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Artificial Stupidity
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All the News that’s Fit to Stream
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Open in Browser You don’t need a weatherman to know […]
Putting Immigrants on Ice
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Coming Together but still Apart
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Thirteen hundred protest rallies flooded across every […]
What Happened Next in America
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This first installment of a fable contains truth but […]
As Goes Columbia, So Goes the Nation
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Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian refugee and pro-Palestinian […]
The Plan to Steal America
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Jack Ohman / Copyright 2024 Tribune Content Agency […]
Resist While You Still Can
February 16, 2025
“I’m told that we can’t post our way out of […]
Fire Sale
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Greater Los Angeles is reeling from conflagrations […]
How I’m Doing: What’s Your Social Credit Score?
December 11, 2024
As 2024 finishes its dismal performance, I don’t […]
Teach What You Know, Learn What You Don’t
November 17, 2024
Say you want to start a second career as a teacher. […]
There Goes the Neighborhood
October 15, 2024
I’ve been enjoying a novel by Brit Matt Haig […]
A Bumpy Ride on the Orient Express
October 5, 2024
Book Review Last Train to Istanbul Ayşe Kulin John W. […]
Pit Bulls and Barbecue Pits (newsletter)
July 22, 2024
As I wrote this on Sunday, Joe Biden pulled out, […]
Lost and Found Memories
June 30, 2024
The Father She Went to Find: A novel by Carter Wilson […]
On Persistence of Memory (newsletter)
June 28, 2024
This month I’ve turned to memoir to recount […]
Love and Revolution in Iran
June 2, 2024
Half a Cup of Sand and Sky, by Nadine Bjursten (book […]
On Losing Our Senses
May 27, 2024
This month’s offering is on the longish side, so my […]
Guest Post: How to Write About Palestine
April 24, 2024
When I published “What Does ‘I support […]
Books Don’t Sell Themselves
March 24, 2024
The Writing Was the Fun Part This is the first Perfidy […]
What me worry?
February 24, 2024
Dear Readers, I had hoped to send this letter out from […]
Word Games
January 19, 2024
Attention Readers Expect a change in […]
A Slave to the Machine (newsletter)
December 13, 2023
[Nothing to say about Gaza this time around, to your […]
On Cats, Catastrophe, and Caregivers
November 16, 2023
I feel guilty for allowing a pet to die, but not as […]
What Does “I Support Israel” mean?
October 17, 2023
A word about endangered books: There’s been a […]
Why Unions Matter
September 17, 2023
Let’s talk about what’s behind rising […]
Nothing Special, just Life as We Know It
August 18, 2023
Dear Readers, This month, no august pronouncements, […]
The Manichean Candidate (Newsletter)
July 26, 2023
Named after a third-century Persian prophet named […]
Ephemera Are Us (Newsletter)
April 19, 2023
This is a story about why technological innovation […]
How the Empire Thinks (Bulletin)
April 6, 2023
Dear Readers, Just a quickie to tide you over while I […]
The State of the Onion (Newsletter)
February 25, 2023
Today would have been my mother’s 113th […]
Wringing Out the Old Year (Newsletter)
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Dear Readers, Light rain has fallen all day here in […]
With a little Help from my Friends (newsletter)
November 15, 2022
I’m afraid another month blew by without saying […]
A House by the Side of the Road (Newsletter)
September 17, 2022
My apologies for not writing in August. Not only was […]
Why the Revolution Will Not Be Televised (newsletter)
July 9, 2022
Thanks to having our offer on a house accepted, June […]
Six Random Days in May (newsletter)
May 24, 2022
This month’s assorted provocations include […]
On Making Literary Connections (newsletter)
April 22, 2022
Before I forget, Saturday 4/30 is Indie Bookstore day. […]
On Conflict in Ukraine and in Two War Stories (Newsletter)
March 13, 2022
This month’s topical commentary comes with a […]
The Serpent Papers: A Novel by Jeff Schnader
March 4, 2022
Though I’ve never met Jeff Schnader, we […]
On Making Black and Other Lives Materially Matter (newsletter)
February 16, 2022
Celebrating Black History Month reminds one that, like […]
Becoming a Bookseller to Beat the Odds (newsletter)
January 18, 2022
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“The freedom and exhilaration of moral insensibility” (Newsletter)
October 25, 2021
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The “Beautiful Madness” that is Exarcheia (newsletter)
September 10, 2021
“The walls here are like a daily newspaper, trying to […]
Bringing Home the Bacon (newsletter)
August 19, 2021
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It’s Only Money (newsletter)
August 19, 2021
Dear Friends, How’s your summer panning out so far, […]
Masters of Florid(ian) Political Prose (newsletter)
June 4, 2021
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A Penny for Your Ism (newsletter)
May 20, 2021
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The Gripes of Roth (newsletter)
April 5, 2021
Dear Readers, Tomorrow, I’ve recently learned, […]
Random Notes of the Season (newsletter)
March 23, 2021
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Getting the Better of a Protagonist and Vice Versa (newsletter)
February 19, 2021
It saddened me greatly when my principal muse David […]
Looking Behind and Beyond the Sacking of the Capitol
January 9, 2021
I gave up making predictions of the coming year some […]
One Day in Istanbul, the Star of Elliot Ackerman’s Newest Novel
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The “Flag Girl” Stumbles but Never Flags
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A Passage to Internet’s End
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Category: Uncategorized

Artificial Stupidity

Published by Admin on July 18, 2025

AI came close to ruining my Monday, rendering a consumer product shopping expedition Kafkaesque. It wasn’t funny, but I still might have the last laugh.…

4 Comments

As Goes Columbia, So Goes the Nation

Published by Admin on March 13, 2025

Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian refugee and pro-Palestinian activist, received a Masters Degree from Columbia University last year. On March 8th, unidentified ICE agents came to…

2 Comments

On Cats, Catastrophe, and Caregivers

Published by Admin on November 16, 2023

I feel guilty for allowing a pet to die, but not as guilty as certain national leaders should feel. Here’s the story. In 2009, after…

The Manichean Candidate (Newsletter)

Published by Admin on July 26, 2023

Named after a third-century Persian prophet named Mani, Manicheism is an extreme form of dualistic gnosticism. It is gnostic because it promises salvation through the…

Becoming a Bookseller to Beat the Odds (newsletter)

Published by Admin on January 18, 2022

December flew by with no opportunity to write to you, for which you may be appreciative. And as January is already half-consumed, before February is…

1 Comment