Tag : Tom Squitieri
A bumpy road to bipartisanship
The road doesn’t care if you are young or old, male or female, rich or poor. The road is there for you, to calm you and excite you, to take you back home and to familiar places to lead to new paths of adventure, discovery and joy. To let the explorer in you explore. WhenRead moreIn campaign for 2016, bridesmaids revisited
As the plethora of presidential candidates continues to swell, sending debate planners into conniptions and launching heavy breathing over meaningless polls, the lineups of both parties feature what has become a political certainty: one-time presidential nomination hopefuls taking another shot to win it all. Or, as they are sometimes dubbed: bridesmaids. So let’s clear upRead moreWill Never Again Happen Again?
Here are excerpts from a literary gathering on the horrors of war and how the lessons of history are not learned as the slaughter continues. To watch please go here:Read moreMr. Hughes comes to Washington
It was a clear morning when a 61-year-old Florida mail carrier named Doug Hughes decided to make public his protest regarding the heinous grip that money has on politics. So as he has professed to a few in advance, on Tax Day, Hughes flew his gyrocopter from Gettysburg, Pa., to Washington, D.C., and landed onRead moreBipartisanship and the quixotic quest for an olive branch
At the end of January, the lost remains of Miguel de Cervantes, best known to many as the author of Don Quixote, were found. In that great novel, Quixote is the self-imagined knight who sets out to restore chivalry to a modern world. The novel inspired the phrases “tilting at windmills” and “quixotic” for the knight’sRead moreWhat Congress needs is a good cigar
I had just found a much better word for the transition in another op-ed and was already leapfrogging to write a “wow” finish when I heard from outside my window “oh-oo-oor, oh-oo-oor, oh-oo-oor.” There on the ledge — as if it were summer — was Coco and some friends, my pigeon buddies. Their feathers buffetedRead moreIndependent and third-party politicians could ease gridlock
In the alternative universe of politics, Capitol Hill should be preparing to greet Matt Funiciello, who on paper and in deed was well-positioned to have won an open House seat in upstate New York. Funiciello was endorsed by the local newspapers, widely acclaimed as being the most in touch with voters, the only one whoRead moreThe Winds of Independence can be a blowhard sometimes. A look at independent hopefuls Scotland, Kurdistan, Catalonia
One of the most certain things you can count on in the world of international relations is that almost every year, some group of people, some sector of geography, some suddenly wealthy enclave, will want to declare independence from its current nation-state and become the world’s newest entity. Today we are witnessing two vibrant examplesRead moreThe paucity of hope
Nothing seems to be safe in Egypt these days. Political opponents of the military leadership are the chief targets for the attacks, attacks that include live fire from security forces. They are not alone: The seething rampages have spread to Christian churches, the media, foreigners, those held in custody, and even to the corpses waitingRead moreCartes prepares Paraguay potential
Paraguay has long been one of the poorest, least developed and most isolated countries in Latin America, dating back from when the country gained independence from Spain in 1811. The landlocked nation is expected to grow by 10 percent this year – due in large part to soy and beef exports – but nearly aRead moreJohn Kerry reels them in
Secretary of State John Kerry has the Israelis and Palestinians talking again. In the context of all that is happening in the Middle East, that qualifies as a positive. Kerry does not give up. That has been well documented before. While many see the Israeli-Palestinian issue as a morass, Kerry believes the United States doesRead moreSometimes a cigar is just a stogie
This past week was one that offered sharp reminders that – under the veneer of white papers and white lies — reality can bite. In other words – hello, why are you surprised at these “surprises.” Let’s start with an easy one. Who is surprised that at least some elements of Pakistan’s government probably knewRead more