Life in Pennsyltucky, An Occasional Series

Neighbor, I don’t believe Joe Biden will be visiting our fair burgh so you can have hot monkey sex — no doubt Jill would object — but if that’s your thing, who am I to judge? Seriously, though, it wasn’t Joe Biden who stole top secret nuclear secrets and kept them in bankers boxes atContinue reading “Life in Pennsyltucky, An Occasional Series”

Recent Tweetery

Some recent tweets that I enjoyed writing. Twitter falls into the memory hole so quickly, and maybe someday I’ll want to return to these. Okay, probably not. But for a minute or two, this is what I was thinking at the time.

A Day at the Park

Only two weeks ago there was snow. Today, it reached 75 degrees. And, since it was a Thursday — and thus, my weekly department conference call — I decided the best way to take that conference call was at the park up the street. No, literally. It’s up the street. It’s five blocks (I justContinue reading “A Day at the Park”

Gritty Leading the People

It was a week of publishing deadlines, and thirty hours after my last files went to the printer I’m still mentally exhausted. I did go to Books a Million again today to see what other gems I could find in their CD sale. (CDs, new and used, are 90% off as they are getting outContinue reading “Gritty Leading the People”

Russia, the Primakov Doctrine, and Implications for the 2020 Election

I’ve been doing a great deal of thinking about Russia and the 2020 election, thoughts that are leading me to some chilling places. You may skip over this — “Oh, Allyn’s moaning about Russia again, and it’s all ‘Fake News’ anyway” — but that’s because you’ve never asked yourself the question: “What does Russia want?”Continue reading “Russia, the Primakov Doctrine, and Implications for the 2020 Election”

The Next Secretary of Defense Will Be…?

Reports surfaced today that President Donald Trump is considering Jim Webb, former Secretary of the Navy and later Senator from Virginia, to replace Jim Mattis as Secretary of Defense. Mattis, famously, resigned in protest a few days before Christmas due to the president’s abrupt announcement of a troop withdrawal from Syria. Webb would be anContinue reading “The Next Secretary of Defense Will Be…?”

What If… Gary Johnson Had Won in 2016?

Yesterday evening, scrolling through Facebook, I saw a former colleague of mine from EB Games, M, post the following meme image, without any commentary: I posted a quick reply: “Honestly, what do you think would have been different with Johnson?” I didn’t expect a reply, but one was soon forthcoming. In case that’s not entirelyContinue reading “What If… Gary Johnson Had Won in 2016?”

The Travel Ban and the Steve Bannon Playbook

I didn’t go to the protest at BWI yesterday. If I’d found out about it two hours earlier, I might have; I didn’t have anything else happening yesterday. In the last twenty-four hours I’ve seen several writers note that the protests against Trump’s travel ban from seven Muslim countries are a feature, not a bug,Continue reading “The Travel Ban and the Steve Bannon Playbook”