Social Commentary
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The Age Issue Looms Large In Trump White House
My best friend reminded me this week of a note he wrote to Democratic members of Congress, urging them to encourage President Joe Biden to step aside concerning the 2024 election. I should note that it was done even before the deeply wounding debate that left the nation shaken. With that reminder, I am curious… Continue reading
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Karma Won: The Lesson Of The Red Card
America didn’t just lose a soccer game this week; I would argue it has lost its sense of proportion. How Donald Trump came to feel that he must be involved in a referee call in a World Cup soccer match is breathtaking. He felt so empowered that he called FIFA president Gianni Infantino to review… Continue reading
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“Happiness” And The Declaration Of Independence
Every year as July 4th approaches, I find myself reading a new (or new to me) book that was set aside for the national holiday period. For many years, Joseph Ellis was the author I sought to set the mood for the birthday and dive into a period of history I find really fascinating. This… Continue reading
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Decency, In Politics And Government, Is Really Not Complicated
This weekend, two recent news stories bounced about in my mind. Both were examples that underscore the rot in our current political climate and governing institutions. I do not wish to be puritanical in my delivery in this column, but can we agree that there was a time when certain lines were not crossed, but… Continue reading
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Science Upends Pete Hegseth On Mandate For Flu Shots
The Defense Department’s decision to reinstate the flu‑shot requirement for service members is less a policy tweak than a return to institutional sanity. For a force that depends on readiness, which includes the simple ability to keep its people healthy enough to deploy, the idea that mandatory influenza vaccination was ever scrapped still lands with… Continue reading
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Heritage Of Small Waushara County Newspaper At Stake, Owner Disagrees
“Somehow the letters-to-the-editor page, strange and wonderful as it always is, is one of the chief adornments of the society we love and seek to clarify for the world. The privilege of writing to the editor is basic; the product is the hot dish of scrambled eggs that is America.”— E. B. White, essayist and… Continue reading
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The First Amendment Didn’t Shrink — Some Newspapers Did
The Waushara Argus, my home county newspaper when I was growing up, continues to be delivered to my mailbox each week, these decades later. Like newspapers across the nation, these publications face economic pressures. But it is the self-imposed problems they create for themselves that often strike me as odd. The one that concerns me… Continue reading
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Why I Will Not Support The United States Soccer Team At The 2026 FIFA World Cup Games
At the risk of ruffling a few patriotic feathers, I need to say something plainly and to the point. When a nation behaves badly on the world stage, there should be consequences on the world stage. Right now, the United States is pursuing immigration and deportation policies that are cruel by design and racist at… Continue reading
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The Lowest Moment As We Watch Public Life Decline In Donald Trump’s Second Term
I was a toddler when President John Kennedy was assassinated. Over the course of my lifetime, there was always a respectfully placed invisible line around his death and the loss of life so young due to his role as our national leader. A young widow and young children, and the continuously unanswered questions of what… Continue reading
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Ridiculous Spectacle On White House Lawn With Cage Fight
John Adams was an intelligent man, a driving force for independence in the founding of our nation in 1776. He was also quick-tongued and not above bluntly saying what he meant. So, if he were to come back and look out at the South Lawn of today’s White House (what I think is fair to… Continue reading
Caffeinated Politics 