LOOKING UP

    Another good sunrise here in the land of the "painted sky."

    It ushered a day to pay attention to sky works.

      The symmetry of the pelican formation amused me. Natural precision.

       A good day to take to the breeze.

for adults only

a place of reason

    I was pleased to hear from a friend that his stress level has dropped, his information level is up and he has a wider view of the world's ways and events. He's made the switch to the PBS News Hour.

    If there is anything about which I think I know a thing or two, it is broadcast journalism and television news. 42 years in the trenches and you learn. As cable news devolved to opinion, forced controversy, yacking heads and a mania for breaking news and assorted hype it lost my respect. 

   The old line networks still provide some traditional balance but they too have been swept up in the post social media din of shallow, short and not very nutritional. They and the cable channels, right and left, are about audience and specifically audience size. How far we have tumbled from the days of CBS, NBC and ABC before news divisions needed to be "money makers!" Back when the mission was information and news, instead of audience, we were better served and better informed.

     It is still that way with PBS. The news is reported without hype and contrived controversy. Complex political and policy issues are dealt with in-depth, with intelligence, balance and significance. In addition the axis of interest, the topics covered, are much wider, more global, more diverse, and informative. Science, business, the arts, and medicine are given time and space. As a viewer you leave the experience fully informed and frankly, wiser. You are not being "spun," nor worn out by needless or excessive graphics, teases, or shallow reporting. They don't tilt right or left, they provide news and information, not rhetoric and hype. It is full service, intelligent and dignified broadcast journalism for adults.

the ground game

     A couple of afternoon friends on a recent stroll.

     So as the probes go deeper, and the number of indicted  grows, and the noose grows tighter and as crazy as it has been, think how this time will look in the history books. Don't you think some descendants will be embarrassed, even mortified by how their ancestors voted and stood in these days of our lives?

      See you down the trail