The so-called “conservative” approach to governance is to shower the ultra-wealthy with free money, and then pay for doing so by cutting programs that the working class needs.
That’s neither governance nor conservative. That’s called a shakedown. It’s a swindle. If you vote Republican, you’re supporting this arrangement. This has nothing to do with capitalism. This has nothing to do with the free market. This has nothing to do with benefits “trickling down.” It’s about taking a person who works for a living and has bills to pay, and taking away from them to benefit those who have three houses and a private jet. Again, if you vote Republican, this is the arrangement you’re supporting.
I get it. You don’t like brown people, and you would like to help make America white again. But the country is turning brown. America will soon be comprised of a majority of minorities. Your vote is an attempt to shovel sand against the tide. And here’s the real kicker: the people you’re voting for do not care about making America white again. That’s just rhetoric used to get votes. (It works, so they keep doing it); but the real priority is what I described above.
The White House—this White House—does not care about brown people or Christian values or the trans-gendered. They care about handing free money to those who do not need it. They care about socialism for the ultra-wealthy. You can give free money to them; but if you do something for the working class you’re a Marxist? You’re a communist? There’s no money? The budget’s tight.
My guess is you work for a living and have bills to pay. Your family probably does not have $40 million for a Gulfstream G500. So, would it not be in your best interest to support politicians who are going to support you? The Gulfstream set will be just fine. They don’t need your help.
And do they appreciate your help? Are you somehow on their team because you vote Republican? They wouldn’t wipe the bottoms of their shoes off on you—yuck. You’re disgusting to them. They look at you the same way you look at minorities. Worse. You just simply don’t like brown people. But the Gulfstream set reviles you. They find you loathsome.
And there you are, voting to give them free money. You worship them because they have looked out for themselves. Maybe voters should do the same.
PS. I have mentioned the Republican Party in this essay a few times. This is not to suggest I am devoted to the Democrats. I am not. They’re awful. The GOP is just worse.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/21/us-healthcare-system-trump
December 22, 2025
December 21, 2025
Chomsky & Me
This book was just a bit of fun side-reading. Bev Stohl, for over twenty years, ran operations at Noam Chomsky’s office at MIT.
She basically handled the day-to-day business of things: fielding letters, invites, packages, hundreds of emails a day, requests, pushy documentary film makers, visitors famous and not, interviewers, etc., etc. She was in charge of everything from travel to coffee (Chomsky consumed it by the pail).
The book was fun for me for two reasons. For one, it is a superb look behind the curtain. It’s a glimpse into the real guy, his quirks, his habits, and so on. Chomsky was basically a mentor to me, and no one has had a more profound impact on me intellectually. Wanting to know how he ticks is a natural curiosity.
For another, I was in that office. I must have met Bev, but sadly it’s a blur. Chomsky and I sat and talked for about a half-hour in his office in summer 2014. Absurdly, I did 65 percent of the talking. It was his fault—he kept asking me questions! Now I don’t think he found me interesting; I just think he was relieved he didn’t have to do an interview.
I now, a decade later, wish I got my picture with him. That would have been nice to have; but at the time I felt it was silly and embarrassing.
One small thing does stand out in memory. It must have been Bev, now that I think about it. She silently popped in and replaced his presumably empty coffee cup with a full one. I remember thinking, “How in the hell did she know that was empty??” I guess when you work that close for that long, you become attuned to such things.
At any rate, if you’re familiar with his work, I highly recommend giving this a read. It’s a lot of fun. And you’ll learn about what kind of warmhearted, compassionate, brilliant man Chomsky is—maybe you already know—and how lucky the twentieth (and twenty-first) centuries were for having him in them.
She basically handled the day-to-day business of things: fielding letters, invites, packages, hundreds of emails a day, requests, pushy documentary film makers, visitors famous and not, interviewers, etc., etc. She was in charge of everything from travel to coffee (Chomsky consumed it by the pail).
