As I get older I find myself growing impatient with this cinematic journalism style

I'm old and my time on Earth is limited. Give me those hard facts and the thesis of your editorial upfront. If the story is interesting, I'll read your flummery about what this ex Trump voter was doing on a Thursday afternoon in 2017. Don't think you're seducing me with your vague that changing political views changed his dating life, yet never telling me how it totally changed his life until the 20th paragraph. No, at this stage in life I like my journalism like I like my barbecues: give me the meat up front, and if I enjoy the conversation, I'll stick around for your grandmother's potato salad.

Someone needs to stop me

... from telling my libertarian friends that their complaints about a "duopoly" in politics is just them griping about their ideas not being competitive in the free marketplace of ideas.

I like libertarians, I really do. They tend to be artistic & original thinkers, if not completely informed about how economics work in a post-industrial society, and a lot of them have that entrepreneurial hustle needed to make a small business thrive.

They believe that big government should mostly leave people alone -- and I largely agree with that. But damn, if they don't drive me up a wall with their "taxation is theft" malarkey and complete denial of the social costs (to all of us) in letting social problems and economic inequality go unaddressed.

So when they kvetch about the Republican/Democrat duopoly in politics, the snarky little ideologue in my head wants to point out that their political views are based on complaining about problems and never doing anything to solve them.

But that wouldn't be very nice. And I'm a Democrat because I'm nice.

The mom of the "affluenza" killer is broke

Tonya Couch filed an affidavit of indigency this week in Tarrant County claiming she is broke "due to notoriety."

Couch, 52, was jailed in April after she failed a drug test, which is a condition of her bond while she awaits trial on money laundering and hindering apprehension charges.

She is accused of helping her son, Ethan Couch, escape to Mexico while he was on probation for killing four people in a drunken driving crash when he was 16.

Does anybody know, do the British say orange peel, orange skin, or orange rind?

It just seems like something they'd get idiosyncratic about, like when the call apartments "flats" even if they're split-level, or elevators "lifts" even when they're on the top floor