I'm a journalist and was a Caracas-based foreign correspondent during the years Hugo Chávez came to power. I've also reported from the Caribbean, including from Jamaica and Cuba. In the U.S. I've worked for a television network and as a newspaper reporter and aviation journalist; I'm a pilot and have a commercial license and instrument rating. Politically, I'm one of those former Democrats who got mugged by reality. I named this blog after my favorite movie on journalism ethics – a Billy Wilder film that flopped.