“The river has taught me to listen; you will learn from it, too.” Herman Hesse’s line is about an actual mass of water droplets, but it certainly could apply to a stream of people – the one that flowed through the nation’s capital Saturday, and in state capitals, and in cities overseas — all connected: one…
DetailsLooking around the ballroom, the first thing you notice is the lack of regalia — no tuxes, no flowing gowns, no shiny footwear, no clinking jewels. Nor should there be, for this is the Inaugural Consolation Ball for the people of Not Trump Nation. There is nothing to celebrate for them – for us — when…
Details“Indy, why does the floor move?” “Hand me the torch.” In “Raiders of the Lost Arc,” Indiana Jones deals with a cavernous well filled with snakes, and with flame as his only ally. That scene comes to mind as the 115th Congress coils itself to strike at things that help a lot of Americans. Congressional Republicans have designs…
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“I mean, how do you know what you’re going to do until you do it? The answer is you don’t . . . I swear it’s a stupid question.” – Holden Caulfield, “Catcher in the Rye.” The thing about young Holden is that you have no idea what he is going to do or say,…
DetailsOf course it’s news. Not that my wife wants any part of it. Ever since the electoral victory of Donald Trump, whatever he has to say, she will hear nothing of it. The mere fact that I just used his name means she will decline to review this commentary. In…
DetailsLet’s say you are president. Make that president-elect. Let’s say you’ve had many grueling months of a brutal and bitter campaign, racking up time zones on your personal plane, putting your global business empire on the back burner — a must-do to make the country your empire. What to do in preparation? This president-elect thing is good…
Details(Dear johnyoungcolumn readers: A change is required to the most recent submission, as the pick it mentioned for Trump's Interior secretary was premature. Rest assured — or rest uneasily, as it were — the actual choice "fits" the theme of the original column. Read on.) Kathleen Stama sounded like the cat that had just dined…
DetailsKathleen Stama sounded like the cat that had just dined on filet de canary. She told the Denver Post that Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt is a great choice to run the EPA, as he understands that “centralized government is not the best way to protect the environment.” Stama is all about protecting the environment. Except…
DetailsThe early projection: Donald Trump is the end of satire. Not that as president he would ban it, although in his fantasies he shuts down “Saturday Night Live.” It's that based on his early proclivities, Trump is beyond lampooning. Whatever scene a humorist might conjure, he lives it. He is his own work of fiction. Presidential? Oh…
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