For a long time families in Shelby County endured some of the worst air quality in the region, exceeding safety limits set by the EPA, resulting in Memphis recently being named ‘Asthma Capital of the U.S.’ by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, said Scott Banbury, conservation program coordinator with the Tennessee Chapter of the Sierra Club. “But by the end of this year, TVA will close its Allen coal plant, the biggest polluter in Shelby County, and the greatest source of asthma-triggering emissions. Now this improvement is undercut by evidence that pollution from the smokestacks of Entergy’s Arkansas coal plants is blowing east over the state line, directly into Memphis communities.

“It’s only been about a year since our local smog levels finally cleared up enough to meet air quality standards.The dirty and dangerous pollution coming from Entergy makes it harder for us to maintain compliance with air quality standards and keeping our communities safe from harmful smog. It’s time for Tennessee leaders to call on the state of Arkansas to stop polluting Memphis.”

As a legislator, you have to deal with all kinds of people and, if you want to be effective, you have to realize that good people can have different ideas. You may be voting against a bill one day or someone may be voting against a bill that you brought up, but you need their vote the next day on something else. I try not to judge others the way people have judged me. I try to be open to working with all kinds of people.

In the summer of 1962, Danny Lyon packed a Nikon Reflex and an old Leica in an army bag and hitchhiked south. Within a week he was in jail in Albany, Georgia, looking through the bars at another prisoner, Martin Luther King, Jr. Lyon soon became the first staff photographer for the Atlanta-based Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which already had a reputation as one of the most committed and confrontational groups fighting for civil rights.

A giant of post-War documentary photography and film, Brooklyn, NY, native Danny Lyon helped define a mode of photojournalism in which the picture-maker is deeply and personally embedded in his subject matter. A self-taught photographer and a graduate of the University of Chicago, Lyon began his photographic career in the early 1960s as the first staff photographer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a national group of college students who joined together after the first sit-in by four African American college students at a North Carolina lunch counter. From 1963 to 1964, Lyon traveled the South and Mid-Atlantic regions documenting the Civil Rights Movement. The photographs were published in The Movement, a documentary book about the Southern Civil Rights Movement, and later in Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement, Lyon’s own memoir of his years working for the SNCC.

If approved by the Legislature, the Governor’s proposed budget means a number of important state agencies serving vulnerable children and families will receive no new funding for FY19. Those include the following divisions at the Department of Human Services: Youth Services (DYS), Development Disability Services, Behavioral Health, County Operations, and Child Care and Early Childhood Education – as well as other programs outside of DHS, such as Child Support Enforcement and the Department of Health.

The Governor’s proposed budget would provide no new funding for programs critical to the future ability of our children to succeed, such as pre-K (Arkansas Better Chance Program) and community-based programs for juvenile justice. It also means no funding to begin state implementation of the Positive Youth Development Act of 2011 (quality after-school and summer programs) and no funding to implement most of the recommendations of the 2016 report of the legislative taskforce on special education.

On paper, it's hard to imagine Philip Mann ever wanted to be anything but an orchestra conductor. He picked up the violin at age 5. His stepfather, Jan Roshong, was an oboe player and conductor/founder of the San Juan Symphony, in which Mann's mother, Rochelle Mann, was the principal flutist. Critics describe Mann's approach with words like "tender" (Voronezh Philharmonia), "clever" (Enkopings Posten, Sweden) and "a skilled musical architect" (San Diego Tribune). Yet Mann assumed he'd pursue science — physics or engineering. Then his stepfather died of cancer, and on that day, in 1994, police had to block the street because so many people turned up for the memorial service. That was an "indelible moment," Mann said. "I looked around and saw that, and it left an impression on me — that a conductor is given a soapbox to articulate things and influence families, young artists and entire communities. ... That's where it started."

Over eight seasons at the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Mann has transformed the organization into a symphony in the black, looked to nationally and internationally as an aspirational model. ASO performs Tchaikovsky's fiery Symphony No. 6, Op. 74 in B minor ("Pathétique") with pianist Tatiana Roitman Mann — Mann's wife — preceded by Manuel de Falla's "Nights in the Garden of Spain" and excerpts from Georges Bizet's "Carmen" at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 27, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 28.

Describe what it was like coming to Arkansas, which isn't exactly on the classical music map.

At the time, I was working in Sydney, Australia, and San Diego, and I had the opportunity to guest conduct and I immediately felt an incredible chemistry with the orchestra. I just felt this tremendous potential. It was an orchestra that was hungry and craving inspiration and was very ambitious in a way. It was aspirationally poised to want to do something special and I saw it as a great opportunity.

This was my first music director appointment of a large orchestra in the United States. It was also the chance for me to use the position of music director to make a difference in a large place. ... Without going too far into the story, ASO has become a national and international success story that other orchestras are using as a model right now, including legacy great orchestras like the Cleveland Orchestra. We've simultaneously increased the quality dramatically — so we have a extraordinary artistic product now — but we've done it in a financially sustainable way. ... That's very encouraging and satisfying for us at the orchestra, that we're bringing attention to our great state in a really positive way.

Can you elaborate on what that immediate chemistry with the ASO felt like?

