“My thoughts & prayers were out of network.” ~ A Facebook post reacting to the shooting of Brian Thompson The vitriol was swift and caustic. Not against the gunman, Luigi Mangione, but against the victim, UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson. A Facebook post put up by UnitedHealthcare announcing the death of Thompson received 46,000 responses. UHC …
Banner photo: Barcelona, after the rain. May, 2023 I walk the streets. Aimlessly. Desperately. I’m looking for everything – and – nothing really. Oh, but there is that one magnificent place, or colorful stroll, or enduring taste that I have to experience just one final time. Is there something that I missed? Of course there …
“No class or group or party in Germany could escape its share of responsibility for the abandonment of the democratic Republic and the advent of Adolf Hitler. The cardinal error of the Germans who opposed Nazism was their failure to unite against it.”~ William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A …
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 …
“That’s not who we are,” said the politician. It may have been a member of Congress, a governor or a local sheriff. Certainly I’ve heard Barack Obama say it. “That’s not who we are.” That statement of denial, a far too late attempt to pick up the shattered and scattered pieces of our national reputation, …
Welcome back my friends to the show that never endsWe’re so glad you could attend,come inside, come insideThere behind a glass stands a real blade of grassBe careful as you pass, move along, move along* *Karn Evil 9.Keith Emerson, Greg Lake, Peter Sinfield. A forecast of sunny and bright weather belies my mood this morning. …
16, October, 2024Munich has been dank and gloomy throughout our visit. It’s the risk the traveler runs when choosing to vacation in autumn. It’s part of the trade off; you’ll take dodging raindrops in exchange for dodging the hordes of travelers. The irony of being a traveler and wanting to avoid the hordes of my …
It was an unusually large crowd at the Oakland Coliseum on the final day of the Oakland Athletics home season. Some came for the love of baseball. Some came as fans of the team. Others came to pass a sunny afternoon at the ball yard. The rest? The rest was most of the crowd, and …
“Do they see the lethal insanity of a race to the brink of oblivion, and then over the edge? Apparently not. If they did, surely they wouldn’t be racing to begin with.”― Stephen King, The Dark Tower Disclosure: This past June, I left the Democratic Party and registered as an Independent. I have no intention …
You can always recognize the road warrior by looking at his arms. The right one, the one that rests on the center console is pale. The left one, the one that rests on the frame of the open window is weather beaten and bronze. October 15th, 2022The morning sun leaps angrily off the concertina wire …
The Life in My Years 