Students need to regain ground lost to COVID-19

January 8, 2021

Miguel Cardona, President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to become secretary of education, would have a full plate even without COVID-19. But the epidemic has been an education catastrophe, and dealing with the fallout from it simply must be Cardona’s top priority, assuming he is confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Cardona, whose current job is leading public education in Connecticut, no doubt is painfully aware of the challenge. It centers on the fact that millions of children have been out of their classrooms, sometimes for months at a time, because of the epidemic. There is no substitute ...

Report on COVID-19 needs to be made public

January 7, 2021

When politicians talk about “the science,” they often limit discussion to their science. A long as we understand that, we can defend ourselves by checking more reliable sources. But what happens when the politicians start tinkering with primary sources — with reports from government agencies most people consider to be objective and honest? Even bearing in mind that the House of Representatives is controlled by Democrats who can set the agendas for committee investigations, a news report last week was disturbing. It involved an investigation by a House subcommittee chaired by ...

Burgum’s move was in the right direction

January 6, 2021

We are all for Governor Burgum moving the COVID-19 threat level from high to moderate. No, we don’t think COVID-19 is over with, but it is again, slowing down. More importantly – small, locally owned, businesses are critical to the economic survival of North Dakota. As of Monday, January 4, 2021 – North Dakota has experienced 93,464 positive cases of COVID-19 – 12.3% of North Dakota’s population has had this illness. What is possibly even more staggering is that 49.82% of the population has been tested – almost half of the population. Ward County has had 8,552 ...

Plenty of blame to go around for slow mail

January 5, 2021

U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has a lot of explaining to do, as some in Washington are saying his removal this fall of mail sorting machines at postal facilities is partly to blame for challenges the U.S. Postal Service faced in getting packages delivered during the Christmas season. Of course, the culprit being blamed by USPS officials is COVID-19. Of course, the men and women of the Postal Service were impacted by the epidemic. Many Christmas gifts that in past years would have been delivered in person had to be entrusted to the mail instead. And many gift purchases that ...

Responsible gun owners conscientious in preventing accidental shootings

January 4, 2021

The Second Amendment to the Constitution guarantees that we Americans can own firearms. We venture to suggest those who wrote and ratified the Constitution did not intend it to promote the accidental shootings of children. In fact, it is likely accidental shootings of childen were far less common in those days. Simply loading a firearm was more complicated and time consuming. Gunpowder had to be poured down the barrel, following by a lead bullet. A ramrod was used to force both into place. Then, a little gunpowder had to be poured into a small pan at the breech. The gun fired only when ...

Those who give their lives for us deserve best treatment

January 2, 2021

Should he be confirmed, President-elect Joe Biden’s choice for U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs has a LOT of work to do to restore trust in the agency — and to do right by the men and women it serves. President Donald Trump has referred to the federal bureaucracy as “the swamp.” The VA may well qualify as the poster child for that. For decades, under both Democratic and Republican presidents, promises have been made that the VA would be cleaned up. It never seems to happen. Let us be clear: Overwhelmingly, the men and women who work at the VA do their very best to serve ...