It's a little like dating, where you don't know when you'll have that spark, but it was immediately clear. What I'm really talking about is that very special and mysterious, ineffable type of communication conductors have with an orchestra. It's nonverbal, it's with our eyes, expressions and what we do with our hands.

I felt like it was an orchestra that had been led very successfully by my predecessor [David Itkin] and brought many levels up, but was poised to take another big step forward artistically. It felt like the musicians were asking for permission to take risks. When I embraced the relationship, gave them permission to take risks and not be afraid of failure, their personalities blossomed. Musical growth happened in every corner of the orchestra.

For me, the relationship is a charmed one that I'm very lucky to have. We knew in that first rehearsal that we had some chemistry. Sometimes when you have this immediate, big flashy spark, things won't continue to build, but they continued to build all the way through the week and into each performance. Each performance was memorable — the kind of experience that you carry with you for the rest of your life. I draw on those remembrances of those first performances as a reminder of how far we've come, and also how we started off together. There was a sense of momentum and kind of passion. There was an abandon to the performances that was very invigorating.

Now that you've grown with the orchestra, take a look back and describe the flavor of the ASO.

I love that it's become a place where people take risks. It's got this sense of being alive, this kind of visceral sensation, a visceral energy that our audiences immediately pick up on. ... It keeps things fresh and alive in a good way.

A few other characteristics come to mind. There's this really wonderful esprit de corps camaraderie of family on stage where people feel supported, so people will really put themselves out there.

The second characteristic is I'd say it's an agile group. Sometimes when you're on the podium, different orchestras feel different on the stand — almost as if you were at a racetrack and you were driving different cars. ..... This is an orchestra that really likes to take the corner. They are flexible and malleable. They will speed up and turn left or right on a dime. For me, it's an absolute joy to tackle Mahler or Strauss, the Viennese repertoire works that require incredible flexibility at all moments where every phrase might have slightly different tempo modifications within it. There's an improvisation to that, a spontaneity that feels in some ways improvised — or at least fresh — even if something is well rehearsed.

The third thing I'd mention is that they have a sensitivity in accompaniment with guest artists that comes from a very broad color palette. They have created this enormous range of possibilities of color that is particularly rare in the U.S. The most frequent comment I get from guest conductors and guest artists is that they don't sound like an American orchestra. That's not to say that that's a derogatory thing. I'm an American conductor and grew up with American orchestras, so it's not pejorative at all, but there's a European sensibility to this group.

Let's discuss Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique" symphony, which you're tackling in the upcoming Masterworks concert.

It was written in 1892, and came in a time in his life where he was having the composer's equivalent of writer's block and really stuck. He was questioning himself, questioning the role of writing music in his life and he had a relationship that bloomed that was supportive for him, a relationship which is full of all sorts of controversy in musicology. He received advice from this person and he begins writing again, and it flows quickly and with great inspiration. You might consider this piece the result of a newfound muse, perhaps.

It quotes Russian Orthodox hymns for the dead but also features extraordinary soaring themes of love and passion. At the end is one of the most poignant and powerful pianissimos you will ever hear. It's strings and four p's, so pppp. It creates a setting where you're afraid to break the silence. The program has an arc. ... It's a journey of the whole range of human experience, especially in life and loss, love and death. ... I love this program because of the mystery that ties it together. And I have the great fortune of working with my wife, Tatiana, as a soloist.

Why attempt a coherent theme in today's incoherent political world?

However bad things may appear, we'll always have the Republican gubernatorial primary for entertainment of a gruesome sort. There, gun range owner Jan Morgan is doing her best to make Governor Hutchinson out to be a liberal. Hutchinson has endorsed legal discrimination against gay people; unconstitutional abortion laws; open carry of firearms; and throwing tens of thousands off Medicaid coverage. If this be liberal, God save us from a "real" conservative.

But she IS colorful. She went down to Fouke last week, where she got a hug from a guy wearing a Boggy Creek monster costume. When sympathizing about the end of slavery defender Robert E. Lee's state holiday, she mentioned that she'd been informed by the FBI that she was on ISIS' hit list. ?!?

If ISIS does go after Morgan, be advised she has lots of guns. They weren't in Fouke on Friday as far as we know.

And what about Sen. Tom Cotton? The tall-talking former Dardanelle Sand Lizard is too mean to inspire humor. Consider: We learned last week his staff was outed for getting so tired of critical phone calls that they sent cease-and-desist letters that threatened police investigation if recipients continued ANY communication. Even Sen. John Boozman's office said he wouldn't go that far in response to a coarse word or two. It would be a First Amendment violation to prosecute someone for attempting to petition government. Cotton's refusal to provide routine taxpayer-financed press services to critical members of the media (such as me) is benign by comparison.

And then there was the string of Cotton whoppers about Donald Trump's vulgar remarks about Haiti and countries in Africa and Central America. Shitholes, he called them, according to multiple sources. Cotton, who was in the meeting, first said he had no recollection of such comments. Then, his memory refreshed, he accused Sens. Dick Durbin and Lindsey Graham of lying about Trump's words. Then under questioning by Chuck Todd on TV's "Meet the Press," he conceded Trump used "salty" words, just not "repeatedly." To compound the dishonesty, he asserted he'd never denied Trump's use of ugly language. Know this: Cotton will say or do anything to retain his role as a Trump adviser on immigration. This is no joke. It is a tragedy for the Dreamers whose future in America hangs in the balance.

