skipper

  • This is the last in a series focused on herding cats (AKA managing democracy). As the last one hundred years have passed, socialization has dwindled. The district concept of local government was a natural fit to a […]

  • In lieu of civics not being taught in public school systems, and in light of the immeasurable importance of a presidential election at this point of social and political change, mariner will remind readers of the […]

  • That’s what it is like for voters trying to manage the activities of government. Three examples follow that on an ordinary day would not be part of the news and would not be a conscious issue of any i […]

  • I ask the help of readers to distribute this open letter to education bureaucrats at every level from the Federal Cabinet Secretary to each District Superintendent.

    Dear Educationist:

    We live in a democracy. […]

  • Mariner receives correspondence from a number of readers. It is obvious that mariner is not an instrument of change, entertainment perhaps, even a puzzle; but not an instrument of change. Readers, indeed all […]

  • Thanks for a thorough, well documented and reasoned reply. In principle, mariner agrees with the socioeconomic arguments you present. Mariner’s position on gun ownership is to be pragmatic about the reality. As an example, it is not an issue if one owns a cheetah – providing control is maintained so as to not invite biting and eating the dog.
    The…[Read more]

  • [NPR] Google and its YouTube subsidiary will pay $170 million to settle allegations that YouTube collected personal information from children without their parents’ consent, the Federal Trade Commission said […]

  • [Newsy] An appeals court ruled on Friday that survivors and family members of people killed in a mass shooting in South Carolina are allowed to sue the federal government for negligence.

    In June 2015, a white […]

    • Thanks for a thorough, well documented and reasoned reply. In principle, mariner agrees with the socioeconomic arguments you present. Mariner’s position on gun ownership is to be pragmatic about the reality. As an example, it is not an issue if one owns a cheetah – providing control is maintained so as to not invite biting and eating the dog.
      The issue of defending the nation with any privately owned weaponry has lost some substance as Russia is doing a good job of attacking the US without bullets.
      Your continuous search for deeper truths is to be admired.

      Ancient Mariner (skipper)

  • It seems that an individual selects one’s God and one’s candidate in similar fashion. In these modern religious times, scriptures are less a source for describing god; most believers settle for a God that is ver […]

  • ֎ Did the reader see Apple’s new ad selling an Apple credit card that “doesn’t need a bank”? Cryptocurrency is here to stay.
    ֎ Did the reader read that Jakarta, a city larger than New York by 2 million residents […]

  • Labor unions have been on the decline for several decades. Conservative politicians, businesses and lawsuits limiting union financing are the primary causes. Even more specific, the Internet and advancing […]

  • There are a few folks still alive who remember the small four-year college as a finishing school for social graces and intellectual elitism. Liberal Arts was the major purpose, refining ideals, philosophy and […]

  • Teresa Hanafin, a columnist for the Boston Globe, covered a report that talked about the increased anxiety resident in children today. The report believes it’s because of a fundamental shift in the way we view […]

  • A few days ago, mariner was reading a piece by Clare Malone who writes for fivethirtyeight.com. She was trying to describe the subtleties of this modern era of politics. She cited statistics that suggested US […]

  • Mariner suspects many voters, like him, have no affinity toward any of the twenty-some democratic candidates. It is a montage for sure. Trevor Noah (Daily Show) presents a bust shot of all the candidates in a […]

  • When mariner was just beginning his elementary school years, he began reading the family library. It consisted of about ten or twelve popular novels and a 1939 Book of Knowledge encyclopedia; the encyclopedia […]

  • [Bloomberg] $70,000 per minute. That’s how much money the Walmart-owning Walton family has made in the year since Bloomberg’s previous list of the world’s richest families. The Waltons top that list this year, […]

  • (Tevye) Golde, Do you love me?

    (Golde) Do I what?

    (Tevye) Do you love me?

    (Golde) Do I love you?

    With our daughters getting married and this trouble in the town

    You’re upset, you’re worn out go […]

  • Danger Ahead
    Posted on August 3, 2019 by skipper

    If there is any strength the US has to stand up against a hostile world, it is the US Intelligence Service. Coupled with the best funded military in […]

  • Guru, the alter ego who views humanity and the universe from somewhere around Neptune, predicted during the first Obama administration a Donald-like bowling ball. Not that Guru is a genius – many predictions are w […]

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