When federal prosecutors charged more than two dozen wealthy parents with bribery, and fraud for using substitute test-takers and false athletic records to gain their kids’ admissions to top colleges, many in the media were not surprised. “This large-scale grift,” Willa Paskin writes in Slate (Mar. 12), “is a window into the ethical and moral rot of our supposedly meritocratic...

“If the people don’t have the facts, democracy doesn’t work.” – Federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson, in a statement before sentencing former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort The extent to which Fox News personalities have embedded themselves, literally, into the Trump administration is breathtakingly immoral. Let’s begin with the obvious. According to PunditFact, of 171 statements made by Fox News...

In a selfless and sobering video message, long-time Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek announced to his fans that he has been diagnosed with stage-4 pancreatic cancer. But it was the way Trebek told this highly personal story that matters. “Hi everyone, I have some news to share with all of you and it’s in keeping with my longtime policy of being...

R&B singer R. Kelly was “…recently indicted on aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving four victims.” The New York Times reports (Feb. 22) that “three of whom were underage, according to the Cook County state’s attorney, Kim Foxx. Aggravated criminal sexual abuse can carry a sentence of three to seven years in prison for each count. Mr. Kelly… faces 10 of...

Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer and self-described “fixer,” will testify, publicly, before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform today. Cohen – who is set to begin serving a prison term stemming from a variety of charges brought about by the special counsel investigation – will face some tough questions, but the very first question might likely be: “Why...

I’m not a football fan. Never have been. Like boxing, I just saw too much brutality in it, and the more brutal it got, the more fans seemed to cheer. However, I never understood the ultimate consequence of all that head-bashing until I saw the 2015 film, Concussion. In possibly the most compelling performance of his career, Will Smith plays...

“If Jussie Smollett lied, look at the harm he caused Chicago — and America” – Chicago Tribune editorial headline, February 21, 2019 On January 29, 2019, actor Jussie Smollett reported to Chicago police that he was assaulted by two men in ski masks. Smollett told ABC Good Morning, America host Robin Roberts that “…he went across the street to a...

Donald Trump’s new rally slogan has just one problem: it’s false. With chants coming from his supporters at a recent El Paso, Texas rally, “Build that Wall,” President Donald Trump corrected them. “…you really mean, ‘Finish that wall,’ ” Trump said, “because we’ve built a lot of it.” In earlier rallies, Trump has said, “We’ve already started (the border wall)....

No sooner had I written that I could not find any evidence of a single furloughed federal worker who supports the president in shutting down the government in favor of a southern border wall, (Faces from the Crisis, Jan. 14), then The New York Times reported late Monday (Jan. 14), that there are some federal workers – in Parkersburg, West...

“ ‘Right now, I can go get a bunch of loans, but if I’m not going to get paid, when am I going to pay those back?’ said Kerri Woodridge, a furloughed Office of Personnel Management employee.” WBAL-TV reported. “Freda McDonald, who’s furloughed from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, brought up health care costs. She has an incurable neuromuscular disease,...