The guard is changing in statehouses across the land as the latest cast of characters takes office. Governor Moonbeam is replacing the Governator in Sacramento; Andrew Cuomo became the 56th governor of New York yesterday. They are two of an increasingly slim number of progressive governors from shrinking states. Both have got huge problems. In […]

The guard is changing in statehouses across the land as the latest cast of characters takes office. Governor Moonbeam is replacing the Governator in Sacramento; Andrew Cuomo became the 56th governor of New York yesterday. They are two of an increasingly slim number of progressive governors from shrinking states.   Both have got huge problems. […]

(Mr. Simpson tries on the famous glove as a deputy looks on. Photo courtesy of the Guardian, UK)We will make it short and sweet this morning, since we are all still trying out the feel of this brave New Year, a little like Orenthal James Simpson and the famous glove. A good pal wrote me yesterday […]

(Mr. Simpson tries on the famous glove as a deputy looks on. Photo courtesy of the Guardian, UK) We will make it short and sweet this morning, since we are all still trying out the feel of this brave New Year, a little like Orenthal James Simpson and the famous glove.   A good pal […]

(Terrapins Stadium, College Park, MD, on a Pee Dee. Photo Socotra.) There were high thin clouds that enhanced the delirious blue of the Maryland sky. Temperature in the low sixties. A nice breeze to make the flags stand out. And the tailgate? Damn! It was a Pee Dee: a perfect day. It could have been […]

Crazy   (Batman, Robin and Civilian at Willow, Halloween, 2010. Photo Socotra.) I sometimes complain that I am overcome by what is going on, but this is an extraordinary morning. It is crazy. The two comedians, liberals, I think, who masquerade as conservatives,  are having a rally for sanity on the Mall today. It is a […]

(Old City Gate, Seoul.) I threw some money on the bar and we stumbled out; one young Spook, one active Mata Hari, and the last flower of the Empire singing “Waltzing Matilda.” Mata looked embarrassed. There was a fortuitous cab waiting in front.  We sped through the evening streets past the brooding bulk of Namsan […]

(Lavochkin LA-11 Fang fighter. Image copyright Militaryfactory.com.) On the eighth of April 1950, Soviet Lavochkin LA-11 Fang fighters, shot down a US Navy PB4Y-2 Privateer (BuNo 59645) Turbulent Turtle of VP-26, Det A. Based from Port Lyautey, French Morocco, the Privateer was on a PARPRO mission launched from Wiesbaden, Western Germany. According to CINCNELM accounts, […]

(Official portrait of Speaker of the House Carl Albert, a Big Pink Resident) I stopped by Willow last night with no agenda. It was refreshing. I had forgotten my phones in the morning- the Blackberry was charging peacefully by the coffee pot and the Droid was in the cradle by the toaster oven.   I […]

(The Great Pumpkin creating mortgage-based securities. I had always suspected but never knew. Photo credit unknown, but reserved.) I am pleased not to be Tarik Aziz this morning, one of the few good things I can think of this week. The Iraqi courts sentenced him to climb the short ladder and swing by the long […]