Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 1189 - 1213 of 3750
Something is going to happen about climate change. Just what and when is unknown. This week, a bipartisan bill was introduced in Congress. The prospects that it will be passed are not good, but this is the first bipartisan carbon tax bill in ten years to be considered. The bill will probably be introduced again next year in the House of Representatives. This comes on the heels of the defeat of I-1631 in Washington. That, too, was a carbon tax proposal. Much was wrong with it. In many important regards it was just too vague and too open to...
I'm always amazed that the Washington types I consider to be such jerks are completely different when I run into them at a dog park. They're actually pleasant to be around. Our canine kids certainly are a good influence. I find it interesting that President Donald Trump and his family don't have any puppies, not even the ones that most politicians trot out for warm and fuzzy photo ops or campaign ads. But not Trump, maybe because he doesn't do warm and fuzzy. Or perhaps it's because he's a major-league germaphobe and is worried about rabies....
Joe Biden is a gaffe-prone 75-year-old Washington veteran -- who is exactly what Democrats need. The suburbs have turned against Republicans, but Donald Trump's working-class base is still with him in a geographic and demographic stand-off that will -- absent a game-changer -- define the 2020 election. The play for Democrats should be obvious: Make a serious appeal to Trump's voters, take back the Blue Wall states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, and win the presidency. In other words, go with Joe Biden or someone like him with a...
Pet Peeves Colfax gas prices not dropping. People who judge and gossip about other people’s children when their parents are doing their best. People who throw their cigarettes out the window. Quit smoking! If you can’t quit, don’t throw your cigarettes out the window!!! Okeydokes To the kind gentlemen who paid for two great-grandmothers' meals at Fonk’s on Friday....
While massive wildfires are historic, they are more dangerous today. As our population grows they are a greater threat to communities adjacent to wild lands This year, with nearly 4.8 million acres already burned in the U.S. and wildfires finally contained in California, is shaping up to continue a trend that has seen the 10 worst fire seasons since 1960 in terms of acres burned, U.S. News reports. AccuWeather predicts the total economic loss to California when everything is tabulated in 2018 wi...
Dear CNN, I watched your broadcasts protesting the revocation of Jim Acosta’s White House press pass. You have now turned to the courts in order to bolster your continued feud with President Trump. I will agree that the President is pompous, rude and undiplomatic. He certainly carries much of the blame for your conflict. You should, however, acknowledge that you are at least partly responsible. In the case of; Jim Acosta, you are just plain wrong. Your network, and to a degree the national press in general, have come to believe their First A...
It is here. As of Friday, the Christmas season officially starts. At least it used to. This Thursday, as in recent years, Thanksgiving Day is really the start. That is when the Black Friday sales kick off in earnest. Some even started weeks ago. If you eat fast and don’t go for an extra piece of pie, you could be one of the first in a store opening Thursday afternoon. Most stores, however, open early Friday, Black Friday, with buys meant to attract shoppers before they spend all their money elsewhere. Black Friday is a long held tradition. N...
Pet Peeves Lingering tree stumps on Main Street. Eyesores. Okeydokes Huber Action Freight for donating their time to support high school programs....
I've said this before, but my colleagues in media have either disagreed or simply ignored me. After Jim Acosta's confrontation with the president at a White House press conference and the subsequent retaliation, it's time for me to renew my call for all reporters who hold so-called hard passes to turn them in and abandon their post at the White House en masse. Yes, it would be a gesture of defiance to a president and administration that uses reporters as props. There is nothing in the First Amendment that guarantees freedom of the props....
Midterm losses typically humble a sitting president of the United States, but Donald Trump is beyond humbling. He is the most unbowed president ever to lose a house of Congress. Anyone who thought Trump would be taken down a notch, even by a more stinging electoral rebuke, doesn't know the man. He will remain the ringmaster of American politics until the day, presumably in January 2021 or 2025, when he gets on Marine One for the last time. He made the midterms about him, because, really, what else would he make them about? Trump will never lose...
Last week Gordon Forgey’s editorial commented on recent California fires that, as of Sunday, have left at least 76 dead and nearly 1,300 unaccounted for. Three years ago, Time Magazine published an article titled “Climate Change is the ‘Mother of all risks’ to National Security.” No definitive one-to-one link between climate change and any particular fire can be drawn. However, strong evidence does link climate change to changing weather patterns. Those patterns, in turn, drive drought conditions ideal for the recent extreme conflagrations in C...
Gordon Forgey, in your editorial ("Widespread Fear", Nov. 8) you discuss the Democrats vs. Republicans political divides in Washington DC. I wish the media (you included,) would stop perpetuating the myth of "both sides do it" equally. No, they don't. Among the many examples is the fact that Republican leaders and top donors decided (secretly) after Obama's election to oppose him on everything (re: PBS, Frontline, January 15, 2013). Case in point: Obama's last Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland. Republicans refused to even consider his...
