Category: Uncategorized
-
Dear Main Stream Media – No, Both Sides DON’T Do It
I’m dying to know. Which class is it in America’s Journalism Schools that’s confusing everyone? Which class is instructing American Journalists that if you can’t write anything else, fall back on ‘Well, both sides do it…!’? Whichever class it is, it’s screwing up American Journalism to the point where American Journalism is HELPING undermine the…
-
I Grew Up In The Holocaust’s Shadow
I grew up in the 1960’s in a mostly upper middle class Jewish suburb in northwest Baltimore. Pikesville was so predominantly Jewish that the area — and its Junior & Senior High Schools — were known as ‘Kikesville’, get it? World War II ended 14 years before I was born. By the time I started…
-
Our Retail Politics Are Killing Democracy
In theory anyway, Democracy’s simple: In self-government, the majority of the people get to call the shots. It’s understood that the majority is made up of a multiplicity of views because it includes so much of the citizenry. “What do the citizens want?” That’s the first question. But it needs to be accompanied by ‘But,…
-
America Is Still Dealing With Its ‘Original Sin’: We Screwed Up On Slavery
If you really think about it — and you don’t have to think too hard — an awful lot of our current debate about racism in this country is as old as the Republic itself. When the Founders of this Republic sat down to hash out what this country was and what it wasn’t, what…
-
Never Mind ‘Winning The War’ If You End Up ‘Losing The Peace’ That Follows
History is littered with the lamentable stories of Cultures that ‘won wars’ but lost the subsequent peace that should have been the spoil of their victory. Case in point: The Union (The United States of America) v The Confederate States of America. Grant accepted Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. The Civil War ending was the Union’s…
-
‘Both Sides Do It’ Is As Dubious As It Is Dead End
American journalism has multiple issues that prevent it from doing its job correctly. Corporatism’s up there but we can’t blame corporatism for ‘Both Sides Do It’. I’m curious — Is ‘Both Sides Do It’ (the market version of ‘False Equivalence’) actually taught at American journalism schools? Is that where the Chuck Todds & Alex Witts…
-
What You Laugh At (And Who With) Defines You
The new SNL season premiered last night — and aside from Kanye West’s strange performances (culminating in his MAGA-hat-wearing finale number) was, start to finish, terrific. Here in my house, we laughed a lot. We were laughing, in part, cathartically. We needed to laugh as a way to release the incredible tension. But the laughter…
-
An Ode To ‘Broads’
Full Transparency — I love ‘Broads’. I love the ‘idea’ of ‘Broads’. I even like the word ‘Broads’ to describe that particular kind of woman… Of all the words used to describe women, “Broad” has had a virtually unique journey. It went from having purely negative connotations to having almost completely positive ones. At the…
-
America Has A ‘Body Image’ Problem: Why Gerrymandering Is Our DYSMORPHIA
What does America ‘look like’? Imagine us sweeping into a dressing room for a fitting. How shall we ‘dress’ going forward (through the door of the next election — there, that’s the whole metaphor)? Turns out we have the whole world’s attention as we twirl in the mirror. They all see us how they see…
-
Most Marijuana Research Is BULLSHIT
Durban Poison is our Friend. I am biased as hell. Yessirree. I am an out-and-out advocate for MARIJUANA. More transparency — I now write a weekly column (for $) at marijuana.com — and I urge you to check them out — they’re now THE site to go-to for real news about marijuana. More transparency —…