Sorry about the past few weeks…
I’ve got a number of pretty interesting columns brewing, but – just so you’ll know – I got married in late June, sold my house in Dear Old Brookside a few weeks back, and on October 28th I’m turning into Jed Clampett, loading up the jalopy (2020 Honda Civic Si) with everything I can fit into it and heading towards the Hills of Beverly.
Movie stars, fancy cars, Antifa…
Thing is, I don’t plan on actually going there.
My lawyer wife Janet and I will be weighing anchor in Tucson (where I went to the University of Arizona after graduating from high school there).
So no longer will I have to choke down all that faux journalism emanating from the Kansas City Star…
Huzzxah!
Unless of course, I want to…which means, I likely will…albeit on far more measured basis.
Truth be told, I’ll be keeping an eye on things here in KC – at arms length – which I think will lend perspective, as well as provide a much needed breath of fresh air.
Once upon a time, I was the loose cannon at KC’s local newspaper of record.
No mas.
There really are no quote-unquote loose cannons these days; because just about everyone who works there is a loose cannon.
Even my horoscope in Monday’s newspaper suggested that I practice “social distancing.”
These days, there are no checks and balances – few, anyway – and the Star editors who used to roll their collective eyes at some of my columns and those of Jason Whitlock are long since gone.
Along with the journalistic standards that distinguished the Star from the hip-shot “journalists” at the Pitch.
Now the Pitch comes closer to being a disiplined voice of reason than the Star.The so-called news coverage at the Star is little more than mostly the efforts of entry level journalists bent on championing their personal beliefs and causes.
Every single day serial ” typists” like Jason Hancock and Bryan Lowery dress up and masquerade as journalists, then proceed to churn out take down pieces about area politicians with an “R” after their name. Rising GOP star Josh Hawley to name one.
All competing liberal or Democratic pols have to do is serve up on “background” accusations of whatever passes for “dirt” and the fledgling Star reporters report it without fail as news, sans balanced reporting.
I’m not exactly sure what happened these past four years…
Maybe the editors and reporters are taking their cues from MSNBC and CNN – but the days when relatively stern Star editors demanded a semblance of balance are history.
Fannin mug shot
And the last thing Star editor Mike Fannin – a convicted felon with twin DUIs and an affair with a married subordinate under his belt – wants to do is rock the boat.
Fannin told me over a two hour lunch a handful of years back that he couldn’t wait until he could rid the newspaper of the old school journalists and have the freedom to put out a cutting edge product.
This is what he calls cutting edge?
Seems more like amateur hour, and the way readers are dropping their subscriptions, one dimensional, opinion journalism doesn’t appear to be going over all that well.
In any case, here’s where I stand today:
I’m not giving up on Kansas City, and I have enough sources and connections that I can continue to weigh in from afar, albeit not on a daily basis.
One of the things that’s been getting to me more-and-more is that critiquing the Star has become increasingly tedious and boring. Almost as bad as editing Craig Glazer’s columns.
When I wrote for the Star I critiqued other local media – newspapers, television news, radio stations and hosts.
It was fun, holding their feet to the fire, but was more something I dabbled in. I couldn’t directly fire on the Star, but reporters like Joyce Smith and others knew full well when I corrected their reporting in my column sans using their names.
Ray Lamar on Jay Leno
I remember when Star business editor Rick Babson sent an email to my editor Mary Lou Nolan claiming I had done Smith a great wrong by following her front page “scoop” about LaMar’s Donuts founder Ray Lamar was hanging up his guns to enjoy the good life in retirement.
Willard
Smith carried on about all of Lamar’s accomplishments and well-deserved retirement, but with nary a word indicating there was any other reason for his retiring.
Which made me curious…
Then when I went by the old gas station home of LaMar’s on Linwood a day or two later, I got my answer.
Giant rats were crawling all over the place, including the counters and display cases the donuts once occupied. Frankly, it was somewhat horrifying – like that movie Willard.