The book was fun for me for two reasons. For one, it is a superb look behind the curtain. It’s a glimpse into the real guy, his quirks, his habits, and so on. Chomsky was basically a mentor to me, and no one has had a more profound impact on me intellectually. Wanting to know how he ticks is a natural curiosity.
For another, I was in that office. I must have met Bev, but sadly it’s a blur. Chomsky and I sat and talked for about a half-hour in his office in summer 2014. Absurdly, I did 65 percent of the talking. It was his fault—he kept asking me questions! Now I don’t think he found me interesting; I just think he was relieved he didn’t have to do an interview.
I now, a decade later, wish I got my picture with him. That would have been nice to have; but at the time I felt it was silly and embarrassing.
One small thing does stand out in memory. It must have been Bev, now that I think about it. She silently popped in and replaced his presumably empty coffee cup with a full one. I remember thinking, “How in the hell did she know that was empty??” I guess when you work that close for that long, you become attuned to such things.
At any rate, if you’re familiar with his work, I highly recommend giving this a read. It’s a lot of fun. And you’ll learn about what kind of warmhearted, compassionate, brilliant man Chomsky is—maybe you already know—and how lucky the twentieth (and twenty-first) centuries were for having him in them.
December 20, 2025
Thank You
I wanted to thank everyone for the well-wishing. It meant quite a lot. Wednesday morning was a humdinger, as they used to say. Not sure if I cut it close there or not. I suspect I did.
So, two nights in the hospital, where I was well taken care of. I will be going to Northwestern at the end of January for an “EP study.” EP here means electrophysiological, and what they’ll do is map my heart, potentially find the faulty wiring, and zap it to take it out of play. Theoretically, this will prevent any further chaos.
Because oversharing seems to really be my thing, I will post a little something about that procedure when the time comes. So, you have that to look forward to.
Look, I was never going to post photos from the Cubs game or pictures of my kids (that I don’t have) at their graduation. But, if my health had not gone sideways (the MS, not my heart), I would likely be traipsing around the Middle East these years, posting far more interesting things than trips to the hospital and what book or series I’ve gone through most recently.
I really wish I was there. I sorely miss the Arab world; and I miss Arab culture dearly. But for now, I am at my desk most days, when I’m not teaching, tending to intellectual and political matters. There are many books to read—I can hear my desk groaning—and a few to write yet. So, I guess I’ll, as my neighbor says, get to gettin'.
So, two nights in the hospital, where I was well taken care of. I will be going to Northwestern at the end of January for an “EP study.” EP here means electrophysiological, and what they’ll do is map my heart, potentially find the faulty wiring, and zap it to take it out of play. Theoretically, this will prevent any further chaos.
Because oversharing seems to really be my thing, I will post a little something about that procedure when the time comes. So, you have that to look forward to.
Look, I was never going to post photos from the Cubs game or pictures of my kids (that I don’t have) at their graduation. But, if my health had not gone sideways (the MS, not my heart), I would likely be traipsing around the Middle East these years, posting far more interesting things than trips to the hospital and what book or series I’ve gone through most recently.
I really wish I was there. I sorely miss the Arab world; and I miss Arab culture dearly. But for now, I am at my desk most days, when I’m not teaching, tending to intellectual and political matters. There are many books to read—I can hear my desk groaning—and a few to write yet. So, I guess I’ll, as my neighbor says, get to gettin'.
December 17, 2025
Another Ambulance
Well, this morning I was putting on a jacket after breakfast. I then got lightheaded, then again, then BANG. My implanted defibrillator went off. Then again. Then again. After this bit of unpleasantness—it’s like being kicked by a horse—I lost consciousness. When I came to, my dad’s wife was talking to me, but her voice sounded like she had breathed helium. Things got weird.
The ambulance came, and off to the ER I went. To cut the story short: it wasn’t a heart attack. I have cardiomyopathy, and therefore I’m prone to electrophysiological anomalies. In this case it was ventricular-tachycardia, where the heart is beating so fast, it’s doing nothing. I have been asymptomatic for 26 years, so it was time.
