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Excuse Me Doc, Can I Ask You A Few Questions?

In our walks through our lives, we find many people who have an itch to find out what we are thinking at certain moments or during certain events. Many of those people asking those questions, or taking those photos, that sometimes we’d rather not be photographed during these moments or events, are doing their jobs as all media reporters, or bloggers, or to make money on their side of the street through any means they use (paparazzi, investigative online reporters, blog reporters, webcasters, livestreams, streaming news channels, and the old-fashioned news reporters and writers, ...

The Truth Of The Quiet Golden Years

I always envisioned my retirement as the Golden Years. I somehow pictured days of sleeping in, reading after lunch, and playing tennis or an occasional bridge game. Oh – and not having too many obligations. I wanted to stop jumping through other people’s hoops. Fuggedaboudit. Besides, my tennis game left with the purchase of my new knees. And reading for pleasure during daytime hours still clobbers me with guilt. Maybe I’ll stick around long enough to outlive that. Of course, I never imagined having a computer and the possibility of falling down the internet rabbit hole each ...

Good Progress Being Made On The Bridge

Though we have had little rain this fall, the good weather has been helpful to those reconstructing the Chautauqua Lake Bridge. As you head east over the lake from the Stow side on I-86, you can see the open, raw girders where a substantial amount of concrete decking has been removed. There has also been a lot of new concrete decking laid—especially on the Bemus side. There had been some concern about the potential movement of steel as the weight of the old concrete was removed. There is always some movement when this is done as there is some flex in all steel. In crossing the ...

No Kings Protests Were Universally Peaceful

All across the country, huge crowds showed up in big cities and small towns to affirm their commitment to the founding principle that in America, there are, “No Kings.” Here in Jamestown, I joined hundreds of local residents gathered in Dow Park Saturday to express our alarm at the ongoing threats to Democracy posed by Donald Trump. Even though many are feeling great anxiety about the direction of the country, the mood was upbeat. We listened to speeches before lining up along 6th and Washington streets with our handmade signs and funny costumes. The reaction we got from people ...

What Could Be Worse Than Kings?

Pennsylvania Democrat Senator John Fetterman told his party to stop with the Nazi and fascist rhetoric. That clearly went out the window at the recent “No Kings” protest. In Jamestown alone, signs labeling the president and MAGA as Nazis and fascists could be spotted everywhere you looked as in “Super callous fascist, racist, sexist, Nazi POTUS.” So much for Fetterman’s admonition. It’s no surprise to hear rumblings among Democrats to oust him in the next primary. The Nazi signs were outdone by vulgarities and obscenities lacing other signs. People carrying around ...

The Federal Estate Tax is Nearly Dead

For those who have a gut feeling that the richest Americans are getting richer while the rest of us are getting poorer or just treading water, the evidence is that they are right. Not since the start of the modern Federal Estate Tax in 1916, has there been a better time to be wealthy in America. Early in the 20th Century our country turned to the Federal Estate Tax to limit the accumulation of great wealth by a handful of families. Upon the death of a wealthy person a portion of the wealth would be paid to our Federal government as an Estate Tax, thereby limiting the amount of wealth ...