- Plastic Bag Bans Are Inequitable September 2, 2024 by W. David Montgomery - By W. David Montgomery, PhD The Town of Easton enacted a ban on disposable plastic bags about two years ago, with a mandatory ten-cent charge for each paper bag. It is an article of faith among a vocal minority that supporting the bag ban is a virtue right up there with temperance, justice, fortitude and prudence. That makes questioning the practical utility of the ban a task akin to rolling a large stone up a steep hill. Two recent experiences should make the stone easier to roll. Checking out at our local Hallmark store, I was asked by the sales associate if I would like to pay ten cents for the usual tiny paper bag for my three birthday cards. I laughed and opined that I could get to my car without dropping one. On the way out, I reversed course to ask about the paper bag charge. The associate responded that the store had always given out paper bags for free and was now forced to charge for them. Neither the associate nor other customers seemed to be happy about that. A quick search turned up a price online of 2.5 cents each for a similar bag. Just last week I was in line behind a…
- Child Protection Emergency August 19, 2024 by Guest Author - Guest Editorial By Dr. James Kelly, DO Ballot Question # 1 for Maryland voters in the upcoming November general election will terminate, if passed, parental rights. Drafters of this Constitutional Amendment hid this fact by calling it the “Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment.” This amendment does nothing to expand, protect, or improve any reproductive rights or treatments for adults. What this amendment actually does is empower the government to override parental rights and to do “gender transitions” on young children without parent knowledge or consent. By clever design this constitutional amendment avoids using the word “adult” and uses the word” individual” so that this specifically targets children of any age and is designed to destroy parent rights. If we voters do not vote against and defeat Ballot Question # 1, then any anxious, stressed, or confused child could mention to a “provider” questions about their gender and that “provider” (who does not need to be a doctor or psychologist and does not even need to be licensed) could then activate the “gender transition” process without parental notification or consent. Children who currently cannot legally be given aspirins or vitamins without their parents’ consent would be able to get “sex change”…
- What Is Happening to Harris Teeter? July 30, 2024 by W. David Montgomery - David Montgomery Many Easton residents were very happy when Harris Teeter opened its doors here, and are deeply concerned about whether it will be closed and why. For a one-line answer: nothing will happen for quite a while, and we have a good chance that in the end we will keep Harris Teeter in Easton. The merger of the Albertsons and Kroger supermarket chains, which created the possibility we would lose Harris Teeter, has attracted vigorous opposition and is now on hold. That means we can rest easy that Harris Teeter will remain in operation in Easton for quite a while. Its eventual fate depends on how lawsuits by nine states and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to stop the merger are decided. In my opinion, the FTC, which is responsible for enforcing antitrust laws, has made a strong case against the merger. No merger means we keep Harris Teeter, at least as long as it stays profitable for its current owner, Kroger. A Quick Review Paradoxically, the threat to Harris Teeter comes from the FTC’s opposition to the merger of the owner of Acme (Albertsons) and the owner of Harris Teeter (Kroger), and its designation of Easton as one of the locations where…
- Encountering Trans-Gender Tactics of Intimidation July 5, 2024 by W. David Montgomery - July 4, 2024 David Montgomery Thank you for reading this article. Serving on the Easton Town Council has created sufficient distraction to keep me from concentrating on one topic long enough to write. I am now concentrating on the subject of transgender ideology because I, along with Council President Frank Gunsallus, spent the last three Town Council meetings being berated for opposing a Pride Festival and purchase of Pride Flags by the town. The mobs that took over the public comment segment of our meeting were out for blood. In an article also being published in this issue, the Jeff Cleghorn commented that "This tactic – of intimidation and aggression – I see all the time by angry transgender activists who don’t get their way. Time and again, trans activists have quashed or crushed dissent and refused to allow rational conversation to occur."The reasons I gave for opposing the Pride Festival and flags were simple: 1. The town government has a responsibility to protect public health and safety. 2. Pride Festivals and flag displays endanger our youth by promoting the false idea that medical and pharmacological treatments to change gender will solve their teen-age emotional and social problems. I saw this as a neutral statement of a…
- Constitutional Crises and Other Outrages — Time to Get Back to Work January 26, 2024 by W. David Montgomery - David Montgomery As I sit here on a Friday morning, I have to make a list of the outrageous developments of the day: Texas defies Biden on protecting its borders, gaining the support of all Republican governorsDOE pauses approval of LNG export terminals in order to assess their climate riskDemocrats increase legal efforts to subvert election by taking Trump off ballotsAI generated fakes of policy statements could trigger war It appears the Chesapeake Observer must get back into action. I will be writing more on the incredible blunder of slowing down our capacity to export liquified natural gas, with just this simple point now: LNG exports are the lifeline we are giving Europe to replace Russian supplies. Those exports may be more important in confronting Russia than doling out inadequate military support to Ukraine. By supplying our cheap natural gas to Europe, we enable them to withstand the loss of Russian supplies and we simultaneously deprive Russia of large export revenues it needs to keep losing in Ukraine. The climate extremists once again demonstrate their control of their puppet President and Energy Secretary. Then there is the false choice between defending Ukraine and defending our own border. As a matter of policy and budget sanity, both should be fully funded. There…
- The Situation in Gaza October 17, 2023 by Guest Author - By Bilahari KausikanOctober 10, 2023 Last night my attention was drawn to the argument made by a Malaysian ex-diplomat that the ‘root cause’ of the current violence must be addressed. This is not a new argument — it inevitably surfaces when conflict over Gaza or Palestine generally — erupts, and unfortunately, is shared by too many Singaporeans. At a superficial level, it has a certain plausibility, but is nevertheless bullshit. Let me explain why.First some Southeast Asian context. Hamas has a long-standing relationship with Malaysia and receives training there which cannot happen unless the political authorities at least instruct the security agencies to look the other way. Former PM Najib visited Gaza in 2013 and met Hamas leaders. Hamas maintains an office in Malaysia under the innocuous sounding title of Palestinian Cultural Office Malaysia.The logic of the ‘root cause’ argument about Palestine or terrorism in general is fundamentally flawed. Just because one party commits injustices does not excuse injustice by another party and this is really just an excuse for terrorism masquerading as an ‘explanation’. The Palestinian issue is such a tangled mess of competing nationalisms wrapped up in too much imperfectly understood and deliberately distorted history in which ‘justice’ for one…
- September 12, 1861 – A Forgotten Date in Maryland History September 18, 2023 by Guest Author - Paul W. Callahan The following article is extracted from When Democracy Fell – The Subjugation of Maryland During the U.S. Civil War, by Paul W. Callahan, which comprehensively explores the constitutional crisis experienced by Maryland during the Civil War. September 12, 1861, began with the entire front page of the New York Herald dominated by a map that meticulously detailed the advance positions of the Confederate army along the Potomac in preparation for an attack upon the Nation’s Capitol. The headline read - Over Three Hundred Thousand Armed Men - Scene of the Coming Decisive Conflict. The Nation’s North was not caught off guard by this development, as they had been reading about the rebel forces' impending attacks for weeks. A series of internationally published articles had detailed how the Maryland Legislature was cooperating with Confederate forces in that they would issue an ordinance of secession and simultaneously Confederate Generals Johnston and Beauregard would cross the Potomac to “liberate” Maryland and attack Washington from the flank. These articles detailed how a rebel army had been amassing in Accomac on Virginia’s Eastern Shore and was to be led up the Delmarva by General Tench Tilghman of Talbot County who had been deposed from his commission by Governor Hicks that…
- Biden’s Border Policy After Two and A Half Years September 18, 2023 by Matthew Daley - September 19, 2022 Matt Daley President Biden’s border policy appears on the surface to have attained its original goals: be the antithesis of President Trump’s, treat migrants more humanely, and make the border porous and permeable. DHS Secretary Mayorkas repeatedly told the Congress and the American people that border was secure when live TV coverage dramatized the falsity of his statements as hundreds illegally crossed the border in broad daylight. That he has avoided impeachment or forced resignation testifies to the political success of his management. El Paso TX border: Washington Examiner March 30, 2023 A series of executive changes to immigration procedures have allowed migrants from the primary sending nations who wish to claim asylum to initiate claims in their home nations to enter the US and bypass the drama at the border. This reduced the negative imagery of chaos at the border without reducing the overall number of “asylum seekers.” In fact, August border crossings shot up to at least 91,000 surpassing the previous record for one month set in 2019; whether this is a one-off surge remains to be seen. There is, however, one boil growing on the backside of President Biden’s policies. Earlier this year, Governor Greg Abbott of…
- Reflections of a New Councilmember September 4, 2023 by W. David Montgomery - David Montgomery Since I last wrote here, I agreed to run for the Easton Town Council, campaigned and won in the period of just over one month – from the end of March to the second of May. Sworn in on May 15, I have served on the Council for 3½ months as of September 1. I did promise, when we took a summer break from publishing the Chesapeake Observer, that I would write an article for the Labor Day issue. Since I have spent most of my time this summer thinking about current and forthcoming issues before the Council, that is what I will write. Unacceptable Residential Development The major issue on which I campaigned and was elected was putting the brakes on growth in Easton. We are elected from Wards, and my Ward III is exclusively residential, with three of the four largest communities populated largely by seniors like us. The most pressing issue facing this Ward was a proposed development called Poplar Hill, that would have added 450 new housing units to an environmentally sensitive area with no ability to absorb the additional traffic. I won by a 60-40 margin with a record turnout. It was not my charming personality and razor-sharp…
- My Summer Reading September 4, 2023 by John DeQ. Briggs - John DeQ. Briggs We have been quiet since May and are now just reemerging after a long hot summer largely dominated by news of presidential legal matters. But below the fold over the summer were some interesting and noteworthy news peaks. 1. Last Spring the big threat was China. A significant segment of the Republican party was against providing further financial support to Ukraine because “we need to focus upon the extreme threat from China.” Apart from the fact that support for Ukraine is almost certainly the front line against the threat from China (the other front-line, Afghanistan, having been abandoned), it is fascinating now to see that the August stories are all about the coming multidimensional collapse of China.. Among the scores of stories along this line, the August 19 News Items by John Ellis curated a worthwhile collection of short takes from other publications. A few of the money quotes: The deep cause of China’s economic slowdown — and the strongest reason to believe it will be lasting — is its demographic collapse. Last year, the country’s population fell for the first time since 1961, a landmark that had not been expected until 2029 or later. From here on, China’s demographic decline will accelerate: The United Nations projects…
