By Terry Manning
My mother asked me once if it’s hard to find subjects for my columns. The short answer? Yes.
Yes, because typically I like to bolster my perspectives by looking for others of a similar bent to include. I lean on publications I am familiar with and have a track record of reliability. Or maybe, being a blue dot in a red state, it’s my way of reminding myself, “See, it’s not just you!”
The long answer to her question? Also yes, because the news cycle is so jam-packed nowadays it’s hard to focus on just one thing that can be discussed with any requisite thoroughness before it spins out of the public consciousness — and will fit the editor’s parameters for column length.
So this week, you get a smattering of takes on a smattering of issues.
Free Comic Book Day: My father started subscribing to the local newspaper when I was a toddler. Why? Because I liked to read the daily “headline news” (his joking name for the comics page), and he thought anything that helped me learn to read was a good thing.
He was right. The funny pages were a gateway drug to comic books and the Scholastic Book Club, where I was introduced to Encyclopedia Brown, the Hardy Boys, and the Three Investigators. I read sports biographies of the day’s biggest football stars, including yes, even O.J. Simpson, before his fall from grace. Stephen King followed, then noted works by Black authors.
People don’t read daily papers like they used to, but comic books are still out there, and this Saturday is Free Comic Book Day. Find a comic book shop near you, a real comic shop, not some big-box retailer with a half-shelf overflowing with last month’s issues. In the real comic shops, likely located in a small shopping plaza or strip mall, you can find people who still love comics and can point your budding reader to age-appropriate that can pique their curiosity and fan the spark of their passion for reading.
And if you see something you like, you can grab a book for yourself. They are free, after all.
Beyoncé goes country: I haven’t heard much of her new album, but there are a couple of songs I like. Without going too deeply into her justified exploration of the genre given its Black roots, I will say I liked Beyoncè’s music when her albums were collections of songs, not social statements. But having done disco on her last album, and country in this one, what genre will she try next? If it’s gospel, take my money now!
Trump on trial: Watching the election-influence trial out of New York, I’ve enjoyed watching the former president finally run into a judge who treats him like any other defendant would be treated. For the most part. He still gets away with a level of misbehavior most defendants wouldn’t dare attempt.
If you’re still of the mind the system is out to get Trump, watching how hard it bends over backward to keep from inflaming his gang of ne’er-do-well supporters should be adequate proof otherwise. Speaking of justice …
The Supreme Court: I don’t know whether the high court will have ruled on the former president’s quest for immunity by the time this is published — probably not, since delay works in his favor — but it’s hard not to see how the Supreme Court is just another institution that has been corrupted by partisan politics.
The mere notion that a sitting President could order the death of his rivals and be protected by his office from being held accountable should sicken anyone who values, well, anything. We are familiar with the phrase “No man is above the law,” but it’s worth reading the full statement from President Theodore Roosevelt.
“No man is above the law and no man is below it: nor do we ask any man’s permission when we ask him to obey it.”
A notable number of justices think the President should only have to obey the law when he or she feels like it. And if the President doesn’t? Well, that’s the President, so what are you going to do? It’s obscene.
The UFL: I am still not sure why the United Football League (uniting the old USFL and XFL) launched while many sports fans were focused on NCAA basketball, the NBA, and Major League Baseball, but the level of play has been pretty good. If nothing else, guys are getting to play instead of sitting on the bench behind high-salary starters. Check ’em out.
Terry E. Manning is a Clemson graduate and worked for 20 years as a journalist. He can be reached at teemanning@gmail.com.
