There are lives that are simply exemplary. Pete Seeger, who just passed away at 94, led one of them. R.I.P., Pete. We do seem to be running out of the great ones.

Not much going on here in Arctic-blasted Brooklyn… I began the 2014 campaign with an arguably disappointing finish– but a finish– in the 17 degree [F] Fred Lebow Manhattan Half this morning. At 16 or 17 degrees [F] first thing in the morning, this was actually one of the warmest mornings we have had, or will have, for some time, here in the NYC area. Compared to other parts of the country, this would be quite warm! So… in the “Hello Captain Obvious” Department, we take a look at this piece from our friends at Pravda, on why the CIA...

Yesterday marked the twelfth “anniversary” of America’s most visible demonstration of its post-Constitutional existence, the opening of its Caribbean resort gulag at Guantanamo Bay Cuba. Somewhere around 150 protesters braved Washington, D.C.’s rain for an event that started across from the White House and proceeded to the National Museum of American History; this account offers a picture (that’s probably me there in the front row in the orange rain poncho). The most poignant part of the event took place after it “officially” ended, as a group of activists “occupied” the interior of the museum, for a human tableau depicting hoods...

I resolve (maybe) to blog just a little more than last year. That shouldn’t be too hard. Might this be the year our mighty, but nowhere near as mighty as it pretends, nation, finally begins to recognize reality? One of the greatest slogans, in my view, of our nation’s most preeminent industry– propaganda– is from a margarine company whose name I forgot, “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.” The sad reality is that, while it isn’t nice to fool Mother Nature, she ain’t no fool. It’s ourselves we’ve been fooling, by believing a propaganda machine telling us of high...

We mean it man. We love our airing of grievances. And now…the feats of strength.

Nelson Mandela passed away at 95. The post-title could relate to a mediocre semi-bio-pic (of Mandela) with Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman of a couple of years ago… but I’d prefer relating it to this poem, by William Ernest Henley [a poem supposedly recited by Mandela himself during his long incarceration at South Africa’s notorious Robben Island political prison]: : Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the...

It’s Mrs. TD’s birthday… so happy birthday to Mrs. TD! The White House is “optimistic” the President can bounce back from the biggest opportunity for genuine positive transformation in American history flushed down the toilet in order to give us Mitt Romney/Newt Gingrich’s Frankenstein monster of propping up health insurers by giving them public money “health care reform” and difficulties over the troubled roll-out thereof. Did we mention Michele O’s college classmate Toni, an executive at the company involved in said roll-out? [The evidence is somewhat dubious here, actually… and as a college classmate of Mr. Obama myself, I can...

Happy Guy Fawkes night. This year, it’s also an election, where my fair city will finally be replacing Mayor Millionaire Mike Billionaire Mike Bloomberg with Hillary Clinton’s former campaign manager. Still recovering from Sunday’s chilly NYC Marathon.., my 12th NYC finish and 37th marathon overall… perhaps 5 or 6 minutes faster than “the usual time” (and about that behind Pamela Anderson). My political realization of the day: Barack Obama owes a great deal to Bob the Builder. .

Well, the President decided he was coming right here to Brooklyn, landing in (and tying up) our beloved Prospect Park, and giving a speech on his education shtick at a Brooklyn high school. No comment, really… the problem with education in this country is the federal government… Can a call for school uniforms be far behind? Alrightie then. An earthquake and tsunami hit near Fukushima, Japan… yes, that Fukushima… Because the fact that the nuclear plant is in deep trouble and could, you know, result in some “bad” outcomes (up to… oh… wiping out life in the Northern hemisphere)… but,...

So the suspense is over… it’s monetary bid’ness as usual, as the President nominates Federal Reserve Vice-Chair[wo]man, [Brooklyn-born-and-bred] Janet Yellen to be the next most important person on Earth Federal Reserve Chair[wo]man. If you think Bernanke had a tough time improvising some way through the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent prolonged depression “Great Recession,” Ms. Yellen will promptly have to deal with even bigger “too big to fail” banks, even more debt and derivatives everywhere, the ongoing playground urinating contest government shut down and the granddaddy of them all… the ultimate own-goal… the potential American default, now slated for around...