The trouble with appeals to heaven is the answer might disappoint. For the folks who’ve commandeered the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, that could spell disaster.
My pulse quickens and a certain anarchist joy dawns when I hear of a group of citizens reclaiming their sovereignty. But I smile with the uneasy conscience of a limousine anarchist. Truth be told, I depend on the good will of others to enjoy the life I lead. So do you.
Armed men seized the largely vacant compound in rural Oregon to show solidarity with a rancher and his son, Dwight and Steven Hammond,...
January 6, 2016
It is the day before Christmas, and I should be scurrying around, doing my last minute shopping, and letting the holiday spirit overcome me all at once. I fight it, you see, feeling somehow that a day celebrating the birth of the Son of God by a virgin is just too much to take.
But I yield in the end, not so much to the theology, but to the chance to draw close to those I love, and to shut out the world for a few days.
Christmas is like that, you see. If you let it, the holiday will transform you. Ebenezer Scrooge wasn’t the only one undone by love.
But you won’t...
January 6, 2016
At year's end, it is sometimes customary to name a person of the year, so let me add my nominee: Aylan Al-Kurdi. Odds are, you never learned his name, but it's also true that you will never forget the sight of him. He's the tiny body laying face down on a beach, dead, near Bodrum, Turkey, his face in the surf, his red t-shirt hiked up around his torso, a tiny pair of shoes still on his feet. He appears to be 2, or perhaps 3, years old.
He drowned seeking refuge in Greece, where his family was fleeing, in search of a better life, presumably in northern Europe.
Aylan...
December 30, 2015
I felt much as a secret agent, or a confidential informant must feel, settling in among strangers, listening to them talk, wary of my surroundings. But I was one of them, wasn’t I? No one forced me to attend. I chose to be present, and for no apparent ulterior motive.
Yet I had never set foot in a gun club before. And, until recently, the idea of obtaining a pistol permit seemed far-fetched, if not ridiculous. I’ve called for repeal of the Second Amendment, after all, a result of bearing witness to lethal gun violence in a series of murder trials, killings that occurred...
December 16, 2015
December 10, 2015
I have a confession to make. It’s not pretty. Indeed, given the argot of the day, it’s pretty terrifying. You see, I’ve been...
December 8, 2015
“So, will you be voting for Donald Trump?”
The question came from a public defender in a quiet voice,...
December 2, 2015
At least two people a day are shot to death by police officers in the United States each and every day. As of Tuesday, the total for the year is 895,...
November 19, 2015
I imagine John Grisham, the best-selling author of plot-driven legal thrillers, channel surfing late one night on his 100-plus-acre farm in Oxford,...
November 19, 2015
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy thinks Connecticut ought to open its arms to Syrian migrants. Of course, he wants assurances the migrants are appropriately...
November 11, 2015
Much has been made, and will continue to be made, of the past week’s events at the University of Missouri and, closer to home, at Yale. These...