Is there a more negative force in the world these days than fundamentalist religion? Wikipedia estimates that there are 10,000 distinct religions worldwide, although most of them are extremely small. There are 12 different religions of significant size — Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Shinto, Islam, Sikhism, Confucianism, Jainism, Hinduism, Taoism, Baha’i, and Zoroastrianism. The two largest, …
As I recall, it was a pleasant spring day in Northern Virginia. April 19, 1975. Exactly 50 years ago — half a century. I was 25, she was 21 and it was our wedding day. There have been 50th wedding anniversaries in the two previous generations of my family, my maternal grandparents in 1970 (they …
I hope you’ll understand how grateful I feel today toward Alex Ovechkin. I have been writing very little here lately, in large part because my two favorite topics — family and politics — have been very depressing. But when the Washington Capitals captain scored his 895th career goal Sunday to become the all-time leading scorer …
I doubt there were many people who aren’t either full-fledged Trumpanzees or members of Pete Hegseth’s family who were excited to see the Fox News personality chosen to be Yambo’s secretary of defense. I don’t know if Hegseth is the least qualified member of this president’s cabinet — there are so many worthy candidates — …
It really isn’t often that I’m so overwhelmed I go a week without writing. I think I went a week a little more than 14 months ago, but that was because I was on a Caribbean cruise and the only way I could have written was on my iPhone. These posts are too long and …
I was never that big a TV watcher. When I was younger, if I liked a new show, it was something of a kiss of death. The first one I remember was when I was 13 years old in 1963. It was a detective series with comedy undertones, starring British actress Glynis Johns. Back in …
“It ain’t braggin’ if you can do it …” It’s not that easy to ascertain who first made this remark. I used to think it was the great Muhammad Ali, who certainly earned the right to say it. The other day I saw it attributed to the even greater Satchel Paige, who preceded Ali by …
This Sunday evening will be the Academy Awards, something that once was one of the milestones in my year. I started going to movies nearly 70 years ago, and they were nearly always my main form of entertainment, either alone or with dates. I remember my first dates with both of my wives, “American Graffiti” …
I found this from 16 years ago as one of my Facebook notes. Thought it would be interesting to poist it and see if anyone else would give it a try. Ten Good Questions Taken from “Inside the Actors’ Studio”, this is the 10-question quiz that closes every interview on the show. Anyone who has …
If you’re one of the majority of Americans horrified by the antics of Donald Trump in the 36 days since he was inaugurated as president, you may think there is nothing that can legally be done about it until at least the midterm elections next November. If you wonder why I include the word “legally” …
