Mean Versus Dumb
By Rick Boettger The recent ICE killings in Minneapolis have nicely clarified the difference between the three political parties. Dems are Nice but Dumb, we …
Posts in category Feature Stories
KONK Life Feature Stories
Cemetery Burglar–Again?
By Rick Boettger Last night someone tried to break into our house. When we’re home, we use a “hotel door slide lock,” which allows the …
Dems Win Big!–Update
By Rick Boettger Since I last explained that the Dems would of course win back the House and Senate next year, a lot has happened: …
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 …
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 …