I was worried about my friend "Barry" who needed to get a new car battery. I was also watching some infuriating videos about the politicians in different parts of the country. I fell asleep. Then I woke up from a silly dream that was influenced by my friend and the videos; so I thought I’d share it with you. Honest! This situation really was in my dream. Hope you like it.

There’s been much media commentary related to the 20th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, widely regarded as one of the greatest foreign policy blunders in history.  g to go into the wayback machine for my take on it, below, a piece written in 2007 for the late Gatsby Magazine, one of the international magazines I wrote Letters from Washington columns for. It’s a stab at divining the self-righteous mentality that popped open Pandora’s Box with the March 20th, 2003 invasion of Iraq under the false pretenses of Saddam Hussein harboring weapons of mass destruction and being in league with Al-Qaeda. This was amplified by journalists and politicians who should have known better, some of whom likely did.

It’s been a long day and I am past my midnight deadline. So I will steal a provoking essay I got in the mail today. I edited a lot out of respect for people with opposing viewpoints but the kernel of the writer's idea are quite provoking. What do you think of this?

The woman was moved by the fiery preaching of their parish priest.

Are you mourning this year’s lack of Carnival’s spiritual cleanse, its satirical sorting of society’s woes to give us perspective? I am. And so I retreat now to past frolics. It’s hard to overstate how rotten the past year has been, in so many ways, or the dim prospects it left us, as we await whatever next escapes Pandora’s Box.

Don't let them take the temperature on your forehead as you enter the supermarket.

Now at least 12 GOP senators are on board with overturning the election, over 100 House Republicans, and Pence has joined the chorus. Analyze each of these Republicans and they fall into 3 distinct and often overlapping categories.

Q: Why don't Jewish mothers drink? A: Alcohol interferes with their suffering.

(A guest post by Elliott Negin, with Intro by Skip Kaltenheuser) You might already know Elliott Negin, whose writings I worked into with Dance with the One that Brought You — BERNIE! on NPR’s red-baiting of Bernie, and Scott Pruitt’s Doublespeak Clarifies Him, on yet another disastrous industrial strength Trump appointee hellbent on ransacking the environment. If not, it’s never too late.

John Grisham, meister of legal thrillers, must look at the Dark Money flying about Supreme Court nominees and think, “You stinking thieves, give me my book plots back!”