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What happened to ‘respectfully disagree’?

There was a time when members of Congress referred to each other as “distinguished gentlemen” or “honorable representatives,” even as they were ripping each other’s positions on this or that issue. Lately, however, congress men and women have been targeting each other with racist, anti-semitic and islamophobic tropes. This week it was Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, a Republican, who caught criticism for telling a story to supporters about Minnesota’s Rep. Ilhan Omar, insinuating that she might be a potential bomb-carrying terrorist. Omar called for her to be ...

Stop using The Journal for ideological battles

To the editor: The best thing about mornings is a cup of coffee, my desk, and my morning papers. Lately I’ve become frustrated with the long drawn out ideological battles being published in the Letters section of the Opinion page. Being a progressive Democrat, I realize that I live in a pretty Dark Red bubble. That being said I am addressing this to the members of the Human Rights Commision, other progressive Democrats, and the Thoms. PLEASE, PLEASE stop trying to sway readers ad nauseum (this LGBTQ battle is in its 4th week). Honestly, I will call Lola’s, reserve the big table in ...

S. African travel ban is justified reaction

The World Healh Organization was urging nations not to impose travel bans on south African nations after the outbreak of a new COVID variant, the omicron variant. Other countrie, including the U.S., have banned travelers from that area, which WHO claims is not a science-based reaction. In the case of COVID, who cares what WHO wants? Keeping people traveling from an infected area out of the country is a pretty good way to prevent or at least slow the spread. Unfortunately, it may be too late to contain the spread. New cases are popping up in other parts of the world, including a ...

CSJT and Critical Thinking

To the editor: In her letter of 11/27, Casey McMullen repeats the assertion that I have conceded the correctness of her position on LTBTQ rights. That assertion is inaccurate. What I stated is that the state bullying statute is ambiguous — that it lends itself to two interpretations and is therefore unclear. Since that discussion was at an impasse, I decided to move on to issues that are more foundational and central to the Critical Theory debate. In her letter she also finds fault with my characterization of the word “critical” in Critical Social Justice Theory (CSJT). She ...

Kindness, empathy, and respect afforded to all

To the editor: A Nov. 22 letter to the editor referred to a “truth that kindness, empathy, and respect should be afforded to all”. This writer also mentioned these true and noble goals, along with compassion, in other letters (c.f. Nov. 8, Nov. 10, Nov. 13-14). KINDNESS and COMPASSION: When considering what is kind and caring, any behavioral interventionist has learned that part of dealings with others often necessarily includes “tough love.” That is one of the most difficult challenges in parenting, teaching, and daily interactions with anyone we encounter. It might be ...

Give the state’s heroes hazard pay

One of the crying shames of the Minnesota legislative game playing is the impasse that has kept Gov. Tim Walz from calling a special session to approve passing out the hero pay for frontline workers, drought relief, and stabilization measures for nursing homes. The state has $250 million from the federal government to distribute to frontline workers in recognition of their heroic efforts during the COVID pandemic. But Republicans and Democrats can’t agree on who counts as a hero and how much they should get. Even if they could, Gov. Walz is leery of calling a special session unless ...