We have all been participants in a wild improv experiment that has replaced what used to be “The News”.  It’s difficult to research when the transition from a credible Fourth Estate to whatever it has become today actually began, (I’m going to guess the Nixon administration may have been catalytic), because it’s categorically impossible to feel secure in the veracity of, well…anything.  For those of us who truly seek enlightenment, the unscientific, purely emotional and fundamentally arbitrary alignment with reporters and pundits has been anything but satisfying.  The frenzied, twenty-four-seven ‘scoop quest’ has created a polarized, (at least Left and Right, but many more boutique-like poles as well), over-produced assault on our senses, complete with snappy underscores and whooshing, exploding graphics.  And, the “Breaking News!”, rarely breaking or newsy, is but a teaser for a rehash by a panel of opinionated, questionably-informed talking heads whose contracted assignment is to leave any topic hanging so listeners will stay tuned during the pleadings of grass-mowing, dog-nuzzling sufferers, beseeching you to ask your doctors if you should ignore the hundreds of life-threatening side-effects of some unpronounceable drug, (for some reason, always ending in “mab”), for the promise of an improved complexion, four-hour erection or more-regular bowel movement.  And, just when you think you’ve come to grips with your choice between “sudden, painful death”, rock hard penis or “a 10% improvement of your flesh-eating psoriasis”, there’s more “Breaking News!” to confuse the issue.