Well, we’re past Trump’s 100 days and, as of right now, we haven’t been disintegrated by a nuclear blast. Life is good! A couple of months ago, this blog lobbied for increased vigilance against poor journalism, but left out specific examples of what could (should?) be avoided by the serious news seeker, problem-solver, and political peace-maker. Therefore, please find examples of poor journalism enclosed herein dear readers (all five of […]
At some point this blog has to say something about the good that has come from the “election” (in quotes, so it wasn’t really an election per se) of Agent Orange to the presidency. It has to be done because we’re all Americans and, at some point, communication and healing have to begin. But we don’t have to be saintly about it…we can be snarky. Now snarkiness, something Liberals and […]
The following is an account of a shipwreck published in the New York Times on May 27, 1856. ALMOST A TRAGEDY—Collision of a Steamer and a Schooner—Two Hundred Excursionists Terribly Frightened and Very Nearly Drowned—an Uncomfortable Night at Sea—Varied (word is unclear) Incidents. An event occurred on Sunday afternoon which might have resulted in the loss of nearly two hundred lives, but which, fortunately, was productive of nothing worse than […]
Once upon a time there was a young man who landed an audition for a television game show called “The All-New Dating Game.” The format of the show was simple: a beautiful young lady or attractive young man would sit on one side of a partition and lob questions dripping with sexual innuendo at three hot contestants of the opposite sex on the other side of the partition. They, in […]
Okay… Here we are. In the last four months we have lost our homes, our businesses, and our country and it’s January of a new year, a time to be hopeful. How do we do this exactly? Well, an extended hiatus from the clueless, noisy gong/clanging cymbal, sound-and-fury-that-signifies-nothing, noise-machine political media and a little distance from the two tragedies of a devastating flood and devastating election have allowed a few […]
Before summer ends stroll out to the tip of the long pier that slides like a spear into the Gulf of Mexico from the Biloxi Lighthouse. Quiet your mind and open your senses. The sun embraces you, the water gently slaps the girders below and a steady breeze strokes your face and tosses your hair. Squadron after squadron of brown pelicans glide serenely by, sometimes as high as you can […]
In the summer of 2002, reporter Ron Suskind met with a senior advisor to George W. Bush who famously accused Suskind of living in the “reality-based community,” which he defined as people who “believe that solutions emerge from (a) judicious study of discernible reality.” Suskind writes: "I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment (sic) principles and empiricism. He cut me off. 'That's not the way the world really works anymore,' […]
In 1950, Republican senator Joseph McCarthy brandished a piece of paper and declared “The State Department is infested with communists. I have here in my hand a list of 205 that were known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping the policy of the State Department.” There is some evidence that that piece of paper was blank, […]
A previous blog (August 2015) postulated that there are two bedrock principles, first premises if you will, that separate contemporary liberals from conservatives and everything else in both camps is built upon these. They were first, a conviction that the world is either a.) more dangerous than interesting or b.) more interesting than dangerous, and second, a conviction that humans are either a.) naturally bad or b.) naturally good (by […]
