The Big Picture

Getting By With a Little Help From Our Friends

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Is the sun setting on the web press in America? – By Glynn Wilson – The Big Picture – CATOCTIN MOUNTAINS, Md. – It was never my intention to move to Washington a decade ago to take it by storm to try and fix the federal government or bridge the partisan divide, promises often proclaimed…

Father’s Day from the White House

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  WASHINGTON, D.C. — It seems only fitting that my last dateline Washington column is about the White House and falls on Father’s Day. It feels like the end of another era. How many of those milestones may a person experience in a life? In a time when…

Storms Are Coming to Washington: Head for the Hills

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  WASHINGTON, D.C. — A storm is coming. More than one storm in fact. This might be a good time to plan an escape from staying inside the Beltway in the nation’s capital region, with all the traffic and tension that goes with living in such a place.…

What Can Be Learned from the Columbia University Protests of 1968

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Since encountering the story early in my college career about Sherwood Anderson advising William Faulkner in New Orleans to write about people, places and things he knew something about, I’ve tried to follow that advice in my journalism career. “Write what you know,” is…

Do We Face the End of Decency? Or is Decency All That Endures?

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“The most practical kind of politics is the politics of decency.” – Theodore Roosevelt The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  WASHINGTON, D.C. — For how long must we endure the end of decency in public and private life in America? Is it possible that the historically critical election of 2024 is as much…

Earth Day 2024: Planet vs. Plastic

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The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — In the early days of a movement created in the 1960s to begin a process to save the planet from the ravages of industrial pollution, a bunch of hippies, activists, some politicians and even a few corporations made big news in April, 1970, when…

Trump the Bible Salesman: Ridicule Could Mark the End of The Donald

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“No God and no religion can survive ridicule. No political church, no nobility, no royalty or other fraud, can face ridicule in a fair field, and live.” – Mark Twain The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  WASHINGTON, D.C. — We will see if Mark Twain’s satirical wisdom holds water still in these craziest…

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Social Media

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Social media. What is it? What good is it? Does it help the public become more informed and enhance democracy? Or does it just help spread fake news, misinformation and disinformation and help the spread of authoritarianism and fascism? Is it a good way…

Prepare Yourself for Battle With an Army of Bots

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — In preparation for President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday, I went back and rewatched Star Trek: The Motion Picture, released in 1979, recalling that it was one of the first science fiction movies to depict a computer machine nearly destroying…

The News Suffers from Mad Cow Disease: Just Call Me a Peacenik Please

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  WASHINGTON, D.C. — There is a desperation coming through over the airwaves that is making people sick. It’s no wonder so many people in the United States have stopped paying attention to news, and that includes me. It’s all just too much. Too much sensationalism. Too much…

The Tenth Anniversary of the New American Journal May be the Last

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Have we reached the ‘singularity’ from science fiction when computer robots take over? – The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  WASHINGTON, D.C. — This is no longer science fiction. The computer robots are taking over, if they haven’t already. In 2007, the year Steve Jobs announced that Apple had invented the iPhone and…

Secret Vistas: A Day Trip to Shenandoah to Focus the Mind

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Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — So in between everything else that’s going on in the news and my life at this time, which has been pretty busy and productive of late, I had a chance on Thursday to get out on the road for a day trip to Shenandoah National…