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A. Richard Books and More, LLC, Washington D.C., DC (2026)

04/14/2023

Now and then, I listen to the morning call in shows on C-Span. I listened this morning, when there was no guest and the call in question was: What would you like to see Congress do as a priority? This was not a question designed to result in any new emphases in public policy, but there were a few callers who took the question seriously....

Now and then, I listen to the morning call in shows on C-Span. I listened this morning, when there was no guest and the call in question was: What would you like to see Congress do as a priority? T…

04/13/2023

What do we all know about Odessa today? For one thing, we know it's in Ukraine, and it is one of the cities that has been hit by, but not destroyed by, the war. We also know that we have been told to drop an 's" and spell it "Odesa", something which I find quite difficult to do (and which my computer's spell check finds just as hard)....

What do we all know about Odessa today? For one thing, we know it’s in Ukraine, and it is one of the cities that has been hit by, but not destroyed by, the war. We also know that we have been…

04/12/2023

As we near the end of the Passover holiday (sundown tomorrow), I thought a few words about my earliest Passovers would be in order. Until I was 7 or 8, we went once a year for a seder (normally the first seder, I think) to a house on Princeton in University City, Missouri (aha, I bet you didn't know that streets in University City tend to be named after universities - there's a Harvard, a Yale, a Princeton, a Pennsylvania, a Dartmouth, a Stanford, a Tulane - you get the idea; by the way, no MIT)....

As we near the end of the Passover holiday (sundown tomorrow), I thought a few words about my earliest Passovers would be in order. Until I was 7 or 8, we went once a year for a seder (normally the…

04/11/2023

I feel a bit news-numb today. Nothing seems to excite me. What do you think is wrong? Do you think that I should be concerned that important top-secret documents from the Pentagon were posted on the Internet, and that for about two months the Pentagon didn't even know? Do you think that I should be concerned that these documents showed that Russia can indeed wait out Ukraine and that the billions of dollars and euros that the U.S....

I feel a bit news-numb today. Nothing seems to excite me. What do you think is wrong? Do you think that I should be concerned that important top-secret documents from the Pentagon were posted on th…

04/10/2023

(1) Abe Fortas was a Supreme Court justice. He was even nominated to be the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by Lyndon Johnson. His nomination did not succeed (many thought it was because Fortas was Jewish - this certainly seemed to have played a role), but it also turned out that Fortas had some other connections - he was being paid to give lectures at American University by a bunch of his former clients, and he had entered into some sort of arrangement with a businessman named Louis Wolfson, who was to have paid Fortas $20,000 a year (only the first payment was made and it had been returned)....

(1) Abe Fortas was a Supreme Court justice. He was even nominated to be the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by Lyndon Johnson. His nomination did not succeed (many thought it was because Fortas …

04/09/2023

First: I am still reading through my collection of Penguins, and have just finished a very interesting (and well written) book, "The Jewish Problem" by Louis Golding. The book was published in 1938 and written before Kristallnacht that November and, obviously, before the start of World War II in 1939. It describes in some detail the position of the Jews in Germany and, more recently Austria after the German takeover, a subject that most of us know only too well....

First: I am still reading through my collection of Penguins, and have just finished a very interesting (and well written) book, “The Jewish Problem” by Louis Golding. The book was publi…

04/08/2023

There is so much going on in the world that I thought I would report on a couple of little known stories that will not enrich your lives or perspectives on iota. First - the jury is out. Here is the background: when you live in the District of Columbia, you are obligated to appear at Superior Court for possible jury selection once every two years....

There is so much going on in the world that I thought I would report on a couple of little known stories that will not enrich your lives or perspectives on iota. First – the jury is out. Here…

04/07/2023

Although there have been exceptions, normally we host two seders every year with family and friends. The past several years have been exceptions because of the pandemic, but this year we expected to be back to action. Hannah and her family were to be traveling to Massachusetts, so we had seders planned with Michelle, Josh and his boys, several cousins who live in town, and one out of town visitor....

Although there have been exceptions, normally we host two seders every year with family and friends. The past several years have been exceptions because of the pandemic, but this year we expected t…

04/06/2023

I just read William Faulkner's "Requiem for a Nun". It's an odd book - a combination three act play, with extensive prose introductions of each act providing a stream of consciousness history of Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, Faulkner's imaginary country which is the site of much of his writing. The play (a sequel to his earlier novel "Sanctuary") involves the strange tale of a bad marriage (with an interesting, and disgusting, back story), which results in two children....

I just read William Faulkner’s “Requiem for a Nun”. It’s an odd book – a combination three act play, with extensive prose introductions of each act providing a stream …

04/05/2023

At the funeral of Rabbi Bill Rudolph this week, I learned things I didn't know. He was an athlete, a bicyclist, and a handyman. At the funeral of George Johnson, I learned that he not only played the guitar, but also could play the piano, the saxophone, and the cello. Who would have guessed? What would one learn about me at my funeral?...

At the funeral of Rabbi Bill Rudolph this week, I learned things I didn’t know. He was an athlete, a bicyclist, and a handyman. At the funeral of George Johnson, I learned that he not only pl…

04/04/2023

On this day, April 4, in the year 1968, I was in the middle of basic training for the U.S. Army Reserve at Ft. Ord, California. I think it was late afternoon in California, and my company was at the rifle range, a large area where a number of us would stand in a row shooting at human shaped targets. My company was composed of reservists, serving the first part of their six month active duty requirement, before going home to serve six full years as a reservist (hoping that we would not find ourselves activated and sent to Vietnam)....

On this day, April 4, in the year 1968, I was in the middle of basic training for the U.S. Army Reserve at Ft. Ord, California. I think it was late afternoon in California, and my company was at th…

04/03/2023

A high level official from Moody's was on C-span's Washington Journal this morning. The subject was the banking system. He told the story of when he started a business 30 years ago. He couldn't get a loan from a large bank, but got one from a smaller, local bank, provided he give the bank a personal guarantee and a mortgage on his house....

A high level official from Moody’s was on C-span’s Washington Journal this morning. The subject was the banking system. He told the story of when he started a business 30 years ago. He …

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