Mort Rosenblum: Veteran columnist signs off after decades of reporting

PARIS — This will be my last regular column in the Star, from where in 1965 I left a bustling newsroom in my treasured hometown to join the Associated Press and float around the world, rootless as a hydroponic tomato.

I am grateful for kind response, thoughtful comments and a few crank letters which underscored the need for us all to grasp harsh realities behind our line of sight.

The paper is rethinking its editorial pages, and that coincides with my own plans while I've still got the energy to jump out of a jeep. After a lifetime of learning from my bonehead mistakes. it's time to get back to what I've been all my life: a reporter.

I'll be doubling on the Mort Report (mortreport.org), dispatches based on observable fact and analysis. It has no paywall for a wide reach. And I'm writing a book on what I've seen go wrong over six decades — and what can be done to do better.

During a lifetime on the road, I've yet to see a story that matters with fewer than a half-dozen sides.

Aristotle had it right. Most people are eager to do the right thing when they know what that is. But a fringe at the other extreme combines forces to amass wealth or perceived power by smothering truth with big lies.

Plenty in that second category, including malignant narcissists, can feign charisma. But an American president is the country's face to the outside world.

Donald Trump, not known for intentional humor, rivals Andy Borowitz when he says the United States is the world's most respected nation after the ruins his criminal predecessor left behind.

And far too many voters enable him, poisoning their own children's future — and everyone else's. As the old proverb goes, "There are none so blind as those who will not see."

Last month I went to the Tucson High class of 1961 reunion, a soul-soaring weekend bash with old friends I hadn't seen since forever. American microcosms don't come any more varied.

I was a minority Jewish white kid among multiple ethnicities. A terrific mariachi group had us dancing to old Mexican favorites, then ended with a southern-twang banjo duel: "The Devil Went Down to Georgia."

My old pal, Ernest Batiste, was there as a photo in a distressingly large memorial to those no longer with us. One summer break, Ernie and I stood by the old road to Phoenix with a sign saying, "North to Alaska."

We got a lot of dirty looks and gave up after a single ride all day in the back of a pickup to Eloy. Ernie was black.

Old divisive demons are back to haunt us. One is racial and ethnic bigotry. Before Ernie died in 2023, we discussed whether Barack Obama had shown color was no longer a useful descriptor. We were hopeful but doubtful.

Ignorance runs deep, and America's divide goes way beyond ethnicity, class or creed.

I skirted politics in a tribute to a classmate of deep Mexican roots who we all admired. She chimed in with the mariachis at our first dinner and then died that night.

But my eyes kept shifting to the senior class president, who had studied law, settled in a posh Maricopa County home and made lots of money. He voted Trump the first time. Why not? He's a Republican, and we have a two-party system. But again in 2024?

His school girlfriend married a rancher near the border and volunteered at a reception center for desperate migrant arrivals. We met not long ago at her memorial in Tubac.

I asked if he still backed Trump, a serious question I put to all smart Republicans.

Of course, he replied. Biden was a dotty old stumbling fool who humiliated America abroad, ruined the economy and threw open the border. And so on.

In our 80s, we knew the difference between normal aging and dementia. I'd reported on Biden's term up close, watching his top aides calm Trump-troubled waters. Admirals have others to scamper up the ropes. They chart the course.

Biden was key to reversing George W. Bush's economic calamity. He tried to get Obama to exit Afghanistan, a futile war he opposed from the start. He fortified NATO to help Ukraine in a war Trump triggered. He tried hard to limit Israeli overkill in Gaza.

He restored the economic shambles of Trump's Covid denial to create what The Economist called "the envy of the world." And so on. My old classmate just smirked. All of that was fake news.

I skipped the rest of the part about integrity, character or decency. Biden's net worth in office increased only from selling two Delaware homes. He lost a son to the Iraq war. His other son's deficiencies pale compared to Trump family graft and plunder.

Politics are personal, and people vote how they vote. But facts matter. Unless America adds to its wealth and wherewithal to a global effort to mitigate climate collapse and stop pointless conflicts, we hapless Homo sapiens are toast.

My column helped me see a vibrant new spirit in the Old Pueblo. Old touchstones remain. But Baja Arizona is tightly linked to a wider world. It squanders scarce water for tech industries. Mining eats away its natural splendor. It badly needs rebalance.

The venerable Star is more vital than ever, and I wish it well. Our overheated corner of an imperiled world needs informed, engaged citizens. And that requires a community daily paper that connects Tucson to global realities over the horizon.

Thank you again for reading these columns. I am at mort.rosenblum@gmail.com if you'd like to stay in touch.