President Biden is supposed to be the most powerful man in the world because he controls the most formidable military. Alas, that mantle has now passed onto Athe egocentric shoulders of Nevada’s champion corporate welfare queen, Elon Musk. Last year, the richest man on the globe scuttled Ukrainian drones attacking the Russian fleet because he didn’t want to piss off his pal … [Read more...]
Death by a thousand cuts
Whatever might the Orient Express, trolley cars and the new phone book have in common? All such were intentionally neglected into the ground by their corporate overlords. America’s rapacious railroads weren’t making enough money on their passenger lines, so they intentionally made the service so bad that people stopped using it. Thus advised my Uncle John who was once the … [Read more...]
A tale of two cupcakes
“Your first game should be against East Cupcake,” NCAA champion basketball coach Al McGuire said many years ago. The second contest of the season should be against East Cupcake State, preferably home games, the story goes. The UNR Wolf Pack just took that lesson the hard way. They were not even accorded the honor of Cupcake Number One. That diss went to fellow Mountain West … [Read more...]
You bet your life
“Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”-- H.L. Mencken (paraphrased) The last bastion of our beleaguered democracy is under new and unexpected assault. A bunch of Wall Street bandidos are pushing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to allow big league betting on follytix. This ain’t no barroom pool. This monster is the zombie … [Read more...]
Life as a color cartoon
Since the first cave dweller scrawled on a rock, artists have been trying to teach us. We ignore them at our peril and we thus live in the most perilous of times. And so we slog forward as best we can. LAUGH OR CRY DEPT. Cartoonists condense reality better than even bumper sticker…er…meme writers. Pulitzer Prize winner Garry Trudeau delivered a typical gut punchline in … [Read more...]
Renate Neumann: Once upon a time
The Perseid Meteor Shower arrived last weekend to carry my dear friend Renate Neumann across the universe. She left this form on Saturday, August 12, suffering from complications brought on by Parkinson’s Disease. The great artist’s hands could paint no more and we stand much diminished for it. Renate and her husband Peter were among the first to welcome me to northern … [Read more...]
Tin boxes and tin men
“Mr. X, may we ask you a question? It’s amazing, is it not, that the city pays you slightly less than fifty bucks a week, yet you’ve purchased a private yacht?” “X: I am positive your honor must be joking! Any working man can do what I have done. For a month or two I simply gave up smoking, and I put my extra pennies one by one, into… “A little tin box, a little tin … [Read more...]
The apogee of the apocalypse
Everybody knows the dice are loaded. Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed. Everybody knows the war is over. Everybody knows the good guys lost. Everybody knows the fight was fixed. The poor stay poor, the rich get rich. That’s how it goes. Everybody knows. -- Leonard Cohen, 1934-2016 This here news junkie has become so sick of the 24/7 Donald Xi Putin … [Read more...]