Memorial Day weekend should be a good time to be an American. Find a few moments in there to also make it a meaningful one. — The long running joke turned meme from the movie Titanic has the elderly Rose character exclaiming “It’s been 84 years…” before recounting the fictionalized story of the famous real life sinking ship. Donald Robert McCloud beat it by two years. The Navy Fire Controlman who died aboard the U.S.S. Oklahoma…

Local governments, people, and infrastructure are more important as American politics are nationalized. — It is inarguable that politics in America are nationalized. The rise of mass media and network news, followed by the smartphone revolution and social media explosion, was inevitably going to lead to interconnectivity. News media needing the biggest audience possible naturally focuses on issues of wide-spread importance to the most…

Those two slurs that the headlines are focusing on did not happen in a vacuum; they happened in a sequence. Those two slurs that the headlines are focusing on did not happen in a vacuum; they happened in a sequence. Things don’t happen in a vacuum; they happen in a…

The transition from high school graduate to college freshman isn’t for everyone, and it is past time to admit it. — It is the time of the year where this year’s freshmen are finishing off their first year of college right as next fall’s freshmen are graduating high school. American society has spent generations perfecting this pipeline, trying to get the maximum number of high school graduates into colleges and universities…

West Virginia is about to get a record amount of outside investment and in-state fundraising…in political money. — Normally when a big investor or company announces a plan to pour millions of investment dollars into the State of West Virginia it is accompanied by fanfare and headlines. …

In which I admit that sometime between Atari 2600 and PlayStation 2 or 3 gaming has passed me by, and that’s ok. — “Over the centuries” quipped Terry Pratchett, “mankind has tried many ways of combating the forces of evil… prayer, fasting, good works and so on. Up until Doom, no one seemed to have thought about the double-barrel shotgun. Eat leaden death, demon…” Hey, I understood that reference! I played me a…

Spare a thought for the death of political punditry’s dream booking of the 2024 presidential election. Joe Biden is officially running. — Spare a thought for the death of political punditry’s dream booking of the 2024 presidential election. President Joe Biden is officially running for reelection. The Washington Post: Claiming that his presidency has pulled the country back from the brink on all those fronts, Biden underlined his ambition to turn what…

Delegate Pritt’s party switch makes one less for dwindling West Virginia Democrats — If you are concerned that a dwindling number of a certain thing means that thing is going away, you call it endangered. This is something with which West Virginians are of course familiar. Eastern Cougars, flying squirrels, Peregrine Falcons, and various bats are just some of the endangered species in…

Two communities, one college, higher education, and the after effects of a real life trolley problem — In his early days as president of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology, Dr. T. Ramon Stuart has been using the term “communiversity.” What a great term for an important concept: Integrating his charged place of higher learning with the community. …