Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
MARCH 29, 2023 – Those of us who are repulsed by the Duly Defeated are quick to draw a direct connection between FoxProp’s viewership and Defeated’s political success within the Republican Party. I know (and respect) a number of people who are dedicated members of that viewership. I’m also well acquainted with their blanket rejection …
MARCH 25, 2023 – If you turn check the news these days—or any days—you’ll either investigate Canadian citizenship or follow my example and take matters into your own hands, as in . . . I’m going to be arrested on Tuesday. There, I’ve put it out there. (You can too.) The phone lines and website …
MARCH 22, 2023 – During my years working inside a large financial institution, we were subjected to a regular onslaught of new and improved terms that people slung around mostly to gain acceptance among other people doing likewise. When I encountered the latest lingo in management meetings I wanted to stand up and scream, “Can’t …
MARCH 21, 2023 – When the Duly Defeated came to Minneapolis for a rally in October 2018, the best parts of the show were the clever protest signs among the thousands of demonstrators in the street outside the rally. My favorite: “WHERE DO I START?” At around the same time, I encountered a well-educated, well-heeled …
MARCH 12, 2023 – Sorry, back to the dismal science, because truthfully, I’m fascinated by dismal science and . . . of all the immediate and intermediate things for us good people to worry about, the economy ought to be front and center. If a light breeze now carries our excursion vessel—full lunch buffet included—around …
MARCH 10, 2023 – Today brought unsettling economic news, including the gathering storm clouds around “X Date”—the date when absent legislation increasing the debt ceiling, the federal government runs out of dough to pay its obligations as they come due. By consensus among economists of all stripes, the consequences of Congress not raising the federal …
MARCH 6, 2023 – (Cont.) It was known as the “McCauley Mansion,” built by a member of the McCauley clan, who’d made tidy money during the early days of the lumbering town. But all had gone to wreck and ruin by the time Harriet McCauley, inheritor of the home, had reached her 50s. By 1960, …
MARCH 3, 2023 – The latest news—except on FoxNews—is that Fox isn’t even pretending to be news. Correction: this isn’t news. Further correction: by an old-fashion definition of journalism, not much else that appears on cable news is . . . well, news reporting, as opposed to opinion. But a large distinction separates opinion channels …
FEBRUARY 22, 2023 – Today, as any school kid of my generation could tell the teacher, is George Washington’s birthday. It wasn’t a hard thing to forget when in the first few years of grade school, February 22 featured some prominent reminder: cherry cupcakes for lunch; a story reading by the teacher; an art project …
FEBRUARY 18, 2023 – My mood took a hit today when I discovered that iced-over “Little Switzerland” remains a big fail for skiing. My attitude plunged further after I examined a Venn Diagram of three news items. The first was a one-year review of Putin’s War—a brutal, pointless outrage spawned by a dictator’s megalomania and …
JANUARY 21, 2021 – Recently, a college friend with academic credentials deeper than the seven layers of Troy uncovered a volunteer opportunity with the National Archives Citizen Archivist Project. The task involves transcribing old documents. As a PhD anthropological archeologist, he’s eminently qualified. In his email about it he wrote, “Transcribing some of these records …
JANUARY 16, 2023 – Of all our national shortcomings, the legacy of our Original Sin remains the most persistent contradiction of our basic stated operating principles; a contradiction with real, hard, extensive, corrosive consequences for all of us. The sine qua non of redemption is acknowledgment, yet many Americans still actively resist hearing, reading or …
DECEMBER 7, 2022 – Today in 1941 is the “day [that] will live in infamy,” so said President Roosevelt—the second Roosevelt, but I’ll come back to that later—in his speech to a joint session of Congress the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. “In infamy,” as it turns out, doesn’t mean “in eternity.” …
DECEMBER 4, 2022 – Surely you’re acquainted with the right-wing “America First Party” with the motto, “Fighting for Faith, Freedom and the Constitution to Put America First.” Likewise, you’ve heard of Holocaust-denier, Nick Fuentes, Trump’s recent lunch guest and instigator of the annual America First Political Action Conference (“AFPAC”). But how many people who encounter …
NOVEMBER 8, 2022 – Today was a blustery fall day at the Red Cabin. A strong blow out of the southeast whipped the lake into a frenzy and made trees sway without relief. Until João and Joana called from Lisbon late in the morning, I could’ve forgotten it was Election Day (I’d voted early)—our Portuguese …
NOVEMBER 7, 2022 – This evening I ventured out to see the full moon emerge from its wanderings in the exotic East. Here at the Red Cabin, which faces the lake due south, deep woods obstruct the sky east and north. To catch the moonrise, I’d have to follow a woodland trail to a promontory …
OCTOBER 28, 2022 – (Cont.) “Honest to God,” Eagleton said, “I spent—everyone in Congress spent—more time trying to raise money than we spent actually doing the jobs to which we’d been elected. Then early one morning I was shaving, looking at myself in the mirror. I stopped shaving and stared at my face. And I …
OCTOBER 27, 2022 – Back in politically ancient times, campaign finance reform was an issue. It even rose to sufficient prominence to invite serious political debate, followed by meaningful legislation, most notably BCRA (“Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002”) popularly known as the “Feingold – McCain Act”). In olden times, as in any era of …
OCTOBER 26, 2022 – No person on earth is watching November 8 more closely than a man from afar. He’s a heartless, soulless, evil, violent, megalomaniac, hellbent on reducing the largest nation in Europe to a pile of rubble and a land scorched with human misery. By moral and ethical standards of civilized society, his …
OCTOBER 25, 2022 -As we enter the home stretch before the mid-term elections, I shake my head and mutter—now write—“Seriously?” If sobering matters weren’t in play, I’d think that C students are running for student council, appealing for the votes of D and F students. The A and B students, meanwhile, race from class to …
OCTOBER 13, 2022 – Today I’d intended to watch the January 6 House Select Committee hearing in its entirety. Before Liz Cheney had completed her opening statement, however, I decided that to stay glued to the TV would be akin to watching The Godfather for the umpteenth time, except with key scenes screened in slow …
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 – When I was a corporate warrior, a fellow lieutenant remarked periodically that we were in trouble—again—because our corporate general believed his own (latest) “press release.” I think of that observation when I hear today’s circle of parrots—leaders of a major political party, personalities on a popular cable news channel, and followers/supporters …
SEPTEMBER 22, 2022 – After crossing a whitewater stream, today I reached the opposite, “30-day” shore. My feet are wet, but I’m now standing and admiring terra firma. In this achievement I find relief. The hiking path ahead follows the winding brook, yet I’m confident my course will remain on solid ground. I turn, then, …
AUGUST 26, 2022 – (Cont.) Nurse John greeted me cheerfully at my 7:30 appointment yesterday. His mask concealed his face below his eyes, but the eyes and voice revealed unmistakable kindness and intelligence. His calm, friendly demeanor put me at immediate ease. Though definitely a “people person,” he also loved talking science—specifically, the science of …
JULY 23, 2022 – Is “breaking news” making you crazy? Try consuming only “financial journalism.” First, if we were to follow only news reported by financial media—e.g. Bloomberg, Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal—soon half the population would be snoring in la-la land. The calming effect on society would be transformative. Second, the remaining half …