Mort Report is a labor of love by old-style correspondents with lifetimes on the road and young ones with fresh eyes. Our philosophy is simple: we report at first hand with analysis based on non-alternative fact, not opinion. If we get something wrong, we fix it.
ARIVACA, Arizona — On party days when banjos and stirring voices spill out from La Gitana Cantina and Café, talk of the nearby Mexican border is mostly muted. This funky little settlement smacks of a ranchland redoubt of old souls and new-age spirits.
In Avdiivka on the collapsing Ukrainian front, the soundtrack is booming artillery. Russians knifed through town to advance on farms and villages against heavily outgunned dispirited defenders who plead for more ammunition.
The two towns, 6,500 miles apart, seem to be in different galaxies. But they’re not.
TUCSON — Winnie-the-Pooh, a whimsical little storybook bear, once made sense: “If the person you are talking to doesn’t appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.”
But when concrete blocks too many ears, it’s time to heed Chicken Little. That old tale taught kids not to fret over small stuff, like the hen bonked on the head by an acorn who yelled “The sky is falling!” Look around today. The sky is falling.