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Articles by John Young
Viewpoint: We all deserve the basic elements of a good life
In response to a recent question about the latest menacing, idiotic comments by the most powerful person on Earth, prime minister Carney talked about what makes Canada special and what makes Canadians special. He said Canadians care about one another. And in many ways, that’s true. And in other ways, it is worth examining this claim beyond political rhetoric and the comfort of how we might like to see ourselves and how we might like others to see us.
Truckee residents have paid enough — Vote NO on Measure K
Truckee voters are being asked to approve Measure K, a proposal that would indefinitely continue the Town’s existing half-cent transportation sales tax. Supporters describe the measure as a simple continuation of current funding for roads, snow removal, and infrastructure maintenance. But beneath the polished campaign language lies a far more important question: how much taxation is enough?
Viewpoint: Harnessing qathet's superpower
The latest news of soaring local taxes reminds us that Powell River has a huge structural problem at the core of municipal finances. And that problem is the loss of revenue from the mill, having been strip-mined by its final owner, the billionaire Jackson Widjaja. City of Powell River has one and only one near-term solution to the hole in its annual budgets (apart from soaring local taxes) and that is revenue from the Powell River Community Forest (PRCF) fund.
Viewpoint: Canada strong?
“Follow the money.” Remember that famous line from All The President’s Men? It’s the advice given to Woodward and Bernstein as they pull the threads from the unravelling fabric of Richard Nixon’s crimes. And it’s vitally important for Canadians to follow the money at this perilous time for our country.
At the post, in tangerine silks, on his horse Stagflation
There are so many reasons to grade down the vengeance jockey in the White House. So many reasons why the latest AP poll finds 61 percent of Americans firmly in the “disgusted” lane. kAm%96 3:886DE C62D@?[ 9@H6G6C[ >2J 36 H92E x 6?4@F?E6C65 2E E96 8C@46CJ DE@C6 E96 @E96C 52Ji E96 Sa]c_ E@>2E@]k^Am kAmx 5@?’E FDF2==J =@@< 2E AC@5F46 AC:46D] x’> ?@E DFC6 x’G6 =@@<65 2E E96> 6G6? @?46] qFE H96? E96 AC:46 @? E92E AF77J q:8 q@J A@AA65 FA :?
Do as he says, or democracy gets it
Everyone should be as angry as my son over the insult. And I mean everyone — Democrat, independent, libertarian, MAGA true believer. Melania, Ivanka, Don Jr., Eric, Tiffany, Barron. Yes, even J.D. “In a Trance” Vance. The insult from a petty man with no shame and no sense of duty. It ruined a sparkling notion from my hard-working son. “I wonder if the campgrounds up Poudre Canyon are open,” he said the other day.
Former Tulsa World editor recalls covering JFK assassination
Editor’s note: John Young retired from the Tulsa World in 2013 after a 53-year career. The inductee into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame died April 21. In remembrance of him, we are reprinting his column sharing his memories of covering the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. It’s become a bit of a cliche for Americans of a passing generation to reflect on where they were at the time of John F. Kennedy’s assassination on Nov. 22, 1963.
Catching the Bus
By John Mark Young “Y’all better make it light on yourselves and let me have those seats.” The bus driver motioned the Black passengers to get out of their seats and move to the rear of the bus. They had originally sat in the colored section toward the rear of the bus but the forward section reserved for white passengers had filled up and some more white passengers had just boarded and were being forced to stand. ............
Feds announce electric high-speed rail network for Toronto-Quebec City corridor
The federal government is moving ahead with the next phase of a high-speed rail network between Quebec City and Toronto, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Wednesday. The planned rail network will be 100 per cent electric, span approximately 1,000 kilometres, and reach speeds of up to 300 kilometres an hour. There will be stations in Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Montréal, Laval, Trois-Rivières and Quebec City.
Letter — We want to know the ‘truth’
To City of Mobile City Council Members: Recently you voted unanimously to hire a law firm to investigate accusations by a sitting chief of police and address the chief’s concerns about contracts, grievances and investigations involving members of the police department and city government.
