Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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The death of astrophysicist Stephen Hawking brings to mind Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. How weird is that? But bear with me. Hawking credibly speculated about a parallel universe on the other side of a black hole. What if, in that alternative existence, Hillary Clinton had won the 2016 presidential election? How, in that black hole that is U.S. politics, would she be doing as president? In a word, badly. She wouldn't be the disgrace that Donald Trump is -- there's no way anyone can match his bigotry, hateful appeals to our worst instincts... Full story
Two guests appeared on a recent episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher” on HBO: Donna Brazile, former head of the Democratic National Committee, and Anthony Scaramucci, “The Mooch,” the disgraced former Trump administration communications director who got fired for vulgar comments to a journalist. Who would you expect to come off better on the show? The result may be a microcosm of the state of both parties. Brazile came on first and delivered some comments peppered with gratuitous swearin...
I was concerned when the senate seat in rural King County went to a democrat, giving them a one vote majority in the Senate as well as control of the house and governor’s office. The liberals are now unencumbered in their self-appointed mission to see how much money they can squeeze out of the state’s taxpayers. Washington budgets on a two year cycle every odd numbered year. The 2017 budget was not only the largest in history, it had the largest increase over the past budget. We exceeded 20 billion in proposed spending for the first time. Our... Full story
In the 1950s, America’s “Big Three” automakers (General Motors, Ford and Chrysler) were the pacesetters for our industrial dominance. They had the skilled workers, financing, mass production technology, sales networks, supply chains and customer base. In short, they had it all. President’s Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy even tapped their CEO’s to be Secretary of Defense. "As General Motors goes, so goes the nation" was the commonly heard theme across our land. However, in the last 25 years, our country’s manufacturing power has been in... Full story
What age for drugs? What?! Raise the legal age for pot, alcohol and tobacco to age 26? Who suggested that? Nobody. But let's consider it. "Our brains are still developing up to age 26... The receptors making connections in our brains stop making those connections under the influence of marijuana and other drugs," said Diane Harp, who was repeating some things that were said at a drug abuse prevention conference. (Gazette 2-27-14). Never doubt that marijuana will become as freely available and as lavishly advertised as alcohol and tobacco are to...
There's already a trade war, and it's being waged by Beijing. China's ascension to the World Trade Organization nearly 20 years ago has failed in its strategic objectives. It hasn't created a liberalizing regime or a free-market economy in China; in fact, it hasn't even created a China ready and willing to abide by the norms of free trade. The regime of Xi Jinping hasn't been pushed toward democratic reforms by a rising middle class. China still champions state-led, rather than market-led, capitalism. And it takes advantage of the WTO, using...
Thursday, March 8, 2018. Mark down that date. It was a day for news of huge significance: Tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum, and a startling announcement about negotiations between President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un. Ho-hum. We'd much rather discuss sex. The Washington swamp is teeming with that kind of wildlife. Let's face it -- many, if not most, of the leaders in a position to determine how we live and love and all that important stuff are really just a bunch of horndogs. They jeopardize their elevated status for risky...
Inattentive driving is one of the biggest threats on the nation’s highways. Local and national programs are spotlighting the dangers. Still, at the same time autonomous cars are being pushed. A recent Cadillac commercial shows a driver behind the wheel of his new Cadillac with his arms folded. Another shows a man drinking a pop. The tagline taunts Tesla. Uber and others are testing autonomous vehicles. In fact, just on Monday a woman in Tempe, Arizona was killed by a driverless Uber car. This was not the first fatality or injury from the experi...
During our recent trip through the wine country of Argentina, I became friends with our guide, Oscar. Oscar is an interesting guy. His first real job was as a newspaper columnist for a large daily in Mendoza. In 1983 he wrote a piece criticizing Argentina's conduct of the Falkland War. He was promptly arrested, jailed and exiled to Europe. After 20 years, he was allowed to return home and now guides tourists in English, French, Italian, or Spanish. When I told Oscar that I thought socialism was responsible for Argentina’s economic problems, h...
This St. Patrick’s Day (March 17) the Irish have a lot to celebrate. Ireland is cleaner, greener and more prosperous. Ireland is an island nation roughly one-third the size of Washington with 4.7 million people. It is no longer the agrarian country which its patron saint converted to Christianity in the early Fifth Century. Today’s Ireland attracts tourists, high tech companies and manufacturers from around the world. One of the keys to its economic growth is its low corporate tax rate of 12.5 percent which is nine points lower than the new...
Endangered In our animal world, a species found to be "endangered" can often be protected, propagated and perpetuated. Salmon and bison are examples of such successes. But there are exceptions. Our carrier pigeon is now extinct and South Africa's white rhinoceros survives only in the form of a single remaining male animal. In our plant world, scientific attempts to propagate and perpetuate "endangered" botanical environments are rarely successful. Whitman County's Palouse Prairie may soon become our version of the white rhino and is no longer...
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been attacked and belittled by President Donald Trump more than Vladimir Putin has. Trump has had rough patches with most of his top officials, but there is a particular poignancy in his humiliating treatment of his own attorney general, who got on board the Trump Train early and supports the president's policy instincts as much as anyone. But Sessions is not personally loyal, at least not in the way Trump expects, and so the man who looked past Trump's erratic temperament when he decided to support him now ro...
