Don’t do it! That’s my advice to Senate Democrats who seem to be ready, willing and very able to filibuster a confirmation vote on Supreme Court Nominee Neil Gorsuch. “While a parade of witnesses spoke in the committee room,” The New York Times writes (Mar. 23), “[Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer went to the Senate floor and announced that he...

I’ve been “clean and sober” – no mention of you-know-who, (rhymes with “rump”) – for 21 days and I must confess, a change has come over me. I feel… a little happier. The birds are singing more beautifully; the blossoms on the trees smell more sweetly; and I’ve unplugged from most cable news. In a March 1 commentary (La La...

Climbing is a great game; great not in spite of the demands it makes, but because of them. Great because it will not let us give half of ourselves, it demands all of us. It demands our best. – Royal Robbins If the 60s and 70s are consider the Golden Age of rock climbing then Yosemite Valley was the place...

That’s right. Those two zany congressmen from Texas are off on the wildest, funniest road they’ve ever traveled! … And you’re along for the ride! Starring Will Hurd, a Republican and “Beto” O’Rourke, a Democrat… (Cue the music) O’Rourke: “We’re off on the road to Wash…ing…ton.” Hurd: “We certainly do get around.”  » Read more about: The Road to Washington  »...

Last Friday (Mar. 10), I talked about the more than 8,700 classified CIA documents released by Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, whose stated mission “…is to bring important news and information to the public.” On March 9, The New York Times reported that Assange “…fresh from revealing the largest leak of classified documents in CIA history… tried to turn the table...

On Tuesday, WikiLeaks, the Julian Assange-created so-called “whistle-blower” site, released more than 8,700 classified documents and files, known as “zero day” – detailing all manner of cyber tools used by the CIA to gather information on “bad actors” (individual(s) with the intent on doing serious harm) outside the U.S. It is one of the worst thefts to occur since Edward...

On May 1, 1969, Fred Rogers – the venerable host of the Public Broadcasting Service show Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood – testified before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Communications which had jurisdiction over television and radio. At the time, PBS received $20 million. However, due to the demands of the Vietnam War, President Nixon was looking to cut the funding in...

Like the many millions around the world who tuned in to watch the Oscar telecast (Feb. 26), I was stunned by the final piece of drama that played out on stage. By now, most everyone knows what happened when Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway presented the award for Best Picture. The audience was squirming in their seats waiting for Beatty...

No, this is not about the Academy Award-winning musical that takes place in a fabled land where fanciful dancers prance on a stalled Los Angeles freeway off-ramp. This is about a real place that’s becoming less articulate as the weeks pass, where fanciful “facts” are fabricated for the woefully and willfully ignorant. If the Trump presidency were a Hollywood movie,...

In an unprecedented move, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer last Friday, barred “journalists from the New York Times, CNN, Politico and BuzzFeed—which have been criticized by President Donald Trump and his administration for their reporting—from [an off-camera press briefing]. Reporters from the Associated Press and Time Magazine boycotted the event in protest,” The Wall Street Journal reported (Feb. 24)....