The Leningrad Cowboys It is Good Friday, and it is damned good to be home again, though I will never get over the quality of the air in San Diego, and the way the light illuminates the hills and makes the world seem pristine and new.   The campaign is headed in the direction I […]

It almost started yesterday. We have all been waiting for it, watching the 401k retirement plans lose ten percent of their value since the first of the year. Waiting for the run on the bank, just like the people who besieged Jimmy Stuart in ”It’s a Wonderful Life. It wasn’t a savings and loan, of […]

Vitaly V. Fedorchuk, Ukraine, circa 1980 It is easy to get swept away with things of the moment. The peccadilloes of the powerful and the machinations of the state security apparatus have preoccupied me of late. Not that the Spooks are out to get me; far from it. I am still useful to them. But […]

Vitaly V. Fedorchuk, Ukraine, circa 1980 It is easy to get swept away with things of the moment. The peccadilloes of the powerful and the machinations of the state security apparatus have preoccupied me of late. Not that the Spooks are out to get me; far from it. I am still useful to them. But […]

I read that Ms. Kristen Dupré, 22, was worried about how she would pay her rent since the man she was living with had walked out on her. She said it was because she had discovered he had fathered two children, and that must have sparked some sort of discussion.    I am not sure […]

I read that Ms. Kristen Dupré, 22, was worried about how she would pay her rent since the man she was living with had walked out on her. She said it was because she had discovered he had fathered two children, and that must have sparked some sort of discussion.    I am not sure […]

Getting information out of prisoners is a thorny ethical proposition. Maybe I should rephrase that. Getting accurate information is hard, and one should avoid situational ethics as a matter of principle. The Police are always at the edge of it, much more so than the military or the Spooks. They have always had their ways […]

Getting information out of prisoners is a thorny ethical proposition. Maybe I should rephrase that. Getting accurate information is hard, and one should avoid situational ethics as a matter of principle. The Police are always at the edge of it, much more so than the military or the Spooks. They have always had their ways […]

Japanese surrender at Yokosuka Naval Base 1945 The President just vetoed the Intelligence Authorization. He has his reasons, and he explained them. He said that the CIA should not be limited in interrogation to the practices outlined in the Army Field Manual, which is what the Congress thinks is appropriate. I personally am against torture […]

Portrait of the Willow Girl It was raining, good rain, light but steady. Soaking over time, not a deluge that scours the caustic substances from the blacktop and rushes it to the storm drain and straight into the Potomac in a toxic flood. Hillary’s national campaign headquarters across the alley had gained some color. The […]