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Monthly Archives: October 2016

This is Obama’s fault — really

While the Republican Party’s strategy — for years — has been hell fire and scorched earth, President Obama persisted in his delusion that Republicans’ destructive, truth-free politics could be cured with “bipartisanship.” This delusion even persisted into Obama’s second term. It was in September 2013 that Obama appointed a Republican, James Comey, as director of […]

The dying gasps of the 1950s

There is an ugly little suburban town on the southern edge of my county that I would have to say is one the nastiest and most hateful little places I’ve ever known. To this day — 2016! — black friends tell me that black people are afraid to go there. In 2014, while I was […]

Fall blooms at the garden shop

When you’re serious about your yard, garden, and orchard, there are times when you need the advice and help of experts. The abbey is lucky to have access to a former agricultural agent who now runs a business of his own. Here’s what was blooming at his garden shop today. The photos were taken with […]

Backyard game camera

The backyard parties seem to go on day and night.

It’s time for ridicule now, everyone

Any time the make-believe right-wing world is imploding, which is a lot these days, I like to go to the Drudge Report to see how they’re spinning it. Just last week, for example, everyone in the right-wing bubble just knew that Wikileaks was going to release some stuff that would absolutely destroy Hillary once and […]

As the world turns

It’s an ill hurricane that blows nobody good, I suppose. Hurricane Matthew, for all the damage done elsewhere, brought two days of much-needed steady rain here. It was the first steady rain in many months and put an end to summer’s low-grade drought. Suddenly the weather switched from summer mode to fall mode. Today is, […]

Why are we not investing in young people?

Jobs — but no lives and not much education One consequence of our dumb-as-rocks political and media culture is that the pig circus intentionally distracts us from talking about things that matter. To her credit, Hillary Clinton has proposed a plan for making it possible for young people to attend public univerities debt-free. As for […]

October reading

I’m afraid that this book may make some pretty scary reading in the weeks before this election. But many other Americans will be reading this book right now, and we might as well band together for mutual support and discussion. The photograph, by the way, was taken in the rubble of a textile mill in […]