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Sunday, July 31, 2022

YOUR OPINION: Be civil; be responsible - Jefferson City News Tribune

Sue Bower, Jefferson City

Dear Editor,

Where did we get all this "right" wing and "left" wing verbiage? Shouldn't we think more of "right vs. wrong"? Growing up, everyone learned right from wrong and that "two wrongs do not make it right." Today there is little if any consideration of "right," meaning "just" or "fair" or "legal" or "following the 10 Commandments."

Following the Constitution and laws is "right." Laws/ethics are here to protect us individually and as a society. Every headline today seems to elevate the acceptance of wrongs: killing, breaking into stores/homes, reckless driving, immorality, rampaging on our Capitol or private property, intimidating those we disagree with in public, etc. Do you honestly think by screaming, fighting, bad-mouthing, threatening others we can sway the opinions of those who disagree with us. Whether you are a conservative or a liberal, look at what you have done.

I voted for Trump. I wanted conservatives on the Jan. 6 committee, but the testimonies given – even from Trump family members and close advisers – lead to the conclusion that Trump was involved in promoting/escalating the riots. His finances are still being looked into. If these investigations pan out, he should be held accountable. Look at Hunter Biden's story. The liberal press ignored the allegations before the election to get Biden elected. If the misuse of power and accepting bribes and financial inducements can be proven, they should and must be held accountable. Both "leaders" must be held accountable in the interest of right and law. Power does not denigrate responsibility and illegality.

Wrong to keep pushing the "illegal election results." Wrong to riot at the Capitol. Two wrongs.

Wrong for some police to overstep and harm unarmed people no matter their color. Wrong to break into stores and steal. Two wrongs.

Wrong to give money to those who quit their jobs willingly. Wrong to keep giving them money when there are so many jobs available. Two wrongs.

Wrong to use violence and mob rule to show dissatisfaction. Wrong to cause public disruptions and hurt people and businesses and disrupt the lives of innocent people. Two wrongs.

Wrong to allow any illegals into the U.S. Wrong to promote their intrusions with federal assistance for shelter, food, medical treatments. Two wrongs.

Get over your power lusts. Act sanely. Fight your battles in courts, not on streets. Be civil. Be responsible.

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Saturday, July 30, 2022

Opinion/Conley: Camp Cronin deserves to live on - The Providence Journal

How we can get back to civil discourse - Chicago Sun-Times

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Three of the hardest words to voice among close friends and family are “I was wrong.” I suspect many of us face situations where some of those close to us are trying to marshal those words regarding Jan. 6, especially now that House committee hearings have led even the most conservative editorial pages to condemn the former president’s conduct.

I also suspect, however, that many of those close to us are having a hard time of it. Emotions get in the way, and maybe a concern that we might be keeping score. We need to handle this juncture properly.

Our small circles are microcosms for the country. Getting it right in those circles will set the stage for the wider discourse needed to tackle the serious problems our country faces ahead.

Those close to us who were wrong about Jan. 6 should know that we see their mistake in proper context. False prophets have come before, and having some of the people get fooled some of the time is endemic to politics. To be sure, we would submit that backing the former president as to Jan. 6 was egregiously wrong from the beginning. But we have to be able to move forward.

It is important to separate others’ Jan. 6 mistake from honest differences of opinion on policy. We should assure people in our circles that we do not think them “wrong” for holding strong policy views. It is not “wrong” to have opinions that prefer lower taxes for all, a more unilateral foreign policy, or for the balance in free religious exercise to shift a bit. Nor is it “wrong” to have different opinions on interpreting the Second Amendment, or that the prior administration had a preferable energy policy, or that mask mandates eventually went too far.

We would remind them that many of us will disagree with them, often vigorously, on one or more of those points. We will try hard to change their minds. We will vote our conscience and so should they. But we do not discredit them for holding valid policy opinions.

A fictional movie “American President” reminded us in 1995 that “America is advanced citizenship.” In dramatic terms, our freedom requires us to “acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.”

A baseline of truth

But as the saying goes, we are entitled to our own opinions, not our own facts. The mistake as to Jan. 6 was not about policy opinions.

It was wrong to insist there was election fraud without evidence and in the face of dozens of failed court cases. It was wrong to insist that the president did not say what he said that day, signal what he signaled, make the choices he made, or fail to do what he should have done. It was wrong to ignore clear images of thugs with gallows targeting the vice president, to blurt “fake news,” or to dismiss the unique and incredible Capitol and election context. It was wrong to condemn White House staff for speaking out or to ignore life-saving sacrifices of Capitol police.

That brings us to today. Here we are. Whether at the dinner table, along the Beltway in Washington D.C., or in statehouses, it is time to return to solving problems. Acknowledging the truth, but not having that acknowledgment misused, is a necessary first step.

Democracy breathes on a baseline of truth. Our country was founded on an axiom that some truths are self-evident. Facts have to matter before opinions are weighed and courses chosen.

Those in the wrong should acknowledge the truth, to reaffirm the foundation for future discourse. The rest of us should accept their acknowledgment and not cite it to invalidate anyone’s policy views. Just because we got it right about Jan. 6 does not, in itself, mean we are right on all policy matters.

That is the path forward. We need civil discourse again, not entrenched grudges. We need good judgment to select wise courses of action, including on matters where we have many facts yet must ultimately act upon well-founded opinions. We need vigorous debate to reach effective outcomes and sensible compromises, and for actions to be accepted.

This process can start in our closest circles, and grow from there. It is time to start disagreeing again in the right ways and on the right sorts of things.

John J. Hamill is a lawyer from Northfield. Follow him on Twitter @jjh349

The Sun-Times welcomes letters to the editor and op-eds. See our guidelines.

