All Purls. No Swine.
Two trucks loaded with bombs detonated, killing a total of 307 people, 241 of whom were American military personnel, dozens of whom were French military, and a few of whom were civilians and (not important) a couple of the attackers. I'm not sure we've ever dealt with it, or even come to terms with it,… Continue reading Forty-Two Years Ago Today, in Beirut Lebanon
Really, righteous people. If what you want to do is endanger yourselves (you keep on saying that you feel endangered, because--what else--Trump!) by bravely stepping up to the line and perhaps even crossing it, I should have thought by now you'd have noticed that you've felt no consequences--ever--for doing so. Just like Meryl Streep at… Continue reading No Kings? Grow Up Already!
Honestly, there are days when the tsunami of news is so overwhelming that I can’t but do other than reflect on the words of the late Mr. Right's Aunt Sophie, who served as a real-life Rosie the Riveter in one of Pittsburgh’s munitions factories during World War II, and who was well known in the… Continue reading On Cotton Bolls and Dancing Queens
https://youtu.be/3t0Gk0nffXA I think I know. There are lots of noncombatants in the current wars. Fair enough. They get a pass, for now, or at least until things heat up some more. And then there are those who pretend to be already engaged. Those who imagine they are "standing" because of some good work they may… Continue reading What is the Difference Between “Fighting” and “Standing”? Advice to a Former Friend
A little poem from my childhood: Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn't there He wasn't there again today I wish, I wish he'd go away... When I came home last night at three The man was waiting there for me But when I looked around the hall I couldn't see him… Continue reading “I wish, I wish, he’d go away”: Trump and the escalator wishcasting from the Left
Over the past eight or nine days, I’ve repeatedly heard those on the Right use the phrase, “They just can’t help themselves.” Most often, its use follows the telling of yet another story about those on the Left, those who seem able, with extraordinary precision and clarity, to identify and cull from the sea of… Continue reading Please, Do Help Yourselves!
Jo Rowling weighs in on the subject of free speech and a person's reaction to it. You can find the original here. Many of the comments are enlightening and and many are depressing. Quite are few are both at once. I don't believe there's anyone else on earth, with the singular exception of Donald Trump,… Continue reading Rowling’s Rules of Order
An oldie-but-goodie from a September 2nd a couple of years ago, lightly updated for contemporary references: This post is about one of those "rabbit-holey" things we all (or, or at least, those of us who suffer from the Elephant Child's 'satiable curiosity with an added fillip (which that EC didn't quite manage) that we like… Continue reading The Calendar Riots of 1752: “Give us back our eleven days!”
Well, it's not exactly Turtle Soup which is the one prescribed by Lewis Carroll the Mock Turtle in Alice in Wonderland. Beautiful Soup, so rich and green, Waiting in a hot tureen! Who for such dainties would not stoop? Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup! Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup! My particular soup is… Continue reading “Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!”
The term "gerrymander," which has come to mean manipulating the boundaries of electoral districts in order to guarantee the supremacy of one political party or another, is named after Elbridge Gerry (pronounced with a "hard G" as in "game" or "gun." Elbridge Gerry was--believe it or not--an American Founding Father, and the fifth Vice-President of… Continue reading Was There a Real Gerry Mander, and if so, Who Was He?