Recap: On an otherwise unremarkable spring night, in a pretty Boston neighborhood, a massive residential blaze sparks a blackout. As Ricky and his mother hunker down, they’re shaken by the sound of automatic gunfire down the street. Then, unbelievably… firefighters wounded… or dead?.. on the pavement in front of Mr. Skandowski’s burning house. Why? The […]
One need only look at the record books to find the most dangerous era: today Nine “Intensity” categories. Six different all-time records for intensity were set between 2006 and 2016. Hurricanes and typhoons have intensified over the past decade. That is a plain fact. Two costliness categories. Three all-time records for costliness: two in 2017 […]
Last time, at bayou’s edge, Port Fourchon, Louisiana: Having seen way more than they bargained for, and having retreated from the scene of Select Oil Company’s staging area, Port Fourchon PD put a call in to the United States Coast Guard. Wondering if there was “a full moon out or something,” USCG Sector New Orleans […]
Through no real virtue of its own, the continental United States is shielded from the brunt of many tropical storms (up to and including major hurricanes) by the Caribbean islands. West of Africa’s Cape Verde, where most Atlantic hurricanes form, sit hundreds of islands which—as history shows—absorb much of the destructive energy from cyclones which […]
What gives when a behemoth government agency does virtually nothing in keeping with its own declared mission? “ ‘Oh, but, grandmother, what a terrible big mouth you have.’ “ ‘The better to eat you with.’ “And scarcely had the wolf said this, than with one bound he was out of bed and swallowed up Little […]
The Select Oil Company charged the nightshift it cobbled together near Port Fourchon with preparing for the morning’s cleanup. The international petroleum and gas conglomerate had sent out teams of managers in the afternoon to gather local day laborers and whoever else they could find to help unload the 30 semi-trailers headed for different locations […]
Suspect from the beginning, U.S. secretary of state ousted after finishing business with Kremlin During the 2016 election, the Russian president made it very clear he was interested in an outcome that would spell the end of Obama-era sanctions. From the Republican side, he received assurances, perhaps even before the election night results were in. […]
Questions of bribery must arise when assessment contractor gets it preposterously wrong “Return your sword to its place, for all who will take up the sword will die by the sword.” — Jesus of Nazareth, Matthew 26:52 We live in the United States of America, don’t we, my neighbors? At some point, in this great […]
As our government sells off federal lands and assets of every other kind, to whom is a citizen to turn? Someday, professors will teach courses on this episode in American history. The first full-blown kleptocracy installed in our Republic. Even as students learn about it many years from now, the damage might still not be […]
“A concerned citizen” steps up to the mic at international summit “I’m honored to be here today, I stand before you not as an expert but as a concerned citizen, one of the 400,000 people who marched in the streets of New York on Sunday, and the billions of others around the world who want […]