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Opinion: Denver is nickel-and-diming its most vulnerable residents with fees - The Colorado Sun

Coloradans are facing a growing avalanche of new and increased fees that local governments and utilities are using to slowly but surely pick our pockets.

Wellington Webb

Every month these fees chip away especially hard on the working poor and senior citizens on fixed incomes who barely can survive. These fees, along with higher food and gas prices, impact the middle class as well.

Often we don’t know our pockets have been picked until our bills arrive.

Let me give you just a few examples.

The Denver City Council recently approved fees on trash collection for the first time in the city’s history. Denver voters also will see a new proposed fee for sidewalk repairs on the fall ballot.

So, Denver residents in 2023 will pay $9 a month for a small garbage bin (35 gallons), $13 for a medium bin (65 gallons) and $21 a month for a large bin (95 gallons). For someone on a fixed income, $108 a year for trash removal is a big hit.

READ: Colorado Sun opinion columnists.

I’m not impressed with the city pushing the fee dressed up as a way to increase recycling. Denver residents often gripe about how our city has gotten dirty from trash in the last decade, but let’s not charge for trash collection and instead make cleaning up the city — especially downtown Denver — a priority with existing general budget funds.

If this trash fee had been on the November ballot, it surely would have failed.

The sidewalk fee proposal on the ballot would cost the average single-family home on a local street, with a 50-foot property frontage, about $107.50 a year. I don’t disagree that sidewalk repairs are necessary, but again, the city should budget for this expense instead of tacking on another fee.

There also is a petition drive to put on the fall ballot a new tax in Denver on marijuana, which is basically a tax that statewide voters already rejected. That means Denver residents would pay a higher tax on marijuana than their neighbors. There’s still a lot of unanswered questions on this one.

Now, I’m pleased the library district’s idea to replace the Denver Public Library was dropped, because there has been enough attempts to take power away from Mayor Michael Hancock and the institution of mayor. Denver has a strong-mayor form of government that has benefited the city for decades.

If a mayor doesn’t have the institutional controls to manage the government, you might as well have a city manager because authority and power has been shifted to the City Council.

I would support a mill levy increase that helps the libraries but keeps the mayor’s power intact.

Meanwhile, Coloradans are dealing with increased fees already showing up on electric and water bills. The average electric bill for Xcel Energy’s residential customers increased $5.24 a month. This 6.4% increase was approved in April by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.

Then, this summer, the Commission gave Xcel approval to collect a half billion dollars from its customers to cover the spiraling costs of natural gas during a winter cold snap in 2021.

Gov. Jared Polis didn’t like the Xcel increase. He can’t stop it, but maybe he will appoint new members to the commision who support consumers.

Late last year, the Denver Water Board also approved a rate increase. Most single-family residential customers, depending on where they live, have seen an increase in their monthly bill by a range of about 47 cents to $1.34.

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An increase of $100 here and $100 there and the financial hole gets deeper and deeper for our most vulnerable residents, along with many middle-class households.

Individuals and families are having to make tough choices as inflation hits us all. We should expect our elected officials to do the same.

Instead of burying our residents with an avalanche of new and increased fees, sharpen your pencils and find a way to get these needs done in the general budgets.


Wellington Webb, of Denver, is president of Webb Group International, and was mayor of Denver from 1991 to 2003.


The Colorado Sun is a nonpartisan news organization, and the opinions of columnists and editorial writers do not reflect the opinions of the newsroom. Read our ethics policy for more on The Sun’s opinion policy and submit columns, suggested writers and more to opinion@coloradosun.com

Follow Colorado Sun Opinion on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.


We believe vital information needs to be seen by the people impacted, whether it’s a public health crisis, investigative reporting or keeping lawmakers accountable. This reporting depends on support from readers like you.

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Supreme Court probe into leak of draft opinion on abortion narrows list of suspects - Fox News

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Nearly three months after a bombshell draft Supreme Court opinion over abortion rights was leaked to the media, the question of who was responsible remains an ongoing Washington summer mystery.

Chief Justice John Roberts has ordered the Court's marshal to conduct an internal investigation, but there has been no official update, and no indication whether the probe is ongoing, ended or suspended.

But multiple sources tell Fox News the investigation into the approximately 70 individuals in the court who may have had access to the draft opinion has been narrowed. Sources say much of the initial focus was on the three dozen or so law clerks, who work directly with the justices on their caseload. Fox News had previously reported those law clerks were asked to turn over their cellphones and sign affidavits. It is unclear whether those clerks have all cooperated.

Supreme Court law clerks work on a one-year contract for individual justices, and their term typically ends in mid-July. Most of the law clerks have now presumably moved on to other jobs, and any future cooperation with them into the leak investigation was seen as problematic.

Demonstrators protest outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on May 5, 2022.

Demonstrators protest outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on May 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

SUPREME COURT'S ROE V. WADE DECISION: READ THE DOBBS V. JACKSON WOMEN'S HEALTH RULING

Fox News has been told court Marshal Gail Curley has also asked several permanent court staff who may have had access to the draft opinion to turn over their cellphones and electronic devices.

But the key question of the leaker's identity remains unknown, at least publicly. Also unanswered is whether any punishment or discipline will be forthcoming; whether outside federal law enforcement or private law or security firm has been hired to help; and what steps if any will be taken to prevent future such leaks.

The court's public information officer Patricia McCabe offered a formal "no comment" when asked Friday by Fox News.

A day after the early May leak, Roberts announced the internal probe, which was not given a deadline or any publicly-released mandate.

"To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the Court was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed," the chief justice said in a rare public statement. "The work of the Court will not be affected in any way."

