps, as I love The Beatles - and now find myself unable to shake 'Girl', a track that isn't necessarily among the band's best known or most frequently played but is one of their most mature and melodic. Here's the cover version from the movie, sung by the lead actor, Jim Sturgess.



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When you're wrong, you're wrong. Being far from the only person to have called the election incorrectly is no great solace.  Read More 

The good news is that, one week from now, Hillary Rodham Clinton will be elected President of the United States. The better news is that Donald Trump won't be. It is hard to imagine that there has been a more venal, vacuous and vile major party nominee since Reconstruction, although George Wallace surely at least runs him close. Not that Clinton is in any way an inspirational figure in the mold of Barack Obama; she comes across as calculating and cynical, a cookie-cutter emblem of all that is wrong as politics as usual (although there is, of course, much to be said for the country electing its first female head of state). Yet there is, and has been throughout this campaign, a false equivalency. The choice is not between two equally flawed candidates; it is between a flawed candidate and a feces-throwing chimp. There really is no choice to be made.

The bad news is that a combination of her continued self-inflicted wounds, the media's obsession with the easy reporting of those wounds, and its normalization of a Republican nominee who has so many failings that would be disqualifying of any other candidacy, means that the margin of victory will not be as large as it should be. At one point a week or so ago, I dared to dream that maybe Arizona and even Georgia or perhaps Texas might be in play; now I suspect Clinton will fall short of 300 electoral votes. That will embolden the Trump wing of the Republican Party, and unless the Democrats also take the Senate, means that the Clinton presidency will be four (and almost certainly only four) years of unrelenting obstruction. What happens on November 9 and thereafter may prove to be of even greater concern than what has passed over the last 18 months or so.  Read More 

There is nowhere like the Ross Sea region in Antarctica. The stunning vistas remain seared in my memory, almost 25 years after I first saw them and 15 years since I was there last. In the last couple of weeks, they have been the focus of good news and bad. The bad - the truly tragic - was the death in a snowmobile accident of Gordon Hamilton, one of the best climate science communicators, and one of the nicest people, I have met. I met and worked with him in Greenland in 2009, and his death has robbed the world of a truly positive force for good. This piece by Justin Gillis in the New York Times is a wonderful tribute.

Had Gordon lived just one week more, he would have been able to enjoy the good news that came out of Antarctica as, after many years of effort on the part of some dogged and determined campaigners, the Convention on Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living resources (CCAMLR) set aside a large part of the Ross Sea as a Marine Protected Area. The agreement was imperfect, as I spell out here , but it was a tremendous step forward in the protection of this most special place. Read More 

On July 11, I made my debut on an HBO fight night broadcast, as I took on postfight interview responsibilities following Sergey Kovalev's light heavyweight title win over Isaac Chilemba in Yekaterinburg, Russia. The whole thing was something of a blur: after 24 hours of travel out there, and two days on site, I was on my way back to the United States. But it was a fun trip, and a tremendous opportunity, for which I'm very grateful. Read More 

I find myself profoundly saddened by the death of Muhammad Ali at the age of 74. He truly was The Greatest. He was The Greatest not only for his peerless performances in the ring, or for his quick wit and good humor, or for the way in which he transformed showmanship in athletics, or for his later-life humanitarianism, or for the gracious and classy way he battled with Parkinson's Disease. He was The Greatest because, in an era of profound social upheaval, he did not shrink from the challenge of confrontation and principle, but embraced it. He not only touched the third rail, he grasped it tight and dared everyone to pry his hands from it.

I attempted to pay tribute to his life in this piece for Seeker.











If you want to understand why he was so great in the ring, watch what is widely regarded as his most complete performance, against Cleveland 'Big Cat' Williams in 1966.



And for just one example among many of his pop culture impact, here's Johnny Wakelin's musical tribute to arguably Ali's greatest night in the ring:



RIP Champ
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Many thanks to Jared Gilkerson for inviting me on AfterBuzzTV for an interview recently. Really enjoyed it. Be sure to check out their channel on YouTube.