Commentary As many of us “celebrate” the Jewish High Holidays, I wonder, “What’s God have to do with it?” This colunm might be offensive to some readers. For that I apologize in advance. Today marks the beginning of the Jewish High Holy Days. Beginning with Rosh Hashanah, literally “the head of the year,” or moreContinue reading “Reflections on the “Days of Awe””
Category Archives: Commentary
Can the world be any worse?
Commentary Or, is the opening monologue in the series “Penny Dreadful – City of Angels” a harbinger of the future? This will be the shortest Around the Block I’ve ever posted.
Supreme Court’s egregious Texas abortion law decision
Commentary And my Congresswoman’s response – a fund raising email disguised as SCOTUS outrage Yes, I know, I know – I said I was going to take a break from Around the Block for a while to focus on some other writing projects. But sometimes I simply can’t help myself. In this case I wasContinue reading “Supreme Court’s egregious Texas abortion law decision”
The Graveyard of Empires
Commentary The colossal Afghanistan screw up has added one more nail to America’s coffin You might have noticed that I’ve been silent as the botched American withdrawal from Afghanistan has been dominating the news. My silence is not because I have nothing to say or because I don’t have an opinion. No, it’s not that.Continue reading “The Graveyard of Empires”
“What’s the deal with governors?”
Be honest, haven’t you been thinking “what is the deal with governors”? Have we ever seen a time when so many governors are doing, saying and acting like…what’s the word I’m looking for…buffoons? And for many, buffoons who are doing serious damage to the their constituents?
The cynical, hypocritical and deadly politics of the GOP
Republicans, and their Fox News (and other right-wing media voices) truth distorters, are now blaming the pandemic on migrants on the southern border, bringing back to center stage one of their favorite tropes, immigration/fear of the other, while blaming Biden for the current Delta variant surge.
Skateboarding is an Olympic event?
As the 2020 Tokyo Olympics begins its inevitable wind down in August 2021 (my goodness, spanning two years, this must be the longest Olympics in history) I have a confession. In all the years NBC, and ABC before it, has been covering the Olympics on TV, I’ve spent less time, actually almost no time, watching these troubled games. In fact, the only coverage I’ve seen is when I’ve stumbled on some replays on a news show.
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.”*
If we don’t fix our immigration sysetms, we might as well replace the Statue of Liberty with the Statue of Emily (Litella). And remove’s Emma Lazurus’ poem and replace it with, “Never Mind!”
Deadlines, newspapers and the way it was
One of the advantages of self-publishing is that there are no deadlines and no editors. Having said that, among the many (too many, perhaps) writing projects I work on is a column for my community’s monthly magazine, The Breezes, for which I have both an editor and a deadline. I thought I’d share my latest.
Cleveland Indians changing name to Cleveland Guardians
Commentary C’mon Cleveland, is that all you got? Multiple news sources reported today that the Cleveland Major League Baseball team is changing its name next season from the Cleveland Indians to the Cleveland Guardians. The name change comes after years of criticism that the current moniker is racist and disrespectful to Native Americans. The nameContinue reading “Cleveland Indians changing name to Cleveland Guardians”
