Columns

My wife has ants in her plants. She also has rabbits and squirrels and birds, oh my!

They once were surely more appropriate and just as joyous, those parades of yesteryear when teams that won championships made their way through a city’s main thoroughfare to acknowledge the adoring masses who see themselves as integral to the ultimate victory just achieved. On the floats were the players and coaches, well dressed, even, depending on the decade, in suits and ties, and waving while flashing their widest grins.

The viral video of the Montgomery, Alabama riverboat brawl on Aug. 5 has led to numerous internet memes highlighting this violent confrontation between the Black riverboat co-captain who was on duty and the group of White people who assaulted him. Many of the memes have referenced Jason Aldean’s country hit “Try That in a Small Town,” whose lyrics have been interpreted by critics as promoting racial discord steeped in longstanding Southern hostility.

I was not a Barbie girl, per se.

One hundred years ago this week, America was in mourning. The president had suddenly died, and Hollywood was about to collapse. The two were linked in the greatest failure you’ve never heard of. Everything that could go wrong did.

Last week a whistleblower testified before Congress, alleging that federal officials have concealed evidence of unidentified flying objects from the public for decades.

With the “Barbie” movie kicking up sparkle dust, I’d like to go on record thanking Barbie for my brief foray into sewing.

Children will begin returning to school soon. While parents will be focused on getting the best deals on school supplies, some of us may be asked to help raise money for class projects, field trips, and other activities in the upcoming school year.

Most people who plan for long-term care plan to eventually become eligible for Medicaid. This is also true for people who have nursing home insurance, because those insurance benefits are usually capped at a certain number of days or a certain amount of money.

I called Tony Bennett when a humanitarian crisis loomed. It was 2006 and herders, supported by the Sudanese government, were laying waste to farm villages in Darfur, murdering men and boys and committing heinous atrocities against women. At the time, Tony was in the midst of a remarkable career resurgence, recording duets with Sting and Barbra Streisand and Tim McGraw. But there was no mention of career on our call. “I’ll meet you in New York!” he said, joining Meryl Streep in a campaign I launched called AID DARFUR. He went on to headline two fundraisers for me.