It all comes amid ongoing, underlying tensions at the court. The building remains surrounded by high metal fencing, erected shortly after the May 3 leak of the draft obtained by Politico. That draft showed at least five conservative justices prepared at that time to strike down the nearly five-decade Roe v. Wade precedent and end the nationwide constitutional right to abortion. The final opinion issued June 24 did just that, causing enormous political, legal and social ripples, as states and Congress now grapple with revising and crafting legislation on access to the procedure.

A day after the draft opinion was leaked, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts announced the internal probe.

A day after the draft opinion was leaked, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts announced the internal probe. (Julia Nikhinson-Pool/Getty Images)

The justices and their families are now under round-the-clock protection, and vocal protesters have shown up regularly at the homes of some justices. A California man has been charged with attempting to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, after being arrested near the justice’s Maryland home, armed with a handgun and after making threats.

Inside the court, the leak and ensuing final opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization intensified the already strained dynamic among the nine justices, where a 6-3 conservative majority in the past two years has moved aggressively on hot-button issues like gun rights, immigration, religious liberty and executive power.

"Look where we are, where now — that trust or that belief is gone forever," Justice Clarence Thomas said shortly after the leak became public. "When you lose that trust, especially in the institution that I’m in, it changes the institution fundamentally. You begin to look over your shoulder. It’s like kind of an infidelity that you can explain... but you can’t undo it."

SUPREME COURT JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMAS WILL NOT TEACH GEORGE WASHINGTON LAW SEMINAR AFTER UPROAR

Thomas is not exaggerating. But several people close to the justices say the nine members hope the ongoing summer recess serves as a "cooling off" period after tensions in the last weeks and months of the past term made the unique workplace very difficult.

And there is the expectation the newest Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson will bring a fresh perspective and a new dynamic to the court — someone who like her mentor and predecessor Justice Stephen Breyer may be able to reach across the ideological aisle on many issues.

Jackson officially joined the court July 1, and has spent the past few weeks quietly moving into her chambers and hiring her small staff — including the four law clerks who will serve a vital supporting role — a sounding board for the myriad of cases big and small that will come her way.

The U.S. Supreme Court remains surrounded by high metal fencing.

The U.S. Supreme Court remains surrounded by high metal fencing. (Fox News Digital/Lisa Bennatan)

Her colleagues — and the public at large — will watch to see how quickly the 51-year-old Jackson adjusts to a fractured court, and whether she will be the strong progressive voice President Biden and her supporters have promised.

Like last term, the court's docket for its next term that begins in October is already filled with its share of divisive cases — affirmative action in college admissions, religious liberty and LGBTQ+ rights, immigration policy, and election redistricting.

For now, the conservative majority seems poised to advance its winning streak.

"I expect that continuation of where they're going, they're going to be controlled by a conservative majority," said Thomas Dupree, a former top Justice Department official and now a leading appellate attorney. 

"There's not going to be a great ideological shift when you're replacing one liberal vote with another liberal vote," with the addition of Justice Jackson. "But at the same time, justices over history will tell you that any time you have a single member added to the court, given that it's a nine-person body, it's a new court. The interpersonal dynamics are different than negotiations behind the scenes are different, and you can never quite anticipate how that might ultimately play out. But at least for the foreseeable future, I think we're going to continue to see the conservative majority controlling the outcomes in most of the big ticket cases," Dupree said.

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Justice Elena Kagan has expressed concern for how the public will perceive the court moving forward.

"I’m not talking about any particular decision or even any particular series of decisions, but if over time the court loses all connection with the public and with public sentiment, that’s a dangerous thing for a democracy," Kagan said at a judicial conference in Montana last week. "Overall, the way the court retains its legitimacy and fosters public confidence is by acting like a court, is by doing the kinds of things that do not seem to people political or partisan."

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Friday, July 29, 2022

A message from the chancellor: The University's role in political discourse | UNC-Chapel Hill - University of North Carolina

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Dear Carolina Community,

On any issue of public concern, there are talented people at Carolina working on it. Our faculty and students are deeply engaged in addressing the biggest and some of the most controversial challenges of our time. They are having classroom discussions, conducting research and offering expertise to elevate public discourse. It’s a crucial part of the role we play in strengthening democracy.

Universities defend academic freedom not as a special privilege, but as a profound foundational responsibility. Protecting the ability of our scholars and researchers to go where their curiosity and convictions lead them, to pursue truth and add their expert voices to the public forum has been a core part of our mission since our founding.

Our university is a big and diverse place, making room for an array of different viewpoints, and that calls for thoughtful restraint on the part of leadership when it comes to weighing in on controversial issues. When university leaders commit the institution to a political position, it can chill dissent and silence alternative views. That does not mean our expert faculty should sideline themselves in any public conversation, but that the institution should remain a forum for discourse from many perspectives.

We are in the process of figuring out what this looks like at our university. I have met with members of our faculty, students and staff over the past month to discuss how we continue to uphold our values in an increasingly polarized world. Yesterday, our Board of Trustees voted to approve a resolution reaffirming Carolina’s commitment to academic freedom, emphasizing our university’s “respect for free inquiry and the obligation to cherish a diversity of viewpoints.” Our leadership team will continue to discuss how to fulfill our responsibility to be a place where ideas and opinions are argued, tested and freely expressed.

These principles have been the bedrock of our institution since our founding. “While the University is in the political process, it is not of it,” UNC President Bill Friday famously explained. “The University stands there today completely capable of examining any controversial question, dealing with any great social issue, working to improve the state and all of its people.” This remains just as true today as it ever has been. This is the responsibility of a leading global public research university.

