The Weekly Wad lives on in the minds of malcontents everywhere

(updated for the 50th anniversary in 2025) In the past I've expended quite a few words to explain why I try to keep high school...

Diary: Even I have to admit the parade manages to slow traffic

The Harvest Homecoming parade returns today after a year's COVID layoff. Those of you who know me well understand the depth of my love-hate...

On Memorial Day, I’d prefer DRINKING beer

A few year ago at a bar I frequented, one of the younger 30-something employees was pushing hard for a Memorial Day promotion to...

Diary: Maybe I’m just having a bad week, or month, or…

I can't recall a time in my life when "retirement" made sense. If you're doing what you love, as I mostly have, then why...

Coffey vs. Dickey in the 2nd? Slice me off a piece of THAT

Told you so. The Green Mouse reports that Dan Coffey—for decades a Democrat, then an independent, and now a Republican (somewhere a Falangist has lost...

Diary for 24 July 2021: Oversight of government entities? By the News and Tribune?

Let's begin by defining our terms for those just tuning in. The News and Tribune (N&T) is a six-day (Monday through Saturday) daily newspaper serving...

“Howard Zinn’s July 4 Wisdom Stands the Test of Time,” followed with a rant...

Howard Zinn, Mark Twain, Edwin Moses and me, but first, Frederick Douglass. Dave Zirin, one of a select group of sportswriters who really matter,...

Diary: Nature teaches beasts to know their friends

Title credit courtesy of Shakespeare (Coriolanus). During The Edge’s and Bono’s recent Tiny Desk Concert at NPR, Bono introduced the U2 song "Stuck in a...

Diary: “The moral and aesthetic nightmare of Christmas,” by the late, great Christopher Hitchens

In 2021, I pleased the local powers-that-be by allowing the NA Confidential blog to run its course, and by doing so, liberated myself from...

Make your own fun, but I will not carry a gun

I will not carry a gun, Frank. When I got thrown into this war I had a clear understanding with the Pentagon: no guns....

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Euro Pilgrimage 1985-2025, Ch. 12: Omaha Beach to the Manneken-Pis and Little Mermaid

Previously: Euro Pilgrimage 1985-2025 Pt. 11: Sligo respite, Live Aid, then back to France for the D-Day beaches. (I’m not a Bryan Adams fan, but his...

Euro Pilgrimage 1985-2025, Ch. 11: Sligo respite, Live Aid, then back to France for...

Previously: Euro Pilgrimage ’85, Ch. 10: Irish history with musical accompaniment and a Guinness chaser. I exited the Sligo train station on a pleasant, sunny day...

40 Years in Beer, Part 80: Running Gravity Head’s daunting gauntlet (Act I: 1999...

Previously: 40 Years in Beer (Book II), Part 79: Stuck in a moment (and you can’t get out of it). Gravity? It's the law. Gravity is bigger...