The Mother of All Missed Calls
It’s been a bungee jump of a year politically. Last spring the GOP seemed poised to ride a Red Tsunami in the upcoming midterm elections. Democrats rallied over the summer and appeared to have regained the momentum. This fall, however, there was a Republican resurgence with the prevailing winds now apparently blowing in its direction.
And political pollsters were right there every step of the way telling us how this seesaw campaign season was playing out. They’re so ubiquitous, you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting some new poll result.
Love them or hate them, they are impossible to ignore. Americans are addicted to soothsayers whose algorithms tell us with what vox the populi is about to speak. Continue reading
Labor contract negotiations often come down to a game of chicken. Negotiators on both sides go as close to the deadline as they dare until someone blinks. The higher the stakes, the closer to the edge each camp is willing to go. They can make the Cuban Missile Crisis look like child’s play.
Keeping all of February’s presidential birthdays straight is a big headache. Ronald Reagan was born on February 6. William Henry Harrison on the 9. Lincoln arrived on the 12th. And president Numero Uno, George Washington, was born February 22. Congress washed its hands of the mess by lumping them all together in the Presidents Day holiday.
We’ve all done something impulsive at one time or another. A spur of the moment decision that, when you thought about it later, wasn’t such a good idea. Nearly 90 years ago an American woman acted rashly, and her action involved history’s worst monster. Here’s the story of the woman who kissed Hitler.
President Trump loves hanging out at Mar-a-Lago, his luxury Florida estate. He’s less fond of Camp David, the chief executive’s official getaway in the Maryland mountains. He once described the presidential retreat as “interesting for about 30 minutes.”
We all make mistakes. To err is human, after all. For example, flowers sometimes get inadvertently planted or fences built on the wrong side of the property line. It’s an imperfect world after all.
Like so many things in life, it seemed like a good idea at the time. And it would have been, too, if one man’s swindle hadn’t ruined everything. When all was said and done, a conman got off scot free, Washington had egg on its face, and a new phrase entered the American vocabulary that’s still used today.
You’re turning 63. How should you celebrate? With a cake with candles? A family get-together? Maybe a party?