Source: Desultory Scribblings
by Tyler Harris
“‘These are the times that try men’s souls’ So wrote Thomas Paine 250 years ago about a long, dark winter when the young nation’s fortunes looked so bleak that many feared it might yet arrive stillborn. Now, the eldest and most celebrated liberal democracy on Earth finds herself again contemplating the grave. Even far on the exurban outskirts of our nation’s capital, a capital now home to the world’s most militarized algae plume, the steady drumbeat of failure wafts out from its source like a relentless, festering wind. It’s enough to make anyone despair.” (10/16/26)