More sad tidings for all you “law and order” types, particularly you candidates and elected sorts who think shortcuts to order are what law entails. Another court has affirmed what long has been settled: police profiling is unlawful. One twist: In this case, the traffic-stop criterion deemed illegal and pernicious isn’t the…
DetailsLyndon Johnson's aides were n a celebrating mood the day in 1965 when he signed the Voting Rights Act. They were surprised, then, when Johnson interjected this sobering advisory: “It’s also the day we gave the South to the Republicans for the rest of our lifetimes." Civil rights legislation indeed would serve to drive southern…
Details“I got some bad ideas in my head.” So acknowledged Travis Bickle, the sad loner-turned-mad gunman in “Taxi Driver.” We know Travis Bickle had issues. What’s happening in Donald Trump’s top floor? The Secret Service, for one, wants to know. A study in poli sci psychosis — that’s what the…
DetailsFor the purposes of this discussion, let’s think of Congress as a fetid pool of ideologues. In frosty February, many weeks before mosquito season, President Obama foresaw an emergency and acted on it. He requested $1.9 billion in funds to combat a disease seen as threatening Americans. Time was on our side. Came spring’s thaw,…
Details“Don’t let anyone ever tell you that this country is not great, that somehow we need to make it great again. Because this right now is the greatest country on Earth.” So said Michelle Obama in a speech so powerful as to have no rejoinder, aside from Bill O’Reilly’s attempt to commend slaves’ dining options…
Details“Don’t let anyone ever tell you that this country is not great, that somehow we need to make it great again. Because this right now is the greatest country on Earth.” So said Michelle Obama in a speech so powerful as to have no rejoinder, aside from Bill O’Reilly’s attempt to commend slaves’ dining options…
DetailsFrom 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…
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