I’m about to take the longest vacation from the Sift since I started it in 2008: five weeks. I don’t plan to post again until election eve. I guess we’ll find out whether blogging is a choice or a compulsion.
I realize this is bad timing on my part, but there are special circumstances: I’m getting married again Saturday, and I’ll be on a long honeymoon in France and Spain. Those of you who have followed this blog for a while may remember that I was married for 40 years before my first wife died in 2024. I did some fairly public mourning before making the decision to get on with my life rather than wallow in grief and nostalgia. I’ve been extremely lucky in how well that getting-on-with-life has been going. The way I describe this to myself is that I’m writing new chapters in my story rather than living out an extended epilogue to a story that has already concluded.
While I’m gone, I’m counting on the rest of you to step up and make history. Let’s hope that the election I come back to is a pivotal rejection of the MAGA autocracy.
In an attempt to clear the decks, I’ll be posting two featured articles today. One is a response to a recent article I think is very important: Phillips O’Brien’s “The American Age is Over” in the current Atlantic. The Iran War isn’t just a defeat like Vietnam or Afghanistan, it points out a fundamental flaw in the way America projects power. Going forward, the world is going to be different in ways that are hard to predict. That post is nearly done, and should be out shortly.
The other is my commentary on The Nerd Reich by Gil Durán. I’ll try to get that out before 11 EDT.
The weekly summary will discuss the Fed’s interest rate hike, and get a bit nerdy about how that actually works. Then there’s the latest example of blatant corruption: a close Putin associate putting up hundreds of thousands of dollars to celebrate Don Jr.’s wedding. (So far, no one has offered to rent me a private island for my afterparty.) Also: billionaires trying to come to the GOP’s rescue with a massive burst of anti-trans propaganda, Trump’s bizarre and destructive obsession with the Kennedy Center, Ed Sheeran’s failed attempt to stay apolitical, and maybe a few other things. The goal is to post that at noon, so I can get back to wedding-prep stuff.
The Weekly Sift 
Comments
congratulations, Doug on your new marriage and partnership and have safe travel and a wonderful vacation. You continue to amaze me. Thank you for your great writing, speaking and thinking you and I met on the porch at star Island. Wow Hillary Clinton was a candidate. I have read you continuously since then with great interest and respect. David, Danvers, Boston and Provincetown
Good luck with your new chapter in life. Remember and honor what came before but the book isn’t finished yet.
Good for you!
So happy for you and your wife-to-be! I have been reading your blog since approximately 2008, and it is a staple of my Monday mornings. Although we all will miss your incisive and informative writing, I believe I speak for myself and others when I say we wish you all the best. Enjoy, and we will look forward to hearing from you in November.
I doubt this reliable raconteur of our human conditions can restrain himself from blogging for five weeks, even with the joys of an extended honeymoon in France. Particularly since we here back home will be undergoing an election season full of challenges of all kinds.
Mazel tov! I wish you and your new spouse happiness.
Congratulations! And thank you for your many years of trenchant political analysis – you deserve a vacation. FYI, I recommended the weekly sift on my own blog last month (https://thesaraphreport.substack.com/p/changes-in-priorities)
congratulations! I love you, my fine brother, and I want the best for you. I am glad that you want the best for yourself: move forward with great vigor!! Thanks for your hard work with the Sift that has given me precious insight into my life and times.
Tim McGregor
cell: 281 684 4923www.timmcgregorbooks.com
It’s a strange combination of fascination, sadness, and rage watching an empire collapse due solely to the stupidity of its leadership. Sent from my iPhoneOn Sep 21, 2026,
Congratulations and best wishes. Your posts are a must read. Enjoy.