157 Comments

It's a good thing the universities never offered degrees in plumbing and pipe-fitting or we'd all be using outhouses across the country.

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I think Hamas (and the ivy league students who are protesting on their behalf) all want us to adopt Hamas' 7th century living skills. We many not be far away from using outhouses..

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Okay. Men will fair well under Islam. Women and the LGTB group not so much.

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Only if the men are willing to denounce their belief in their creator Christian God and follow satan. That's a knockout for me.

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Agreed. But the phrase, “Convert or die!” is real. You can go through the charade that is Islam and still be true to Christ.

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The Islamic practice of taqiyya allows one to feign one's true belief in order to survive or gain the trust of one's enemies. I see no reason not to use this practice against Muslims.

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I’m not Islamic and won’t pretend to be. I’m also not a Bible expert, but I believe there are scriptures about lying about that. Peter denied knowing Jesus three times but died a martyrs death of being crucified upside down when the rubber met the road. There was a message in that lesson of Peter’s denial.

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Our second amendment allows us to tell the Muslims to fuck off

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Must be why Dems get along so well with them. They are trying to outlaw water use, gas stoves, furnaces and air conditioners. Heat pumps are great where they work but where I am, if you dont have a furnace, a real one. You will die.

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Hamas can wish in one hand and spit in the other one; I am way too fond of indoor plumbing go back any farther than the era of Rah Rah Rumble-seats and Running Boards.

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Hah!

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“If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed.”

- Mark Twain -

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He had some beauts... one of my favorites, "Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason".

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I have used that quote many times over the years! Most recent years, spoken to those trying to interest me in a subscription to the Dallas Morning Snooze (or the Fort Worth Startly-Gram). I read the Walnut Journal each weekday for three decades when I was a Business School Economics faculty member, and offered it to my classes, but drifted away from Peggy Noonan, therein, pretty quickly when I retired. And she revealed her brain softness to the public.

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I much prefer The Fort Worth Report (online only)...

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When both newspapers were in business, I preferred the Dallas Times Herald over the Dallas Morning News. Blackie Sherrod was a favorite.

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Wasn't it the Times Herald that blew the cover of Perot's rescue team in Iran?

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The problem isn’t that newspapers have disappeared. The problem is that journalism has disappeared.

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That is why we have the Surber with our morning cup, as well as Kunstlers Clusterfuck Nation.Agreed

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I think maybe the problem was journalism appeared, replacing reporters.

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It disappeared in J-School, where it was murdered by college professors. Journalism by most so-called "reporters" has been MIA for several years. I watched it disappear in newsrooms. I am now a recovering journalist.

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I don't know how I lasted 30 years as a reporter. The last five years or so were really disheartening. I think I was in the generation of the last of the working class kids in the early 80s who became journalists and even then they were some pretty upscale kids among us. That, I think, was the beginning of the end of the profession (for me anyway) and the end also started when reporters and editors began moving away from covering their communities and got into causes. I worked for three different independently owned newspapers in Canada and then joined the wire service. Now the future is with blogs like Don's, aggregate news sites like CFP and Bari Weiss's The Free Press, andmany, many others. Legacy journalism is thankfully dying. Small town and even big city newspapers are dying for all the reasons we know. So what. What's replacing it is refreshing and thriving.

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I was in broadcast news. The shift away from real news began with producers being put in charge of newsrooms instead of reporters. The difference was essentially that the production people - those in charge of the "show" of Tv News were running things, as opposed to the editorial content people - the actual reporters doing journalism. That was in the 70s and 80s when the real drift away from actual news began. The best newsroom I ever worked in was a tiny little 3 reporter place - WDIO - in Duluth, MN. We regularly broke real stories - big stories - that were later covered by the newspapers. Once I got into larger markets the shift to sizzle began with much less beef on the plate. I watch the stations in Arizona covering our current abortion bill issue and there's absolutely no attempt to cover the other side... regardless of what you believe, there are two sides to every story. RIP Conventional Journalism.

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Agree, Dennis. Now it's all pretty much advocacy, left-leaning and one-sided. Viewers and readers have decided they don't like that, and they've stopping reading and watching. Yes, you are right -- RIP conventional journalism.

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My son started as a journalism major for the purposes of getting into sports broadcasting, he took one journalism class where the professor talked about not reporting but advocating for a position. He changed his major to T-Com so he could still do the broadcasting thing but no longer had to take any journalism classes. Total waste of time. Nothing really taught just attitudes adjusted, but certainly explains why no one trusts the news anymore.

