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Better candidates bring better results

Every midterm election has important takeaways for both parties. In this past midterm election, like many before it, the party in power lost some ground in the House of Representatives. However, it was certainly not near the “red wave” that was expected. Commenting on this, the former Republican governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, made a simple statement: “If you run bad candidates, you will get bad results.” Christie’s comments were about the viability of the candidates, including their experience and their message. He was lamenting the “celebrity culture” approach ...

Be cautious in kitchen while preparing your Thanksgiving feast

On the night before Thanksgiving and the day of, many of our kitchens could double as disaster areas. Dirtied pots and pans stacked in the sink. Mixing bowls covered in food. Flakes of pumpkin pie crust on the floor. Preparing a Thanksgiving feast for family and friends is a dirty job. While you are busy cooking the turkey, dressing, sides and desserts that are part of your Thanksgiving tradition, it’s important not to get sidetracked. Be mindful to be extra cautious while in the kitchen, as Thanksgiving is recognized as the peak day for home cooking fires. Follow these simple ...

Don’t expect Trump to start playing by the rules

Don’t misunderstand what Donald Trump means when he says he’s running for president again, as he did Tuesday evening. He doesn’t mean that he will present his case to the American people in 2024 in the expectation that a majority of them will choose him, as they have never done before — not in 2016, when he lost the popular vote but won the electoral college, nor in 2020, when he lost both. He doesn’t mean that he puts his faith in American democracy, election integrity, the laws of presidential succession or any other institution that is coterminous with the nation itself. ...

Biden’s student loan forgiveness an abuse of power

Things aren’t going well for President Biden’s student loan cancellation. On Monday the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals enjoined the $400 billion write-off, its second legal defeat in days. This is what happens when the President subverts the law for election politics. The appellate court’s unsigned opinion focuses on the threshold question of whether Missouri suffered a concrete and particular injury to sue. Missouri argued that the loan cancellation would cost its student loan servicer, Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (Mohela), revenue and impose administrative ...

The Catholic Church and the scandal

On his plane back to Rome from a Middle East trip recently, Pope Francis acknowledged that the Vatican faces pushback in its efforts to overhaul the Catholic Church’s habits of denial, secrecy and coverup surrounding clerical sexual abuse. “There are people within the church who still do not see clearly,” he said, adding that “not everyone has courage.” The pontiff’s delicate phrasing, and his timing, underscored the compounding damage the scandal has inflicted on the church’s moral authority and prestige. Days after Pope Francis shared those thoughts with journalists, ...

Combating rising catalytic converter thefts

Catalytic converter thefts are not just a Twin Cities problem. They also take place right here in southern Minnesota. In June of 2021 seven felony counts and a dozen total counts were filed in Brown County District Court against a 26-year-old Granite Falls man accused of being involved with the theft of about a dozen catalytic converters in New Ulm and Nicollet last March. In July, the Marshall Police Department said it received three different reports of stolen catalytic converters in June, with two of the thefts happening within the past few days. According to police, all three of ...