It’s hard for some to keep the facts straight in this “post-truth” age of “fake news” and hyper-partisan demagoguery. It certainly wasn’t easy for the demagogue-in-chief, President Donald Trump, who preceded a visit to areas of California hit hardest by the Camp Fire and Woolsey Fire with a tweet blaming the state’s wildfires on poor […]
The Canary
Posted inOpinion
Dirty business
There are some folks in the Santa Ynez Valley who have been digging a hole for years. They keep trying to put a fence around it with a sign that says “Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, Keep Out.” While they’ve filled their hole with racism, contempt, a little bit of anger, and a lot […]
Posted inOpinion
Dirty business
There are some folks in the Santa Ynez Valley who have been digging a hole for years. They keep trying to put a fence around it with a sign that says “Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, Keep Out.” While they’ve filled their hole with racism, contempt, a little bit of anger, and a lot […]
Posted inOpinion
Speak out
People just want to be heard, I’ve come to learn. It explains so much about us on so many levels. It’s why social media is a nearly universal addiction among people in the younger generations. It’s why protesters take to the street, sometimes fighting with each other. It’s why people voted for Donald Trump and […]
Posted inOpinion
Townie politics
There’s nothing quite like city politics. All politics are local, they say, and you don’t get more local—or heated—than that! Of course the Lompoc City Council is always entertaining, with all the finger-gun waving and accusations of insubordination. They’ve decided not to fire City Manager Patrick Wiemiller, and gave him a vote of confidence, which […]
Posted inOpinion
Show or tell?
There is a man on the corner with a gun.
That was the first text I got on the morning of July 20. And my first thought was, “I’m really not in the mood to see a shooting today.” I don’t know if it was premonition or the fact that sensational deaths have been such a regular occurrence lately, but either way, I was having […]
Posted inOpinion
Every move you make, I’ll be watching you
I was really intrigued by this week’s cover story, mostly because I’m intrigued by social media, and I’m intrigued by crime—not intrigued enough, mind you, to commit it myself; I just find it interesting to learn what motivates people to break the law. This is a wired world we live in, with our words and […]
Posted inOpinion
The Central Coast is a BIG PLACE!
Get ready for my best Thin Lizzy impression: “The news is back in town! The news is back in town!” Thin Lizzy, yeah? Philip “Phil” Lynott? Come on, you know the song: “The boys are back in town … .” Ah, you ruined it. I can’t stay mad at you, though, so I’ll tell you […]
Posted inOpinion
Don’t breathe easy, California
E.B. White wrote, in Charlotte’s Web, that crickets chirped “Summer is dying, dying.” That’s one of the reasons I never invite any of those bugs to my parties. They’re so maudlin. That, and they tend to not use coasters. But here we are, post-heat-wave, post-fireworks. Sunburned skin has either deepened to a tan or is […]
Posted inOpinion
Hunting and pecking
It’s here, it’s here, it’s here, it’s here, it’s here! I love elections. I love the election time of year and what elections represent and getting to know candidates and exercising freedom and the right to vote and basically everything else about it. Elections! Yeah! I love it all, except one thing: Elections tend to […]
