Monthly Archives: October 2019

Our opulent government will never change

I know I have said this before, and I will likely say it again, but neither side in the American political debate takes government finances seriously. One party pretends to care about deficits and (rightly) lowers taxes while (wrongly) allowing spending to continue to grow exponentially. The other party pretends that our debt problem doesn’t exist, and […]

Can someone please define emergency for me?

As I write this column, Maine’s Legislative Council — which consists of 10 lawmakers, six Democrats and four Republicans — is beginning to work through the process of considering the roughly 400 bill requests submitted by lawmakers for the second session of the Legislature. The second session, for those not up to speed on Maine’s […]

Risk everything, even if it means sacrificing money from China

“A threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” These two quotes, both from the late Martin Luther King, Jr., were widely posted — among others — on social media to mark the 50th anniversary of his assassination. The […]

A tale of two China scandals

On two separate occasions this week, Americans have offended China, and prompted the country to react. First, the National Basketball Association was put in an awkward position when the General Manager for the Houston Rockets, Daryl Morey, tweeted an image with the message “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.” The Rockets, at the time, were […]

The unstoppable impeachment train

Let’s be honest, this was always the way this was going to happen. As we all know by now, on Aug. 12, a whistleblower complaint was filed with the inspector general of the intelligence community by a CIA officer who had worked at the White House. The complaint, as we now know, alleged wrongdoing by […]