We all get older. Even if we’re in good health, there comes a time to slow down and let others do the heavy lifting. Rupert Murdock is stepping down as chairman of his two companies. Great success came to him over his 92 years. Generally, achievement leads to plaudits at retirement, not for Murdock.

Rather than praising the longtime newsman, my morning paper, published by USA Today owner Gannett and the New York Times and Washington Post morning newsletters, depicted him as the destroyer of trustworthy journalism.

The Arizona Republic’s Media writer, Bill Goodykoontz, echoed a big part of the legacy media, saying, “Murdoch and his cronies have done incalculable damage to trust in the news. There are large groups of people who now believe a story only if they see it on Fox News. That’s where they can turn for a consistent stream of outrage. Because that’s what Murdoch and Fox News really specialize in — not reporting on stories so much as doubling down on the fear and anger that stroke Trump’s base.”

Murdock’s crown jewel, Fox News, filled a void in news and commentary from a more conservative point of view. It must have been an undeserved market because it became the most popular news channel. 

While Goodykoontz and other media critics, such as Washington Post’s Eric Wemple, decry Fox News for demolishing trust in the news, the channel’s news anchor Brett Beir, this week interviewed Saudia Arabia’s de facto leader and the Israeli Premier, as those nations are on the verge on a cementing a historic relationship. Obviously, some world leaders find Fox journalists trustworthy.

On the other hand, the news outlets that suppressed the Hunter Biden Laptop story promoted the Russian Collusion and trashed those who turned out to be right on COVID policy, earning the public’s scorn they enjoy.

Anybody living as long as Murdock is bound to have made some mistakes, but we are all better off with more choices, and he made sure we gained that in obtaining the news. 

No sooner than I posted last week, the Wall Street Journal informed us windmills endanger big cats in Brazil. This finding answers my question: do windmills disrupt other animals besides birds. They do. Adding to Windmill misadventures, our offshore windmill industry is on the verge of falling. Only more taxpayer money will save it. 

As I’ve pointed out, no matter how much we do until other nations quit building new coal plants, it will change nothing. However, it will make us poorer.

Even Bill Gates now decries the climate hysteria, dislocating society. Of course, he and Warren Buffet are invested in small nuclear reactors, which don’t fit into the Wind, Solar, and Electric Vehicle triad favored by the Biden administration. 

What about being a Democratic Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee? The last three seem bound together in perverse ways. Joe Biden has been found to have classified documents dating back to his tenure. Unlike a President or maybe even a vice president, senators can only view these documents in a safe, designated place, never at home. Now he’s under Impeachment inquiry over foreign payments.

 Just indicted for accepting foreign money as bribes, the current chairman, Bob Melendez. Gold bars and cash stashed in his possession apparently were bribes from Egypt. This is his second go-around with Justice. The first ended in a hung jury. 

The intervening Chairman, John Kerry, is a perfect bridge between the two. While not suspected of corruption himself, his stepson, Chris Heinz, was a business associate of Hunter Biden. Chris also introduced his college roommate, Devin Archer, to Hunter. While Kerry was Secretary of State, Heinz warned his stepfather about Hunter and Devin’s Burisma deal, but Kerry took no action.

Some are making a big deal about corruption in other countries, especially in Ukraine. I’m getting a powerful scent of endemic misconduct closer to home. Maybe you do, too.

The Ukrainian President arrived here, hat in hand. The war continued with the Ukrainians punching some holes in the Russian lines, but there was no breakthrough. A growing group of Republicans is increasingly dubious of further American support. They ask, why spend so much on Ukraine’s border when ours is being overrun. They cry, no more endless wars. 

These Republicans have forgotten that this kind of thinking, under Trump, got the ball rolling for our Afgan fiasco. Obviously, the pullout under Biden was horrendous. Still, Trump started it by pulling the rug from under the Afgan government. Our military and our NATO allies opposed both Trump and Biden on the pullout, arguing the small number of troops kept the lid on at a reasonable cost.

We need to remember George H. W. Bush’s war lessons. Short Wars are cheaper and get everyone possible to contribute. The first Gulf War provides a tutorial on how a war should be fought.

Had we provided weapons to the Ukrainians as soon as they could use them, as others proposed, instead of slowly walking them, a breakthrough would’ve been already made. Does anybody think Crimea wouldn’t be cut off by now if the Ukrainians possessed F-16s, warthogs, longer-range missiles and artillery, and modern tanks? Like everything else, they will eventually get them, so why late?

These are the right questions for war critics. Do Republicans want the Russians saved from defeat and able to reconstitute and resume their march West? Poland, the Baltic States, and others are NATO allies we are pledged to defend. The cost of American lives and treasure will be considerable in that circumstance. Or do they plan to cut and run?

Even as Biden and the Democrats prove to be a disaster, Republicans fail to show they would be much better.