You and I both know that columnists are granted enough latitude within normative word counts so that their work in that format, by design, can never be complete. Advertiser-supported media have their own set of pressures and motivations.
Similarly, an adversarial legal pleading will allege all manner of assertions as fact in support of a client's action. It's at the heart of zealous advocacy.
Neither journalism nor law are perfect tools, but both historically have been utilized to accomplish more good than bad, and both are under constant criticism for not only their deficiencies, but also by those with motivation to lessen their effectiveness. For better or worse, that's a component of partisan battle.
My preference for respectful settlement negotiations is no secret. It sits at the base of my questions and criticisms of the self-certain here who dismiss this all as BS. I'm a 35 year fan of JC because for my purposes his good vastly outweighs his bad. But that doesn't blind me to his human imperfections and how they might sometimes complicate things, especially in the context of a life lived on a far grander scale than most.
As I wrote elsewhere, I could warmly recognize the man within his official statement, and I wasn't wowed by the plaintiff's Complaint. Neither is going to budge me from my take on some of the exaggerated derision on display in this thread. You raise some valid points. I think the same can be said for Mike Anthony. I might scale back portions of both your communications if asked to edit.
