Clinton, South Carolina, Tuesday, December 18, 2019, 3:24 p.m. Everyone gets sick every now and then. I don’t get sick often. The last time was 14 months ago. I’ve reached the age at which I realize that disaster is never more than a single malevolent germ away. Last night it was hard for me to …
Category: Politics
Things I Wish Somebody Else Would Say
Clinton, South Carolina, Saturday, November 23, 2019, 10:01 a.m.. A frustration of mine is wishing people would say what I would. Whether it’s a presidential debate, or a stock car race, or a sitcom, I can’t understand why people with a voice don’t use it the way I would. For instance, I don’t find President …
Can’t Help Myself
Clinton, South Carolina, Thursday, October 17, 2019, 12:36 p.m. I am reminded this morning of the line of actor Jeff Goldblum in The Big Chill. It was something to the effect of … aw, hell, I’m a journalist, let me look it up: Michael: I don't know anyone who could get through the day without …
Hollings Was a Stately Man
Clinton, South Carolina, Saturday, April 6, 2019, 12:34 p.m. When I was in the sixth grade at Clinton Elementary School, U.S. Sen. Ernest Frederick “Fritz” Hollings visited my classroom. From the view of an 11-year-old in a desk chair he couldn’t get his leg in now, Hollings looked as tall and thin as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, …
What I Like About Him Is He Does What He Says
Clinton, South Carolina, Tuesday, July 31, 2018, 1:56 p.m. I’m going to pay for my own campaign. I’m going to build a wall. Mexico will pay for it. There was no meeting. Okay, as it turns out, there was a meeting, but I knew nothing about it. The meeting had nothing to do with the …
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Columbo Knows
Clinton, South Carolina, Monday, July 10, 2017, 4:25 p.m. Most of the time, I do my writing in the morning. It’s when I work the best. I get up, fix some coffee, take the daily meds, sip the coffee, wish everybody happy birthday on Facebook, fix breakfast, and settle down to work, most mornings at …
Sometimes I Feel All by Myself
Clinton, South Carolina, June 13, 2017, 2:46 p.m. Donald Trump has changed my life. To some extent, all presidents do. Normally, the sheriff has more to do with a person’s day-to-day life than the president, especially in a rural county, but President Trump has turned me inside-out. I’m not referring to Russians, health care, golf, …
A Confederacy of Trumpets
Clinton, South Carolina, Friday, February 17, 2017, 11:15 a.m. I’m tired, and I think it’s President Trump’s fault. I should exercise, but, first, I need to be exorcised of President Trump. It requires too much exertion. It is an altogether futile assertion. I don’t like the man, nor his policies, but he makes ideology irrelevant. …
Things Could Be Worse, but It Takes Imagination
Clinton, South Carolina, Monday, January 16, 2017, 9:52 a.m. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I write. On Inauguration Day, I shall write. Other than that, the bookends of the weekdays have nothing in common. Writing must be the tie that binds. Writing must be the salvation of sanity. I must find comfort in writing. …
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Mister Trump Goes to Washington
It was a long week. Most of Tuesday was a sinking feeling. Wednesday was two lines from The Bridge on the River Kwai. My God, what have I done? Madness. Madness! Most of the time since, I’ve been numb. Playing a few mournful songs on guitar. Washing dishes, or bagging trash, or folding clothes, partly …
Nightrider's Lament 