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Random thoughts from 12 feet high

Letters to the Editor

Jerry Ness, Nome Last month, I spent a weekend in Clay County, perched on a ladder stand, looking for an unfortunate Minnesota deer. A hyperactive squirrel entertained me as my mind rolled with disconnected thoughts. E.g, we know 80 percent of illegal drugs enter the US in vehicles through ports of entry. So should we position Sherman tanks and occasionally blast a Winnebago driven by a couple of senior citizens? Due process is clearly overrated. I thought about my life as a farm boy. When we sold cattle, we got what the market dictated. Now the convicted felon in the Oval Office ...

Fedorchak misses mark on health insurance

Letters to the Editor

Vicki Voldal Rosenau, Valley City In her Nov. 20 column mocking the Affordable Care Act, Rep. Julie Fedorchak got one thing (and only one thing) right: “Clearly, we need an off ramp from these massive payouts to insurance companies.” But any changes she advocated would still leave the for-profit insurance monstrosity wielding life/death power over us all! Nothing would improve for worried consumers who are, indeed, “fed up with” the existing insurance-dictated scheme. Real reform necessarily means eliminating the root problem. That is: removing the stranglehold of ...

Who remembers why to dress respectfully?

National Columnists

Sean Duffy’s entreaty to “dress with respect” on airplanes rapidly ran into some turbulence. Duffy noting “a degradation of civility” among air travelers is on the mark, and so is his contention that flying would be more pleasant if grown-ups behaved better, which would include not wearing pajamas on flights. The Federal Aviation Administration reported 1,240 unruly passenger cases last year. That doesn’t include uncountable incidents of mere rudeness or simply playing the eyesore in dirty sweatpants. Testy reactions to Duffy’s plea centered on anger at the ...

Two-pronged strategy planned for 2028 election

National Columnists

Democrats appear to have settled on a dual strategy heading into the 2028 election: Sow doubt within the military ranks, and present a slate of candidates who project moderation. The first prong centers on an emerging talking point — one that suggests members of the armed forces should question whether orders coming from the Trump administration are legal. Figures such as Sens. Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin have warned servicemembers that following an “illegal order” could lead to punishment, yet they have offered no clear definition of what constitutes such an order. The ...

Two towering individuals deserve more praise

National Columnists

While only a small number of us live to be 100, everyone ‘s birthday has a centenary date. For historians who seem mostly to be of the liberal persuasion and obituary writers (ditto) the way the 100th anniversary of a conservative’s birth usually results in one of the following: ignored, diminished with attachment of “right-wing” or “so-called,” and my personal favorite that is rarely attached to a liberal, “controversial.” This year is the centenary of two towering individuals in the conservative movement, neither of whom received the respect they deserved among the ...

Immigration policy should serve national interest

National Columnists

Is it too much to ask for immigrants who love America and its system of government? That’s a question that President Trump has been asking, with an especially high level of vitriol, in the wake of the horrific shooting of members of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., the day before Thanksgiving. In a corker of a Truth Social post announcing “a permanent pause” in immigration from Third World countries, Trump went after Minneapolis-area congresswoman Ilhan Omar, and for good reason. Omar stands for everything we shouldn’t want an immigrant to be — ungrateful, ...