The Gangster Who Couldn’t Flip Straight

I know a lot of people prefer stuff like Venmo and such, but personally, I like cash, and I usually keep a couple of thousand in my wallet to spend at businesses and establishments where I’d rather not let them have my credit card numbers. It’s great for tipping, too – if you’re a good… Continue reading The Gangster Who Couldn’t Flip Straight

McCarthy Sweats the Parliamentarian’s Dilemma

At the Potomac’s first rapids, that ephemeral border between the tidewater and the piedmont, summer has begun to fade, as do the spots on the fawns in the back yard, while their mothers’ beige fall coats replace the bright red ones they have sported since the spring. Rains drench the Virginia woods in Great Falls,… Continue reading McCarthy Sweats the Parliamentarian’s Dilemma

The Donald Went Down to Georgia

After work last Thursday evening, I arrived at my home in Great Falls, Virginia around eight, poured myself three fingers of Glenmorangie 21 on some Icelandic glacier shards and settled down on the couch to relax listening to a rare direct-to-disk recording of Bernstein conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in a performance of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony… Continue reading The Donald Went Down to Georgia

Atlas Twerked: Who is Perry Johnson?

The island of Maui used to be the most stylish, hippest and upscale spot in the state of Hawaii, world famous for its glittering tropical beaches, verdant floral jungles, pristine coral reefs, spectacular wildlife, magnificent vistas and sparkling, rainbow-crowned waterfalls. It was a favorite haunt of celebrities, rock stars and tech billionaires. Accommodations for ordinary… Continue reading Atlas Twerked: Who is Perry Johnson?

Long Hot Summer Snowstorm

Last Thursday was the warmest day for Planet Earth in the last one hundred and twenty-five thousand years. Friday was warmer than that, and Saturday warmer still, each day breaking the previous one’s record, and today seems well on its way to surpassing them all. The geologic period that transpired one hundred and twenty-five thousand… Continue reading Long Hot Summer Snowstorm