'…a major destabilizing influence'
Clint Eastwood is a great filmmaker. Unforgiven is a flawed, but still magnificent, western that deals with the tension between legend and reality. Eastwood’s latest film – Richard Jewell – is another example of tight, well-wrought filmmaking. But as good as the film is as storytelling, it emits a rotten smell. OK, it’s hardly as …
Invisible clouds of methane rise from the thawing tundra, and from bubbles percolating in the northern sea And from god-forsaken tank-farms of grief. With my special diet, these high-tech glasses And in spite of my best attempts at denial, I can clearly see the specter of extinction Afoot in the land. I took a walk …
In 1966, during the early years of the America’s war against Vietnam, Congress passed and President Johnson signed into law a Freedom of Information Act. The FOIA wasn’t all that great at the time, though. Indeed, it took the courageous act of two men, Daniel Ellsberg and his co-conspirator, Anthony Russo, to to …
Continue reading “‘Afghan Papers’ Wouldn’t Be Needed If We Had a Real Independent Newsmedia”
My best friend and I followed the Fenton To Mansfield Hollow Dam When I was 8 or 9. Beautiful memory. Beautiful stream. The water was weak-coffee-colored (From oak leaves Steeping in the slower Muddy-bottomed bends) But clean. We waded Most of the way barefoot, Slipping on the algae-coated Stones, losing our balance, Playful as otters. …
Donald Trump’s narcissistic, authoritarian instincts and the man’s clear admiration of Vladimir Putin’s gangster-capitalist leadership style makes me think of archetypal killers. During his campaign for president he spoke often of killing; he would anonymously refer to some of his business friends as “real killers,” which was meant as a compliment on their skills and …
Donald Trump’s infamous undermining, threatening and driving out of her position of the American ambassador to the Ukraine earlier this year -– now an key element in the impeachment inquiry of the President -– contains gross similarities to the terse termination just months later of the African Union’s ambassador to America. The attaks on and …
Continue reading “African Leader Follows Trump’s Dirty Deal Playbook When Sacking An Ambassador”
A lot of pundit verbiage and Democratic Party internal debate as well is being wasted on the question of whether Trump could be convicted successfully in a Senate currently run by a lickspittle Republican majority afr0aid of their shadows and devoid of any concern for the fate of Constitutional government. Let’s accept that the 20-plus …
Circle up. Hold hands. Look around. Look across. Look at your feet. Look at all the shoes. Shoes with feet in them. We make a good circle. Circle of people. Is life a circle? Where is the circle of life? Is there a bigger circle? Why can’t I see it? Is the Koala in it? …
Michael Bloomberg, according to Forbes Magazine the 9th richest man in the world with a net worth this year of $54.7 billion, isn’t just the real billionaire candidate for President in 2020 (Donald Trump’s net worth is almost certainly not counted in the billions, and could be negative for all we know, since he won’t …
On June 12, 1987, the greatest president in the history of the United States of America (according to US opinion polls), Ronald Reagan, challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. Twenty-nine months later, November 9, 1989, the communist party leaderships of the DDR and Soviet Union, complied and opened the wall. I …