Shutdowns old and new
By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff With no end in sight to the government shutdown constricting Washington, D.C., it may well go on record as the longest in U.S. history. That leaves government employees in...
Tagged: donald trump
County commissioners invited to White House
By Lyndsie Kiebert Reader Staff Every Idaho legislator and county commissioner — totaling 237 people — received email invitations to meet with Trump administration officials at the White House, including Bonner County commissioners. The...
Trade war targets iconic Idaho potatoes
By Cameron Rasmusson Reader Staff As the centerpiece of state’s agricultural industry, the Idaho potato is iconic. For many Americans, it’s Idaho’s only notable characteristic, a source of annoyance for locals and tourists who...
Donald Trump vs. Barack Obama: A Question of Character
By Nick Gier Reader Columnist Trump is normalizing all this; he is, to borrow a phrase, “defining deviancy down.” —Bret Stephens, conservative columnist Disorder, chaos, instability, uncertainty, intemperate statements are not conservative virtues in...
Forgiving adults who cheat to win
By Justin Henney Reader Contributor Each year I am reminded by others’ resolutions that I too can put effort into self improvement. My youngest daughter, Vi, age 7, helps me by pointing out my...
Not so fast with claims about Trump’s achievements: It will take some time to exceed Obama’s
By Nick Gier Reader Columnist Trump’s apparent economic success to date mostly reflects fortunate timing. —The Economist 11/18/17 In a letter to the Moscow newspaper last month, Bill Tozer offered some “good news” about...
The myth of a monochrome ‘Western’ civilization
By Nick Gier Reader Columnist If Western civilization is defined by religion and culture, then Mexico—with its Catholic heritage and historic ties to European monarchies—is unquestionably an outpost of “the West.” But for Trump...
Obama, Trump or Putin: Will the real Antichrist please stand up?
By Nick Gier Reader Columnist “We just can’t work with him because our base thinks he’s the Antichrist.” —Barack Obama paraphrasing GOP leaders (8/25/16) President Putin is the Antichrist, and Russia is the 10-horned...
Donald Trump’s Right-Wing European Allies: Brits, French, Dutch, Germans, and Danes Turn against Immigrants
By Nick Gier Reader Columnist Many countries are shifting from a universal civil nationalism towards the blood-and-soil, ethnic sort. —The Economist (11/19/6) In 1992 Francis Fukuyama published a book with a very strange...
Read your history to understand the present
By Tim Henney Reader Contributor For those disposed to intellectual exploration in a time of national emotional havoc, a recent Reader issue offered a timely recommendation: read, or re-read, William L. Shirer’s “The Rise...
