Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
OCTOBER 25, 2021 – Recently, my sister and brother-in-law attended a fund-raising dinner for LiNK. No, not Linkedin but Liberty in North Korea. They were so impressed by the people they encountered—and by the mission of LiNK—I thought the least I could do was call attention to this amazing organization. Founded in 2004 by mostly …
OCTOBER 8, 2021 – Rent control has long been in vogue in “Big Blue” states like New York and California. Now it’s up for consideration in Minneapolis and St. Paul. The shortage of affordable housing across urban America is a major problem, intersecting with companion issues, from racial inequality, income disparity, and access to transportation, …
OCTOBER 4, 2021 – Traditional conservatives are quick to condemn big spending bills as “inflationary. Little sets their hair on fire faster than, “a trillion bucks.” Not all experts, however, think “a trillion bucks” are inflationary. Cathie Wood, whose Ark Investment Management fund has attracted billions of dollars, said recently on Bloomberg Wealth, “I truly …
SEPTEMBER 25, 2021 – When asked what he thought about democracy, Mahatma Gandhi purportedly said, “It’s an interesting idea.” Democracy has ample flaws to render it “interesting,” starting with . . . everyone gets to participate—including people who aren’t subscribers to democracy’s fundamental principle: power is derived from the consent of the governed, not from …
SEPTEMBER 19, 2021 – Yesterday was the perfect lake day—nearly a full week into my break from “breaking news.” The weather was delicious—temps in the mid-70s, under cloudless skies, and a soft breeze out of the south tantalizing our imaginations. For the first time in two years we were joined by friends Ann and Ravi, …
SEPTEMBER 14, 2021 – If you’re on the “normal” spectrum during most of your waking hours, the news over the past few years has doubtless left you “not so normal” on any objective scale of psychological conditions. The only antidote besides mind-altering substances is a hard break from “breaking news.” I’m 36 hours into cold-turkey …
SEPTEMBER 11, 2021 – On 9/11 I shared in the universal reaction to horror wrought by extreme misanthropes. Then came the “War on Terror”—a game for which we set the rules: 1. The game has no end; 2. No matter how many points we score, the other side wins by scoring once; and 3. The …
SEPTEMBER 10, 2021 – Recently, in the outdoor seating of Boca Rica, a local Mexican restaurant popular for its authenticity, I heard a remarkable story. While ordering, I wore a bright blue, cloth mask bearing the slogan, Make America Intelligent Again. I’d been invited to lunch by W______, a retired banking client of mine, with …
SEPTEMBER 9, 2021 – With Afghanistan dominating headlines lately, when was the last mention of Iraq, Syria or . . . Myanmar? Thanks to the persistent, courageous journalism of one Emily Fishbein, I read and thought about Myanmar quite a lot late on Tuesday. That’s when I received Jeff O’s email containing a link to …
SEPTEMBER 2, 2021 – Out of respect for people’s privacy, I’ll refer to the lead characters of this post as “A,” “B,” “C,” and “D.” They are members of one big unhappy family that used to be happy. I am very well acquainted with each of them. The unhappiness that has descended upon them is …
AUGUST 31, 2021 – Yesterday, my wife and I fell into a funk over issues that divide the country. One matter was the pandemic, brought home by the advisability of me getting a Covid test—and quarantining. Thank goodness we have the Red Cabin, and of course, my wife and I are fully vaccinated. I made …
AUGUST 28, 2021 – “Stay off the MSG,” our son Byron texted in response to a synopsis of my dream Thursday night. Years ago he would have been right. Whenever I ate lunch at the Nanking a block from my office tower in downtown Minneapolis, I experienced hallucinogenic dreams the following night—after my hands tingled …
AUGUST 27, 2021 – As one of many, I’m following news reports and commentaries about the American withdrawal from Afghanistan. Much attention is on the moment; less focus on 20 years of failed policy. The ragged retreat is the bad fruit of long-lived failure. The more I read and listen, the more I scream, as …
AUGUST 26, 2021 – Today’s headlines could drive any thinking person into a cave, protected from a world on fire and free from people obsessed with their individual freedom—to hell with the rest of us. To calm myself down, I decided to play an old mind game: What would I do with a billion bucks? …
AUGUT 25, 2021 – Yesterday, while sitting on the porch, working away on my laptop, I espied our neighbor Kent walking past in the alley. Anticipating a profitable diversion from work, I called out to our local curmudgeon. He’s a retired English teacher who’s devoured nearly every piece of American fiction worth reading. He’s also …
AUGUST 24, 2021 – Yesterday I watched an exchange on FoxNews—my “go-to” source for rightwing propaganda. Tucker Carlson, a highly compensated creature of the rightwing audience-rightwing media feedback loop, was interviewing Brit Hume, the outlet’s stately “senior policy analyst.” The subject was “Biden’s botched evacuation” from Afghanistan. Mr. Snarly and Mr. Stately reveled in Biden’s …
AUGUST 21, 2021 – I used to joke that in “Libertaria,” traffic lights would be privately owned, coin-operated, and voluntary. I’m no longer joking. Our biggest single threat is unfettered freedom to do whatever it takes to make a buck—and whatever purveyors of falsehoods, religious beliefs, or conspiracy theories order us (ironically) to do. What’s …
AUGUST 20, 2021 – In these days of debacle, I imagine a conversation with my long-gone elders. We’re sitting on the porch, sipping lemonade while discussing current events. Aging folks view the world differently from how they found it in their younger years. I thus apply a range of settings to my imaginary time machine. …
AUGUST 19, 2021 – I never, ever thought I’d say, “Make America Great Again!” Whether I’ll don a red “MAGA” cap remains to be seen, but having learned never to say, “never” . . . “Really?!” you say. Really. With great nostalgia I recall when every kid at school was given a Mantoux test for …
AUGUST 18, 2021 – Yesterday I witnessed two family members exchange barbs over our exit from Afghanistan. As argument ensued (via texting), I was reminded how difficult it is to accept loss, mistakes, and failure. On an emotional/psychological level, denial of defeat is understandable: it’s a survival trait. If we surrendered whenever we “got things …
AUGUST 17, 2021 – During a recent trip to Home Depot, we loaded a cart with several items manufactured in Vietnam. These prompted me to think about the intractable Vietnam War and our ignoble exit from the country in 1975. Those of us who were old enough to have noticed remember the Fall of Saigon, …
AUGUST 12, 2021 – I used to worry our country would descend into civil war—Dems vs. Reps; haves vs. have nots; people who relied solely on Fox for news vs. those who didn’t. Now, I’m not so sure. Perhaps the outcome is simply . . . a wholesale breakdown of norms; a chaotic unraveling of …
AUGUST 2, 2021 – On Sunday we—my wife, son Byron, daughter-in-law Mylène, and I—made a Home Depot run in Middletown, CT, followed by a near total buy-out of current inventory at an adjacent Price Chopper grocery store. I was familiar with “Home Depot”; I’d never heard of “Price Chopper” As we grabbed “price-chopped” stuff off …
AUGUST 1, 2021 – Yesterday, our son Byron and daughter-in-law, Mylène, gave us a walking tour of their new home-town, Chester, CT (pop. 3,994), then drove us to Rocky Neck State Park on Long Island Sound. On the rural route back, we stopped for locally-made ice-cream. As we enjoyed the scenery of these parts, where …
JULY 22, 2O21 – What’s worse: a. The violent, January 6 attack on the Capitol; or b. Republicans’ continued support of a disordered former president, who called the unruly mob, “a loving crowd”? I say “b.” A country in which people who wield substantial political power will say and do anything to stay in the …