Don't allow apathy to prevail in 2024, by John Young
The disbelief in the room was audible. I had just informed students in my college mass media class that – yes – a felon could be president. A multiple felon. A sentence-serving felon, as long as the felon is 35 and a citizen. Check your Constitution. Check Google. One student said she heard someone could be disqualified for engaging in an insurrection. True. In fact, a Denver judge just allowed a suit on that matter to proceed. But — well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Split screen: the statesman and the mob boss, by John Young
The day Joe Biden made an arduous and risky flight to Israel, I rubbed my eyes to read the account of another president’s mission to a remote land. This one was to North Dakota. Enroute to a campaign rally in Fargo, N.D., then-President Donald Trump had the ear of the state’s junior Republican U.S. senator, Kevin Cramer. A good time for policy talk, you’d imagine. But no. Trump wanted Cramer to do some crowd-size spitballing. Elton John had just played the arena where he was to appear, Trump observed.
Don't go making God your foil: by John Young
I’ve never felt sufficiently schooled to ascribe to a higher being that which lower beings do, or fail to. Occasionally, however, an event screams out, “Attention: Message from God.” Such is the Sept. 10 flood that erased from this earth much of the Libyan city of Derna and nearly a quarter of its 80,000 residents. Eleven thousand dead. Ten thousand more missing. Two dams burst. Many victims were carried out to sea.
Another big GOP lie: 'Economy's a wreck' : by John Young
The only useful thing to deduce from polls more than a year away from the next presidential election is this from Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin: “We have a deficit of accurate, reliable information in the electorate.” She’s right. A ghastly chunk of today’s voters simply don’t know what they’re talking about. “They tell pollsters we are in a recession,” she writes. “They tell us Biden was involved in his son’s business ventures.
Corruption Lady is a Junkie Now: by John Young
Reviewing my shiny new set of Fulton County Indictment Cards, hearing a TV analyst piercingly call events “corruption colliding with consequences,” I thought of a nice old lady I encountered in 2016. Well, not exactly nice. Gray-haired and petite, she certainly looked less than deadly. That was before she saw literature with which I had volunteered to canvas area apartments for Hillary Clinton.
Uganda’s boda bodas: Half a century of getting to places, madly
Ali Mayende has passed on. In the early 1970s or late 1960s, he tied a white handkerchief to his bicycle handlebars and began ferrying passengers from Busia, a small town on the edges of Eastern Uganda to the border. Half a century later, there are around five million boda bodas across East Africa, where they have in turn been labelled saviours, predators, death traps and the fastest way to get anywhere. Yet almost no one seems to know the man who started it all.
Better a bad dog than a mad dog: By John Young
Brace yourselves for the House inquiry. Joe Biden’s dog did it again. Commander, the first family’s young German shepherd, has been teething — on Secret Service agents. Deliverer of this news: Judicial Watch, a right-wing entity that exists to suck blood out of equal justice wherever found. Not surprisingly, right-wing media sank its fangs therein. A host on NewsMax explains this as the “Democrat dog” being “anti-law enforcement.” What else would one expect?
Editorial: How not to get indicted
Column by John Young The day Donald Trump got arraigned for attempting to overthrow the U.S. government — actions by which he triggered a deadly riot and raked in millions of dollars on a calculated lie — I went to the store for a celebratory donut. Celebratory? Wasn’t it a “sad day”? A “somber day”? “Tragic”? “Sobering”? Terms like this came from thoughtful TV people I respect. Not so. They know full well it was a great day.
Editorial: Better a bad dog than a mad dog
Photo By @Potus/Courtesy Twitter: Column By John Young Brace yourselves for the House inquiry. Joe Biden’s dog did it again. Commander, the first family’s young German shepherd, has been teething — on Secret Service agents. Deliverer of this news: Judicial Watch, a right-wing entity that exists to suck the blood out of equal justice wherever found. Not surprisingly, right-wing media sank its fangs therein.
