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I remember as a kid accompanying my mom to the elementary school a few blocks from our house. No, not because the principal had called her into the office to talk about my behavior. That came later, in high school and college. Such as in college, when the dorm manager called my dad at work to tattle on me. He called my dad collect. For people too young to know, that’s when the person making the call instructed the operator to bill the person getting the call, “collecting” the toll. That was back when you paid for long-distance calls by the expe...
The country is looking at tariffs the wrong way. This isn’t a new problem — we’ve been making the same mistake since the first U.S. tariffs on imported goods in 1790. But the self-inflicted case of mistaken identity has gone on far too long and it’s time to fix it. The problem is that the U.S. imposes tariffs on what we buy, which is why the added cost often ends up hurting no one but ourselves. And now the country is talking about even more and larger tariffs on what we buy for our homes, business and factories — the very items that many cons...
Close to 20 years ago, when I was working for the Anchorage Daily News, the paper was moving more aggressively into the online world, allowing readers to post comments at the end of news stories, opinion columns and letters to the editor for everyone to see. I thought that was a bad idea, opening up a free platform for people to spread and promote mistruths, half-truths and full-out falsehoods to tens of thousands of readers every day. Not to mention personal attacks on innocent people, accusations and hostile language. The problems would...
There’s no reason to hide my praise for the Freedom Caucus, that rabble-rousing merry band of far-right conservatives who make trouble for congressional Republican leaders — and for the country. The hard-liners are willing to shut down government services to make a point, even when the point is dull and the public harm is sharp. They promote chaos to churn up their fundraising efforts. And they flock to social media like waterfowl flock to wetlands to feed — both leave the same kind of mess behind. But when the Freedom Caucus is right, they...
Americans are changing their minds in record numbers. No, not about politics. People are pretty stubborn about that. And don’t look for Americans to change their minds about what they dislike — taxes, inflation, roof leaks and car repairs — or what they like —sweets, free Wi-Fi and airline miles on their credit cards. But take a look at the numbers and you’ll see that people change their minds about their online purchases more often than candidates change their positions on tough issues. Or, if you don’t want to pick on politicians...
The CEO of a large health insurance provider was shot dead on the sidewalk in front of his New York City hotel in a planned killing and 57,000 people posted laughing emojis on the company’s Facebook page. When did murder become funny? Days after the Dec. 4 killing, the tone turned even uglier. “Wanted” posters started appearing in New York City, glued to light poles and traffic control boxes at street corners. But these posters were not searching for the murderer; they were threatening more violence against health care executives. “Heal...
Unbelievable as it may sound, the state is preparing to burn up more public dollars in the fire pit of the mythical Alaska North Slope gas pipeline. But unlike a real fire pit, which warms those who gather around, spending more money on a gas line dream will leave Alaskans in the cold and the state a little poorer. The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) last week decided in a bout of fiscal foolishness and pro-development fervor to put up $50 million to ensure the completion of engineering work on the line. It’s e...
No matter what President-elect Donald Trump may think about the far reach of his powers, only Santa is allowed to make the list of who is naughty or nice. Yet just as Santa Claus is coming to town, so is Trump. And while I expect most people can live with whichever one of Santa’s lists they fall into for holiday gifts, I suggest they’d better not cry and better not pout about Trump’s lists — I doubt it would matter. He seems determined to serve a holiday feast covered in a thick sauce of sweet revenge. The president-elect spent much of his cam...
As if the American public needed another reason to be cynical about their elected leaders. As if people needed one more reminder that justice isn’t equal, or that politicians can go back on their pledges. President Joe Biden on Sunday pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, wiping away federal criminal convictions on income tax and gun charges. That’s even though the president and his spokesperson said repeatedly this year that he would do no such thing. Donald Trump’s multiple pardons of crooks, cheats and liars in the final weeks of his first preside...
I like flying. I like looking down at the Earth and trying to identify what I see. I like having breakfast in one state and dinner in another. I like resetting my watch as if I am traveling in time, which I am. And I enjoy imagining stories about people on the plane. It’s as if I am writing a novel, only no one will review and criticize my work. The key point being I imagine what I like. I don’t really want to know their long stories, so I generally don’t talk to people on planes. Of course, it doesn’t always work. I was flying back to Alaska...
Most people are not wealthy, or even close to it, though many enjoy reading about and watching and following the lives of the rich and famous. Maybe it’s envy, maybe it’s enjoying hanging on the drama, laughing at the comedy and gawking at the lavish spending. Or maybe it’s just the dumb things rich people do with their lives, the way they behave and the things that show how out of touch they are with the real world. Of course, I have a couple of examples. First, it’s the opposite of conspicuous consumption, which is when rich people buy exp...
The next two years may be Alaska’s last chance for productive, bipartisan legislative action. The state House and Senate have both organized in bipartisan coalitions, with Democrats, Republicans and independents pledging to work together on the big issues facing Alaska. Sadly, that across-the-political-aisle cooperation could end in two years. Alaska’s switch to open primaries and ranked-choice voting for the 2022 and 2024 elections encouraged candidates, particularly Republican candidates, to appeal to moderate and nonpartisan voters ins...
I’m on the five-year plan for colonoscopies. The doc keeps finding small polyps that he cuts out and so he tells me to keep coming back to avoid a worse fate. As uncomfortable as it is, at least the prep work for that is brief and painless compared to the excruciatingly long and upsetting presidential elections which come every four years. Something is wrong with politics when I dread elections more than colonoscopies. Yes, the voting is over, though it will take several more days or weeks or court decisions to know the final outcomes of the p...
