Autocracy as Democracy: What Republicans Mean By “Unity”
After the events of last Wednesday, January 6, 2021, it should be a lot clearer to most of us who hadn’t quite understood it before, just how the U.S. Republican … Continue reading
The Unfinished Business of 1989
There is something that the western media hasn’t touched on that much about the world reaction to the horrific attack on Ukraine this month by Russia. What has become crystal … Continue reading
The Revolution IS Being Televised
(With respect to the great Gil Scott-Heron) June, 2020, USA:
No PPE Shortage Here
As America continues to convulse under the brutality of the Trump administration in all of its forms, now most recently as the result of the murder of George Floyd by … Continue reading
“While you bleed to death.”
One of my readers has taken exception to the impeachment rhetoric overflowing since Wednesday’s announcement by Nancy Pelosi that the current president of the United States will be undergoing an … Continue reading
Telling the truth? Not to the best of his recollection
If anyone needed evidence for why America has a system of laws intended to hold the powers of State accountable for the job they are entrusted with performing for our … Continue reading
Not Even A Cold War
Ironies engulf me in this month of November, 100 years after the end of the War To End All Wars, which it didn’t, of course. Instead, that war set the standard to … Continue reading
“We find ourselves in a moment where we recognize the arrogance of power”
English translation from the Slovak of a speech by Andrej Kiska, President of Slovakia, regarding the murders of journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancé, Martina Kušnírová (BACKGROUND NOTE: This fellow, as … Continue reading
Twitter Needs To End
Yikes, a reader writes: I have never warmed to Twitter. The premise of an artificially restrictive “platform” for communicating that allows you only a few dozen letters to complete … Continue reading
Fears of freedom in the Great Again
My uncle read this recently, and sent me a note: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/14/opinion/sunday/millennials-freedom-fear.htmlet “Let me tell you about freedom. It is not a ‘thing’, like Uggs or a new laptop. Freedom … Continue reading
Goodbye, Walter
Walter Becker died today. He was 1/2 of Steely Dan, the other half being Donald Fagan, whom I have tickets to see, coincidentally, on the 16th of September, 2017. I … Continue reading
Debate #1: Winning On Points was Not Enough
What is disturbing about the current presidential campaign season is not that Donald Trump has succeeded with his asinine incompetence and little conception of his utter unsuitability for being president … Continue reading
Brexit! – or – Cutting Off Your Nose To Spite Your Face
This just in: “In voting to leave the E.U., it is vital to stress that there is now no need for haste.” –Boris Johnson Two days after Britain voted to … Continue reading
Why Trump is Winning, So Far.
To me, there is one very obvious reason for why Donald Trump has continued to win in the Republican Primaries. People are sick and tired of the doorknobs who are … Continue reading
The Witch Is Dead
Antonin Scalia died yesterday and it is a shock. It is a tragedy for his family and a sad thing in general, when a person of stature well-deserved passes away. … Continue reading
Buckley vs. Douthat — Intellectual vs. Intellectualist
This post will resonate mainly with those who are avid readers of the New York Times and, perhaps, with those who encounter the columns of Ross Douthat in that newspaper. … Continue reading
David
“Wheat kings and pretty things Wait and see what tomorrow brings” My dear M., You might be fatigued by the megabytes of music from Tiny in your inbox over … Continue reading
Je suis Charlie, mais …
The murder of the editorial and creative staff of Charlie Hebdo is an almost inconceivably horrible crime. Charlie Hebdo stood undoubtedly for freedom of expression, to take to task everyone … Continue reading
Sony, “The Interview”, and Civility — Mistaking Impertinence for Virtue
There’s rather a lot of self-importance being displayed by all of the people that Frank Bruni mentions this week in his column, who are “sanitizing” their on-line correspondence because Sony Pictures got hacked. “If … Continue reading
Something About Hillary
In response to the earnest Frank Bruni this week: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/opinion/sunday/frank-bruni-hillary-2-0-would-be-hillary-xx.html It is fallacious to look at Mrs. Clinton as a woman who has scaled heights unknown to other women in America … Continue reading