As we prepare for the return to campus for the fall semester, I look forward to continued discussions with you about how we can learn from one another, even when we might disagree.

Sincerely,

Kevin M. Guskiewicz
Chancellor

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Opinion | J. Lo, J. Aff and Women’s Choices - The New York Times

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To the Editor:

“Why It Matters That J. Lo Is Now J. Aff,” by Jennifer Weiner (Opinion guest essay, nytimes.com, July 23), misses the point of women’s power. Our power is not in keeping our names, but in our ability to choose. Choice is power. We as a society have done much — in the past and today — to undermine women and the ability of women to make choices about their lives.

Rather than suggest that Jennifer Affleck undermined her brand or women or that she somehow failed to exercise her power when she changed her name, imagine if we supported her for knowing what she wants and living into who she is. Or imagine if we just let her do what she chooses to do without putting our personal opinions onto her choices.

Strong, independent women are true to themselves and make their own decisions. We can choose to be competent, self-sufficient and happily married with our old name, or with a new one.

Taline Manassian
Dripping Springs, Texas

To the Editor:

Does anything about Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck really matter in our world? It is beyond dismaying to see on my screen “news” items or opinion pieces about J. Lo, the Kardashians or any celebrity whose only claim to celebrity is celebrity itself.

Gary Giardina
New York

To the Editor:

Jennifer Weiner punctuated her reasoned perspective with two very powerful and important words: Ben Lopez.

Without detracting in any way from Ben Affleck’s professional accomplishments, Jennifer Lopez is the bigger star with a bigger name recognition and an even more widely known nickname: J. Lo.

Ben should feel honored to adopt her surname and become perceptually more a part of her world and her community, while never being seen as losing who he is.

Our society needs leaders who will stand up to anachronistic convention and help tear down the appalling and failing edifice of patriarchy. Watch out, B. Lo!

Randy Chatterjee
Courtenay, British Columbia

To the Editor:

Although Jennifer Weiner made some valid points from a feminist perspective, there are many reasons for a woman to want to change her last name.

I hated my maiden name because it reminded me of my father and the way he treated me, so I took my first husband’s surname. When I divorced my first husband, I kept my last name because I was known professionally by that name.

When I married my second husband, I took his surname because it would have been awkward to keep my first husband’s name, and I certainly didn’t want to reclaim my father’s name.

When I divorced my second husband, I kept the last name I’d been using (his) because it was part of my personal and professional identity at that point.

Life is complicated.

Diana Ruiz
Elk Grove, Calif.

To the Editor:

I am 77 and a veteran of two marriages, to men who never knew their fathers. My own name has been something I’ve tried to live up to for most of my life. Sure, my dad gave me the name, Mary Beams, but who would abandon such poetry? Keep whatever name inspires you to live your best life. The love will be there.

Mary Beams
Grand Marais, Minn.

Illustration by Rebecca Chew/The New York Times; photograph by Tara Moore, via Getty Images

To the Editor:

Re “Climate Change Is Not Negotiable” (editorial, Sunday Opinion, July 24):

Federal regulations have been a crucial part of U.S. efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions over the last 30 years. But such regulations are increasingly subject to reversal by Republican presidents and a radical right-wing Supreme Court, dramatically limiting their effectiveness.

Today, only comprehensive action by Congress can ensure the deep reductions in emissions needed for the United States to lead the world toward climate protection.

The good news is that after decades of politically problematic policies like energy taxes, which lost them elections and couldn’t get enacted, Democrats have finally in the last few days produced the right climate policy approach: large, direct clean energy tax breaks for consumers and businesses that are hugely popular with voters.

If, as now appears likely, Democrats can enact these measures into law, they will unleash tens of billions of dollars in new, private-sector, clean energy investment, creating millions of good new jobs while also improving our energy security and limiting our reliance on petro-state dictators like Vladimir Putin. Yet single every Republican in Congress still opposes the bill, making its enactment unnecessarily difficult and partisan.

Of course, the Biden administration must continue, where possible, to try to regulate emissions, especially of methane, which when mitigated can limit near-term temperature increases even more effectively than cuts in carbon dioxide. But regulations are no substitute for legislation.

Congressional Democrats must pass the pending clean energy bill as soon as possible. Then they can make the anti-inflationary, job creation and other economic advantages of clean energy legislation a major campaign issue and accomplishment in the coming midterm elections, along with the significant climate benefits. This, in turn, can help increase their majorities in Congress, setting the stage of additional legislation next year.

Paul Bledsoe
Washington
The writer, strategic adviser at the Progressive Policy Institute, was communications director of the White House Climate Change Task Force under President Bill Clinton.

Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times

To the Editor:

Re “As Pace of Learning Rebounds, Students Are Still Years Behind” (news article, July 20):

It should come as little surprise that children are seriously behind in school given the stress of the pandemic, which has disproportionately assaulted children of color and families living in poverty. These vulnerable children far too often enter kindergarten already at a disadvantage.

This health and learning gap, already present by age 5, is hard but not impossible to make up, given the rapid brain development that has already occurred before kindergarten.

While repair is possible, our politicians and policymakers will need to shift funding to provide the types of intensive educational services that include small-group instruction or tutoring.

If our society truly believes that all children deserve a chance to succeed and thrive, starting from birth, then we would see that reflected in the funding of public schools and mental health services for families and children.

It is time to ask ourselves if this is what we want, and if so, to put a laser-sharp focus on making infant, toddler and children’s needs and funding a genuine priority.

Tovah P. Klein
Cleveland
The writer is an associate professor of psychology, director of the Barnard Center for Toddler Development and the author of “How Toddlers Thrive.”