It’s not only the fault of the people who post insults on social media, who embrace the politically inspired lies and accept the politically driven threats of violence as a necessary means to the end they favor. Nor is it only the fault of people on the other side of the political world who lecture but don’t listen, who can’t understand why so many Americans are drawn to the ever-expanding lies and ever-cruder insults yet sit by all too quietly, waiting for the turmoil to pass. It’s like the entire nation is living through a Florida hurricane,...
Making it easier for Alaskans to cast their ballots shouldn’t be about how they vote, which way they lean politically or how much they favor one party over another. Admittedly, elections are partisan. Sadly, increasingly so. Candidates, their fat-funded political action committees and political parties have turned the nation’s elections into an endless stream of negative attack ads that prey on the public’s fear of anything that will get them to the polls. It’s bad enough that partisanship has taken over election campaigns. But those same ug...
Supporters of Herbert Hoover’s 1928 campaign for president ran newspaper ads with the headline, “A Chicken for Every Pot.” An impractical campaign pledge, though maybe it helped: Hoover won the election. But he then presided over the start of the Great Depression in 1929, when many could afford neither a chicken nor a pot. Almost 100 years later, political campaigns are still promising a better life for voters, though the price tag has risen far above the cost of a chicken, or a pot, or even an entire new kitchen. In rare cases, the count...
Southeast Alaska communities and their local newspapers share a common problem: Not enough people, and the ones who are here are getting older. For the communities, an aging and declining population means not enough people to fill jobs. It means falling further behind in providing services that attract and retain new residents, making the situation worse. For newspapers, it means a declining population of readers as aging residents who grew up with their local paper die out. Younger generations are so unconcerned about the necessity of... Full story
Whichever side wins the national election Nov. 5 needs to think about why they did not get a larger share of the vote. Not that they ever really expected to win over the hearts, minds and ballots of 60% of voters. The honest reality is that most candidates would accept 51% as a clear victory in this divisive world. OK, maybe they’re prefer 52%. But they’ll happily declare a mandate on the thinnest of margins. Gloating is ugly. It makes sore losers out of disappointed losers. Even worse, many of those sore losers are increasingly embracing anger... Full story
To say I am resistant to change is an understatement. I acknowledge that it happens in life — after all, I am about to turn 73 — but that doesn’t mean I embrace or enjoy it. Rather, I quietly accept change, though not happily, just like I accept that rainy fall comes after summer, and that my 20-year-old spices don’t seem to smell like anything anymore and it is time to buy new jars. My resistance to change in life was obvious when I was getting coffee with a friend recently and pulled actual change out of my pocket, just as I’ve done sinc... Full story
Gov. Mike Dunleavy made the pledge and he’s stickin’ to it. Too bad he is putting national anti-tax politics above tax fairness in Alaska. Specifically, he vetoed legislation this month that would have taxed car rentals through online platforms the same as car rentals from brick-and-mortar agencies with local offices. And he vetoed legislation two years ago that would have taxed vape and e-cigarette products the same as traditional tobacco products. The car rental fairness legislation passed with 51 out of 60 state senators and rep...
We deliver you the Sentinel as one piece, whether in print or online. If you’re reading this in print, just pretend that the sheets of paper folded together are one piece. Regardless of how you read the paper, it has five elements: Paid advertising, news, the Sentinel’s editorial, my personal opinion column and opinions from our readers. Each has different rules and standards. Each is essential for newspapers that want to serve their community. Paid ads are pretty simple: The advertiser, be it a business or an individual or a government agency,...
Remember those perplexing math problems in school? Not the easy ones that required only simple subtraction, addition, multiplication or division. I’m talking about those word problems that told what seemed like a purposefully confusing story about trains moving in opposite directions at different speeds and you had to calculate how far apart they would be in an hour. I figured the purpose was to teach us problem solving. Though in my early school years, the biggest math problem I wanted to solve was how to buy 25 cents worth of candy when I h...
Candidates have long waged election campaigns on catchy slogans, snappy jingles, popular promises and misleading but memorable mottos. It’s getting worse. The music is better but the lyrics are lacking. Vagueness is in vogue. The less specific candidates are with their actual plans to fulfill campaign promises, the less the opposition and analysts can pick apart the flaws. Running for president or Congress? Promise more funding for child care, lower taxes, lower prices at the grocery store, stronger defense, defeating China for jobs and i...
Some of the best times in life are when a bad thing turns into a good thing. When frustration and disappointment transform into happiness. It’s not magic, though it seems magical. It’s when someone you don’t even know steps up and does something nice. I recently flew to Washington, D.C., and being frugal, which sounds so much better than cheap, took a 53-minute train ride from the suburban airport to the stop closest to my downtown hotel, rather than the more convenient but 20 times more expensive taxi. The Metro train station was almost a mil...
To modernize an old expression, Alaskans are fiddling while the Permanent Fund burns. Not literally, of course. The Permanent Fund’s stocks and bonds, real estate deeds, lease agreements and investment contracts are all safely stored. But the fiddling part, that’s true. And because it’s a state election year, we can expect a lot of candidates to turn up the volume on their fiddles. No matter how off-key the music, no one ever loses an election by playing happy tunes about big Permanent Fund dividends. No one wins an election talking about...