Category: Uncategorized
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The Biden-Blinken Nightmare–Two Crises abroad, One at Home and No Apparent Solution
I wonder if President Biden or State Secretary Blinken regrets today that he is in office. Most likely not–they are both patriotic and deveoted men who want to do what is right. But it would be hard to blame one or both of them if he wished he were relaxing on a beach in retirement…
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Farewell, Margaritaville
Jimmy Buffett died a few weeks ago and left a whole lot of people bereft. I don’t know if he will get it, but here’s my letter to him. I miss you Jimmy, already, and I had rarely thought of you in recent years. So you couldn’t honestly call me a real fan, I didn’t…
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A Riddle from a Poet and a Novelist
There is a bookstore in a part of Minneapolis, W 25th St about a mile or two west of Hennepin more exactly, which is in a location I love. This is a pleasant upper middle class area which could well be called suburbia if it were not in a leading American city. The store is…
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Favorite Album
I may think of something else later and regret this, but my immediate response in Joni Mitchell’s “Miles of Aisles”–got “Carrie” on it along with “The Last Time I Saw Richard” and “A Case of You” which Diana Krall would later turn into one of the greatest jazz performances ever. A lot of Joni’s fans…
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Maybe, maybe not–then again …
As my likely not really clever title may indicate, I have some mixed thoughts to share. I have partaken recently of two different artistic creations, one movie and one book, both of which left me wondering: at least one of them left me wanting more–maybe later. Okay, I’ll explain–or try. “Afire” is a German film…
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Immigration, cruelty and self-defense–what are the rules and what can be done?
I just became familiar with a new name in journalism. Lydia Polgreen is a columnist for the NYT which she joined about a year ago–so I guess I was behind the Times in not knowing of her previously. That’s not a very good joke but it will be the only one in this column. This…
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Well, it was a start
I am starting this blog Thu afternoon, the day after the first of the Republican Presidential debates. I watched some of CNN this morning and I have taken a quick look at the NYT. Other than that I have not studied the responses of others, so what you get here is pretty much me with…
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Ramaswamy–a “new” Republican Leader(??)
Vivek Ramaswamy is surely the most interesting of the Republican challengers to Donald Trump for the Presidential nomination. Like nearly all the others he was way behind Trump a few weeks ago. I guess he still is, but not quite so “way.” Sometime in July he was at or near a 1% favorability rating among…
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Isolationism–Then, Now and Future??
Isolationism is misunderstood and changes from time to time and from one situation to another. But in the US, certain aspects of it appear to remain the same over decades. I am going to try to relate the isolationism of FDR’s time to today’s and perhaps add a few comments on what happened in between…
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Freidman, Biden, and Netanyahu–pay attention
I think have mentioned before my high regard for NYT columnist T L Freidman and earlier this week he gave us more reason to be grateful for his work. On Tuesday he was invited to the White House for an interview of some candor with the President which he passed along to us via his…
john's thoughts 