So said Cherokee County Sheriff’s spokesman Jay Baker by way of explaining last week’s mass shootings at three Atlanta-area massage parlors.

Anytime is a bad time to raise taxes, but raising them while people are still struggling with the consequences of government shutdowns is immoral.

Some folks tell us that the basis of support for today’s Republican Party is racism. Others say, no, it’s people who have lost or fear losing jobs and status who are trending Republican as America becomes more openly and more clearly diverse. Each position is probably right. At least partly. But neither tells the entire story.

If the tip credit were to be eliminated, waitstaff would earn the standard minimum wage, but for most this will mean a drastic pay cut, because the median hourly earnings of waiters and waitresses in Maine can range from $21-$30 per hour. It would mean a triple-digit increase in tipped labor costs, and because restaurants operate on very tight margins that would be crippling, even under normal circumstances.

It is a startling fact, but a fact nevertheless, that we are living through the only time this country has ever tried democracy – one person, one vote. Which is to say, the 56 years since the Voting Rights Act was signed. Now, one party has decided democracy isn’t to its taste and is working to get rid of it.

A promise to tell the truth might imply that others (himself?) have been lying in the past. Why not just be truthful? Honesty is not only the best policy, it is a practice people don’t have to brag about if they have a record of veracity.