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D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh Introduces Leafblower Bill
As a reminder, the updates in this thread are part of an unfolding real-time chronicle of community efforts in D.C. to deal with an environmental, public-health, and civic-life anomaly. That anomaly is...
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Local Pilot Makes Good: Congrats Ken Griffey Jr.!
Ken Griffey Jr. and I have a lot in common. For one, we are both living American males. And then there’s, umm — oh, I remember! We’re both pilots of Cirrus aircraft.Here is KG Jr posing in front of the...
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The Next Article You Should Read on the GOP Race: Military-Strategist...
Fighter pilot John Boyd (Air Force photo)This article, “A Military Strategist Explains Why Donald Trump Leads and How He Will Fail,” is more than three weeks old. But I just saw it today, thanks to...
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How a Controller Sounds When Trying to Save an Airplane
.audiojs .time strong { font-family: monospace !important; }Yesterday the ceilings were low and the weather was bad across the southeastern United States. In these circumstances, a Cirrus SR-22...
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Leafblower Legislation: The WaPo and the Current Weigh In
You can never start them too young! Little Tikes Bubblin’ Leaf Blower, waiting for you at Target.Two updates on local coverage of the initiative I’ve been describing in the past few months: the D.C....
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If You're in Fresno, Please Stop in at Peeve's Public House
Craig Scharton (right) in 2014 at his Peeve’s Public House in downtown Fresno. With him is Oscar Fuentes, who was the beer buyer for Peeve’s then and now has started his own brewery.During our visits...
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Why Twitter Doesn't Work with Sarcasm, Chap. 823
Here’s an illustration of something I understood in principle but have been reminded of in specific.In the wee hours of last Friday night, I finally finally finally said adieu to a long story that will...
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More on Twitter's Tin Ear
Fabrizio Bensch / ReutersYesterday I mentioned my adventure in Tweeting what I thought was an obviously sarcastic post (that I was boosting the Trump/Cruz platform of keeping foreigners and their...
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Ted Cruz Is Right. Yes, That Ted Cruz
Corn in Iowa, ready to be turned into … fuel for your car! Like some 40% of the corn the U.S. grows, it will be turned into an ethanol additive for gasoline, under a program that Ted Cruz is the only...
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Watching Soccer While American
Landon Donovan, the temperamental star of U.S. soccer, is from my home town in California. So that must count for something. (USA Today Sports)In two previous posts, here and here, I described my grave...
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I Like Tricky Dick!
Richard Nixon, outdoorsman (Wikimedia)Yesterday I noted the contrast between Ted Cruz’s steady emergence as the GOP’s non-Trump possibility of the day, and the flat-out dislike so many of his own...
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Watching Soccer While American: NFL Conference Championship Edition
A soccer player suffering an injury. See comment #2. (Reuters)In dispatches here, here, and here, I ventured onto the ever-perilous terrain of comparing different kinds of “football” around the world....
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If You're Going to be in Redlands or San Bernardino This Weekend...
… please come to the first American Futures conference at the University of Redlands, on Friday evening, January 29, and Saturday during the day. You can find agenda and sign-up information...
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The Making of a Cover, American Futures Edition
Last two iterations of the cover for our upcoming issue.Next week a cover story whose writing and editing has tied me up for quite a while, and whose reporting has engaged my wife Deb and me over the...
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Why the Latest Debate Was Good (and a Little Bad) for Both Clinton and Sanders
Before last night's debate Carlo Allegri / ReutersAt the debate (Mike Segar / Reuters)I agree with David Graham’s summing up of the “hedgehog-vs.-fox” nature of the Democratic debate last night, and...
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A Person Subject to Government Secrecy Rules Complains About Hillary...
Reps. Trey Gowdy and Elijah Cummings of the Benghazi investigative committee, after Clinton’s 11-hour appearance before them last fall. (Jonathan Ernst / Reuters)My view on the Hillary Clinton email...
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Marco Rubio, Please Call Dan Quayle
Carlo Allegri / ReutersIn honor of the just-begun new Chinese Year of the Monkey, and in keeping with the Chinese fondness for numbering discussions—the Three Represents of Jiang Zemin, the Four...
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A Quality-Lit Version of the Aerial View
Over the Snake River, approaching Lewiston, Idaho, last June. (Deborah Fallows).Last week I mentioned that one theme of our ongoing American Futures travel had been the distinctive view of America...
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Talking About Civic Engagement in America's Original Engaged Communities
The Athenaeum hotel and restaurant at Chautauqua in August, 2015. James FallowsIn the new March, 2016 issue of The Atlantic, Deb Fallows and I have articles about what we’ve seen in the past few years...
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Local Grocery Store Makes Good
Even more than usual, the non-football aspects of The Big Game, from Lady Gaga’s great national anthem through the choice of ads, were more interesting than the defense-and-turnover-dominated struggle...
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