General
Two Stories and a Warning
Like hard times, history repeats itself. Boisterous, ruthless, sure he was marching down the road to destiny, Adolf Hitler got a surprise: Neville Chamberlain wanted to come see him. Dapper, thin face, smugness hiding an insecure heart, Chamberlain flew to Germany. Sitting in Hitler’s paneled study in the Bavarian mountains laid a deal on the…
Read MoreAn Old Warning
Conor sat down. “A poll in the newspaper says Republicans are 14 points behind Democrats – is that true?” He was asking about the generic ballot question in the poll. Both modern and old-fashioned, after law school Conor returned to his small town, practiced law with his father. Like his father, grandfather, great-grandfather he’s a…
Read MoreLincoln Stories
Three days before Abraham Lincoln was assassinated he told his wife and a small circle of friends a story: How one night he’d stayed up late waiting for dispatches from the front – when he finally got to bed, weary, he quickly fell asleep. In a dream a deathlike silence surrounded him. He heard distant…
Read MoreAn About Face
For months I’ve been wondering about tariffs: Are they good? Bad? Do they make a cup of coffee cost more? Who pays them? Are they taxes? Back in Reagan days almost all my Republican friends said, Yes, absolutely, they’re taxes. But today we’re marching down a different road. Trump says absolutely not, tariffs aren’t taxes.…
Read MoreNothing Noble About It
Allies for years, erupting, Trump called Marjorie Taylor Greene ‘a traitor.’ Greene, looking frazzled, posturing herself, shot back that standing up for women who’d been raped didn’t make her a traitor – said she never expected fighting to release the Epstein files would come to this. Insult hurling rolled on – Trump said Greene was…
Read MoreA Different Sin
I missed that Jeffrey Epstein, in one of his emails, mentioned this Sherlock Holmes story: Back in 1892, a famous racehorse was stolen in the middle of the night and the horse’s trainer was found dead. To Dr. Watson’s surprise, Holmes pointed out a curious fact: The night the man was killed the dog that…
Read MoreA Rough Week
Sitting in front of the shiny gold filigree on the White House wall, having a rough week after the election, Trump growled Democrats are ‘absolutely crazed.’ Insulting Democrats surprised no one. But it wasn’t the side of Trump folks like either. Setting his jaw, Trump warned Democrats were going to end the filibuster – so…
Read MoreLast Week’s Election
To fit the pieces together let’s look at three voters: Tom’s a Democrat, Dick’s a Republican, Harry’s an Independent – Tom never votes for a Republican; Dick never votes for a Democrat; and every election Harry has to make a choice – but who he chooses wins. Each party has what you could call a…
Read MoreHuman Nature
Years ago my grandfather handed me a photograph of a famous Virginia train wreck – today politics reminds me of a train wreck. It’s easy to blame Trump for that. But the blame runs deeper. In the Book of Samuel in the Old Testament King David lusted after Bathsheba, had her husband sent into battle…
Read MoreHelping Chiselers
Born in China, he moved to Canada, worked at a McDonald’s. Calling himself CZ, he returned to Shanghai, started his own cryptocurrency business. Became a billionaire. He opened Binance U.S., landed in a courtroom – terrorists like Hamas laundered money on his crypto exchange. He paid over $4.3 billion in fines, spent four months in…
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