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Martin Schram: Free Hamas' Israeli and Gaza civilian hostages

Politics / Op Eds /

We are in a world of trouble.

Wherever we look these days, all kinds of hell is happening. Or just happened. Or may soon happen.

For Gaza’s 2 million-plus Palestinians, things are about as bad as things can get. Yet, a mind-boggling new poll just revealed most Gaza Palestinians are still clueless about who to blame for their misery that has ...Read more

Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Jay Ambrose: The fraud of accusing Trump of fraud

Politics / Op Eds /

It’s craziness, downright craziness, this New America we live in, old norms tossed away with anything acceptable if, as one example, increasingly cockamamie Democrats can thereby eradicate Donald Trump politically. I almost get it. He’s bad news and always has been, but there are bad things in this world besides Trump, such as coming up with...Read more

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Joe Battenfeld: Ronna McDaniel flap the latest example of liberal media cancel culture

Politics / Op Eds /

Ronna McDaniel is the latest victim of liberal media cancel culture – demonized and denounced because of her association with Donald Trump.

Democrats and Joe Biden and the media carrying their water are once again trying to silence a voice they don’t agree with by bouncing the former Republican National Committee chair from TV.

The network...Read more

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Editorial: More free stuff

Politics / Op Eds /

Bernie Sanders emerged from the land of the sugarplum fairies earlier this month to advocate for a 32-hour work week — all with no reduction in pay.

Sanders, the Vermont socialist, recently introduced a bill that would create a four-year transition period to a four-day work week in the United States. The government would then require overtime...Read more

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Editorial: Florida school principals whipsawed on book bans

Politics / Op Eds /

Pity the thousands of public school principals who labor in Florida. Two years ago, the state Legislature ordered them to make sure students weren’t exposed to books with objectionable content, kicking off a huge book-banning controversy that has made all Floridians look like a bunch of nutty blue-noses.

Now, at the direction of Gov. Ron ...Read more

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Nicole Russell: The real problem with Christian nationalism isn't politics, it's power -- and Trump

Politics / Op Eds /

Most evangelical Christians even mildly involved or interested in politics will tell others to vote for Donald Trump. They’ll say that he is the best candidate because of his policies and, paraphrasing the Bible, say that God has appointed him to represent America “for such a time as this.”

But mostly, they’ll convince themselves that ...Read more

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Editorial: Looming battle over Social Security and Medicare needs reasoned debate

Politics / Op Eds /

The rhetorical war between the right and the left over the future of America’s safety net programs for its seniors is getting hotter as the presidential election nears.

The latest trigger was a set of recommendations by the Republican Study Conference (RSC), made up mainly of House GOP members, on preserving Social Security and Medicare, both...Read more

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Commentary: What the ancient Greeks understood about democracy that Trump does not

Politics / Op Eds /

President Donald Trump recently scored a victory with the Supreme Court: The justices agreed to hear his case that his former role as president grants him immunity in the face of federal charges. Among the central questions in this criminal case: What does it mean for the president to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed,” as the ...Read more

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Editorial: The states dive deep into immigration. This cannot stand

Politics / Op Eds /

Had you told Congress, or the White House, in the 1970s or 1980s that the nation’s immigration system would, in the third decade of the 21st century, devolve into an intramural scrimmage between the states, they’d have thought you a fool.

Federal policy oversees and regulates immigration to the United States, they would have insisted, ...Read more

Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Commentary: Will we ever amend the Constitution again?

Politics / Op Eds /

Amending the Constitution is increasingly necessary, whether to replace the Electoral College or to guarantee the right to vote. But the usual question – “It’s too difficult, so why bother?” – is being overtaken. Now we ask, “Will we ever amend the Constitution again?”

History provides both hope and a firm “Yes.” Two facts ...Read more

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Commentary: Republicans' new border target: migrant aid groups

Politics / Op Eds /

Right-wing border-bashing is reaching a fever pitch. Conservative politicians and media outlets have gone beyond condemning all migrants and refugees as criminals and invaders. They’re now accusing even migrant aid organizations of working with cartels to facilitate sex trafficking and drug smuggling.

On Jan. 17, right-wing activist James O�...Read more

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Commentary: How should we deal with COVID now?

Politics / Op Eds /

This month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new COVID guidelines ending the five-day isolation recommendation. The agency now advises staying home only if you have symptoms, such as fever. Otherwise, you can return “to normal activities” if, for at least 24 hours, your symptoms are improving overall and any fever has ...Read more

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Editorial: Uber and Lyft say they plan to leave Minneapolis. Here's a cautionary tale for Chicago's progressives

Politics / Op Eds /

When aggressively progressive city councils make egregious demands on businesses, usually by passing legislation that ignores market realities, they expect those corporations just to fall in line. But they forget that national companies have another viable option: the choice to offer their wares elsewhere.

In business school, they call that ...Read more

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Mary Ellen Klas: NCAA needs to get off the bench in DEI fight

Politics / Op Eds /

Booker T. Washington, the founding president of Tuskegee University, once said “Ignorance is more costly to any state than education.” As Alabama recently became the latest state to thrust a dagger into the heart of academic freedom in the anti-DEI crusade, it’s clear the price of ignorance is rising.

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed a ...Read more

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Editorial: No, undocumented immigrants aren't more crime-prone. They are actually less so

Politics / Op Eds /

From Donald Trump’s vitriolic description of Mexican immigrants during his 2015 presidential campaign announcement (“They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”) to Alabama Sen. Katie Britt’s speech this month using a young woman’s tragic murder to excoriate the Biden administration’s border policies (“...Read more

Editorial: Mayor Johnson, you're right to sue Glock

Politics / Op Eds /

Chicago mayors have long fought the good fight when it comes to trying to get guns off our city’s streets. Some 26 years ago, during the long tenure of Richard M. Daley, Chicago and Cook County filed a $433 million lawsuit against the gun industry (targeting 22 manufacturers), following a Chicago police undercover investigation that found guns...Read more

Editorial: Emmer's sour note on speech to Congress

Politics / Op Eds /

Opinion editor's note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

•••

It's hard to top the traditions of the annual State of the Union address.

There's the presidential glad-handing on the path to the podium. The solemn moment as the speech begins. The ...Read more

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Frank Barry: San Francisco gets tough to save liberalism

Politics / Op Eds /

“Has San Francisco lost its liberal soul?” So asked a New York Times headline earlier this month, after voters there approved ballot measures aimed at tackling crime and drug addiction. As Republicans campaign against urban dysfunction and Democrats stare down the possibility of a second Trump presidency, there has never been a better time ...Read more

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Commentary: Why are more Americans dying alone?

Politics / Op Eds /

Lena Brown’s lonely ending forewarns a future of death in America. She’d built a middle-class life in Hawthorne as a widow with no children. Her niece and nephew moved her to a nursing home when she was 93. They soon stopped visiting. Six years later, Brown died. Calls and letters from local officials to her relatives went unanswered. L.A. ...Read more

Editorial: Hold the applause. Biden's new EV rules don't go fast enough for the climate crisis

Politics / Op Eds /

It may be tempting to look at new rules finalized Wednesday by the Biden administration boosting sales of electric vehicles as a big step toward slashing climate-changing pollution.

But the Environmental Protection Agency rules are more an incremental move, too weak and slow to respond appropriately to the gravity of the unfolding environmental...Read more

 

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Gary Varvel Joel Pett John Branch Rick McKee David M. Hitch Phil Hands