Opinion

GUEST EDITORIAL: Trump’s mixed signals could lead to a clash with Iran

Published on Wed, 05/22/2019 - 3:47pm

Apprehensions about an imminent military confrontation between Iran and the United States have subsided for the time being, after a tense period in which the Trump administration, citing heightened threats, sent an aircraft carrier and bombers to the region and the Pentagon reviewed contingency plans for war.

GUEST EDITORIAL: Keep public information public

Published on Tue, 05/21/2019 - 4:36pm

Journalists gather information and report on their findings.

When a couple of South Dakota reporters were interested in the $65 billion-a-year federal food stamps program, they asked the federal government for information on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. They only got a fraction of what they wanted.

Now, eight years later, the Argus Leader newspaper of Sioux Falls is making news in addition to reporting it. Its battle for information has reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bats in the belfry

Published on Tue, 05/21/2019 - 4:35pm

WASHINGTON — When author Mark Childress penned “Crazy in Alabama,” he wasn’t just whistling Dixie.

“I haven’t been quoted this much since Roy Moore,” Childress recently told me, referring to last week’s coverage of Alabama’s passage of a law banning abortion in nearly all circumstances. Moore, of course, was an Alabama U.S. Senate candidate who lost a 2017 race after accusations surfaced of past inappropriate sexual conduct with underage girls.

Winnowing is already at work

Published on Tue, 05/21/2019 - 4:34pm

WASHINGTON — “We’re cutting out some of this ear hair that you get when you get older,” said the 46-year-old manchild who is auditioning to be Skateboarder-in-Chief. Live-streaming his visit to an El Paso barbershop, Beto O’Rourke continued: “It grows out of your ears, and if you don’t get it cut, it can be nasty.”

Bills to ban abortion are criminal

Published on Mon, 05/20/2019 - 12:00am

America could well be on the cusp of not just outlawing abortions, but imprisoning women who undergo them and the doctors who perform them. Even if women and girls are

Democrats’ (not entirely) ‘bleak prospects’

Published on Mon, 05/20/2019 - 12:00am

In my line of work, I run into more than a few Democrats whose mood swings of late are frankly semi-wild. Last November, when their party won 41 Republican U.S.

IN THE MAIL

Published on Mon, 05/20/2019 - 12:00am

Work, practice went into “Beauty and the Beast” Editor: “Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.” — James Matthew Barrie As I watched the Park

A cap on interest rates charged consumers? Yes

Published on Mon, 05/20/2019 - 12:00am

The Loan Shark Protection Act would limit the interest charged on credit cards to 15 percent. A 15 percent cap would be too low -- naively too low. Too bad

Letters Policy

Published on Mon, 05/20/2019 - 12:00am

The Enterprise welcomes letters to the editor expressing opinions on any issue of a public interest to our Park County readership. But in order to be published, the letters must:

Hey, North Korea, wanna trade?

Published on Fri, 05/17/2019 - 12:00am

Last week, the United States seized a 17,000-ton coal freighter from North Korea. The ship was suspected of being used to violate trade sanctions imposed on the rogue regime. That