As we honor our active duty military and veterans, what is the Trump administration doing for veterans? Not going to the WWI cemetery due to rain for those who died in that war is minor compared to other policies and actions this administration is pursuing that harm and dishonor our military. --Charlotte K. Omoto, Pullman...
One of the consequences of Venezuela’s economic ruin is infectious diseases are reaching epidemic proportions and spreading to neighboring Latin American countries. Venezuela, a country of 30 million people, sits on large oil reserves but when global crude prices plunged, its economy was clobbered and inflation skyrocketed. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasted an inflation rate of 2,350 percent for 2018. The breakdown of Venezuela’s health system has turned what was once Latin Ame...
The mid-term election results could have been much worse. The Democrats got control of the house, but the results were far short of the predicted overwhelming blue wave. Actually, I think it is good that neither party is in total control of government. It will be interesting to see how Nancy Pelosi plays the role of obstructionist to presidential initiatives. The Republicans haven’t been able to blame Democrats for government shutdowns. Now they will have the chance, and it will be interesting to watch. My wife and I saved a long time for o...
California is ablaze again. Three massive fires in the state are destroying homes, businesses, forests and open land. They have claimed more than 40 known victims. About 200 people are missing. Two of the big fires are in southern California and are very close together. Malibu, the prestigious beachside town, is threatened. The biggest fire, already claimed as the states’s most destructive and most deadly, is to the north. The town of Paradise, near Chico, has been virtually destroyed. Thousands upon thousands have been evacuated from the d...
Mornings are somewhat brighter, but it's still a day of mourning. The switch from daylight saving to standard time is an admission that we can't escape the predictable gloom of winter, with its icy weather. It might become less predictable once global warming fully wreaks its destruction -- you know, the disaster that President Donald Trump and the corporate energy interests expediently choose to deny. On the other hand, the political season is nonstop, and the climate in that world inexorably deteriorates too. While we've wrapped up the...
It's appropriate that the U.N. special rapporteur devoted to adequate housing has visited encampments in Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Mumbai -- and San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley. The homeless situation in those cities and others around the country is positively Third World, a blight that shows the persistence of human folly and misery, despite what we take to be our steady progress to greater enlightenment and prosperity. San Francisco is a crown jewel of the new economy, and a sink of vagrancy. One of the more compelling pieces of...
Pet Peeves Parents who don’t teach their kids acceptable behavior and just expect the rest of society to deal with it. Okeydokes Holiday open house. A nice night on the town. No snow yet....
When our military is viewed as an employer, it has the same problem as the private sector; attracting qualified people to fill jobs. In today’s vibrant economy, there is an abundance of “Help Wanted” signs. Even though our armed forces have stepped up their enlistment bonuses, they still fall short of their recruitment goals. There are just fewer qualified people in the employment pool to fill jobs which require higher educational standards, more skills, a willingness to work hard, and the d...
I was raised around strong women. My four-foot-ten-inch grandmother was one of the strongest human beings I have ever known. My mother’s sisters worked on the farm along with my uncles and me. My sister could whip any kid in school and was one of the finest athletes I have known. They didn’t ask for special consideration, nor did they carry protest signs. They certainly don’t consider themselves victims and dislike militant feminists as much as I do. I have a good friend who is an ordained minister in his church. I was proud to be invited to hi...
It is amazing, but true. The American people are in agreement on a political issue. Consensus is overwhelming. It is something not seen in a long time. This goes beyond Tuesday’s election results. In fact, it may be more fundamental than who won and who lost. According to a recent poll, nearly 80 percent of Americans are fearful that the political divides will lead to violence. The poll indicates they are afraid. Both parties are guilty of playing hardball continuously. They give the other party no quarter, and it is not always over the most im...
Pet Peeves Christmas decorations on Main Street, a Christmas tree at the Public Service building, it’s Nov. 8....
Republicans have always justified their preferential treatment of the super-wealthy by trotting out the bogus "trickle-down theory." They argue that as the rich get richer, they will spend more on jobs, etc., and the financial benefits will "trickle down" the economic scale. It's a total con, of course. A sham. But now we are witnessing a trickle down that's for real. The man who has taken over the Republicans spews ignorance, hatred and violence every time he opens his mouth or pecks on a smartphone. His malice indeed trickles down --...
It's not any less awful for being so familiar. The last three high-profile attacks that have convulsed the nation, two in recent weeks, have been carried out by fringe loners who fit the stereotype of the perpetrators of such crimes precisely -- they didn't fit in, they were "off," they kept to themselves. The word that comes up again and again in accounts of their lives is "alone," always alone. The life of Cesar Sayoc, who mailed crude pipe bombs to Democrats ranging from George Soros to Hillary Clinton to Robert De Niro, was a pitiable...
