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Trump’s immigration policy beyond inhumane

National Columnists

Absorbing the news about the brutal treatment of detainees, to say nothing of the outright murder of “suspected” drug runners in the Caribbean, I think back to a conversation I had in February of this year. My interlocutor was a Trump voter who had just had a friendly encounter with an African immigrant striver – the kind who came from poverty and had started a successful business here. I recall saying, “I hope he has his documents in order.” The Trump voter scoffed: “They’re not going after people like him. They’re only going after the criminals.” Eleven months ...

Conservative praise bothers European elites

National Columnists

Nothing bothers the European elite as much as American conservatives praising the European foundations of their shared, but threatened, Western civilization. Europeans especially resent having their social-welfare state system critiqued by upstart, crass Americans. Their pique only increases as they push back against the condescending American idea that the U.S. could possibly offer any constructive advice, much less help a more civilized Europe follow the “American model.” Americans, in turn, are worried that Europe is not just stagnating but is on a trajectory of permanent ...

Telling truth is last on Democrats’ agenda

National Columnists

Recently in The Wall Street Journal, Neera Tanden, CEO of the Center for American Progress, a major foghorn in our nation’s capital for America’s left, explained “Why Democrats Won the Shutdown.” The most accurate declaration in the article is “fights tell the country a lot about what – and who – the fighters care about.” And, indeed, there should be no question what the Democratic Party is about. That is – to miss no opportunity to accumulate political power by fostering, as widely and as deeply as possible, a culture of government dependence in America. And ...

Compassion entails supporting Somali friends

Letters to the Editor

Interfaith Alliance of North Dakota Board members: Marty Toepke-Floyd, Jamestown David Myers, Moorhead Fowzia Adde, Fargo Barry Nelson, Fargo Gretchen Deeg, Bismarck Every major religious tradition calls us to walk in the ways of love and compassion. This is not always an easy path, but it is a sacred path of wholeness, health, communal wellbeing, and faithfulness. It requires firmly declaring the deep value of every human being, when some of our leaders are quick to guide us toward hate and fear. It requires us to welcome the stranger who may look or speak differently than ...

Endangered Species Act offers safety net

Letters to the Editor

Lisa Finley DeVille, Mandaree Recent actions taken by the Trump Administration that weaken the Endangered Species Act should concern every one of us who depends on clean water, healthy land, and the survival of the wildlife we share this planet with. In the past year, the administration has moved quickly to undo long-standing protections that were put in place to keep species from disappearing and to ensure their habitats remain intact. They brought back the “God Squad,” a federal committee that can override endangered species protections when industry wants it. They reversed ...

They’re coming for your credit card

National Columnists

In a scene that perfectly captures the strangeness of American politics today, President Donald Trump, a billionaire and self-styled champion of American business was all smiles during an Oval Office visit from Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist and mayor-elect of New York City. For months, the two men traded the harshest of insults. Mamdani was a “communist” and “radical left lunatic”; Trump a “fascist” and “despot.” Yet with New York’s mayoral election over and cameras clicking, the insults were on hold. The men praised each other as “rational” and ...