Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
APRIL 15, 2025 – This morning when I woke to another day, I checked on the world beyond my immediate horizons. I was soon reminded that our country is looking like a dirigible engulfed in flames and fast losing altitude. Whether it turns into a bomb or swan remains to be seen, though the swan …
APRIL 5, 2025 – Late this morning, Beth and I headed down to the state capitol, site of the local “Hands Off!” protest that was part of a coordinated nationwide effort to demonstrate opposition to King Musk and the Pyrite President. In the back of our vehicle was Beth’s “STOP” sign, which she’d hurriedly painted …
APRIL 3, 2025 – While the investor world along with major stock indices seemed to be in a free fall today, I happily stuck my head in the sand—figuratively speaking. After all, I was driving and wouldn’t have been able to travel far with sand in my eyes. My first stop was the Asian Foods …
APRIL 2, 2025 – If money in politics were mercury in a rectal thermometer tucked between Democrat and Republican cheeks, we’d be calling 9-1-1 to save the patient. The latest example of campaign money running at a high fever level is the nearly $100 million spent on the race for the Wisconsin State Supreme Court—a …
MARCH 31, 2025 – As long-time followers of this blog site are aware, I’m capable of “serial posts”—not to be confused with “Post cereals.” The longest on record featured my “inheritance”; the runner-up was an account of my “Grand Odyssey,” travels around the world now 44 years in the rearview mirror; taking the bronze medal …
MARCH 27, 2025 – Here’s the question that dogs me whenever I consider a major issue of public concern: Can I—never “Do I”—ever know what I’m talking about? Another way of presenting the question is, Can I ever grasp, synthesize, analyze and draw a reasonable conclusion from . . . drum roll, drum roll . …
MARCH 23, 2025 – This morning after breakfast (over which I continued ploughing through Howard Zinn’s flawed[1] but compelling A People’s History of the United States, I poured myself a small cup of coffee and repaired to another reading spot to explore Anna Reid’s Borderland, fine work on the history of Ukraine, which, in turn, …
MARCH 17, 2025 – What a difference a day makes. A day; one full rotation of planet Earth, as it revolves around a star, which, in turn, with its eight captive orbs whirls around inside an arm of the galaxy, which itself is soaring through space too vast for our imaginations to grasp. But I’m …
MARCH 16, 2025 – We’ve all seen the latest polls reflecting extreme displeasure with the Democrats in Congress. The bottom line is a huge “thumbs down.” I don’t watch FoxProp (as in “FoxPropaganda,” distinct from MSNBCBOP (for “MSNBC Biased Opinion”), but I can imagine the hosts and guests are howling with glee. That reaction is …
MARCH 13, 2025 – As are a lot of people I know and respect, I’m at the end of the leash. “What to do?” as my Grandpa Holman would say to preface a protracted account of how he solved an imponderable business problem back in the day. Except in our day, I have no idea …
MARCH 7, 2025 – The past 24 hours brought a whirlwind of encounters that gave me much to ponder. First was an email from our good Czech friend Pavel—the same inimitable Dr. Šebesta whose letter from 44 years ago was the subject of my 2/24/2025 post. Embedded in his email was a link to Prime …
MARCH 6, 2025 – About a year ago I was driving home one evening with the radio on. This was good timing, since the programming happened to feature an interview with Adam Frank, author of The Little Book of Aliens, which I mentioned in my March 1 post. When this month’s host of my book …
MARCH 4, 2025 – I understand that earlier this evening Trump delivered the longest State of the Union address in 60 years. Many of us chose not to tune in, and I can say with robust confidence that our decision was the right one. In the bubble I shared with four others over a delightful …
FEBRUARY 26, 2025 – This morning I flew to New York for a fix of music by the Austrian composer Anton Bruckner—his seventh symphony to be performed Friday by the Vienna Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall (stay tuned and in tune). Aboard the flight I reserved an aisle seat to allow for easier walks up and …
FEBRUARY 14, 2025 – “It’s about another mile down the road,” said Cory, as we continued along Concord Boulevard south of the exit off I494. If I’d ever before driven down this route through an old and worn part of the Twin Cities, it was eons ago. Our destination was “1st Class Auto Sales” along …
FEBRUARY 13, 2025 – Many of us have been left to wonder: “What’s next—[e.g.] now that Co-President Trump and Defense Minister Hegseth have demonstrated they skipped the class in Basic Introductory Negotiations 101 [redundancy fully intended to underscore the point] by showing their cards to Putin before the game to sell Ukraine down the river …
FEBRUARY 12, 2025 – (Cont.) Now comes the third piece contributing to my “crisis of perception”: the Grand Dismantling of American government—conducted at breakneck speed with chainsaws and giant meat cleavers. The process is too deep, too broad, however, to examine fully in real time—or on this blog site. My readers—left, right and center—know the …
FEBRUARY 11, 2025 – (Cont.) Better than a year ago I expressed concern about how Trump 2.0 might unfold very differently from Trump 1.0. The latter was a clown circus starring Mike Flynn, Paul Manafort, Don Jr., Eric and others, not to mention the Charlatan in Chief himself, along with dark wingmen such as Steve …
FEBRUARY 8, 2025 – Not to be overly dramatic, but for the second time in my life I’m experiencing what I’d characterize as a “personal crisis of perception.” That’s a rather vague description, I realize, for what could be cast more definitively as a “worldview crisis” or “big picture crisis.” In any event, my first …
FEBRUARY 2, 2025 – (Cont.) Now that we’ve seen what destructive disruption we’re in for under Trump 2.0, the question, of course, is “What do we do now?” To a large extent, how that question is answered depends on where we have skin in the game. Notice, not if we have skin in the game, …
FEBRUARY 1, 2025 – (Cont.) That is, if we think we know what’s happening in the world today (under current circumstances, this means right down to the hour), what’s likely to happen in future weeks, months, even years? Since November 5, and especially since January 20, the commentators I follow and the people with whom …
JANUARY 31, 2025 – At any moment in the course of human events, every member of society faces three basic big-picture questions: What’s happening? Based on what’s happening, what’s likely to happen in the future? How can and should one try to influence and adapt to what’s likely to happen? Since Trump’s inauguration, these three …
JANUARY 23, 2025 – When I heard Republican Senators respond to the president’s blanket pardon of the J6 violent offenders, I experienced a bizarre physiological reaction over which I had no control. It ambushed me as I stood in our kitchen, rinsing dishes headed for the dishwasher. Fortunately, I was standing over the sink, and …
JANUARY 18, 2025 – Recently, I watched a Netflix documentary about the mind-boggling effort to build, launch and deploy James Webb. Of course, I’m not referring to the second NASA administrator by that name but the largest telescope ever built (by earthlings) and named in honor of him. The documentary reminded me of what I’ve …
JANUARY 11, 2025 – The images of Armageddon coming out of southern California form a veritable horror film. For the time being, the apocalyptic movie diverts us from whatever else in the world would command our attention. Amidst the regular reports of the role of climate change in the disaster and finger-pointing at various levels …