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The Weekly Screed
“If true…” by David Benjamin “ ‘One [option] is, try to figure out right this minute what the truth is, when you have no way of knowing. Or two, and both social media and cable news are a little bit at war with this: Wait a minute.’” — Richard Tofel, president, ProPublica MADISON, Wis. —…
Read More...This is harder than we thought by David Benjamin “I’m an obsolete design. T-X is faster, more powerful and more intelligent. It’s a far more effective killing machine.” — Arnold Schwarzenegger, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines LAS VEGAS — This is the first year of the of the retreat of the heretofore unstoppable robo-car.…
Read More...The flight over Phoenix by David Benjamin “… They patch her up with masking tape With paper clips and strings And still she flies, she never dies Methusaleh with wings…” — “The Gooney Bird Song” MADISON, Wis. — I fell in love with the Douglas DC-3 Dakota — military designation: C-47 Skytrain, nickname: Gooney Bird…
Read More...The skeptical shepherd by David Benjamin 1 A long time ago, on a cold winter’s night that was so deep, a certain poor shepherd was keeping his sheep and trying to catch forty winks. But it wasn’t easy. He was haunted, almost every time he nodded off, by visions he didn’t understand. The shepherd’s friends…
Read More...Snapshots and graven images by David Benjamin “… In the souks, however, the price that is named first is an unfathomable riddle. No one knows in advance what it will be, not even the merchant, because in any case there are many prices. Each one relates to a different situation, a different customer, a different…
Read More...Gregor Samsa for president? by David Benjamin “… Gregor was a member of the family, despite his present unfortunate and repulsive shape, and ought not to be treated as an enemy… on the contrary, family duty required the suppression of disgust and the exercise of patience…” — Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis PARIS — Based on the…
Read More...“…Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it…” by David Benjamin “… If I could work my will,’ said Scrooge indignantly, ‘every idiot who goes about with “Merry Christmas” on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart…’…” — Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol PARIS…
Read More...Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Mia Love by David Benjamin “Mia Love gave me no love and she lost. Too bad. Sorry about that, Mia.” — Chuckles I disapprove of recycling my own screeds. But, in light of this month’s “blue wave, “ including the defeat in Utah of the GOP’s lonely black Congresswoman,…
Read More...A note of ambivalent thanks by David Benjamin “Lord every year we gather here/ To eat around this table/ Give us the strength to stomach as much/ As fast as we are able…” — Loudon Wainwright III MADISON, Wis. — Thank God that’s over. At some point on every third Thursday in November, it dawns…
Read More...A morning stroll through the genuine news by David Benjamin “It’s important that people from across the political spectrum speak out about the country’s commitment to the rule of law and the core values underlying it — that the criminal justice system should be nonpartisan and independent, that a free press and public criticism should…
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