Every publication has rules for staff and The Dispatch is no exception. “Avoid profanity.” “Double-check your facts.” “Jonah isn’t allowed on Advisory Opinions.”

I respect the rules. But there’s one I struggle with: “Absolutely no hot takes.”

It’s a good rule. A thoughtful audience deserves content commensurate with its own thoughtfulness. In an industry that rewards barely considered insta-reactions to news, we aim to chew our food before we digest it.

But I spent 16 years firing off hot takes day by day, hour by hour. You can take the boy out of the blog but you can’t take the blog out of the boy, at least not without an occasional relapse.