Dear Granddaddy, why can’t they have jobs for us? I want to make some money! Ahmen- 14-year old student I feel your pain, Ahmen. When I was your age, a lot of us had paper routes. It…
Posted: 15 January 2019 [06:41 PM] Column
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Posted: 15 January 2019 [06:41 PM] Recent Headlines
Wednesday 01/09/2019
Posted: 09 January 2019 [05:16 PM] Columnist The Nantucket courtroom in which Kevin Spacey was arraigned Monday was a real courtroom, not a Hollywood set. Instead of a dramatic mahogony judge’s bench, it had a plastic laminate desk. Instead of a coiffed character in costume, it…
Posted: 09 January 2019 [05:16 PM] Columnist WASHINGTON - “This is what democracy looks like.” It’s the chant heard again and again at the women’s marches the day after Donald Trump was inaugurated and echoed later in mobilizations on behalf of gun sanity and the Affordable…
Monday 01/07/2019
Posted: 07 January 2019 [04:45 PM] Opinion As we make resolutions for the New Year, all of us at City Hall are continuing the conversations surrounding efficiencies and improving government. Some of these points include how to work across department lines, how to increase services…
Posted: 07 January 2019 [04:44 PM] Opinion Welcome 2019! It’s time to start fresh for the New Year. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. First and foremost, 2019 will be a year focused on the budget. With a new governor and legislature, combined…
Posted: 07 January 2019 [04:42 PM] Opinion As the government shutdown drags on, it remains the case that President Donald Trump’s proposed wall is unpopular with the American people. But an argument can be made that even if Trump’s proposals are unpopular, he still benefits from…
Posted: 07 January 2019 [04:42 PM] Opinion It might not have been a coincidence that as the new Congress convened Thursday, Saudi Arabia announced the opening of a trial of 11 people charged in the slaying of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. After all, the U.S. Senate so…
Sunday 01/06/2019
Posted: 06 January 2019 [06:30 PM] It has been one heck of a year at the New England Carousel Museum and the Bushnell Park Carousel with exciting special events produced and wonderful new education programs created and successfully produced for our communities. Taking part in hosting…
Posted: 06 January 2019 [06:28 PM] By Hugh Hewitt Congressional Republicans have little to say or do in the shutdown debate. Whatever deal emerges from President Donald Trump’s negotiations with incoming speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., will…
Posted: 06 January 2019 [06:27 PM] By Danny Tyree I knew it wasn’t just me! In recent weeks I’ve overheard multiple shoppers gripe about navigating the wildly dissimilar credit card setups at different establishments. Credit card machines have gotten just as confusing as the…
Monday 12/31/2018
Posted: 31 December 2018 [06:52 PM] Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a fiery populist on the left, announced she is forming an exploratory committee for a 2020 presidential run. Her earnest plea for working people and her attack on the rich and powerful provide a stark contrast…
Posted: 31 December 2018 [06:50 PM] Columnist The liberal media are up to their usual dirty immigration tricks. This time, they’re exploiting the death of a second Guatemalan child who died while in the custody of the Border Patrol at the southwestern border. As usual, the…
Posted: 31 December 2018 [06:48 PM] We were both deeply involved in our nation’s fight against al-Qaida and its early fight against the Islamic State, and we both believe it is imperative that President Donald Trump remember what we consider to be the most important lesson…
Sunday 12/30/2018
Posted: 30 December 2018 [07:13 PM] The Washington Post We still don’t know which Democrats (most of them?) will run for president in 2020. Nevertheless, from the vantage point of an ex-Republican and homeless political wanderer - one who has seen her party taken over by…
Posted: 30 December 2018 [07:12 PM] Special to The Washington Post “See that door?” Donald Rumsfeld, played by Steve Carell, asks Christian Bale’s Dick Cheney early on in “Vice,” Adam McKay’s freewheeling, comic-tragic collage-biopic. “Because of the discussion Nixon and Kissinger are having behind that door…
Posted: 30 December 2018 [07:12 PM] The Washington Post For decades, elites in the United States had a consensus on foreign policy: They believed that championing a liberal world order was in our interest. Now, we are seeing a new left-right axis emerge around protectionism and…
Friday 12/28/2018
Posted: 28 December 2018 [06:39 PM] Special to The Washington Post Roughly 2 million civilian employees work for the federal government. They are men and women of every racial background and from every state in the country. Yet there is one thing they all have in…
