Volume 264 | No. 24

Mon, Aug 17

2008—Maudie Hopkins, widow of Confederate Civil War veteran William M. Cantrell, dies. They married in 1934; he was 86, she 19. 2002—U.S. Generals admit that the U.S. assisted Iraq during its war against Iran knowing that Saddam Hussein would “use chemical weapons against his own people.” 1998—“It depends,” President Clinton tells a Grand Jury, “on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.” 1988—A Pakistani C-130 explodes in mid-air killing President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. General Pervez Musharraf, also scheduled to be on-board, somehow misses the flight. 1988—J. Danforth Quayle informs the Republican National Convention, “in 1988 the question is whether we’re going forward to tomorrow or …

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Sun, Aug 16

1977—Elvis allegedly dies. 1971—John Dean writes his boss, Richard Nixon, a memo on how to “use the available federal machinery to screw our political enemies.” 1968—Armed guards subdue—temporarily—228 rioting Marines in the brig at Danang, wounding seven. 1966—A House Un-American Activities Committee opens a hearing into anti-war protestors’ alleged aid to the Viet Cong. Chaos erupts. 1956—A target drone goes haywire over Los Angeles County. Two F-89s fail to down it but damage a station wagon and two houses, and cause three fires burning 800 acres. 1951—In France, Pont-Saint-Esprit suddenly seems to go mad. Ergot is blamed at first, but later evidence suggests CIA-administered LSD. …

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Trump’s Obsessive Obsession

To the Editor: Good morning, class, thank you for Zooming. For our civics discussion today let’s focus on the touchstone of the Trump era so far? Any thoughts? Yes, Jimmy, your answer. “The overt destruction, or attempted destruction, of anything remotely wonderful or cherished in America—national parks, health care, civil rights, human rights, the climate, fair elections. And lately hampering the Census Bureau and the Postal Service.” Good point, Jimmy. But why does he do these things? Anybody? Sally? “Because he only cares about two things—corporate America and himself. In the case of the Post Office it’s himself, his reelection.” My goodness, but what is …

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Getting Real

I’ve written previously about not being able to shake my formative experience as a child, reveling in being outdoors and working with my hands, which lead to my first career as a stonemason. Perhaps I needed that hands-on, physical release because, like many men of my generation, I was divorced from my feelings. I loved theories and ideas, living in my head most of the time. I needed the physical escape of lifting rocks in the here-and-now to release the pressure of countless competing thoughts, swirling in my head. Due to occupational infirmities as I approached 50, I enrolled at Antioch New England Graduate School …

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