So many of you replied to my last email asking for an explanation of Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and non-fungible tokens (NFT) that I thought I would send my explanation to everyone. There is no politics here, just an explanation of how a certain technology (blockchain) works. …

“Love is the quality of attention we pay to things,” writes poet J.D. McClatchy. If that’s the case, then this week I loved Bitcoin and the U.S. Congress. A strange, sad combination, I know. But today’s email has plenty of opinions about both topics and if you’re only interested in…

Watching Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) volunteer at a food bank in Texas last weekend (while also raising millions of dollars for disaster relief), I thought of the legendary Tip O’Neill. In 1982 (when I was five years old), O’Neill was trying to get a giant infrastructure bill passed. The Republican Leader…

In the noise of the post-election you may have missed my silence. It was unintentional: a broken ankle required significant surgery, and the recovery has been complicated. But I am feeling better — finally, cautiously, walking (with some assistance) — and in the mood to write. …

Last weekend I read an excellent novel about an Iraq War hero who is invited to officiate at the Dallas Cowboys’ Thanksgiving Day Half-Time show. By turns hilarious and tragic (in the classical sense), Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk is perfect metaphor for our time. I thought about it all…

Ah, 2020. What a year. This New Year’s Eve I’m thinking of a sculpture I saw years ago at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC. “Milkstone” by Wolfgang Laib is a large square slab of white marble sitting on the floor of an empty room, rising just a few inches…

It’s a bright, cold Sunday morning with snow on the ground. The kids have evacuated the house at the crack of dawn to take advantage of the snow before it melts. With any luck, none of them will break any bones. I started to do some holiday shopping — online…

Happy Thanksgiving. It may sound trite, but I am thankful for you — writing this newsletter has been a great gift for me, and would I write if no one was reading? Well, I know my mother and father will always be reading. Thank you, Mom and Dad. …

At this point, about 100 million Americans have voted. That’s roughly 2/3rds of the total votes we expect to cast this year — so it is possible that the outcome is already decided, the results resting mutely in stacks of unopened ballots waiting to be counted. It is hard to…