Fleeing carbonation
Rome slept soundly in July and August of the 1960s. So soundly you might have heard a snore, at least [...]
Fortuneteller
At the height of post-Nixon era disenchantment about politics, politicians and America's seemingly broken moral and financial order, the screenwriter [...]
A special sundae school
Butterscotch has a political side. You just need to listen for it. I had no choice. Every Sunday after the [...]
Whimpers before roars
Reverse American history for a moment. Think of a country composed of a few dozen states, each sovereign and separately [...]
Honoring words
Casual borrowing of meaingful political and ideological concepts can push sane debate toward ill-advised fringes and beyond. Take fascism. During [...]
Good times, and bad
Liberal elitism can be as exasperating as conservative buffoonery. Both indulge caricature and cliché, sly or loud. Consider a recent [...]
Lions and tigers, and numbers
The woman's voice began early this morning and every few minutes has repeated the same sequence. Numero 77, numero 6, [...]
Making pulp
There is nothing one president made that another cannot dismantle, or try to. This simple bromide rooted in playground politics [...]
Scrap speaks
In the winter of 2014, newly elected Democratic Party leader Matteo Renzi staged the equivalent of a palace coup. Young, [...]
Bleach and wag
Donald Trump is a literalist. He misspells words not to spite the language but because he feels like spelling them [...]