Atlanta, GA March 7, 2023 In the course of my career, I’ve spent countless hours in hotel lobbies. Now, I’m passing a few more. Sipping coffee in a corner chair, I’m comfortably ensconced at the Hotel Whitley, in a building that once housed the Buckhead Ritz-Carlton. Rita and I were here a few years ago, […]
Atlanta, GA March 1, 2023 For my parents who got me out and on behalf of all the children who never did – Michael Malice, dedicating The White Pill Years ago, after dinner in Toronto, some colleagues and I went to a bar. When we walked in, I was startled by what I saw. Murals […]
Atlanta, GA February 15, 2023 More than a year passed before the US government acknowledged its role in the massacre at Mỹ Lai. A similar interlude separated the crimes at Abu Ghraib from the initial reporting that made them public. Seymour Hersh revealed each outrage, both of which the government denied or downplayed. But Hersh exposed […]
Atlanta, GA February 8, 2023 “America is becoming again a house divided against itself. In the savagery of our politics we imitate the Third Republic; in our social and cultural life, we begin to resemble Weimar.” – Pat Buchanan, Right from the Beginning (1988) I awoke in the middle of the night, on the floor, in a […]
Atlanta, GA January 31, 2023 We were at a gala last weekend where one of the speakers represented a major “healthcare” organization. His remarks reminded me how our conception of medical service has shifted dramatically since I was a kid. This executive promoted “curated” care tailored to each individual, going so far as to etymologize […]
Orlando, FL January 22, 2023 “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” – Edmund Burke A quarter century ago, Harry Browne wrote a wonderful book about how to attain liberty in an ocean of hostility. Since the publication of How […]
Atlanta, GA January 14, 2023 An evil man will burn his own country to the ground to rule over the ashes. ~Sun Tzu First they came for high-flow toilets, and I did not speak out – because my current commode flushed fine. Then they came for high-pressure shower heads, and I did not speak out […]
Atlanta, GA January 6, 2023 It is a learned skill to force yourself to articulate your life, your present world or your possibilities for the future. – David Whyte Today is the Feast of the Epiphany. With any luck, we’ll have one. So let’s hop on our horses, grab the gifts, and seek our star. […]
Atlanta, GA December 25, 2022 In the bleak mid-winterFrosty wind made moanEarth stood hard as iron,Water like a stone;Snow had fallen, snow on snow,Snow on snow,In the bleak mid-winterLong ago. Our God, heaven cannot hold HimNor earth sustain,Heaven and earth shall flee awayWhen He comes to reign:In the bleak mid-winterA stable-place sufficedThe Lord God Almighty […]
Atlanta, GA December 20, 2022 A few years ago, over breakfast with a mentor who’d recently retired, I lamented being middle-aged. Having three children as old as I was, he responded by providing perspective…and putting me in my place. “How do you think I feel?”, he asked. “My kids are middle aged!” Like drops of […]