Opinion
Be Best? Michigan’s Better Than That
Guest Opinion
By Amy Kerr Hardin | April 20, 2019
Last year First Lady Melania Trump unveiled, albeit awkwardly, her “Be Best” campaign. Its centerpiece is preventing cyberbullying among youth. The anemic and unprofessionally executed rollout was against the backdrop of her husband’s steady stream of puerile Tweets, most of which can be easily dismissed as petty, though some have taken on a sinister specter in the form of a thinly veiled call for violence. Trump didn’t invent online bullying, but he’s raised ... Read More >>
China’s Second Great Leap Forward — Over the U.S.?
Guest Opinion
By Jack Segal | April 13, 2019
President Xi Jinping says it is time for China to “take center stage in the world.” While President Trump has focused on forcing near-term changes to China’s behavior, China has a much longer-term strategic vision that aims to returning it to the position of global influence it held prior to the 19thcentury.In a lifetime, China has gone from a “Third World” country to the second largest economy in the world, with nine ... Read More >>
Kill Capital Punishment
Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | April 13, 2019
We're a nation that can't quite make up its mind about capital punishment. Three years ago the Nebraska legislature did away with the death penalty, only to have voters restore it by referendum last year. Washington, New Hampshire, Louisiana, and Utah all considered capital punishment repeals without success in 2018. A recent Quinnipiac University poll found that 51% of respondents preferred life without parole over the death penalty, but 64% wanted to keep ... Read More >>
Loudest and Wrong
Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | April 6, 2019
The loudest voices on both sides were wrong: There was no sinister deep state out to take down the president. There was no treasonous conspiracy between Donald Trump and the Russians. We have to back up to remember why there was a Mueller investigation in the first place. Long before Mueller, our intelligence community already knew the Russians were interfering in the 2016 elections, including hacking activities and widespread disinformation and misinformation ... Read More >>
Shots That Save
Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | April 2, 2019
Apparently we need to go over this again since the anti-vaccine crowd never tires of spreading disinformation and misinformation. Their repeatedly debunked arguments blame vaccines for autism, muscular dystrophy, any other neurological disorder ... and pretty much anything negative that happens to their child during or after the child’s vaccination schedule. It's proof, they claim, that vaccines, or the ingredients therein, are dangerous, especially a mercury derivative. Never mind that a mercury derivative ... Read More >>
A Lesson in Badassery
From a former muay Thai cage fighter
By Jaclyn Roof | March 30, 2019
You have probably had that moment when you come across someone and think, “Man, I wish I could be as successful [or as confident or, quite frankly, as badass] as that person! What are they doing that I’m not?” Unfortunately, you might never know.But what you do know is that they have something you’re craving in a way that causes you to re-evaluate where you are in life, who you are in ... Read More >>
Taking Truth to Power
Guest Column
By David Frederick | March 30, 2019
Truth is an interesting concept. Most people believe they have a pretty good understanding of it. Why wouldn’t they? Truth isn’t all that complicated. But on the other hand, when one hears the axiom that one man’s truth is another man’s lie, it muddles the water a bit. It should not; that axiom is unfounded. A statement or assertion is either true or it is not. Determining relative validity, however, does become ... Read More >>
Believe It or Not
Guest Column
By Mary Keyes Rogers | March 23, 2019
Back in high school, there was a week each year when the Life Skills class would bestow a baby doll with an egg inside to each student who then attempted to balance the lifestyle of a teenager with the 24/7 reality of caring for a helpless infant. Real parents, with real babies, benefit from the soundtrack familiar to all parents, the never-ceasing background song with ever-repeating lyrics in their own head: Is the ... Read More >>
Floating Down Drunk River
Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | March 23, 2019
The National Forest Service recently proposed an alcohol ban on stretches of the AuSable, Manistee, and Pine rivers within the Huron/Manistee National Forest. It was a response to the drunken crudity taking place there on summer weekends. Private property, campsites, and developed campgrounds along the rivers were excluded. Sadly, but predictably, a public outcry followed. More than 54,000 people signed online petitions demanding the ban be rescinded. There are problems aplenty we choose ... Read More >>
What are the Real Issues in Medicare for All?
Guest Column
By Tom Gutowski | March 16, 2019
In a general sense, Medicare For All, or MFA, isn’t a radically new concept. Every highly developed country has universal health insurance, except us. Some of those insurance systems — not all — are single payer. What’s radical is that America, the richest country on earth, doesn’t havesomeform of universal coverage. Potential government intrusion into our choice of doctors or our medical decisions isn’t the threat it might seem; current Medicare recipients actually ... Read More >>
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