There's a lot of talk about the Trump presidency unraveling. Big mistake. That assumes it was ever raveled. Now, however, it is about to be Hopeless. Yes, that's a cheesy pun to note that Hope Hicks, who has been among the most trusted of Donald Trump's aides since even before he became a candidate, is departing the pressure-cooker White House. Although still in her 20s, Trump leaned heavily on her as his only front-stabber in a sea of intrigue. She ended up as communications director, but she's not the first one to bail or be bailed from that...
YYYY Warmer temperatures, signs of new growth. #!*! $17,000 simply lost. Send your pet peeves and okeydokes to Whitman County Gazette P.O Box 770, Colfax, WA 99111 or drop them off at the Gazette office...
“Set it, and forget it.” That was Ron Propeil’s declaration to buyers of his rotisserie oven several years ago, and it is what his audiences would yell during his television infomercials. This, of course, was long after he became famous for his Veg-o-Matic, Pocket Fisherman and other inventions. More recently people have been saying it in an entirely different context. Now, it is used in reference to Daylight Saving Time. They say quit fooling around with clocks. Switching time at various arbitrary points in the year is frustrating and confu...
It now looks like Boeing will add at least two more aircraft to the U.S. Air Force fleet which flies our country’s leaders around the world. They are the most recognizable---the 747s traditionally called “Air Force One”. The recent news that President Trump’s Administration now approves replacing the current presidential jets with larger and more modern 747s cements the deal. It means the new Air Force One, a 747-8, could be flying presidents within five years. That’s good news for the more than 70,000 Boeing workers in the Puget Sound reg...
Invest now In a public letter of 16 Feb., 2018, Representative Joe Schmick asked for opinions on “giving more money back to tax payers” because economic projections suggest greater than anticipated revenue. The report he cites sees this unexpected good news as a reflection of a healthy economy. The League of Women Voters supports adequate funding of government services. Thus the League of Women Voters of Pullman strongly suggests that it is precisely because our economy is healthy that this is the time to invest these tax dollars in add...
If John Kelly didn't exist, President Donald Trump would have to invent him, and he wouldn't be able to. The chief of staff had a rocky couple of weeks with the imbroglio over ousted White House staff secretary Rob Porter, but he is as close as it gets to an indispensable man in the Trump White House. Where else is the president going to find someone whom he likes and respects (at least on most days), who can intimidate the White House staff into a semblance of order, who has experience in wielding responsibility in even more difficult...
Allow me to play devil's advocate. It's what I do as a journalist, plus I personally enjoy taking on orthodoxy, particularly when it involves a binge of second-guessing. That's exactly what we are witnessing in the wake of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. I'm about to defend the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I'm not necessarily a fan of the FBI or, for that matter, of so many police agencies that can be overzealous in pursuit of what they perceive to be law and order. That said, I think the feds and all the other...
YYYY Outside media covering Colfax city council meetings! Send your pet peeves and okeydokes to Whitman County Gazette P.O Box 770, Colfax, WA 99111 or drop them off at the Gazette office...
The Washington Legislature has regularly declared that public disclosure laws do not apply to it. A judge in January ruled that the legislature was not exempt from them. In response, and in a rush rarely equaled in Washington legislative history, a bill exempting the legislature from public disclosure laws was passed. The bill passed overwhelmingly in both houses. The public outcry was immediate and, and according to Governor Jay Inslee’s office, unprecedented. Inslee vetoed the bill after some negotiations with legislators and news media o...
It was hard to get excited about the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, but give the South Koreans credit for overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles to pull the games off—and pull them off exceptionally well. The odds were stacked against them. Few people know where Pyeongchang is and the Korean mountains lack the ambiance of Europe’s Alps and North America’s Rockies. The northern coastal range is known for its frigid Siberian winds and subzero temperatures. Both arrived in the first week of competition and disrupted skiing and snowb...
Teacher with guns? In all the discussion about gun control, an idea has been put forward by the President. He is proposing that some teachers at each school be armed in case of a school shooter. It would have been instructive for him to watch the Olympic Biathlon athletes compete. These Olympians race on cross-country skis carrying a .22 caliber rifle, stop at fixed targets to fire single rounds at the target, then continue skiing. These Olympians practice for years in their home country then practice on the specific Olympic course for days or...
If only Joe McCarthy had lived to see this moment, when it is suddenly in vogue to attribute large-scale events in American politics to the hand of Russia and to inveigh against domestic subversion. Robert Mueller released an indictment of 13 Russians for crimes related to their social-media campaign to meddle in our internal affairs in the run-up to and aftermath of the 2016 election. Mueller obviously isn't a McCarthyite, and can't be held responsible for the hysteria -- and hopeful expectations of an impeachment-level event -- that has... Full story
Mark the date on your calendar: March 24. It's a Saturday. It'll be a test for the up-and-coming generation. For that matter, it will be a test for the United States of America and a system of government that gets many failing grades because it has corruption baked in. March 24 is the day that student organizers have announced a rally in Washington -- "March for our Lives." Anything short of an enormous turnout will reinforce the craven politicians' belief that they can wait out the outrage that accompanies each regularly occurring mass gun...
