Tag Archives: Arlo

Mark’s Covid Diary… May 19, 2020

By Mark | May 19, 2020

I wouldn’t say that I’m necessarily giving up on the idea of posting longer pieces about specific, god-awful things that are happening in the news. Knowing myself, I think it’s likely that, in the very near future, something will happen that will cause me to go back to my old ways, and spend an entire […]

Exploring Trump’s “Manifesto of Mistruths”: Is our economy really “the best it has ever been”?

By Mark | February 9, 2020

I didn’t watch Donald Trump’s State of the Union a few days ago. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. And, apparently, I wasn’t alone. Viewership, it seems, was way down. Which, I guess, given what he had to say, was a good thing. Trump not only lied, but he lied a lot, even […]

Posted in Economics, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged Alfred Hitchcock, Barack Obama, Bureau of Labor Statistics, deficit, deficit spending, Donald Trump, Dow Jones, economic growth, economic recovery, factories, federal deficit, GDP, Gross Domestic Product, health care, job creation, jobs, manufacturing, Medicaid, Medicare, Nancy Pelosi, North By Northwest, Obamacare, Paul Krugman, preexisting conditions, Republican lies, S&P 500, social security, Social Security Disability Insurance, SSDI, Steven Rattner, stock market, stomach flu, tax cuts, The 39 Steps, Trump tax cuts, unemployment | 125 Comments

Trying to piece together the young life of my great grandmother, Minnie Florian Wise

By Mark | January 7, 2020

The woman to the right is my great grandmother. Her name was Minnie Florence Wise, and she was born on December 9, 1892, in Montgomery County, Kentucky, which is about 30 miles east of Lexington, where, if I’m not mistaken, her grandfather, John Anderson Wise (1823-1893), fought on the side of the Union during the […]

Posted in History, Mark's Life, Uncategorized | Also tagged 14th Kentucky Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, 1889, 1892, 1900, 1912, 1950, barefoot, census, Charles Maynard, Civil War, coal, Confederate States, Curt Florian, Curtis Florian, depression glass, Florian, flour sack dresses, Franklin, Franklin County, genealogy, Georgetown, Goin' Up Cripple Creek, Grover Cleveland Wise, Jefferson Davis, Jefferson Davis Wise, John Anderson Wise, John Calhoun Wise, Joseph Phillip Florian, Kentucky, Louvina J. Tipton, Ma Florian, Mark's ancestors, Mark's aunt Betsy, marriage license, Matilda Gill, Matilda Gill Wise, Mayfair Open Rose, Minnie Florence Wise, Minorsville, Mollie Onan, Monterey, Mt. Sterling, National Archives, Rebecca Clark, root cellar, Scott County, secession, Seth Reese Wise, Stamping Ground, Switzer, union, West Virginia, White Sulpher, Wise, Woodlake | 13 Comments

House Republicans argue that Donald Trump withheld Ukrainian security aid because he’s a tireless fighter of foreign corruption. This is not even remotely true. Here are the facts.

By Mark | December 2, 2019

House Republicans just released a 123-page report which they claim refutes the case for Donald Trump’s impeachment. In the report, Republicans argue that Donald Trump did not withhold military aid from Ukraine for his own self-interest, but because of “a deep-seated, genuine, and reasonable skepticism of Ukraine due to its history of pervasive corruption.” The […]

Posted in Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged 2020, bribery, corruption, Crowdstrike, Donald Trump, extortion, foreign aid, Gordon Sondland, House Intelligence Committee, Hunter Biden, impeachment, Joe Biden, John Rood, Kurt Volker, military aid, mochi, Republican lies, Russia, the collapse of the Republican party, Ukraine, Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelensky | 58 Comments

As of today, Linette and I have been married 20 years

By Mark | October 2, 2019

On Saturday, October 2, 1999, Linette and I were married. Here, to mark the occasion, is a little something I wrote a while back, slightly updated to reflect that yet another year has passed. Twenty years ago today, after seven years of living with one another in sin, I married my friend and collaborator Linette […]