HAM AND LIMA BEANS

In 1967, my Infantry Officer Candidate School company underwent a weeklong field exercise at Fort Stewart, Georgia. We ate C-rations. They taught me a valuable lesson about pragmatism. C-rations, heated over a can of Sterno, offered a variety of main courses. The guys ate their favorites first. Beef stew was pretty much everyone’s preference.  Eventually,…

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WRITERS BLOCK—SORT OF

I always take notes on my next novel and short story while working on my current project. But a theme for this week’s post challenged me. Yet stimuli abound. So I’ll share some thoughts. As I write, Democrats have yet to pass the classic infrastructure bill linked to “human infrastructure” legislation to help American workers…

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THE CORROBORATION CONUNDRUM

In February 1942, the notorious gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel went on trial in Los Angeles for the 1939 murder of fellow mobster Harry “Big Greenie” Greenberg. One of the killers, Allie Tannenbaum, agreed to cooperate. However, District Attorney John F. Dockweiler faced a problem. California law demanded corroboration by a second witness. The state had…

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THE “C” WORD

Words can offend. One starts with “C.” But we need to talk more about it because given the nature of the world we live in it’s more relevant than ever. Compromise gets some people riled up. The word suggests a lack of integrity and morality. These folks believe they’re always right and opposing views are…

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