In Paul Simon’s song “The Only Living Boy in New York” (It’s an absolutely fantastic song, by the way.) there’s the line, “I can gather all the news I need on the weather report.” Truer words have never been sung. I made the mistake of reading a couple of articles on the January 6th hearings…
There’s this common occurrence where headlines have nothing whatsoever to do with the articles that they top. I’m fascinated by it. There are many ways to write badly but having a severely misleading title should be number one. Normally it is the case where the editor puts their own title on something, often without the…
This is a piece I’ve been wanting to write for ages. I’ve never really known how to do it, though. The dilemma is that I have to talk about what I don’t want people to talk about. There just isn’t any way to do that without talking about it. I feel like a hypocrite talking…
A few days ago, Qasem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike. That’s probably not a shock. It’s all over the news. On the surface, it almost looks like the news is being competent in their coverage. We know who, Qasem Soleimani. We know what, was killed. We know when, January 3, 2020. We…
I’m facing something of a dilemma. 2020 is looking to be an eventful year what with the presidential election and one third of the senate up for grabs and the entire house of representatives. Australia is on fire. The climate crisis is worsening. And then there’s all the regular everyday things that will continue to…
A free press is supposed to be one of the necessary ingredients in a free society. It is how the citizens can make informed choices and hold the elected officials accountable. That sounds nice, but a free press only gets us part way there. We are currently experiencing a lot of the problems that a…
I hate the news. I suppose I don’t hate the news per se, but I really hate the people who deliver the news. They do a horrifically bad job. Everyone complains about meteorologists, but their job is really hard. The weather in incredibly complex and they are trying to tell us things about the future. The…
