To this Blogger’s chagrin, he missed    commemorating Marlene Dietrich’s birthday. In this depressed and diminished age of hologram women, such as Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Kamala Harris and Oprah, society has forgotten what power real women have, over society and men, both good and evil. The holograms make a lot of money, and yield social and political power; but does anyone think that President Xi of Communist China, or President Putin of Russia or the theocrats of Iran or the Sunni fanatics of HAMAS are afraid of them, to the point of placing a bounty on their lives? To the bad actors of the world, these modern icons exemplify the decadence, corruption and doom of modern American society. Why kill the termites when you want the house of America to cave in? During World War II, that arguably most evil of men, Adolf Hitler, placed a bounty on the lives of two women: The Queen of England, later known as the Queen Mum and Marlene Dietrich. He wanted both of them,...

Anthony Bourdain, one of the finest minds of his generation killed himself in a Paris room, at the age of 61. “Whenever Richard Cory went down town, We people on the pavement looked at him: He was a gentleman from sole to crown, Clean favored, and imperially slim. And he was always quietly arrayed, And he was always human when he talked; But still he fluttered pulses when he said, "Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked. And he was rich — yes, richer than a king — And admirably schooled in every grace: In fine, we thought that he was everything To make us wish that we were in his place. So on we worked, and waited for the light, And went without the meat, and cursed the bread; And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, Went home and put a bullet through his head….Edwin Arlington Robinson.” The news was presented to this Blogger by an old friend, Meg; she had known this Blogger since his days at San Francisco State getting his...