@keckb33
Retired English teacher, adjunct faculty/community college, columnist for www.ctnewsjunkie.com, media-literacy crusader, Baltimore native/New England transplant, lifelong Orioles fan, football coach, husband, dad, grandad, dog lover.
“As US hospitals face an increasing risk of encountering measles and pressure to immediately spot it, healthcare workers face an unusual barrier: Many don’t know what it looks like.”
https://ctnewsjunkie.com/2026/02/25/hospitals-fighting-measles-confront-a-challenge-few-doctors-have-seen-it-before/
Idiocracy is now:
“Camacho ascended to the presidency in 2505 as the result of an extreme dumbing down of America, a consequence of evolution, which does not necessarily reward intelligence.”
https://medium.com/@barthkeck/having-amused-itself-to-death-american-has-become-an-idiocracy-f50fe308d9dd
A 5th grade mentality.
“By mixing video of real missile strikes with clips from action films and video games, the White House makes light of violent combat and turns military matters into entertainment.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/03/06/iran-strikes-meme-war/
As scores die in the Iran war —including American service members—the news back home does not stop. Think Epstein files, the Noem firing, ICE raids, and this one (linked below). To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, are you better off than you were 15 months ago?
https://apple.news/ACIXaS29_QziFWOM1sBmWsw
“The school strike in Minab, which killed dozens, including children, appears to be part of an attack on an adjacent naval base in southern Iran, where officials said US forces were operating.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/world/middleeast/iran-school-us-strikes-naval-base.html?smid=url-share
All of a sudden, solar is good. Gee, what happened? 🤷♂️
"Together with battery storage, solar will account for 79% of the new capacity added to the US power grid this year. Most of it is destined for Republican states, with 40% going to Texas alone."
wapo.st/4bn25AY
Hypocrisy, thy name is “MAGA.”
“This is not a preemptive war. It is a war of choice, a discretionary war. It is a war for regime change. Many of Iran’s 92 million people want the regime removed. But it is far from certain that this will be the outcome.”
No worries. The unlicensed “health influencer” who never finished her medical training will fix it. 🙄
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5756339-trump-ex-surgeon-general-jerome-adams-casey-means-senate/
Gold medal 46 years to the day after the Miracle on Ice! I wrote this op-ed on the 40th anniversary — still resonates today:
https://ctnewsjunkie.com/2020/02/18/20200217_op-ed_americas_miracle_on_ice_still_teaches_lessons_40_years_later/
My latest "Football Chronicles" essay, inspired by the winter Olympics and memories of 1980:
"As I look back now as a coach myself — albeit as a 20-year football coach — I wonder what I might learn from Herb Brooks, the architect of the 1980 Gold Medal hockey team."
medium.com/@barthkeck/w...
“The strategy demonstrates a sophisticated grasp of how to try to unravel more than 100 years of progress in protecting children from deadly pathogens.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/health/rfk-school-vaccine-mandates.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
From the Ministry of Truth. (George Orwell would be impressed.)
“The administration ordered the removal of signs and exhibits related to slavery at multiple national parks.”
https://mississippitoday.org/2026/02/05/medgar-evers-killer-trump-says-stop-calling-him-racist/
“That steady growth — driven in large part by an aging population — became even more pronounced after the pandemic.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/02/14/health-care-industry-fuels-employment/
“If the people participating in the Bad Bunny backlash slowed down and looked a little closer, they might find that they actually have a great many values in common with him.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/2026/02/culture-war-bad-bunny-turning-point-usa-super-bowl/685939/
Thanks so much, Pete. I appreciate your thoughtful words. Means more to me than you know.
“The man is a cruel and selfish boor unfit to lead any country in the world, let alone the United States of America.”
https://ctnewsjunkie.com/2026/02/09/opinion-the-most-unfit-man-to-occupy-the-white-house-ever/
"It’s just culture-war stuff, an effort to stoke his base’s sense that something is changing in a way that makes them feel uncomfortable. In a way that makes him feel uncomfortable."
My latest op-ed:
“The typical ‘level-headed’ manner many typically take when analyzing Trump ignores an obvious fact: The man is a cruel and selfish boor unfit to lead any country in the world.”
https://ctnewsjunkie.com/2026/02/09/opinion-the-most-unfit-man-to-occupy-the-white-house-ever/
The definition of patriotism.
“I fear that few people really care about journalism, but we are dead without it. Someday something bad will happen, something terrible on a national scale, and the thing we’ll need most, literally to survive, is information.”
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/a-lament-for-the-washington-post-a5509d63
It’s all performative bullsh*+ to keep the MAGA base happy. Such a crock.
As the MAGAverse eschews Bad Bunny and tunes in to Kid Rock this weekend during Super Bowl halftime, I’m reminded of this essay I wrote last summer. Denouncing Bad Bunny is just the latest b.s. distraction cooked up by the Trump cult.
Who would think this? Maybe Evangelical Christians?
“…and 7% said they think the Trump administration is being too lenient in its treatment of undocumented immigrants in the United States.”
https://ctnewsjunkie.com/2026/02/05/trump-admin-too-harsh-on-immigrants-60-of-voters-say-in-qpoll/
And all along, I thought the MAGAverse stopped watching the NFL way back when Kaepernick took a knee. Wouldn’t that make this “alternative programming” during halftime of the Super Bowl unnecessary?
Great video! Mass action is required to make any real headway, as she says. Question is, how do we make that happen ... CAN we make it happen?
I’m also interested in his ideas.
“A president who doesn’t care about the law, who commands an obedient Congress and is supported by a radicalized base of tens of millions of people who believe his lies, represents a threat to the next election.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/opinion/midterms-election-influence-trump.html
My latest:
"Call him churlish, grumpy, heartless — whatever you’d like. Bill Belichick also deserves to be called 'Hall of Fame Coach.' No question whatsoever."
medium.com/@barthkeck/f...
He makes that point, essentially: Businesses can reallocate profits into employee benefits; nonprofits such as school systems obviously lack the same cash flow. So, as you say, it's all about where US citizens place their societal values.