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Let’s keep religion out of public schools

In this era of so-called parental rights in public education, hypocrisy abounds. Texas lawmakers are concerned about the content children could be exposed to in public school libraries, but have moved forward with separate pieces of legislation that would require the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom and allow districts to require dedicated time for prayer and reading of the Bible or other religious texts. Parents should be the arbiters of the religious education their children receive — not the state. In many troubling ways, this latest effort builds ...

Biden’s age

Only 47% of Democrats want to see Joe Biden on the ballot in 2024, according to the latest Associated Press poll. That’s not because they think he’s done a bad job in office. Democrats tend to like President Biden and continue to give him good marks on handling the economy and foreign policy. But many Democrats, particularly younger ones, are worried that he will simply be too old to be effective in a second term, which would end when he is 86. “My problem with him running in 2024 is that he’s just so old,” one Democrat told pollsters. That may be deeply unfair — people age ...

A final thank you to our carriers

From the first issue of the first paper published in New Ulm, carriers have been the mainstay of The Journal’s distribution system. Every day, through rain and snow, through summer heat or winter’s cold, our carriers have brought the papers to our readers’ doors, with only occasional misplaced tosses into the bushes. When The Journal went from an afternoon paper to a morning paper, the carriers adapted as well. Instead of after school, they started to get up early to get their papers delivered by 7 a.m. Most carriers beat that deadline by an hour or more. Our carriers are not ...

DFL must aim for middle on tax cuts, increases

Sound tax and spending policies for any government should revolve around principles of equity, economic efficiency, economic growth and having those who benefit from a service pay at least part of the costs. DFL plans for tax cuts and tax increases hit the mark in some cases and miss in others on these measures. The House DFL majority released its major tax and spending plan this week that calls for higher income taxes on the wealthy and corporations, and tax cuts and credits for families with children and lower income taxpayers as well as renters. It’s hard to argue with the ...

The truth of the matter on Fox-Dominion settlement

The wailing you heard across the land Tuesday afternoon was the sound of thousands of journalists lamenting the settlement of the defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News. An entire industry of reporters has been denied the schadenfreude of seeing their hated political and media competitor in the dock. An hilariously revealing courtroom account in Politico laments that “hopes were dashed—dreams torpedoed” by the settlement. The settlement is a victory for Dominion, which said Fox will pay $787.5 million. Fox didn’t apologize, though it said “we ...

Earth Day marks progress with much more to be done

Saturday marked Earth Day, and an opportunity to assess and reflect on this nation’s past, present and future events and issues concerning our environment. When the observance started in 1970 — it was founded by a Wisconsinite, Sen. Gaylord Nelson — the U.S. environment was, to be charitable, a mess. Air and water pollution, especially in our cities, was rampant. Starting with farms and including landfills and manufacturing sites, pollution of the land was also a dangerous problem. Not only was Nelson concerned about the sorry state of our environment, he objected to the lack of ...