For the third night in a row, my terrified Mexican neighbors living in the shadows are firing off the largest skyrockets I’ve ever heard. They sound like artillery shells. After about six hours of it, I went outside at around 1:00 a.m. and screamed, “The next person who shoots off a skyrocket, I’m going to…
Nausea
June 25, 2023
My nausea prevents me from posting tonight. All the behind-the-scenes folderol having to do with my documentary—Operation Four Little Martyrs: A Hamas Deception that Fooled the World—has wiped me out. Stress is the worst thing for Meniere’s disease. It’s what exacerbates the symptoms more than anything. Every book I published relied on the cooperation of…
Confessions of a food photographer
June 5, 2023
I was never a food photographer, but I knew one. He told me all the secrets of the trade. To me it was like talking to an alchemist, magician, and spy all rolled into one. He couldn’t understand why I found his job so fascinating. One confession of my own that I’ll make up front…
A prisoner who refused
May 28, 2023
I once saw a World War I postcard that I wished desperately I had in my collection. Today my own original copy arrived. It shows a prisoner of war who refused to play by the rules. Here’s the image. German officers are interrogating French prisoners of war. The uniforms of the Germans show that the…
Memento mori
May 10, 2023
A memento mori is a work of art that reminds the viewer that we all die. Over the past few weeks I’ve been thinking a lot about death, most likely because of the threats I get. The level of physical danger I face isn’t clear, but I live as though every second could be my…
Not conspiracy theories: mysteries
April 30, 2024
I’ve said before that I don’t believe in the classic conspiracy theories. None of them survive the Snowden Test. If there were giant secret operations being carried out by thousands of people, at least one of them would’ve provided irrefutable evidence by now. Edward Snowden doesn’t even have a high-school diploma, but he penetrated the…