“This is OUR Hemisphere, and President Trump will not allow our security to be threatened.” Tweeted by the Department of State, January 5, 2026. “I feel better going into this New Year than I did a year ago,” I told my son. My son disagreed. He and his wife and two children were visiting for …
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose/ By any other name would smell as sweet.” Juliet, in her soliloquy, diminishes the significance of a name; in this instance Romeo’s surname, Montague. Romeo would be the same “dear perfection,” she proclaims, if he were a mere Smith or Jones. But maybe not a …
An American’s observations of a first time trip to France. *Normandy Landings Omaha Beach – Pointe du Hoc – Sainte-Mère-Église – Normandy American Cemetery A dog romps around this mostly quiet beach. There’s nothing quite like the unbounded joy of a dog on a beach, kicking up golden sand, and stopping occasionally to inspect the …
An American’s observations of a first time trip to France. *Normandy Landings Gold Beach, October 2, 2025It’s chilly, windy, and threatening rain when we arrive in Normandy.We’re renting a house in Ver Sur Mer, a small community near Gold Beach. Gold Beach isn’t a name that the local tourist bureau thought up as a gilded …
On Constitution Day 2025, the Trump Regime tore off yet another piece of the Constitution of the United States of America and tossed it into the dumpster. There, in that dank bin, that poor metaphorical slip became part of a growing pile of bits, pieces, scraps and chunks of a document that was ratified 238 …
Trump and MAGA; they aren’t unlike the roadkill skunk decomposing down the block that the animal control boys aren’t getting around to picking up. Festering and funky in the afternoon sun it sits there and cooks, the effluvium is never ending, 24/7/365 – for four rotten years. And there’s no escape. It’s dark on the …
The Fourth of July. Its formal name is Independence Day, and with apologies to all the Christians out there, it should be the most revered of American holidays; more revered than Christmas and Easter. Take it from an agnostic. Traditions keep us grounded and I followed one every Independence Day. Before dawn, I would, with …
America has reached the momentous, yet really meaningless milestone that occurs every four years; the completion of the president’s first 100 days in office. It’s an unofficial-official anniversary demanded by nothing more than tradition. Neither required by law or mandated by the Constitution, the hundredth day is when the pollsters poll, the press reports (in …
April 27, 2025I was at a protest yesterday and one of the speakers asked the assembled crowd, “How many of you are afraid to look at the news in the morning?” The show of hundreds of hands was almost unanimous, and I imagine that those who didn’t raise their hands had them full. Almost as …
Warning: Rough language ahead. After my recent post, I decided I needed some time away. I was poised to crack open the bottle of Polish vodka that I brought from Krakow for my son and to listen to hours of blues but I thought better of it. So I buried myself in a good book …
The Life in My Years 