Roger Ailes transformed FOX News into a voice of Republican conservatism. The whole thing is insulting. In fact, it’s deranged. And we’re not playing along. This is the only hour on an American news channel that will not be carrying their propaganda live. They are lying, and we’re not going to help them do it. —Tucker Carlson, FOX News Commentator on why his network did not cover the opening prime time hearing of the January 6 Committee. [...] READ MORE
Reaching back into the past for observations on humanity and humor. A number of years ago during my years as an editor and weekly columnist for a newspaper that has since banned my opinions, I wrote a column with the heading: “Direct Routes Aren’t Always the Most Effective Ways to Travel.” You see, the “number of years” from the date of that commentary is approaching 28, and I was, at the time, past the midpoint of a [...] READ MORE
Newspapers are struggling to survive. Do they have to sell out to stay in business? What’s the news across the nation? According to one highly informed source, the country is becoming an “expanding news desert.” It’s hard to believe when you can access breaking news any time of day, whether via cable news channels or internet websites. Not only can you get your news, but you can choose your kind of news, customized to fit your personal [...] READ MORE
The story of Grit, a newspaper that accentuated to positive, is a combination of triumph and tragedy. If you are around long enough, you might become part of history, something that was special to thousands — and, in my case, hundreds of thousands of people across the country. For me it was Grit— a nationally circulated weekly newspaper. I was hired as a reporter/writer there in the late summer of 1972. Note that it was Grit, not [...] READ MORE
Casualty list of America’s daily and weekly newspapers grows. What’s the news across the nation? According to one highly informed source, the country is becoming an “expanding news desert.” It’s hard to believe when you can access breaking news any time of day, whether via cable news channels or internet websites. Not only can you get your news, but you can choose your kind of news, customized to fit your personal needs, beliefs and desires. And, as [...] READ MORE
What’s in a name? Skill Unlimited or Limited Skill? Let me just say that it is sort of cool when your last name is actually a word that means something. It’s not so impressive with first names, because your parents may have anointed you with a moniker that is a noun, verb or adjective like, say, Spring, Messiah, Chastity, Bear, Crash, Harmony, Heaven or (and this is no joke) Earwacker. Some of those names might be setting [...] READ MORE
Staying ignorant of the truth is literally a no-brainer. We live in an epidemic of lying. Research shows that about 60 percent of adults lie at least once in a ten-minute conversation. About 40 percent lie on their resumes, and 90 percent lie on their online dating profiles. — Dr. Amit Sood, Director of Research, Mayo Clinic’s Complementary and Integrative Medicine Program I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why people lie, and why some seem incapable [...] READ MORE
As is often the case with people of advanced age, with each departed birthday I find myself more frequently contemplating my mortality than when I was in my thirties, forties, fifties and even (gulp) sixties. When you have passed— make that surpassed— all of those milestone decades, you can’t help thinking about how much time you have left. …so go the days of our lives. Colorful and interesting people disguised in white hair and wrinkles have enriched [...] READ MORE
I know a little something about fake news. I manufactured a news article years ago in an April 1st issue of another newspaper and stirred up a storm of controversy. Anyone who read beyond the headline and the introductory paragraphs would recognize that it was not on the up and up. That’s on the up and up, as in factual and legitimate, and the article had become so outrageous by the final sentence, concluding, of course, with “April Fool!” [...] READ MORE
