Columns

Dodging increasing crime rates

People are getting so used to increasing crime rates in cities across America, an etiquette is evolving between some muggers and their victims. I learned about this while I walked with my friend and his wife from a Washington D.C. pub to their home six blocks from the Hill.

Is there a loud talker in your life?

“We are the Cubs from Den 3/And no one could be prouder/If you cannot hear our shout/We’ll yell a little LOUDER.”

No lemon peel in heavenly figs

From the earliest days I can remember, the beginning of July has been the beginning of fig season, the time when grandkids were dispatched to the back yard to pick fruit from eight big trees and my grandmother cooked fig preserves by the dish-pan-full.

Decision finally erases legalized discrimination

Every year, during the last few days of June, I sit at my computer and wait impatiently for the most important Supreme Court decisions to be announced. Last year, the picnic brought the Dobbs decision, which ended legalized abortion, so it seemed like anything else would be a let-down.

No apology necessary from Sen. Kennedy

U.S. Sen. John Kennedy owes the Mexican people an apology. That is, according to the Mexican ambassador to the United States as well as the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate. The reason? Well, because our Louisiana senator is being too verbally tough on Mexico. So is he? Here’s the background.

Principles of our Founding Fathers

Our Founding Fathers established the United States of America in 1789, and after 234 years we are sadly witnessing the social and moral decline of America. It is time to call “time out” and go back to the roots of our founding to see what made us great in the first place.

No obligation. No automatic rebilling. No risk.

Dear Generac standby home generator, I want to apologize for calling down multiple elaborate curses upon you for being so expensive as you sat loitering beside the house almost completely idle for the three years since I financed you – despite the fact that the electricity in our neighborhood had...

Codes didn’t zip into popularity

It was not universally popular when five-digit postal ZIP codes went into effect 60 years ago, on July 1, 1963. And that’s probably an understatement.

Is your food ultra-processed enough?

When I was a young adult living under my parents’ roof, my late father always made sure I had Beanee Weenees, Vienna sausage, potted meat and other such snacks to take to my graveyard-shift factory job.

Bigotry towards Catholics can’t be allowed to fester

A few years ago, around the time of the last presidential election, a friend told me a story. She was at Mass in the Philly suburbs, and when the homily began, the priest started to tell the congregation why they could not vote for Joe Biden and still be consistent with Catholic doctrine.