Joe, with degrees in engineering and economics, raced motorcycles, founded 3 software companies, and launched one of the first computer store chains. Now he writes novels and Ghost essays while traveling with his wife, Lanying, and their cat, Cat.
Wars Are What We Do They always say the next war is unthinkable. But they prepare for it anyway, as if their amnesia were strategic. War is what we do. History is carved by its timelines. Dates, generals, treaties, invasions. A century without one is an outlier. A decade without
The move to Ghost from substack is progressing as substack has not deactivated my account in some days. My plan is to move one essay a day over from substack and to publish a new essay. I appreciate your comments and pay attention to them. If there is a problem,
Fear! It’s the Core of the Republican Party Fear isn’t just lurking around the Republican Party like background static—it’s the beating heart that keeps the whole machine humming. It pulses through speeches, fuels slogans, and vibrates across talk radio at 3 a.m. Scratch the surface
Money From Nothing Listen0:00/249.8931521× The government creates money by typing numbers into computers. This isn't complicated. The Federal Reserve adds zeros, so money exists. No gold. No vault. Just keystrokes and the full faith of people who pay their taxes in dollars. This drives fiscal
Listen0:00/338.5039911× The question isn't whether Trump "works for" Putin in some formal employment sense—it's whether he serves Putin's interests with such consistency that the distinction becomes meaningless and becomes PrumpTutin. The Pattern: Trump has said Ukraine — not Russia
I was born in Selma, Alabama. The man who designed the original Confederate flag—the “Stars and Bars”—painted a portrait of my great-great-grandfather. That detail always stayed with me. For my family, the flag meant something—something hard to explain. Not racism. Not rebellion. More like memory. Pride, Presence.
Wait… did trump join Star Trek? I swear that logo looks like he's about to beam up and start a war with Klingons over hotel licensing rights. Am I losing it, or did we just repurpose the Starfleet emblem for a real-life Space Farce?
I’m in the middle of moving my Substack over to Ghost—just a slight glitch that should be cleared up by Monday. While that sorts itself out, I’m taking a quick breather and cook up You’re Kidding. Stay with me. I'll be back in force
No PrumpTutin today other than to say Rupert reports trump is in the Epstein files. John Steinbeck: California’s Patron Saint of Lettuce-Based Suffering Let’s talk about John Steinbeck — the man, the myth, the dude who made California’s dust storms more famous than its beaches. If Hemingway was
Originally posted on Substack before Substack cheated me of three months' work. America was cranky; folks were screeching “Sad!” They wanted someone spicy, loud, and fabulously mad Then came Don with orange, tan, and hair like cotton candy He promised gold and winning streaks and slogans oh-so-dandy! (Chorus) Springtime
the 27 are not amused Europe gets the bill for another PrumpTutin tantrum—and this time, they brought receipts Listen0:00/270.4293651× So here we are again: another week, another economic grenade tossed across the Atlantic by Donald J. PrumpTutin, who seems to think global trade is just another
This Is What Breaks Him? Wouldn’t it be something if this is what finally does him in? Listen0:00/369.8197731× Not the coup. Not the stolen classified documents next to the toilet. Not the blatant extortion of a foreign leader, or the attempt to overthrow democracy in a