From the desk
Writing
Essays, op-eds, and mind wanderings on justice, policing, aging, the trail, and whatever else won’t leave me alone.
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The Cartographer’s Debt
The man who drew the maps was the last person anyone expected to erase a town. Elias Vorn worked for the county assessor’s office for nineteen years, updating parcel boundaries, noting easements, correcting the slow drift of survey markers that…
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We the People vs. Me the Precedent
How the Supreme Court learned to stop worrying and love the culture war By Joe Broadmeadow There is an old lawyer’s joke that goes: a precedent is a decision you like; an outlier is one you don’t. After the Supreme…
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Peace for Our Time, Give or Take Three Weeks
A retired cop’s note on the difference between calling a scene secure and actually securing it Any cop who worked the road long enough learned to distrust quiet. A domestic goes silent, and the rookie relaxes. The veteran tightens up…
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Jefferson’s Wall, Betrayed
The Supreme Court didn’t just lower the wall of separation between church and state. It flipped the wall into a funnel, and now the taxpayer pays for what Jefferson swore he’d never fund. Thomas Jefferson cut up his Bible with…
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The Price of Admission
On the one thing we refuse to teach — and what it costs us.
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The Founding Fathers Group Chat
“America 250” — A private group. 4 participants. Notifications: ON. Encryption: We hoped so. A satire by Joe Broadmeadow Jefferson opens the thread. JEFFERSON (2:14 PM) Gentlemen. The Republic turns two hundred and fifty. I trust the citizens are marking…
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White Masked Cowards: 21st Century KKK
I spent twenty years reading faces for a living. When someone covers their face in public, it’s because they know what they’re about to do wouldn’t survive daylight. That’s Patriot Front — the 21st century Klan wearing a new uniform.
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The Case of the Broken Bottle: A Citizen’s Complaint Against Officer Killjoy
“But when I kissed the cop down on 34th and VineHe broke my little bottle of Love Potion Number 9” It is with a heavy heart, chapped lips, and a shirt that still faintly smells like a Yankee Candle explosion…
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Happy Birthday, America. Now Please Stop Reading the Amendments Out Loud, It’s Upsetting the Host
I’ve been to a lot of parties where the guest of honor couldn’t help himself. Somebody hands him the microphone to say a few nice words, and twenty minutes later he’s relitigating a beef with his brother-in-law and accusing three…
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I Have Been Grievously Insulted
This is a true story. I am traumatized by this event There I was, at an outdoor concert on a perfect summer evening, minding my own business and enjoying the music, when it happened. An incident so egregious, so personally…
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Why We’re Together Alone: Suburban Life and Digital Disconnect
Little boxes on the hillside,Little boxes made of ticky tacky,Little boxes on the hillside,Little boxes all the same.There’s a green one and a pink oneAnd a blue one and a yellow one,And they’re all made out of ticky tackyAnd they…
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The Power of Human Resilience
There is a quiet, stubborn force that has carried humanity through plagues, wars, depressions, and the long, uncertain stretches in between. It doesn’t make headlines. It isn’t owned by governments or corporations. It lives in people—in their habits, their humor,…