Liberty Drip

  For the longest time, I’ve said that if you want to lose what little faith in humanity you may still have, spend a little time on Twitter (X.com). As I subjected myself to this torture this morning, I was reminded of why I say this. Sure, there are positive things on the platform, the occasional cute puppy or funny cat video, and some other stuff, but I gravitate toward the political. My hope for the future of my country erodes every time I log on. After President Biden’s abysmal, but not at all surprising, performance in last week’s debate against Donald Trump, many on the left have called for his resignation, hoping he will be replaced by someone more capable of defeating Trump. I think at this point, they’ll settle for someone capable of stringing together enough words to complete a sentence. As if to add more pressure to the candidate, they want the words to all come out in the right order. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t be such a tall order. These are interesting ...

I was in the third grade the first time someone called me a Cuban and meant it as an insult. One of my classmates showed up to class with two broken arms and no front teeth. He’d been in an ATC accident. In case you don’t know, ATC stands for All-Terrain Cycle. They were similar to the big four-wheeled ATVs that are popular today but had only three wheels. They were tricycles on steroids. They became illegal at some point because people were getting hurt. Thank you, Big Brother, for always keeping us safe. I asked the kid if he fell and he said, “I ain’t no Cuban. I flipped!”  To which I replied, “At least I have all my teeth and both my arms.” This kid was a jerk. He and I would continue to have run-ins throughout the rest of the elementary years. I don’t think I ever saw him again after that. I sure hope his teeth grew back. My junior high (middle school to you youngsters) was a private school in a predominately black section of Dade County known as Carol City. Most of the kids i...

MAY 23, 2020: I began to write this piece and never finished. Full disclosure: I work at home. My business has been affected by the illegal government shutdown of “non-essential” businesses, but I am still getting by. My wife is apparently an essential person, too. She is working from home as well. Our income has taken a pretty severe hit. We’re losing about sixty percent of our income. Our daughter, who worked her tail off to graduate high school a year early, has been denied her prom and her senior class trip. She is lonely and distanced from her friends. This is harder for all of us because she will be leaving for college in the fall.  Our government’s severe overreaction to the Coronavirus has resulted in a 26% unemployment rate. What is this doing for the mental health of the people who were struggling to get by? How many people will commit suicide when their economic situation becomes unbearable? How many already have? How many marriages will crack under the strain? Any stat...

President Trump allegedly called Haiti and some other countries in the Third World, “Shitholes.” We didn’t hear the president say this and the original source is one of his political enemies, Dick Durbin, who has a reputation for not being the most honest fellow. The world is in a fake uproar over the alleged comments, with people calling the president a racist and screaming at the sky and finding all kinds of other ways to protest, including projecting the word “Shithole” onto the facade of a Trump hotel. I believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt and I believe that the burden of proof falls on the accuser. I also believe our illustrious president has given up any claim on the benefit of the doubt because in his first year in office, he has hardly been able to get through two days without sticking his foot in his mouth. Should people be offended by the comments? I don’t know. I believe that while words have meaning, their power to inspire and especially to offend...