To the Editor:

I am writing as a conservative Republican to thank President Biden for his unwavering support for Ukraine’s battle in its war with a brutal enemy. The latest rocket systems sent to Ukraine have to be a godsend for its military.

I urge all Americans regardless of party to support Mr. Biden’s effort to save Ukraine from a rogue nation led by a ruthless tyrant.

Paul Schoenbaum
Richmond, Va.

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Opinion: Local corruption seeping in | The Daily Independent at YourValley.net - Daily Independent

I want to make the community aware of manipulation of surveys that are being conducted about tennis courts throughout the area. In the case of courts near me, an inaccurate conclusion that was reached based on a faulty survey about the tennis courts in Sandpiper Park.

In this survey there were three options presented, two of which preserved two tennis courts in the park. Unfortunately, the third option, converting one of the courts to a pickleball court won a plurality but not a majority, and was selected.

This is simply bad logic and shows a lack of respect to the community. I have since also learned that there were many out of area responses for our Sandpiper survey to increase the pickleball conversion survey response.

A Scottsdale pickleball club was contacted and asked to respond with out of area responses.

I think it is important to expose this corruption and manipulation of results. If we don’t fight against corruption at the local level, our government will not behave in a way that reflects the interests of the community.

Mark Spinrad
Scottsdale

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Opinion: Maryland giving birth to a new political center - Josh Kurtz

Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) speaks to reporters outside Government House in Annapolis on the final day of the 2022 General Assembly session. Photo by Danielle E. Gaines.

By Dave Anderson

The writer has taught political philosophy at five universities, is editor of “Leveraging: A Political, Economic, and Societal Framework” (Springer, 2014), and ran for Congress in the Democratic Primary in Maryland’s 8th District in 2016. He can be reached at [email protected] An earlier version of this commentary originally appeared in The Fulcrum.

Maryland should be moving toward a New Center. Our politics is extremely polarized, and we need a politics which respects the 30% to 50% of the country which does not align with pure versions of either the Republican or Democratic Party or certainly extremist right-wing and left-wing perspectives.

With 43% of the country identifying as independents according to a recent Gallup poll, the national dialogue about our red-coat/blue-coat war remains a serious distortion.

Maryland in recent years has been a laboratory of change, deliberately or unintentionally, on the part of the voters and the politicians. The legislature remains extremely Democratic, where both the House of Delegates and the Senate have supermajorities. Government House, the home of the governor, has been occupied by Larry Hogan, a moderate Republican.

Hogan is thus not to be confused with polarized Republicans on Capitol Hill or extremely conservative Republican governors in a range of U.S. states.

Governor Hogan has fought not to increase taxes and been pro-business. He is one of the few Republican governors and Republican politicians in general who has sharply criticized Donald Trump, both as president and former president. Moreover, Hogan has compromised on budgetary issues and policy issues throughout his tenure as governor and set a basically calm tone for Annapolis politics. The Democrats have pushed through major reforms for education and for African Americans.   

Since 1916, the state legislature has had limited power to affect the annual state budget — as they can cut but not add to the budget except via various indirect ways. In January 2023 this will change due to a referendum from November 2021, giving the Maryland legislature, like all other U.S. state legislatures, power to both cut and add to the governor’s proposed budget. Yet the House and Senate have substantial power when it comes to passing bills about public policy.

In their movement toward a New Center, though, the legislature and the governor frequently do not explicitly agree to majopublic policies.

The legislature overrides Hogan vetoes on important policies, like paid parental leave. And Hogan at times lets bills become laws without signing them, as he did with a renewable energy bill. In this pattern, the state has been moving in a New Centrist direction as the legislature and governor have pushed and pulled each other in directions they themselves have not always wanted to go.

Maryland, lore has it, is “America in Miniature”: there is the combination of urban, suburban and rural life; the Chesapeake Bay and our beaches, mountains, rivers, lakes and caves; the very high percent of African-Americans and minorities in general; the very Democratic counties, Montgomery, Prince Georges, and Howard, and the majority of the 23 counties which typically vote Republican; the military bases; and now the biotech industry, Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky. 

Maryland is a microcosm of the country.

The state government is neither New York nor Alabama, neither very blue nor very red. It is in the purple category although most Democrats statewide want to return to blue territory throughout the entire government and the Republican voters are hopeful they can retain Government House.

The race will no doubt gather national attention, as the Democrats have selected the outsider nonprofit leader Wes Moore to face off with the one term Trump-endorsed Republican member of the House of Delegates, Dan Cox.

Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, it is hard to argue with former Senator Barbara Mikulski, who said that Maryland is no longer “cobalt blue.”

The voters of Maryland, like the voters of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Illinois over the course of several decades, have frequently selected a Republican governor to either restrain or manage or lead the legislature. They have also elected supermajorities in both chambers of the legislature to push for progressive change on matters of education, health care, transportation and crime.

Because of its diverse population and its balance of industry and farming and tourism; because of its racial strife in Baltimore and progressive calls to fight crime and eliminate police brutality; because it is the home of former Governor Parris Glendening’s Smart Growth Movement as well as the National Anthem; and because it has been balancing progressive and conservative values the last eight years, Maryland is a model for the reshaping, renewal and redirection of America.

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July 29, 2022 at 05:30PM
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Opinion: Maryland giving birth to a new political center - Josh Kurtz
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Opinion: Is the Crypto Market Bottom In? - Crypto Briefing

Key Takeaways

  • Several technical indicators have flashed buy signals in recent weeks, pointing to a possible crypto market bottom.
  • However, the current macroeconomic situation is yet to show any sign of improvement.
  • Europe's energy crisis could force the Fed to pivot on its monetary tightening, relieving pressure on risk-on assets.

