Chief Justice John Roberts, meet Roger Taney, your history big brother. Abraham Lincoln despised Taney as the legal upholder of white supremacy but had to suffer being sworn in by the old Maryland scarecrow in 1861. In that fraught March moment, the dark past and bright future of America came ...

I celebrated the first full day of my retirement with a PET scan in the morning and a tonsillectomy in the afternoon. People have asked me over the past several months what my plans were for retirement. I had a few ideas, but none included dealing with tonsil cancer. A week prior to these ...

It all began with a cat scratch. Some months ago, I was playing with our cat, Sparkles. It turned out that my cat-like reflexes were no match for an actual cat, and I was issued some minor scratches. No big deal. I’ve been scratched by cats many times. Then one morning I awoke with a ...

The best jobs in Washington are the ones in which you never have to admit error and apologize. These jobs are mostly in government and the major media. While “Love means never having to say you’re sorry” (as a married man I know that’s not true), messing up in government means one can ...

I have a soft spot for Volga’s Old Timers Day celebration and not just because I’m an old timer. My wife and I had skipped this event for several years due to overscheduling. This was nothing less than a severe lack of proper priorities. So, we decided to take in Old Timers Day this ...

On June 3rd, 1990, Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev came to Minnesota. At the time, he had begun to reform the failing Communist system. He was one of the most significant figures of the Twentieth Century. His visit to Minnesota received international attention. It was an unseasonably cold, ...