by John L Micek

Halloween horror: Top ten cartoons of the week

It was easier to enjoy holidays like Halloween when the economy was strong, prices were affordable, and we weren't worried about robots stealing our jobs. Jeff Koterba brilliantly mined the malaise surrounding Halloween this year in our most-popular ..

October 30, 2025

New York takes a hard left turn

Making Sense By Michael Reagan Next Tuesday it looks like the people of New York are going to elect a socialist. Unless there’s a last-minute miracle, the polls say Zohran Kwame Mamdani will defeat former governor Andrew Cuomo and become the mayor..

President Trump makes ‘Big Macs’ great again

Consumers expect to have choices when they shop. They make decisions based on price, packaging, brand name – whatever strikes their fancy when filling the shopping cart. It’s part of what makes our system better than the old Soviet-style grocery..

The longterm impact of ‘No Kings’

A few weeks back, scores of people in major American cities (including where I live) and small rural towns in blue, red, and purple states participated in “No Kings” rallies and marches to adamantly defend democracy and fiercely denounce Preside..

Baby Ruth and a Halloween night to remember

On Halloween night, parents now must decide between the traditional activity — taking the youngsters trick-or-treating — or a newer option: watching the World Series, The fall classic once ended in mid-September, but could extend into November t..

On friendship

I purposefully maintain a small circle of friends because I value deep, meaningful connections. Also, I’m terrible at remembering names. Since when is remembering someone’s name a prerequisite for friendship? When I was a kid, I used to be frien..

Can we talk sensibly about Veterans Day?

Tyrades! by Danny Tyree “Write something sensible.” I’m finishing this column on the first anniversary of my mother’s passing, and I can still hear her cajoling me to cater to her down-to-earth tastes. Her funny bone was unpretentious. She c..

October 29, 2025

The problem with unwanted ballrooms

“He did WHAT to the East Wing?” If someone called me up at work and said “I knocked down half of your house, and will be installing a pool in your backyard as well as a gazebo at no charge to you,” I would be apoplectic. The idea a stranger ..

October 28, 2025

America flushes itself down the toilet

Is it too pretentious to launch this piece with a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche? The German philosopher and cultural critic has been dead since 1900, but he’s totally in tune with the America of 2025: "When you look into the abyss, the abyss also..

Halloween’s 30-year slide: From outrageous to obsolete

Halloween has lost its punch. That’s according to pop culture expert Robert Thompson, trustee professor and founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University. “The post-World War II years were the g..

October 27, 2025

A $9 billion health care gorilla

The health insurance industry always seems to win in Washington health care debates. The most famous example was Obamacare, which transformed from a liberal crusade against insurance companies into a law guaranteeing them new profits, mandating Amer..

Halloween hijinks: Top ten cartoons of the week

Even though we're still a week away from Halloween, it's never too early for cartoonists to flex their holiday-drawing muscles. Our most-reprinted Halloween cartoon this week comes from Chris Weyant, who drew two pumpkins and the impact reading too m..

October 23, 2025

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