It was Popcorn Day at Potemkin Village, or that is what the sign said by the slow elevator in the lobby. There was also a wine and music event in the formal dining room, scheduled for two o’clock. I thought I might suggest that to Big Mama as an afternoon activity, since Raven just sleeps […]

(Raven and Dee at her house at Torch Lake. Photo Socotra.) Let’s be candid about the process: this is no fun. It is still filled with bright spots, though they can be spread out a little bit. I steeled myself to go to Potemkin Village before lunch, so I could go through the mail. I […]

(Legendary Detroit Broadcaster JP McCarthy of WJR.) I spent the afternoon in a brand spanking new Hertz Chevy Impala. It is supposed to be a flex-fuel vehicle, at least the plate on the trunk lid  says so, though I don’t know what that means. The hyper-vigilant cop from Ogemaw was on revenue patrol at the […]

(Vic in White, Sexton Emil in Black. Things are rarely that simple. Photo Todd Tear with Socotra smartphone). Uncle Jerry’s Blue Ribbon Panel on the conduct of the Intelligence Community didn’t fly- it looked like a whitewash and smelled like a whitewash and the House and Senate decided to take a cold look at the […]

It was a full on day on the Great Lakes. I was in Toronto, at St. George’s Cathedral to start, and then a variety of places in the St. Lawrence District of town: Mystic Muffin, George’s restaurant, the condo 21 floors above the skyline, overlooking the church where the union had been solemnified that morning […]

I love Canada. Toronto is a vibrant diverse city where, darn it, everyone is friendly and everything is nice. That is not to say that there are not misunderstandings. For example, I was talking to the Groom’s brother this morning in front of the Holiday Inn Express. Well, trying to, anyway. I could not hear […]

(Vice President Nelson Rockefeller. Photo UPI.) Willow has fine seafood, but no oysters. I asked last night, sitting next to Navy John and Marsha at the packed bar. There was plenty to talk about; I am headed for Toronto for a wedding in the morning; Marsha is retired now, like Navy John, and exploring the […]

“Senator, may we not drop this?! We know he belonged to the Lawyer’s Guild… Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator; you’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?” – Army secretary Joseph Welch to Senator Joe McCarthy, June 1954 Legendary journalist […]

I will tell you, now that summer is officially here, that it has been pure heck trying to get to the Church Commission. Mac is going to be relaxing at the beach, and we won’t be able to get to Willow to talk about the seminal Congressional panel that changed fundamentally the way we Spooks […]

“They were very specific about their effort to destroy American intelligence…It was Senator Church who said our intelligence agencies were ‘rogue elephants.’ They were supposedly out there assassinating people and playing dirty tricks and so forth…” –         Robert Ellsworth, US State Department It is the longest day of the year, which is wrong, of course, […]