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The Unexpected Visitor

About a week ago I was sitting on my porch when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. Since I have many chipmunks, I thought it was probably one of those. Then I saw more movement. I got up to have a look. There was a fawn in my flower bed. I went inside to get my phone to take a picture. Its coat was a beautiful shade of tan and it was filled with spots. By the time I got back the little thing was on its feet. I captured a good photo of him. I am calling it a him, but I have no idea what its sex is. It was very small. It was about a foot in length and about 15 inches ...

Thoughts On A Beautiful, And Dispiriting, Memorial Day

Everyone agreed the parade was a singular improvement over parades in the recent past. Minutes longer. The vibe exuberant. Even mid-Lakeview Avenue hosted crowds. The nearer the cemetery, the larger, the noisier, the more boisterous the satisfied onlookers. Certainly, the sun had much to do with it. This has been the most dismal spring weatherwise in my remembrance. Too long we’d been trudging this year with dour resignation through cloud and cold. Sunlight and warmth at last, even if, as it has seemed to have turned out, we haven’t yet arrived at anything resembling blessed ...

Two Guys From Queens

There must be something in the water in Queens for it seems that, as to politicians, that Borough of New York City produces a certain breed of them. Two that come to mind are Andrew Cuomo and Donald Trump. Though neither now live in Queens, this is the place where they “cut their eye teeth” when it came to business and politics. Having spent a few years in Albany (now many years ago,) I had a “bird’s eye view” of politicians from across the state. Queens was known then as a scrappy place where people grew up battling, in one form or another, for everything from political ...

It’s Time To Stop Funding Unicorns

U.S. taxpayers are now $36.5 trillion in debt, meaning every citizen, newborn or elderly, owes creditors (big banks controlled by those evil billionaires) $110,000. Death is the only escape, but when you die, you pass this burden to your children and grandchildren. The debt with which you are willing to burden your children to pay for your freebies and unicorns today says much about your morality, as does your desire to make your fellow citizens subsidize your desires through government sponsored extortion. We add billions of dollars in new debt every day because some people feel ...

Republican Immigration Policy Is Cruel, Inhuman

Republicans are coming for your neighbors. They will use unmarked cars, a highly armed police force answerable to no one local, grab them off the street, pull them out of stores or schools, and drag them from their homes, separate them from their children and families, send them to distant holding facilities, often without bothering to determine innocence, guilt, or even citizenship, then deport them to notorious prisons overseas never to be heard from again. “Not us,” say the Republicans, “we are good, family-friendly people.” But yes, it is Republicans who are doing this. ...

Breakthrough May Be Beginning At Chautauqua

CHAUTAUQUA—Well, well, well. Isn’t this encouraging? It may—may—be a new day at Chautauqua Institution. What has just happened is worth applauding. ♦♦♦ You, faithful reader of this column, know that Advocates for Balance at Chautauqua, or ABC, was formed in 2018. Its mission is “to achieve a balance of speakers in a mutually civil and respectful environment consistent with the historic mission of Chautauqua” Institution. ABC is its own Section 501(c)(3) organization, legally separate from the institution. ABC was born when an ad ran in the Chautauqua Daily, ...