Then there's Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, who bragged at a modestly attended anti-abortion march about her work for, get this, women's health. This follows a year in which she fought to strip women of abortion rights; in which she defended restrictions on availability of contraception; in which she fought to deny women the doctor of their choice; and in which she championed a state law aimed at preventing abortion by pills in the first days after sex. That last law, by the way, required an unsafe dosage of medication.

Dare we hope that the continued vibrancy of the Women's March a year after the first following Donald Trump's election is a sign that the women may take over where men have failed? Record numbers of women are running for office. Polls show a 35-point gender gap against Trump. (Could we end men's suffrage?) Even in places like Little Rock and Nashville, Tenn., thousands turned out, pink pussy hats flying, to march not just for reproductive rights, but a federal government in keeping with majority sentiment on immigration, gun safety, health care and education.

Hurry November. But, yes, I know. Careful what you wish for.

The Observer has been thinking about cannabis recently, the stuff our grandma called "The Marijuana," and Dear Ol' Pa called "Mary Jane" with the feeling of a man speaking fondly about a remembered former lover. Cannabis is what the dedicated people we've run into recently, who believe in the stuff as medicine more than they believe in Tylenol and Phillips Milk of Magnesia, call it most often. We'll let them call the ball.

At the peril of potentially enticing impressionable youths, The Observer will admit we have indulged in the intake of nonmedical, purely recreational cannabis in the past. Come and get me, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions. We'll put on our tie-dye and Beatle boots for the perp walk if it makes you happy; we'll make for more drama when they run our televised moment of shame on Fox News, between the next Killer Immigrant segment and another roundtable on why Hillary Clinton should be drawn and quartered by four monster trucks on the National Mall.

We'll further admit, while we're admitting, that being high is not our favorite feeling in the world. The Observer, ever the captain of our own bodily starship like the rest of the 7 billion people in the world whether they know it or not, doesn't really care for that feeling of being chemically poleaxed. But to each his, her or their own.

Full confession, though: There was one memorable winter as a teenager when friends of ours lucked into a friend of a friend who had a reliable, reasonably priced supply of the stuff dreams are made of. Many nights of that winter were spent either on a desperate search for rolling papers or heading out into the frigid dark with a battery-powered spotlight and a .22 rifle to theoretically and illegally hunt the fat January rabbits that lurked in the bushes around daddy's field. Come and get me, director of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission! Not only has the statute of limitations surely expired, we can assure you no rabbits died those nights, safe as they were from the unsteady aim of the Three Amigos of Ganja. It always ended with us flat on our backs in the stubbled winter field, bundled up and warmish in our hunting coats, momentarily fascinated to the point of speechlessness with the sky and stars and the idea that the universe goes on forever, man ... like, FOREVER forever. On one occasion, which has somehow managed to sneak into the jar where we keep those memories of perfect, high-definition clarity, The Observer and friends came back to Ma and Pa's farmhouse on the hill one night, eyes no doubt redder than Satan's jockstrap, to find Ma and Pa watching the Miss Universe pageant on their snowy, pre-cable TV. The Three Amigos sat on the couch, three birds in a row, and chuckled in slow motion at the funny-sounding names, Pa cutting his eyes at us from time to time in a mixture of annoyance and maybe amusement. Pa — that smart cookie and former lover of dear old Mary Jane — very likely knew exactly what was going on, and it wasn't because the pots in his kitchen were sadly devoid of fat January rabbits gone to Bunny Heaven. That's where the memory ends, but we've come to treasure it: a moment Pa knew Yours Truly was doing what he didn't care for us to do, but allowed us to make our own way into the world. It's an example we've tried to follow with Junior, even though his vice is playing seven straight hours of Call of Duty instead of smoking The Marijuana.

All this is about something and nothing, of course, the past and the future, age and youth, but also this plant that has been demonized and worshipped, praised and vilified, but is now on the verge of helping thousands of sick folks in Arkansas feel better. The Observer is not one of those folks, thank God, but still we think: Maybe we should hunt up a phone number for ol' Mary and give her another chance, just to see what happens. Or maybe not. We're too old these days for anybody to believe we've gone out stalking fat January rabbits by starlight.

Rarely does a film come with such essential side reading as the pulpy biopic romp "I, Tonya," and The New York Times Magazine profile, published around the movie's wide release, of former Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding. In the magazine piece we learn that nearly everything in "I, Tonya" is true — at least, in so far as the subject herself was concerned. (The author also describes the tone of the film as "wide-eyed Oregon gothic," a line too fitting to pass up here.) Harding explains that, contra her depiction in the movie, she does not swear copiously; she took her disputes with judges out of public view; and that it leaves the impression that her family made, rather than purchased, the rabbit fur coat she wore as a child. The Times writes: "That's it? I asked. That's it, she confirmed. Those are her only objections. Which was confusing, because the movie doesn't vindicate her by a long shot."

