“In Defense of Real Newspapers” is the headline of the editorial in last week’s Falls Church News-Press, referencing an article from a few days before in The Washington Post.
That Post article (I saw the headline but had no time to wade through the verbiage) apparently reported that political-advocacy groups are creating newspapers that, rather than being fair and balanced (as the saying goes), were in fact a front for partisan political positions.
The Washington Post criticizing others for having a political bent and partisan coverage? Irony is fun! And for the News-Press to say, with a straight face, that it keeps its own editorial opinions on the editorial page and doesn’t allow them to bleed into news coverage? Mmmmm, questionable at best.
But as the line I bring up again and again from Chuck Berry puts it: “Live like you wanna live, darlin’ — ain’t nobody gonna knock it.”
SCHOOL ENROLLMENT STILL DOWN: Our own Brian Trompeter has coverage this week and I had coverage last week, noting that both Fairfax County Public Schools and Arlington Public Schools have yet to return to pre-COVID enrollment levels.
That’s based on the a##es-in-classes count of Sept. 30, which is the official figure reported to state education officials.
They’re getting some of the students back that they lost during the lockdown mania of COVID, but apparently some parents who pulled their kids out of public schools are happy where they ended up.
THIS IS WHY EVEN DR. FREUD WOULDN’T HAVE TAKEN ME AS A PATIENT: Weird dreams proliferated in the overnight hours at Casa de Scotty this weekend. And the strangest one, perhaps, had me, in the dream, playing Monopoly against none other than “Maude” herself: the late, great Bea Arthur.
Go figure. And if you have analysis of what it all means, be my guest.
— Scott McCaffrey