A heart-rhythm specialist I spoke with said this is commonly—for folks like me—a once-in-a-lifetime event. We’ll see. There are multiple conversations in my near future.
So, quite a morning. As I lay there on the kitchen floor waiting for the paramedics, I was thinking today was the day. I was scared, but not about dying; all I could think about was leaving my friend Leah. I therefore left her what I thought was a farewell video message, but in my disorientation, deleted it? It’s been lost to history—which is fine. It wasn’t my best work.
The photo is of me in recovery. I went in for an angiogram, as they wished to rule out the possibility of blockage creating the anomalous rhythms. It turns out my arteries are clear as a newborn baby’s. I therefore see a lot of bacon in my future.
The ambulance came, and off to the ER I went. To cut the story short: it wasn’t a heart attack. I have cardiomyopathy, and therefore I’m prone to electrophysiological anomalies. In this case it was ventricular-tachycardia, where the heart is beating so fast, it’s doing nothing. I have been asymptomatic for 26 years, so it was time.
A heart-rhythm specialist I spoke with said this is commonly—for folks like me—a once-in-a-lifetime event. We’ll see. There are multiple conversations in my near future.
So, quite a morning. As I lay there on the kitchen floor waiting for the paramedics, I was thinking today was the day. I was scared, but not about dying; all I could think about was leaving my friend Leah. I therefore left her what I thought was a farewell video message, but in my disorientation, deleted it? It’s been lost to history—which is fine. It wasn’t my best work.
The photo is of me in recovery. I went in for an angiogram, as they wished to rule out the possibility of blockage creating the anomalous rhythms. It turns out my arteries are clear as a newborn baby’s. I therefore see a lot of bacon in my future.
December 16, 2025
Dracula
This concludes my re-read of the major Gothic horror stories. Frankenstein was underwhelming, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was quite good, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Dracula, however, was my favorite. It is such an enjoyable read. And the style in which it’s told—journal entries, letters, newspaper articles—creates an interesting sense of drama.
I also enjoyed the characters, specifically Dr. Van Helsing, who is a strong and charismatic character. Van Helsing really captures the imagination with his intelligence and eccentricities; he’s kind of a Sherlock Holmes character who knows all and makes everyone else look a tad dim.
One invariably refers to the various films when reading this novel. In particular, Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 adaptation starring Gary Oldman and Anthony Hopkins. It’s a film I have enjoyed numerous times, but it is merely a rough (very rough) approximation of the book. Almost nothing in the film is as it appears in the book. Coppola made his own version of the novel. He titled it Bram Stoker’s Dracula. It is not. It’s Francis Ford Coppola’s. Filmmakers seem unable or unwilling to do books (or history) justice.
One flaw of the book is Bram Stoker’s tiresome fondness for creating dialogue with characters who speak a particular dialect. Even Van Helsing’s English is not 100 percent, and verbs remain in the present tense, and articles get used inconsistently. This ends up being a distraction.
But the rest of the novel is nothing short of wonderful. It really pulls you in and keeps you there. And I know I rattle on endlessly about atmosphere, but the world you enter in Dracula is everything you could hope for: it’s eerie, it’s mysterious, it’s macabre; you can see the fog, the mist, the shadows; you can hear the wolves. I chose autumn as a good time to read it—not because of Halloween—and wouldn’t you know, much of the novel indeed takes place in September and October.
If you enjoy reading and like fiction, I would consider Dracula. It is 400 pages of enjoyment.
https://www.amazon.com/Dracula-Bram-Stoker/dp/0141196882
I also enjoyed the characters, specifically Dr. Van Helsing, who is a strong and charismatic character. Van Helsing really captures the imagination with his intelligence and eccentricities; he’s kind of a Sherlock Holmes character who knows all and makes everyone else look a tad dim.
