Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
FEBRUARY 8, 2020 – I watched much of yesterday evening’s “debate” among Democratic contenders for the White House. I was impressed and depressed—impressed by the general level of basic judgment, experience, and intelligence far in excess of Trump’s; depressed by the probability that no amount of judgment, experience, and intelligence is likely to overcome the …
FEBRUARY 7, 2020 – Wednesday brought speeches by democracy’s heroes, Senators Jones and Romney, followed by the death knell of democracy—Trump’s acquittal. Thursday brought Trump’s unbridled hate and vindictiveness. For a man who can’t distinguish right from wrong, good from bad, God from the devil, Trump’s condemnation of House Democrats as “evil” was the penultimate …
FEBRUARY 6, 2020 – If you haven’t listened to Senator Romney’s speech on the floor of the Senate yesterday, you should. Yesterday evening in his normally comedic monologue, Stephen Colbert, host of the Late Show, gave an impassioned tribute to the lone Republican Senator to vote to convict President Trump. In voting against the Lock-step …
FEBRUARY 5, 2020 – (Cont.) Now back to Facebook. A short while ago, my wife posted a meme reminding viewers that if the Democrats hadn’t won the House in 2018, Trump’s misconduct with respect to Ukraine would never have seen the light of day. A cousin of hers—an ardent Trump supporter, as it turns out—went …
FEBRUARY 4, 2020 – I’m a “patterns” guy. You might call it “confirmation bias.” Nevertheless, after enough confirmation of a perceived pattern, I begin to form an opinion . . . er . . . bias. I note specifically the pattern of responses I observe among Trump supporters. The start of the pattern came over …
FEBRUARY 3, 2020 – I grew up in a household in which organized sports were frowned upon, and the more highly organized the sport, the greater the frown. Our dad was the frowner in chief. He loved books, art, classical music, and was reliably skeptical of whatever attracted the masses. Sports qualified as a “masses …
FEBRUARY 2, 2020 – Yesterday’s edition of The Washington Post published an opinion piece by James Comey, one of Trump’s many outspoken nemeses. Comey provided cool reassurance to those among us who can’t stand Trump. He cited major upsets in our history, from the assassination of JFK to the demise of the Democratic Party with …
FEBRUARY 1, 2020 – We who’ve disdained Trump forever are in the funk we’d predicted for ourselves at the onset of the impeachment process. These past couple of days, we’ve been hurling invective at the Republican Senators who surrendered their scruples in order to . . . save their jobs; avoid the withering wrath of …
JANUARY 31, 2020 – Yesterday evening I listened to the Q&A portion of the impeachment “trial” in the Senate. Then came Senator Lamar Alexander’s announcement. As I peer into our country’s political future, I see serious trouble. The sad thing is, we’ve become so lost, so divorced from facts, truth, and reason that none …
JANUARY 30, 2020 – Soon the U.S. Senate will vote to acquit Trump and legitimize the arguments of Trump’s legal team—that the personal political interest of the president is by definition in the interest of the nation; that abuse of power, no matter how egregious, how destructive, how contrary to our operating principles, is not …
JANUARY 29, 2020 – Every evening during winter, I enjoy Little Switzerland. For years I’d ski the groomed, 5 km course. After several bad snow years, I adopted the habit of skiing repeatedly just the portion that included two good hills. This season, however, involves a new routine. I ski the groomed trail only to …
JANUARY 28, 2020 – Contrary to common assumption, not all who disdain Trump want his removal by impeachment/conviction. Why not? Vice President Pence. ’Tis far better to defeat the regime by a landslide in November. But how? By a good piece of theater, as in . . . MEANS OF REMOVAL ACT I – “SLAPSTICK” …
JANUARY 27, 2020 – Seventy-five years ago today, Soviet troops liberated the concentration camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau near the Polish town of Oświęcim (“Auschwitz” in German), just west of Kraków. It is estimated that of the 1.3 million people who were sent to those camps, about 1.1 million died—shot, gassed, worked to death, starved to death, …
JANUARY 26, 2020 – A prominent historian once said that no reliable history could be written less than a half-century after events under examination. Based on my own life experience, I find that perspective compelling. As we watch Trump’s impeachment trial unfold, we—right, left, center, off the charts—must wonder, Starting 50 years from now, how …
JANUARY 25, 2020 – Yesterday I heard Adam Schiff’s lucid, eloquent, factual, and stirring argument before the U.S. Senate. I then listened to reports of the minimal effect on Republican senators. Their deafness is linked directly to the decibel level of Trump’s base; their rally cries, amplified by Sean Hannity . . . for which …
JANUARY 24, 2020 – Today’s paper contains a number of one- or two-liners by people off the street regarding the impeachment proceedings. As I contemplate the mismatch between what people know and think, on the one hand, and on the other hand, what’s required to sustain a democracy in a country of our size and …
JANUARY 23, 2020 – Given Adam Schiff’s textbook, prosecutorial performance yesterday, the untenable aspects of the Republican defense of Trump are now in the plain light of day. Perhaps the most startling revelation of yesterday’s proceedings was how many Republican Senators were hearing and seeing evidence for the first time. And what greater hubris and …
JANUARY 22, 2020 – Even casual observers of the impeachment process know that the House “indicts” and the Senate conducts the “trial,” over which the Chief Justice presides. What’s becoming apparent too is the Framers’ flaw: the Constitution’s silence on discovery, trial procedures, admissibility of evidence, and resolution of legal issues pertinent to impeachment. Beyond …
JANUARY 21, 2020 – In ancient times I used to ski the American Birkebeiner Race, a 50-kilometer x-c ski marathon from Mt. Telemark to Hayward, Wisconsin. (For more about the race and its history, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Birkebeiner) My best race qualified me the next year for the second of ten waves totaling 10,000 skiers. Theoretically, my …
JANUARY 18, 2020 – I worry that we’re living in a post-democracy; that we’ve gone from democracy to dumbocracy—and are now headed for doomocracy. As I observe the disorganized crime boss in the White House and the psychological extortion scheme by which the crime boss controls the Republican Party; as I see how Big Data, …
JANUARY 17, 2020 – Undaunted, he worked doggedly for admission into another Polish university, less selective than Jagiellonian University, but nonetheless, boasting a top-flight history department. He labored under the tutelage of a legendary scholar/professor, and then made a second attempt at Jagiellonian University. He passed. (In a “small world” aside, my wife and I …
JANUARY 16, 2020 – Recently I was asked to handle a business transaction involving a party with an H1b visa. Concerned about the effect the contemplated event might have on such a visa, I called my good friend Jurek, an immigration lawyer. A few years ago, our offices used to be on the same floor …
JANUARY 15, 2020 – Hooray, hooray for the Democratic candidates! Any of them is vastly superior to Trump. But wait . . . I must harangue. That any of the Dems stands vastly superior to Trump is a resounding indictment of Trump. We face a sorry state of affairs when the fact that damned near …
JANUARY 14, 2020 – This is my 250th blog post. At 500 words per post, the cumulative total equals 125,000 words. My brother-in-law’s memoir—yet to be published—comes in at around 150,000. Fifty more blog posts and my total collection will attain equivalency with his memoir . . . in quantity, anyway. As I hiked back …
JANUARY 13, 2020 – Overwhelmed by other political afflictions, we’ve surrendered to . . . the money. Last week each of the top four Democratic presidential campaigns announced staggering fourth-quarter contributions. Bernie led with $34.5 million, but that haul was surpassed overwhelmingly by Trump’s $46 million. Yesterday’s edition of The New York Times included …