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Good for him! (What's T-Com? - I live under a rock.) He needs to live and breath sports, have a brash, expressive personality and stay physically fit and good looking. Hair, makeup (on air) clothing and a great personality with a sense of humor and a can-do attitude will help him far more than any degree. When you get a chance, go get that first professor fire. (I know a guy who knows a guy....)

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Bingo! We have a winner.

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About those cookbooks…I used to have a couple hundred of them but in preparation for our last and hopefully final move, I got rid of all but about 25 of my long time favorites. These days, if I’m looking for a recipe I search online. There are gazillions of them there and it’s much easier to search by category than to dig through numerous books, and most of them are accompanied by photos, videos and reviews. Plus, my iPad takes up a lot less space in the kitchen.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

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Same here. You can't get rid of books anymore. No one will take them unless they're brand new. Mine are going to the landfill soon...

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They may actually be worth alot after the electricity fails for good, or more calamitous events occur.

The rebuilders of the country are going to need books for reference once again.

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I was going to say that. Keep your books. They will be extremely valuable (not money).

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Sounds like Mr. Loughry was dirtier than dirt, since you say so Don.

But when I see ‘mail and wire fraud’ and ‘lying to the FBI’, I see red flags and smell rats. I’m a bit of an expert, having been convicted and imprisoned for those things.

I always thought mail fraud involved something like ponzi schemes and wire fraud meant stealing by manipulating banking. In my case, as a gov’t contractor (mfr’g military spare parts), it meant being paid by my customer (fed gov’t) by direct deposit.

As for what constitutes federal crimes, read Silverglates’ Three Felonies a Day’.

And if you want to learn all this first hand, call a congressman for help with a problem you have with a federal agency which has no interest in resolving. Win a battle, lose a war. Six ways from Sunday.

Class dismissed

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Sounds like you have a "tell all" book to write as well. But I understand; you want your family to survive federal "scrutiny"...

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Had every intention to. Worked on it for the whole time “down”. But when I got home, it was more depressing writing it than I could have imagined.

My title would have been ‘Deterrence’, which is the fictitious idea that allows some to practice injustice, yet sleep at night.

Life’s good w/o being an author.

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I salute your attitude Steve.

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Thanks Marlan!

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Agree, Steve--I was in W.V. and saw "red flags and smelled rats" when this happened. I met Allen Loughry a few times at Republican events, and sat next to him at a luncheon once, where we had quite an in-depth conversation. In fact, he struck me as a particularly honest guy. I was extremely skeptical when he was charged, because there were so many red flags. As to "lying to the FBI", did you know that if a person tells the truth--what they believe to be the truth, and what may indeed be the truth-- but that if it differs from what the FBI regards as the truth, that they can charge you with lying.

I was also very suspicious when the whole West Virginia government establishment seemed to load on against Allen Loughry. I almost wondered what he had on them, that they needed to crush him--a man who had WRITTEN A BOOK about political corruption in W.V. And the charges against him were all about a government office remodeling project, which seemed like small potatoes and involved alot of very subjective interpretations of things. Other judges were charged too, but none of them went to jail. And at the same time, there was crickets on Sen. Joe Manchin's many peccadillos and the greyhound-racing racket of Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's family.

But I'm sure Don Surber followed this story alot closer and more knowledgeably than I did, and is aware of alot more details. So maybe Loughry was indeed dirty.

But as a regular citizen just hearing about it, it truly felt then, and still today, like they were all out to ruin Allen Loughry. They did effectively silence him.

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I do miss the comics, especially when the Ft Lauderdale paper carried a two page spread daily, along with advice columnist Dear Abby/Ann Landers and Hints from Heloise. Our small town paper covered local high school sports where kids got their names in print and parents saved them for scrapbooks. The larger city paper had a good crossword puzzle meaning we could usually complete it. 😊

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Memes, baby, memes

Local sports are a must

The Charleston Daily Mail covered Randy Moss

When he was in junior high

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Memes are really the “new” cartoons.

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I remember Jr High sports being reported in our morning paper, Columbus Citizen-Journal. I had an evening paper-route for the Columbus Dispatch. Used some bonus money to buy one of those super-cool coin dispensers you hung on your belt.

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I remember growing up with newspapers just like that. I miss those good old days.

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Local paper was called the Lebanon Liar when I was in school, looooonnng before the last 20 yrs. I think they were 20 yrs before their time.

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Really for the survey I wanted to say I miss the Sunday comics.

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Yes and ditto. Growing up during the week funnies (aka comics) were b&w. Sundays were color. We actually looked forward to seeing them, following the stories and sibling wars who got to read them first. The good old days...