The current European energy crisis could force the Federal Reserve to pivot on its monetary tightening regime. Still, with inflation showing no sign of slowing, there may be more pain ahead before the crypto market stages a meaningful recovery.

Crypto Capitulation

Is the market bottom in? From the smallest retail investors to the biggest hedge fund managers, this is the big question on everyone’s minds right now. The commotion of macro signals and technical indicators makes it hard to figure out what exactly is going on in the economy at large, and even more so in the faster-paced crypto market. Today, I want to try and cut through the noise and provide cases for why the market may or may not have bottomed.

First, the good news (so long as you’re not still sitting on the sidelines). Several big technical indicators have flashed buy signals in recent weeks, strengthening the case that the crypto market may have reached its lowest point. Net Unrealized Profit/Loss (NUPL), the Pi Cycle Bottom, and the Puell Multiple have all hit once-in-a-cycle levels that have historically marked the bottom. While technical indicators like this can sometimes have a dubious track record, when several line up like they have now, it’s certainly worth paying attention in my book.

Moving away from the technical side of things, the way the crypto market is reacting to macroeconomic news is also worth considering. A big change came after June’s Consumer Price Index data registered a new 40-month high of 9.1%. Many market participants expected crypto to start another leg down after the bearish news. However, the opposite happened. Since the CPI release, crypto has edged higher, catching out anyone attempting a late short sell. Similarly, Wednesday’s 75 basis point rate hike and yesterday’s negative GDP growth have, paradoxically, pushed crypto higher, indicating that the market may now have “priced in” the current downward economic trend.

Still, even if market participants have stopped caring about the broader macroeconomic situation, it doesn’t mean there isn’t more pain coming. The straight fact is that inflation is still running hot, and the Fed is committed to bringing it back down to an acceptable level. Although Fed Chair Jerome Powell said after the Wednesday hike that it had “become appropriate to slow the pace of increases,” he also left the door open to “an even larger” hike if needed. The ongoing hikes, coupled with a selloff of the Fed’s treasury notes and mortgage-backed securities, will tighten the flow of money and almost certainly put a damper on risk-on assets like crypto.

The other big macro problem is the cost of energy—specifically in Europe. The war in Ukraine and the consequent boycott of Russian energy have exacerbated the already alarming global inflation rates. Winter is coming, and there’s a real possibility that many European countries will not have the energy to heat their citizens’ homes, certainly not at a price the average Joe is willing to pay. If the embargo on Russian oil and gas continues, Europe will have to rely on the U.S. for energy in the coming months.

Herein lies the rub. As you may have noticed, in recent months the euro has weakened substantially versus a dollar, aided by the Fed’s rate raises and monetary tightening. At the same time, it seems likely that European nations will need to purchase American energy to keep their economies running and residents warm, and this puts the U.S. in a sticky situation.

Broadly, the U.S. has two options: take measures to strengthen the euro versus the dollar by injecting liquidity into the European economy or let European countries default from rising energy costs. Bear in mind that many European countries and the European Central Bank hold substantial amounts of U.S. debt, meaning that if they default, it will ultimately hurt the U.S. economy too.

Therefore, the Fed may have to end its monetary tightening to avoid catastrophe in Europe. Currently, there’s a window from now until the winter where the U.S. can continue raising rates. However, Europe will soon reach a breaking point, and the Fed will be forced to relieve some pressure by halting or reversing its current monetary policy, thus weakening the dollar.

The ultimate question is this: can the market head lower before the Fed is forced to pivot? In my opinion, it will be difficult for crypto to make new lows anytime soon considering the huge amount of deleveraging that caused Bitcoin’s crash below $18,000. Still, I think we could certainly revisit those levels if the macro situation gets worse. If you’re interested in diving deeper into the global economic situation, check out Arthur Hayes’ recent essays covering the topic; you won’t be disappointed.

Disclosure: At the time of writing this piece, the author owned ETH, BTC, and several other cryptocurrencies. 

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Covid-19 isn’t over. New variants are mostly being ignored |Opinion - Deseret News

When my family took a road trip to visit relatives earlier this month, the last thing we thought about was COVID-19.

Inflation? Yes, it waited for us at every gas station and restaurant. The recent rash of airline cancellations? That was why we decided to drive, rather than fly. The drought? It was all around us in vivid shades of brown. The upcoming election? We were reminded of it every time we pulled into a gas station and saw a sticker on the pump, pointing at the price per gallon and announcing that “Biden did this.”

But COVID? Call it pandemic fatigue. We knew it was out there. We knew about the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants. But, so what? We are vaccinated. We’ve had our boosters.

Most of the United States doesn’t seem to think much about the pandemic any more. We don’t mask. We don’t distance ourselves from each other. As a CNN headline put it last March, “We are so over Covid-19.”

But it, of course, is not over us. Apparently, we don’t get to decide.

That headline accompanied a story about a Monmouth University nationwide poll that found 73% of Americans agreeing with the statement: “It’s time we accept that COVID is here to stay and we just need to get on with our lives.”

There, again, is the illusion of control. Getting on with life has always depended on the mercy of extenuating circumstances, such as accidents and disease. COVID-19 has become like an irritating and deceptively dangerous roommate who always talks about the same thing and never leaves you alone. 

A pair of recent opinion pieces in The Washington Post summed up the current state of the nation. On the one hand was a piece by the editorial board noting how the new variants are expert at eluding the protective power of vaccines.

The virus, the board said “is speeding up once again, mutating, evading immunity and still on the march. The arrival of subvariant BA.5 should be a reminder that the finish line in this race is nowhere to be seen.”

