PAUL GORDON

I was chagrined, but not surprised when my annual Medicare Part D deductible increased in 2026. I am glad I can afford to pay for my meds until that deductible is met.

For many seniors, however, that is not the case. Nor is it true for those who have to go out on the open market now to find health insurance they hope is affordable. That’s while also buying groceries for their families when those prices are going up. As for being able to buy a house?

And while those on the right will crow that gas prices are down, that won’t mean a lot to people who can’t afford to buy a car or to insure one.

Oh, but wait. Now I’m getting into the area of affordability. Despite the current president’s claim that affordability is a fake word made up by Democrats, it is in every dictionary out there. It is real; the suffix “-bility” is that which turns an adjective into a noun. For example, ”affordable” turns into “affordability.”

There are other adjectives like that, some of which the president probably doesn’t want to recognize, either. Like probability, as in it is a probability that this administration will get us into some kind of skirmish with another country.

How about flexibility? As in, it is unlikely this administration will have any flexibility in dealing with those who protest its policies.

There’s capability, as in it seems the president doesn’t have the capability of behaving in a manner befitting the office when he stoops to flipping off a heckler.

Here’s another: accountability. Need I really say more?

Nonagenarian

My family is blessed to have my mother still with us, now at age 93, and that her mind is still very sharp, as well.

It’s interesting to hear Mom’s perspective on a lot of things, including movies and books and music and television. She watches Lawrence Welk every Saturday evening and since she lives with my wife and me, we watch, as well. I even find it enjoyable; big band music is real music.

Mom gets pretty disgusted by some of what she sees on television these days. That’s not surprising when you consider she was still listening to the radio as the major form of home entertainment while growing up. Heck, I was 11 or 12 before we got our first color TV. So, when you consider her earliest shows were the likes of Andy Griffith and Dick Van Dyke and I Love Lucy, today’s cop shows can be a little much for her.

Then again, she doesn’t miss Saturday Night Live very often and hasn’t since it debuted 50-plus years ago.

Mom lived through a lot of this country’s toughest times, including World War II and the wars in Korea and Vietnam. She watched the tumultuous late 1960s and the political corruption of the early ’70s. She still pays close attention to world events and votes in every election.

So it was meaningful recently that, while watching national news and in particular what happened in Minneapolis a few weeks ago, Mom said — almost to herself — that “this kind of thing isn’t supposed to happen in this country.”

And finally…

Leave it to Donald Trump to denigrate the prestige of the Nobel Peace Prize. He has made it too political.
If he does receive the award in the future, it could cause a loss of respect for the Nobel Committee and thus, the prize itself.