Helen Ubinas

6 days ago | inquirer.com | Helen Ubinas

PERUGIA, Italy — The warnings about America’s authoritarian drift don’t feel abstract here. In parts of Europe — and in Italy, in particular — fascism isn’t theory or a debate on social media. It’s history. Memory. Scars etched deep into the landscape and the culture. That’s why warnings about America’s authoritarian slide sound louder here — louder even than the bells of the Basilica di San Pietro echoing through this medieval city in the heart of Umbria.

2 weeks ago | inquirer.com | Helen Ubinas

It takes an unwavering allegiance to the absurd, and a determined dedication to the delusional, to become a perennial political punchline. But thanks to the feckless follies of the Trump administration and the amateurish antics of some of our city’s elected leaders, here we are. Take the latest episode in our local franchise of Law and Disorder: Sheriff Rochelle Bilal’s Badges and Blunders — cue the dramatic “dun dun.”Long story, short: Someone needs to put out an APB on a four-legged fugitive.

3 weeks ago | inquirer.com | Stephanie Farr |Jenice Armstrong |Will Bunch |Helen Ubinas

When people ask me what my favorite journalism movie is, I think they expect me to say something serious, like Spotlight or All the President’s Men, but it’s actually a lesser-known 1994 Ron Howard film starring Michael Keaton called The Paper. It’s about the ragtag staff of an underdog newspaper, their many, many foibles (Randy Quaid plays a columnist, if that gives you any insight), and their commitment to getting a story right, in order to right a wrong.

3 weeks ago | inquirer.com | Helen Ubinas

Oh, look — MAGA’s resident Mean Girl is at it again. This time, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has taken over our social media timelines after unleashing the tired, xenophobic insult — “Go back to your country” — on a UK reporter who asked about President Donald Trump’s inept national security team accidentally adding a journalist to a Signal group chat where war plans were shared.

1 month ago | inquirer.com | Helen Ubinas

Sometimes I glance at my penmanship while taking notes and imagine how horrified Sister Margaret Mary would be. One of my most enduring memories from Our Lady of Refuge School in the Bronx during the 1980s is that stern elder nun, her gaze burning through my sheet of crisp loose-leaf paper as I struggled with my assignment. I swear I can still hear her warning that if I didn’t get those lines just right, I could kiss my future goodbye. But that may have just been the judgment in her eyes talking.