Posted: 28 December 2018 [06:38 PM] Special to The Washington Post President Donald Trump’s Dec. 23 tweet promising a “slow and highly coordinated” withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria may ease the gnashing of teeth among officials and analysts in Washington, but it won’t end the…
Posted: 28 December 2018 [06:37 PM] The shutdown of roughly 25 percent of the federal government continued into a sixth day Thursday, with little or no evidence that President Donald Trump and his Democratic opponents on Capitol Hill are moving any closer toward a deal that…
Tuesday 12/25/2018
Posted: 25 December 2018 [06:25 PM] By James Downie Days before Donald Trump was elected president, then-Rep. Mick Mulvaney limited his endorsement of the GOP nominee. “Yes, I’m supporting Donald Trump,” he told a campaign debate audience. “I’m doing so as enthusiastically as I…
Posted: 25 December 2018 [06:24 PM] By Jackson Diehl President Donald Trump didn’t have many foreign policy celebrations this year, but some of those he had were worth watching. Andrew Brunson, the American pastor held by Turkey’s authoritarian regime, knelt and prayed in the…
Posted: 25 December 2018 [06:21 PM] By Henry Olsen Another government shutdown. Coming on the heels of Donald Trump’s precipitous withdrawal from Syria, the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, and continued decline in the stock market, this merely adds to the growing sense…
Sunday 12/23/2018
Posted: 23 December 2018 [06:14 PM] Special to The Washington Post Donald Trump should inspire a new look at Andrew Jackson. Even by 19th-century standards, Jackson was terrible. In addition to being an overseer of enslaved people, a slaveholder and a slave trader, he was technically…
Posted: 23 December 2018 [06:08 PM] When you are a conservative losing an argument, say it was what Ronald Reagan would have done. President Donald Trump was the latest Republican to try that familiar gambit, with a tweet Thursday morning that claimed his border wall would…
Posted: 23 December 2018 [05:59 PM] The Washington Post Let’s put aside for the moment the question of whether President Donald Trump committed crimes in obtaining the presidency (conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws by hush-money payments or receipt of assistance from a foreign power) or…
Monday 12/17/2018
Posted: 17 December 2018 [07:58 PM] The Washington Post President Donald Trump will retreat to his Florida resort at the end of this week. Nearing the halfway point of his term in office, his political isolation in Washington is deepening. A slew of candidates balked at…
Posted: 17 December 2018 [07:56 PM] The Washington Post Watching President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani try to have it all ways (“No. I don’t believe [Roger Stone told Trump about WikiLeaks]. But again, if Roger Stone gave anybody a heads-up about WikiLeaks’ leaks, that’s not…
Posted: 17 December 2018 [07:55 PM] It’s unclear what U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May hoped to get from leaders of the European Union at their recent summit. As things turned out, she got less than nothing - a public brush-off that further weakened her standing at…
Sunday 12/16/2018
Posted: 16 December 2018 [06:38 PM] By Karl W. Smith It’s still too early for a definitive verdict on whether last year’s corporate tax reforms have led to an increase in business investment. But the absence of any clear signs - as…
Posted: 16 December 2018 [06:36 PM] The Washington Post The Washington Post reported Dec. 12: “A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced President Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen to three years in prison for financial crimes and lying to Congress, as the disgraced former ‘fixer’ apologized but…
Posted: 16 December 2018 [06:35 PM] 1968 was a year desperately in need of a Merry Christmas. The year had seen student protests worldwide, the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War, a chaotic Democratic National Convention, the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F.…
Friday 12/14/2018
Posted: 14 December 2018 [08:27 PM] Special to The Washington Post Do deficits matter? Clearly, the White House and a substantial number of congressional Republicans can’t decide. On one hand, they sound like cost-cutting deficit hawks when out on the stump or issuing tweets. But once…
Posted: 14 December 2018 [08:24 PM] The Washington Post In almost any field of human endeavor - football, acting, plumbing - failure has a price. If you can’t push the hockey puck into the goal, you get kicked off the team. If your jokes don’t make…
Monday 12/10/2018
