Doug Ducey is gone. Well, not exactly gone. Just not governor of Arizona anymore. Unfortunately, he didn’t take his playthings with him. Instead, those toys remain to despoil pristine borderlands. In teenage terms, this is called “soiling the nest” before parting. In toddler terms, it’s simply called a hissy fit. Ducey left behind an ungodly sculpture…
DetailsWhen Russia rolled tanks into Ukraine, Donald Trump called Vladimir Putin a “genius” and “very savvy.” Turns out, not very. If you like scrap metal, the tanks are now an impressive pile. The army is starving, frost-bitten and in disarray. The tragedy of Ukraine far transcends its own toll of death and devastation. It also includes callow…
DetailsIt’s going to be all right. My margarine tells me so. It’s more than margarine. It’s Vicks VapoRub and oat milk. And more. As we enter a new year, a few things have got me thinking mankind and our planet aren’t doomed. Indeed, better things are ahead. Why? Well, first, my margarine. I’m a toast…
Details“If I had one wish this holiday season,” mused Steve Martin many Christmases ago, “it would be that all the children join hands and sing together in the spirit of harmony and peace.” So appropriate. So needed in discordant times. If granted another wish, he added, it would be “$30 million a month to be…
Details“Onward Christian soldiers. Marching as to war. With the cross of Jesus going on before.” Raised a Methodist, I was a little confused by the hymn. The lyrics meant well, surely. But was the Jesus of Sunday School a gun-toting militant? I guess it depends on what war Christians think they are fighting. Kyle Rittenhouse.…
DetailsIn this season, recall what the most reputable Ebenezer Scrooge said when a charity appealed for help with so many “in want of common necessaries.” Retorted Scrooge, “Are there no prisons?” Prisons there are, Sir. But nowhere close to enough prisons to house all Americans on the verge of defaulting on their student loans. That…
DetailsIn this season of compassion, please send thoughts and prayers to Lauren Boebert. The Republican congresswoman from Colorado says she’s the victim of senseless violence. She’s not the type of victim killed or maimed at Club Q in Colorado Springs, a place for LBGTQ individuals and friends. Her victimhood is nothing like those harmed and killed in…
DetailsJerry, would ya wake up to reality? It’s a military thing – Cosmo Kramer. Plot: “Seinfeld’s” Kramer says he’s seen a part-pig, part-man creature — what he calls a scheme to create “a whole army of pigman warriors.” Remember when conspiracy theories were fun? As opposed to, say, ones concocted to obliterate democracy? Social media…
DetailsLoaves and fishes. Water to wine. Franco Harris’ “immaculate reception.” All certifiable miracles. Add now what Donald Trump made possible in Arizona. Late-to-acknowledge-MLK-Day Arizona. Evan Mecham’s Arizona. “Let us see your papers” Arizona. And now: Katie Hobbs’ Arizona. Mark Kelly’s Arizona. Blue Arizona. Arizona, where Democratic secretary of state-elect Adrian Fontes, post-victory, called Big Lie adherents “traitors.”…
DetailsIn a propagandist’s bag of tricks, analysts call the “glittering generality” the easiest to deploy. “Family values.” “Real America.” “Patriots.” “Pro-life.” No propaganda term is abused by the “family values” crowd, however, like “freedom.” Exhibit A: National embarrassments Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert named their cuckoo klatch the Freedom Caucus. Yeah. Republicans…
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