Donald Trump has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Trump was nominated for his efforts to broker peace between the United Arab Emirates and Israel. He was nominated by Norwegian member of parliament Christian Tybring-Gjedde. “For his merit, I think he has done more trying to create peace between nations than most other Peace…
Author: Larry Johnson
I write about media, sports, books, travel, culture -- basically, anything that interests me.
Report: Trump narrative about violence at protests is largely false, and it’s destabilizing the country
Donald Trump and others of his ilk love to push the narrative that America’s cities are burning down at the hands of protesters who object to racial injustice and the murders of Americans by police. Except that’s not true, says a new report. The Washington Post, citing a report by the nonprofit Armed Conflict Location…
George Washington University professor claimed to be Black, apparently deceived people for years
The George Washington University Department of History has called on an associate professor to quit or be fired, following the professor’s revelation that she has lied for years about being Black. Jessica A. Krug revealed her deception earlier this week in a confession. Although she’s Jewish and was raised in suburban Kansas City, Krug has…
Russian vaccine shows promise, prestigious scientific journal says
The coronavirus vaccine dubbed Sputnik 5 by Russian President Vladimir Putin shows promise. Originally greeted with wide skepticism when Putin announced it in August, the vaccine showed a strong immune response in recent tests. The British scientific journal The Lancet reports that the vaccine appears to be both effective and safe. The safety issue is…
Seattle cop was paid a whopping $414,000 in 2019
By Larry Johnson A Seattle Police Department patrol officer was paid more than $414,000 in 2019. That’s more than the U.S. President, who makes $400,000 even, and more than many surgeons and CEOs. Obviously, it’s a ton of money. In fact, on several occasions, Police Officer Ron Willis was paid for more than 24 hours…
46 North Texans treated for drinking bleach to fight COVID-19, just during August
By Larry Johnson Nearly 50 North Texans have drunk bleach during August. What’s going on? They’re apparently drinking bleach, as you might have guessed, in an attempt to ward off infection by COVID=19. The Texas Poison has reported 46 cases of people drinking bleach during August. This comes after a number of New Mexico cases…
U.S. coronavirus death toll reaches 175,000 and a majority of Republicans say things are going well.
By Larry Johnson It’s hard to put any kind of positive spin on this. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that 175,651 Americans have now died from COVID-19, up 1,000 on Sunday from Saturday. Altogether, 5.64 million cases of coronavirus have been reported in the U.S. That includes 45,000 more positive tests than were…
FDA approves a cheaper, faster COVID-19 test on saliva; $10 cost to patients
By Larry Johnson The federal Food and Drug Administration has approved a new, simpler, cheaper test for COVID-19. Not only does this prove that some federal employees are at work while President Donald Trump golfs and tweets, it’s welcome news on its own. The new test, known as SalivaDirect, could replace the highly-invasive nasal swab…
Baseball broadcaster Brennaman is felled by his own big, homophobic mouth
By Larry Johnson Thom Brennaman says he’s sorry. Whether that means he’s SORRY sorry, or just sorry he got caught making a homophobic slur on a hot mike, I don’t know. But that’s what happened to Brennaman last night. The Cincinnati Reds have suspended the broadcaster after he uttered a gay slur heard by viewers…
Note to Trump: Mexico is in North America. You should know that.
By Larry Johnson Note to Donald Trump: Mexico is in North America. You should know that. You’re president. You profess to know so much, so often, so you should know elementary geography. But Wednesday, you once again showed how ignorant you are of the world in which you have a prominent, powerful position. At almost…
Georgia trooper fired, charged after shooting 60-year-old Black motorist in broken-tail light stop
By Larry Johnson A state trooper has been fired in the American state of Georgia after the death of another Black man at the hands of police. Jacob Gordon Thompson, 27, the trooper, was arrested and charged with felony murder in the death of Julian Edward Roosevelt Lewis, 60. Thompson shot Lewis after attempting to…
CDC study: Anxiety, depression, suicide thoughts increase dramatically among 18-24 year-olds
By Larry Johnson The Centers for Disease Control says the rates of depression and anxiety are skyrocketing, especially among relatively young people. That’s bad, but it’s not particularly shocking. We have a pandemic that has killed about 170,000 Americans, a tanking economy, a president who tweets instead of providing solutions, and a loss of hope…
Trump tries the birtherism hoax again, this time against Harris instead of Obama
By Larry Johnson Donald Trump is trying his phony birtherism baloney again. Last time it was Barack Obama who origins our racist president questioned. This time it’s Kamala Harris, the presumptive vice-presidential nominee. You may not remember it, but Trump was obsessed with Obama’s birthplace. Eventually, the blasphemy that Obama wasn’t a native-born American (and…
Seattle Seahawks cut rookie for trying to sneak a woman into team’s hotel
By Larry Johnson The Seattle Seahawks have cut an unheralded rookie for trying to sneak a woman into his hotel room. That action by Kemah Siverand, formerly of Oklahoma State University, was in violation of the NFL team’s COVID-19 rules. According to the Seattle Times and other media, including the NFL Network, Siverand was captured…
Some quick thoughts about Biden’s selection of Kamala Harris as his running mate
By Larry Johnson Just some random thoughts about Joe Biden’s selection of U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris of California as his running mate. — It’s time we had a female vice-president. President, too, but that’s obviously not going to happen in 2020. And we’ve never had a minority vice-president. –This is one time when the Democratic…
Breaking news: Putin says Russia has “registered” COVID-19 vaccine
Russia President Vladimir Putin says the country has developed an effective vaccine against COVID-19. If true, the vaccine would be the world’s first. Putin made the announcement on Russian state TV. We’ll see. Putin says the vaccine was developed by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute. CNN, which reported the news this morning, said Putin announced that…
Trump criticized Obama for golfing too much. He’s spent $139 million on his own golf outings!
As the death toll reached 160,000 Americans in the COVID-19 pandemic, Donald Trump was taking a long weekend at a club he owns in New Jersey. In other words, even if he only played golf on Friday — which he did — Trump spent the weekend on the taxpayer dime at his club. Every such…
Sophia, Bulgaria, will never make my list of favorite European cities
Of the European capitals I’ve visited, and that’s pretty much all of them, I like Sophia by far the least. It’s big, ugly, dirty and nervous. It may have to do with the fact that I’ve spent too much time alone here in winter negotiating pickpockets and hookers and unshoveled streets and sidewalks, but I find the…
Some Americans are dying because they’re drinking alcohol-based hand sanitizers, CDC says
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, four Americans have died from drinking hand sanitizer, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Four people is not many, obviously, but it’s four too many. And the CDC findings include only the states of Arizona and New Mexico, so there are likely to be other victims…
Prof who has predicted the past 9 presidential winners says Biden will win on Nov. 3
The history professor who has successfully predicted every presidential election for the past 40 years predicts that Donald Trump will lose the White House in November. Professor Allan Lichtman, who correctly predicted Trump’s election in 2016, says Trump’s gone. Lichtman is nine for his last nine, and he says Joe Biden will win the 2020…
