The Birkenstock Dream This evening we are watching a movie we know that we have seen before, but which is less than fully memorable to us since so much of it is subtitled. It is the 2022 film called The Swimmers, and it is a real story about two Syrian girls that are trained Olympic swimmers. It tells the harrowing tale of their escape from war-torn Damascus, leaving their family behind for the time being,…
The Big Lie You have to hand it to Donald Trump, he has a habit of always aspiring to be at the top of whatever hill he chooses to climb. Of course, the more accurate way to characterize that would be to say that he always aspires to declare that he is at the top of whatever hill he chooses to say he has climbed. I’m sure the subtlety of what I’m differentiating there is…
From Heather Cox Richardson‘s Letters From an American Turns out I’m more omniscient than I thought…………… In a Washington Post op-ed today, House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) offered House Republicans a “path to a better place” than the “dysfunction and rancor they have allowed to engulf the House.” Democrats have repeatedly offered both in public and in private to enter into a bipartisan governing coalition, he wrote, but under former House speaker Kevin McCarthy…
Babies, Puppies & Vets There’s an old saying in politics that the things you never screw around with in a negative way are babies, puppies and vets. What’s that about? Those are things everyone…everyone… is sympathetic to, so you simply do not fuck with them, or if you do, you make damn sure no one else knows about it. Who doesn’t like babies? They’re innocent and helpless. Politicians make a point about kissing babies for…
Crossover The recent chaos in the House of Representatives over Kevin McCarthy’s speakership has made many of us ask the obvious question of what’s next. My friend Gary and I seem to be two of the only people that I know that have the stomach for discussing such things. Whenever I bring up politics these days, I mostly see peoples’ eyes rolling, and the firm expression on their faces implying that they wish I would…
Backsliding In 2020 I spent most of the year during the early stages of COVID working almost every day around the hilltop with Handy Brad, fixing up everything and anything that seemed either amiss or not exactly as I wanted it. Handy Brad and I got quite close over the course of that year. He is a salt of the earth guy who is like many of the working class Americans that inhabit the majority…
Elite Immersion I admit freely to being a devotee of MSNBC. I understand that it subjects me to some derision, certainly from my conservative friends, but also from some moderate friends and even some more liberal acquaintances that consider it invasive to their peace and harmony to submit to the daily media barrage of any sort. And if you spend an entire day listening (as I do via Sirius radio at times like during a…
Sevastopol I just left the Mendocino Peninsula which is just north of the Russian river. When you visit this part of Northern California, you learn that Russia once held a stronghold in this part of the state. There was a Russian colony in this part of California from 1812 to 1841. It seems the Russians thought Northern California was the land of plenty when it came to the bountiful forests and the abundance of sea…
Ought v. Naught The Conclusion I have now done most of what I set out to do with this project with two exception. Like any good plan, I have remained flexible enough to adapt it as I go. I originally set out to review our founding documents and to spend a moment thinking about the lessons from our creative content. The documents were fairly easy to define as The Declaration of Independence, The U.S. Constitution,…
The Great American City If someone asked me what TV show was the first to make an impression on me, I would have to say it was a toss-up between Gunsmoke (started as radio in 1952, then TV from 1962-1975), Have Gun Will Travel (radio and TV from 1957-1963) and Bonanza (TV from 1959-1973). All westerns, which remains the true and original American art form when it comes to TV in my estimation. Last year…