About 20 years ago, I stood on a train platform in Brewster, N.Y., awaiting a train bound for Grand Central Station. Beside me stood a diminutive Haitian nun, about 75 years old, who carried no luggage save a large purse-like bag. She was a dear friend who had been visiting my family. Her final destination ...
Regular readers might recall that I’m not a fan of the PGA, the men’s professional golf organization. I prefer the more modest LPGA, partly because I resent the fact that women earn 5-6 times less prize money per week than the men. It’s been years since I watched a men’s golf tournament and that includes ...
Hundreds of millions of people around the world are watching in horror as Putin’s invading hordes try to subdue Ukraine and render it a non-state. Most of them, I venture, feel as I do — overcome with a mix of sadness and anger. How can our country, which boasts democratic ideals backed up ...
About 30 years ago I was dining with a French family I knew, and the conversation turned to our countries’ differing attitudes about safety nets for the poor. France, then and now, has what amounts to a minimum guaranteed income for its citizens. My friends explained that the French tolerate only a certain ...
Kim Potter, the former police officer from Brooklyn Center, MN, was sentenced on Friday to two years in prison for her accidental killing of Daunte Wright after he was stopped last year for having an expired license tag and an illegal air freshener. Potter will be eligible for parole in 16 months. The ...
My editor, Fitz McAden, takes exception to my occasional potshots at the leader of the Democratic Party, Joe Biden. Fitz is a Democrat though not as liberal as I. He is a close observer of politics and sees himself as a pragmatist. He is correct when he says it’s the worst time for ...
Who Killed the Two Party System? In my first blog of the New Year, I promised more on Joe Manchin, the Super Senator who rules Congress. You probably expected me to say nasty things about him. But you were wrong because I come to praise Joe Manchin, not to bury him. (What?!?! Is Buck ...
During the last weeks of 2021, I simply didn’t want to write. I knew I wouldn’t be able to strike a light, optimistic tone befitting the season; trying to would come off as counterfeit. So instead of pretending cheer, I saved up some items to share as we roll into 2022. Do you remember ...
Last July I took Big Oil to task in a blog entitled Marathon Men, arguing that companies like Marathon Oil are hastening the demise of our planet. Here’s an excerpt: Marathon makes money by extracting, refining and selling fossil fuel. The greater its sales, the more our climate deteriorates. We all know ...
In the winter of 1957, my parents went on a vacation to Haiti. Why Haiti? According to my mother, she’d wanted to go to Africa but the responsibility of raising five young children made such a long trip inadvisable. So she decided on Haiti since it was as much like Africa as she ...