A Kind of Poem on “Pachucos At The Pumps” (or was that “Pachuco Leather Punks”?), Hope, and Music
“Beneath the stains of time / The feelings disappear / You are someone else / I am still right here.” . . . I can imagine Trent Reznor writing that on … Continue reading
Fiddle Music from ‘La Belle Provence’ (Canada)
“Dear M., I hope that you’re not yet sick of my transmissions. For I have re-discovered this great Québec group that has this great version of Sur Le Pont D’Avignon, … Continue reading
Ottawa: October 22, 2014
Living in Canada means something very different today than it did before yesterday morning. Not only do I live in Canada, but I live in Ottawa, where yesterday – on … Continue reading
My old man and Hank
Charles Bukowski’s empathy showed often enough in his writing, just at the right places, remarkably, that it continually renewed your faith in what he wrote, though I never got the … Continue reading
Monster Chiller Horror Greenhouse Theatre
The first 25 seconds of this video are just hilariously creepy/funny. Former serial-killer Vitali now grows peppers in his vast, bright white greenhouse, and demonstrates just how he does it … Continue reading
A Snippet Of Dialogue On DSK
A group of moderately successful fiction writers sit around and muse on the circumstances that Dominique Strauss-Kahn allowed to happen that led to his downfall. This fragment of an imaginary script … Continue reading
“Hi hansomm, I wwant your loove”.
According to my inbox today, size matters and I should care. Despite everything, “Natasha” is in love with me and wants me to click on her link to experience her insane desire. … Continue reading
Harper’s
I am reading the “Story” sections in my Harper’s now. I’ve been avoiding them for 2 years, because I was afraid they were too good, or too fictional, or both. … Continue reading
India
Got back the day before yesterday. With a 9-hour overnight layover in the Dubai airport, the return home will take a while to overcome, but going to India will stay … Continue reading
The Knight of Nyet
Even more fascinating as a study in delusion than Vladimir Putin’s quest to recreate the power and glory of the Soviet Union, is his Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, the “Knight … Continue reading
Forgiveness and the ‘feng shui’ lady
The feng shui lady told me that I am carrying too much anger, and that people who rub me the wrong way are actually showing me something I don’t like … Continue reading
A Musing On Beauty
It occurred to me as I was watching the Argentina-Switzerland World Cup match that our ability to see colour is not an accident. I wonder if it’s possible to determine … Continue reading
Flowers from Kiev (reconsidered)
There is unnerving power in these photographs. These photographs by Anastasia Taylor-Lind were published in June in the New York Times. They are simple portraits of some of the protesters from February who participated in … Continue reading
“This product is crap !”
I went on the Internet to see what others were saying about a camera that I was interested in buying. The first site I visited was, of course, Amazon.com. I … Continue reading
Molly and the Moorish Wall (and Abstract Expressionism — no, really)
Digging deep into my bag of ideas from before I had the idea of having a blog, who do I find but James Joyce! At the age of 26, I … Continue reading
Why Art
You are nominated three times for an Academy Award and win on the fourth nomination. You appear in 50 films and are considered one of the most profound actors of … Continue reading
Brothers, Sisters, Mothers, Fathers …
Dear M, Your brother’s email to you was awful; tactless and crude. As I’m a bit older than you, though not necessarily smarter, I’ll be bold and offer here some … Continue reading
Vladimir, Part 2
Not Your Grandfather’s Smart Phone How is the game different today? I would submit that America and Europe have been better at what seems to be squarely within the blind … Continue reading
Vladimir, Part 1
“Russian forces skillfully employed 21st-century tactics that combined cyberwarfare, an energetic information campaign and the use of highly trained special operation troops in its annexation of Crimea.” – New York … Continue reading
Oscar
I have a real problem with Oscar Pistorius. This is the fellow of 27 who claims that he accidentally shot his girlfriend when he believed he was actually shooting at … Continue reading
The Times we live in (no pun intended)
There’s a lot to say in a first post. It’s not possible to get it all in, of course, especially at this time of night. But the world, for someone … Continue reading
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