Academic Rants

Balanced Reporting             As the year comes to a close it is important to offer some balanced news. After being overseas for over a week, I can agree with President Trump on America’s news coverage. Yes, he is correct in suggesting that it is not good.   Balanced news in America no longer exists.   Networks either criticize or praise the president, and spend a great deal of time speculating on what he will do next.   So to put it politely, the Fox, CNN, and NBC affiliates are engaging in possibilities not actions.   News should be facts, not alternative facts or ideas. The world, in response, has had to develop its own viewpoint of the United States, its people and our nation’s 45 th president. Trump, the man and the Trump presidency, is virtually the sole conversation on America’s major networks.   The rest of the world is invisible under the president’s glowing haze. “America First,” has really meant “America only!”  To an international audience, President Trump ha

Reacting to the Past As the special investigations on Russian interference on the election continue, it appears that Americans remain confused about events and their impact. However, at this point there should not be any degree of doubt.   All of the government agencies have demonstrated that the Russians attacked social media, hacked emails, tried to search through and compromise voting systems and had legal and illegal contact with political campaigns.             In fact, if one wants to translate the prevailing clues it would seem that the Russians courted the Clintons and when ultimately rejected (after some financial transactions) they moved on to the Trump campaign.   It clearly seems like both campaigns are involved in some immoral if not illegal practices. Yet, while this “evidence” is broadcast on the news and newspapers, there is very little activity towards addressing the challenges presented by Russian interference.   And what seems even more astounding is that a