The Apple Fell off the Tree and Rolled into the Sewer

A highly unseasonable cold snap hit the Washington DC area (and, indeed, most of the United States west of the Rocky Mountains) this weekend, so Saturday morning found me relaxing indoors sipping a cup of Kopi Luwak with a shot of Remy Martin XO in it and my cat Twinkle curled up on the couch… Continue reading The Apple Fell off the Tree and Rolled into the Sewer

La Follia del Kurdistan dell’Imbecille Nella Casa Bianca

As regular readers of this Web log know, I’m an Italian-American – my full name is Tom Collins Martini, and my father, now long retired, was a bartender at a Manhattan society hotel. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, he invented a number of modern martini cocktails and named his children after the ones of which… Continue reading La Follia del Kurdistan dell’Imbecille Nella Casa Bianca

To Explain Ukraine is Mainly a Big Pain

The biggest single problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place. – George Bernard Shaw It was another working Saturday which found me at the Round Robin Bar after my final consultation ended at seven thirty in the evening. There, I saw Farquhar, a DC staffer for the Biden campaign and McLoon,… Continue reading To Explain Ukraine is Mainly a Big Pain

How Long Until Russia Buys Hawaii?

The attendee at my regular consultation with the International Finance and Foreign Exchange Attaché of the Embassy of Denmark on Friday was replaced with a last-minute substitute – Dr. Arnapalaaq Iteq Ikiaqutit, the Cultural, Legal and Political Affairs Deputy at the embassy’s Greenland Section. She was visibly upset as she situated herself on the chair… Continue reading How Long Until Russia Buys Hawaii?

Yup, That’s It for the Mueller Report, I Reckon

I had consultations running right up to seven o’clock on Friday, so I stopped by the Round Robin Bar after work. There, at a table by himself, sat Hymen Steinstien, one of several principal staffers to Representative Jerrold Nadler, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Despite the fact that Steinstien’s usual annual alcohol intake typically… Continue reading Yup, That’s It for the Mueller Report, I Reckon