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Society Is Challenged By Growing Use Of Gibberish There’s a scourge in our society that gets worse with each passing day. The affliction about which I write is politically correct speech, also known as the language of cowards. For the most part, this is based on a simple premise that involves taking an intelligible word or phrase and burying it in a barrage of syllables to cloak its true meaning — all to make sure no one will ever be offended by words. Here are a few examples: Waterboys at football games are now known as “hydration specialists”. When a crime is committed, a ...

Wintering Like We’re In Scandanavia

Local Commentaries

If anybody knows how to do winter well, it’s the Scandinavians. They just seem to glide through the long dark months like shooting stars, long hair tucked into knitted caps, warm wool sweaters to greet the day, candlelit restaurants in cozy little towns; board games with friends in front of the fireplace. When the sun sets at 3:00 pm in December there, the Scans just light their candles and get on with their day as if living in darkness for long stretches of time is the best thing ever. I think we could learn a thing or two from these contented folks by embracing the winter ...

You’d Better Watch Out

Local Commentaries

The holidays are upon us, and I’m exhausted. Not from the typical pressures of the season. No, I’m exhausted from being subject to a President who, just when any reasonable person wonders whether he can go any lower, seems to say, “hold my Diet Coke.” Exhibit A from this week (and it’s only Tuesday as I write this): Trump’s heinous response to the murder of Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele. Apparently, Trump has never heard (or heeded) the wisdom of “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” He can’t resist a single opportunity to make an ...

How Will We Spend 2026’s 525,600 Minutes?

Local Commentaries

The Broadway Play, Rent, based on the 1896 Opera La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini, Luigi Illica, and Giuseppe Giacosa, which made its first appearance on stage in 1994, told/tells the story of a group of “starving” artists living in Lower Manhattan’s East Village, trying to survive in the shadows of the HIV/AIDS epidemic/pandemic which became more prevalent in the mid-to-late 1970s. Rent, the Play, also became popular on the big screen, and starred many of the same stage performers who brought it to the big screen in 2005. Included in that cast were Idina Menzel, Jesse L. Martin, ...

Addressing Tuition Costs Should Be A Top Priority

In Our Opinion

Though a well-trained, well-educated and skilled workforce is more important than ever, students seeking a higher education to prepare them for their careers are having a harder time being able to afford it. Sure, many people still believe having a college degree will translate to higher earnings, but students are increasingly challenged to decide whether the expense of that education (or the long-term debt they may incur) is worth the risk. According to WalletHub, the cost of attending a four-year public college has risen by an average of 30% over the past 20 years. And that cost eats ...

Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Clause

In Our Opinion

In September 1897, 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon asked a now-famous question in a letter to the New York Sun. Is there a Santa Claus? Not only did the letter make young Virginia O’Hanlon a celebrity, but it prompted one of the famous newspaper editorials ever written with an answer to O’Hanlon’s question. It is reprinted today, a tradition our sister paper in Warren, Ohio, takes part in each year in part, the editorial page said, because it’s entirely possible that no one has answered the question better, nor has anyone better described the spirit of Christmas. The ...