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We wish Merry Christmas to everyone

Editorials

Christmas is a time to spend with our family and friends, enjoy good food and conversation. Our houses are warm and decorated for the season. There are special treats, a Christmas tree to gather round and packages with ribbons and bows. Christmas today is far different than it was when this part of the country was being settled. During those years a single toy might have cost more than an entire family had to spend for holiday cheer. In the homestead era, the family seldom had a tree at home. They had to travel several miles in the cold to a schoolhouse or a church to see and ...

Happy-enough holiday is good enough

National Columnists

On my 11th Christmas, my parents were preparing to divorce. At the time, I didn’t know that, of course, though I imagine most children sense, on some level, the rising tension and animosity that can precede separation. They were certainly fighting more, and I remember hating it, being the only one of us kids who would be awoken by the sounds of their arguments. I was a light sleeper; was afraid I would sleepwalk right out of our apartment and onto the road out front. My parents must have been worried that I’d wake early on Christmas Day, too, because in the run-up to the holiday, ...

God’s gift who keeps on giving

National Columnists

With Christmas near, many people are excited to exchange gifts with family and loved ones. Children are especially enthusiastic on Christmas morning as they open their presents under the tree, hoping they received everything they asked for. They could be getting the latest technological gadgets or fashionable clothes that represent current trends. According to Amazon, some of the “hottest” gifts for girls and boys this year include mini karaoke machines with a portable Bluetooth speaker and two wireless microphones, and Masterbee digital cameras that print instant photos. Many ...

Bernie Sanders’ plan would sabotage future

National Columnists

Most people welcome economic growth, but Bernie Sanders hates it. The Vermont socialist has come out against data centers, the mass computing facilities essential to the development of artificial intelligence. There are all sorts of NIMBY-type reasons for local residents to oppose data centers — they use a lot of energy and water, they are noisy and unsightly — but Sanders is against them on principle. If he can stop the creation of new data centers, he can squeeze AI research to a standstill and supposedly save American jobs and give Congress more time to regulate the new ...

Like people, societies age; complacency sets in

National Columnists

Western civilization arose in the 8th century B.C. Greece. Some 1,500 city-states emerged from a murky, illiterate 400-year-old Dark Age. That chaos followed the utter collapse of the palatial culture of Mycenaean Greece. But what reemerged were constitutional government, rationalism, liberty, freedom of expression, self-critique, and free markets — what we know now as the foundation of a unique Western civilization. The Roman Republic inherited and enhanced the Greek model. For a millennium, the Republic and subsequent Empire spread Western culture, eventually to be inseparable ...

Chanukah is relevant for everyone

National Columnists

Of all the holidays on the Jewish calendar, Chanukah, which began Sunday evening, Dec. 14, has always been one of my favorites. Even when I was younger and far less observant, I appreciated the holiday’s well-known rituals and customs: lighting the menorah, spinning the dreidel, eating potato latkes, and so forth. My given Hebrew name — “Maccabee,” because Judah Maccabee was nicknamed “the hammer” — is also synonymous with the hero of the holiday’s story. Because of the holiday’s timing and the general desire by corporate America and elected officials to include ...