Opinion

I spent Monday nights in the fall of 1975 breathlessly watching my favorite TV show. And I do mean breathlessly.

The end of this sad, strange, historic and transformative year is almost upon us. And like a lot of you, I found myself burrowing into ritual, structure, and obligatory loaves of sourdough to fill up those hours of social isolation thrust upon us by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In case you (expletives deleted) missed the marketing campaign, on January 5 the noble public servants at Netflix will launch a six-episode series, “History of Swear Words,” hosted by actor Nicholas Cage.

A surprising number of political reputations would collapse without the benefit of our short attention spans and vulnerability to distraction.

Now that we are well into the month of December, my three teenage daughters have provided me with their extensive Christmas lists — both electronic and hard copies — in triplicate. Full of the typical objects of adolescent desires like designer clothing, electronics, jewelry, and luxury vehicles, their lists read like the inventory of Elon Musk’s next yard sale.

Texans are learning that the state’s attorney general isn’t a very good lawyer.

Editor,

I must confess that I haven’t attended a symphony orchestra performance since a long-ago elementary school field trip.

With the virus surging, now is especially not the time to be without health insurance. Open Enrollment is the short period during which you can enroll in health insurance, choose your plan, or switch to a better plan. Open Enrollment is underway right now, but you have only until Dec. 15 to sign up. Make the top priority on your holiday shopping list buying yourself and your loved ones health security.

Hypocrisy can be embarrassing — and also politically disabling. Austin Mayor Steve Adler got a dose of that nasty medicine this week, when Tony Plohetski — a reporter for KVUE-TV and the Austin American-Statesman — revealed that the mayor was in Cabo San Lucas when he took to Facebook in early November to send a stay-at-home message to his constituents.