"Blow up the bags of sham" – Jean Arp
Joe Biden gave his “First 100 Days” speech to Congress last night and it was a first for me. I’ve heard presidential candidates give speeches that had a bold vision for government, but candidates are running for office, they are not in power. I’ve heard contemporary presidents present a bold vision with many qualifiers –…
The trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd is over. The jury convicted Chauvin of two counts of murder and one count of manslaughter. Trial aside, anyone who saw the video(s) or witnessed the murder knew that Chauvin was guilty, and that includes Chauvin and his lawyers, who, because…
The stranding of the Ever Given super-freighter in the Suez Canal is far more than a tale of a boat run aground. If you’ve followed the story, you know that there was a backup of freight – 10% of the world’s shipping – and that some freighters doubled-back through the Mediterranean to make the trip…
Hello, I am back. My absence is not due to lack of words – trust me, I am full of them, or something! I’ve written several essays that I intended to send out but never got to the point where I was happy with them. The shift in Washington is so drastic, that my mind…
A week or so after Biden took office, many of us discovered a calm inside us. The calm came not just from the knowledge that the country was being run by intelligent, competent, empathetic people. We suddenly had all this space in our heads for something other than Trump. Trump as no longer top of…
Something about our psychology makes us believe that what we experience today is wholly unique to ourselves and this day. Technically that is correct. Go back fifty years and half the players involved in the current drama over “extremists in Congress” weren’t even alive. But, like a thousand punk songs that sound like “Wild Thing”…
So, here we go, the Joseph R. Biden Administration. Though the people occupying the White House have changed, I will be writing about the Biden administration with the same directness I did with the previous occupant. I will criticize and condemn when need be. I will give props when it is warranted and rare praise…
Well, that was a long 1,461 days! My lord! I’ve been writing on the Trump presidency nearly every day since it started and I am not totally sure what happened over last four years and don’t think we will know the depth of things for quite some time. There are, though, historical markers, events that…
Before the internet, cell phones, and instant communication, news was reported and consumed like this: An event happened. Planned or spontaneous, the reporters on the scene reported what was happening in real-time. Of the three mediums – print, television, radio – radio was usually the first to report an event in real-time. The reason for…
Immediately during and after events such as Wednesday’s failed Trumpist insurrection, I hop on the Facebook and warn about overreaction. My warnings often elicit a quick response from people who are angry and frustrated and want something to happen now. Some of the backlashers frame my warnings as me not taking a situation seriously and/or…