No, what you get with the inestimable, Oscar-nominated Margot Robbie as Harding, and with Sebastian Stan (your Winter Soldier in the Marvel universe) as Jeff Gillooly, her abusive bungler of an ex-husband, and Allison Janney as Harding's hard-bitten mother (in a role that already has won a Golden Globe), is a portrait of poverty, dysfunction and blame-shifting that no one escapes unscathed. The emotionally austere mother denigrates Harding's every effort. Stan goes from high school flame to casual abuser to dark muse and, unwittingly, the architect of what everyone calls, in the faux interview cuts that frame the narrative, "the incident." By enlisting his doofus buddy Shawn (Paul Walter Hauser) to put a scare into Harding's Disney princess-esque rival Nancy Kerrigan (Caitlin Carver), Stan puts in motion an attack on Kerrigan that became, weeks before the 1994 winter Olympics, just about the biggest tabloid story on the planet at the time.

Screenwriter Steve Rogers ("Hope Floats") based the movie on actual interviews with the principle characters, none of whom are what you'd call in freshman lit "reliable" narrators. Director Craig Gillespie ("Lars and the Real Girl"), evidently deciding that enough time has passed since tragedy, goes full-on dark comedy in the telling, and through the prismatic roster of narrators — the fourth wall is pretty permeable throughout — gets at something approximating the daft truth of Harding's life in a spirit that a straightforward documentary would've bobbled.

The touchiest point there is, simply, class. "I, Tonya" has taken a ration of criticism for seeming to punch down at Harding and her low-income, blue-collar family, who in the film's telling were always obvious interlopers among the families with the resources to fund figure skating lessons and transportation and outfits and so on from a young age. Janney's pitbull portrayal of LaVona Golden, always in snippy battles with Harding's coach Diane Rawlinson (Julianne Nicholson), plays this up, as do the pinched interiors of the family homes and Robbie as the modern-day Harding, looking weatherbeaten and sporting huge bangs with a jean jacket, puffing a cigarette. You get the sense this is a group who probably heard the word "trash" thrown at them a lot in the day. And it's easy to see how people would presume the film is picking on Harding yet again for the crime of coming up poor.

But tilt your head a few degrees and you'll see a lot of sympathy for the beleaguered real-life characters — Harding most of all. She'll tell you, in that kitchen sit-down, that she was at one time the best figure skater in the world — the first American woman ever to land a triple axel in competition. That she never fit the look of what the figure skating establishment (or the endorsement industrial complex) wanted from a champion was, in a sense, their loss. Our loss, really. If the snobs had appreciated Harding as the pure athlete and folk hero she was at the time, you wouldn't have seen all the mess with the Kerrigan attack. People simply would've seen an American badass, bruises and tortured bangs and all, and we wouldn't be wondering about whether Harding will ever be vindicated. In that, at least, "I, Tonya" gets her as close as she'll probably ever get.

Quote of the week

"If Democrats continue this kind of obstructionism, we might be compelled to change the rules on our own."—Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas threatening on the "Hugh Hewitt" radio show to change Senate procedure to prevent Democrats from blocking presidential nominations. Cotton single-handedly blocked numerous nominations during the Obama administration, most notably that of Cassandra Butts, a wholly qualified diplomatic appointment who was dying of cancer. Butts was a personal friend of President Obama's.

Court overturns long precedent

The Arkansas Supreme Court reversed long court precedent last week when it ruled the state legislature may not pass laws waiving the sovereign immunity provision, or protection against lawsuit, of the state Constitution in cases seeking monetary damages.

The decision was 5-2. A dissent said the consequences were "astounding" and could apply to some past cases of enormous significance.

The decision came in the case of a Rich Mountain Community College bookstore manager seeking overtime compensation. He argued, and a circuit judge agreed, that the state legislature had explicitly waived constitutional immunity in minimum wage cases and cited past cases on the point in saying the case should go to trial.

Justice Karen Baker wrote a dissenting opinion, joined by Justice Jo Hart. Chad Pekron, sitting as special justice, joined the majority. He replaced Justice Courtney Goodson, whose husband is a member of the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees. Rich Mountain is part of the UA System.

Baker's dissent noted that private employers must pay minimum wages, but, by this ruling, the state need not. She argued that the Constitution should be interpreted as meaning the state could not be compelled to be a defendant, but it could choose to do so.

She objected, too, to the majority's unwillingness to take up the plaintiff's argument that other parts of the Constitution that guarantee a jury trial and a remedy for "all injuries or wrongs" overrode sovereign immunity.

Stay granted for hog farm

The Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission has granted a stay that will allow continued operation of the C&H hog farm near Mount Judea while it appeals denial of a new permit for the factory hog-feeding operation.

The commission said the farm must file its appeal no later than Feb. 10. If that deadline is met, the stay will remain in place. The vote was unanimous, with the exception of recusals by Gary Wheeler and Robert Reynolds.

The Department of Environmental Quality denied the permit Jan. 10. The lawyer for the farm argued that it had submitted everything required by the department. The Buffalo Watershed Alliance argued before the commission that a stay shouldn't be granted. The permit expired more than a year ago and an appeal could last months or years. It argued for a phase-out of the operation and, failing that, posting of a substantial bond by the farm to cover potential hog waste pollution in the interim. The commission required no bond, however. Apparently, the commission believed such a requirement was outside its power.

