Big Confused Turkey Mobbed by Little Blue Twitter Birds

Each time I go there, it’s déjà vu all over again.  Yes, the Turkish Embassy in Washington looks just like the spooky embassy of an ancient imperial nation should look – something straight out of a spy thriller movie, a hulking bunker, faced with stone in a rococo 18th century style.  Topped with one of… Continue reading Big Confused Turkey Mobbed by Little Blue Twitter Birds

Kerry Stokes GOP Greenhouse Effect

With the Ukrainian Crisis in its second week, the Dalai Lama visiting Washington amid protests both diplomatic as well as on the streets, and the Conservative Political Action Conference in full swing, those would have been quite sufficient to keep Gretchen and me working twelve and fourteen hour days all week, including up until ten… Continue reading Kerry Stokes GOP Greenhouse Effect

Royal Caribbean Poop Cruise Shivers the Industry’s Timbers

My four o’clock appointment on Wednesday was with Richard Branleur Couilles-Baiser, formerly of Montreal, Quebec, but today the chief industry lobbyist for the International Alliance of Holiday Cruise Ship Associations, a trade organization headquartered here in Washington DC.  He strode smartly into my office, tossed his briefcase on the coffee table and perched jauntily on… Continue reading Royal Caribbean Poop Cruise Shivers the Industry’s Timbers

GOP Insiders Proclaim – No Fools On Our Ticket!

With New Year’s Day in the middle of the week, business won’t get back to full volume here in Washington until this coming Monday, when I am booked up solid for ten hours of consultations.  The rest of next week is like that too, and so when Gretchen had to begin offering clients the choice of… Continue reading GOP Insiders Proclaim – No Fools On Our Ticket!

US Navy Gets Screwed by Fat Guy in Singpore and It Hurts

On a Friday night in a Norfolk, Virginia bar, a stone’s throw from the Navy’s most important base on the East Coast, you can meet a lot of miserable, drunken sailors.  But if you visit a bar, as I did, on a Friday night in Crystal City, Virginia, within spitting distance of the Pentagon, you… Continue reading US Navy Gets Screwed by Fat Guy in Singpore and It Hurts