Hammer Mill Days

  Macky (2004 – 2022) Lost my best friend today. Though my heart is broken, all I can say is that I was fortunate beyond words to know this little guy. Absolutely the sweetest, best-natured little fellow I ever knew. We tried to give him the best life we could offer, and I don’t regret a single moment of the last fifteen years. I’ve got a lot more to say about Macky, but I’ll save it and just share this lyric Matt wrote decades ago – one that sums up how I felt about my boy. It’s a song called Natural Laws. The other day you looked so small Standing by the bonsai tree I was sure you’d be taken by the breeze I’ve got some nylon rope, and I bought some iron spikes I’m going to hold you down if it’s the last thing I do Last night it was a dream that provoked you I was lying next to you just watching you turn I would have awakened you if I thought you’d be better off I would have awakened you if I thought I could make you safe If words could make you safer Then I...

I’m not in the greatest state of mind right now, so I’ll be brief. I just wanted to take a moment to amend my post from last week, Examining the Three Crises Three . In short, I missed a crisis or two. And the one that appears to be percolating up into the national consciousness is the Ukraine Crisis. Now, the national conversation about this conflict is enough to drive anyone mad. I have never seen so many policy cross-currents between left and right as over this question. Trumpist right-wingers are adapting a narrow anti-war stance that appears to be counseling caution with respect to Russia and crackpot aggression toward China. “Muscular” liberals and centrists appear to be hell bent on building an iron wall around the Soviet …. I mean, Russia. Dogs are dancing with cats. What a mess. What about the Minsk agreement? There is a diplomatic solution to this. Anatol Lieven, writing for The Nation , details The Minsk II agreement , worked out in 2015, which provided...