City sues mayoral candidates

As directed by the Little Rock City Board, City Attorney Tom Carpenter last week sued for a declaratory judgment that Warwick Sabin and Frank Scott, candidates for Little Rock mayor, are violating a city ordinance by raising money for exploratory committees to run for mayor.

The ordinance prohibits fundraising for city office sooner than five months before an election, with this election scheduled in November.

The state Ethics Commission has found, however, that the exploratory committees are allowed by state law and declined to take action. The suit names the Ethics Commission, Sabin, Scott and their exploratory committees.

By allowing Sabin and Scott to raise money, the lawsuit argues, the state is denying equal protection to incumbent officials who cannot raise money until June 1 and may not create an exploratory committee to raise money for an office he or she already holds. It says the state Ethics Commission should be made to enforce the city ordinance and the judge should order appropriate equitable remedies.

Meanwhile, Mayor Mark Stodola is sitting in blatant violation of the same city ordinance by holding on to $78,000 in contributions left over from previous campaigns. By terms of the same 1997 ordinance the City Board wants Carpenter to enforce, Stodola should have refunded that money to contributors or distributed it to specified legal recipients, such as charities. Carpenter has argued that state law prohibits enforcement of this part of the ordinance, but not the part about a short fundraising period.

Sabin has raised about $120,000, Scott about $75,000.

Correction

The Times' cover story last week, "Arkansans of the Year: Women," quoted House District 32 candidate Jess Virden Mallett as speaking about a proposed 2016 amendment to cap medical malpractice fees that was later struck from the ballot by the Supreme Court. That was an error. Mallett was speaking about the 2018 measure, Issue 1, which would cap attorneys' fees and limit noneconomic punitive damages in personal injury, property damage or wrongful death to $500,000.

"The current legislature, including my opponent, has introduced a ballot referendum that places an arbitrary value on human life in the Arkansas Constitution. ... The majority of our legislators think life is only worth $500,000 and want to amend our constitution to reflect that. As a mother, wife and a daughter, that is simply not acceptable. ... It is very important that people know that this is still an issue, that they are trying to take away their Seventh Amendment right." Mallett, a Democrat, is running against Republican state Rep. Jim Sorvillo.

Is 2018 the year that Americans finally learn to love the deficit? It has all the makings for such a phenomenon, at least for one year.

The deficit is soaring again, but what is there not to like about it? Taxes have just been cut — precipitously for business and the rich, modestly for many others (for several years) — and the economy continues its historic eight-year expansion.

Federal budget deficits have had seasonal defenders but no real admirers except for followers of Keynesian economics during bad times. Thomas Jefferson deplored them, and you can't quarrel with Thomas Jefferson, unless you explore too many of his ideas and prejudices. H. Ross Perot ran a decent one-note campaign for president by promising to end deficits and save the country from impending collapse.

What makes 2018 the optimal year for deficits and the normally despised national debt is that the Republican Party has called a truce on them. You won't be hearing Republican rants about deficits for a while for the simple reason that the party now owns them. We have had these interludes before — the 12 years of Ronald Reagan and Bush I and the eight years of Bush II — when the deficits soared owing to tax cuts and spending increases. But they ceased to be a talking point. Democrats never lamented deficits much and, sure enough, deficits moderated or even shrank under modern Democratic presidents. It went to zero for four years under Bill Clinton.

George W. Bush handed Barack Obama a deficit of $1.5 trillion and a sharply contracting economy. By 2015, Obama had whittled it to $438 billion, but two years of defense-spending increases pushed it back up to $666 billion in the year that ended Oct. 1.

The tax cut signed by the president at Christmastime was supposed to add $1.5 trillion to the already projected deficit increases over the next 10 years. It actually will add far more than that. Congress had to keep the estimated deficit hike at $1.5 trillion to pass it legally and they did it in the timeless way Congress always does it, with smoke and mirrors. Except those for corporations and some others, the tax cuts begin to expire well before 10 years, and the unspoken tax increases in the out years shrink the official deficit projection.

The Republicans had to take some other steps to protect the political advantages of cutting taxes. Ordinary people and not just the rich must realize advantages from the tax cuts long before the elections, so withholding changes were pushed up to February and big corporations were urged to announce raises for workers or price cuts. Governor Hutchinson joined the face-saving by urging his utility regulators to see if they could get the utilities to use some of their new profits to announce lower rates.

Right before passing the tax cut, congressional Republicans realized a huge political peril. Elderly and disabled Medicare constituents, who vote in big numbers, were going to get big reductions in their benefits, totaling $25 billion, immediately, owing to congressional pay-as-you-go rules that were adopted to force deficits down. The cuts were to be automatic if the tax law increased the deficit beyond a certain point, so before sending it to the president they hastily amended the bill to waive the rule for 2018.

They remembered having succeeded in making Obamacare initially unpopular partly by claiming that it was going to slash grandma's Medicare benefits. (It didn't; it expanded them. It called for lowering pay to providers, not beneficiaries.) Polls showed that Obamacare was extremely unpopular with the elderly in Arkansas, the group that should have been happiest with it. They weren't going to run that risk with the tax cut.

Trump had been a fan of deficits, saying early in his campaign that he didn't worry about deficits because if the national debt got dangerously high he would declare bankruptcy as he did in his private businesses. He had a small point. Defaulting on the debt would simply mean that U.S. taxpayers would shift the cost of government to that share of the taxpayers who own most of the national debt. Trump presumably doesn't own government bonds.