The nation, it said, is stuck at a “high plateau of pandemic misery.” The way the new variants are spreading ought to make us resort to the old precautions — masks, social distancing, etc.

On the other hand was a piece by Leana Wen, a professor at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health. She argues that health officials are right not to react with alarm to the current surge. She quoted virologist and pediatrician Paul Offit, who said the virus “will be here for my lifetime, my children’s lifetimes, and their children’s lifetimes.”

The goal should be keeping people from serious illness. Vaccines and boosters are doing that. 

A day after we returned home from our road trip, my wife and I both began to feel poorly. Using a home kit, she tested positive. I tested negative. But we both had the same cold-like symptoms and coughs. We isolated for a few days, until we felt better. 

The current surge remains largely out of sight. People tend to test at home, as we did, and few people report positive results to any authorities. No one knows the true extent of the spread.  

Meanwhile, the latest official figures show that Utah’s hospitals have 242 patients confirmed to have COVID-19. That’s up from 68 on April 14, but nowhere near the 853 last Jan. 27. As of July 19, 40 patients were in intensive care, down from 234 last October.

For the most part, the new variants seem to produce mild symptoms, although, of course, not for everyone. But will it always be so? 

A recent report in Nature said the virus keeps coming back, “Like a Hollywood franchise that churns out sequel after mind-numbing sequel.” 

It said studies suggest the strains are becoming milder, but no one should be complacent. “Viruses don’t necessarily evolve to become less deadly.”

That’s not a cheery thought as many of us, vaccines surging through our veins, walk boldly through life and enjoy vacations as though things are back to normal. Clearly, they are not.

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Tuesday, July 26, 2022

Opinion | Move to the South and Change It? - The New York Times

Aaron Hardin

To the Editor:

To Margaret Renkl’s challenge — “Don’t Like the South’s Politics? Move Here and Vote” (Opinion, July 20) — my response is that I don’t have to and don’t know why I would. I may not be able to vote in the South, but my money can.

One thing we have learned from Donald Trump is that every elected office is a national office. I am happy to contribute to good candidates even in states other than my own.

It is my way of nationalizing every election in the South and fighting back against the entrenched regional interests and narrow political perspectives that are at large there. If more voters nationwide made every contest their own, the entrenched local politicians could not compete.

Richard W. Poeton
Lenox, Mass.

To the Editor:

I am so grateful to Margaret Renkl for her essay encouraging liberals to move to the South and vote. I hope some will.

As a lifelong and fairly liberal Southerner, I have been battling despair and hopelessness as I have watched so many of my neighbors fall for the lies spouted by a sore loser ex-president. The divisiveness he has promoted is just making America mean — not great.

I have been saying I need to move to a more liberal area, and if it weren’t for my children and grandchildren all living nearby, I would have.

Thank you, Ms. Renkl, for helping me remember other good reasons to stay home and work for change.

Chandler Rosenberger
Suwanee, Ga.

To the Editor:

Margaret Renkl urges more liberal voters to move to the South. She must know that in choosing a home people decide based on what is best for them. Any family that could someday have members of childbearing age now has to consider where they will all be safe.

If people already living in the South vote against the health and safety of their citizens, they cannot expect others to move in to save them.

Carlene Boisaubin
Eggertsville, N.Y.

To the Editor:

I love Margaret Renkl’s essay. It is all so true about what we found in the South when we moved there five years ago because of a granddaughter. Southern hospitality is a real thing. Neighbors will help with a lost pet or a flat tire any time of the day or night.

We are balanced liberal voters who want to respect each person regardless of their politics. I sometimes wish that the Trump signs weren’t so large or that the pickups would remove their large Confederate flags, but I have never met a mean person in five years.

We plan to become snowbirds soon, with Colorado in the summer and the Florida Panhandle in the winter. I’ll be looking for more of you who think like Margaret Renkl.

Marcella Rejoice Ruch
Colorado Springs

To the Editor:

Margaret Renkl accurately points out many virtues of the South. Beauty, hospitality and kindness do abide there.

However, as a mother of two daughters who reside in Nashville, I now live in fear of what might happen if one of them suffered a pregnancy complication and was denied lifesaving care because of the recent Dobbs decision.

I must respectfully disagree with Ms. Renkl and caution, “Liberals, run for your lives.”

Carrie Montague
Sparks, Md.

To the Editor:

My parents both came from Kentucky, so I spent a lot of time in the South when I was young. I laughed when I read the author’s description of Southerners as being generous and always willing to help if your car breaks down or whatever. My observation was that might be the case if you’re white and if they perceive you to be Christian and heterosexual.

I wouldn’t live in the American South for any amount of money.

Glynn Chesnut
Glendale, Calif.

To the Editor:

Like Margaret Renkl, I am a Tennessean. I am a Southern Democrat who is continually flummoxed by the sheer lunacy of many of our neighbors and fellow citizens here in the Volunteer State and beyond.

I find her take on today’s America to be spot on, but not mean or spiteful. In today’s desert of introspective thought and concern for the commonweal, she offers us an oasis of cogent perspectives.

Kudos to her for her willingness to succinctly address these thorny issues from here in the belly of the red South. And kudos to The New York Times for hosting her essays and all the other works from your blue-ribbon writers.

Matt Thomson Sr.
Jackson, Tenn.

Jason Andrew for The New York Times

To the Editor:

Re “Biden Lashes Trump Over Capitol Riot, Saying He ‘Lacked the Courage to Act’” (news article, July 26):

President Biden lets Donald Trump off too easily. Perhaps his actions were far darker; perhaps he had planned the insurrection and was waiting to take control. We need to stop being naïve and consider that his plans might be far more dangerous to our democracy.

