You might remember that last week, I wrote about things that incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi could do that would cost very little money and yet be a tremendous boon for our nation. Thus I was very pleased to see that she and other Democrats are working on House Bill # 1, which will be the first proposed law filed next January. Because of the complicated legalese required, HB #1 still is a work in progress – but its chief aims are clear:  Read More 

I was doing what I usually do late on Wednesdays, driving home from bridge and listening to “Marketplace” on WUSF. This was the day after the election, and its business-oriented commentators hadn’t quite absorbed that Trump lost, but they did understand that Democrats won the House. The immediate question posed was what can Congress do that doesn’t increase the national debt? Then they went on to remind listeners that the debt has risen precipitously since Republicans took total power – something they pretty much ignored before the election.  Read More 

I’m not going to write much about our historic election because I’m tired of thinking about it and suspect that you are, too. Of course I’ll have more to say later, but for now mainly this: I never want to hear another negative word about Nancy Pelosi. At age 77, she is well-acquainted with the country’s 435 House districts. She targeted carefully and recruited a lot of strong women, liberal veterans, and racial minorities – and won the US House by a large margin. Many victories across the nation set precedents, with more women in Congress than ever before and more minorities, including firsts for Native Americans. Voters also chose to get rid of some of the worst bad guys, including vote-suppressor-in-chief, Kansas’ Kris Kobach and Vladimir Putin’s best pal in Congress, California’s Dana Rohrbacher.  Read More 

LaGaceta, our dear local weekly run by the Manteiga family, often reminds me of my youth in Minnesota. The Jasper Journal was a weekly run by the Davidson family, and they lived just three houses away from ours on the top floor of a solid quartz building. The newspaper’s office and print shop were on the first floor, with the press and mailing-label equipment down in the basement. I was in the fourth or fifth grade when I began going there on Thursday afternoons, never doubting that my childish presence was helpful to the four-member staff. I think they even paid me a dime a day.  Read More