Opinion
The Eve of Destruction?
Guest Opinion
By Greg Holmes | Nov. 7, 2026
Are we really on the “eve of destruction” as the mid-1960’s protest song claimed? The popular folk song, performed by Barry McGuire, chronicled a number of difficult issues plaguing the world at that time. These included racism, civil rights, and perhaps most prominently, the threat of nuclear annihilation. Whereas racism and the fight for equal rights continue to fuel conflict, we can be thankful that the threats to use nuclear weapons remain … Read More >>
Impossible Housing
Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | Nov. 7, 2026
The Housing North Housing Needs Assessment (HNA) has once again determined we need a virtually impossible number of residential units in the next year. Let’s back up a bit. Housing North, according to their website, builds awareness and attempts to influence policy, increase capacity, and find solutions for housing issues in 10 northwest Lower Peninsula counties. According to the U.S. census, these counties—Antrim, Benzie, Emmet, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Leelanau, Manistee, Missaukee, and … Read More >>
Expensive Negativity
Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | Oct. 31, 2026
We can all be grateful the depressingly negative political ads will now mercifully stop. Every year they get worse and worse, and this year many candidates have decided to simply manufacture their own accomplishments or create imaginary flaws in their opponents. There are neither communists nor Nazis seeking office, but candidates have been accused of being both. As the bile flowed, so did the money. This will be the most expensive midterm … Read More >>
Heal Yourself: Volunteer!
Guest Opinion
By Hannah Wescott | Oct. 31, 2026
When Melissa’s son, Jake, died by suicide just shy of his 30th birthday, she and her family needed an outlet for their grief. Witnessing their beautiful, magnetic son’s brave battle with depression and substance use disorder had changed their beliefs about addiction and the people it swallows. They felt empowered to reach out to others who were similarly embattled. Knowing the upcoming holiday season would be unbearable without him, the family began … Read More >>
Killing the Death Penalty
Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | Oct. 24, 2026
It was going to be quite the spectacle, our first public execution since 500 or so watched a public hanging in Galena, Missouri, in 1937. A few months earlier, nearly 20,000 people had gathered, apparently in a festive mood, to watch another man hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky. After the Missouri barbarism, public executions were outlawed. But our firing squad execution of the man who killed 13 and injured many more in a … Read More >>
Supreme Delight in the Misfortune of Others
Guest Opinion
By Isiah Smith, Jr. | Oct. 24, 2026
Within 24 hours of Katie Zacharia’s firing, Trump’s short-lived press secretary, social media erupted with glee over her spectacular rise and fall from grace (or was it waste?). This glee had all the marks of a collective sigh of relief that someone other than oneself has been publicly degraded and made to look like a fool. Behind all the tomfoolery and AI-assisted mockery online were clear signs of relief that “no matter … Read More >>
In Defense of the Humanities
Guest Opinion
By Richard Fidler | Oct. 24, 2026
A post-secondary education based upon science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is promoted by politicians and government leaders as the best path for students to follow in college and trade schools. As the argument goes, most jobs in the future will require a solid background in those disciplines, at the same time implying that college degrees in English, foreign languages, art and design, the social sciences, and philosophy are a waste of … Read More >>
Grading Our Federal Government
Guest Opinion
By Stewart MacLeod | Oct. 17, 2026
Those of us who have ever held a job are familiar with periodic performance reviews. Even the self-employed such as farmers evaluate how they are doing. Similarly then, it’s appropriate to periodically evaluate our government. To score our federal government, we first need to understand what these officials signed up to with their solemn oath of office. This gives a benchmark to rate them by. This should influence your scoring. All elected, … Read More >>
The Con-Con Doesn’t Pass the Smell Test
Guest Opinion
By Justin Mendoza | Oct. 17, 2026
Do you smell that? That’s the stench of corporate money oozing through Michigan politics. I bet by now you’ve seen dozens, if not hundreds of political ads for candidates the past few weeks. In this year’s general election, we’re not just electing a new U.S. senator, governor, secretary of state, attorney general, and Michigan Supreme Court candidates. Michiganders also have the chance to vote on two proposals this year, and one of … Read More >>
Political Fringes
Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | Oct. 17, 2026
The playbook for some political candidates this cycle is calling your opponent a Democratic Socialist. To be fair, there are Democrats running for office calling themselves that, and there is an official organization called the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). They even have a website and, to their detriment, a platform. What do they want and support? They have very big aspirations. Let’s see...they believe housing is a universal human right therefore … Read More >>
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