This Weekender is longer than usual, begun after a walk. Several items I’d meant to include will have to wait until tomorrow or Tuesday. — MCM
Brain Shutdown: The banner headline high on page 1 of the Sunday Republican newsprint editions reads
‘It’s like their brain shuts down’
The story out of Worcester by masslive reporter Michael Bonner is not about how millions of Americans (although probably no longer a majority) still accept the Executive Branch accounts of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks designed to terrorize the American people — even though those accounts are completely unsupportable scientifically — because mountains of relevant evidence is being suppressed by the Executive Branch, and the mainstream media is apparently OK with it.
No, the story is Covid-related, as are many of the top stories in newspapers and on radio and TV every day throughout the country. Covid, Covid, Covid. The subhead: “Researchers study how COVID causes some to experience dementia-like symptoms.” (Even for subscribers, that story was not on the masslive website by 11:15 this morning. The story that topped the list is headed ”COVID vaccine mandates: Massachusetts hospitals see upwards of 90% of caregivers immunized as threats of job loss loom.”
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How ’Bout Them Sox!: The big teaser headline in white against a blue background in the Republican today is
‘A GRAND WIN FOR SOX’
The subhead is “The Red Sox had 2 grand slams last night for a 9-5 win over the Astros in Houston, tying the series at 1-1, Page B1. The headline and subhead over the story there by Kristie Ripken is “Grand win ties series: Martinez, Denver’s drive in 8 runs for Boston.”
In other news . . .
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Russ Kick Is Gone . . . Who?: The relatively unknown Russ Kick died on Sept. 12 at his home in Tucson, Arizona. Below are links to bylines and headlines of obituaries in the Washington Post and the New York Times, published on Sept. 24 and Oct. 15, respectively.
By Harrison Smith, “Russ Kick, writer, editor and ‘rogue transparency activist,’ dies at 52.”
By Katharine Q. Seelye, “Russ Kick, 52, Author and Star in the World of Activist Researchers.”
For a brief autobiographical sketch of Kirk from one of his websites, http://russkick.com, click HERE. The Wikipedia entry for him is HERE. For a brief obituary and some tributes at http://insideeko.com, click HERE.
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Former Columnist, Future Governor?: Nicholas Kristoff, who took a leave of absence from the New York Times last June, is exploring a candidacy for governor of his home state, Oregon. The story as reported by Marc Tracy is headed “Times Veteran Leaves to Ponder Political Run. Kristoff, 62, was employed by the newspaper for 37 years as a reporter, editor and columnist. A Fox News report quoted him, HERE, as saying, “I’ve reluctantly concluded that I should try not only to expose problems but also see if I can fix them directly.” The Seattle Times used THIS STORY from the Washington Post by Felicia Sonmez and Amy B. Wang.
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Two by Whitehead: John W. Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute is not pleased with everything either, or at least he wasn’t when he wrote two essays in 2019 and 2020. Find them HERE and HERE.
— Mark Channing Miller