20 June 2020--A friend, colleague and brother-in-arms whom I'll call Rusty sent me this New York Magazine piece. He said a left-leaning friend had shared it, with the comment, ‘remarkably even-handed and unemotional.’ Rusty had scoffed, at first. But on rereading the article, he admitted that the writer, for a progressive, was shockingly critical of … Continue reading The progressive silo’s Covid-19 blind spots
The pseudoscience sewer
22 May 2020-- I crossed paths the other day, in an online professional forum, with a cocksure fellow who - like far too many medical providers - is driven by a very un-Chaotic deference toward 'expert' authority, no matter how demonstrably bogus. I’ll call him Chip. We had fenced before: Back in late February, in … Continue reading The pseudoscience sewer
‘I am Kavanaugh’: a screenplay
1 October 2018 ‘I am Kavanaugh’ Overview: This 10-minute fictional video screenplay starts with a series of brief interviews with five middle-aged men (MAMs). They are fictional schoolmates of Brett Kavanaugh. Each says he has come forward to take responsibility for the alleged sexual assault on Prof. Christine Ford, exonerating Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who - … Continue reading ‘I am Kavanaugh’: a screenplay
Farewell to the ‘maverick’
4 Sept 2018--John McCain's mortal coil has finally assumed room temperature, two decades too late for his reputation, for America, and for millions of victims of the senseless foreign wars he promoted. Had the senator died in 1998, we would have mourned a war hero - a more or less Reaganite conservative. Uncounted innocent lives … Continue reading Farewell to the ‘maverick’
Russia and the West’s ‘liberal order’
24 April 2018--As promised, 'War & Peace' - the writer's nickname for his longwinded explanation to a mutual friend, clarifying Russian attitudes toward the West and especially NATO. (See Poking the Bear.') When he started to explain the historical basis for Russian skepticism about 'democracy,' his letter got completely out of hand. So he transformed … Continue reading Russia and the West’s ‘liberal order’
Poking the bear
27 March 2018-- Doc Chaos, despite his sinister nom de guerre, maintains a wide circle of friends, of both sexes, of all hues, faiths, nationalities and political inclinations. Mind, I can’t bare my soul to all of 'em: western self-styled 'progressives' and a certain stripe of devout Muslim, in particular, tend not merely to think in slogans, … Continue reading Poking the bear