They didn’t even try to scurry away with me standing right there looking art them through the front window. Kit was like they owned the place!@
So I promptly drove to the Kansas City Health Department and began combing over their records on LaMar’s.
Turns out, after years of dozens of really gross health code violations they shut Lamar’s down.
I reported extensively on the specifics in my next column which blew Smith’s front page puff piece out of the water.
To Babson, I’d done Smith a “great wrong” by corerctly reporting what actually went down.
After I got laid off years later with hundreds of other Star staffers – well over 1,000 – and began to critique the newspaper’s writers and stories by name, many people assumed it was out of bitterness. Not so.
In truth, it was just because they were such easy targets and I had an insider’s understanding of the people and how they worked – so it was was a no brainer.
But all good things come to an end…
And after a dozen years of pointing out things like Star sports editor Jeff Rosen incorrectly reporting that Mark Twain was from Hannibal, Missouri (he was born in Florida,Missouri) during the Super Bowl earlier this year, and the newspaper refusing to run a correction.
It’s gotten old.
Seriously, they won’t even correct their mistakes anymore. I know, because after several days I called Rosen’s error in to what passes for the reader’s rep who said it would be corrected, then never was.
Rosen
Sound a little thin skinned?
These days the Star is so off the charts biased just about every day, calling them out is a waste of time.
Like somebody in a bad relationship who keeps badgering their partner...over and over and over…to what end?
You reach a point where, what’s the point?
GET A DIVORCE, CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION & GET ON WITH YOUR LIFE.
That’s exactly where I am, along with tens of thousands of other now-former readers.
The Arizona Daily Star in Tucson (where I’m moving) is a much more nuanced newspaper.
It appears that somebody in management there has figured out that if you piss off half of the readership it’s going to cost you.
Nobody at the Star has made that determination yet, and the way things are going, it may be too late.
Dwight Sutherland
post being run over in Mission Hills
So give me a day or four and I’ll try and get back and tell you how the Mission Hills faux Republicans are screwing over Dwight Sutherland for defending his Donald Trump yard signs from a rich neighbor’s dog sitter while they were out of town.
Seems the Prairie Village / Mission Hills Police are in the pocket of fellow Mission Hillbilly Barbara Bollier, who the Mission Hills newsletter endorsed a few years back.
All but labeling Sutherland, a wealthy conservative a white Jessie Smollet.
Yes, it’s come to that.
Because the ‘We Believe” crowd has zero tolerance for alternative points of view, even when one of their grunt workers runs some dude over in an SUV after vandalizing his yard signs for five straight days.
Go figure…
Good luck w the move! Maybe u will find a “new Craig Glazer” in Tucson. Nah, I doubt it.
I am going to call a Clay Chastain type scenario and that you will be back in good, old KC in less than 5 years. We’ll see!!
Wow….
I may be the one guy who consistently gave Clay Chastain a fair shake.
Which doesn’t mean I want to follow in his footsteps….in or out of town!
Hearne, love ya but can we please just stop talking about the KC Star. They, like so many other things, became irrelevant shortly after the internet was created.
Fair enuff, kinda what I just wrote…
That said, they are still by far the largest media / news company in town – for what it’s worth.
chances are though, think I’ll take your advice
Good Grief. That’s the first thing I’ve seen about the Sutherland story other than the bare headline facts. Hope to see more in the future.
stand by…I think tonight will be the night
Ran out off battery!
Lame, I know.
But I’m working on it
Good Luck as you move towards a new chapter in your life. Beating up the Star does get old but then again it’s honest factual reporting when it’s the truth something the Star let get away many years ago. The Star right now should be holding the city and Lucas’s feet to the fire but instead they portray it’s operations as all wine and roses with beautiful sunsets in the back ground. Instead of reporting what’s happening anymore MSM wants to control what you see and try to control how you think based on what they tell you. MSM has gone from showing the facts and truth to pushing out fiction on a daily bases. I have a solution to the issue but the haters and political crooks would fight hand, tooth and nail to see it didn’t happen. Just for the record, I think Trump is an asshole but is a true business man. How many wealthy successful business men were not total assholes? For many years I have heard many a person say we need a business man running the country. They even tried to get Lee Iacocca to run 40 years ago. Now we have a business man in the White House and MSM wants nothing more than to get him out of there and get back to controlling the country again as The Star is trying to do with Kansas City.
