On November 29, 2018, Donald Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen “pleaded guilty to lying to Congress when he insisted that Trump was not pursuing plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow after January 2016, casting Trump’s repeated claims that he had no business interests in Russia in a new light” (Washington Post, 2018). As…

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On Sunday 11/25/2018, “Russian ships fired on three Ukrainian vessels in the Kerch Strait — a critical passage connecting the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov — injuring at least six sailors. Moscow’s crew has since boarded Kiev’s two warships and one tugboat, detaining more than 20 sailors, and even placed a freighter ship…

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image source The other day an advertisement came up at the bottom of one of the stories I was reading on the web. The ad showed former Speaker of the House John Boehner looking very prim and prosperous and telling investors to “go all out” on marijuana stocks. The ad was for, of course, a…

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There’s a terrifying article on the Foreign Affairs site this month. In The Vanishing Nuclear Taboo? How Disarmament Fell Apart, Nina Tannenwald recounts the depressing story of how we went from a push toward total nuclear disarmament under Obama, to a rush to a new generation of ever more destructive nuclear weapons. Who is to…

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Desert 1

So, here’s just a quick thought about the geopolitical consequences of global warming, plus maybe a modest proposal. We know that Trump and Trump’s people deny global warming, even while it is obviously happening. We got fires and floods to prove it. Yet, they keep right on pretending that it isn’t happening, or, if it…

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Now that Jeff Sessions, our former Attorney General, has been gone for a while, maybe it is time to give him a second look. Maybe it is time to even give credit where credit is due. Yes, admittedly, he is not attractive individual. Physically, there is something of the weasel or the rodent about him—…

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     This article by Sebastian Murdock,  Donald Trump Thinks You Need ID To Buy Cereal, at Huffington Post is definitely thought-food.      So… Trump’s not only a serial liar, he’s a cereal buffoon.      Present story: Considering the venue (an interview with The Daily Caller), we shouldn’t really be too surprised at Trump’s hinge-less rant.…

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So I’m sitting here looking at pictures of Matthew Whitaker, our acting Attorney General. The stress is on the word acting, because the legality of his appointment is disputed, and, if we’re very, very lucky, he’ll be gone the time you read this (I’m writing on November 13th.) But whether he goes or stays, what…

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By Michael E. Berumen      A new Speaker of the House will be elected by the incoming Democratic majority soon. Not nearly soon enough for many of us. The Minority Leader and former Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, remains the odds-on favorite to ascend to the role, one that is perhaps more important than it has been…

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I had assumed this book was primarily about the illness and death of Biden’s son Beau. That issue figures large in the text, but it is woven together with his family relationships, his devotion to civil rights and peace, his many years as a Senator, and his extraordinary relationship with President Obama during their eight…

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