Recap: Barbara Nascovar and her three children left Washington, D.C. by private jet bound for south central Idaho. During this Thanksgiving recess, she was tasked—by none other than the president of the United States—with using her new position as secretary of the Department of the Interior to round up participants in a scheme that would […]
Recap: The newly minted secretary of the Department of the Interior, Barbara Nascovar, slowly settled into her job in Washington, D.C. The president of the United States, however, asked her to do some work for him back at her home near Pocatello, Idaho. The Thanksgiving recess came, and Barbara packed her stuff and the kids’ […]
Recap: In her first sit-down with the president of the United States, Barbara Nascovar, the brand-new secretary of the Department of the Interior, got an earful from the man. Oh, she was on her best behavior, but the president tolerated no sign of what he called “weakness.” Weakness was anything that strayed even slightly from […]
Recap: At the steps of Pocatello City Hall, Barbara Nascovar enthusiastically announced her intention to run for the soon-to-be open U.S. senate seat in Idaho. Afterward, she went inside the building to meet with party leaders. They had a surprise for Barbara, and it left her in shock: The president of the United States did […]
Barbara Nascovar came from a long line of Idahoans. Her family had lived on the rural lands south of Pocatello for five generations. Arbon, Pauline, Cedarhill… It’s horse country, and the Smithees bred and raised horses. Smithee was Barbara’s name before she married Emil Nascovar, a tall, one-time cowboy, half Lakota and half Latino. Well, […]
Do we know how to vote in our own best interests? The easy answer is, “Yes, of course.” But isn’t that lackadaisical answer, born of the desire for ever more facile and rapid solutions, at the root of our problems? For instance, does a fictional “Bob Smith,” a more qualified and more responsive candidate for […]
Recap: John Q. Private, Sr. completed his second term as governor of Mississippi. His son Johnny immediately succeeded him, and everyone got to stay in the governor’s mansion! On his first day in office, he was whisked away to an expensive, liquid lunch by “Wild” Wanda Watkins. Too much wine, too much champagne. And Johnny’s […]
100 years after the creation of the Committee on Public Information, propaganda lives When I was a kid in school, our teachers and textbooks taught us that the United States of America was the greatest country—the greatest democracy—that had ever existed. Somehow, that might still actually be true. I say “somehow,” because especially in recent […]
ORLANDO, FL—4:57 a.m., March 20th, 2017 I find myself thinking this morning about the crisis of confidence that could befall the executive branch later today. Our democracy is being tested, perhaps like never before. The legislative and judicial branches may need to carry us through a trying period, if the present incarnation of the executive […]