Silva: Proposed Air Quality Regulations Threaten South Texas Growth – Rio Grande Guardian
South Texas is becoming a national hub for manufacturing. Our area has added 2,000 new manufacturing jobs over the last five years, representing about 30% of all new manufacturing jobs in the U.S. according to Mike Willis of the South Texas Manufacturing Association. Further, Keith Patridge at the McAllen Economic Development Corporation is finding many companies are moving labor-intensive plants to the U.S. from Mexico as automation becomes more prevalent.
Editorial: High court’s ‘little green men’ rulings
File Photo By Vandana Ravikumar/Cronkite News: Column By John Young Here’s the deal: They might be out there right now, little green men, fueling up a saucer armada for the takeover of us. The odds of them being out there are on their side. This universe has too many incubating places for us to be alone. Who’s to protect us? Well, of course, right-wingers on today’s Supreme Court. Thomas. Alito. Kavanaugh. Gorsuch. Barrett. Roberts. They’re here to run things. You don’t think green beings are a threat?
A kill shot against democracy that missed : by John Young
Call it “system fail” for those who wish our system will fail. In the 1962 thriller “The Manchurian Candidate,” a high-profile figure is programmed as an assassin in a bid to overthrow the U.S. government.
10 Dos & Don'ts for Neighbors Who Struggle to Share the Road with Combines
No-tillage is a wonderful development for many reasons. One of the big ones is that we have fewer pieces of machinery to repair, wear out and move from place to place. However, even with the great advantages of no-tillage, it is still necessary to drive planters and combines from field to field. That means some huge modern machines will be meeting small cars on narrow country roads.
Trump the victim? Can you count to 10?
by John Young A recent poll finds only two of 10 Republicans think Donald Trump should be charged with the crimes for which he was indicted in Florida. It’s all political, they say, all Joe Biden’s doing. They don’t dare say that a grand jury authorized it, and 31 criminal charges, as with his criminal indictment in Manhattan. The jurors saw the evidence and read the law. In explaining this, special counsel Jack Smith had only one request of Americans: Read the indictment. I did that.
He should pay for defiling our property
by John Young We have been remodeling our property. The ketchup stains are gone. The glass shards at the Capitol, too. The former tenant who’s given a bad name to scoundrels everywhere has been replaced by someone who honors the place with his demeanor and sense of history. We Americans can feel good about the changes on the property we own: the White House. I do. At the same time, I can only feel rage at the man who defiled it. And at the partisans who rationalize his every action. Every. Single. One.
Hilarity ensues on "Voter Fraud 9-1-1"
by John Young Republicans in the Texas Senate have advanced a bill to post the Ten Commandments in all public classrooms. It has a twist, however. Under the bill, Commandment 8’s “thou shalt not bear false witness” will be amended with “except with elections lost by Donald Trump and attendant baseless claims of rampant voter fraud.” The truth about the results of the 2020 election is undeniable. In Red State America, however, myths remain the lie of the land.
Young Column: Big Lie is just one of so, so many
Early vote-count results were encouraging, so he planned a victory speech. Then the tally went sour, and so did he. “It was stolen from me,” said Donald Trump. Over the next few weeks Trump pestered state officials alleging irregularities. He threatened to sue. “Fraud,” he declared without a shred of evidence. But Ted Cruz had won — the 2016 Iowa Caucuses, that is. Donald Trump wasn’t even one primary contest into his presidential pursuit, and already he was lying about it.
John Young Column: King Trump and the EPA exodus
Politics Done Right: Mon-Fri 3-4PM Central Chat - Join Looking back, it all seems so long ago – another era entirely, an epoch committed to dusty catacombs and flaking Sanskrit. Surely it couldn’t be just two years since the end of Pharaoh’s reign. We sang songs about his departure. We celebrated his exile to his gold-plated compound. But King Trumptankhamun — “King Trump” of popular parody — remains a player. Not because the people want him back. Not because the times call for his return.
John Young Column: Safety advocates vs. industry shysters
Pete Buttigieg chose his words with care. In an MSNBC interview, the secretary of transportation easily could have scapegoated someone for the disaster at East Palestine, Ohio. But an investigation is in the works. As a responsible person, Buttigieg signaled that he’d wait for facts. Unlike, for instance, someone who hauled a bunch of “Trump” water bottles to the disaster and spewed forth a cole slaw of gibberish and unfounded claims to stoke anger among the traumatized.
