As we plunge into summer, prepared to endure a flood of friends from away, we ought to be prepared to answer their questions. Here are some of those likely questions, with answers at the end of the column to help you prepare.

The news that sexual harassment and assault in the military are more common than ever — not just that the number of reported incidents has climbed in the past two years but also that an estimated 26,000 personnel experienced unacceptable sexually aggressive and threatening behavior from their military colleagues — should come as no surprise to the Pentagon’s leaders: They have had the raw data for weeks.

WASHINGTON — Mistakes were made.

Could this finally be the time for major tax reform in Maine? With Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, a Republican governor, a budget gap that defies easy solutions and fatigue with stopgap measures and one-time fixes, the opportunity may never be better.

You know you’re in trouble when you can’t even get your walk-back story straight. Stung by the worldwide derision that met President Barack Obama’s fudging and fumbling of his chemical-weapons red line in Syria, the White House leaked to The New York Times that Obama’s initial statement had been unprepared, unscripted and therefore unserious.

Last time, when I wrote about disruptive change, I told you about Clayton Christensen’s example of the steel industry and how the big traditional steel companies lost out to new ones with cheaper manufacturing processes.

Everyone has a “fix” for education. Now it’s my turn.

Naively, some of us thought we had solved the issue of peddling “tax reform” as a way to conceal higher taxes in 2010, when a Democratic Legislature tried to raise taxes on everything we bought while offering only a nominal income tax reduction in return.

Hallowell is a great city, just not a very big one. We have awesome community spirit, but not a large tax base.