During a press conference in April 1986, President Ronald Reagan reportedly said that the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.” The Great Communicator — as Reagan became known during his two terms — was not wrong. ...
Raymond Fife would have turned 53 on Jan. 27. Had he lived, Raymond might have celebrated his birthday with his wife and children, his siblings and his mother, Miriam. Danny Lee Hill and Timothy Combs made sure that didn’t happen when they took 12-year-old Raymond’s life in September 1985. No one ever got to know the man he could have become. I remember reading about the case when it happened. The viciousness and randomness of what happened to Raymond changed Warren and the people who lived here. Some parents wouldn’t let their kids go outside alone after that. There had ...
Don Lemon, in his neverending quest to reacquire some form of relevance after his CNN show assumed room temperature, barged into a St. Paul, Minnesota, church during a Sunday service — accompanied by a horde of obnoxious protesters — to rail against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ...
Last week in this space, I mentioned being something of a libertarian. Breaking down my feelings to an all-encompassing, declarative sentence might be difficult, but it I had to, it might be this: Just leave me alone, and I’ll leave you alone. I’m not exactly antisocial, but public ...
“I got a lotta problems with you people, and now you’re going to hear about it!” — Frank Costanza, during the Festivus “Airing of Grievances” in a 1997 episode of “Seinfeld” Every now and then, my travels on the interwebs lead me to that legendary clip of Jerry Stiller’s Frank Costanza standing at the dinner table and shouting that line with George, Jerry, Kramer, George’s mother Estelle and George’s boss, Mr. Kruger, watching. Almost three decades later, it’s still must-see TV. There is no skipping it for me — just like stumbling across an episode of ...
Some of President Donald Trump’s supporters like to compare him to another two-term Republican president — Ronald Reagan. I’ve never seen that, I suppose you could find some common ground in their philosophies, but their personalities — at least as they appeared in public or on television — couldn’t be more different. Reagan could deliver a political jab at 1980s Democrats, who didn’t care for his policies any more than today’s Dems care for anything the Trump administration has done, with charm and a smile. I don’t remember Reagan suggesting that his political ...
