Columns

Reformed, but not simplified

If only tax simplification were true. You see, one of the promises of the Republican tax-reform bill was that taxes would become way simpler for the majority of Americans to file — that we’d be able to file our taxes on a form the size of a postcard — but that isn’t entirely so.

A holly jolly tax bill

What a difference a historic Republican tax bill makes. The liberal media and Democrats, of course, hate what Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress have done without a single Democrat vote.

Did the Pentagon act alone in employing UFO hunters?

When I was in sixth grade, my impassioned 4-H speech about the possibility of extraterrestrial visitors didn’t even merit an Honorable Mention (my fifth-grade speech about our thumb-sucking CAT had taken me all the way to the county level!

Christmas traditions are the best

It’s the Monday before Christmas, and my daughter, her hair tied up snugly in a bun, plops herself down in the front seat of my car. And as I aim my trusty German import in the direction of her ballet school, she turns to me, her face aglow in the gray afternoon light, a plea in her eyes.

An Alaskan Christmas story

Americans need a good dose of Christmas. As a nation, we are desperately lost, emotionally broken, spiritually deprived and headed for the same fate our “unadoptable” Alaskan husky dog was before my husband and I welcomed her into our home.

Cheers to lower beer taxes

Like or hate the Republican tax-reform plan, here’s one thing we can all cheer: Beer taxes are going down. According to Business Insider, Senate Republicans included an amendment to their tax plan that “reduces craft brewers’ excise tax from $7 per barrel to just $3.

Be careful changing how we vote

A hue and cry is mounting around the country that voting machines used on Election Day are eminently hackable. Congress is investigating charges by the Office of Homeland Security that Russia attempted to hack into voting machines in 21 different states.

No, Trump doesn’t stand above the law

Hey, did you know that President Donald Trump can’t be found guilty of obstruction of justice? Yeah, me neither.

Charitable giving is an American tradition

Ah, the giving season is upon us — the best time of the year to be an American. According to Giving USA 2017: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2016, American giving rose to $390 billion last year — a 3 percent increase over the prior year.

Fiscal cliff: What should be done?

EDITORS NOTE: This is a first of a series of articles on the “fiscal cliff” crisis facing Louisiana today. Louisiana is facing a $1 billion plus fiscal cliff this coming July, and our Legislative leaders appear to be at a crossroad on how to fix the problem.