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These birds completely puzzle me

I’m a puzzler. I’ve tackled jigsaw puzzles, word puzzles and occasionally number puzzles since I was a kid. And oh, the happy, smug satisfaction it brings. I begin my day puzzling with my first cup of coffee. Every morning, I do three types of word puzzles on the computer. By the time I finish, my sleep-slit eyes are open, I’m vertical, and taking nourishment. Dear Richard refills my coffee cup. At bedtime, I do the newspaper puzzles. Then this Christmas, to my delight, my grandson, Malcolm, gave me a jigsaw puzzle. A gift I would be thrilled to get every year. This ...

Socialism shift becoming more apparent

Are we looking at a socialist future in this nation? With the election of two big city socialist mayors in Seattle and New York, you have to wonder. Today the current number of socialist officeholders is the highest it has been since 1912. As of 2025 more than 250 Democratic socialists hold public office in the United States. These include Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Greg Casar (D-Texas), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), and Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.) in the House. In the Senate there is of course the one and only Bernie Sanders (D-VT). At the State ...

Lent reminds us of God’s ‘promise’

The 40 days before Easter are observed by many Christians as the Season of Lent. The first day of Lent is Ash Wednesday where we are reminded of our fallen, sinful human mortality and our inevitable death. “From dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return” (Genesis 3:19). The Season of Lent was not instituted in the Bible but was established by the early Christian church around 325 AD as a time for preparation of Christ’s resurrection on Easter. During the Season of Lent, and indeed throughout the entire church year, we are to examine ourselves and reflect on the fact that we ...

Stolen valor is insult to those who served

Setting aside our usual lessons in military history and how they play into our current lives, let’s look at some veteran related issues that although they seem to be all of that, also affect every tax paying citizen. As we review the forms to send our hard-earned dollars to the government, ...

Race for governor has begun

The New York State conventions of the Democratic and Republican parties have ended, and the race for Governor has begun. Six months from now you will feel numbed by what is likely to be the most expensive and possibly the most negative race for Governor ever. The Republicans, of course, will blame all of the problems in New York upon Kathy Hochul. The issues they will hammer on will be “cashless bail,” high electricity costs and restricting hook-ups for natural gas. Hochul is trying to address these issues and move to a more middle ground, but she and her party are vulnerable ...

Tariffs taking toll on U.S. residents

When President Trump began in early 2025 imposing various tariffs on countries and products around the world there was debate about who would wind up bearing the cost of the Trump tariffs. (They are called Trump tariffs because the President has claimed the power to impose them with no further Congressional approval.) The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has now resolved the debate In 2025 the Bank found that American consumers and businesses bore about 90% of the cost of President Trump’s sweeping tariffs. The average U.S. tariff rose from 2.6% to 13%, about 10 percentage ...