Stephen Tuttle | Author
Ending the Filibuster
June 12, 2021
The filibuster, much in the news lately, has an interesting if not usually glorious history.
From the French word filibustier, it was first used as a negative descriptor of pirates marauding French colonies in the Caribbean in the early 17th Century. It wou...
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A Full Accounting
June 5, 2021
So, what is critical race theory (CRT)?
CRT is the notion that categorizing race into subgroups is an artificial construct designed specifically to oppress minorities, especially Black Americans, while maintaining control for an existing, mostly white, power structure, espec...
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The Right to Exist
May 29, 2021
Israel and Hamas have, at least temporarily, finished one of their somewhat regular skirmishes, with predictable results. We've seen this before. Hamas, the elected government in Gaza, almost wholly funded by Iran and declared a terrorist organization by the U.S. and others, finds a reaso...
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Double Trouble
May 22, 2021
At least two local school districts find themselves trying to find a punishment or resolution or intervention that is a fitting response to what has been reported as a sickeningly racist and misogynistic online chat among students at three local high schools.
The desire to enslave...
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Loyalty to a Lie
May 15, 2021
Some Republicans have fallen down and they can't, or won't, get up.
This isn't the party of Lincoln, and it's not likely Ronald Reagan would be welcome, either. The governing principles that once underpinned the GOP — small government, balanced budget, strong defense, ...
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Is Water a Commodity?
May 8, 2021
There will be one overriding issue in the next couple of decades, one of the few that is literally an existential threat to our future. It isn't terrorism, or white supremacy, or socialism, or Trumpism. It's water, or the lack of it.
The looming water crises &...
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Do the Math
May 1, 2021
We're making some progress against Covid-19, but if this were an athletic contest, we'd still be behind.
Nearly 10 percent of the country's population, almost 32.5 million Americans, have been infected. We continue to assume that number is low, as not everyone, or even most ...
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Give Reform a Shot
April 24, 2021
2020 wasn't a very good year. At all.
Aside from the horrific toll of the pandemic and the post-election insanity, we became a lot more violent. Murder rates were the highest in the last two decades, according to the FBI. Other violent crimes increased comparably.
Ch...
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Wrong and Expensive
April 17, 2021
Tucked away in the southeast corner of Cuba is a natural harbor wedged between hilly terrain. Called Guantanamo Bay — guantanamo means “land between two rivers” in Taino, the language of indigenous Taino people — we leased it from the Cubans in 1900, and t...
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Spring Cleaning
April 10, 2021
It would seem winter has timidly departed, probably, so some local spring cleaning is in order.
Traverse City's proposed fish pass project becomes more and more mysterious. No one can yet tell us which fish species will be allowed passage and which, other than sea lampreys, ...
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A Long History
April 3, 2021
The media, and much of the public, have suddenly become aware of discrimination against Asian-Americans and Asian immigrants. This newfound awareness comes on the heels of a nightmarish massacre in Atlanta. Eight people, six of them Asian women, were gunned down in three separate location...
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Immigration Futility
March 20, 2021
Congressional Republicans say President Joe Biden is “entirely to blame” for a growing mess on our southern border. That's quite an accomplishment given that Biden has only been in office a couple of months.
It wasn't Biden who left 3,000 unaccompanied non-citizen chil...
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Do You Recall?
March 13, 2021
Recall elections, or at least the threat of them, are suddenly all the rage. We'll recall Republicans who supported the Donald Trump impeachment and recall Democrats who initiated pandemic-related restrictions. Almost none will succeed.
In California, Gov. Gavin ...
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Cancel This
March 6, 2021
It seems we are either part of what's being called “cancel culture” or we're claiming we must cancel cancel culture while merrily doing our own canceling.
To be sure, we are quicker than ever to demand someone be fired, recalled, or impeached, or some company be ...
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Not a Clue
Feb. 27, 2021
Surely politicians wouldn't be so clueless that they'd lie about COVID-19 deaths or take a vacation during a statewide emergency or spend taxpayer money on expensive groceries and booze for themselves. Of course they would.
Let us pause, then, for a moment to consider the br...
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Look Up
Feb. 20, 2021
Now that we've solved all our earthly problems, perhaps we should look skyward. There are issues lurking up there.
This all started in October 1957, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, which did nothing more than blink and send a simple radio signal. Many alive at the time w...
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More Voters ... or Less
Feb. 13, 2021
Legislators are busy at work trying to change the voting systems they created. About 500 bills have been introduced across the nation, and more than 100 of them, in 28 states, would restrict our ability to vote.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice — and full credit t...
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No Future
Feb. 6, 2021
If she's the future of the Republican Party, the party is in deep trouble.
By now, you've likely heard of Marjorie Taylor Greene, the new congresswoman from Georgia. Her connection to reality or, for that matter, sanity, is limited.
Taylor Greene has an interesting habit o...
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Quite a Month
Jan. 30, 2021
Well, that was quite a month for at least some members of the Grand Traverse County Board of Commissioners.
First, Commissioner Brad Jewett introduced a resolution opposing the latest pandemic restrictions issued by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS). The...
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Very Busy Very Fast
Jan. 23, 2021
This isn't going to be easy. President Joe Biden and his thin congressional majority are walking into troubled times both domestically and internationally.
The divisions we now see and must somehow confront, ably abetted by silent or overtly enabling politicians, have spilled into... Read More >>