politics – Professional Copywriter | Wyalusing, PA Bradford County

Playing Blame Game with Mass Murderers

And the deaths keep piling up as gun rights and gun control positions solidify. The idea that TV networks and newspapers get their jollies from school children and other innocents murdered by a mentally ill or just plain evil shooter is both understandable and unfair. Most take pride in reporting the real story, fairly, factually and respectfully, and mass shootings often lead to dozens of stories in the ensuing months. The respectfully part is the key, and [...]

By Wes Skillings|2022-02-15T02:37:08+00:00February 15, 2022|death, Gun Control, Gun Rights, Gun Violence, News Media|

So This Senator Walks into a Bar…

When it comes to political humor, funny is in the mind of the beholder. It’s been a horrible year. A killer virus won’t go away on the heels of a nonsensical, abrasive campaign and an interminable election process. Next we have a sheltering-in-place Thanksgiving. Right after that comes Black Friday, which seems appropriately named this year. I wrote the above as an opening for a prospective blog between the 2020 election and Thanksgiving. I spent considerable [...]

By Wes Skillings|2022-01-24T09:09:34+00:00November 10, 2021|Humor, Jokes, Politics, Presidential Humor|

Facing Up to the Monster Within Us

Sometimes the simplest demands can turn a man into a monster. Because the mask has become so polarizing, the extreme reactions aren’t really about being asked to wear one for an hour. It’s about communicating what side you’re on. — ProPublica, October 7, 2021, “We’re Losing Our Humanity and the Pandemic Is to Blame” In a well-researched October 7 article for ProPublica, Sarah Smith takes a fascinating look at how COVID-19 has turned Americans against each other, [...]

By Wes Skillings|2022-01-24T09:09:35+00:00October 27, 2021|1918, Constitution Rights, COVID-19, Masks, Pandemics, Public Health|

Unrealistic Promises Bring Unrealistic Expectations

Speaking up for fellow codgers trying to track down Covid-19 vaccinations. I’ve finally figured out why everything is so screwed up getting the Covid-19 vaccinations into the arms of the most vulnerable among us to the worst effects of this crazy virus. There was apparently a Trekkie at the bottom of what has turned out to be another false promise— Operation Warp Speed. You may know that warp speed is a term from “Star Wars” and is [...]

By Wes Skillings|2022-01-24T09:09:55+00:00February 3, 2021|COVID-19, Democracy, Vaccinations, Warp Speed|

A Pair of Republicans Worth Emulating

As the charges of voter fraud run their course, some party loyalists have stood their ground. I can’t think of a time when so many people — people who regard themselves as patriots are as distrustful of our democracy as today. Having a president who fuels that mistrust to the extent where supporters view everything around them as a conspiracy is certainly a big part of it. The election has been portrayed as a massive fraud with [...]

By Wes Skillings|2022-01-24T09:09:56+00:00December 2, 2020|Conservatives, Conspiracies, Elections, Partisanship, Republicans, Voter Fraud|

The Pros and Cons of Going to Extremes

Cautionary warnings about extremism continue to resonate as years fly by. —One of the advantages of having written hundreds of weekly newspaper columns over a span of 40 years for two different newspapers is an archives of your personal views over time. Some age well and some don’t. Some are serious and some are silly, and few were completed without at least one attempt at humor. The following was written as a newspaper column more than five [...]

By Wes Skillings|2022-01-24T09:09:57+00:00November 18, 2020|American History, Campaign Rhetoric, Christians, Extremes, Immigrants, Muslims, Terrorism|

Waiting to Find Out Who We Really Are

It’s time to zip up my lip and wait for what the voters have already decided. My plan for this week was to write about anything but politics, particularly presidential politics. I figured by mid-Wednesday morning when I posted this, there would still be no victory proclamation. It is time to move on, whatever happens, even if it means enduring a numbing four more years of fibs, fiction and factionalism. I suppose I can endure whatever happens. [...]

By Wes Skillings|2022-01-24T09:09:57+00:00November 4, 2020|Biden, Campaign Rhetoric, COVID-19, Elections, Politics, Presidency, Re-election, Voting|

A Voter’s Journey through Five Decades of Change

Actually, every vote counts toward another vote— from the electors, who are members of the Senate, House of Representatives, and three from the District of Columbia. It was a compromise and it complicates the majority-rules premise. This is my last blog before election day, and more people have already voted than will vote, as my wife and I will, at their local polling places next Tuesday. Changing the minds of voters at this point is very unlikely [...]

By Wes Skillings|2022-01-24T09:09:57+00:00October 28, 2020|Democracy, Elections, Electoral College, Fairness, History, Politics, Presidency, Sacrifices, Vietnam, Voting|

Looking for Dirty Harry to Make Our Day

If only we could go back to the days when a guy was master of his own man cave. Last week’s blog was supposed to be a take-off of a Dr. Seuss children’s story— “Marvin K. Mooney Won’t You Please Go Now!”— and the talents the president supposedly has that could carry him on to another career and continued fame. Playing off the “please go now” was obviously a satirical device about the upcoming election and, yes, [...]

By Wes Skillings|2022-01-24T09:09:57+00:00October 7, 2020|COVID-19, Dirty Harry, Donald Trump, Extremes, Fact Checking, Wild West|

Curbing Bearers of False Witness in Politics

Separate truths keep Americans at odds. I’ve always been a devotee of fact checking, especially in the political climate that has overwhelmed us since the political campaigning that prefaced the 2016 presidential election. It wasn’t just the presidential candidates themselves, but the congressional races where everything was divided into us-versus-them rhetoric and the campaign ads were replete with exaggerations and lies. Social media was a traffic jam of people who didn’t know what they were talking about [...]

By Wes Skillings|2022-01-24T09:09:58+00:00September 9, 2020|Biden, Campaign Rhetoric, Conservatives, Fact Checking, Fake News, Liberals, Lying, News Media, Re-election, Trump, Twitter|

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