Embed from Getty Images With the end of the 2023 World Series, I became a little nostalgic for the baseball heroes I grew up with.  Most of them were Dodgers: Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Duke Snyder. All great but didn’t come close to the charismatic hitting power of Mickey Mantle. So, when I read a story by former Detroit Tigers...

Stephen King is a remarkable novelist of the macabre. He’s published 65 novels and novellas. Carrie, The Shining, The Dead Zone, Cujo, Misery, The Green Mile—and those are just the works that have been translated into films. On average, King’s novels run 100,000 to 200,000 words, but he needed less than 160 to tell a chilling truth about American culture....

Hate is a sickness; a dark force that shuts out the light of humanity. It grows in darkness, feeds on suspicion, fear, and doubt. It debases others in a torrent of racialism. In times of distrust and disaffection, it grabs onto any rationalization for violence. On September 11, 2001, the country witnessed the power of hate in the murder of...

This is Molly. Walking down the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, I discovered her sitting at a small card table at the foot of the stairs with a sign advertising her work: poetry for strangers. (she likes e. e. cummings.) “I’d like a poem,” I say. “on what subject?” she asks. “Integrity.” “what about integrity?”...

Dysfunction is no longer an adequate descriptor of Washington leadership these days. We’re all aware of the key players in this madness. The media recites them in a 24/7 loop of chaotic images and infotainment. Nonetheless, the strong and the good eventually overcame the darker forces in our nation’s past. Before we continue our march toward the abyss of cynicism,...

While Trust and Confidence is now available through several online sources (Amazon, Google Play, Barnes & Noble, Apple), I thought I’d revisit an excerpt from the book when Secret Service director Lewis Merletti was preparing a presentation for Ken Starr. First some Cliff’s Notes. During the 1998 investigation of President Bill Clinton, independent counsel Kenneth Starr compelled Secret Service agents...

I’ve written about Artificial Intelligence (AI) before. Last February, I wrote about an obscure science fiction film from 1970 entitled, Colossus: The Forbin Project. The premise of the story goes like this: to prevent the mass destruction of civilization, a brilliant US scientist builds an immense computer that, once the key is turned, can stop all nuclear global conflicts. And...

We are losing the battle against climate change. You don’t have to be a scientist to see that the planet is experiencing more intense weather than ever before. Fire, floods, unremitting storms—all are having an unprecedented impact on the planet. A report by the United States Geological Survey says it all. “With increasing global surface temperatures, the possibility of more...

Are you getting as tired as I am about scandal after scandal coming out of Washington. In he past, despite divisions, Senators and Representatives managed to right the ship and move forward representing the country’s citizens in legislation that would live up to the promise of the Founders. Now, outside influence has taken the place of honest legislative debate, and...

Moderate House Republicans have been run over by their hard-right colleagues who continue their reckless abandonment of reason—all in fealty to a demagogue who, if he returns to the White House, will tear apart democratic principles in service to himself. The country has faced demagogues before. On February 9, 1950, Senator Joseph R. McCarthy stood before the County Women’s Republican...