When the censors come
Remember when a British Library patron was barred from reading Hamlet because an “overly sensitive” Wi-Fi filter decided the play was too violent? The press reported the story incredulously, focusing...
View ArticlePolicing the public square
No doubt you’ve seen the news. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has gone up to Capitol Hill this week to answer questions from several different Congressional committees. They want to know what Facebook is...
View ArticleCommunication and tomorrow’s forecast
In 1854, John Ball, newly elected to Parliament, stood in the House of Commons to suggest that, just a few years hence, it might be possible to predict London’s weather 24 hours in advance. He was...
View ArticleHow do you know I’m telling the truth?
Deep in the Amazon rain forest, they do a really marvelous thing. Have I seen it for myself? Well, no. Did I hear it from an eyewitness? No again. Truth to tell, I read about it on the internet. I need...
View ArticlePutting out a paper, goddamn it
The FAKE NEWS media…is the enemy of the American people! (February 2017) Our Country’s biggest enemy is the Fake News so easily promulgated by fools! (June 2018) Of all the odious things the U.S....
View ArticleConnecting across languages, connecting across cultures
The priest was imprisoned by the Nazis in the concentration camp at Dachau. The numbers tattooed on his arm served as an ever-present reminder. Now, 30 years later, he was working as a docent at the...
View ArticleWhen you have something shocking to say
The news reports buckled my knees. According to a Pennsylvania grand jury, hundreds of Roman Catholic priests across the state sexually abused more than 1,000 children over a 70-year period. The...
View ArticleYour guide to defending the truth
You’ve probably heard it by now: Time magazine bestowed its annual Person of the Year award on the Guardians in the war on truth. The award honors Jamal Khashoggi, killed at the Saudi embassy in...
View ArticleThe biggest stories
What’s the biggest news story of your lifetime? For me, two stories have stood above the rest. While both of them took years to play out, they both, by coincidence, culminated in years that ended with...
View ArticleThey didn’t start the fire
Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe You probably...
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