Posted: 10 December 2018 [08:52 PM] Columnist Earlier this week I was at an event that honored Malala Yousafzai. Malala, in case you don’t recall, is the brave young school girl from a village in Pakistan who was nearly killed in 2012 by the Taliban. She…
Posted: 10 December 2018 [08:51 PM] By Kara Alaimo President Donald Trump said Saturday that his chief of staff, John Kelly, would step down by the end of the year. Kelly’s departure will add to records the Trump administration has already set for…
Posted: 10 December 2018 [08:49 PM] President Donald Trump always seemed like he was collecting generals the way some children collect Barbie dolls - not necessarily because he liked interacting with them but because he liked having them, all lined up in their best outfits, ready…
Sunday 12/09/2018
Posted: 09 December 2018 [07:16 PM] Pittsburgh Tribune-Review With everything in everyday American life politicized, count on someone, somewhere, being offended by something, anything - even classic Christmas TV specials. A recent Huffington Post tweet promoting a video about a holiday classic says “’Rudolph the…
Posted: 09 December 2018 [07:11 PM] The Washington Post Since he began his campaign in 2015, Donald Trump has insisted - and based a good deal of his agenda - on the notion that illegal immigrants are causing a massive crime wave. When he first came…
Posted: 09 December 2018 [07:09 PM] Opinion “Republicans tax churches to help pay for big corporate giveaway.” You would be forgiven for thinking that this is a headline from The Onion or the fantasy of some left-wing website. But it’s exactly what happened in the big…
Tuesday 12/04/2018
Posted: 04 December 2018 [08:51 PM] Dear Granddaddy, I don’t like the fact that my high school only has gym twice a week. Dakota- A student Dakota, I wholeheartedly agree with you. I’m a big believer in the Old World Greek values of mind…
Monday 12/03/2018
Posted: 03 December 2018 [08:23 PM] Opinion The City of Bristol had a 62 percent voter turnout last month on Election Day. While I would like to extend congratulations to those who were elected and also to those who ran in the spirit of the two…
Posted: 03 December 2018 [05:56 PM] Opinion Time flies. I just marked five years serving as your mayor. When I reflect on the past, I feel gratitude for the positive changes that have come to our community. Those changes couldn’t have happened without you. Since the…
Posted: 03 December 2018 [05:52 PM] Opinion You might think that wealthy people who can tax deduct their charitable contributions are the most generous Americans, and many are. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett deserve praise for the billions they have personally given to charity.…
Posted: 03 December 2018 [05:50 PM] Opinion This week, General Motors announced plans to halt production at several of its plants. The move could see over 14,000 jobs lost, 8,000 of which are in North America. GM chief executive Mary Barra told reporters that while the…
Sunday 12/02/2018
Posted: 02 December 2018 [07:28 PM] The Washington Post It isn’t easy to make Christmas decorations pop. American Christmas --the pagan spectacle of capitalism as opposed to the religious holiday - is about excess, about competing with the neighbor’s bigger budget or lower taste threshold when…
Posted: 02 December 2018 [07:26 PM] Infectious diseases such as chickenpox and measles - once a rite of passage for American children - have been made uncommon because of vaccines. However, in recent years, an increasing number of parents are refusing vaccines, resulting in outbreaks. The…
Monday 11/26/2018
Posted: 26 November 2018 [08:19 PM] I hope you and yours had a good Thanksgiving break. Everyone needs some time to pay attention to family, friends, turkey-induced naps, holiday sales and whatnot. One cannot spend every day focused on current events, lest one go mad with…
Posted: 26 November 2018 [08:15 PM] Sunday’s dramatic events in the Kerch Strait, where Russian troops seized three Ukrainian navy vessels, highlight the Kremlin’s resolve to hold on to the spoils of its aggression against Ukraine and flout its international obligations. They also show the lengths…
Posted: 26 November 2018 [08:13 PM] After more than two centuries of democracy, America is still having difficulty counting votes - in certain places, anyway. Many precincts managed the Nov. 6 election smoothly. Orange County, California, for instance, home to a handful of tightly contested congressional…
Sunday 11/25/2018
Posted: 25 November 2018 [08:05 PM] The Washington Post In more robust times for the metropolitan newspaper business, the Kansas City Star ran a column devoted to nourishing civic memory. The feature recalled events and personalities from 40 years past - roughly half a lifetime -…