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Woodward rides again

On hearing that President Trump sat for 18 interviews with Bob Woodward of The Washington Post my first reaction was “what the...” Why Woodward? There can only be two reasons. The first must have been that the president thought he could persuade the man to like him. The evidence that Woodward, along with his Watergate partner Carl Bernstein, ever “liked” a Republican president is thin to nonexistent. The other explanation is Trump views Woodward as a celebrity journalist and the president enjoys the company of famous people. The president now claims Woodward conducted a ...

Repression? See China

“I’m more anti-China than you!” That’s a new theme of this election. Joe Biden says, “We will never again be at the mercy of China!” Donald Trump replies, “China would own our country if Joe Biden got elected!” It’s strange to hear competition, because just a few administrations ago, presidents were eager to celebrate China. “A future of greater trade and growth and human dignity is possible!” said George W. Bush. Bill Clinton praised China’s “positive change” and “great progress.” What changed? That’s the subject of my new video. Presidents ...

The ‘play it down’ debacle

The latest hammer of a book to fall on President Donald Trump is Bob Woodward’s soon-to-be-released “Rage,” and it’s his own words that are the issue. According to the book, the president told the veteran Washington Post journalist in March that he publicly minimized the danger of the coronavirus: “I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.” This was after Trump explained to Woodward about a month earlier that the virus is “deadly stuff,” spread through the air and more dangerous than the seasonal ...

Daily Horoscope

ARIES (March 21-April 19). Recognize when you’re being obsessive, which is, at least in today’s case, another word for self-interested. Then open it up by focusing outside of yourself. TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Is it wrong to want someone to feel sorry for you? If what you’re doing is pitiful, then no. Get your sympathy where you can and move on. That’s just human. GEMINI (May 21-June 21). Do you find that people who are overly tense repel you? Relaxed people are attractive people. The things you do to put yourself in a relaxed state is worthwhile. CANCER (June 22-July 22). ...

Recovery underway

As Washington has been frozen in debate about whether to pass massive new economic stimulus legislation, something interesting has happened in the real world. In the real world, Americans sent a message to politicians saying they can take care of themselves just fine, thank you. The Bureau of Labor Statistics report for the month of August just came in saying the U.S. economy is surging forward in strong recovery mode. The economy created 1.4 million new jobs, and the unemployment rate dropped to 8.4% — not pretty compared with the 3.5% rate in February, before COVID-19 hit. But ...

Tale of two bigoted owners

Assuming one can still call an owner of a professional basketball team an “owner,” this piece is about two of them. Both owners are white and bigoted, but only one was white, bigoted and incredibly stupid. The first was named Ted Stepien. In 1980, this advertising magnate purchased the abysmal NBA Cleveland Cavaliers. Stepien thought he had a formula for success. White fans, he insisted, preferred to watch white players. The Cavaliers’ stadium, at the time, was located between Cleveland and Akron, Ohio, in a predominantly white demographical area. Stepien felt fans would come if ...