21 September—The Hearst Republican-American, like many other rags, often illustrates news and feature stories with pictures it has on hand or can get with minimal effort and expense. For instance, a recent story about a murder was illustrated with a file photo of a police cruiser from the town in which the murder occurred. Of course, the picture did absolutely nothing to illuminate the story. It just wasted space that could have been better used for more news. Seriously?

So in last week’s Hearst Sunday Republican (14 September, which I read only this morning because the news reported in Hearst Connecticut rags is usually at least a day late anyway and timeliness of features is less consequential) readers were reminded of Constitution Day upcoming on 17 September with the illustrated notice at the bottom of this page.

The reminder was appropriate and appreciated, to be sure. (Even after the fact.) But why was it illustrated with (a lousy picture of) John Hancock’s signature on the Declaration of Independence? Hancock hadn’t been present at the Constitutional Convention and didn’t sign the great document. Governor of Massachusetts at the time, he couldn’t make it down to Philadelphia because of his gout and generally poor health.

One wonders who was the Hearst Connecticut Media employee who committed that faux pas. On second thought, who cares? On third thought, did any other pedantic nit picker even notice the historical howler?

The Constitution naturally brings to mind Donald Trump’s history-making ignorance, disrespect, and abuse of it that’s brought shame to America. We can only hope that his disastrous dictatorship hasn’t done irreparable damage . . .