The Republican plan, as expressed often by House Speaker Paul Ryan, is to get rid of the deficits by slashing Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Ryan said in December that Congress would start doing it this year. He said he had talked Trump into reneging on his pledge not to cut Social Security or Medicare.

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has far better political instincts than Ryan or Trump. He said the other day that Medicare and Social Security would NOT be on the block — not before the fall elections.

So we have a year to love deficits. Let's make the most of it, and while we're at it, raise a toast to the national debt.

Florida and Ole Miss both exposed the gross deficiency of an Arkansas team that still has NCAA Tournament designs, and yet the Razorbacks managed again to eke out a split of the two games.

The Gators have been reborn after a rough nonconference slate and they pummeled the Hogs at Gainesville, a place that has tormented the visitors from Fayetteville like few other venues. A 23-year, 12-game drought at the O'Connell Center for Arkansas persisted after the hosts rolled 88-73 last Wednesday, anchored by North Little Rock product KeVaughn Allen's 28-point outburst, which came on the heels of one of the worst stretches of the junior guard's career.

If we've learned anything as Hog fans, it's that the expats who leave the state and get an opportunity to punish Arkansas will do just that at every turn. I recall as a youth watching Carl Lott, a Marianna-bred gunner who drew scant attention from the Hogs and ended up at TCU, catch fire at Barnhill Arena in the infancy of the three-point era to lead his Horned Frogs to a surprising road win, and that kind of grating episode has played out for a good three decades since at varying times.

Allen borrowed from that script in front of his crowd and the Hogs never could narrow the margin much in the second half, as the 15-2 run that Jalen Hudson and Allen keyed with long triples in the first half proved essentially fatal. Arkansas ironically received excellent production from its de facto Big Three, with Jaylen Barford, Daryl Macon and Daniel Gafford accounting for 55 of the team's pedestrian 73-point output, but obviously that tells you how underwhelming the role players were.

With that game unfolding in such a sorry fashion, Arkansas again recaptured its cliched but essential sense of urgency when it returned home Saturday to take on a middling Ole Miss team. Notably, the aforementioned trio did its job with 58 aggregate points, but the 39 points provided by the supporting cast proved to be sufficient, albeit barely. Fighting off a late barrage of Rebel threes with Macon's deft free throw shooting, the Hogs secured a 97-93 win to move their record to a respectable 13-6 and 3-4 in SEC play.

It is, of course, still noteworthy that for the fourth time in four conference games at Bud Walton Arena, the Hogs were several notches below dominant and were so bad at shutting down the perimeter that it felt like a mediocre TV movie replaying itself. Despite having some fairly exceptional crowds on hand to watch, the Hogs have managed to be ragged in their own house, with three wins by a combined eight points and that horror show 21-point loss to LSU. That's contributed to an average minus-6 point differential through the first seven conference games, which hardly instills confidence in the Hogs' prospects going down the stretch.

The Arkansas defense is, as it was for a great portion of last season, just not helping matters. This squad is talented enough to be back in the Top 25, but it's clear that being ranked does precious little to motivate, so staying on the periphery of the rankings will be just fine. Arkansas has yielded an average of 85 points over six defeats, and frankly, that scarcely communicates how flat the team has been in those games. Only the Mississippi State loss ended up being by single digits, and the Hogs yielded a late lead in that one.

Coincidentally, the Hogs started to gather themselves a year ago when the Oklahoma State Cowboys, largely an undistinguished bunch under then-coach Brad Underwood, slapped Mike Anderson's lethargic bunch around in a 28-point beatdown at Stillwater in the annual Big 12/SEC Challenge, which at the time seemed an affirmation of just how weak the latter conference was on a national scale. The Hogs were 16-4, 5-3 going into that game, but unranked and largely unheralded due to a rather flaccid strength of schedule.

Fast-forward a year and the Hogs will host the Pokes again in that midseason cross-conference gimmickry, and go figure, even if they eke out a road win at Georgia first, they'll go into the game with a lesser overall record but a far better tournament profile than last year. The same warts exist, though, which is really troubling: After surrendering 99 points to the Cowboys in that loss, the Hogs beat Alabama before getting beaten by a lowly Missouri team and then taking a surprising home loss to Vanderbilt, a game that more or less mirrored this January's lay-down against LSU.

Arkansas responded to that challenge with fury, winning six of seven league games and then two in the SEC tourney, cementing itself as a postseason participant with 25 overall wins. Barring a miracle, the Hogs won't hit that mark this time around but likely will not have to, either. Thanks to the wins over Oklahoma, Fresno State and Bucknell (and to a diminishing extent, Minnesota and Troy), Arkansas has a better-than-average nonconference sheen. This year, afforded the opportunity to host an improved Okie State and sweep the two flagship schools from the neighboring state, Arkansas could exit January with 15 or even 16 wins if it can knock off Texas A&M next week in College Station, and all things considered, that would keep the Hogs on the right side of the so-called bracketologists' collective assessment. Even with a sub-.500 SEC record thus far, the Hogs are a consensus higher seed on the first two days of the NCAA Tournament for the moment.

