Opinion

We were motoring along a leafy stretch of road in rural Alabama that my mother-in-law has dubbed “the valley of death.”

The heat of the summer has officially moved in and with that the day-to-day summer routines become fairly predictable.

“Robert’s Rules of Order” needs to return to the school curriculum. It was a one credit hour class when I took it at Indiana State University in the 1970s and I taught it as a mini-course in a Kentucky middle school for several years. Yet you will have to search far and wide to find it in a K–12 or college curriculum today.

Make no mistake. It’s coming. An invasive non-native species of podcasters, influencers, tech-bros, reality TV stars, and spurned college students aboard the disinformation train destroying a healthy democratic habitat faster than out of work loggers at a spotted owl convention.

I stood next to my 13-year-old as I watched her novocaine start doing its work. “Watching you on that chair is in a sense worse than being there myself,” I told her. “Shall I hold your hand?”

When the Kansas Legislature passed meaningful tax relief last year, Governor Kelly and her allies were quick to declare that the sky would fall. They were wrong.

In 2024, the US Internal Revenue Service piloted its “Direct File” program, through which its victims -- American taxpayers -- in some states could complete tax returns online directly with the IRS rather than through third party tax preparation services. In 2025, the program expanded to 50 states and millions of Americans saved themselves a little money.