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Donald and the Kingfish

Donald Trump and Louisiana’s “Kingfish” Huey Long have often appeared to have much in common. Both were impeached only to be acquitted, and they share a talent for showmanship and commanding a loyal following. Populist was also a term applied to Trump‘s MAGA movement and Long’s Share Our Wealth Clubs. Lately, they share another distinction. They both destroyed parts of the mansions they resided in. Trump destroyed the East Wing of the White House; Long went one better, completely destroying the Louisiana Executive Mansion in Baton Rouge. And they did it without legislative ...

Placing a very bad bet

In 2018, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to strike down a federal law banning sports gambling, thus allowing individual states to decide whether to allow it, or not. It didn’t take a genius to predict what might happen, especially when politicians can find new sources of revenue beyond income, property and sales taxes. Last week, more than 30 people were indicted as part of a national sports betting scandal involving high-profile figures, including Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier. Billups was charged in a scheme involving rigged poker ...

Folklore is more than just scary stories

DONEGAL, Pennsylvania — It is 6:14 p.m. on a Thursday. You’re hiking along the Forbes Trail, nestled deep in the Appalachian Mountains somewhere along the Westmoreland-Somerset County lines. It is 19 minutes until sunset, and you have just over a mile to go, mostly uphill, before you are out of the deep forest and in the clearing. The mountain range, which stretches from Maine to Georgia and is documented to be one of the oldest in the country, shares characteristics across the approximately 420 counties. It is rugged, often mist-covered with deep hollers and rugged peaks that ...

TikTok around the clock

The news business is constantly changing and that means changing with the times. So, reluctantly, I have started a news TikTok. I’m not a fan of TikTok. I don’t like how the app is designed or how it’s meant to keep a user swiping for minutes and sometimes hours. I don’t like its connection to the Communist Chinese government and how it constantly scrapes information and data. The problem is that is where the young’uns are, and if you want the teens and young adults to read your news stories, you have to be where they are. And TikTok is where they are. I don’t know when ...

Accountability still matters these days

For over a week, Democrats have attacked the Young Republicans for a leaked group chat that had lots of offensive comments in it. Some were very sarcastic and taken out of context to score points. Others were sincere. All were offensive. None of the Young Republicans are running for office. Most have lost their jobs. A Democratic Senate candidate in Maine has a tattoo on his chest of a Nazi SS skull and crossbones, the symbol used by the troops who initiated and carried out the Holocaust. Politico says the tattoo “appears similar to a Nazi symbol.” The Associated Press and other ...

Weaponized fact checkers

Every once in a while, the “fact-checkers” at PolitiFact publish reader comments, and this one stuck out: “Your site seems to be mostly about Trump all the time,” read one comment. “How about a little less Trump, and write more about any other falsehood subjects?” PolitiFact’s audience chief Ellen Hine acknowledged they’ve published over 1,000 “fact checks” on President Donald Trump — 1,124, to be precise. But then she trotted out the false claim that their targeting is nonpartisan: “Without keeping count, we try to select facts to check from all sides of the ...