The End of Innocence - The JFK Assassination
S01 E02 - The End of Innocence - The JFK Assassination - Episode 2 In this week's episode, we talk about why President Kennedy had a trip to Texas planned in November of 1963. We are also going to hear about a huge argument between JFK and LBJ the night before the assassination. We will then look...
John Young Column: Anti-debt crusaders? That's one big GOP con
Until that televised perp walk, enough with George Santos. When this country elected a serial fabulist (“I’m self-funding my own campaign”) to its highest office, it made manifest that lying is a coin of conquest. Enough about a little congressman and his little lies. Something bigger is dead ahead. We are approaching a moment with “catastrophe” written all over it: a game of chicken over the debt limit driven by Republican hard-liners. The nation raised its debt limit three times under Donald Trump.
Servants of the Damned
Who are the servants? Two headlines last week pretty much summed up how the world works – to the world’s detriment. The first: a report in the journal Science that Exxon-Mobile’s own scientists were “remarkably accurate” in predicting global warming as far back as the 1970s, and of course played it down. The second: that Sen. Joe Manchin’s top aide has resigned to lobby for Big Energy behemoth American Petroleum Institute. Servants of the Damned Yes, this is how it works.
Editorial: Dark money’s assault on our planet
Photo Courtesy Bureau of Engraving and Printing Column By John Young Something is killing the Great Salt Lake. Any guesses what that might be? Lake Mead and Lake Powell are in the clutches of the worst water-level drop in their life-giving histories. What might the problem be? With hundreds of wildfires this year, more than 200 Texas counties have earned “crop disaster area” designation. Any suggestions as to why?
Editorial: 'Warning signs'? How about at the point of purchase?
Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images: People visit memorials for victims of the mass shooting at a Texas elementary school, in the city of Uvalde Town Square. Column By John Young As Donald Trump butchered the names of the 21 Uvalde dead, a ghoulish gong chimed for each. That’s not what was heard by those he addressed at the National Rifle Association convention in Houston.
St. Peter: A Misunderstood Apostle
By JOHN YOUNG St. Peter is seen as an impetuous man who acted without thinking. He at first refused to let Jesus wash his feet, then went to the other extreme and wanted to be washed all over. He declared he would follow Jesus even to death, and then betrayed Him three times.
Staggering toll of willful negligence
With an American death toll at 1 million and counting from COVID-19, Crede Bailey is a whole other statistic. It didn’t kill him. It only took his leg and ruined his lungs. I wouldn’t know of Bailey’s suffering had I not read about his boss’s staggering negligence in Jonathan Karl’s “Betrayal.” Bailey was director of Donald Trump’s security office. As such he was one of many victims of what Karl calls “almost total disregard for COVID protocols” in the early stages of the pandemic.
Young column: Staggering toll of willful negligence
“The disease Trump said would cause so little suffering – no worse than the flu – over the last two years was the third leading cause of death behind heart disease and cancer.” However, its depiction on how the Trump White House behaved during the pandemic is every bit as scandalous. People continue to die from the pandemic Trump so brazenly dismissed. No employer would have been allowed to endanger his employees like Trump did — and by extension, the people he swore to defend and protect.
The Gift That Keeps on Giving, Even for Innovative No-Tillers
Editor’s Note: Following the No-Till Farmer Video Review that featured he and his son’s kickoff presentation at the 30th National No-Tillage Conference, Kentucky no-tiller John Young shared this predicament that many of you have also found yourself in. We wanted to share it with you as well — from the founding family of no-till. NO-TILL FARMING in Kentucky is a good way of life. We enjoy it immensely.
Young column: Of legal weed and monkeys on the wing
“The better times are about more than weed, but it is the most obvious jolt, as any visitor will see with all the refreshed storefronts there.” Why did Texas Gov. Greg Abbott revoke the wrench he threw into truck traffic at the border? Because it caused produce to rot and manufacturers to gasp for precious parts? Because it broke the law – trade and borders being Congress’ responsibility? Because it was the biggest black eye since policy makers had to admit Texas was not impervious to winter?
