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Why hasn’t Trump repealed Biden’s backdoor tax?

Columns

The Trump administration took a well-deserved victory lap last week for repealing more than 100 Biden-era rules for every new regulation. This will save U.S. businesses potentially hundreds of billions of dollars of unnecessary costs. Gone are discriminatory racial preferences, Green New Deal mandates and electric vehicle mandates — to name a few. President Donald Trump has solidly established himself as the “deregulation president.” That’s why it’s an ongoing mystery why the Trump Treasury Department and IRS have refused to repeal one of former President Joe Biden’s ...

Sometimes, you should put the phone down

Columns

The year opened with what could be one of the most horrifying videos of 2026. At 1:30 a.m. in a basement bar at a Swiss ski resort, flames started dancing on the ceiling. Instead of rushing upstairs to flee the room, many celebrants lifted their cellphones toward the blaze, eager to record the thrilling moment to share with friends worldwide. And their videos show other raised arms holding phones to capture a scene that quickly turned horrific. At least 40 people died as the initially small fire exploded to quickly engulf the entire room — a terrifying event bearing the hallmarks of ...

There is a future, and it’s waiting for us to catch up with it

Columns

The hot take that floated into my inbox this week was that resolutions are passe. Apparently, thinking about “next year” is outdated. We’re in this grind of time and marking it arbitrarily doesn’t matter. But, really, we time-travel constantly. It’s one of the best things about being human. We can rehearse future sticky conversations in the shower. We can relive our moments of wildness while folding laundry. We can imagine a future version of ourselves who has it together, so she is not constantly behind on laundry. Yet every January, the naysayers trot out the idea that ...

Forgetting those things that are behind

Columns

The year 2025 passed pretty quickly, almost in the blink of an eye. It began with tragedy as soon as January hit, with 14 people being killed in New Orleans when a driver rammed his truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street. A similar deadly incident happened in Las Vegas when an active-duty U.S. Army Green Beret exploded a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump International Hotel and killed himself. The news continued to be filled with troubling and sad events as political disputes on issues like immigration and vaccines intensified, and beloved celebrities passed away. I did a quick Google ...

Be on watch for Xylazine

Editorials

It is breathtaking to watch the manner in which the substance abuse epidemic in our region continues to evolve. Just last month, officials in Gallia County, Ohio, warned a growing danger has reared its head — Xylazine. The powerful veterinary sedative, which is, of course, not intended for human use at all, has been found in the region; sometimes mixed with fentanyl and other opioids. This is a drug meant for large animals such as horses. There is no safe dosage of “tranq” for humans. In fact, overdosing is all too easy. The Gallia County Health Department says symptoms of an ...

So, should we really be paying higher taxes?

Columns

There is something emotionally satisfying about watching a wealthy person call for higher taxes on people like himself. It feels civic-minded, even noble. A recent commentary by former Utah senator, Massachusetts governor and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney fits squarely into this tradition. Faced with a looming fiscal cliff, Romney concludes that entitlement reform is unavoidable and that higher taxes on affluent Americans must be part of the solution. Don’t be fooled, though. Yes, the status quo is unsustainable, and pretending otherwise is reckless. But taxing the ...