An open letter to writers who write to other writers about writing — When I wake up on a Sunday morning, my usual ritual is to do some exercise, glance at Medium, take a dump and then go on a hike with my dogs. While the exact order of these activities isn’t that important, I highly recommend taking the dump before hiking with the dogs. It’s terribly uncomfortable to be out in the middle of nature, miles away from a rest room and then get the urge.

The votes are in, and you got to give the people, give the people what they want (courtesy of the O’Jays) — There’s no accounting for taste, especially when it comes to my writing. Let’s just say that my sense of humor is an acquired taste… like chocolate-covered pickle ice cream garnished with fire ants. While most of you out there have the good sense to ignore my rabble-rousing, rants, and ruminations, I am grateful to those who have read and clapped for my…

Don’t blame me, they’re are only song parodies — With all due respect to Don McLean, music didn’t die at all in 1959 (the tragic plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valen), or in 1971, the year he released his historic hit “American Pie.” And it will probably go on for a long, long time, despite how strongly readers may feel that I’ve killed music with my song parodies, including a great collaboration with Mike Range in which “American Pie” takes on a whole new meaning.

High crimes and misdemeanors, Creole-style — What’s wrong with the courts these days? Ex-Poor Boys leader Joey Biggs cried before he was sentenced in a Washington, D.C. Federal court on bizarre, Trumped-up charges. Look at this picture, entered as evidence by the prosecution. Can’t they see that Biggs showed good citizenship? Here he is, respecting COVID protocols in public buildings, like the Senate…

Even his MAGA followers won’t ignore this one — An online search for “unpardonable crimes committed by a U.S. president” will yield 1.2 million results, and about a million of them will be about Trump. But nothing has stuck to this teflon-coated conman. Not his racist behavior as a slum lord in New York. Not the hundreds of times he broke legal contracts to stiff the people who built his properties.

What’s the point of being creative if artists are judged by non-artists in copyright infringement cases? — The most iconic image of the 21st century could also end up marking the death of creativity. In 2008, Shepard Fairey created the Obama Hope poster. If you do a search for “posters that changed the word — in pictures,” “11 Best U.S. Presidential Campaign Posters of All Time,” or “50 Posters that Rocked the World,” you will find HOPE.

Atlanta Police book the Dark Lord’s slimy, hunched-backed, mostly-hairless minion — Of all the criminals who have aided and abetted the Great Orange Traitor, no one has descended the path of power and corruption like Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani started out as a United States Associate Attorney General, leading the federal prosecution of New York City mafia bosses. He served two terms as the law-and-order mayor of New York, reaching the apex of his career when he was name TIME magazine’s Person of the Year in 2001 followed…

Bruce Brown and anonymity might have been the real MVPs of the Nuggets’ title run — A week after this year’s Finals, the talking heads anointed the 53-win Denver Nuggets as a dynasty and maybe it was my fault. Thousands and thousands of fans viewed my article “How the Denver Nuggets Turned Into the Golden State Warriors.” But they ignored the part where I wrote, “I’m not saying the Nuggets are as good as the Warriors, they followed the same model.”

Let’s look back at 2022 with yellow-tinted glasses — You know when you’re in a relationship that isn’t really good for you but you stay in it? It’s not exactly toxic and some parts are fun, so you try to make it work. Then, you try to end it, but you get back together. You reach out for support, but that doesn’t work. …