The Old Lone Ranger

The Authoritarian Playbook

By Rich Marin | September 20, 2026September 19, 2026 by Rich Marin

There are several specific things on my mind this morning regarding authoritarianism. Let’s start with a proper definition. Authoritarianism is a system of government in which power is concentrated in a single leader or small elite that isn’t meaningfully accountable to the public. It typically limits political freedoms, suppresses opposition, and restricts independent institutions like the press and courts, while often still allowing some private economic and social life. It differs from totalitarianism, which goes…

Me & Buddy

By Rich Marin | September 19, 2026 by Rich Marin

I don’t very often get asked to do a full Buddy watch. Kim and I have an unwritten rule that I’m OK spending the evening with Buddy or several hours in the day with Buddy while Kim goes off to do whatever she has to do, but I very rarely am here at home all alone with him, being his one and only caregiver. There is nothing so very hard about it all, but its…

Business Advice Memoir

Techno-Ergonomics

By Rich Marin | September 18, 2026 by Rich Marin

I am home again this morning after two and half weeks of traveling to five countries and what I would call eight cities (one Dutch, one German, one French, four Swiss and one American). It’s good to be home and back on my sofa this morning typing away on my iPad, which is one of my favorite plantar to be…smiling across at Kim (busy doing her games and reading) and Buddy frolicking at my feat…

Memoir Politics

Rethinking Reparations

By Rich Marin | September 17, 2026September 12, 2026 by Rich Marin

One of the advantages of traveling internationally is the fact that I get to reconnect with CNN, which is the new source of choice in hotels around the world. This morning I am watching an analysis of the disaster in Nepal and it’s all taking on an interesting new angle. The foreign minister of Nepal was just interviewed by Anderson Cooper and the point he was making was that the billions of dollars needed by…

Memoir

The Stinky Onion

By Rich Marin | September 16, 2026September 16, 2026 by Rich Marin

Today is my Chicago day. I have free time and have decided to take the Chicago Architecture Center (CAC) River Cruise aboard the First Lady cruise ship. Seems like a fitting end to a river cruise vacation (as in Rhine River cruise). It’s widely considered the best of these tours since it’s the only one run with CAC-trained docents rather than generic tour guides. I really did get a good overview of the city history…

Memoir Politics

Wellbeing

By Rich Marin | September 15, 2026 by Rich Marin

As I prepare to leave Switzerland, I was listening to CNN as they interviewed a Swedish academic on his explanation of the political rebalancing underway in Sweden. It became a discussion of what the Swedes care about as they consider the issues most relevant to themselves. In many ways. Sweden ranks near the top of most global prosperity measures. According to the Legatum Prosperity Index, Sweden was ranked 2nd globally in 2023 with a prosperity…

Business Advice Memoir Politics

Trump v Humanity

By Rich Marin | September 14, 2026September 13, 2026 by Rich Marin

The big topic on CNN this morning is an essay by Dario Amodei of Anthropic. On Saturday (Sept 12), Dario published an essay called “We Must Pace the Frontier,” where he argued the industry must slow the pace at which it improves AI model capabilities. This doesn’t mean stopping development altogether, but regulating it with high priority. Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s approach has been consistently deregulatory and “pro-industry”, favoring a light-touch, federally uniform framework over state-level…

Memoir

Wrapping Up Europe

By Rich Marin | September 13, 2026September 13, 2026 by Rich Marin

I first went to Europe in 1968 at the age of 14. I arrived in Naples with my family on the Italian liner Michelangelo after a seven day crossing from New York City. We were moving as a family to Rome as my mother took a job as a director of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN. I’m not sure I had spent much time thinking about Europe before that having grown…

Memoir

Swiss Mist

By Rich Marin | September 12, 2026 by Rich Marin

Today we woke up in Zurich for the first of three days covering as much as we can see of Switzerland. I had planned out our visit to take full advantage of the available. Swiss rail passes which cover all trains, boats, cog railways, aerial tramways, buses and museums that Switzerland has to offer. After testing the train service and the museum tickets in Basel yesterday we arrived in Zürich and checked in to the…

Memoir

Art Basel

By Rich Marin | September 11, 2026 by Rich Marin

It’s a rainy day in Basel, so we are taking in the art of the city before going on the obligatory shopping spree. A few things converge to make a mid-sized Swiss city like Basel punch so far above its weight in the art world. There are the historical roots of the city as Basel’s art collection dates back to 1661. The Amerbach Cabinet, bought by the city, is considered the world’s oldest continuously public…

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