History & Politics

Yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was the penultimate act in driving your doctrinaire radical feminist off the rails. Roe v. Wade is gone, and the feminists are irate. And as I have always hated feminists, I enjoyed the spectacle.  No, I’m not talking about hating the sort of “feminist” … Read more

Dear Andrew, Good morning. I write to you today as the United States Supreme Court releases its New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen decision. I read your article from a few weeks ago in the Atlantic Monthly about guns in American life and would say a thing or two about it. … Read more

On the first day of the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine, I wrote that I hoped Russian dictator Vladimir Putin “rots in hell” and urged the Ukrainians to send lots of Russian boys “home in body bags.” The Ukrainian armed forces have done that and more in the past 56 days – killing some 7,000 … Read more

I recently was informed in writing that some members of the local community are pouring over my personal webpage to find objectionable opinions. They are calling into question my fitness to serve in my current job. This is not the first time this has happened: Watch what you write, one sympathetic soul warned me. “Be … Read more

It is what I would have wanted to see: a large army built on dictatorial fiat with conscripted soldiers attacking a neighbor unnecessarily, getting their asses handed to them by a smaller but motivated army of volunteers in a democracy fighting for and on their home turf. At the beginning of the war the conventional … Read more

I talked to a childhood friend the other day by telephone. I was surprised when he explained to me that his 21-year old son was near disconsolate over the recent fighting in Ukraine. His son was tearful much of the time and had trouble sleeping, my friend told me. The kid spent hours glued to … Read more

Three days ago I watched Vladimir Putin’s incredible speech about Ukraine, Russia, and NATO. No matter what misinformation Putin might give out, I knew by then that he would order Russian forces to invade Ukraine. Two days ago I wrote an angry screed, “The Ukrainians Will Fight Alone,” about all this. Ninety minutes ago the … Read more

I read the following powerful story by Anne Applebaum with reference to the impending crisis of possible war in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin’s “Weimar Russia” is on the move, and nobody seems ready to stand up to it. Applebaum claims while there are no craven Neville Chamberlains in this story, there are also no stalwart Winston … Read more

This week I read four articles which seem to sum up the zeitgeist at the moment.  Walk with me through them and let’s see what we can see. “Where Have All the Grown-ups Gone?”by Paul Krugman I normally never read anything by columnist Paul Krugman: he is generally a one-dimensional thinker, and you know what … Read more

On the evening of December 1, 2021 I felt a bit vertiginous. First of all, I had suddenly been reclassified as a 5.0 tennis player. That unexpected event totally took me by surprise. I was on my heels at the news this morning. Then this afternoon I read the accounts of the oral arguments held … Read more

There is a malady which plagues my country. It is the malady of political division — of intense political ideology, and the denunciation of others because they disagree with you. Where will you find the source of this division? In the political extremes. In our two party political system, there are the populist Republicans who … Read more

It has been over seven weeks since Kabul fell to the Taliban, and I read the following article today which had the following attention-getting headline — “I will never become a Taliban wife. I would rather die.” This is so predictable. And so sad. The United States leaves Afghanistan, the Taliban takes over, and you … Read more

There has been a rise in gun violence in the United States recently. Mostly in the big cities, the murder stats speak for themselves: I live out in the suburbs and there has not been an increase in “gun violence” here. Much of the rest of the country can say the same. It is in … Read more

My friend sent me the following text message today: My friend lives in Atlanta, Georgia and often has occasion to decry the strident blowhards he sees in the South from the conservative side of the political spectrum. I can sympathize, although I have never lived in the South or had much exposure to “Red state” … Read more

I never thought I would see the day. A long-term friend of mine is about the best candidate for a concealed weapon permit I have ever known. His criminal record is entirely unblemished. He also owns his own business and regularly handles large amounts of cash, lives and works in a high-crime area, and has … Read more

The purpose of this essay is to explain my ambivalence about science, and to identify how and why I best learn it. Science is important. You have to study it. But I never enjoyed science classes in school. I enjoyed math even less. I was a humanities person. I still am. I would avoid science … Read more

I wrote a few weeks ago about a very minor run-in I had with some bumptious Trumpkins in one of their mobile “Stolen Election” caravan protests. I could see the aggressiveness of these people. They had an edge. So I was not that surprised by the attack on the Capitol Building four days ago, although I … Read more

Political Commitment: Progressive Politics as a Secular Religion The decline of religion and loosening of family bonds has been much in evidence in the United States these past few decades. The rise of single-parenting and economic stress on the lower classes has weakened the family and led many young people to grow up without much … Read more

It was November 22, 2020 at approximately 1215 pm. I was waiting at the corner of Saticoy Avenue and Telephone Road in Ventura, CA with my daughters in the car. It was a Sunday afternoon and I was taking them out of the house to get some air; we were going to go browse for … Read more

So I had just completed my 45-minute evening swim, covering almost a mile, and changed back into my street clothes. Then I stopped on my way home at the Von’s grocery store at the corner of Harbor Boulevard and Seaward Avenue to pick up some parmesan cheese for my older daughter Julia, as well as … Read more

So the election returns are in.  And my hopes, at the time of this writing the morning after the general election, seem to have been answered: Biden will narrowly win the Presidency, and the Republicans will retain control of the Senate. Neither side won, neither side lost. A very close election providing for split governance. … Read more

It has been months since I had anything to say about politics or the presidential election, but it is now one week away. I claimed I was happy to see Joe Biden drub Bernie Sanders so thoroughly in the primary. I wanted Biden, the Democratic candidate, to win the presidency in November, I claimed; but … Read more