“At around noon on 14 April, 2025, America ceased to have a law-abiding government.” — Edward Luce, Financial Times (London), April 16, 2025 Mom was working on a jigsaw puzzle of the U.S. Capitol and turned to me: “Tom, do you know what makes our country great?” I was about 10 years old and under the education of nuns, so…
Many bright, well-meaning people are trying to figure out Donald Trump’s plan. They’re debating the efficacy of tariffs and deportations and saber-rattling and giant cuts to funding and agencies, such as the National Weather Service. They’re wondering if the tariff statements were just an elaborate stock-market scheme. They’re looking into Trump’s philosophy and method and the logic of it all,…
It seems the rich have us by the short hairs. They control our federal government, which they are dismantling. They control the few corporations that own our economy and have jacked prices so high that they are the only ones not feeling the pinch. If we don’t act soon, most of us will eventually become serfs in their medieval, dystopian…
A question largely overlooked in the coverage of Donald Trump is why does he dishonor himself? Why does he mock the disabled? Why does he insult our nation’s war heroes? Why, one week before the election, did he use a microphone to pantomime fellatio? Where does dishonorable behavior get him? What does it achieve? Why does he continue with it?…
“Those gooks were fierce and fearless. That’s the price you pay when you invade.” Rocker Lou Reed, from “Christmas in February” Vladimir Putin won’t own Ukraine. Neither will Donald Trump. The Ukrainians will own their own country for as long as they want to, regardless of the outcome of Putin’s ongoing war of invasion. Modern history shows that occupations following…
As a child, I was taught, “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.” That lesson is meant to teach that there is a principle above victory and success that is more important than victory and success – it’s honor. A person’s honor was worth more than anything in the world. It was a person’s…
My wife has been traveling on jets more than 50 years, ever since she was a young child. For the first time yesterday, she became seriously ill on a flight. She felt light-headed and nauseous, and deplaned her flight at a scheduled stop, admitting herself to a hospital. After conducting a battery of tests, doctors determined she was fine. My…
“The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.” British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Gray, on the outset of World War I History tells us that democracies are rare and fragile and that periods of enlightenment are sparks, not torches, for showing us a way forward. In the long span…
“As democracy is perfected, the office (of president) represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move towards a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” H.L. Mencken, 1920 “We rip…
Satirical humor columnist Dave Barry would sometimes find unimaginable situations or events to put in his column but to keep his readers from assuming they were fabricated, he would write, “I am not making this up.” Yes, I am not making this up. One of the most reprehensible and dishonorable characters in our nation’s political history now holds its highest…