American Democracy 1776 – 2024

At long last, after years of campaigning, rallies and rhetoric, and after billions of dollars spent to sway the opinions of a tiny sliver of the electorate residing in seven of its fifty states, the US 2024 elections have concluded. The people have spoken, and what they said was Donald John Trump will be the… Continue reading American Democracy 1776 – 2024

A Kennedy Off-Center Visit

As the Memorial Day weekend hails the start of summer in America (yes, the Rest of the World, I know summer actually begins in June in the Northern Hemisphere, but the last weekend in May is when we Yanks traditionally get our first beach sunburns and barbecue heartburns of the year) those of us not… Continue reading A Kennedy Off-Center Visit

Law and Order MAGA

Shortly after eleven on the morning of April 15, while I was in a meeting with a Kenyan diplomat, Gretchen sent me a DM that popped up on my workstation monitor. “A Mr. Daniello Finocchiona from Mulberry Street, who says he is your sister Rose’s maid of honor’s cousin’s boyfriend, has requested one of your… Continue reading Law and Order MAGA

Dueling Dotards

Throughout the history of civilization, great nations have risen and fallen, most often, according to the commonly accepted wisdom, by rotting from the inside out; usually, it seems, because of some virtue that proves, in the manner of Greek tragedy, to be a fatal flaw. While that may not be true in every case (the… Continue reading Dueling Dotards

Supreme Irony

As the New Year dawns, America girds its loins for its most crucial national election since 1864, when Abraham “Rail Splitter” Lincoln ran against his former Commanding General of the Army, George B. “Fuss and Feathers” McClellan. The major issue then was, of course, America’s Original Sin, racism, embodied at the time in a fratricidal… Continue reading Supreme Irony