Rich Manieri

Youth sports at its worst: Tennis, anyone?
Parents berating parents. Parents taunting teenagers. Tennis, anyone? Being new to youth tennis, here’s a little tidbit of which I became aware only recently. The players are left to their own devices when it comes to calling balls in or out...
We need to address the ‘Why?’ in mass shootings
In the wake of every mass killing in this country, politicians do what politicians do, which is to circle their respective wagons and offer solutions that fail to get to the heart of the issue...
The unfairness of mass student loan forgiveness
“You wanna borrow, you gotta pay the man. Rocky didn’t break Bob’s thumb like Mr. Bob was late on his payments and Gazzo didn’t like it...
These things I saw: A few random observations
I never had the Easter Bunny pegged for a PR flack, but he can now add it to his CV. The funny thing was Biden actually followed the Easter Bunny’s instructions as if it were all perfectly normal. Rep. It was, after all, Easter Sunday...
‘What’s wrong with the world?’
Sometimes, I catch myself, as I explain to 19 and 20-year-olds what life was like before Al Gore invented the Internet. �� I actually said this. There was no school bus in my neighborhood so I legged it...
History tells us to take tyrants like Putin seriously
The world seemed surprised when Hitler annexed the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia in 1938. Never underestimate the ambitions of an evil tyrant. If so, the U. and its NATO allies are lousy poker players. This is the nature of bullies...
Wars and rumors of wars
History’s tyrants have at least one thing in common – their willingness to destroy and slaughter anything and anyone who stands in the way of conquest...
So much for civility
The longer President Biden lingers in the vicinity of a live microphone, the higher the probability for mischief and yes, entertainment...
Does the president really know what he’s saying?
Misspeaking requires some knowledge of what you’re saying. In a particularly divisive, Jan. �� It’s at least the fourth time Biden has unknowingly elevated the vice president. If there is, we must be getting close...
Airing of Grievances: Smollett, Swimmers and Headphones
Back by lukewarm demand, for all of you Festivus enthusiasts, it’s time for the annual airing of grievances. I have to get back to training for the feats of strength...
What, Exactly, Will Get You Fired From CNN?
I’ve never been fired from a job, which I’m sure will now trigger calls from a portion of the readership for my immediate ouster. I attribute this largely to my ability to make myself useful. Call it misguided confidence. “I’ll do it!..
Bring Your Stories, Hold Your Complaints
I received a letter from prison the other day. Prison – joint, slammer, big house. It has, however, occurred to me, at least based on the email I receive, that some should be...

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Rich Manieri is a journalism professor at Asbury University in Kentucky. He spent some 30 years as a television and print journalist, speech writer, government spokesman, communications consultant, essayist and columnist. Rich’s first book, “We Burn on Friday: A Memoir of My Father and Me,” was published in 2015. He has won both Associated Press and Emmy awards for television news reporting as well as a Keystone Award in Pennsylvania for column writing.