Afghan refugee family crossing U.S. southern border Following America’s shameful, chaotic flight from Kabul in August 2021, I wrote to my senators and congressman in Washington and, in two blog posts (https://pen4rent.com/chaos-in-kabul and https://pen4rent.com/shameful-unforgiveable), to my friends and family. I said, in part, It is … reprehensible for the U.S. to be so callous in […]
King Charles III Yesterday’s coronation of King Charles III in Great Britain brings to mind a few thoughts. First, some seven-decade-old recollections and then a bit of provocative musing for which admirers of monarchy — not just fans of the British royal family — could be forgiven for thinking that I’m raining on the reigning […]
Defunct railroad tunnel to Lebanon at Rosh Hanikra, on Israel’s northern border. (See below for the rest of the story.) Following up on my December post about traveling in Italy and Burma, today I’m presenting several memories from my travels in Israel. This was on the same adventure I had in Italy with my friend […]
My mom, Mollie Sekuler Daniel, roughly two years old, circa 1914 A month and a half ago, I started off the new year with a little century-old history of my dad’s family. Today I’m turning to my mom’s family. Like the photos of my dad with his family in January’s post, the wonderful photo of […]
Lena and Meyer Daniel, 1918-19, with children Ray, Sally and Nathan I’m starting off the new year with a bit of century-old history. While Sandra and I were visiting the East Coast a few months ago, my cousin Trude (see photo at the end of this post) showed me a couple of very old photos in […]
Benjamin Franklin At the conclusion of the final session of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, a woman approached Ben Franklin and asked, “What have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” Franklin’s response: “A republic — if you can keep it.” Prescient words. Arguably more so today than at any time in the […]
Public opinion on reparations A few days ago, with April Fools’ Day coming right up, I spotted a couple of news items I briefly thought might be nothing more than a crazy prank. If only! The items I saw were reports on discussions within the nine-member California Reparations Task Force — appointed to “study and […]
If you’re like me, every so often you’ll find a nice graphic image in your Facebook feed, listing reasons why people like you and me should feel grateful: Because we have a roof over our heads and clothes on our backs Because our children have enough to eat Because we fall asleep in a warm […]
Desperate to flee Afghanistan Two weeks ago, just days after the Taliban seized power in Kabul, I wrote about the news from Afghanistan and Washington. Among much else, I said: It is utterly irresponsible and shameful for our highest officials in Washington to be telling the thousands of U.S. citizens still stranded in Kabul and […]
Kabul, August 2021 I’ve been following the news from Afghanistan and Washington. Perspective calls for a few bullets. Here are mine: • How we got into a fight with the Taliban in the first place: The Taliban had been ruling Afghanistan for five years on September 11, 2001 — the day Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda […]
