Author Archives: oddmanout215

The ‘national emergency’ is Trump

Posted on February 17, 2019 by oddmanout215

From The Hill: President Trump said on Friday that he “didn’t need to” declare a national emergency but did it to speed up construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall. “I want to do it faster. I could do the wall … Continue reading →

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Trump to Democrats: Stop digging, or else

Posted on February 7, 2019 by oddmanout215

From Donald Trump’s State of the Union address: An economic miracle is taking place in the United States — and the only thing that can stop it are foolish wars, politics or ridiculous partisan investigation… If there is going to … Continue reading →

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Blowin’ smoke on Super Sunday

Posted on February 4, 2019 by oddmanout215

I was sitting on the porch with Swamp Rabbit, trying to nail down the silliest Super Bowl moment. Was it Budweiser’s “Blowin’ In the Wind” commercial or the halftime performance by Maroon 5? “Ain’t nothin’ silly about ‘Blowin’ In the … Continue reading →

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Weathering the reign of a fool

Posted on January 23, 2019 by oddmanout215

There are similar examples in history, but I can’t help but wonder how our grabber-in-chief rose so high despite being such a world-class fool. I asked Swamp Rabbit yesterday as we were weatherizing his shack against a cold snap that … Continue reading →

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‘Impeach the malefactor’ is way too polite

Posted on January 15, 2019 by oddmanout215

I was on the Blue Route last week, driving carefully to avoid being pulled over by the sort of sneaky cop who nailed me on Labor Day in a speed trap near Norristown. All was well until a Chevy Suburban … Continue reading →

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The ultimate end-of-year list

Posted on January 3, 2019 by oddmanout215

I wanted to know why my friend Swamp Rabbit was hard at work writing down his worst blackouts of 2018. “It’s New Year’s,” he said. “I need to take stock.” He noted that we humans like to compile lists of … Continue reading →

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Patti Smith to young artists: Brush your teeth

Posted on January 1, 2019 by oddmanout215

I was under-whelmed by Patti Smith’s landmark debut album Horses (1975), mostly because her voice was a mess and because I thought punk rock, stylistically, was a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing musical. But Smith wasn’t a punk … Continue reading →

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Christmas with Hendrix and the Beats

Posted on December 25, 2018 by oddmanout215

From an odd little Christmas story, well told: I took a seat on one of the pews several rows back from the front. They began playing a tape Allen Ginsberg had sent from somewhere upstate for the occasion, reading his … Continue reading →

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The flaw in the law regarding presidents

Posted on December 23, 2018 by oddmanout215

Swamp Rabbit had commandeered my laptop and was reading aloud from a column by David Blight, who got rave reviews for his recently published biography of abolitionist orator and writer Frederick Douglass: Douglass left a timeless maxim for republics in times of … Continue reading →

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Terrible humans hire terrible humans

Posted on December 17, 2018 by oddmanout215

File this one under “It takes one to know one” : President Trump has named Mick Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, as acting White House chief of staff. In response to the announcement, Mulvaney tweeted: “This … Continue reading →

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