What's News?

I like Brian Williams. Not necessarily because of all the times his calm presence has brought me closer to the events of the day, even when I didn't necessarily want to hear about them. Brian is a newsman, after all, and he is one of the good ones. How do I come by this opinion? Especially since I am not habitually viewing the Nightly News on the National Broadcasting Corporation's channel. I am not exactly a connoisseur of news broadcasts on any network. I am a fan of Brian Williams because he grew up in New Jersey.
I am a fan of guys from New Jersey. Not Chris Christie, but a whole lot of others. Charles Addams, New Yorker cartoonist and inventor of the Addams Family, was from New Jersey. Lou Costello, who couldn't remember who was on first, came from the Garden State. Before he started hanging around in Westeros and Essos, Peter Dinklage hung out in Morristown. One half of Steely Dan, Donald Fagen hails from South Brunswick. You could hear Alan Ginsberg howling from New Jersey long before he became a citizen of the world. It sort of makes sense that Paul Le Mat grew up just down the street from Rahway Prison. Speaking of prison, you might expect that Joe Pesci was from those mean streets, but he hails from the relatively calm suburban avenues of Newark. Philip Roth came from this same place, years before. Which pretty much brings us to the letter "S."
Of course there is Bruce Springsteen. He of Freehold. He of the shores and the boardwalks and the backstreets. He of song and story. He is my favorite son of New Jersey. Not far behind the Boss comes the Court Jester: Jon Stewart. Jon and Brian Williams are pals. They are the at the top of their respective professions: news and fake news. And they both love themselves a little Springsteen. Which may be why Bruce returned the favor when it was time to induct Brian Williams into the New Jersey Hall of Fame. Jersey boys got to stick together.
Which is why I expect that Brian will weather the storm currently surrounding him. Do I think Brian Williams lied about his experiences in Iraq? Doesn't matter. He's from Jersey.