Your humble author was born, on this day. Those of you with a sense of history will recall that this means that I was born in the middle of a significant historical event. Somehow, the world survived that, and another six decades hence. As you know from recent postings, this blog showed up a week or so after another significant historical event. For both occasions, I found myself in New York City, as I do on this day (albeit in another borough slightly removed from Manhattan). When asked where I am “from,” I will, in what I believe to be...

Yes, just like 9-11, which turned 21 last week, this blog turns 21 today. Yee ha. Meaning an entire generation has grown up without knowledge of either a pre 9-11 or a pre-talking dog world. Obviously the two are in parallel. We learned that America finally turned its perpetual war to justify the military industrial complex against the American population itself. This all still seems troubling, even 21 years later. People might be surprised to learn that in the early days of blogging, the red and blue teams would actually socialize with each other. We were capable of talking about...

The turn of the calendar is relentless; it has now been 21 years since 9/11. I suppose it can drink now, and gamble in Vegas and whatever else you have to be 21 to do. In four years, it can rent a car. In a week’s time, this blog will also turn 21, and if you ask me, that’s a more momentous event (or at least, an infinitely less damaging one). Most of you are probably aware that I spent the original 9/11 (actually, the original 9/11 was in 1973 when a junta backed by the CIA and Henry Kissinger...

In this case, happy 94th to TD father in law, whose recovery from two major medical incidents has dominated his year, and ours here at Stately Dog Manor [and explains the paucity of posting in this here space]. But we are all still going strong, for which we are all grateful. Happy birthday!

Regular readers (and thanks for staying with us) are aware that we lost TD Dad back in late 2015. Mrs. TD’s Dad is still going strong at 93; happy Father’s Day to him, and to TD Brother, TD Brother-in-Law, and to all the rest of you fathers out there. Cryptocurrencies and assorted other Ponzi schemes (like, perhaps, the stock market?) seem to be collapsing, and inflation is exploding, and so, the Federal Reserve is jacking up interest rates. Donald Trump seems to still be the right-wing kingmaker, even as the January 6th hearings roll on. This is a bit overdue:...

I am pleased to report that Candace’s still-detained-at-GTMO client… has finally… FINALLY… been cleared for transfer. He’s been detained there for just about TWENTY YEARS. A yuuuge thanks to Andy for breaking this great news. It is not an understatement for me to say that I have been following the case of Said Bakush (one of many spellings for the Alegerian detainee known on base as ISN 685) as long as I have known Candace, to wit, since I interviewed her in 2007. I have followed her travails both with respect to Mr. Bakush (including traveling to Washington both for...

I would usually be the last person on Earth (particularly given my twitter handle) to suggest that Russian President Vladimir Putin was doing something incredibly stupid (as opposed to, you know, evil or otherwise Macchiavellian). But with the brazen seemingly all-out military assault on Ukraine in the last 48 hours, Mr. Putin has effectively flushed virtually any and all moral authority he had. He had some good “moral authority” arguments to respond to what the West would claim as his prior aggression, to wit, that the people of Crimea wanted to leave Ukraine and join Russia (and overwhelmingly voted so...

Today marks 20 years since the opening of the military-prison-for-Muslim-men on the grounds of the American naval air station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Events to commemorate this were held all over the place; I participated at the one in New York City, masks a plenty in the omicron era. Our friend Candace has some listing of commemorations here, and a new web-site from our friends at CAGE in honor of the occasion, here. Our friend Andy, who would usually join us from London at this time of year, remains on the other side of the pond as a result of...

It’s the end of a year that began with the sitting President of the United States staging a murderous attempted coup in a half-assed means to hold power (for which he had a powerpoint and everything), as we transitioned to a new President. The new President’s agenda was immediately thwarted by his own party in a stupid attempt to impeach the last idiot. But then the new guy managed to pass his super-duper COVID relief package (only stripped of the $15 minimum wage) BECAUSE THE SENATE PARLIAMENTARIAN (as if that’s really even a thing). BTW, the stimulus check in that...