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Following Ryan Reynolds, AKA: The Franklin Factor

Colin Jost is my hero. I’m not ashamed to tell people this. I mean, the guy is funny – objectively, statistically funny. He’s funny in a smart way and a smart-ass way, as opposed to a dumb-ass way. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that, some of the most successful Saturday Night Live alumni have raked in the cash playing […]

Freaky-Deakonomics

I read an odd headline today. It said “Price of crude oil plunges below zero.” Something like that takes a little time to sink in, so I will pause for a moment. OK, ready? Good. As it turns out, crude oil is traded on the commodities markets as futures contracts, meaning you say today how many units you’re committing to […]

Life during wartime

Donald Trump says he’s a “wartime president,” and I would have to agree. I’ve been alive for a couple wars, and I’ve read about a couple more, and everything we are dealing with under the COVID-19 pandemic certainly feels like we are fighting a war. There are many similarities: We measure each day in death and devastation: How many have […]

Meet the F#ckers

My grandcat is an a$$hole. I love her, and she is so pretty, but she’s a huge a$$hole. Her brother is much more lovable but he comes with his own challenges. It’s Week Six? Seven? Don’t know, time has no meaning in the Upside Down. It’s whatever week it is, and my wife should be ecstatic but she is not. […]

I’m feeling the Bern

Now that Bernie Sanders has left the 2020 Presidential race I have to admit I am distraught, far more than I had imagined I would be. It’s not because I share any (literally: any) political views with the Senator. It’s not our mutual Jewish roots. It’s something far more important and relevant: I was looking forward to seeing more of […]

The unintended consequence of free speech

When I was young I dreamed of being a writer. Actually, that’s not true; I dreamed of being several writers. The first step to becoming a writer, any writer will tell you, is becoming a reader. So depending on what I had just read that had thrummed a particular chord inside me, that was the kind of writer I dreamed […]

No country for smart men

When i was young we liked smart men and dumb women. Oh my god, now don’t get your back up – please. I can feel the waves of Weinstein-fueled disdain coming off everyone. Hear me out.  Remember I Dream of Jeannie? Major Whoever, an actual astronaut, and Jeannie. OK, maybe she wasn’t dumb but she was naive and that’s good […]

A little patch of land somewhere that’s green

Wow, what a nice feeling. I want to thank everyone for their very kind feedback on my musings yesterday. It gave me a welcome opportunity to sit back and look fondly at a large-ish group of people I genuinely like and admire, whether or not they are front-and-center in my world today. As far as connection, or engagement, or validation […]

Starting is hard.

It’s quiet. Too quiet. The year started on a promising note. Then, on my birthday, in the middle of my company’s annual national sales meeting, the World Health Organization declared “the novel coronavirus” a Public Health Emergency. No one in my immediate orbit blinked. Now, 70 days later, I have been relegated to mandatory Work From Home status for a […]