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Proud Americans, not terrorists, join rally

Letters to the Editor

Jerry Ness, Nome After being told by House Speaker Mike Johnson that the crowd would consist of anti-American, Hamas supporting terrorists, we were filled with trepidation and concern. Our minds were filled with scenes of violence and debauchery. Maybe Central Avenue would be ablaze. Perhaps the bakery would be being looted by crazy people scooping up glazed doughnuts and long-johns. I had visions of farmers throwing soybeans at local law enforcement. Our hearts were filled with fear as we descended the hill past the Bubble. Imagine our surprise when we found a large, calm, and ...

‘Emergency’ label magic key in Washington

National Columnists

In Washington today, the word “emergency” is a magic key; it unlocks powers Congress never granted, suspends the discipline of regular order and decorates bloated bills with provisions too dubious to pass on their own. What was once meant to be a narrow exception for genuine crises has become a routine pretext for government overreach — a means of inflating executive power and corroding the nation’s fiscal credibility. Start with the most brazen claim, and one soon to be scrutinized by the Supreme Court: that a president may impose sweeping tariffs under the International ...

Hunger games need to make changes

National Columnists

There are an estimated 42 million people receiving food aid from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps. The figure represents 12.3 percent of the U.S. population, according to the USDA. In the richest nation on Earth that is not something to brag about. It is, or ought to be, a disgrace. SNAP is a casualty of the government “shutdown,” though two federal judges have ordered the Trump administration to restore funds to the program. On Monday, President Trump said he will use a contingency fund to cover only 50 percent of SNAP benefits ...

Cultural, social, fiscal problems go hand in hand

National Columnists

One big word worth learning is “schadenfreude.” Schadenfreude is “pleasure derived by someone from another person’s misfortune.” Nothing better captures the perverse pleasure that Democrats are deriving from the pain inflicted on our country caused by the government shutdown. Democrats precipitated this shutdown to force Republicans to back off efforts to turn around our suicidal growth of government spending and debt. House Republicans passed a continuing resolution ready for the president’s signature to fund the government, but Democrats said no. They refuse to ...

Canada’s warning: Property rights are on chopping block

National Columnists

Think you actually own your so-called “private” property? Better know its history going back to the Ice Age, if a new landmark ruling is any indication. A Native American tribe in Canada has just succeeded in convincing a Canadian superior court that it owns 732 acres of land on which homes, a golf course, roads and other private establishments have been built. Too bad the homeowners didn’t have an archaeological license or a crystal ball when they made their purchases, because the court explained that around 1860 — several years before Canada was even transformed from a ...

Bill Gates gets mugged by reality

National Columnists

You’ve probably heard by now the blockbuster news that Microsoft founder Bill Gates, one of the richest people to ever walk the planet, has had a change of heart on climate change. For several decades, Gates poured billions of dollars into the climate-industrial complex and was howling that the end is nigh unless we stop using fossil fuels, cars, air conditioning and general anesthesia. Now he says he rejects the “doomsday” predictions of the more extreme global warming prophets. Some conservatives have snuffed that Gates has shifted his position on climate change because he ...