But that offers little comfort. Anderson's two best teams of the seven he's fielded in Fayetteville are the ones that thrived on a perception of disrespect and they excelled seemingly whenever the word "bubble" was employed by the pundits who were gabbing about their postseason chances. Regardless of whether that terminology is used in February and March of this year, the Hogs have to play like they're being considered a nonentity because it's worked in the recent past.

On our last trip to India, just outside the colorful, chaotic Bada Bazar in Udaipur — through a maze of people, cars, rickshaws, dogs and the occasional meandering cow — we happened upon a vendor frying up snacks in a 4-foot-wide cast iron pot. When the cook turned his attention our way, we held up two fingers, not knowing exactly what that would yield. What we got were two plates of samosas covered in chickpeas, green and red sauces, fresh onions and cilantro: a delicious snack known as Samosa Chaat.

You'll find basically the same version at Taj Mahal, but without the noise, rickshaws and cows. The restaurant is spacious but feels cozy. Ornate window treatments and wallpapers in shades of burgundy and gold lend a regal air to the space. The archways, chandeliers and beaded curtains are the kinds of details you would find in nice restaurants in India.

The food, though, is the star of the show. Samosa Chaat is offered as an upgrade to a regular order of samosas. We recommend it ($5.95 for the veggie version). A spiced pea and potato filling with notes of mustard seed and coriander fill a crisp and flaky crust. The samosas are sliced and topped with warm chickpeas, tomatoes, onions, cilantro and chutneys. Even though the base of this dish is fried, the freshness of everything that comes on top makes it seem light. It's a pleasure to eat, and filling, too. One order is enough for at least two people to share.

Sharing is the name of the game when it comes to the main course. Taj Mahal's menu offers so many choices, and you'll probably want to try more than just one dish. The Shahi Korma with chicken ($11.95) is a good option for the less adventurous. The creamy, cashew-based sauce offers a good flavor with little spice. It won't blow your mind, but people easing into Indian food might start here.

The Saag with lamb ($15.95) was a hearty dish that offered a smooth, earthy flavor. While it was creamy, we found that Taj Mahal's version had way less cream and butter than we are used to, and that was fine by us. That allowed the flavor of the spinach to shine. The lamb was tender, but we think it could have done with a little less time in the pot.

In many cuisines, vegetables are seen as "side dishes" and often are treated as a second thought. That is not the case with Indian food and especially not here. The Bhindi Masala ($9.95), chopped okra with tomatoes, onions and aromatic spices, was the most pleasant surprise of the night. We're generally not a fan of big chunks of onions and bell peppers in our vegetable dishes, but they were cooked perfectly, tender with a bit of a crunch. The smoky, grilled flavor from the roasted okra complemented the sweetness of the tomatoes nicely. There is no sauce. As the tomatoes cook down, they bind everything together. We ordered it at a spice level of 5, enough to let you know there's heat but not overkill — a true medium.

The Baighan Bartha ($9.95) was the most beloved dish on our table. It is a must for the next time you go and will probably be the dish you order every time you go back. Taj Mahal takes roasted eggplant and sautes it with onion, peas and tomatoes. The mixture is cooked with a good amount of oil, or maybe ghee, with lots of spices, including garlic, ginger, turmeric and coriander for a punch of flavor. The Baighan Bartha is great with rice, bread, or all by itself.

You'll get your own bowl of spiced basmati rice. The rice is cooked perfectly and the flavor won't disappoint. We felt a bit rationed, after being spoiled at other Indian restaurants with a platter of rice to go along with all the dishes, but if you need more, they'll happily bring more.

There aren't many Indian restaurants in Little Rock and those that have been in business for a bit tend to develop loyal followings. Since it opened, this was the first time we stepped out of our old habits to try Taj Mahal. We're glad we did. Restaurant loyalty definitely has its place, but it's also good to branch out a little and spread the love. To do otherwise would be to miss out on a delightful experience.

Taj Mahal Indian Kitchen
1520 Market St.
520-4900
tajmahalar.com

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One advantage of the current political climate is an opportunity for a new and more honest conversation about race, gender and many other inequities we too often sweep under the carpet. President Trump's offensive actions and comments keep these issues in the spotlight, and the response from Arkansas's congressional leaders has ranged from vigorous defense of the president to complicit silence.

One of the most radical things we can do for a better future is to keep talking about social justice until we find the solutions that have dogged us for generations. And, despite the hatred and fear coming from those who would divide us, tackling these problems is actually a key to creating more opportunity and prosperity for all Arkansans.

That's one reason the Arkansas Public Policy Panel and Citizens First Congress has begun an initiative to understand the history and roots of racial oppression and social injustice. We partnered with Race Forward — one of the nation's leading social justice think tanks — to conduct a series of workshops examining the history of racism and social injustice and how it operates in our culture, laws and institutions. Knowledge is power and understanding these systems is key to making progress.

Knowledge alone does not create change. We also need to build stronger communities across the lines that divide us. When African Americans, whites, Latinos and other people come together we have the power to create change that will bring opportunity and justice to all. What could be better than more knowledge and community in this age of polarization around race, politics, gender and economics?

