“You are entitled to your opinion … you are not entitled to your own facts” – Daniel Patrick Moynihan
New Works
San Miguel de Allende: “NAFTA of Literary Festivals” , by Brian Brennan
A writers’ gathering in San Miguel de Allende (SMA), a colonial gem of cobbled streets and revolutionary charm, has been held annually since 2005, with an audience now of some 10,000. Its secrets to success include sun – lots of sun – a city that is culturally-rich and diverse, and some of the world’s best-known authors.
Muskrat Falls hydroelectric – Who buried the risk assessment report?
ROGER BILL Reporting
Muskrat Falls, Labrador. Site of a proposed hydro electric project by the governments of Newfoundland and Quebec. This is downriver from the Churchill Falls Hydro project in Labrador.
Photo by Greg Locke (C) 2006
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Note to readers: In the Autumn of 2013 a group of veteran professional journalists launched Facts and Opinions as a boutique journal, of reporting and analysis in words and images, without borders. Independent, non-partisan, and employee-owned, F&O was to reach out via the vast web and, to be free of conflicts of interest, funded only by readers — not by advertising, “branded content,” or organizations.
Amid massive cultural, political, financial and technological change, and a worsening crisis in the business of journalism caused largely by digital corporations like Facebook, F&O is now conducting a four-year review. Due to a reduced publishing schedule we are not currently selling subscriptions — though contributors may provide their individual payment link, and we appreciate supporting donations via links on each page. Thank you, and bless those few hundred of you who have supported our site from the start. You are, sadly, too few among nearly 1/4 million readers, most unwilling to spend even pennies on journalism, even as many copy and paste our works onto Facebook or blogs. For our future plans, and a request for your feedback, please stay tuned.
Meantime, we invite you to read Elizabeth Kolbert’s review in the New Yorker of two important books about journalism media — and consider what is at stake in the survival of real journalism as a cornerstone of democracy. If we view ourselves as citizens of informed democracies, we have power to support or change systems. If we don’t, the cynicism or apathy of acting only as consumers will be self-fulfilling. Whether our future unfolds in democracies is our choice, and each of us has a stake.
Deborah Jones, former volunteer F&O editor
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Regular contributors, most recent works:
BRIAN BRENNAN, features and Brief Encounters
San Miguel de Allende: “NAFTA of Literary Festivals”
Canada’s ambassador to Ireland: Once a Cop, Always a Cop
Fort McMurray: from “black pitch” and salt to oil sands
Remembering the Pillar
The Pluck of the Irish: How a proud native cuts through the kitsch.
JFK: The Murdered King
KINGS OF THE RANCH
DEBORAH JONES, Free Range
#MeToo? Not me.
Good riddance, Hugh Hefner
Dear Americans: Enough, Already
Rule of Law vs Rule by Man
Fake News and Our Happiness Disorder
On the death of Cuba’s Fidel Castro
PENNEY KOME, Over Easy
Feminists mourn Wendy Robbins
Trump’s gurus taken off air
Americans turn Canadian about health care
Fukushima still in hell
Where have all the jobs gone?
Media literacy in a post-fact age
GREG LOCKE, Photographer/F&O Web designer
Newfoundland’s fourth offshore oil project set to sail
Remembering War
Life goes on in rural Newfoundland
Mummers the Word
Welcome to Iceberg Alley
Under a malaria moon
JONATHAN MANTHORPE, International Affairs
For Britain, friendless desert looms behind Brexit door
Singapore rocked by ruling family feud
British Election Brings Mayhem
Trump Cries Havoc! – Dogs (still) Kenneled
Theresa May’s election victory no longer certain
Broad alliances trump Trump for Israeli security
JIM McNIVEN, Thoughtlines
Why Celebrate July Fourth, or First?
Down and Dirty in the Trade Game
Nothing’s Happening
America’s Republican Quandary
The System Comes First
America: Andrew Johnson Rides Again
TOM REGAN, Seeking Orenda
The putz in America’s room
Reflections of a Canadian abroad as Canada turns 150
American Civil Discourse in Serious Trouble
Comey Lands Punches, But No Knockout Blow
America’s Confederate icons must go
Roger Ailes’ special place in hell
Why Donald Trump won’t be impeached
Please stay tuned for future announcements from F&O: Sign up for our newsletter on the FRONTLINES blog page. Explore our archives: evidence-based reporting in Reports; commentary, analysis and creative non-fiction in OPINION-FEATURES, image galleries in PHOTO-ESSAYS.