One invariably refers to the various films when reading this novel. In particular, Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 adaptation starring Gary Oldman and Anthony Hopkins. It’s a film I have enjoyed numerous times, but it is merely a rough (very rough) approximation of the book. Almost nothing in the film is as it appears in the book. Coppola made his own version of the novel. He titled it Bram Stoker’s Dracula. It is not. It’s Francis Ford Coppola’s. Filmmakers seem unable or unwilling to do books (or history) justice.
One flaw of the book is Bram Stoker’s tiresome fondness for creating dialogue with characters who speak a particular dialect. Even Van Helsing’s English is not 100 percent, and verbs remain in the present tense, and articles get used inconsistently. This ends up being a distraction.
But the rest of the novel is nothing short of wonderful. It really pulls you in and keeps you there. And I know I rattle on endlessly about atmosphere, but the world you enter in Dracula is everything you could hope for: it’s eerie, it’s mysterious, it’s macabre; you can see the fog, the mist, the shadows; you can hear the wolves. I chose autumn as a good time to read it—not because of Halloween—and wouldn’t you know, much of the novel indeed takes place in September and October.
If you enjoy reading and like fiction, I would consider Dracula. It is 400 pages of enjoyment.
https://www.amazon.com/Dracula-Bram-Stoker/dp/0141196882
Chomsky-Epstein Contoversy
I'll post this article for those following the story. The piece is long and the topic is quite specific.
Greg Grandin's article in the Nation is one of the few rational things I have read on this issue.
Sadly, due to a debilitating stroke, Chomsky is not able to defend himself. Many are saying "Aha, there's the proof!" This reaction is due to the fact that they don't like him. And the reason for them not liking him is that for many decades, Chomsky has applied standards universally, criticized US foreign policy first, described Israel's behavior accurately, and analyzed wealth, power, and the doctrinal system as one should.
But those who believe America wears the white hat, and believe Israel can do no wrong, are not receptive to cogent analysis. This will win you lots of enemies. And Chomsky haters are legion.
When the news broke, I was like "God damnit." (I knew what people would be saying.) It looks like Epstein wanted to ingratiate himself with brilliant academics. And he already had cultivated a relationship with MIT. It's mostly Epstein emailing Chomsky, and Chomsky responding. And Chomsky would talk to anyone. His open-door policy occasionally put him in contact with unsavory folk.
I do not believe this is a smoking gun. Chomsky was not jetting off to the island. His moral integrity was unique and nothing short of inspiring. He was a tireless voice for the vulnerable and voiceless.
A suggestion: Go on Amazon (or wherever), and randomly throw a dozen Chomsky books in your shopping cart. Then go on YouTube and randomly select fifty interviews and/or lectures and watch them. And then send me an email, and let me know what you think.
Greg Grandin's article in the Nation is one of the few rational things I have read on this issue.
Sadly, due to a debilitating stroke, Chomsky is not able to defend himself. Many are saying "Aha, there's the proof!" This reaction is due to the fact that they don't like him. And the reason for them not liking him is that for many decades, Chomsky has applied standards universally, criticized US foreign policy first, described Israel's behavior accurately, and analyzed wealth, power, and the doctrinal system as one should.
But those who believe America wears the white hat, and believe Israel can do no wrong, are not receptive to cogent analysis. This will win you lots of enemies. And Chomsky haters are legion.
When the news broke, I was like "God damnit." (I knew what people would be saying.) It looks like Epstein wanted to ingratiate himself with brilliant academics. And he already had cultivated a relationship with MIT. It's mostly Epstein emailing Chomsky, and Chomsky responding. And Chomsky would talk to anyone. His open-door policy occasionally put him in contact with unsavory folk.
I do not believe this is a smoking gun. Chomsky was not jetting off to the island. His moral integrity was unique and nothing short of inspiring. He was a tireless voice for the vulnerable and voiceless.
A suggestion: Go on Amazon (or wherever), and randomly throw a dozen Chomsky books in your shopping cart. Then go on YouTube and randomly select fifty interviews and/or lectures and watch them. And then send me an email, and let me know what you think.
December 15, 2025
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)