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Amen.

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Amen, and making paper mache and using the paper for birds I used to have.

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We cancelled the Minneapolis Star Tribune about fifteen years ago when we read their coverage of a Tea Party event we attended on the grounds of the state capitol. The story was designed to diminish and literally mislead readers as to the truth of it. Police estimated about 3,000 attendees. The writer estimated 200-300 attendees, which was an obvious and demonstrable lie. There was a sea of people from the steps where the speakers were set up, to the street, but the main photo was taken from the ground at the front, looking up so that only eight or ten people could be seen. Another image was of one random attendee standing alone on the mall. They featured a photo of a white male speaker, but the keynote speaker was a woman, and there were Hispanic, Asian and Black speakers. It was a complete hack job and confirmed what we already thought about the paper; we cancelled and never looked back. Now they occasionally set up a table at our local market where they try to give away Sunday papers to mine new subscribers. Their hapless shill looks lonelier than the Maytag repairman. He can't even give their crappy bird cage liners away, and they won't be missed when they inevitably fold.

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Add Maytag to the great demise. Bought a new one based on reputation, it was delivered the next day……….with a bad gear box! Then the ordeal began. Lets just say that if you cant get satisfaction from the Maytag repairmen, you go to the top. Its fixed. Dont buy one.

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That's because Maytag aren't made by Maytag anymore; they're a subsidiary of Whirlpool, I believe? They have two or three brands all coming out of the same factory, same guts underneath.

I think the only fully independent washer/dryer company left in the USA is Speed Queen. More expensive, but still made in Wisconsin.

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Yes, made in Benton Harbor, MI. The Maytag Repairman is missing.

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He was a white male.

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Whirlpool used to be made in Ft. Smith, AR. Whirlpool bought Maytag and on paper moved it to Ft. Smith. At the same time, Whirlpool was shutting down their AR plant and moving it all to Mexico. The former location is now a HAZMAT Site.

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The got outbid for Boeing….

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When Maytag appliances were built in Newton, Iowa, it was difficult to find a better product! Yes, Newton was a company town, one of the last where the company did its damnedest to hold up its end of the bargain to its employees.

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Unfortunately, I think they followed Craftsman, and a bunch of others down the cheaper is better China rabbit hole. We still repair and take care of our stuff. I had a flip phone for 15+ yrs until they turned off 3G. But a lot of younger people dont know what a screwdriver is and think nothing of buying a new one when something breaks. I cant afford that to do that.

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Times have changed, and not all for the better.

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What do you miss most about newspapers?

Calvin and Hobbes

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"'The significant loss of local news outlets in poorer and underserved communities poses a crisis for our democracy.'"

'Democracy' is the "new" climate change, apparently. What ISN'T an existential threat to democracy?

There ARE no good guys in the corrupt world of politics - local, county, state or federal - hence, one of the top reasons government employees and elected office holders alike so despise Trump. So, when one is sold down the river by his own who happen to be higher up on the food chain, everyone knows it isn't justice - it's a sacrifice to ensure their survival. Though, if justice is served in the process, all the better.

What's really f'd up is that lying to the FBI, et al. and congress is a crime. The FBI is a criminal enterprise in and of itself, it just has ultimate official sanction, and congress has been lying to the nation since time immemorial. Lying is every Representative's and Senator's first language - in fact, one cannot even get on the ballot without first demonstrating a rudimentary proficiency with the practice.

There WAS a time when I missed having one to carry so as not to be empty-handed, but now, I miss nothing about newspapers.

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"'Democracy' is the "new" climate change, apparently."

Yes! We need to neutralize this term from published sources talking about America's form of government. Each instance of its improper use needs to be a trigger among many that loudly proclaim the error of the writer using it and taking the opportunity to define our Constitutional (Representative) Republic.

The use of "democracy" in describing our form of government is like calling a man choosing to be a "trangender female" a woman.

Added note: just the other day I actually saw an “on air” reporter making a comment - I think about the protests - who clearly challenged someone who said we are a democracy. Wish I had the link. The reporter went on to say “We are not a democracy and don’t ever want to be. We are a republic. That is an important difference..” We need to hear this everyday on “the news”.

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I find the use of the word, "democracy," very subjective. The people who use it are usually totalitarians at heart.

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“ Lying is every Representative's and Senator's first language.”

Great line!!

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I miss Mike Royko. Growing up in the western suburbs of Chicago with a paper route, I acquired the habit of daily newspaper reading and made it a point to read Royko's column even on days when I'd only skim the rest of the paper's headlines. Mike explained how things really work in "our democracy".

