As the topic of defunding the police begins to make it into more and more of our country’s respectable parlors, the inevitable first question is something like, “But who’re you gonna call when someone’s breaking into your house?”  The answer, of course, is, It depends on who you are and where you live.  In the…

Read More

THE SECOND TIME AS TRAGEDY        This time it’s going to be much worse. From 2008 to 2012, during the recession that now seems more quaint than great, the state slashed appropriations to public higher education.  This only accelerated a process of privatization.  Following a trend that had been consistent since at least…

Read More

A spectre haunts Olympia, the silent spectre of politicians and their overlords grappling to deal with a world that’s changing before their eyes. A couple of weeks ago, the white smoke emerged from the governor’s office, signaling that the cabal of budget negotiators had come to an understanding on the size of the budget box…

Read More