We need to bridge the gap between what our communities' need to thrive and what our political leaders are doing. In Arkansas, home to one of the fastest growing immigrant communities in the country, we are represented by lawmakers who are leading the attack to deny Dreamers and massively cut legal immigration. In Arkansas, one of the states that's benefited the most from the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid expansion, we are represented by lawmakers who are among the most zealous to cut it. In Arkansas, near worst in the nation for poverty and income inequality, we are represented by lawmakers who are among the most zealous to cut social safety nets to fuel massive tax giveaways for the most wealthy.

Let me talk about one more elephant in the room. Being from Arkansas, I'm particularly sensitive to "shithole" comments about someone's home. You see, many people who have never been to Arkansas perceive us as a backward, shithole place. I get asked by people who've never been here, "Isn't it frustrating living someplace with such high poverty and so few opportunities?"

It's easy for someone from someplace else to grab a few data points and make broad negative assumptions. It's true that Arkansas is one of the poorest states, with the highest income inequality and big challenges. But people who define us by those challenges don't know the amazing people of Arkansas. They don't know our tight-knit communities, our history of overcoming political polarization to make progress, or how beautiful the Ozarks, the Delta and the Ouachitas are. They don't know we have one of the fastest improving education systems, or that we lead the South in access to health care, minimum wage or energy efficiency.

Many, if not most, Americans, are from places once considered "shitholes." Half of my ancestors came over during the Irish potato famine. The other came from Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution. Both sides of the family were poor and never would have been admitted to this country in a merit system. But my family story is one of excelling over challenges and contributing proudly to a stronger American society: poor, scrappy, independent risk-takers from places many elites considered shitholes.

That diversity and striving are not what holds America back, that's what makes us great! Today immigration is not a drain on Arkansas, but a boost of over $3.4 billion per year. White supremacy, beyond being a moral scourge, undermines opportunity for us all.

To get past those who would divide us with racist and ill-informed views, we need to come together, understand the history of social injustice in our society and build a collective strategy to challenge it. Our next workshop is this Saturday, Jan. 27, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Jones Center in Springdale. We will be holding more workshops in other parts of the state through the year. Learn more at CitizensFirst.org/events.

Bill Kopsky is executive director of the Arkansas Public Policy Panel.

On Saturday, thousands of women in Arkansas and millions across the country rallied and marched just as we did last January. In 2017, we marched in anticipation of bad things to come. In 2018, we marched in response. This year, we were louder, we were more unified and we were angrier.

I made the drive down to Little Rock from Fayetteville last January with my best friend and my two daughters for the Women's March. I cried when I saw the number of women waiting to march. It was my first glimpse of the movement that was to come. This year, I joined my friends Olivia Trimble and Blanca Estevez in planning the Fayetteville Women's March. I thought we might get a couple hundred people to attend. Then, as the day drew closer, I expected closer to 1,000. I did not expect to see nearly 3,000 women and men filling the plaza of the Fayetteville Town Center and overflowing into the downtown streets, but I should have expected that number. After all, women are driving the movement known as "The Resistance."

What I saw on Saturday is more than a resistance to the policies of President Trump's administration. It is a rejection of centuries of oppression of women, especially women of color. It is more than a fad or a political awakening; it is a movement. It is the joining together of marginalized communities to fight against the patriarchal and racist systems that dominate our economy and our politics. This movement is not going away. It deserves more attention.

This is a movement that scares those who rely on the status quo. We are fighting the policies of the GOP that separate families through aggressive deportations, that roll back regulations such as the Americans Disabilities Act, that leave women with substandard health care and that allow police power to go unchecked. We are refusing to accept the old adage that "boys will be boys" as our accomplishments are overlooked in the workplace while our appearances are not. Our outspoken activists are receiving cease and desist letters from U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton for not backing down and are being completely ignored by U.S. Rep. Steve Womack when questioning him about racist symbols.

We are also pushing back against those in the Democratic Party who want to hang out in the center and avoid what they dismiss as "identity politics." Our candidates are treating women's rights, gun control, LGBTQ equality and comprehensive immigration reform as more than just afterthoughts. We are pushing for county meetings that are more welcoming to women by considering work schedules and childcare. We are asking for less socializing and more activism. We've been accused of being divisive by those on the left who are uncomfortable with our impatience. Despite all of this, we continue to speak up because we know we all can be better.

Detractors have pointed out our movement lacks unity and is consumed by infighting. Not true. What I saw on Saturday was a diverse group of men and women, being led by women, being taught by women and being inspired by women. Sure, not everyone will agree on everything. Activists from communities facing immediate danger will not be polite. They don't have the luxury of waiting out this administration or worrying about hurt feelings. The GOP has already capitalized on this by pitting us against each other by claiming we have to choose between CHIP and DACA. They've worked to convince the country that we support immigrants over veterans. That's where they have it all wrong. We demand better for everyone and, if we stay unified, we won't leave anyone behind.

We may not see the wins we want to see in 2018. Womack and Cotton and the rest of the boys may still be in power here in Arkansas. Governor Hutchinson may continue his march to the right. But the momentum is with us. The wind is at our back. The Indivisibles and the Young Democrats control the fate of the Democratic Party. They will be the ones who get out the vote. If the Democratic candidates want to win, they'd better get on board. The future is female. She is black. She is white. She is brown. She is trans. She is cis. She is mad. And she is not backing down.