I can’t be the only one who recoils from a Christmas card cheerfully signed “Love, The Foster’s.”
The Foster’s what? I silently scream.
Pit Bulls. Grrrrr.
Fact is, there’s just one dog breed responsible for most deaths-by-dog in this country and that is pit bulls and pit bull mixes. Yet, despite a mountain of evidence, pit bull owners insist their animals are gentle. Absolute pussycats.
Until they aren’t, of course.
Ditch The Mall, Head To A Truck Stop
It was late November and I was headed south to a college football game in Mississippi. I stopped, as usual, at the Kenly 95 in North Carolina. It’s the Nordstrom of truck stops. A vast emporium featuring fried food, ball-cap boutiques and clean bathrooms.
Dispatch From The House Of Germs
It’s good to be home. Even if the half-decorated house which I left in a mad rush last weekis in a state of disgusting dishevelment due to a family-wide stomach virus which struck while I was gone and caused my daughter and her family to be too weak to make the 17-mile drive back to their home in Ocean View.
Christmas Sweaters: Wear 'Em With Pride
When I bought my sweater a decade ago, I actually believed I'd found the world's only elegant Christmas sweater. A crimson cardigan with a forest of nubby Christmas trees. I thought I looked cute in it. Until I caught my reflection, that is.
Wearing Christmas trees around one's mid-section is not flattering to any body type. Trust me on this one. Paired with leggings, my beloved sweater makes me look like a candy apple on a stick.
Crime Stories
One thing I learned when I covered courts back in the late 1980s was that the after-effects of violent crimes are brutal and can linger for years. Sometimes forever.
Ordinary, decent people are changed. Their hearts are hardened.
Tweetstorm Fuels "Fake News"
Can you stand one more screed about the battle of words between Washington Post reporter Dave Weigel and President Donald Trump?
Good. Because that’s what you’re getting today.
For those who slept all weekend, here’s what happened:
One-Armed Liftie, Part 2
As soon as his hospital discharge papers were signed, he was ready to get dressed. One by one we removed items from his bag only to find all his damp clothes shredded. His ski pants were intact but his boxers were nothing but fringe.
Main thing is they looked clean. Just like we always tell our kids.
Anyone Need A One-Armed Liftie?
No matter the age of your kid - mine’s 27 - this is the call no parent wants to get:
“There’s been a ski accident. Your son has been airlifted to a trauma center. Sorry, but that’s all we know.”
Press Goes Bananas Over Royals
An enterprising reporter with a contact in the royal scullery - Deep Buttercream - cracked the cake story.
The Back-Up Plan
"Calm down," he said. "You're not going to be a private eye."
Family Car Trips Were Always Hot, Cramped, Smelly - And Doomed
There was no turning back on a Dougherty family vacation.
United Breaks Guitars. And Puppies.
You want to prevent this from happening again, United? Here's a thought: Don't cram pets into airless overhead bins to suffocate.
There. Problem solved.
Ten Years Gone
The accident was in the headlines for weeks. At first, simply because two innocent teens waiting for a traffic light to turn green had been killed by a speeding drunk who never applied his brakes.
Later, the stories took a different turn when it was discovered that not only did 22-year-old Alfredo Ramos plowed into Kunhardt’s car at more than 65 mph, but that he was what was then called an “illegal immigrant” – a term most newspapers have abandoned in favor of unwieldy euphemisms.
It’s one thing to lose a case in court. It’s something else to get slapped around by a federal judge in the process.