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We Should Know Wars Are Hard To End

It is easy to start a war, but very difficult to end one. That has always been the case and still is. If you are in doubt, just ask Vladamir Putin how things are going in the war he started in Ukraine four years ago. Think about the Iraq War. We invaded Iraq in 2003. Saddam Hussein was finally captured and eventually executed. But here we are in 2026, having lost 4,500 American lives and having spent a trillion dollars or more, with troops still in Iraq, a country with a weak government trying to rebuild itself. The war I was involved in, Vietnam, started in 1964—but, at least, ...

Weapons Of Mass Distraction

The president who dodged the draft 5 different times during the Vietnam War has no problem sending Americans to fight and die in the Middle East. He did not bother to make the case for the urgency of Operation Epic Fury to the American people beforehand, announcing the attack at 2:30 Saturday morning on his social media site. No official address till 3 days later. He did not consult with Congress, much less get authorization as required by law. The only justification for a president to unilaterally start a war is if there is an imminent threat. But there was no such threat – as he, ...

Hold The ‘Epstein Class’ Accountable

I have no words for the Republicans who still support this administration after the evidence being released in the Epstein files. I have no words for those who boast that they are protecting children by villainizing transgender people, yell about rainbow posters in classrooms, and demand books about being gay or in any way not white be removed from libraries but stay quiet about the Epstein files. I have no words for the woman driving by me last month while I was protesting who took the time to roll down her window, snarl and scream at me “*uck you, go Trump!” in front of her young ...

Dems Doth Protest Too Loudly On Affordability

The latest political rage is the “Affordability Crisis” – which basically means inflation is eating away at your paycheck. Ironically, the people who most loudly proclaim the Affordability Crisis are the ones who caused the problem in the first place by supporting over-spending and over-regulation by the government. They also think the answer is (curiously) more spending and more regulation. Under Biden, inflation averaged over 5% per year, with one year being over 9%. By comparison, it was under 2% when Trump 45 left office, and was reduced to 2.7% in Trump 47’s first ...

These Birds Have Me Completely Puzzled

I’m a puzzler. I’ve tackled jigsaw puzzles, word puzzles and occasionally number puzzles since I was a kid. And oh, the happy, smug satisfaction it brings. I begin my day puzzling with my first cup of coffee. Every morning, I do three types of word puzzles on the computer. By the time I finish, my sleep-slit eyes are open, I’m vertical, and taking nourishment. Dear Richard refills my coffee cup. At bedtime, I do the newspaper puzzles. Then this Christmas, to my delight, my grandson, Malcolm, gave me a jigsaw puzzle. A gift I would be thrilled to get every year. This ...

Voting Rights Act Is Before High Court

Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is before the U.S. Supreme Court again, this time in Louisiana v. Callais. After extensive back and forth among the state Legislature, the governor’s office, and the federal judiciary, Louisiana—with its six congressional districts—drew a second congressional district in which a majority of the residents are black. Drawing such a district would be one thing if the district—to put it in colloquial terms—were a normal-looking district. But this district isn’t a normal-looking district. Instead, it looks like a Rorschach test. To put it ...