Month: July 2018

The Science of “Classifying Intel” and of Punishing Whistle Blowers

One thing that is very interesting about this talk, given by Kevin Shipp, retired CIA agent, is his discussion of how investigations managed by Congressional committees can so easily be shut down. (This talk was given in late 2016, before the recent  Congressional oversight of the Mueller probe.)

I find so much of value in this talk and wanted to share it here:... [Read More]

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The Challenge of Free Trade: How Does One Side Win When Everyone Cheats?

Posted this at Legacy: What do people think here?

I used to be a believer in Free Trade. No matter what, I thought the trade policy of America should be that there are no limits whatsoever to trade. If the other side had all sorts of restrictions, it did not matter, because it was always better for Americans on the whole to have total free trade. Why did I believe this? Because learned people said it was so, and that was good enough for me.... [Read More]

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Aid Groups Blame Italy After Migrants Are Sent To Libya

NEWS Now The Associated Press — By SIMONE SOMEKH – Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Italian officials deflected responsibility Tuesday after 108 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean were returned to Libya, a move that humanitarian groups said could violate international law.... [Read More]

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Monday Meals: Sorrel Soup

The darn stuff is so easy to grow. Find a catalog that offers it, prepare the ground, bung the seeds in, and have patience. Growth is slow compared to that of some of the lettuces, for example, but then you see it is slow to bolt, as well.

A delightful sour taste is the outstanding characteristic of this pot-herb. I’d long used it as a minority leaf in a salad bowl, just for the lemony sour accent. This year, the crop was abundant and I had the time, so I whacked off half a row and brought it in.... [Read More]

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1200 Klicks to Canada, in the high lonesome

Here we are , doing one of our classic vacations while working over the net deals. We just arrived at our first destination after driving the F150 over 1200 kilometers (they use different measures up here and pretend it’s meaningful).

Jasper Alberta is smack dab in the middle of a National Park with crystal waters, slate gray mountains and thin rooted pines struggling with pre-permafrost.... [Read More]

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How News Should Sound

“This is how the news should sound.”   That is the introduction to a new radio news talk show that I have been hearing on NPR.   The name of the show is “The Daily.”   It is a real howler.   It both gives me great laughs and raises my blood pressure.   It is anti-Trump, anti-conservative, anti-Republican Leftism brought to you with all the outragey feels you want when you are nostalgic for the pepper-spray whiff of street demonstrations.

“The Daily, with Michael Barbaro” is a production of the New York Times.   The broadcasts are available as podcasts.  They are a parody of themselves.   They are short (22-minutes) and focus on a single issue each episode.  Sometimes they do a series of two or three episodes.   I have listened to all the usual Leftist bilge.   What gives the laughs is the hushed tones and atmospheric music (violins swells in a minor key to let you know that you are about to hear the latest real outragey dirt on Trump).   They whisper the introductions to experts who pontificate about how awful the Trump Administration is.   They whip up sympathies with sob stories from the most appealing of illegal immigrants.   They really like to interview minor officials from the Obama Administration who now have impressive-sounding titles at Leftist think tanks.... [Read More]

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Rave Review: James Michener’s “Hawaii”

One of the few benefits of the (so far) gentle intellectual decline I am experiencing at age 74 is that I can re-read books seemingly de novo. I read “Hawaii” many years ago; I don’t remember in what period of my life that was and recalled virtually nothing of the story as it unfolded this time.

I just came to the end a few minutes ago and am awash with ambivalent feelings consisting of nostalgia, longing, sadness, wonder and more. Michener had an almost “God’s-eye” view of humanity and the ability to set it forth in clear, eminently-readable and inviting prose. I am grieving the end of the story.... [Read More]

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This Week’s Book Review – Shale Boom: The Barnett Shale Play and Fort Worth

I write a weekly book review for the Daily News of Galveston County. (It is not the biggest daily newspaper in Texas, but it is the oldest.) My review normally appears Wednesdays. When it appears, I post the review here on the following Sunday.... [Read More]

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