Gene Lyons

2 months ago | chicago.suntimes.com | Gene Lyons

After giving the matter some thought, I have decided that I’ve become unsuited to the low art of writing newspaper columns any longer. My deficiencies to participate in the current conversation are many. For one thing, I have never listened to a podcast. I prefer reading things, a more efficient way to gather and retain information. For example, while I’ve heard of this Joe Rogan fellow, I’ve no good idea what he’s all about. I gather he endorsed Donald Trump, and that’s enough for me.

Jan 2, 2025 | chicago.suntimes.com | Gene Lyons

Editor’s note: Gene Lyons is off this week. This column originally ran on Aug. 9, 2023. One time I started to write a book I called “Animal Passion,” a history of my marriage in pets. The first chapter, about an extraordinary collie/German shepherd mix we’d adopted during our student days on a cattle farm in Virginia, appeared in the Oxford American, for which I was most grateful.

Nov 21, 2024 | chicago.suntimes.com | Gene Lyons

That’s some victory party Donald Trump has thrown for himself down in Florida. The video from Mar-a-Lago resembles the inter-planetary bar scene in “Star Wars,” although none of the great man’s Cabinet nominees appear to have tentacles for ears. But what a collection of sycophants and posers! The joint is crowded with second- and third-stringers eager to do Trump’s dirty work.

Nov 19, 2024 | ukiahdailyjournal.com | Gene Lyons

The late H.L. Mencken has always been among my favorite misanthropes. Like all satirists, he took a dim view of human nature. One of my favorite Mencken epigrams seems particularly apt in the wake of the recent presidential election. “Democracy,” Mencken wrote, “is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”As, indeed, the American electorate is about to get what the majority thinks it wanted.

Nov 15, 2024 | chicago.suntimes.com | Gene Lyons

The late H.L. Mencken has always been among my favorite misanthropes. Like all satirists, he took a dim view of human nature. One of my favorite Mencken epigrams seems particularly apt in the wake of the recent presidential election. “Democracy,” Mencken wrote, “is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”As, indeed, the American electorate is about to get what the majority thinks it wanted.