Mideast “Policy”

Letter to Representative Salud Carbajal: July 2, 2917 Dear Representative Carbajal, Congress should retake its Constitutional power to declare war and remove the blanket authorization that allows the President to send troops and drop bombs wherever he wants. Trump’s “foreign policy” is a potential disaster. 1. Syria. The US has no business fighting in Syria […]

The Russia Investigation

With Washington seemingly consumed by the Russia investigation, when they aren’t being shot at playing baseball, I thought I’d hazard a comment in media res. In short, I suspect there is more smoke here than fire, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the smoke became a turning point in Trump’s presidency or even, although unlikely, […]

Thoughts on Democracy

Two weeks of travel through United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar provided us with quite a different perspective on the world. For one, the United States seemed a long way away and less relevant than we normally assume. Dubai is an entrepot for trade and commerce between and among Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe and the […]

Dear Speaker Ryan:

846 Lilac Drive Montecito, CA 93108 February 22, 2017 The Hon. Paul Ryan Speaker of the House H-232 The Capitol Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Speaker Ryan: Please stop Donald Trump! President Trump apparently believes he can do whatever he wants, say whatever he wants, with no need to think, consult or ask what the majority […]

The Trump Era

I enter upon the Trump Era with nothing but fear and loathing. Literally, I do not know of an American public figure I would less like to have as my President. He is a bully, a narcissist, a brazen liar, rude, selfish, uninterested in facts. Anyone who gives his first speech to the CIA and […]

The Hillary Problem

The complement to the votes for Trump were the votes against Hillary, and certainly among people we know the latter far outnumbered the former. It’s hard to understand the vitriol she inspired, but it was clearly fomented by Fox News and other right-wing commentators and legislators. The three strikes against her were 1) her use […]

The Trump Election

[fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”20″ padding_left=”0″ padding_right=”0″ hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_text]Thoughts on the election of Donald Trump, four days later: My first and foremost thought is sadness and regret for the fate of […]

History Unfolding

The combination of reaching a certain age – I having just turned 70 – and reading a new, overarching history of the world, Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan, makes me feel, unusually, that I am not just living in the present but am living in history. On TV we are watching Borgen, which provides insight […]

The Media v. Trump

The media has been blamed, fairly or not, for facilitating Donald Trump’s rise by providing so much free and unduly uncritical publicity during the primary season. He didn’t need to raise money or buy ads, the analysis goes, because he was constantly in the news. I’m not sure this was really the media’s “fault,” because […]

GOP vs. The Planet

[fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”20″ padding_left=”0″ padding_right=”0″ hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_text]You’d think that saving our planet might be one goal that merited bipartisan support. A chance to bring all the world’s powers together […]