Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
MAY 1, 2020 – In school I got “schooled” in the First Amendment. It was essential for a free, civil, and democratic society. Now I’m unsure. My uncertainty, however, is not because I’ve lost faith in the foundational precept of our democracy. I’ve always understood the First Amendment as a “mixed water” faucet, from which …
APRIL 25, 2020 – Feeling outraged that America’s led by a village idiot, I think about this day in Portugal in 1974. That’s when the military initiated the largely bloodless “Carnation Revolution”—named so because citizens stuck carnations into rifle barrels of soldiers guarding the streets. It signaled the end of Estado Novo—the “New State”—under the …
APRIL 20, 2020 – In these upside-down times, explanations abound as to which way is up and which is down; the differences among black, white, and gray; that “up” is “down,” green is red, and black is bad. Math, anti-math, math models, science, non-science, news, “fake news,” fake “fake news,” and information—baked, half-baked, misperceived, misstated, …
APRIL 16, 2020 – As the world struggles with The Virus, we’re learning that the spread of an invisible, highly contagious pathogen is as big a threat to humans as humans are to humans. But this attention-grabbing contagion is doing lots more than making people sick. It’s revealing in stark fashion many of the flaws …
APRIL 15, 2020 – Recently, all set to “do our taxes” by the traditional deadline, I realized that thanks to The Virus, the filing deadline is now July 15. Then a client called: what could he do with retail clients who can’t pay rent? (Fortunately, the client’s property isn’t mortgaged.) “Negotiate,” I said, “but condition …
APRIL 13, 2020 – We are deep into the era in which millions of Americans can’t hear Cassandra say, “I told you so.” Even when irrefutable evidence and ironclad proof fill the eyes, ears, mouth, and nostrils of a naysayer or human ostrich, the truth of her prior warnings is denied or ignored. When Bush …
APRIL 12, 2020 – When I peered out the window this morning, I was happy to see daylight, but unhappy that the sun was hiding behind a thick overcast. As a skiing fanatic, I was happy to see snow on the ground. As a rationale adult I was unhappy to see snow on the ground. …
APRIL 9, 2020 – Now more than ever, we see the importance of government . . . and business; or more precisely, the difference between good and bad. In the time of Corvid-19—without central, collective, organized effort by government and business, huge swaths of human population, if not all people within a given geographical area …
APRIL 8, 2020 – Little did any of us appreciate back in January how monumental those impeachment proceedings would be. While GoebbelsNews and Republicans drank and dispensed the Kook-Aid, Democrats experienced a collective apoplectic fit over Trump’s plain-as-his-own-words “high crime and misdemeanor.” The Blue Team saw the very essence of American democracy on the line. …
APRIL 4, 2020 – As is the case with everyone these days, I’m learning how to deal with stress created by The Crisis. Yesterday, I discovered some “deep breathing” exercises. By the time it had occurred to me to search “deep breathing” online, the sun had slipped under the horizon, and the outside temperature had …
APRIL 2, 2020 – Raise your hand if you want to live in a country where decades after Stalin’s excesses had been suffered by millions and revealed to millions more, people would demonstrate their adoration of the man by posting his portrait publicly, ringed with flowers. Or signal approval if you’d wanted to live in …
MARCH 29, 2020 – Pandemic. It’s as old as civilization. And how about civilization? We’re making it up as we go along. Viewed optimistically, it’s a record of progress. Seen pessimistically, it’s a descent into inevitable self-extinction. Evidence abounds for each perspective. I believe, however, that the more accurate depiction of the human record is …
MARCH 19, 2020 – FIRST, A TRIGGER WARNING: An anti-Trump rant! Not decades ago when I first learned about Trump, was I impressed by the man. When in my banking days I learned about his financial disasters—long before they were broadly publicized—I developed wariness about him. When he hatched his groundless “birther” hoax against Obama, …
MARCH 13, 2020 – TRIGGER WARNING: In this post, I swear twice . . . Damnit! Time to treat The Virus for what it is: the biggest threat to our way of life since . . . take your pick of national crises. This could well be our Grand Duzy. My evidence? Italy, a country …
MARCH 6, 2020 – Yesterday evening my book club met to discuss this month’s book—the Beethoven biography (see February 23 post)—along with our perennial topic: politics. Both the book discussion and the political talk were robust. Only one of us had read all 937 pages of the biography. I was second at page 825 plus …
MARCH 5, 2020 – Yesterday I had five intense political conversations—takes on the fourth-round playoffs. The first conversation was with a guy on my bus. In his early thirties, he’s secure and established. Exceptionally well informed, he’s even keeled in his demeanor and political views. Before The Great Consolidation, he’d been searching for the right …
MARCH 4, 2020 – Yesterday evening, I watched CNN’s political-sportscasters “call” the primary results. As a political junkie, I was in junkie heaven, as Wolf Blitzed, King John, David (Not) Chillin’, Van Man Jones, Tim McCall-it-all-Off, Glorious Berger, David Axelshaft, Joe Tapster, Dr. Al-Said-and-Done, Energy Woman, and Malik the Annunciator reacted and re-reacted to the …
MARCH 3, 2020 – The system is broken. Too much treasure and bandwidth are allocated to campaigns to nominate, then elect a president. As I’ve shouted here before, if we didn’t know better—and I’m thinking we don’t—we’d believe our representative democracy is a quadrennial election for an absolute, four-year dictator who wields a magic wand/club. …
MARCH 2, 2020 – Possible topics for today: Pete ending his campaign and the effect on Democratic presidential politics; OR the coronavirus and my temporary insanity triggered by Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Rush Limbaugh, and Donnie Trump, Jr., not to mention Vacant Mind himself. For readers who are out of the know, Vacant Mind, FoxGoebbels …
MARCH 1, 2020 – Yesterday evening my wife and I gathered with friends at a restaurant in old St. Paul. The occasion was a stop-over by Majiec Czarnecki, one of our World Press Institute Fellows (Poland) from several years back. He’s on assignment in the U.S. through November. We covered many subjects, but of course, …
FEBRUARY 29, 2020 – At every chance, I’ve been asking fellow Minnesotans how they’ll vote next Tuesday. My findings: People under the age of 35 are overwhelmingly in the Bernie camp; Older people are overwhelmingly undecided. Me? So far, I’m an older person. (That was a semi-joke.) Here’s my run-down of the field: Pete. Positives: …
FEBRUARY 28, 2020 – Thanks to thoughts and prayers, we’ll endure the current crisis. Magic stopped gun violence, so surely it’ll squash a bug so tiny, it can’t be seen. Seeing is believing, right? And if you can’t see this virus, how do you know it exists? Are you really going to trust socialist CNN …
FEBRUARY 27, 2020 – It’s looking more like Bernie will be the Democratic nominee. “Let me be cleah”—I myself am not a Bernie supporter, though if he is the nominee, I’ll have no trouble voting for him over the Wrecking Ball, assuming of course, that Bernie isn’t incapacitated by a heart situation. I disagree with …
FEBRUARY 26, 2020 – After watching yet another Democratic “debate,” I’m convinced that these “debates” are a Republican plot. Who among Democrats thinks these are a good idea? First, if you aren’t yet familiar with the candidates’ policy positions; their speech patterns, head movements, and hand gestures, you haven’t been paying attention. Bernie “Not-so-Sociable” Sanders …
FEBRUARY 25, 2020 – Many people are tired of politics and politicians. Without politics/politicians, however, our society couldn’t exist. They (and we!) are part of an essential triangle. The first side is “law.” Law is necessary for national cohesion. It’s also the sine qua non of personal freedom, private property (right down to your underwear), …