Do the Right Thing It has been 76 days since Nancy Pelosi announced the House of Representatives’ investigation into an impeachment inquiry. We have had 76 days of action that basically has taken the form of Democrats unearthing countless facts that support the claims that Trump abused his authority, that he coerced and bribed President Zelinsky of Ukraine, and that he has continuously obstructed Congress in its efforts to get to the bottom of what…
Whose Father Do You Think Would Be Madder? Back in the days before political correctness was the necessity it is today, I heard my redneck Chairman (RIP) comment about a married couple who worked for us that came from different ethnic backgrounds. It is one of the funnier yet most biting comments I have ever heard that effectively denigrated two ethnicities all at once. I am hesitant these days to repeat the comment except in…
Our Political Banana Peel Back in college, one of my buddies loved the comedian Don Rickles. For those of you who remember him, his schtick was focused on denigrating people of all ethnicities and creeds. Everyone was a hockey puck to him (I never realized a hockey puck was such a lowly item). He had a comment that has always made me laugh. He would find somebody in the audience that he found funny-looking and…
The Politics of Coping We had dinner last night with the husband and son of one of Kim’s old Los Angeles friends. Neither of us knew them very well, but there was history and they were in New York on business, so we met them for dinner. What we did know about this man was that he was in commercial real estate and that he was from Orange County. Normally, that would not make for…
To Be or Not to Be In the pendulum swing of politics, Mr. Trump and his Republican lackeys in Congress have caused the pendulum swing as far right as I can imagine. When I was recently on a motorcycle trip with a solidly red friend, he asked me with genuine curiosity why I thought some people in the country are throwing their support behind Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren when their positions are clearly…
Bloomberg v. Buttigieg I am, needless to say, watching the field of Democratic contenders to the 2020 election nomination with great interest. In fact, I am watching it with a level of interest I have never once before experienced in my life. I’ve been an adult of voting age for twelve prior presidential elections, starting in 1972 and I can honestly say that I’ve watched more candidate maneuvering for the 2020 election than I have…
The Danger of Republics If you are a bunch of people who want to band together for common purpose, you need a few things, according to sociologists. You need a legal and economic system, in addition to a political system. I think of these as the big three, but there are certainly other cultural or social systems, but with the big three you’re off to a good start. They must also be woven together in…
Wearing Your Underwear on the Outside Yesterday, an immigrant brought to this country at a toddler with his twin brother and who has spent the past twenty years as an officer and gentleman in the U.S. Army (as has his twin brother) was maliciously and wantonly accused by Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee of being a disloyal possible double agent for Ukraine. Why was this accomplished and highly decorated war veteran and…
The Righteousness of Failure I watched a screener last night that my wife gets as a member of the SAG/AFTRA Nominating Committee. It’s the movie called Dark Waters starring Mark Ruffalo and Anne Hathaway and I have been seeing trailers of it lately, so I was anxious to see it. It comes nineteen years after Erin Brockovich showed the world the power of class action suits against corporate polluters. This excellent new movie has a…
Cat on a Curtain A metaphor I have enjoyed using for many years is that of a cat on a curtain. We can all envisage a scared and jittery cat jumping up to cling to a sheer curtain and digging its claws into the flimsy fabric with its unsupported draping flow. It is an image of utter fear combined with a very insecure foundation of support for the wary feline. The metaphor conjures an…