Amazon HQ land is no playground for the wealthy
Once zoned for community facilities, the stretch of land on a floodplain between two Cape Town rivers has been the subject of a court dispute between developers hoping to build a series of tower blocks and groups opposed to the plan. A former neighbour recalls the place as one of an ancient battle and some strange encounters 21 April 2022 - 05:00 John Young My first encounter with the River Club was bizarre: a cricket match interrupted by an ambulance and a police van.
Young column: I pledge allegiance to her right to sit
“ “Last week a court awarded her $90,000 for the grief she endured at Klein Oak High in Spring, Texas, when she refused to stand for the pledge.“ I pledge allegiance to her right to sit Mari Oliver is my hero. Me and Teddy Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Abe Lincoln and so many people of consequence. Much more consequence than, say, responsible figures at her school who harassed her because she would not recite the Pledge of Allegiance as Texas requires classes to do.
Young column: OK, Senator: Let's play "Rate My Faithfulness"
“I know a lot of Americans who have never darkened a church door and who show more fealty to moral standards and basic decency than those who attend religiously. For some, Senator, religion is just show biz.” So brainless and insidious were some of the questions, if I were the nominee I’d have stormed out of my hearing long before, say, Lindsey Graham did.
The Banning Of Novak Djokovic
By JOHN YOUNG The expulsion of Novak Djokovic from Australia by the Australian government has made worldwide headlines. The government claims this ban is justified, even though it deprives Djokovic of the chance of achieving a world record in the sport to which he has contributed so much. This issue involves more than a decision about a particular individual. It raises very serious concerns about government power and how it was exercised in this case.
The First Christmas: Our Lady’s Perspective
By JOHN YOUNG When the angel Gabriel appeared to Our Lady at the Annunciation and delivered his startling message, it must have taken her some time to adjust to its implications. She who had intended to remain a virgin was told that she would bear a Son, and that He would be Divine! She was married to St. Joseph, but the implication is that they did not intend to have sexual relations. Otherwise her words to the angel when told she would have a Son, “I know not man,” would hardly make sense.
When culture war is all you're about
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When The Words Are Not Understood
By JOHN YOUNG “All the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are on the Index.” A Catholic acquaintance said this to me many years ago when the Catholic Church had an Index of forbidden books. He was clearly rather perplexed, as I was when he made his statement. I said: “Even his Sherlock Holmes stories?” He replied: “I suppose so.” I didn’t know what to make of his assertion but continued to read Sherlock Holmes, as it was incredible that the Catholic Church would have forbidden the stories.
Near and Far: Sounds of crisis and absence
You might think that with the fate of our species and countless thousands of other species in the balance, there would be broad and deep public conversation in Canada and around the world about fundamentally changing how we do pretty much everything. But that’s not happening. ~ John Young Near and Far is a column about public issues and cultural affairs Did you hear that sound? It was almost imperceptible, wasn’t it? That’s the sound of the climate crisis becoming a permanent emergency.
Young: A valedictory about pride-and prejudice
The valedictorian left the podium empty-handed, except for his hold on classmates’ hearts. The principal took away his microphone and his prepared remarks, but when grads shouted, “Let him speak,” another mic was produced and, by memory, he said all he intended. “For so long I tried to bend and break and shrink to society’s expectations,” Bryce Dershem said at a moment when he was told to do exactly that.
Culture war’s ghost hunters
Young-At-Large by John Young If this is “woke,” bring it. Add my voice to those calling on the NCAA to stick it to states that marginalize transgender individuals.
Where is your apology to the American people, Newsmax?
I’m waiting for my apology from Newsmax. Last week it apologized to Eric Coomer, director of security for Dominion Voting Systems, for spreading Republican lies about the 2020 election. It apologized for “any harm that our reporting” caused to Coomer and his family. They had received death threats generated by the Trump lie machine. Newsmax is trying to save its tail feathers ahead of a lawsuit for which, in the case of Fox News and its own Big Lie claims, Dominion seeks $1.8 million.
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