The Unites States citizenry is in an uproar, and politically divided over “the wall,” and the billions of dollars that will be needed to build it. Yes... billions of dollars.
As “The Wall” dominated the week’s news, a pitiful juxtaposition of two realities — one the hard truth, the other a lie — emerged to clarify the destructiveness of the American president’s toxic narcissism.
President Trump did something Tuesday night that he has rarely done since taking office: He used the presidential bully pulpit to reach beyond his hardcore base of supporters to make his case to the American people as a whole.
The hundredth anniversary of the Armistice that ended the fighting of World War I in Europe came and went with surprisingly little notice last Nov. 11. Commemoration was muted for a conflict that took the lives of some 15 to 19 million soldiers and civilians — estimates vary widely — includi…
When you went to bed, you were a senator or a governor or a representative.
Here’s one New Year’s resolution that should be easy: The United States and North Korea should resume the diplomatic progress they began in 2018 toward peace and denuclearization.
Wondering if things will change for the better in the New Year? Here’s a handy clip ‘n’ save Precap of news certain to occur during 2019.
In his memoirs, the comedian Jack Benny laments the declining tolerance for jokes that poke fun at ethnic groups. He writes of America’s ethnic neighborhoods in the immigration waves of the early 20th century. Conflicts were inevitable because of cultural differences. Vaudeville, however, pr…
During his time in CIA custody, 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told his interrogator something prophetic. The United States may enjoy some fleeting battlefield successes, Mohammed declared, but in the end “we will win because Americans don’t realize ... we do not need to defeat you m…
Cleveland has written the latest chapter in the unfolding scandal of the American criminal justice system.
A recent Bloomberg News headline came as no surprise: “Wall Street Rule for the #MeToo Era: Avoid Women at All Cost.”
Editor’s note: This is a letter that former Venice Gondolier Publisher Robert Vedder mailed to Florida High School Athletic Association Executive Director George Tomyn.
For the second time in three years, U.S. life expectancy has declined. The last time that happened, World War I was raging in Europe and a virulent flu pandemic was ravaging the home front.
A recent letter to the editor in the Venice Gondolier Sun, called for the firing of the Venice High School band director. I call for the support of the community for the VHS band director and members. These children work hard, before and after school, to provide entertainment and support for…
At the beginning of his long and well-lived life, George Herbert Walker Bush, who in politics was always prosaic, acquired, by way of a grandfather, the name of a British poet and priest (George Herbert, 1593-1633). He acquired much else from family inheritance.
WASHINGTON — In 1953, Charles E. Wilson, then the president of General Motors, famously told a congressional committee that “what was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa.” A version of that soft industrial nationalism has been Donald Trump’s core political philos…
Great vision, dreams and ideas are a little like babies: Birthing them is only the beginning. They require ongoing love, attention and support.
The recent red tide algal bloom has sparked many discussions in our community, whether around kitchen tables or at neighborhood forums, in local government or in the media. Everyone wants a solution.
WASHINGTON — The acting attorney general of the United States is a crackpot.
Since declaring things seems to be the rage in the Florida election during these tense days, I am declaring everybody involved in the whacked-out mess needs to shut up.
Wondering if things will change for the better in the New Year? Here’s a handy clip ‘n’ save Precap of news certain to occur during 2019.
In his memoirs, the comedian Jack Benny laments the declining tolerance for jokes that poke fun at ethnic groups. He writes of America’s ethnic neighborhoods in the immigration waves of the early 20th century. Conflicts were inevitable because of cultural differences. Vaudeville, however, pr…
During his time in CIA custody, 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told his interrogator something prophetic. The United States may enjoy some fleeting battlefield successes, Mohammed declared, but in the end “we will win because Americans don’t realize ... we do not need to defeat you m…
Cleveland has written the latest chapter in the unfolding scandal of the American criminal justice system.
A recent Bloomberg News headline came as no surprise: “Wall Street Rule for the #MeToo Era: Avoid Women at All Cost.”
Editor’s note: This is a letter that former Venice Gondolier Publisher Robert Vedder mailed to Florida High School Athletic Association Executive Director George Tomyn.
For the second time in three years, U.S. life expectancy has declined. The last time that happened, World War I was raging in Europe and a virulent flu pandemic was ravaging the home front.
A recent letter to the editor in the Venice Gondolier Sun, called for the firing of the Venice High School band director. I call for the support of the community for the VHS band director and members. These children work hard, before and after school, to provide entertainment and support for…
At the beginning of his long and well-lived life, George Herbert Walker Bush, who in politics was always prosaic, acquired, by way of a grandfather, the name of a British poet and priest (George Herbert, 1593-1633). He acquired much else from family inheritance.
WASHINGTON — In 1953, Charles E. Wilson, then the president of General Motors, famously told a congressional committee that “what was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa.” A version of that soft industrial nationalism has been Donald Trump’s core political philos…
Great vision, dreams and ideas are a little like babies: Birthing them is only the beginning. They require ongoing love, attention and support.
The recent red tide algal bloom has sparked many discussions in our community, whether around kitchen tables or at neighborhood forums, in local government or in the media. Everyone wants a solution.
WASHINGTON — The acting attorney general of the United States is a crackpot.
Since declaring things seems to be the rage in the Florida election during these tense days, I am declaring everybody involved in the whacked-out mess needs to shut up.
The polls said this Florida election was supposed to be the Democrats’ night. Andrew Gillum was going to be the next Governor and that Bill Nelson would be headed back to the U.S. Senate for a fourth term. They would finally have a real seat in the room where it happens in Tallahassee.
There are two Sarasota County Commission races on the November ballot, with candidates vying for seats in Districts 2 and 4. As county voters, do we know:
South Sarasota County needs to pay attention to a county charter amendment that would take 80 percent of your representation away from the County Commission. The amendment is called single-member districts and I urge you to vote “no.”
The Legacy Trail provides our community with a safe and enjoyable outdoor experience that is not found anywhere else in Sarasota County, or in Southwest Florida for that matter. My husband and I moved to Sarasota County because of the Legacy Trail. We live next to it, and we ride our bikes o…
The choice in November in Sarasota County is clear: Of the five county charter amendments at the bottom of the ballot, two will change our county election systems; one benefits the people (single-member districts) and one harms the people (changes to the process for citizen-initiated petitions).
Even if it could be proven that Christine Blasey Ford deliberately slandered Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh — and I am not saying that’s the case — that act of willful character assassination wouldn’t be the worst thing about this horrid chapter in American life.