Again, good luck and good fortune.
Grazie Mille, Super Dave…
As I tried to explain, the Star has gone so far off the deep end, it’s borderline a waste of time trying to keep them honest.
It’s like some fool in an abusive relationship writing a daily diary about all the bad things they had to suffer through.
The Star writers don’t even try to offer a fair, balanced approach…and I’m talking about the news reporting.
On top of which, the editorials are insufferable.
Both of which makes zero sense.
It’s like, let’s unleash ALL of our political biases on each and every topic, then write preachy columns that anybody who’s not on the extreme left will be able to choke down, serve it up like Chinese drip water torture until no one who doesn’t believe Josh Hawley is the root of all evi cancels their subscriptions.
Anybody that doesn’t embrace political correctness, the cancel culture or who doesn’t own one of those super cool “We Believe” yard signs, wants to go hide out until the world comes to an end.
In short, chances are I won’t miss the Star…but I’ll still keep a less nauseating track and call them out on their most ridiculous sermons.
Take care, have a wonderful and happy life in Tucson!
I’ll try but once I get thru this four day transition…
Please share the Sutherland story, asap.
Shall be done…
Long story short, heavy hitter Barbara Bollier backers in Mission Hills intimidated the Prairie Village police and they backed Dwight into a very awkward corner where he was the assailant not the victim
Still very unclear. Was it Barbara Bollier’s dog sitter who was the assailant? Of course, I love that you had posted Dwight Sutherland’s War and Peace missive on how horrible Rusty (Liberal RINO) Leffel is, with his “Signboard Hill” empty lot across the street from Sutherland. Leaving some readers to suspect it was Rusty. Tho he is a peaceful sort, not the kind who would throw a punch with any force.
Just post the story!
It was Dwight’s next door neighbor’s dog not Bollier’s…
The story has a very interesting twist…one that resulted in Dwight turning down an appearance on Tucker.
Well, do tell. In detail, please!!!
You’ve never shied away from a juicy story.
As opposed to the chicken KC STAR.
Enquiring minds want to know, other than the STAR, being owned by the Enquirer.
And soon they shall…
gonna miss ya hc.
Been fun making you the brunt of my jokes!
Smartman…gone
Greg…gone/trump gone/
Glaze…gone
now hc….gone
Be in beautiful paradise valley so come
see me if in phoenix
With all the fun we had how can you give all
this up.
Only ones left are a country club janitor, a ditch
digger and southy who got beat. Hated to see
southy get beat but that’s life in today’s world.
Say hello to senator Kelly and former senator Flake
for me and of course say “hola” to all my hispanic
friends in southern arizona.
With a tear in my eye as we lay to rest one the last
great site. And stay away
from those latin hotties and U of A coeds. They will
only get you in trouble. And take lots of water…the
summers here are brutal!
Oh Hearne read your own blog, Dwight was gunning for a fight and he got what he wanted, shame a dog walker took him out.
“So will Sutherland put his yard signs where his mouth is with Trump / Blue Lives Matter?
“Effing yes,” he says. “I’m getting ready to put up a Trump banner with a spotlight on it and play country music at full volume – Toby Keith – on election night.”
Kidding?
“No, I’m not. Not after the investment banker across the street put up a black lives matter flag-I’m taking off the gloves.””
kansas karl, you really ought tp try and get some ever-so-slight command of the facts before you launch a ridiculous a theory about a dog walker.
I know most all of the players, Including the people who hired the pet sitter…not walker.
Well, if you’re driving a stick shift at your age you’re all right in my book. If you really want some fun buy a K-tuner for that Si!
Hmmmm, I’ll check it out
You sure sound bitter. Keep cool in AZ.