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Here’s to your healthcare

Last week marked the first legislative interim meetings since the end of June, with lawmakers getting a two-month summer break. Well, some lawmakers. Much of Republican legislative leadership spent their summer in planning meetings for a possible special session that did not happen. At one point, there was a hard date set for a special session in July. But then that was moved back to September coinciding with last week’s interims. It should be obvious that a special session — which was to be focused on the Public Employees Insurance Agency (PEIA) — did not occur. While ...

Stop the IRS’s stealth $700 Billion tax increase

President Donald Trump has done an admirable job at defanging the IRS, which was converted into a weaponized agency targeting Democrats’ political enemies. Chief Justice John Marshall famously pronounced early in our nation’s history that “the power to tax involves the power to destroy.” The Democrats inside the Biden IRS took that to heart. They hired thousands of new IRS agents to harass businesses, rich people and, in some cases, Republican donors. Some of the officers under infamous former IRS enforcer Lois Lerner, the woman who aimed her agency’s auditing guns at ...

Data from First Friday with Distefano

When Seth Distefano presented Kids Count data and geographic facts about Randolph County at Kump Center for the September First Friday Focus on Education, our school problems became clearer. Seth is proud to be a graduate of Tygart Valley High School, but he understands that his home county has all the economic disadvantages of most remote, rural counties in West Virginia. The fact that our Randolph County School system ranks 55th among 55 counties in this state is a matter of money — both buildings and buses cost money. The local average cost of public education is impossibly ...

Afraid of voters

Playing with representative democracy is a delicate game, one that can evoke strong emotions and foster resentments. Democrats have lost two elections in 2000 and 2016 where they won the popular vote and lost the presidency. Both results have had profound consequences from the Supreme Court, which was constructed by the ruthless Mitch McConnell, to the notorious Project 2025. A great deal was done by states that ignore Baker vs Carr, which mandated “one man, one vote.” Texas is a good example of trying to seize five seats by changing the rules mid-census. It is a legal method ...

War or defense?

Donald Trump‘s decision to ditch the name of the Department of Defense and call it the War Department is not as strange as it is made out to be. It is simply reverting to its old name, which dates back to August 7, 1789. It was changed by the National Security Act of 1947, which assigned it to the Defense Department. It also created the National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency. Established as a means of unifying all branches of security, the measure was sold as an efficiency move. However, over time, it became more corporate in its approach and mission. It ...

Community Calendar

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Inter-Mountain’s Community Calendar is reserved for nonprofit, civic organizations. Unless otherwise noted, events listed should be considered free and open to the public. Entries appear in chronological order and as space allows. FOREST FESTIVAL GRAND FEATURE PARADE SEATS: will be available at Otterbein United Methodist Church at 1100 South Davis Avenue in Elkins. The seats for the Oct. 4 parade are on sale now. Parade seats may be reserved by calling the church office at 304-636-0569 Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. All seats must be paid for by ...