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Viewpoints

Ban This! No, Never Mind!

Recently, many politicians were in such a hurry to ban plastic bags. California and Hawaii banned them, then New York. Then Oregon, Connecticut, Maine and Vermont passed laws against them. More than 400 cities did, too. Why? Because plastic bags are evil, didn’t you know? “Look at ...

Accused Deserve Presumption Of Innocence

It’s hard for those who have never been wrongly accused of something serious to understand what it’s like. Imagine that happens to you. Unless the accusation pertains to a specific time and place, and you have a convincing alibi, you may well find yourself in the impossible position of ...

The Good Life: Lockdown Lesson: Save Some Money, Now

The lost jobs accompanying the current coronavirus should inspire us to get or keep emergency fund of from three to six months’ net spendable income. I have one. Then again, I am 77 years old with no dependents. My wife has her own emergency fund. Back when I had children ... Oh, did I ...

Let’s Talk About Vietnam War

As many news organizations have noted, in just three months the American death toll from the coronavirus has exceeded the number of Americans who were killed in the Vietnam War. This may feel like just another statistic to younger generations, but many who lived through that war hear it and ...

The Nation’s Report Card

The Department of Education just released results of the quadrennial National Assessment of Educational Progress tests in U.S. history, civics and geography given in 2018 to thousands of American eighth-graders: “Grade 8 Students’ NAEP Scores Decline in Geography and U.S. History; Results ...

Preview Of Coming Distractions

As you probably already knew, the next six months of 2020 presidential campaigning are going to be ugly. I do not say this happily, but I do so based upon a lifetime of watching candidates run for election and reelection. Almost invariably, politicians return to what worked successfully in ...