Ronald E. Yates's Blog, page 23
February 28, 2023
Today is the day Chicago asks itself: “Who Should be mayor?”
Today, I am reposting a commentary from John Kass that appeared on his blog https://johnkassnews.com/. John is a former Chicago Tribune colleague and columnist who now produces a popular blog and podcast that deal with the “Chicago Way.” John possesses a keen eye and knows Chicago as well as any ...
February 27, 2023
“Dilbert” Bites the Dust in Hundreds of American Newspapers
I have been a fan of the Dilbert cartoon strip since it began syndication in hundreds of American newspapers back in 1989. The strip is a sassy but candid look into the management and machinations inside the walls of corporate America. Its lead character, Dilbert, is a hapless butt of ...
February 26, 2023
Will Artificial Intelligence Benefit or Destroy Us?
I have been thinking a lot about the dramatic rise of A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) in our lives since I read an article about A.I. replacing reporters and editors in American newsrooms. The idea that A. I. could be used to write news stories and columns in newspapers instead of reporters ...
February 14, 2023
How Dumb is AOC? Let Me Count the Ways
If you watched Super Bowl LXII, you might have seen two $20 million ads promoting Christianity and Jesus Christ that were sponsored by the religious craft store Hobby Lobby and other anonymous donors. One of the two “He gets us” ads portrayed Jesus as a refugee in an attempt to ...
February 12, 2023
The City of Lobsters
Once upon a time, Chicago was a city where newspapers, radio, and television news shows competed furiously with one another for news. When I started at the Chicago Tribune right out of the University of Kansas, Chicago had five competing newspapers and the world’s best training ground for reporters—the City ...
February 8, 2023
America’s “Liar-in-Chief Was At It Again During the SOTU Address
America’s “Liar-in-Chief,” otherwise known as President Joe Biden, was at it again in his rambling, mumbling state of the union address Tuesday night. Speaking before a divided Congress and an even more divided nation, Biden spewed forth a basket of lies that fact-checkers at the Washington Post and other news ...
February 7, 2023
“Objectivity Has Got To Go:” Leading Journalists Want an End of Objective Journalism
I spent nearly 30 years of my life working as a journalist. It was an honor to be a member of what some have called The Fourth Estate. I began my career in the Windy City at the Chicago Tribune. At the time, Chicago was probably Journalism’s toughest and most ...
February 5, 2023
FINDING BILLY BATTLES: An Account of Peril, Transgression, And Redemption
And now for something completely different, as they used to say on the old Monty Python show. It occurred to me that some of my followers may not have read my Finding Billy Battles trilogy, so I thought I would introduce those folks to Billy Battles—the main character in the ...
January 29, 2023
Old Hairy Legs Rides Again
Today, I am reposting a perceptive commentary that appeared yesterday in the blog produced by former Chicago Tribune colleague John Kass. It is by Marie T. Sullivan and posits that e-devices such as the iPhone, iPad, etc., may be Satan’s latest attempt to corrupt us humans and drive us mad ...
January 24, 2023
Some Inconvenient Truths about Slavery & Reparations in America
A few weeks ago, a committee in San Francisco released a proposal for reparations that includes a one-time payment of $5 million to each eligible Black resident. If enacted, the proposal could cost the city, which has a 2022-2023 budget of $14 billion, roughly $50 billion. I’m a poor mathematician, ...
