Barbara Tuchman - Authors List

Barbara W. Tuchman - Authors List. 5 books read. I first discovered this amazing historian when I came across her new book A Distant Mirror a few months after it was published in 1978. I read it the following summer and loved it. This has been one of my favorite history books and still have a copy on a book shelf.

I then read four more of her histories over the next several years. Because of her I did read many more books on middle ages over the years and continue today.

• A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, 1978 - Jul 1979
• Stillwell and the American Experience in China: 1911-1945, 1971 - Jul 1980
• The Guns of August, 1962 - Nov 1983
• The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam, 1984 - Apr 1986
• The First Salute: A View of the American Revolution, 1988 - Feb 1989

Dinner @ Cafe 59

We had another wonderful dinner tonight at Cafe 59 on Allen Street and sat at a table in the front window. I had there delicious Harvest Wrap with roasted turkey, candied walnuts, dried cranberries, field greens, gorgonzola, and balsamic vinaigrette. This is one of my favorite items on their menu. Becky had their Chicken Finger Sub. We also had a side of their amazing Potato Wedges. I also had a Port City Belgian Wit. Cafe 59 has been one of our favorite restaurants for years.

Jim Thompson - Authors List

Jim Thompson - Authors List. 5 books read. This was a classic hardboiled crime fiction author. He wrote over 30 novels mostly in the 1950's. 

The first book I read was The Grifters in 1981. During that time period I was reading a lot of classic crime novels including Dashiell Hammett.

• The Grifters, 1963 - Apr 1981
• Savage Night, 1953 - Oct 1982
• The Getaway, 1958 - Dec 1984
• Wild Town, 1957 - Jan 1987
• The Killer Inside Me, 1952 - Nov 2004

100 Living Songwriters

NY Times

Repost @nytimes:

As soon as we decided to make a list of the 30 greatest LIVING AMERICAN songwriters, we could guess how readers would respond to the results: with a combination of enthusiasm and outrage, quickly letting us know which of their favorites we had unconscionably forgotten.

We didn’t want all that passion to go undocumented. So we invited readers to assemble their own list in a formal poll. More than 25,000 ballots were cast, producing nearly 12,000 distinct choices. We spent weeks combing through the votes to tabulate the results.

Finally, here they are: the top 100 songwriters, according to our readers. They’re annotated throughout with facts, testimonials and interesting patterns we noticed in the data.

30 Living Songwriters

The New York Times recently posted a list of 30 greatest living songwriters as determined by their critics. Posted here. 

The expanded list of 100 created by a reader's poll is much better. The NY Times post is here.

Ego Power Chaos

From Vets Against Trump

After Fred Trump died and left Donald Trump a fortune estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars, Trump spent much of his life bouncing from one failure to another.

There are really only two undeniable successes on his résumé:
* The Apprentice, which transformed him from a struggling businessman into a television celebrity.
* Winning a second presidential term, which allowed him and his family to cash in on their political fame in ways most presidents never have.
But even as Trump profits personally, the list of failures surrounding this presidency continues to grow.
* Renaming institutions and attaching his name to everything in sight.
* The turmoil surrounding the Kennedy Center.
* Damaged relationships with longtime allies.
* Tariff policies that have created economic uncertainty.
* Continued chaos and turnover within his administration.
* An increasingly unpopular conflict with Iran.

And now there is another warning sign that even some Republicans are beginning to lose confidence.

The House recently passed a War Powers Resolution aimed at limiting Trump’s ability to continue military operations in Iran without congressional authorization. Four Republicans broke ranks and voted with Democrats, sending a message that cracks may be starting to appear in what was once nearly automatic Republican support for Trump.

That’s what makes the vote significant.

It isn’t really about four Republicans.

It’s about the fact that after years of loyalty, some members of Trump’s own party are finally willing to publicly tell him “no.”

Meanwhile, his polling numbers are slipping, public frustration is growing, allies are questioning America’s reliability, and controversy continues to follow this administration from one headline to the next.

Yet through it all, Trump continues to insist he is the greatest president ever, the smartest leader ever, the best dealmaker ever, and the most successful businessman ever.

The question isn’t whether Trump will declare victory.

The question is:

What could possibly go wrong next?

Because every time you think the chaos has reached its limit, Trump seems determined to prove there is always another level.

As this old veteran sees it, real leaders don’t spend all day telling people they’re great. Eventually, the results have to speak for themselves.

