John McCain: RIP
Sean MurphyP368426 03: (File Photo) Lieutenant Commander John Mccain Is Welcomed By U.S. President Richard Nixon Upon Mccain's Release From Five And One-Half Years As A P.O.W. During The Vietnam War…
Washing Dishes as Antidote for Apathy (Revisited)
Help wanted sign on the Mexican border. Tom Sietsema, the excellent food critic for The Washington Post, wrote a fantastic piece about dishwashers (in general) and his experience, as a dishwasher,…
Just Say (N)Oprah or, Make Great American Again
All this breathless, borderline hysterical enthusiasm about Oprah running for president is, sadly, doing a great deal to help me understand how Trump became president. It's different demographics to be…
Donald Trump: The Man in America’s Mirror
i. Orwell, Again (Obviously) Even before the Reality TV circus American politics and, by extension, American life, degenerated into late last year, George Orwell was the go-to guy for…
Washing Dishes as Antidote for Apathy
Tom Sietsema, the excellent food critic for The Washington Post, wrote a fantastic piece about dishwashers (in general) and his experience, as a dishwasher, on 8/7/17. I highly recommend this piece…
Life Imitating Art: The Russiagate Floodgates
Toward the end of Sydney Lumet’s ’70s classic Serpico there is an unnerving scene that encapsulates the conundrum faced by the eponymous cop: already persona non grata within the law…
On Health Care: George Carlin Called It
Nine years ago today we lost not only one of our better comics, but one of our most vital and intelligent voices. George Carlin was incendiary, he was hilarious, he…
Donald Trump and Participation Trophy Politics
I’VE BEEN THINKING A lot?—?since the election and particularly during the past two weeks?—?about the cliché (typically, in personal experience, uttered by my right-leaning friends) involving our so-called “participation trophy”…
Trump & Co.: The Great Deceivers
ALLOW ME TO BE contrary for a moment. That rambling, semi-coherent, solipsistic rant (half campaign speech; half cry for attention) Trump delivered at the CIA fills me with hope and…
Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine: 10 Songs of Righteous Protest
Ian Anderson called it, in '74: The ice-cream castles are refrigerated; The super-marketeers are on parade. There's a golden handshake hanging round your neck, As you light your cigarette on…