“The second day of July, 1776-will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America…It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more.” John Adams wrote this in a letter to his wife Abigail about the day the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence. Of course, the Declaration of Independence wasn’t actually adopted until July 4th. So Adams jumped the gun by two days. But he set the standard about how Americans should celebrate the most important day in our history. We should feel good and proud about ourselves as a country and a society. We are the standard for the rest of the whole to emulate.

(more…)

It was sad to see the messy ending of Scott Pelley’s six year run as Anchor and Managing Editor of the CBS Evening News last week. Pelley went out with class and dignity thanking the people of CBS News for all their hard work, and saying he knows it will continue. Pelley will devote his considerable reporting skills to 60 Minutes. The whole affair seemed to be handled poorly. Leaks started months ago that Pelley was out. There were stories about he and CBS News President David Rhodes not getting along. Reports Rhodes didn’t like Pelley’s style. Pelley’s office being cleaned out while he was on assignment in Syria possibly at Pelley’s own request. There is much we don’t know. Having dealt with anchors during my career, some can require full time management. Pelley is an old school, hard news reporter in the CBS tradition of Edward R. Morrow, Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, and Mike Wallace. His newscast were serious and tough, and he did some of the best reporting himself on the big stories. The person who is picked to replace Pelley will have a big seat to fill at a critical time for journalism and the country.

(more…)

It was a speech all Americans should hear. I first read about it in a column in the New York Times by Op-Ed writer Frank Bruni. It was given last week by New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu. He was explaining the removal of four monuments honoring the President of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis, Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and General P.G.T. Beauregard, and the Battle of Liberty Place which stood in public places in New Orleans. There were demonstrations and confrontations for and against the removal. There was some violence. Workers removing the monuments even wore protective vets and masks for fear of relatiation. One statue was removed in the middle of the night. Mayor Landrieu had fought for a year to get city and state governments and the courts to agree to take the monuments down because it was the right thing to do.

(more…)

“If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.” These are the words of Founding Father Samuel Adams. While spoken over 200 years ago, they echo the truth of today. How did we get here? Our division and mistrust of each other and our government has put us in the hands of a man that reflects the worst in us. Truth and facts are no longer a sure thing. The people in charge can’t even get history right. Trump saying Andrew Jackson, who died 15 years before it started, could have settled the Civil War. His Press Secretary saying even Hitler didn’t use chemicals on his victims. These are just two examples of the ignorance that we have come to expect from the people in charge. Misquoting and not understanding history often makes us repeat mistakes, and blinds us when we need to see clearly.

(more…)

My wife and I were recently were looking for something different to watch on television. She suggested a movie on the Bronte Sisters. I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know very much about them. I knew they had written some classic literature, but I wasn’t sure who wrote what. But I’m always interested in learning more about literature and history. So we watched “To Walk Invisible The Bronte Sisters” which was originally shown of PBS’s Masterpiece. It was the fascinating story of three young sisters who changed the world of literature by writing some of great classics in the English language. Despite the death of their mother, and the deaths of their two older sisters when they were very young, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne used their education, imagination, and passion to create great works of literature.

(more…)

When someone leaves you, there are always questions you wished you would have asked. Sometimes there are things you find out after their death that raises even more questions. My father died suddenly 15 years ago next month. He had been retired for many years after a career in television news. The last 23 years spent as an executive at ABC News. One of the  biggest stories of his career was the Vietnam War. Because of his career and my interest in the business, I probably followed news of the war more closely than many high school and college students. As the war dragged on, I was against it, and worried about being drafted. Fortunately, I drew a high enough lottery number and wasn’t called to serve. My father was responsible for the daily news coverage of the war. He sent correspondents and camera crews to war where they were in danger of being wounded or killed doing their jobs. (more…)

When I saw Justin Timberlake’s rousing opening dance number at the Academy Awards, I have to confess I’d never heard it before. I usually don’t watch the Grammys because, while I recognize some of the artists, I’m embarrassed to say I hardly know any of the songs. Growing up in the sixties, I knew every song because we listened to the radio and bought records. But that was long ago. I thought Timberlake’s nominated song, “Can’t Stop The Feeling”, was a great, feel good song. I then found out it was from the movie “Trolls”, which of course, my wife and I had not seen. We were too busy seeing all the adult nominated films like “Moonlight”, La La Land”, “Lion”, and “Hell or High Water”. I really didn’t know what I was missing until we went to visit our two granddaughters in Texas over this past weekend and entered the world of seven and four year old girls.

(more…)

There are big milestone events in everyone’s life. Going off to college. Starting a career. Getting married. Having kids. They grow up and get married and give you grandkids. Retirement. Now, I want to add moving. In today’s mobile society, people move more than ever. We have only moved three times. The first time, after about six months, from our first apartment to a house in New Jersey. We stayed there for four years. We then moved for a new job in Philadelphia in 1979. We’ve been here ever since. We raised two sons. I even rented a studio apartment and commuted on weekends for a job in New York for over five years while we lived here. Our sons are married, and they and their wives have given us four beautiful granddaughters.  My wife and I both dealt with elderly parents who would not move when their health declined, and they couldn’t live alone, or care for a house. Both sets of parents lived two and three hours away. It made a difficult situation worse. When they passed away, we were stuck cleaning out their houses. We had to dig through the history of their lives and ours. We had to throw away things that had a lifetime of meaning, but suddenly were junk that no one cared about anymore. We decided we would not put ourselves, or our sons, in that position.

(more…)

One of Donald Trump’s favorite phrases is “fake news” which is any news that he doesn’t like, or is critical of him. He doesn’t use the term when he makes up fake or “alternate facts” to justify his position on anything. He uses this charge to attack the main stream news media when it calls him out on his ridiculous rhetoric. But recently his accusations against journalists have taken an even darker turn. Trump admits he doesn’t read, so it’s no surprise he isn’t a student of history. The term “enemy of the people” was used by people like Hitler and Stalin. Hitler used the phrase “lugenpresse” or “lying press”. He eventually took over any publications that opposed him so he could spread his philosophy of hate without the resistance of a free press. “Lugenpresse” was even designated non-word of the year in Germany in 2015 by Nina Janich, a professor at the Technical University Darmstadt . She was head of a panel that evaluates words. She said the word was “contaminated by the Nazis.” In the Soviet Union, when you were branded an enemy of the people by Joseph Stalin you usually ended up dead.

(more…)

It’s happened to all of us. It robs us of time we will never get back. It’s frustrating. It’s maddening. I think it would be easier to communicate with aliens from another planet. It’s the phone call you never want to make. You’ve probably guessed. You’re getting aggravated just because I’m bringing it up. Dealing with the cable company, specifically Comcast. It’s the largest broadcasting and cable company, by revenue, in the world. It is the largest cable TV and home internet provider in the country. It’s headquartered right here in Philadelphia. It’s notorious for its terrible customer service. It’s even been voted “The Worst Company in America” twice by The Consumerist. The company never stops proving why it has earned such a distinction.

(more…)