If you enjoy my political commentary, observations, and occasional dose of sarcasm, please consider following me. I may not always be right, but I promise I’ll always give you my honest opinion—and probably a few laughs along the way.

– Jim Lager, this old veteran

WOW 2026

This evening we attended the first Parkside Wine on Wednesday for the season. It was a perfectly beautiful night for a neighborhood party and there was a great crowd. We knew most of the people there and met a few more. A lot of old friends.

Looking forward to a few more of these get-togethers.

Tom Petty Anthology - Kitchen Listening

Kitchen Listening with a couple of Tom Petty anthology compilations. Started yesterday with the Anthology: Through The Years, 2000. A double CD album featuring the best of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. I followed that up today with The Live Anthology, 2009 which is a 4 CD compilation of live material recorded from concerts between 1980 and 2007. This awesome set of music played for nearly 6 hours. I'm sorry I never got to see him perform live in concert.

Scott Pelley & CBS

From Occupy Democrats

BREAKING: Iconic “60 Minutes” journalist Scott Pelley drops EXPLOSIVE allegations after the new pro-Trump CBS News FIRES him after 37 years, saying he “was told to lie" in news stories by Trump's corporate minions.

For years during the Trump era, Americans have watched one news organization after another bend the knee to political pressure, corporate interests, billionaire owners, and partisan agendas.

But what veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley just alleged may be one of the MOST disturbing warnings yet from inside a major American newsroom.

After 37 years at CBS News, Pelley says he was FIRED tonight because the network's new pro-Trump leadership abandoned the principles that made 60 Minutes one of the most trusted institutions in journalism.

And his allegations are HISTORIC in nature.

Pelley didn't merely complain about management. He didn't simply criticize corporate restructuring. He accused the new MAGA CBS leadership of attempting to CORRUPT the news itself:

"New management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story."

Read that again.

"New management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story."

WOW. Pelley is openly accusing CBS News of lying to the American people to hide Trump’s corruption. He continued: "I've been told to include assertions that are unverified. To date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them."

This represents a DIRECT assault on the core principles of journalism.

But Pelley says the problems didn't stop there.

"Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast."

That is an EXTRAORDINARY accusation.

The entire purpose of an independent press is that journalists decide how politicians are questioned — NOT the other way around.

As Pelley bluntly put it:

"Giving politicians control over 60 Minutes interviews is not how this is done."
No kidding. The allegations become even more alarming when viewed in the broader context surrounding CBS and Paramount.

For months, critics have questioned whether CBS corporate executives were softening coverage and restructuring news operations in hopes of maintaining favorable relations with the Trump administration to enrich shareholders and ensure that Paramount’s multibillion-dollar upcoming merger with Skydance is approved by Trump’s FCC.

Now one of the most respected journalists in America appears to be CONFIRMING those fears from the inside.

"Now, the new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration."

"60 Minutes lost its DNA. Our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause."

"Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience."
"They stood for fairness against the forces of political bias."

"They stood for professionalism against chaos."

But perhaps the most heartbreaking part of Pelley's statement was his conclusion:
"The collapse of values at the top has become untenable. The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone."

"And so I must leave as well."

Let that sink in. Scott Pelley spent nearly FOUR DECADES building his career at CBS News. He could have quietly accepted the changes. He could have collected a paycheck and remained silent. Instead, he chose to walk away while publicly warning Americans about what he says is happening behind the scenes.

"I pray for a day when those people and their ideals are honored again—a day when sanity, competence, and courage return."

Whether you're a Democrat, Republican, or Independent, one thing should unite us: No corporation should be telling journalists to LIE in stories. No politician should be CHOOSING which reporters interview them. And no news organization should sacrifice truth in exchange for political favors.

We salute Scott Pelley for being a shining example of integrity in the face of Trump's war on truthful journalism!

Philip K. Dick - Authors List

Philip K. Dick - Authors List. 6 Books. An interesting science fiction author who has written about 45 novels and numerous short story collections. I've read five novels and one collection. I had known about this author for many years but it took the movie Blade Runner for me to read a novel. Then it was another 20 years before I starting reading him again. There are plenty more I should check out.

I also liked the TV series of The Man in the High Castle. 

• Blade Runner: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, 1968 - Nov 1986
• Ubik, 1969 - Nov 2007
• The Divine Invasion, 1981- Aug 2009
• VALIS, 1981 -  Oct 2009
• The Minority Report: Collection of Short Stories, 2002 - Dec 2009
• The Man in the High Castle, 1962 - Jul 2016