If you grew up during the prosperous Populuxe America era as I did, you should be aghast that the United States is hurtling backwards in every measure.
Watching America fall through the trapdoor under the First Felon’s misgovernance, we must be aware that those miles of excruciating progress our society has made from the middle of the last century is turning to dust and being strewn upon the wind. Continue reading Accomplices
This March on my 67th birthday, a Gen Z-er complimented me.
I sat in my favorite Las Vegas watering hole, watching a game, drinking beer, and reading a senior citizens’ bulletin whose main feature was being alert for AI fiscal scams.
On his way out, the sharp-eyed young stamper gave me my due. In his view, I’d been multitasking to the max. He admired that. I wondered if he also saw himself doing the same sort of juggling in 40 years. Continue reading Be It Ever So Humble
Nearly 50 years ago, the Arizona administration requested my compliance in attending a one-afternoon desert orientation course. The university insisted on this because I was from the Northeast. A tenderfoot. Continue reading Cairns
Had those students who established opposing enclaves on college campus in the aftermath of Hamas’ murder, rape, kidnapping spree of October 7th, 2023, somehow had it in their minds they would recreate and update the 1960s and 70s Days of Rage?
Having learned the lesson of history, did they do so having misunderstood it? Continue reading Blind and Toothless
If you’re like me, you too must’ve been astounded at events that occurred on the morning of October 7th, 2023.
Before authorities became censorious and excised, pixelated, or froze graphic videos, security camera raw feeds from Israel were the 21st century versions of what we may imagine warfare was like during the antique. No quarter given. Wanton slaughter delivered as cruelly as possible. Continue reading This Deranged Freight Train Has no Brakes
Boomers came of age and enjoyed the hell out of the American Century. We thrived during its apex. No apologies!
We hoped to pass this plateau along to subsequent generations of Americans then watch them continue what had been “American Exceptionalism.” Why, maybe they could launch a Second American Century. Instead, Boomers get to witness the abrupt end of the nation’s once undisputed prominence.
Yes, there was once such a phenomenon as the American Century. Some might consider that view self-grandiosity. Certainly, the envious, jealous populaces who crowd the planet beyond our shores would plainly complain of our at times of light hogging grandeur upon the stage. Grandeur, yes. Thankfully, our still young Republic has yet to mature into hauteur.
We’re not France. Continue reading Our Arc
This last post of 2024 could be an homage to John Dos Passos. The early Dos Passos. Before life soured him rightward into becoming a reactionary. Until then, let’s consider him a “lost generation” writer alongside Ernest Hemingway. As did Hemingway, Dos Passos also reported from Spain during its 1936-39 Civil War. There’s where the pair diverged. Before the war, Dos Passos had established solid progressive cred with his 1925 novel Manhattan Transfer. He followed that with his USA trilogy (titles published in 1930, 1932, 1936, respectively) comprised of The 42nd Parallel, 1919, and The Big Money. Throughout his USA fiction, he dropped in biographical elements and reportage. No need for fiction in 2024. Just real life that should sicken conscientious Americans. What follows has been plucked from a month of Slow Boat Media social media observations and commentary. It is who we’ve allowed ourselves to become. Continue reading Random December
August is the Mojave Desert’s most challenging month.
While unavoidably sweltering, it’s generally less torrid than July. August actually starts letting residents kind of imagine autumnal respite in ways July absolutely forbids.
Until the last several summers, July counted as the “monsoon month.” Indeed, rain in quantifiable measures wetted if not outright soaked this region. Away from Las Vegas in the desert proper one might’ve believed he or she heard the parched dirt greedily gulp whatever rain had fallen. Continue reading Useless Clouds
When haven’t there been black conservatives?
The elders who raised me, who imprinted me, they were conservatives. Oh, conservative in that one got what he earned. What one deserved. It just wasn’t given. That way when it was withheld, every effort could be made to obtain what was yours. Continue reading Recalling Heritage
God did not free black American slaves from their southern bondage. Instigated by abolitionists, that task fell to the Grand Army of the Republic. Continue reading Decoration Day 2024