Opinion

Systemic racism:  should America’s public schools be including this as part of their standard curricula? Just before leaving office last November 2020, Donald Trump issued an executive order restricting federal institutions from developing any curriculum dealing with systemic racism, white privilege and other race and gender bias issues.  Then, on January 20, Joe Biden, rescinded that order. Supporting Biden’s decision […]

Here we go again. Dire warnings from the Governor regarding an impending drought and a foreboding message of potential curbs on water usage. As I have said before, droughts in California are nothing new as they occur roughly every 5 to 7 years with a duration of approximately the same term.  For longtime Escondido residents, we remember the restrictions imposed […]

“I am sorry to tell you this, but you have cancer.” That is a message no one wants to hear. There are lots of things we don’t want to hear. People have a multitude of ways to accept, deny or avoid, unpleasantries. Psychologists call it “compartmentalization.” The ability to take information and store it in a little lockbox in the […]

The twin facts of the month: that the recall against Governor Brylcreem has qualified to go to a vote, and that California—for the first time in the state’s history—will lose a congressional seat cannot, in my mind, be unrelated.  California has lost a seat in the House of Representatives, based on new numbers from the 2020 Census. So did Illinois […]

Oh boy! Here we go again! When we are so close to being allowed to somewhat resume our lives to what we previously knew as normal comes another slap in the face caused by the current worldwide pandemic. It’s not known if these new conditions will hopefully be gone by the June 15 date when Gov. Newsome removes most of […]

Year 2032:  and the following memo to the employees and associates of Body Armor Manufacturer! (BAM!; Squirrel View, Kentucky) was recently made available to this newspaper. To:  All manufacturers, vendors, sales staff From:  Fred Pflem, president/CEO, BAM! Subject:  New product rollouts A quick note to all of our associates at BAM!  First, congratulations to all of you for the new […]

How about some good news to start. I’m sure you are all aware of how housing prices have been escalating to new records monthly. This having been said, I was amazed to learn of a house, actually an estate, available for sale at less than half price. If interested you will have to move to the Los Angeles neighborhood where […]

Many people just can’t let go of the COVID-19 crisis, no matter how much good news there is. And that, unfortunately, includes many health officials, from Dr. Anthony Fauci on down to those at the state and county levels. Not to mention loads of just folks who really want COVID to never end.  Despite the fact that we are now […]

A niece of mine is an anti-vaxxer.  Prior to the pandemic, her older daughter received one of the basic vaccinations required for children, and she developed – apparently in reaction – a case of the hives. This didn’t last long and did no long-term damage. But it obviously traumatized my niece, so that she, her husband and their two daughters […]

Ah, the last day of Easter Week and coincidentally “March Madness.” Have you ever wondered how the name for the NCAA Division I championship came to be? In the next paragraph I will explain.  MM, begun in 1939, was actually the second national college basketball tournament after the National Invitational Tournament came to be in 1938, When I was growing […]