Vaccine will test American charity

June 23, 2020

Charity begins at home, especially in safeguarding Americans from COVID-19. But we have a long, praiseworthy record of having big hearts, and now should be no exception to that. Efforts to develop new medicines to treat the symptoms of COVID-19 and to develop vaccines against it have proceeded at a feverish pace. That is true in other developed countries as well as here in the United States. Gratifying success has been reported, both here and in Europe. Still, experts predict vaccines will not be available until early 2021. Once they are put in production, supplies will be ...

Don’t give in to Kims of this world

June 22, 2020

Some things never change. North Korean dictators’ determination to stay in power by keeping the rest of the world off balance is one of them. For a time, it seemed as if North Korean strongman Kim Jong Un might be altering course from that pursued by his father and grandfather. Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump held what appeared on the surface to be respectful, if not cordial talks. But discussion of Pyongyang’s one-nation arms race came to nothing after U.S. officials refused to grant concessions without productive movement on Kim’s part. Now the dictator has reverted to ...

Time to pray for rain

June 19, 2020

Summer isn’t even here yet and many of us are worried about drought. That’s right, drought. Despite last year being one of the wettest on record for the Minot area, we are now seriously behind in precipitation received. It’s hard to say which is worse, floods or droughts, but Minot has seen more than its fair share of both. Both can be recovered from but it takes time and is very expensive...and frustrating because people can do so little to improve their lots when it comes to the weather. Just how bad are things? As we learned last week, we are only days away from being in ...

Some transparency needed when doling out relief funds

June 18, 2020

American taxpayers should not be handing out hundreds of billions of dollars in aid to businesses without having at least some idea of where our money is going. That seems obvious. However, demanding such transparency puts the U.S. Treasury Department — and some of the businesses being assisted — in a tough position. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Congress last week that recipients of about $600 billion in coronavirus relief funds will not be disclosed publicly. “We believe that that’s proprietary information and, in many cases for sole proprietors and small ...

Fed can only do so much

June 17, 2020

Millions of Americans remain unemployed as the nation struggles to get an economy stalled by COVID-19 back in gear. Some success has been seen; by June 13, the U.S. unemployment rate was 13.3%, much better than the 14.7% a month before. Still, we have a long way to go. Prior to the coronavirus epidemic, the unemployment rate was a sparkling 4.4%. Some of those lost jobs will never be regained. Employers were forced to put new efficiencies in place during the past couple of months. Many companies will find they don’t need payrolls as big as they had earlier this year. In ...

General’s action shows respect for Constitution

June 16, 2020

Regardless of how you lean politically, what Army Gen. Mark Milley did a few days ago was reassuring. President Donald Trump has been criticized by some — and, in needs to be noted, praised by others — for something he did after a night of civil unrest near the White House. You will have heard about his trip to a church that had been damaged by fire. Protesters in a park near the White House had been cleared away by police prior to the president’s jaunt. Then he and others proceeded to the church. Walking with him, wearing military fatigues, was Milley. Afterward, Milley ...