Pat Alexander
Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.

To the Editor:

I think President Biden has it wrong. Trump had “the courage to act” … in his own self-interest!

Brant Thomas
Cold Spring, N.Y.

To the Editor:

We far too easily misrepresent the former president. He did not lack the courage to act against the mob attack on the Capitol; he lacked presidential stature. In choosing not to act, he failed the office of president.

Harold A. Maio
Fort Myers, Fla.

Ibrahim Rayintakath

To the Editor:

“Endemic Covid-19 Is Looking Brutal,” by David Wallace-Wells (Sunday Opinion, July 24), overlooks one of the most perilous aspects of endemic Covid-19: increased cases of long Covid.

Too often, long Covid is buried under media coverage that counts infection rates, deaths and hospitalizations as the markers of the pandemic. We can’t predict the full impact of long Covid in coming decades, especially as the number of affected individuals continues to rise.

Long Covid sufferers are adults of all ages, and even children. They are parents, scholars, athletes and valued community members. Most of them once led full and active lives but now spend days housebound. Many can no longer work but have been denied disability benefits.

Comprehensive Covid journalism begets comprehensive Covid policy. We simply cannot discuss endemic Covid without including long Covid. Otherwise, we discourage action against a mass disabling event with impacts that we have only just begun to measure.

Emma Zimmerman
Brooklyn

To the Editor:

I am old enough to remember when there was prayer in schools. While my elementary school class recited the Lord’s Prayer, I mumbled or stayed silent, knowing that it wasn’t my prayer.

Justices, please don’t make my grandchildren feel the same discomfort. These are public schools. They belong to everyone.

Burt Solomon
Arlington, Va.

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July 27, 2022 at 02:22AM
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What Do You Do When Your Opinion Differs from the Norm? - Psychology Today

Paul Ross, with permission
Source: Paul Ross, with permission

Have you ever read a book, gone to a movie, concert, or play, or watched a film or TV series at home and your reaction to it is different from others? Maybe your friends, family, co-workers, and critics point their thumbs downward, but for you it’s way up. Or they all love it, and you are indifferent to it or dislike it and can’t see what they are raving about. Perhaps you travel to a much-touted destination or eat in a trendy restaurant and you’re disappointed. In all of the above instances, do you hide your feelings, express them, become oppositional, or use your reactions to start a conversation?

Recently, I attended the final dress rehearsal for the opera Tristan and Isolde at the Santa Fe Opera. The medieval story about a forbidden love was possibly based on a Celtic legend, and it has been re-told in almost every medium, including opera. In 1859, Richard Wagner, one of the world’s most important and influential composers, who had a transformative impact on Western music, wrote the opera I saw.

At the time, Wagner was involved in an illicit romance in his own life. He was, by all accounts, a pretty awful human being, and this was just one instance of his birddogging the hand that fed him. Otto Wesendonck was a generous patron of the composer, and the latter became passionately involved with his wife Mathilde. Since no one was holding the candle, it’s not certain that the passion was physically consummated, but Wagner’s wife Minna intercepted one of his steamy letters to Mathilde and he was outed.

The affair eventually wound down, but by then it had inspired Wagner to compose a four-hour opera that is short on plot and action and long on protestations of fire-hot love that would never burn out, and would last beyond death and into eternity.

At the end of Act III, when Tristan is murdered and Isolde approaches his body, she sings what many tearful fans consider to be the most glorious and moving seven-to-eight-minute song ever written: the Liebestod, or Love-Death. Through soaring music and vocal power, Isolde rises up to spiritual, physical, and emotional union with her Tristan, transcending life, into the ecstasy of a heavenly eternity in death.

As the stage went black, I looked around me. Nine-tenths of the audience had departed long before. Those of us who were left leapt to our feet, yelling bravi to the performers, conductor and musicians in the orchestra.

In the past, I had only seen a filmed version of a Tristan and Isolde performance, and I was bored to the point of irritability. How could anyone sit through four hours of expository declarations of love while performers flopped meaninglessly and aimlessly around the stage in a cringey attempt to enhance the bare bones of a largely static story? Couldn’t Wagner have embellished the plot a little to keep an audience engaged? I vowed never, ever to sit through it again.

And then there was the staging at the Santa Fe Opera. The two directors — Zack Winikur and Lisenka Heijboer Castañon — have done the opposite of embellishment. They have stripped the story and characters down to their bare essence. Every gesture, step, change of lighting, use of shadows, color, costuming, shift in the scenery is imbued with significance. Nothing is superficial or superfluous. You are drawn into a world of intense, passionate, emotion that swirls with eroticism, violence, death, love, longing, loyalty, betrayal. Long after the opera ends, the feelings it has stirred remain with you. That is, if you remain with it.

During the two intermissions, some audience members were giggling and others were complaining about how bored they were, as I had once been. The singer who played Tristan had sung in an almost whisper, as he was saving his full voice for opening night. I, on the other hand, was silent in my admiration for the brilliant spectacle, and the hints I had of the singer’s full voice and perfect diction. I was speechless about the quality of the voices I heard at full throttle; after each intermission, I could hardly wait for the next act.

When I came home, I wanted to talk to someone about the experience I had just had. I had no desire to argue with anyone or defend my position. And so, I share it with you, in the hopes that you will see the production while it lasts.

I have a stage background as a writer, actor, and director. I accept fully that my reactions and opinions may not conform to the mainstream audience reaction. That doesn’t make me right or wrong. Ultimately, one’s response to an artistic work is personal, and valid. I think the only bad response is to have no response at all.

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July 26, 2022 at 10:11PM
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