Resistance is Not Futile
A lot of us who respect Barack Obama’s eight years in the White House want to curl up and hibernate for the next four years. Please, let it just be four!
The Magic of Misdirection
Even the best magicians never actually do magic—they give you a believable illusion that they are performing the impossible. Mostly, they do it by misdirection. After a literal or figurative “look over here!” …your attention jumps to the waving hand, or the flashing light, or
Mein Kampf mit Drumpf
I’m sorry, but the Hitler analogy is at last appropriate. You can hear the original Führer’s hateful nationalism in nearly every sentence that comes out of Mr. Trump’s mouth, most especially in his inaugural speech. “I’m sorry, but…” is most often a non-apology that means exactly the
From a Slasher Flick to Film Noir
Let’s say you’re a hotshot movie producer and I’m this schlub of a writer who thinks he’s bringing the next blockbuster to our meeting. I’m pitching you A Nightmare on Pennsylvania Avenue, which has Freddie Kruger invading the nation’s capitol. Of course you guessed it—a clever
The Reality of Fake News
Back in the days of the Soviet Union, there were two official newspapers: Pravda (“The Truth”) and Izvestiya (“The News”). A friend of mine who grew up in Russia during those times told me of the cynical saying, “Pravda nye Izvestiya, Izvestiya nye Pravda” …in English:
A Cornucopia of Deplorables
Wait, don’t put away the Christmas decorations just yet. I’ve got one more present for you—and you’re gonna to hate it. Most of Donald Trump’s proposed cabinet and advisors are either inexperienced at government or opposed to the actual function that they would oversee—and usually, both.
How to Cheat Democracy
Round One has begun, a first clang! in the bruising prize fight that Donald Trump’s presidency threatens to become. It’s The Donald vs. the CIA and a bipartisan bunch of lawmakers. And it’s about whether or not Russian hackers attempted to help Trump win. What
New Show: The Political Apprentice
We just elected a man with zero experience in government, primarily because he has no experience. That’s especially scary considering that “we” is a real stretch: Trump lost the popular vote by over 2.5 million as of this writing. It’s the same “we” that keeps
Lock ‘Em Up!
The American election season never ends with the election. Not anymore. Nailing the president-elect for reneging on his second-biggest campaign promise became the national sport overnight …for the Red Team. And the rest of us? We’re still here, and we’re not going down without a fight.
Who Rigged the Election? Everyone
The movie Jurassic Park removed an intriguing side plot from Michael Crichton’s novel of the same name, that I think applies directly to the election. In the book, the island’s computer-controlled surveillance of dinosaurs failed to detect an unexpected increase in their population. That was because the