by Leo Morris My reaction might not have been typical. I saw that photo of employees turning their backs on Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and did not immediately decry the insolent rudeness of federal bureaucrats. I felt sorry for them. I was thinking about cats. Many people – dog owners, typically – incorrectly assume that when cats turn their backs to their owners, they are proclaiming their independence with a show of aloof indifference. But…

OK, ERIC HOLCOMB is not my type of governor for a dozen reasons, none of which is particularly fair or kind. My criticism, therefore, can be dismissed as heckling. That said, and absent serious statewide media, someone must point out how out of touch this man is. Does he have any clue what working-class Hoosierdom cares about? I submit for your review an example to the negative. It is rare to find a government program…

by David Penticuff The nonchalance public officials in Indiana show practical democracy and the public’s right to know is perhaps only rivaled by the indifference of the public itself. That is how a parasitic bumbledom thrives. It’s just too much trouble to keep everyone honest and expose how public treasure is spent for personal gain. Even if we did, would the plight of the community workforce be any different? Hard to say since, as our…

“One of the vehicles crashed into a telephone pole in the 3400 block of Wells Street and two suspects fled into the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo. Parts of the zoo were evacuated as police apprehended two of the suspects.” — June 14, 2019, WANE TV “A man was shot to death in the Walmart parking lot on Coldwater Road (the retail center of the city) as the sun shone and customers looked on.” — June…

by Leo Morris It pains me to confess this, but I am an ultracrepidarian. You might not want to hear it, but there’s a good chance you are one as well. The word describes people who “express opinions on matters outside the scope of their knowledge or expertise.” It comes from the Latin for “beyond the sandal or shoe,” adapted from the longer “‘the cobbler should not judge beyond his shoe.” That, according to Pliny…

Since 2004, about 1,800 newspapers or 20 percent of the total have folded or merged, while in the last decade 32,000 of the industry’s employees have lost their jobs. — The Washington Times, June 12, 2019 YOU WOULD THINK it would be the kind of story journalists would fight to get. It has it all — Main Street crony capitalists, venal out-of-state investors, legal manipulations, compliant if not compromised local officials. And it is sitting…

by Leo Morris Perhaps it’s time we stop obsessing so much over fake news and worry a little more about fake reviews. It’s not that fake news isn’t a problem. It’s a big one. But constantly complaining about the fake variety elevates the “real” news to a lofty position it probably hasn’t deserved in a long time. The fourth-estate ideal, of the press as an honest watchdog of government and a fair and impartial chronicler…

by Maryann O. Keating, Ph.D. The four-year-old howled when big brother called him, “Little Tiny Stinky Baby.” After being chastised by parents and promising never to do it again, the seven-year-old simply continued taunting little brother by calling him “L.T.S.B.” Big brother, following an awakening through sessions at school and church, confessed to mom that he was acting like a bully and would try to stop. Less inclined to share personal regrets for having bullied,…

INDIANA’S REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR is siding with those who say the state’s shifting definition of “hate” trumps a thousand years of common law. The front office of the Pacers may drop the word “owner” because it supposedly implies slavery. And a city administration sees nothing wrong with using tax money to fund a local “news” magazine that proclaims the mayor’s programs a success. What those three positions have in common is a delusion that individual rights…

by Leo Morris I can barely keep track of all the shaming going on these days. There is fat shaming. And slut shaming. And stay-at-home-mom shaming and LGBTQ shaming and even religion shaming. And we have apparently become so judgmental that as soon as we feel properly chastised about one form of shaming, another one comes around. It’s almost impossible for me to keep up, even when so many others seem aware. There is a…