From a mass media perspective, let’s look at what brought us Donald Trump. Once upon a time we had television networks that were truly mass media – they had something for everybody, and none of it patently offensive. Things changed with cable, satellite and online programming, many choices – some good, and a lot of…
Details“For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.” – Hosea 8-7. Recent events remind me of the only lasting memory remaining from having poked my head inside a long-ago gun show at the Astrodome: Metal detectors were at the entrance Yes, even a gathering of gun nuts didn’t want…
DetailsOh, Dallas. Oh, boy. Once more you are in the spotlight in the worst possible way – and you are impressing the hell out of us. Book-ended days of infamy? Yes, but, compare. In one, 1963, death in Dealey Plaza was presaged by character assassination — in the Dallas newspapers and in…
DetailsA barnstorm tour of Texas on a soggy week in May deposited me at a treasured place: a particular tennis court, opposite a particular racquet-bearing friend. It’s where we had gathered weekly for years, the essence of effort being the sweat and not the score. And so we perspired once more, though more from the…
DetailsArchitects of the anti-abortion restrictions struck down by the Supreme Court this week are about as concerned about women’s health as a Texas football throng is about head injuries between each whistle. They want their team to win. They want to march down the field to their goal of burying the foe in the turf.…
DetailsTexas didn’t need a federal court to know it couldn’t do this. Neither did Indiana, Alabama, or any states seeking to excuse themselves from what America has always done. We welcome refugees in life-or-death straits. “Oh, no, we don’t,” said those states. “Not if they’re Muslim.” Oh, yes, you do, if the…
Details“This is the year of jubilee/Send them angels down/The Lord has come to set us free.” The words of the Negro spiritual are celebratory, but the truth of them is in the title: “My Way’s Cloudy.” A long struggle was ahead. Many who sang it would never know freedom. Emancipation launched a…
DetailsYou’ve got to give it to Southern Baptists. When they do implosions . . . Two, count ’em, two spectacular demolitions visited Baylor University mere days apart. First – boom, boom, boom – the 66-year-old pillars under stoic but still highly functional Floyd Casey Stadium took lethal injection by dynamite. And then.…
DetailsCompassion. Compassion. Compassion. Thumbing through the Bible, I’m looking for something about compassion. Oh, that’s right. It’s everywhere. Start with that Golden Rule thing. No need to cite chapter or verse to know there’s nothing Christian at all about the response attributed to conservative Christians regarding so-called bathroom bills. There’s nothing remotely…
DetailsBefore discussing a sensitive subject, let us recite the Rotary Four-Way Test: “Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned?” I’m not a Rotarian. I just like the Rotary Test for conduct. If our actions met that…
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