Opinion

The Long Goodbye

Guest Opinion

By Jack Segal | Oct. 17, 2020

Last week, President Trump sowed confusion within his government — and amongst our allies — by tweeting that “We should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas.” In other words, our long goodbye to Afghanistan will be completed this year, 2020. Or will it?  When the president says on Twitter that something “should” happen by Christmas, it’s not clear whether that is a ... Read More >>

Patience Required

Spectator

By Stephen Tuttle | Oct. 17, 2020

It's going to be a very long election night. Voter fraud will have nothing to do with it. Every state has some form of early, mail-in voting this year, and only Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Indiana still require a reason to request a mail-in ballot. The other 45 states and Washington, D.C. provided early voting options on request, and about half those states sent early ballot applications to all registered voters.  ... Read More >>

What Are You Gonna Tell Her?

Guest Opinion

By Isiah Smith | Oct. 10, 2020

Ludwig Van Beethoven wrote, “Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy. Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks, and invents.”      Two new songs by country music singer Mickey Guyton accomplish that and more. While the rest of the nation drowns in Cardi B’s “WAP,” a lurid serenade to her gynecologist (about a part of her body only her husband, physician, and an infectious disease specialist ... Read More >>

Made Things Worse

Spectator

By Stephen Tuttle | Oct. 10, 2020

The Michigan Supreme Court, in a 4–3 decision supported by the four Republicans on the Court, with dissenting opinions from the three Democrats, has ruled Governor Gretchen Whitmer does not have the authority to continue issuing emergency orders under the Emergency Powers of Governor Act (EPGA) of 1945. They then took an additional step and ruled the entire EPGA unconstitutional.  The Court's order was delayed 21 days to give the state a ... Read More >>

We are Done Tolerating Intolerance

Guest Opinion

By Amy Kerr Hardin | Oct. 4, 2020

Ask a Trump supporter to specify even one policy of the president’s that has directly benefitted them. They can’t, because other than his tax cuts that solely rewarded the ultra-rich, he’s failed to successfully implement a single policy from his 2016 platform that makes America “great again.” Closing borders, putting children in cages, and his ill-conceived trade wars actually damage average Americans. His turbo-charged xenophobia has robbed our nation of some of ... Read More >>

Spinning out of Control

Spectator

By Stephen Tuttle | Oct. 3, 2020

He said scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were wrong when they first issued their mask recommendations. He resisted and contradicted their suggestion that businesses and schools should close. He denied that there were shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) and made sure the person who said there were shortages was removed from her job. We now know he knew all along just how bad the pandemic was ... Read More >>

Warts And All

By Stephen Tuttle | Sept. 26, 2020

Project 1619, a product of New York Times Magazine writers, is a potential public school curriculum that attempts to redefine early U.S. history by making the assertion that slavery and Black Americans were the keystone to our creation and development.  It posits our country's birth was not 1776, but 1619, the year Virginia colony imported the first African slaves. It suggests our Founders’ lofty ideals weren't quite so lofty and that “all ... Read More >>

Moving Dirt And Stone

By Gary Howe | Sept. 26, 2020

This year is taking a toll on me. I'm more sluggish. It's harder to get out of bed each morning. I have muscle pain that I didn't have in 2019. My fingers have lost some of their sense of touch. I haven't yet been tested, but I'm sure my ailments aren't COVID-19. Still, I ​feel confident the pandemic is ​at least partly to blame. I'm not complaining, though. These bodily ailments come ... Read More >>

Unlocking Trouble

By Stephen Tuttle | Sept. 19, 2020

Unlock Michigan is likely to unlock trouble. It's awash with potential for unintended consequences.  The idea is that Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has far exceeded what should be her authority, using a 1945 emergency powers law to unilaterally make decisions during the Covid-19 pandemic. Several attempts to stop the governor through the courts having failed, a petition drive was started to force a referendum that would repeal the 1945 statute. The governor ... Read More >>

What You Are Voting For?

Guest Opinion

By Kate Dahlstrom | Sept. 19, 2020

After voting straight Republican for 36 years, from 1971 through 2007, I have been an Independent since 2008, studying and voting for each candidate and issue on their own merits. The main idea of the Square Deal (circa 1902) introduced by Republican President Theodore Roosevelt was to reduce inequality. The three Cs of Roosevelt’s Square Deal were control of corporations, consumer protection, and conservation of natural resources. Roosevelt is widely regarded as ... Read More >>