“You’re drunk, sir. Sleep it off.” Those were not the first words I heard Larry King say, but they may have been the ones that set him apart from other all-night radio talkers. I probably heard King for the first time in the late ’70s on WAVA radio in the Washington, D.C., area. He was …
Are we at the beginning of a new era or sliding farther down the slippery slope that will end small-d democratic government in the U.S.? Are we ready to dismiss Trumpism or do we just have a short interlude before it comes roaring back stronger than ever? I have a very close friend who refuses …
I only saw Hank Aaron play once in a game I attended in person. It was July 23, 1969, at Washington’s Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, and the National League beat the American League, 9-3, in that summer’s All-Star Game. Aaron was 35 that summer, and he wasn’t the home run king that day. He had …
I was 10 years old for most of 1960, and there is one memory that stands out from the presidential campaign that year. Millions of Americans were seriously concerned about the possibility of a Roman Catholic becoming president of the United States. My grandfather, who was a Lutheran, was among them. Sixty years later, it …
STIGMA OF CATHOLICISM MIGHT BE ENDING IN POLITICS Read More »
I hear there are some last-minute changes in the way President Trump will leave Washington tomorrow morning. It turns out Air Force One won’t be available until 1 p.m., when Trump will no longer be president. Since Trump wanted the pomp and ceremony of leaving when he was still in office, he was given two …
My wife and I live in an active adult community, which is something of a euphemism for a retirement community. I’m glad we don’t live in The Villages. Our community is managed by Del Webb. About 1,500 out of what eventually will be 3,400 single-family homes are occupied and we have a population of somewhere …
“Dying is easy, comedy is hard …” The author of the quote that led to this line isn’t known as a comedian. Actor Edmund Gwenn is best remembered for his role as Santa Claus in the original “Miracle on 34th Street,” but when he was on his deathbed, a friend visited him and said, “This …
I was 15 in January of 1965, the first time since we had moved to Virginia that there was a presidential inauguration. There is so much I don’t remember about details, but I remember my sister Laura and I were in the Capitol Hill area to see the ceremonies. The crowd was maybe the biggest …
“Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose …” We hear a lot these days about slippery slopes. If we allow this, then this and this and this will follow. Well, same-sex marriage didn’t lead to marrying children or farm animals, things those opposed told us were certain to happen. Not yet, anyway. And …
“Mea culpa. Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa.” File this one under the heading of It’ll Never Happen but It Should. I find myself thinking the last couple of days about what if anything Donald Trump could do to redeem himself. Don’t get me wrong, there’s no way he’s going to change the fact that he’s …
IF TRUMP WANTS A GRACEFUL EXIT, TRY THIS ON FOR SIZE Read More »
