Polls show that two thirds of Americans are mentally exhausted and taking a break from a steady diet of news consumption. Count me among them, at least aspirationally. Since the election, mainstream newspapers, cable and network news have bled readers and viewers, most significantly at CNN and MSNBC. I, too, have simply overdosed on national …
Category: Media
Yes, we can still give thanks!
My stuffing is made. If the weather permits, we'll be together with family for the Thanksgiving holiday. Friends and acquaintances keep reaching out, asking "what are we going to do?" They're not referring to how best to carve the turkey, which football games to watch, or whether to tune in to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day …
Trump’s Shock-and-Awe Cabinet Nominees – Promises kept?
Nebraska Senator Roman Hruska once defended Richard Nixon’s ultimately failed nomination of G. Harrold Carswell to the Supreme Court by stating, "Even if he were mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren’t they?” Some of those whom Donald Trump has named for …
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Margin of error won. We lost. A first look.
This time the pollsters were right. They had held all along that the election outcome was within the margin of error. It could go either way. And so it did. But in the wrong direction. Donald J. Trump won on a campaign of lies and grievances, fear and loathing. We’re a deeply divided nation, preferring …
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Bezos’ business interests trump WaPo journalism
Hiding out from election coverage isn't working all that well for me. Half my recent blogs have been non-political book reviews, but that hasn't diluted the tension leading up to November 5th. Now I feel compelled to express my outrage and disappointment at how once-leading American newspapers have been too fearful of Donald Trump to …
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Two books of non-fiction for different audiences
The Forever War: America’s Unending Conflict with Itself by senior BBC correspondent Nick Bryant is a frigid splash of icy water on the notion of American exceptionalism. It may help us to understand Donald Trump's enduring, if frightening appeal to a large swathe of Americans voters. Australian journalist Bryant spent more than a decade living …
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Will Tuesday’s debate change the race?
Tuesday night's debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President (and convicted felon) Donald Trump put a smile on the face of anyone who has ever felt degraded or dismissed as weak, inconsequential or otherwise put down by a bully. Harris was "presidential." Not only did she stand up to Trump verbally, but she …
Getting to first for a brave female sports writer
Locker Room Talk: One Woman’s Struggle to Get Inside by Melissa Ludtke is a sports writer’s impressive account of her 1978 lawsuit against Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, who had banned female reporters from interviewing baseball players in the locker room before and after major league games. An art history major in college, athletic Ludtke was …
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News media sucked into protest vortex
You all know the cliche - "if it bleeds, it leads." Local news, and increasingly national networks, promote stories off the police scanner. As a result, for decades, the perception of crime has exceeded the reality of crime across society. Naturally, if you've been mugged or a neighbor's house broken into, crime is indeed a …
To debate or not debate: new rules are the question
So, now he's said it. President Biden told Howard Stern recently that he'd be willing to debate Donald Trump. With all due respect, I disagree. I just don't think there's anything to be gained. I have always embraced the high-minded goals of candidate debate: well-reasoned,fact-based discussion; values-driven argumentation; clarification, prioritization of positions. Dignified dialogue serves …
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Marjorie Arons-Barron 