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Early ballot processing is good move for ND

It’s good news that Gov. Doug Burgum signed an executive order to enable county auditors to begin processing ballots five days ahead of the general election. Existing state law allows local election boards to process absentee and mail ballots only on the day before and the day of Election Day. This pandemic year is not like any other election year, though, and it calls for new protocols. The ballots still will not be counted until Election Day, but allowing more time to process ballots helps ensure that results will be more timely. County auditors have been swamped with early ...

Mask ‘mandate’ more a strong endorsement

Most studies have shown that wearing a face mask is one of the best ways we currently have available to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. The Minot City Council recognized this and expressed strong support for masks when they voted 5-2 to approve a mask mandate for the city. Masks are mandated in all indoor and outdoor environments where people are exposed to non-household members and where social distancing of six feet or more cannot be maintained. In practice, the “mandate” is more of a strong endorsement or suggestion since there will be no penalty if people do not ...

Discrimination in government needs to be punished

Overwhelmingly, we Americans are not bigots. It grates on us to be accused of tolerating “systemic” racism. Then we read or hear about situations such as one last year at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Here, in case you missed it, is part of The Associated Press report on the matter: “At the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Training Academy in Virginia last year, an instructor on the firing range called out a name that was shared by two trainees, one Black and one white. “When both responded, the white instructor clarified, ‘I meant the monkey.’” ...

Growing corruption in social media

Monopolistic control over how information is disseminated is a bigger problem for Americans now than were such domination of the oil, steel and automobile industries a century or so ago. The problem was on glaringly bright display last week. A story reported initially by the New York Post received at least some coverage widely in the conventional press — that is, newspapers and broadcast news outlets. The report involved a series of emails allegedly recovered by a computer repair shop from a laptop left there and not claimed by former vice president Joe Biden’s son, ...

Following the science is bad advice

We’ve been urged to “follow the science” so many times during the past six months that we suspect many people are growing sick of the advice. Besides, what if the scientists aren’t following the science? Some of them are not. Americans became justifiably suspicious of the World Health Organization earlier this year, when its officials appeared to be acting as apologists for Chinese leaders who were not being honest about COVID-19. Now the United Nations organization is drawing fire again. WHO officials have released a new study suggesting that remdesivir, a drug now ...

Time is ticking away on a recovery plan

We Americans, collectively, were not ready for the coronavirus epidemic. We ought to be ready for the recovery. It will begin when a vaccine against COVID-19 becomes available. Though a timeline for that is uncertain, it appears safe, effective vaccines will be available early next year. Understandably, it will take longer than that for the protection to be accessible by most people. At first, vaccines will have to go to those most in need of them. The list includes health care workers, first responders — and nursing home residents. Federal health officials have begun ...