Way back in the day, when he proposed in his daily column replacing Chicago's motto, "Urbs in horto" with "Ubi est mea", I was hooked. Hizzoner, the Mayor, hated him. That was all the endorsement I needed.

Check out his Pulitzer-winning column at https://www.pulitzer.org/article/chicago-civics-lesson-mike-royko for a taste.

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"The Paper" went to the dogs pretty quickly once he left - Slats Grobnik along with him...

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John Kass almost replaced him but not quiet. John however gave us the term “Illinois Combine” to describe the off shoot of the Outfit to describe Illinois Politickans

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Indeed! To his credit, he made it abundantly clear that no one was ever going to be able to replace Mike Royko. Just because his column appeared in the same space on the same page where Royko's appeared WAS NOT to be taken as an attempt to replace him.

I now subscribe to JohnKassNews.com, as he's the only one chronicling the death of the once-great city I used to call home.

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Slats Grobnik, Pinners, and my favorite about ghetto slang. “Shake & Bake”, a drink made from cheap wine & Kool-Aid. Also, “Don’t you have a Chinaman to clout for you?”

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Wow, Mr.Surber had at least 3 cups of hi test coffee this morning. Well written, spoken, you know what I mean. I'm quite sure that with the fall of print media such as newspapers, as they said at the time when computers became the rage they would be the death of the papers, I however believe they themselves are the ones that pulled the trigger. It's redundant to have the papers repeat the lies from the politicians, MSM especially TV does it for them. Mockingbird from all angles, I not only quit the Columbus Dispatch years ago, I've found it quite infuriating to even watch the local news channel. I do get the Epoch Times, and watch Real Americas Voice, aka Bannon Channel. Even though lately find myself listening to a little more music. Sometimes we all need to simply turn that shit off!

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The only thing I miss about newspapers is their representation of Americana that has almost vanished from daily life in 2024. I think every family had some relative who's first job was having a newspaper route.

Later edit with an added thought: Was there a better primer in job training of work ethic in this country? If so, I'd like to hear of it. A paper route made a kid 11 to 16 years of age an independent contractor. They owned their territory and learned to manage it. They had to handle the "soft skills" of talking to customers as customers and occasionally selling a new subscription. They had to deliver everyday AND weekends regardless of rain, snow, or other competing obligations. They had to find their own coverage if they needed a day off. Then, there was the life lesson of collecting money to pay the bill from the newspaper (ie.) accounting and balance sheet skills. Most of the time it was OK, but there were always a few that made the kid a debt collector. Everyone I know who had a paper route had some of the best stories about good customers, bad customers, dogs, weather, and fond memories of what became a daily rigorous routine.

We'll all find ways to get news, but we won't recover the genre of the newspaper era.

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In today's poll, is there some good reason for leaving out "lining the bird cage" and "wrapping fish"?

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Or for starting the wood fire in the fireplace.

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lol, Dr Cat thought those where too easy.

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The only thing I miss about the local newspaper is the sports section.

If you played little league or pony league baseball or played on a high school sports team you would sometime get you name mentioned in the paper and if you really did something special maybe a picture of yourself in uniform!

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I miss the paper because when I was a kid it was physically fun to hold and read the newspaper. The big pages were cool and you had sports and comics. In an age of less information, it was exciting to get information. I had a bicycle paper route for a little while. That was not as much fun. It was cold and dark or it was hot in the summer and I was sleep deprived.

The language of the guy sounding the alarm about the death of newspapers( twenty years too late ) is the ruling class, limousine liberal regime language: at risk, underserved, our democracy( by which they mean THEIR democracy, not yours), news desert. Right - there’s a news desert in the age of more information than ever before, and social media. There’s no desert. There’s an ocean and we are all drowning in it.

What I actually miss may not have existed in the way I thought it did at the time, which is the notion that everybody took their job seriously at a TV station or a newsroom and just wanted to report the truth. Alas, as Thomas Wolfe said- you can’t go home again.

I think the alternative media, if we can keep the regime from crushing it, is a great opportunity for us to get more of the truth. Substack and other outlets are helping. There’s some garbage out there, including the legacy media, and it’s more work to acquire the information, but we are probably getting more real information than ever before. And information is power, which is why the regime wants to take it away from us.

The last thing we need is government intervention to start newspapers, which is where talk about deprived communities and deserts is usually leading. You know what kind of news that’s going to produce. And I don’t have a parakeet that needs a cage liner.

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Yes, Tanto.

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