As I begin this post, Portland and Seattle are roasting, a Florida beachfront condo has collapsed, the lake keeping Las Vegas afloat is disappearing, and many more out West are dreading the start of fire season. Here in the East we’re keeping a wary eye on Xs and Os on the Atlantic hurricane map; and … Continue reading Coming Soon: Maybe the Most Important Book I Never Wrote
In the May 30, 2021 New York Times, there was an Op-Ed on military conscientious objectors, or COs. It was gratifying to see it on the brink of Memorial Day. It showed no disrespect for those who agreed to fight and died in war to recognize that a persistent minority has declined to take the … Continue reading Memorial Day for Those Who Said No
Friend (or rather, ex-Friend) Joshua Ashlyn Humphries, a banished Quaker and Anabaptist prophet/theologian, is dead, at 39. Dead, and it’s a damn shame. A shame for Quakers, Mennonites, and some others. I feel shamed too. But he was not an ex-Friend to me. The official obituary does not say how or where he passed; presumably … Continue reading A Banished Quaker Prophet: Josh Humphries (Updated)
Are we ready for the canonization of St. Liz, of Cheney, Martyr? Lifetime Catholic MoDo isn’t buying it: columnist Maureen Dowd bats away the shiny new blond miraculous medal. She won’t kneel, or even lean, to light the votive candle. Her trouble is, mea culpa, Dowd remembers. And talks. How uncouth, and inconvenient: Maureen Dowd, … Continue reading A Tale of Two Conservatives: Liz & Longwell
Tom Friedman, longtime NYTimes columnist, treats us to some snippets of diary entries from his first trip to Afghanistan, in early 2002, with then Senator Joe Biden. Friedman opens the piece in the posture of sadder-but-wiser sage: “I was not surprised that Joe Biden decided to finally pull the plug on the U.S. presence in … Continue reading “Nation Building” on the Moon? Smarter than the U.S. in Afghanistan?