MAY 10, 2019 – I once had a flight simulator computer program that allowed me to “fly” all sorts of aircraft, big and small, fast and slow, old and new. Taking off was the easy part. I adjusted the flaps, powered up and away I flew. The toughest part was always landing the damn plane. …
IMPEACHIM’
MAY 9, 2019 – I think the producers of The West Wing should do an encore called, IMPEACHIM’. The show would mimic what’s unfolding today—mostly on CNN—but provide depth and context. The first season would feature the president behaving within a full range of what people of taste would find distasteful. Some of the infractions …
I WORRY ME
MAY 4, 2019 – When the 448-page Mueller Report was made public, I actually attempted to read it. Instead of relying on Barr’s interpretation, let alone his client’s—wait a second, the president is not his “client”!—or anyone else’s take, I figure I’d read and interpret carefully the contents myself. I’d be the good citizen and …
WAR AND PEACE
APRIL 27, 2019 – Last night I pulled from the shelf a small volume of short stories by Nikolai Gogol, translated into English. Inside the front cover I’d written, “Purchased in Moscow – October 3, 1981.” That was the day before the start of my seven-day rail journey across Russia—and seven days back—with layovers in …
WHAT ELSE WORRIES YOU?
APRIL 26, 2019 – Worry is a survival instinct, especially among descendants of Swedish immigrants to Minnesota in the first 12 years of the 20th century. This explains why I worry a lot. About what? Examples include: distracted drivers; misuse of big data; computer hackers; the surge in deadly, drug-resistant bacteria; climate change on the …
YEAH, BUTT . . .
APRIL 24, 2019 – My wife recently read me a FB political meme that went something like this: I get home from vacation and find my basement full of rabid raccoons. I call the city, I call several exterminators, but no one can or even wants to try to clean my basement of these awful …
PRESIDENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS
APRIL 23, 2019 – Yesterday, Seth Moulton announced that he too is running for president. I’d never heard of him either (he’s a second term Congressperson from Massachusetts). What gives? Do Democrats think they increase the odds of defeating Trump if they increase the number of people seeking to oppose him? What qualifies each of …