Far East Cynic

20 years.

Over the past 10 years, I have increasingly come to dread the arrival of September 11th. It is the day the United States will remember a terrible criminal act in its history. 2977 people died that day from a brazen terror attack pulled off by 19 terrorists, mostly of Saudi

Continue reading

Cry, the beloved country.

Among the many things I have come to despise our tea swilling, Galtian, Trump-humping, overlords for, is how they have ruined any celebration of national pride. Turning the American flag into a conservative litmus test of sorts makes it almost impossible to look at the symbol with a combination of

Continue reading

Your mileage may vary…….

Today is June 23, the 42nd anniversary of the day I made the biggest mistake of my life, getting married only 6 weeks out of college. The intervening years have amplified how big a mistake that was and how much better it would have been if I had spent my

Continue reading

The captives will forge their own chains

This is a warning. If there is one thing that can be learned from Senator Joe Manchin’s cowardly failure this week, there are too many Americans who have no understanding of this country at all. But, unfortunately, all of Joe Manchin’s talk about the need for a bipartisan bill for

Continue reading

Not liking a comparison does not mean that the comparison is incorrect

A quick post on the recent stunt by Florida’s legislature and deadly governor Ron DeSantis. Last June, I wrote a post about how today’s Republican party proves its resemblance to the apartheid government every day. In it, I noted, “What is also very much like South Africa, is the attempt

Continue reading

The price is not right.

It’s Golden Week in Japan. That succession of holidays strung together designed to encourage Japanese citizens to go somewhere and spend some of their hard-earned yen. In Japan, May 1st is not a holiday, but many people take it off, and to the rest of the civilized world is Labor

Continue reading

Worth repeating.

I’m a big fan of Jim Wright. Besides the fact that he and I are in alignment on most things – I like the fact that he is blunt and unafraid to take on controversial subjects. That is certainly true in his most recent face book post. Be sure to

Continue reading

The greatest gift given to me.

I watched a documentary about Arthur Miller on HBO Max last night. I cannot recommend it strongly enough. It was a great overview of one of my favorite writers and a truly great American playwright. I’ve read 4 of his plays: The Crucible, Death of Salesman, All my Sons, and

Continue reading

The current era, summed up succinctly.

Being the trendy, social media maven that I am (sarcasm definitely intended), I’ve gotten up and running on Tik Tok. Besides being a wonderful way to give Donald Trump the finger in 2020 – it has been really fun to see how creative a lot of people around the world

Continue reading

The hostage crisis.

Personal choices are not always just between you and yourself. They oftentimes have very public consequences that impact millions. Nowhere is this more true than in the case of COVID-19, and the vaccines now available in increasing numbers to Americans. A writer named David Roth has written a thoughtful piece

Continue reading