Author Archives: 34orion

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About 34orion

Winston Churchill once said that if you were not a liberal when you were young you had no heart, and if you were not a conservative when you were older then you had no brain. I know I have both so what does that make me?

The Ted Lasso Way

Six years ago, when everything felt broken, a fictional football coach showed up with a yellow sign that said BELIEVE.

This week, watching Washington turn grievance into theater yet again, I found myself thinking about Ted Lasso, Anthony Fauci, optimism, and one line that feels especially useful right now:

“Don’t fight back. Fight forward.”

New piece: The Ted Lasso Way Continue reading

Posted in covid, Humor / satire, opinion, personal essay, Politics and Society, Trump cuts, Trump Opposition | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What We Do In The Shadows: The White House Edition

I wasn’t looking for vampires. They found me—first while I was trapped in Staten Island traffic, then in Washington, where one especially needy specimen has turned the entire country into his emotional-support animal.

A little tale about What We Do in the Shadows, Truth Social, and the exhausting experience of being governed by a man who feeds on grievance, attention and whatever joy America still has left. Continue reading

Posted in Humor / satire, personal essay, Social Media, Trump cuts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Cheeto Dust Cup

The World Cup final had a 90-minute ceremony, a Tom Cruise monologue, and confiscated protest signs. Also, somewhere in there, a soccer match — Argentina didn’t manage a single shot on goal.

New: The Cheeto Dust Cup Continue reading

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Cheeto Dust

Went for a walk to clear my head. Came back with a eulogy for my cat, some inherited wisdom about fairy dust, and a working theory that Cheeto dust is its evil twin. New essay is up. 🧡🪄 Continue reading

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The Marquee Mood Ring

Summer movies used to be an escape. This year, they’re a mirror. 🎬
Jaws taught us to fear the water. Jackass, Minions & Monsters, and Animal Farm are teaching us something else entirely — a pretty unflattering portrait of where we are as a country right now.
New on Tomahawk and Crown: what this summer’s blockbusters (and one very ancient odyssey) reveal about the nation we’ve become — and the one we might still get back to.
Read it here: [link] 🍿 Continue reading

Posted in culture, Humor / satire, personal essay, Politics and Society, Trump Opposition | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How The World Cup Defeated The Orange News Cycle

I thought marriage meant love, compromise, and pretending decorative pillows serve a purpose.

Turns out it also meant swearing lifelong loyalty to Brazilian soccer.

This one is about the World Cup, marriage, Brazil, and the blessed miracle of replacing the orange news cycle with a month of yellow jerseys, questionable officiating, and emotional damage in Portuguese.

Give it a read. Continue reading

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The Trump Stability Index

A weekly composite of ten objective measures, each scored 1–10 and oriented the same way — 10 = steadiest, 1 = most chaotic. Every component is scored against his own trailing 8-week baseline. Version 1.0. Continue reading

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It Could Have Been a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week

The week gave us screwworms, algae, and a Qatari Air Force One. Thursday gave us something the Grifter-in-Chief will never have Continue reading

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The Real Screwworm:

In which the efficiency experts save fifteen million dollars and spend a billion finding out what the fifteen million was for. Continue reading

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Additions to the Highlight Reel, Before the Nation Gets Relegated

Sports gives us highlight reels. Politics gives us blooper reels with subpoenas.
This week, the Knicks added one to the good reel. Now I’m hoping for two more: Brazil’s sixth star and a Blue Tsunami big enough to remind Team USA that the coach is supposed to lead the team, not admire himself during the timeout. Continue reading

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