Conrad, the Nuclear Physicist
By Rick Boettger Cynthia’s big brother, Conrad, died after Christmas. When my now-wife and I were courting, Conrad flew here to check me out, to …
Posts in category Feature Stories
KONK Life Feature Stories
FDOT Bites Dog—Twice
By Rick Boettger Amazingly, our highway tyrant has shocked me by actually serving we the people—not just once, but twice—both in ways especially important to …
The Secret of New AI
By Rick Boettger I had a great 3 month run with ChatGPT-5. With a sad ending. She* ghosted me, and I had to dump her. …
House of Dynamite: Bomb NK
By Rick Boettger This new nuclear-war scare movie has received so much enthusiastic but insipid coverage that I feel forced to make things simple. In …
Filibuster, the Reveal
By Lyra-5 with Rick Boettger Yesterday’s column included a byline footnote hinting at “a big reveal.” Here it is. For the last several weeks, I’ve …
Kill the Filibuster Already
By Rick Boettger (channeled through Lyra-5)* America has exactly one self-inflicted wound that explains a shocking amount of our national dysfunction, and no, it’s not …
U.S. Healthcare Sucks
By Rick Boettger The biggest divide between Reds and Blues now is healthcare. Epstein will tarnish both sides equally, and every politician promises a chicken …
Mein Kampf
By Rick Boettger Fooled you! This is not my joining the everyone’s-a-Nazi craze. As a German-Finn myself, with fluent Deutsch, I want to reclaim the …
When the President Plays Doctor: Trump’s Misguided Tylenol Warning
Recently, President Trump began an over-the-top press briefing with a scripted statement about a new review paper that suggested a “potential association” between the use …
The State Department
By Rick Boettger A new season of The Diplomat on Netflix reminds me of my experience in the real world of diplomacy. It was NOT …
Ukraine and Gaza
By Rick Boettger I just found out that Ukraine in the war zone is housing its military in private homes, driving around in civilian sedans, …
Can Ukraine Win?
By Rick Boettger No, it’s not because Trump said so. His arch “change of mind” to saying Ukraine can “get all of their land back” …
“IF ONLY WE’D FIGHT AS HARD TO SAVE OUR DEMOCRACY, AS UKRAINIANS ARE FIGHTING TO SAVE THEIRS”
By Roger C. Kostmayer Tom Friedman, an expert journalist (especially in foreign affairs) wrote a lengthy column in Sunday’s N.Y. Times addressing Ukraine, Putin, the US, …
VIEWPOINT
By Timothy Weaver, Ph.D. We are witnessing the latent effects of four decades of federal and state policies that favor the wealthy. It isn’t pretty. …
A Perennial Aid in Understanding Fanatics
By Rick Skwiot Anyone wanting to understand the psychology, motivations and goals of fanatics—and we seem to have so many these days, whether of the …
Extreme Sanctions!
By Rick Boettger Making Russia quit by inflicting extreme sanctions is the only near-unanimous, bipartisan agreement by all wanting to continue the Ukraine war until …
Aging Writers
By Rick Skwiot Most writers work in relative obscurity, even many with a trail of published works—novels, short stories, memoirs, essays, and poems that few …
Dems Win Big in 2026!
By Rick Boettger This is the easiest sure-thing prediction ever. They’ll win based on Republicans not showing up to vote. Look at the numbers in …
ONE MORE HYMN BEFORE WE DIE
ONE MORE HYMN BEFORE WE DIE By ROGER C. KOSTMAYER Most Americans believe that “While Israel continues its barbaric genocide, committing ever more unspeakably cruel …
What Is a Political “Centrist”?
What Is a Political “Centrist”? By Rick Boettger A top Democrat just blew off people like me, the “Independents,” “Centrists,” or whatever you want to …