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Moving Away From False Equivalence? The Morning After
I mentioned last night that the Washington Post's online report of the payroll-tax denouement avoided calling it "dysfunction" or "logjam" and instead reported it as an all-out Republican gamble on...
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Pilots on the New Jersey I-287 Airplane Crash
I mentioned two days ago that icing was probably involved in Tuesday's crash of a Socata TBM 700 a few minutes after takeoff from Teterboro airport in New Jersey. Several pilots write in about this...
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The Miracle of the Season
Three of my favorite things in one place: small aircraft, good beer, and the hometown vibe. Hangar 24 Craft Brewery, whose impressive business and brewing ascent I have chronicled over the years, and...
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Your Boxing Day TSA Report
1) Thanks to all who sent pointers to last week's story of a woman whose cupcake was seized by an alert TSA screener in Las Vegas because its frosting was "gel-like" and therefore a potential threat....
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Today's 'Anything With an On-Off Switch' Story
The technology guru Kevin Kelly, author of many works including the recent What Technology Wants, writes with this account of a United flight (emphasis added):This Thanksgiving Eve I was flying back...
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Apropos of Nothing, a Very Nice Seasonal Video
Sugar Plum Fairy, played by the Glass Duo pair from Poland, at the Basilica di Santo Stefano in Bologna, on their "glass harp." If you haven't seen it already, worth a look.Thanks to Lewis Scott, and...
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More on Pilots, Icing, Risk, and the Crash Over I-287 in New Jersey
Last week I mentioned the probable role of icing in the small-airplane crash in New Jersey that killed a young family plus their friend, and the reaction of professional and amateur pilots to the...
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'Reputational' Media -- Where Yelp Has an Edge Over AirBnB, VRBO, etc
Other people's travel problems are not interesting. Same with other people's weather, and traffic jams you're not in. Therefore -- believe it or not! -- I try to mention travel issues only if I think...
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Fatca - The Menace You'll Hear About in 2012
This week both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal had reports on the hubbub being created worldwide by a new U.S. law that is virtually unnoticed within our borders. It is the Foreign...
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More on Yelp, Airbnb, and VRBO, Including Why I Was Naive
After my Christmas Eve tale of "no room at the inn seaside B&B," these followups:1) I realize that I was naive even to have thought that "listing" sites would run critical reviews. As explained in...
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The Fatca Menace!
I have now heard from the entirety of the U.S. expat population, in its millions-strong ranks, about the role of FATCA and FBAR in their lives -- along with dissenting views from a few locally based...
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The Fatca Chronicles: Tales From China, Canada, and Estonia
I am going to take a break on this topic for a little while. But before that, here are a few more accounts to help homebound Americans understand why many of their expat fellow citizens are worried...
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A Little Taiwanese Animation to Start the Year Off Right
In the eventual Chronicles of Imperial Decline that will be written about our era, this may make a piquant subchapter. It's from our friends at NMA in Taiwan, and it dramatizes the ongoing squeeze on...
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Hey Hey Hey!
Continuing the Glamorous Life of a Journalist series, from the inbox just now, with original fonts:International Association of Successful Individuals jfallows,This is the final notice regarding your...
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The Nullification Chronicles: At Last Obama Strikes Back
Last month I mentioned that the refusal of Senate Republicans to allow a vote on Richard Cordray's nomination to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau amounted to modern "nullification." As...
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Mitch McConnell Hopes You Won't Do the Math
In response to President Obama's "what took him so long?" recess appointment of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Board, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell responded thus,...
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Obama, Cordray, and Nullification: A Cautionary View
In response to this item a few hours ago, congratulating Barack Obama on the recess appointment of Richard Cordray to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Mike Lofgren writes to demur. Lofgren, as...
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Worst Ad of the 2012 Campaign?
I know that's a big claim. And we've still got ten months of ad watching ahead! But this will certainly be a contender. It's allegedly from a Ron Paul supporter in New Hampshire.Is this really from a...
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A Great New Hampshire-Weekend Read
There's a lot of politicking still ahead of us, so to pace myself I need a break from insights about the Live Free or Die state and whether it will support a "Santorum surge," and so on. In case you're...
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How 'Nullification' Is Like an All-You-Can Eat Buffet
Interesting on the Rachel Maddow show last night: Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council, says that the Republican position that led to the recess appointment of Richard Cordray to...
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