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Leaving the Branford RTM

This started out as a post for social media. Once I started writing, I quickly realized I had more thoughts that I wanted to share than made sense for a post. No surprises there! I am not running for reelection on Branford’s RTM this year. After two two-year terms, I feel that I’ve done aContinue reading “Leaving the Branford RTM”

Preparing for an Emergency or Disaster (Mobile)

Recently, several acquaintances have asked me how to prepare a “go bag” and it got me thinking. There are many resources out there that offer solid recommendations on what to buy for a disaster and why. Some are disaster-specific (how to prepare for an earthquake versus fires versus a hurricane); others are nonspecific, but focusContinue reading “Preparing for an Emergency or Disaster (Mobile)”

Horseshoe Crabs in Branford

The horseshoe crab is one of nature’s oldest fauna, claiming a history that stretches back 250 million years to the early Triassic. For dinosaur fans, that means that a stegosaurus, famed for the gaudy kite-shaped plates on its back and spiked tail, might have seen horseshoe crabs while stomping along a Jurassic era beach. IContinue reading “Horseshoe Crabs in Branford”

Branford’s 2026 Budget

Last week, my town (Branford, Connecticut) passed a budget for the upcoming year (2026, for readers keeping track from the distant and unknowable future). That budget will fund the town’s departments and activities. As Chair of the Public Services Committee, I had an opportunity to (along with the other members of my committee and membersContinue reading “Branford’s 2026 Budget”

Changes to My Social Media Policy

Last year, even before a presidential election that was extremely unpleasant (both in its conduct and outcome), I had resolved to leave Twitter. Under Musk, the platform had become an unflushable toilet bowl filled with lies, insults, slander, propaganda. Mistruth after vomitous mistruth piled up in Twitter until that’s all one could see. After monthsContinue reading “Changes to My Social Media Policy”

What Would it Take To Secure and Militarize the U.S. Border?

People talking about border security do so without seriously intending to fully secure the U.S. border, because to do so would be incredibly costly.

In Search of Faith

1937 was not one of humankind’s better years. The Japanese invaded China and set about massacring POWs and civilians. Warplanes with the Nazi German “Condor Legion” bombed Guernica on behalf of nationalist (fascist) Spain , part of a brutal civil war raging there. Amelia Earhart disappeared over the Atlantic, the Hindenburg airship exploded, and strikingContinue reading “In Search of Faith”

Branford: Big Town, Small Town

If you ask most Republicans and many independents whether they believe government and bureaucracy ought to get bigger at a local, state, or (especially) federal level they will say “no.” Government ought in many cases to stay the same size or to shrink. The most extreme conservatives who are still recognizably part of a modernContinue reading “Branford: Big Town, Small Town”

The Murder of Marinka

I spent much of my time on the Ukrainian front line between 2015-17 in Marinka. The day after Christmas, 2023, I learned that the town’s remains had been fully occupied by Russia Christmas of 2023, Russia finally completed its destruction of the town of Marinka. Without Russia’s invasions in 2014 and more recently in 2022Continue reading “The Murder of Marinka”

On the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

In Kyiv you live under the sword of Damocles. Every day: what if Russia starts bombing using jets, what if they nuke, what if they invade from Belarus. It is very difficult to live under those conditions. If you don’t have milk or eggs you go out to the store to buy them. If youContinue reading “On the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine”