We are deeply saddened to learn of the tragic loss of life that occurred on Saturday morning, October 4, when a person riding a bicycle was struck and killed on westbound lane of Route 50 in Easton. Our hearts go out to the victim’s family, friends, and all those affected by this horrific incident.

Every life lost on our roads is one too many. This tragedy is a stark reminder of the vulnerability of those who travel by foot, bicycle, or wheelchair in our community — and of the urgent need to make Talbot County’s roads safer and more connected for everyone, not just for those in cars.

At Talbot Thrive, we advocate for a future where people can move safely and efficiently — whether they drive, walk, bike, or take transit. We believe that investing in complete, connected neighborhoods and better infrastructure for people without cars is essential to building a community that is equitable, healthy, and resilient.

This moment underscores the importance of thoughtful implementation of the Town of Easton’s Complete Streets Plan and the County’s Safety Action Plan, including expanding transit options and designing streets that prioritize safety for all users. These efforts need to be, at their core, about saving lives.

We extend our condolences once again to the victim’s loved ones. May this loss strengthen our shared resolve to make Easton and Talbot County safer and more accessible for everyone.

Heather Grant
Executive Director
Talbot Thrive

This week, October 5-11, marks the 43rd year of celebrating the freedom to read with the American Library Association’s Banned Book Week.  It started in 1982, in response to a surge in book challenges and inspired by the landmark Supreme Court case, Island Trees School District v. Pico, which ruled that school officials cannot ban books solely based on their content (ala.org/advocacy).  Now, decades later, we are experiencing a similar increase in censorship attempts across the country.

In their latest report, PEN America found that 6,870 books bans were enacted during the 2024-25 school year, across 23 states and 87 public school districts. And everywhere, more often than not, it is the books that have long fought for a place on the shelf that are being targeted:  Books by authors of color, by LGBTQ+ authors and books by women.  Books about racism, sexuality, gender and history also top the list.  Public library collections, too, are being attacked: the number of titles challenged in public libraries increased by 92% in 2023 alone.  This increase is largely driven by organized groups and politicians, rather than isolated incidents, with groups demanding the censorship of multiple titles, sometimes dozens at a time (pen.org/book-bans).

Libraries provide free access to information and resources that are vital to a functioning democracy.  Banning books and censoring materials not only denies citizens their fundamental right to free speech but is a slippery slope to greater infringements and abuses of power, examples of which are in the news almost daily.

It’s fitting that the theme for this year’s Banned Books Week is “Censorship is So 1984,” as the world we are living in seems increasingly Orwellian. In the book, we are warned, “who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.”   Who will control our future?  Who is controlling our present?  Banned Books Week is the perfect time to reflect on these questions and take action against censorship in all its forms because, in a democratic society, free people read freely.

Mary Pellicano
Talbot County Free Library Trustee
Easton

My friend Mike sent an email last week laying out this oh-so-troubling idea:

“Trump, who did nothing to protect the Capitol during the Jan 6 attempted coup, is now deploying federalized troops into Democratic cities. IMO it’s a build-up to provoke violence in reaction, or to create an incident to escalate conflict.  Ultimate game plan: declaring martial law prior to midterms, timed to interfere, interrupt, or even cancel the ’26 election.  There’s no legitimate reason for any of this. It’s leveraging and positioning for power.”

To assure power, do you think Trump and his inner circle would provoke violence?  It’s been part of the strategy since the escalator ride.  And more is coming, predictable as a slo-mo train wreck.  Trump floods DC–and in time probably other large democratic cities—with heavy handed (and heavily armed, often masked) Federal agents to dominate policing in the most visible way. (See morning video here.)  Folks on the streets ultimately take the bait. Many are young, not thinking strategically. And some, young or old, are hotheads.  Occasional violence is met with aggressive escalation…and here we go. 

The radical idea of martial law is not even essential, as we’ve seen this movie before.  In toss-up and even blue districts, a backlash to the predictable violence prior to the midterms will swing many voters against “the protestors,” which means towards the GOP (i.e., Trump, since they are one in the same).  Only old folks like me remember the Nixon/Agnew law-and-order campaign.  It’s being teed up again, right now. 

And Mike is right, that there is no legitimate reason for this sudden strategy.  You’ve read the same articles I have about the crime rate in DC and virtually every other large American city—crime is down dramatically almost everywhere.  Yes, there are homeless encamped in the City, which is unsightly.  And people living there for years who, like Pastor Espinal, did not follow immigration procedures. And there are alleys with trash in them too. 

There have also been a few horrible, very high-profile crimes recently. However, everyone understands that, in terms of strategic policy, those crimes and all the rest are simply a convenient rationale for the Administration’s truly incendiary and cynical strategy. 

(Sidebar: Remember that 1997 movie Wag The Dog?  There, a war was needed to erase a scandal.  DJT is indeed deep in war zone dynamics, but federalizing the DC police department and what follows, also assures that Jeffrey Epstein will fade from memory PDQ. A bonus.) 

In any event, the idea of martial law is surely absurd, right?  Even Stephen Miller and Emil Bove wouldn’t go that far.  It’s unprecedented in America!

Except it’s not.  The most superficial on-line search reveals that martial law (declared “in response to emergencies such as war, civil unrest, or natural disasters”) has been invoked many times in US history, including by Presidents Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln.

None of those affected the implementation of a federal election, but as we’ve seen time and time again, the Trump Administration is not shy–about anything.  If a year from now Trump concludes that a declaration of martial law is necessary—say just in certain districts–I don’t think he’d blink an eye in devising an excuse.  Again and again, we awaken to learn that some impossible idea is fait accompli, permanently or pending a multi-year judicial review. 

Which is the final point:  if anything arises to interfere with the midterm election, whether some selective martial law declaration or other less draconian actions, we will be relying on the US Judiciary to sort it out, while the disruption of the election is a fact on the ground.  That’s exactly what Trump intended on January 6, 2020.

Meanwhile, troops from West Virginia, Ohio, and South Carolina arrived in our nation’s capital over the weekend.  God bless America.

Dan Watson
Easton

Was anyone surprised to learn that the latest IRS Commissioner, Billy Long, has been fired by President Trump after being in the job for only two months?  (Mr. Long is now expected to be nominated as the U.S. Ambassador to Iceland.)  He was the fifth Commissioner or Acting Commissioner in a period of only seven months.

One has to wonder why the President chose Billy Long to serve as the IRS Commissioner in the first place.  

He was a Congressman from Missouri from 2011 to 2023.   His background before being elected was as an auctioneer and real estate agent.  He had never completed college.  The only tax credentials he had ever received were a designation as a “Certified Tax and Business Advisor,” a title given after he took a 3-day class from a business in West Palm Beach called Excel Empire.  After getting this certificate, he was involved with companies that assisted businesses and nonprofits in applying for the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC), a credit available in 2020 and 2021 for employers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

From my own experience as both a tax preparer and tax payer, I have found the civil servants who work at the IRS are some of the smartest and most competent in the federal government.  It makes me wonder how these tax professionals kept up their morale with Mr. Long as their Commissioner.  

Add to that the effects of the DOGE project on IRS employees.   Since January of this year, an estimated 25,000 people have left the agency. 

More than 266 million tax returns were filed with the IRS in Fiscal Year 2024, collecting more than $5 trillion in tax revenue and $98 billion in enforcement revenue.   

 I feel fortunate to live in a country where, at least until now, I can file my tax returns and feel confident that they will be processed by an agency that abides by the rules, keeps my records confidential, sends me refunds or credits my payments in an orderly and efficient manner.

Stability and consistency in our tax laws and collection policies are also necessary for a thriving American business community.  

The IRS deserves good leadership in order to maintain the public trust.  The backbone of a healthy U.S. financial system depends on a well-functioning Internal Revenue Service.

As we recently learned when President Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because he believed the numbers to be wrong, this step is more evidence that this Administration does not value the rules that have been in place to ensure fairness and accuracy, but would rather kowtow to the political whims of the President and his advisors.

Elaine Tama
Easton

United States Customs and Immigration Service (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow declared the citizenship test “not very difficult.” It’s easy to “memorize the answers.”  The Trump administration is planning to revise the citizenship test.

According to the USCIS website, the 2023 statistics show that 94.4% of those taking the citizenship test passed (combined total of initial and re-exam test takers).

According to the Institute for Citizens and Scholars’ 2018 national survey, 1 in 3, or 36%, of native-born citizens would pass the citizenship test.

WHAT ???

This is not a contest of who is smarter; rather, it is intended to question the assertion that the test “is not very difficult”.

Now, let’s consider the claim of how easy it is to “memorize the answers.”  Sure, if you put in the work, it is not so hard to memorize the answers. But the point is you have to do the work, and doing this work when not in your primary language is considerably more difficult. The English test includes an oral, readin,g and writing English component. And this is not all!

The citizenship test is close to the final stage of becoming a citizen. Prior to the test, a 14-page application and biometric testing (fingerprints, photographs, signatures to facilitate criminal and national security background checks to protect national security and public safety, FBI name check ) have to be completed, and a $760.00 processing fee paid (see USCIS website).

So, is the citizenship test “not very difficult”?

Obtaining citizenship is a rigorous process that takes time, effort,   money, motivation, investment, fortitude, determination, English proficiency,  and lots of study and practice.

“The United States has a long history of welcoming immigrants from all parts of the world.  Deciding to become a U.S. citizen is an important milestone in an immigrant’s life.  Candidates for citizenship must show they are committed to the underlying principles that bind us as Americans.”- USCIS website.

The final step in becoming a citizen is taking the Naturalization Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America.

Robin Stricoff
Oxford

Have you noticed how often, how persistently, the word “cruelty” is showing up in the news?

I was reading about the prison built in the Everglades by the State of Florida to house people being rounded up by ICE. Built in a hurry, it is made up of cages for imprisoning humans and tarps for walls that freely allow mosquitoes in, not to mention the elements of summer in Florida. People who have been imprisoned there have reported maggots in the food, a lack of clean water, denial of medical care, legal access, and other basic human needs. The ACLU declared this “state-sponsored cruelty” and filed suit.  Thank goodness for the ACLU.

The setup is plainly sadistic. And Donald Trump apparently approved when he visited.  This denigration is OK with him, but is it OK with you? Is that what we are now?  Is this America?  My mother served as a WAC in World War II. She often told us how relieved enemy soldiers were to be captured by the US military–as opposed to being captured by Russian soldiers, who would just kill them. Americans were known for being big-hearted, kind, and compassionate. I was so proud when she spoke of this.

Why is this abuse of fellow humans still standing?  If we don’t protest, are we complicit? We might not be guilty of overt cruelty, but we are guilty of casual cruelty where we carelessly, with little empathy, maybe with a bit of superiority, blame the victim and shrug the thought aside. It’s a problem someone else can fix. Do you say to yourself, didn’t those illegals put themselves in this mess after all? It’s on you! Right?

Just type “cruelty Trump” into your search engine. Maybe the article title from the National Catholic Reporter will come up. It reads, “Silence in the face of Trump’s cruelty is complicity.” The headlines should be enough to make you weep. I hope so.

Marion O. Arnold
Easton