Columns

Shall we welcome back fall 1975 TV?

“Welcome back, your dreams were your ticket out…” —John Sebastian The fall 1975 TV season remains special for me for several reasons. For one thing, it’s when I began my life’s mission of collecting Fall Preview issues of “TV Guide.”

Real crime in the U.S.A. : fatherlessness

In 1965, Daniel Patrick Moynihan was roundly criticized for predicting the violent, hopeless future millions of children from broken families now face.

Instead of dying, he changed face of farming

When the railroad crossed the Louisiana prairies in 1880, land thought only suitable for wild cattle became accessible to farmers from the Midwest who flocked here to firmly establish Louisiana’s rice industry.

In Minneapolis, ingrained hatreds rise again to violence

The first comment I heard after the attack on Catholic schoolchildren in Minneapolis last week was from the city’s mayor, Jacob Frey, who said: “Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers just now. These kids were literally praying.” Initially, it didn’t strike me as particularly problematic.

Blueprint for attacking crime in Louisiana

President Trump is suggesting that the National Guard could be used in additional American cities besides the nation’s capital, and has included New Orleans on his list. I have no problem with this, but we need to do a lot more on our own here in Louisiana.

When the prairies were isolated, and scary

The southwest Louisiana prairies were sparsely settled and a bit frightening until the railroad finally crossed them in the early 1880s and settlers began to establish towns and farms.

Government runs on gobbledygook

I attended a meeting with the Deputy Director of Gobbledygook — and his interpreter — to learn why government rules, regulations and guidance documents are so hard to read and understand.

Men, are you reading enough fiction?

“Here’s a novel idea: read more fiction,” blared the headline of a recent Wall Street Journal article by Gerard Baker.

The tiresome tale of Amanda Knox

The Amanda Knox story has always stuck in my craw. She and her narrative of persecution annoy me. Why am I writing about her now? Because Hulu has just come out with a series about the time she was convicted of murdering her roommate in 2007.

Make peace like sausage – in private

“Laws are like sausages. It’s better not to see them being made.” That famous — and accurate — quip is a perfect way to describe the dirty political deals that are made in secret to produce so many important pieces of legislation.