The host on “On Point,” an NPR program carried by WUSF Radio, kept trying to get his guests back to the point. He was interviewing (by telephone) an expert on Africa from an American university, as well as an African man and an African woman in Nigeria. The frustrated host was attempting to talk about the kidnapping of more than 200 teenage girls (we now know that it was closer to 300), and his guests kept turning the discussion back to President Goodluck Jonathan and the upcoming election.  Read More 

The fortune of the Kansas-based brothers, Charles and David Koch, reportedly went over $100 billion last week. According to the respected business magazine Forbes, it grew during the previous year from $68 billion to $80 billion. Or, as Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said: “Under the ‘anti-business,’ ‘socialist,” and ‘oppressive’ Obama administration, their wealth went up by $12 billion in one year.”  Read More 

When I arrived at my monthly bridge game in early March, a friend asked if the troubles in Kiev meant World War III. I replied no; after President Obama resisted Republican demands that we bomb Syria a few months earlier, I was confident that we would avoid this conflict, too.  Read More 

I spoke last Saturday as part of the year-long centennial observance of the founding of the local library system. Our first library began in West Tampa, which then was a separate municipality, in 1914. That sturdy, classic building still remains in use on Howard Avenue, slightly north of I-4.  Read More 

This month, February, is Black History Month, and March will be Women’s History Month. I don’t want to get into justification for their existence, except to say that I hope the day will come when we don’t need them.  Read More 

Our publisher, Patrick Manteiga, long ago removed the vowels from Marco Rubio’s name, calling the Miami Republican “Mark Rub” because of his failure to identify with other Hispanics. I agree, and more so this week than ever. The temerity of the guy! The absolutely unmitigated arrogance that he demonstrated in his press conference denouncing the 50th anniversary of the War on Poverty!  Read More 

Did you notice that one of our local papers ran a list of tax exemptions that disappeared with the beginning of 2014? One was the $250 (maximum) that schoolteachers could (for a few years) deduct when they buy classroom supplies. Teachers no longer will get this credit, which they richly deserve because most school boards are too stingy to allow them a budget for such, and most teachers buy what students need out of their own pockets.  Read More 

Where were Joseph’s cousins? I thought of that as I listened again this year to the familiar words of Luke, Chapter Two; Verses One through Seven:  Read More 

Last week I mentioned that we are using Netflex to catch up on things we were too young to see back in the 1950s. One movie we watched recently was set in London fog, and that prompted me to think about some environmental history that has yet to become part of the curriculum from which we teach and learn.  Read More 

Netflix has become the highlight of evenings in our house. Except for the PBS News Hour and, on Sundays, Masterpiece Theatre, we seldom watch anything “live” on TV anymore. Instead we make cocktails, turn out the lights, and really focus on something worthy of home theatre atmosphere.  Read More