Just when I thought there was nothing new to shake my head at regarding our unstable president, along came last week’s Saturday Night Live on NBC-TV. Any comic material about Donald Trump seems to write itself, but the show delivered a brilliant parody of Trump declaring a state of emergency for a wall on the Mexican border. […]
Does so-called “conversion therapy” turn gay men into straight men? U.S. Vice President Mike Pence thinks so. He also believes homosexuals should get the therapy in keeping with what he calls Christian teaching. Legislation to make conversion therapy illegal for minors and to ban charging or advertising such therapy has drawn much interest in the […]
President Donald Trump seemed smugly satisfied as he delivered the State of the Union address last night, but what we saw was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal.) completely owning the room. In a long-winded speech, Trump called for party unity while simultaneously knocking the ongoing “ridiculous partisan investigations” against him, which he claimed were no […]
There’s a joke in China: The Chinese have to learn English to be able to speak to their employees. And Americans need to learn Chinese so they can understand their bosses. It would hurt more if it weren’t kind of true. There is a delegation of Chinese students at a university here in Nebraska. They are, […]
The U.S. Strategic Command in Bellevue, Neb., is the Air Force’s keeper of codes, “buttons” and weaponry. Its overriding mission is preparing for nuclear war. I find them a cool and intimidating next-door neighbor. Imagine my surprise, however, when StratCom’s public affairs office on New Year’s Eve tweeted this about the ball drop in Times Square, […]
Donald Trump’s petty trade war between the United States and China has left many farmers scratching their heads, puzzling over how to plan next year’s crops as they deal with flat-out uncertainty and the already huge losses this year. The dispute has already cost farmers $1 billion, according to the Nebraska Farmers Report. Simple economics […]
Happy Halloween! This holiday of haunts amazes me. I’ve seen some incredible decorations and costumes this year, my favorite being the creepy storm-drain clown pictured here and dwelling in Ralston, Nebraska, as we speak. A “costume” I have not seen, nor would I wish to see, is a blackface, a derogatory image that figured prominently […]
Have you ever woken up with a jolt at around 2 a.m. on a city fire escape, five stories high and in the dead of winter? Without remembering how you got there? I have, and I’m not proud of it. It was the winter of 1975, and I was wearing only a sweater over my […]
I don’t know about anyone else, but I found FEMA’s announcement that President Donald Trump is going to text everyone in America kind of creepy. Insidiously creepy. All right, so this is only a test of the national wireless emergency agency. It will reproduce on mobile phones everywhere to show how news of a real […]
Darn it to heck! Oh, fudge. Our son of a gun of a president is messed up. I’ve had it up to here with this freaking crap! Darn it to heck! I don’t like to cuss, curse, swear or whatever you want to call it. And there are vulgar words that never cross my mind […]
It bothers me that the word “special” has come to have sarcastic undertones linked to “special needs” and “special education,” and I can’t stand it when people with real problems and disabilities are insulted or hurt in any way. That being said, I laughed out loud Friday when the president droned on at a press […]
Two hundred and forty-two years ago, America’s founding fathers made the bold move of declaring independence from England. Today, as we enjoy the day off, grill hot dogs and burgers and watch fireworks, I like to remind myself how this started. We have a tradition in my household. We watch the movie “1776,” one of […]
Remember the movie, “The Blind Side?” I watched it at home with my family last night. The three of us identified not with the rich family nor with the black teenager who got lost in the foster system. Rather, my husband, daughter and I felt kinship with a teacher who was hiding something, played excellently […]
With today being Arbor Day, I find it fitting that French president Emmanuel Macron gave America a tree earlier this week, even planting it on the White House grounds with our commander in chief assisting. It’s unusual to see Trump using elbow grease, isn’t it? British comedian James Corden quipped that a tree is a […]
I recently had the dubious pleasure of working in a newsroom again. When I say “newsroom” I mean the building that officially houses print and online journalists who get a paycheck. There are printing presses on the premises, but also lots of open space and empty workstations. The job lasted six months. It was exhilarating at […]
Sometimes food and drink never make it to the gullet. People sneeze noodles or pepper flakes out of their noses, babies splatter oatmeal and trick-or-treaters stuff so much candy in their mouths that they have to spit some out or choke. It happens. It’s unintended. Even my cat barfed up a half-chewed ear plug, about a month […]
Leadership brings prestige and importance. It’s apparent Donald Trump covets prestige. He continually seeks it and also reminds himself and others of that other gem, importance. Our current president displays a pathological need to validate himself. He wields and abuses his power and prefers being venerated for being president than actually presiding. As a news […]
The first time it happened, I was indisposed. Co-workers ran into the restroom announcing — loudly — that Donald Trump was on the phone. “On hold!” I took a deep breath, washed my hands and out I went. Trump was returning my first-ever call to him. Promptly. This surprised me, as most corporations go through an elaborate […]
THE SHINBONE STAR 