ET TU BRUTUS: All roads do not, in fact, lead to Rome despite the assertions of a much-confused 12th century French poet-theologian whose cryptic contention has survived the centuries. Nor can you say — as I am inclined when given half a chance — that they lead to Santa Barbara. But it’s incontrovertible that they — the aforementioned roads — do go through it.
Here’s a case in point. Last week, the billionaire owners of the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post both shot themselves in the foot right before inserting said feet in their mouths. You could say they also succeeded in cutting off their noses to spite their faces.
They both decreed that their papers would no longer endorse in presidential elections beginning immediately. Both owners — the Times’ Patrick Soon-Shiong and the Post’s Jeff Bezos — proffered high-minded justifications for their actions, arguing they wanted to put a lid on the divisiveness roiling the waters of our national discourse.
