And no, I’m not a New-Age nutter.

Over twenty years ago, when I first introduced my wife to my parents, my dad asked about her birthday. Then he narrowed his eyes. In his most sage, wise-man voice, he peered at my fiance and gave his verdict.

“Ah, an Aquarius. They’re known to be compulsive liars.”

My wife was mortified. Later that night, one of my friends finally let her know that my dad gave that same response to everyone, regardless of their sign. It was his idea of humor. I shrugged. My dad was a Scorpio, and that’s just how they roll.

My dad was an avid…

Cicero, reluctant father figure.

I took my new wife and two new young daughters to the Humane Society for a kitten. They played with a cute black fuzzball in the meeting room, but he cried for his brother. Inevitably, we took home two tiny, fuzzy kittens, midnight black with white medallions on their chests. Cicero grew up loud and vocal; Rascal, the leader, had tiny mew. Cicero’s fur was a little silkier, Rascal’s was drier, and Cicero’s medallion was much more distinct.

Soon we added two dogs to the family. Rascal ruled the house; Cicero and the dogs followed his rules. When he passed…

Will the lockdown states explode?

My 94-year-old mother can’t get the vaccine. At least a dozen residents at her facility have become infected and around half died. The facility she lives in was working in good faith to get on-site vaccination for their residents, but they couldn’t get it done. It turns out that an “Active Living Facility” isn’t prioritized like a “Nursing Home” or an “Assisted Living Facility,” notwithstanding that a large number of septuagenarians and octagenarians that live there receive living assistance. My mom is now on the county waiting list.

A family friend is in the ICU. He gets better and he…

I thought we had something special.

Cheap tacos from an indy competitor were my gateway item. Sitting at my desk as a high school senior, I watched the clock tick towards dismissal. When the bell came, I skipped my locker and sprinted for my car. When you’re ordering 40 tacos for yourself and your friends, you have to be first in the drive-through.

Then, the unthinkable happened. The knock-off raised their prices. Once the prices were the same anyway, Taco Bell became our go-to. A whole new world had opened up. Something special blossomed and we started a decades-long journey together.

I’ve flirted with other taco-based…

Whatever happened to…

For Star Trek fans, we’re living in a new age of glory. There are no less than four series in production: Discovery, Picard, Lower Decks, and the recently announced Strange New Worlds which will feature Captain Christopher Pike’s Enterprise.

The new spate of series has no problems revisiting old situations and characters. Picard brought in Seven of Nine, William Riker, Deanna Troi, Data, and made minor character Hugh into a major character. Discovery tapped into Captain Pike, the original Number One, and Spock, and even minor characters like Harry Mudd.

Lower Decks stuffs cameos into every episode, from revisiting the…

At least probably, mostly legit.

Detroit is an easy city for conservatives (and everyone else) to hate. It brings together all the negative urban stereotypes and makes them real in one place. Out of control crime plagues the city. The school system has been a slow-motion trainwreck for decades. City corruption is legendary; just seven years ago former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick went to jail for 24 counts of mail fraud, wire fraud, and racketeering.

In addition to the general environment of crime, corruption, and decay, the 2016 election was rife with problems in the city of Detroit. Initial reports showed more ballots than voters in…

Has the race really changed?

As the US rolls into the final days of the election campaign, expect the polls to tighten further. This contraction may or may not reflect the state of the race; the polls were always absurd.

Election geeks on both sides of the aisle pore over RealClearPolitics.com polling data. This is the Superbowl of politics, and we check the scores constantly to see how our team is doing. Nine days ago, on October 12th, Biden led Trump by 10.2 points in the two-way national average. Today, on October 21st, Biden is still up by a difference of 7.5 percent.

RCP averages…

There’s no such thing as a mandate. Ask a kindergartener.

Presidents crow about their mandates. They think they know the will of the people. They’re wrong. Instead of mandates, elections are referendums on the regime in power. If Trump wins in November, it will mean that a slim majority of voters are satisfied with how he’s run the executive branch. If Biden wins, it will mean that a majority of voters are dissatisfied with Trump’s performance. Neither result means that 330 million people demand a massive structural change of one sort or another.

Donald Trump claimed a mandate because he ‘won’ the 2016 election. Though small historically, he called his…