Photo credit: Unsplash, Gaza War Peace in Ukraine: Humanitarian Relief and Peace in Gaza To the consternation of both the government of Ukraine and much of the rest of Europe, Trump and Putin may have come to an agreement to stop the slaughter in the eastern region of Ukraine. As long as this agreement leads to a lasting peace, with Russia and the West rebuilding devastated areas of Ukraine, then there may be a glimmer…
Above Photo credit: John Kerry, Wikimedia Commons My wife and I, and another relative, waited six hours in the stands at a park in West Palm Beach, Florida, for the arrival of John Kerry during his run for the presidency in 2004. At the top of the lineup of speakers was a well-known actor, and I didn’t think anything about that appearance besides that celebrity’s support for Kerry. Kerry’s first statement when he spoke was:…
Howie, We May Want You The Department of Homeland Security is advertising for ICE agents (see specifications below). I could even apply because the program doesn’t have age limits, and I’d probably get enhanced or special consideration as a veteran. The question is whether or not most people want an old masked guy carrying around an assault rifle and/or a battering ram. Slip and falls are not a joke for some, so the scenario is…
Boots on the Ground in D.C. Photo credit above: Battle of New Orleans, January 1815, National Archives It’s a written law that keeps boots off the ground in the US. It’s called the Posse Comitatus Act. The act or law is a post-Civil War act which prevents the president from using troops or boots on the ground, so to speak, on domestic streets. For law enforcement in the US, we have police at different levels…
“Signature Moments” The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library’s (and Museum) special exhibit and grounds of his homesite, Springwood, and Rose Garden, where both the president and first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, and their two dogs, especially their Scottish terrier, Fala, are all buried, was like a sanctuary amid the mayhem beyond the tranquility of New York’s Hudson Valley and the nearby Hudson River. Outside is the constant drumbeat of insanity that the far right has visited…
Photo credit: Ashley West Edwards, Substack images Google’s Algorithms? *Google Algorithm Suspicions: The author suspects that Google’s algorithms might be suppressing their [sic] website due to its focus on left-leaning political, economic, and social topics, including discussions of war and genocide. *Website Visibility Issue: The author’s website, mirroring their Substack space, experienced a sudden drop in views after implementing Google’s optimization advice. *Substack Advantages: Substack allows for writing without self-censorship and offers a platform for…
Photo credit: Library of Congress, Frances Benjamin Johnston Back to School Schools, public schools, have long been the whipping boy [sic] of the economic system of predatory capitalism in the US, which coincidentally has given us an exponential level of income inequality. Schools, once primarily public institutions, have not weathered the attack against unions and the surging movement for charter schools, which coincidentally do not measure up to their counterparts which they are attempting to…
Photo credit: Robert Kennedy, Jr., Wikimedia Commons A World I Don’t Recognize A scowling Robert Kennedy, Jr. halts $500 million in mRNA vaccine research (Guardian, August 5, 2025). It’s most likely that very research allows me to write these words on my computer today. Some of the anti-science crowd are “screaming” about sunscreens (Guardian, August 6, 2025). An acquaintance died of melanoma a few years ago, and while this is not a woe-is-me post, getting…
Photo credit: Jonathan Cooper, Unsplash By the Numbers: Bad Discharges* Sometime during the first Gulf War (1990-1991), George H.W. Bush’s war, to cement Ronald Reagan’s push to make the world safe for war again after the bothersome Vietnam Syndrome, a pamphlet was published by the American Friends Service Committee. I stopped being a fan of the Friends during that war because one of their chairpersons in Rhode Island came out to support Bush’s war. Much…
The Blank Page Photo credit: A winter scene at sunset, Howard Lisnoff I never found a blank page a problem, even before that page appeared on a computer screen. Paper and pen were originals. This morning, a quiet Sunday morning in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts, I read the international and national press along with emails and Facebook posts. The “Word of the Day” was “fecund,” which means fertile, and I rejoice when the…