Boldt Words & Images: Martin Luther King Jr. & Me

By Bob Boldt

[I covered Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as an electronic journalist for WFLD-TV in Chicago. Behind the scenes, I saw many things that most people weren’t aware of. Dr. King is arguably the greatest man of peace of this or any other age; his inspiration strongly influenced my radicalization and social and political activism.
    I will deliver the reflections below at a meeting later this month of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Jefferson City, Missouri, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the King of Love’s killing (on April 4, 1968).]

What is really behind the Trump phenomenon?

By Bob Boldt

As early as 1968 I witnessed the death of Liberalism when I saw the Democrats ignore the strong voices of dissent against the Vietnam War and proceed with a war agenda that was as foolish as it was doomed. The irony of the situation was that the nominee that year, Hubert Humphrey, could have successfully come out against the very war the Johnson administration had been so vigorously losing. More bizarre still, President Johnson knew that Nixon and Kissinger could have well been charged with treason for their private negotiations with the South Vietnam delegation to the Paris peace talks [see “George Will Confirms Nixon's Vietnam Treason,” August 12, 2014].

Thor's Day: The Christian Right

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, talks to reporters

And its cult of masculinity

By Morris Dean

I didn't write the column I'd like to edify you with today. It's a fascinating piece written by Chris Hedges, a journalist specializing in American politics and society—his article, "The Radical Christian Right and the War on Government," which was published on October 6 on the news website TruthDig: Drilling beneath the Headlines.

Fish for Friday

My favorite cartoonist is a genius named Dan Piraro. He draws a one-square strip named "Bizarro." Don is a vegetarian and often writes gags with a vegetarian theme. I saw this one today and thought of Jim Rix, whose article "What is the cause of Heart Disease?" was published on Moristotle on November 20. [personal communication]