“The Art of Making a Deal,” a dialogue
This fictional dialogue tries to depict the process of dealmaking behind the President's deal to lower drug prices to help Americans.
Category Perspectives
From the other side, November 29, 2025: “Why false beliefs feel safer than the truth”
A few weeks ago, I directed readers to an article in the Australian online news source Pearls and Irritations. Here I link to another of their publications: John Frew’s article addressing an issue in Australia but completely applicable to public discourse in America.
What if . . . ?
What if the racial purification ideas hiding in the slogan of making America great again were feasible, that eugenics through forced sterilization and euthanasia could produce a new race of people were true?
Futility
I must admit that I have found it hard to write for the last year, ever since the Election of November 6, 2024. Many have asked me where my voice has been, and I say, "It is lost," It is their prod to speak again and this is the beginning.
What you need to know, October 25, 2025: Milling rumors
Rumors are said to be like mills. They go around and around and grind the natural grains of wheat into powdery flour so that humans can digest them. Here is an example of a rumor mill: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/23/venezuela-tren-de-aragua-gang-police.
From the other side, October 13, 2025: Pearls and Irritations
Sierra County, being at the bottom of the producer-consumer feeding chain, is more dependent on the world than most other parts of America. Yet, locally, we think we are an independent world to ourselves. We are not. Let me introduce you to how Australian policy thinkers view American news.
Dominance training in the US: a metaphor of our lives
Yesterday, I was attacked going out of my driveway by my neighbor’s dog. The standoff lasted half an hour before I was able to make her back off, but I was confined to my house the rest of the day, not wanting to confront her snarling and yapping lunges again.
Laid off at 40, Grigulevich reinvents himself as an author of popular Russian nonfiction about South America
Moscow, 1954-1988, With no job prospects in Moscow, Grigulevich begins to write about South America and the Roman Catholic Church, and finds an enthusiastic audience among young Russians interested in the outside world.
What you need to know, September 28, 2025: Jupiter Project
Doña Ana County has approved the construction in Santa Teresa (near El Paso) of the $165 billion Jupiter Project. What does that mean?
Costa Rican couple make a big splash in Roman diplomatic circles, then disappear
Rome, 1948-53. In the most outrageous covert act in the history of espionage, Josif and Laura fake their way into Roman diplomatic society by impersonating wealthy Costa Rican coffee merchants.
Back in Buenos Aires, Yuz settles in with Laura while firebombing German-bound ships
Argentina again, 1941-47: Grigulevich begins his war on Nazis by sabotaging a bookstore, then ships in Buenos Aires harbor heading to Germany. He and Laura head to Brazil after war ends.
Gatekeeper murdered, Siqueiros arrested, Grigulevich splits and another Stalin agent kills Trotsky
Mexico, 1940-41: After the raid, gatekeeper found dead, Siqueiros heads to the hills, Grigulevich returns to Santa Fe with new lover, and another Stalin assassin kills Trotsky with ice axe.