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US pullout from Afghanistan is provisional

Four thousand more U.S. troops will be pulled out of Afghanistan, reducing the force there to about 8,600, it was reported this week. That number is inadequate to do more than protect key U.S. positions and personnel. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw more forces from Afghanistan will be criticized by some, but it is the wise thing to do. After 18 years of American military involvement in that country, there is no prospect of it becoming a reliable ally or, more important, a nation where U.S.-style freedoms are the norm. Trump’s decision was made without any ...

The unraveling of Obamacare continues

Little by little, the bright, appealing shell that is Obamacare is being stripped away to reveal a thoroughly rotten core. Former President Barack Obama’s administration went to great pains to shield the truth about Obamacare from the American public. After nearly three years of President Donald Trump, the bureaucracy no longer is able to do that. Millions of Americans have lost all choice in health insurance companies because of the misnamed Affordable Care Act. Millions who were assured Obamacare would get insurance premiums under control have found they cannot afford the ...

Thanks to cookie bakers from the Minot community and Minot Air Force Base, first-term airmen who live in the dorms on base are getting sweet treats delivered to them for the holidays. The airmen are between the ages of 18-20 years and it is the first time for many of them to be away from their families for the holidays. Cookies are also going to airmen who work during the holidays. The Minot Spouses’ Club at Minot AFB, sponsors of the annual Airmen Cookie Drive, gathers a total of around 1,200 dozen cookies to go to the airmen. This comes to one dozen homemade cookies per ...

Arming teachers a difficult decision to make

A significant number of schools throughout the United States have authorized staff members to carry firearms while at work. The idea is that armed educators and school service personnel can protect students in the event of an incursion by someone bent on violence. But an Associated Press review of accidental shootings by law enforcement personnel raises red flags about that strategy. At the very least, the AP investigation should prompt a re-examination of practices involving armed school staffers. Since 2012, 1,422 unintentional shootings have occurred at 258 law enforcement ...

Playing politics with presidency a desperate move

It is a virtually foregone conclusion that the House of Representatives — Democrats in it, that is — will vote to impeach President Donald Trump. When that happens, it will go down as the most transparently political impeachment in history. Not a single Republican in the House is expected to vote in favor of impeachment. That alone stamps the process as a desperate attempt by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other Democrats to damage Trump in advance of the 2020 election. On Tuesday, Pelosi’s team revealed two of the articles of impeachment — specific accusations ...

US intelligence needs to ramp it up

Until they have answers, the top priority for U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies needs to be determining whether Mohammed Alshamrani was a lone-wolf terrorist or part of a larger plot. Alshamrani, an officer in the Royal Saudi Air Force, was being trained at a U.S. naval base at Pensacola, Florida, when, on Friday, he went on a shooting rampage. He killed three people and wounded several others at the base before being shot dead by a sheriff’s deputy. It is known that during the week before the shooting, Alshamrani hosted a dinner party at which he and three other ...