I'm not going to sugar-coat this, HBOers. News of the pending layoffs has hit the newsroom hard. This is the third or fourth go-round for many of us. Survivors have seen many talented colleagues go out the door for no other reason than they were expendable under previous administrators or lacked seniority now. It's a precarious time to be in the news biz, when print journalism is struggling to stay afloat. I've been fortunate to be a part of the new online world, for almost 4 years. But online journalism doesn't help much with the bottom line. I warned a class of prospective journalists at North Idaho College recently not to go into journalism unless they simply couldn't help themselves. Mebbe that's why I'm still a journalist. I can't help myself. I still love this business. Now, for your Wild Card ...

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