Commentary

Silicon Valley used to unify the left and right in admiration. Now, Big Tech still brings the two sides of the political spectrum together — but in outrage. This much was evident in this year’s State of the Union address: The White House sees potential for bipartisan cooperation against technology companies. On Tuesday, President Biden mentioned two policy areas in which he’s seeking reform, and in a Wall Street Journal op-ed earlier this year he mentioned three: Section 230, antitrust and privacy. This sounds like jargon, more of interest to D.C. lawyers than average internet users. In fact, each area of reform could have profound effects on how people use the web.

Many BGE customers opened their January bill and balked when they saw the “amount due.” Yes, there was a cold snap and your heater used more energy. Yes, natural gas prices are high because of the Ukraine war. Baltimore Gas and Electric is our regulated utility, and their gas price in January was 93¢ a therm. In 2020, BGE’s gas rate was just 41¢ per therm. But for about 225,000 BGE customers the energy rate “gotcha” is that they’ve enrolled with a third-party deregulated energy supplier, rather than BGE’s regulated energy supply.

I try to imagine what it would be like to stand along a river — say, the Jones Falls as it meanders through Baltimore — and look up from the mesmerizing flow to suddenly see a woman draped in a long cape of plastic bottles. What would I think? Did she rise from the river, like some gritty sprite burdened and barnacled with trash? Is she a cast member from a new post-apocalyptic movie: “Mad Max in Waterworld”? Who is this woman in the Jones Falls, bristling with bottles, and each bottle containing a stick with colored string?

Too bad the biggest headlines coming out of President Joe Biden’s recent State of the Union address had to do with decorum, whether it was Marjorie Taylor Greene’s booing — and the many right-wingers who joined in this act of infantilism — or the beyond-ironic observation from serial fabulist George Santos who posted on social media that Biden was “gaslighting” Americans. Really? At least the latter received a well-earned rebuke of “You don’t belong here” from Republican U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney. The nation had no shortage of evidence that the U.S. House of Representatives (and the state of partisan politics, in general) was a mess before the speech.

Americans are accustomed to tipping for a wide array of services. We understand that our gratuity makes up an important percentage of the wages earned by many different types of laborers: massage therapists, Uber drivers, hair stylists, tour guides, room service providers, valets — the list goes on. Much of the time, we don’t just add a tip because we’re adhering to a cultural norm, but rather because we genuinely want to acknowledge good service and show gratitude.

What exactly are the schools in Baltimore City doing? That is the question many should be asking after recent statewide test results showed that only 7% of its students are proficient in math, including 23 schools with zero students meeting standards. It's unacceptable and yet another indication that the Democrats in the city who run the schools are as competent at their jobs as their students are in rudimentary arithmetic.

The two people charged in federal court with plotting to blow up Baltimore’s power grid are certainly to blame for putting the region in danger, if the allegations against them are accurate. But they’re not the only responsible parties. You can draw a direct line from the foiled neo-Nazi plot, revealed by federal authorities Monday, to conservative commentators and conspiracy-mongering cult figures like Donald Trump, who for years have riled up their minions on the alt-right with distortions about Maryland’s largest city.

With a jump shot last night against the Oklahoma City Thunder, LeBron James did it. Despite the Lakers’ 133-130 loss to OKC, no NBA great — from Wilt Chamberlain to Kareem Abdul Jabbar to Michael Jordan to Kobe Bryant — can ever say that they scored more NBA regular season points than James. Now it’s official: James is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. He didn’t need the record to cement his place as one of the greatest talents to ever step on the hardwood. But here we are.