Conrad Brean (Robert DeNiro), Winifred Ames (Anne Heche), and Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman) contemplate their next move in the 1997 political satire, Wag the Dog. Wag the Dog  was a 1997 film produced and directed by Baltimore’s own Barry Levinson. It is a political satire about a U.S. president’s spin doctor who hires a Hollywood producer to fabricate a war in Albania to distract the public from a sex scandal just before an election. When I opened my news apps on Sunday mor

Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD), The Reverend Jessie Jackson, and Dr. John Hope Franklin view the Emancipation Proclamation at the National Archives, Washington, DC. The blog author (his escort) stands behind them. Early this morning, The Reverend Jessie Jackson, icon of the American civil rights movement passed away at the age of 84. He will be remembered as a transitional figure who was on the balcony when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, carried the torch into th

Let’s start with something that we all can agree on. It was a prayer breakfast. The National Prayer Breakfast is an annual event in Washington, DC, held on the first Thursday of February, which brings together the President, the Congress, other public officials and international guests to “pray, network, and reflect on moral values”. It has taken place since 1953 and beginning with President Dwight Eisenhower, every sitting president has attended. In a period of days filled w

My companion for miles of travels and hours of study. Unique in the world and only sustained by use. When Pollyanna shows up at the dance wearing black, pay attention. You all know me as THE eternal optimist. That’s probably one of the reasons you read this blog and along with me, “Ride to the Sunshine.” So, when I am worried, I hope that you take notice. This morning, all media outlets were running the same quote from Donald Trump who last night said to Dan Bongino, former l

With thanks to Indianahoosiershirt for this timely image It all starts at the top When a president has a history of not respecting the law in his private life, it is a clear signal that he will not respect the law in his public life. In fact, it is a clear sign that he will use his power to disobey the law with impunity. If you add to that formula a Supreme Court that rules he has no fear of prosecution when conducting official acts, you have increased the likelihood of lawle

We have to tell ourselves every day that this is as temporary as the removeable gilding on the oval office. Dear friends,  You’ve probably noted that I’ve gone on a little hiatus in my writing.  I’ve been thinking.  I now feel duty bound to write something about the slop bucket of recent actions by the current President of the United States and the assembled clown car of sycophants that he has hired to carry his train and tell us that his naked ass is fully clothed.  But wher

The author, daughter Megan Lefaivre, Harper Rose, Carolyn Hunt, Governor Jim Hunt (longest serving in NC history) Governor Jim Hunt passed away yesterday at the age of 88. His family released the following statement: He was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, and public servant, whose life and work touched so many across our state. We are thankful for the prayers and support for our family during this time. Hayden and I welcomed Jim and Carolyn Hunt into our Raleigh home

A splash of red in the winter white of a Colonial Christmas I’m not a Lent guy. I understand the traditions of using up the supplies to make pancakes on Shrove Tuesday or “Fat” Tuesday for those who overdo it.  I typically attend Ash Wednesday services and accept the imposition of ashes as a sign of repentance. But as for fasting and abstinence, thanks anyway. Reminding me that I am dust and to dust I shall return is depressing enough. But as for Advent, I am all in. Now it a

One of the many things for which I was thankful last week is that the American public seem to be catching on. Two prominent campaign promises remain unfulfilled. Food prices are still sky high, and the Epstein files are still not released. To that we can add continuing to do Russia’s bidding in the War in Ukraine, invading our cities with storm troopers to arrest our hard-working neighbors, hiring inexperienced prosecutors to indict political enemies without cause, desecratin

Predictably, it seems that history is about to repeat itself.  It is August 15, 2032, and the forecast is bleak.  In the last 72 hours a category 5 hurricane of increasing strength has formed and is aimed directly at Miami, Florida.  Hurricane Melania is the sixth named storm of the 2032 hurricane season and like Andrew forty years before, this one looks like a history maker for southern Florida.  The memory care team at Mar-a-Lago is debating whether to inform the former Pre

It was in the mid-1990's that I came face to face with the wealth gap. I was walking down the gas pier on Peter Island in the British Virgin Islands. I had arrived via dinghy from our moored Hylas 55; a Taiwanese-built sailboat designed for serious bluewater cruising. We had chartered the boat out of St. Thomas and were doing two weeks of island hopping. In short, I was feeling rich, famous, and very full of myself. The gas dock was dominated that morning by a 135-foot yacht,

I am quietly enjoying the summer stew engulfing the White House. Watching Bondi, Bongino, Patel, and Blanche take turns diving into the...

Beautiful Swimmers, a nonfiction book by William W. Warner  won the 1977 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.  It is about Maryland’s...

Thank you USA Today and Schoolhouse Rock It is rare that I sit down without a precise plan on what I am about to write. All I know is...

If you’ve played the game, you know what I mean. “A good walk spoiled”. “There must be less expensive ways to drive yourself crazy”. “Let the self-loathing begin”. I first swung a hickory stick that had belonged to my Uncle Fred. Dad, who never played the game, bought me some yellow wiffle practice balls and I banged them around the back yard. But without opportunity or family encouragement, baseball, basketball, and touch football occupied my youth. In college, I took a swin

For those of you old enough to remember, that was a catchphrase from the opening titles of the old TV series Fantasy Island . It ran from...

“Excusez-moi, s’il vous plait”    Such a simple, though powerful phrase. This moment of humble deference, spoken to someone who may...

Someday, I feel certain that our grandchildren will be asked this question in their high school civics class. “When referring to American...

Webster Dictionary: Overreach; to defeat (oneself) by seeking to do or gain too much.   We saw the first signs of it earlier this week....

So, let me factually summarize the first 50 days of Trump 2.0 His irrational economic policies have tanked the stock market. His promised...