Rich Manieri

Youth sports at its worst: Tennis, anyone?
Parents berating parents. Teenagers taunting one another. Parents taunting teenagers. Rampant cheating, dishonesty and an environment so putrefied and toxic it could breed a fish with three eyeballs before the end of the first set. Tennis, anyone? M..
We need to address the ‘Why?’ in mass shootings
In the wake of every mass killing in this country, politicians do what politicians do, which is to circle their respective wagons and offer solutions that fail to get to the heart of the issue. I don’t have a dog in the gun control fight. We alrea..
The unfairness of mass student loan forgiveness
“You wanna borrow, you gotta pay the man.” Rocky Balboa was right, even way back in Rocky I. Rocky didn’t break Bob’s thumb like Mr. Gazzo told him. Bob was late on his payments and Gazzo didn’t like it. “How come you didn’t break this..
These things I saw: A few random observations
I never had the Easter Bunny pegged for a PR flack, but he can now add it to his CV. Shortly after the White House Easter Egg Roll, the basket-toting Easter Bunny intervened and led President Biden away from a reporter who asked the president about ..
‘What’s wrong with the world?’
Sometimes, I catch myself, as I explain to 19 and 20-year-olds what life was like before Al Gore invented the Internet. “In my day, if you wanted to read an old newspaper, you had to walk over to the library.” I actually said this. I’ve never ..
History tells us to take tyrants like Putin seriously
The world seemed surprised when Hitler annexed the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia in 1938. More surprised when he invaded Poland in 1939 and flabbergasted when he marched into the Soviet Union in 1941. Never underestimate the ambitions of an evil tyr..
Wars and rumors of wars
History’s tyrants have at least one thing in common – their willingness to destroy and slaughter anything and anyone who stands in the way of conquest. This is not new. From Genghis Khan to Adolph Hitler to Vladimir Putin, civilization’s great..
So much for civility
The longer President Biden lingers in the vicinity of a live microphone, the higher the probability for mischief and yes, entertainment. Given enough time, he may even accidentally recite Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities in its entirety. I’ve been ..
Does the president really know what he’s saying?
Misspeaking requires some knowledge of what you’re saying. For example, if you meant to order a Diet Coke but ordered a regular Coke because you didn’t specify “diet,” you would have realized, either at that moment or, when you took your fir..
Airing of Grievances: Smollett, Swimmers and Headphones
Back by lukewarm demand, for all of you Festivus enthusiasts, it’s time for the annual airing of grievances. Let’s get right to it. I have to get back to training for the feats of strength. For Jussie Smollett and anyone else contemplating stagi..
What, Exactly, Will Get You Fired From CNN?
I’ve never been fired from a job, which I’m sure will now trigger calls from a portion of the readership for my immediate ouster. Anyway, I’ve quit several jobs but was never fired. I attribute this largely to my ability to make myself useful...
Bring Your Stories, Hold Your Complaints
I received a letter from prison the other day. That’s right. Prison – joint, slammer, big house. It never occurred to me that some of my readers might be incarcerated. It has, however, occurred to me, at least based on the email I receive, that ..

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About Rich Manieri
Rich Manieri is a journalism professor at Asbury University in Kentucky. He spent some 30 years as a television and print journalist, speech writer, government spokesman, communications consultant, essayist and columnist. Rich’s first book, “We Burn on Friday: A Memoir of My Father and Me,” was published in 2015. He has won both Associated Press and Emmy awards for television news reporting as well as a Keystone Award in Pennsylvania for column writing.
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