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Embrace our laws

Letters

To the editor: Thank you, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, for having a course called "Totalitarian Patterns” way back in the last century. It was taught by a professor originally from an East European country, who had held a high elective position there until ousted by the communists. We students of Russian language and culture and/or of politics, generally, learned to become more aware of the signs of a slide towards authoritarianism, whenever and wherever that happens. And it’s happening, isn’t it? Pardon me, for a few minutes, while I weep. Then onward. A Swedish ...

Not fit to lead most powerful country

Letters

To the editor: Last week four American soldiers died in a training exercise in Lithuania. When their bodies were recovered, Lithuania paused to honor their sacrifice. A crowd gathered as men carried the four coffins from the hearses to the U.S. transport jet. Many Lithuanians wept. When a similar event happened during his term, President Bush waited on the runway and saluted. When a similar event happened during his term, President Obama waited on the runway and saluted. When a similar event happened during his term, President Biden waited on the runway and saluted. But when ...

National shame in White House

Letters

To the editor: I would like to put aside the horrific economic policies and fractured international relations of this administration for a moment and concentrate on the current resident of the White House. It seems that many Americans no longer value common human decency so I would like to remind those people of a few facts. I believe that if these people were being totally honest with themselves, they would agree with these simple observations. Donald Trump is the embodiment of everything we would teach our children not to be. Donald Trump is cruel, he is a bully, he is ignorant, ...

Sharing Easter memories through greeting cards

Columns

Easter is a strange holiday in that it’s constantly moving around on the calendar like a hyperactive mouse who has just consumed its body weight in caffeine. If you were born on the Fourth of July, you would know that your birthday always falls on the fourth. Its day of the week varies from year to year, which means that you are given a three-day weekend every few years to celebrate or recover from your birthday. Not so if you were born on Easter. The formula that determines the dates for Easter involves tracking the phase of the moon and checking to see if Jupiter has aligned with ...

Protests for the people

Letters

To the editor: For those who are still curious about Saturday’s demonstration on Broadway — the gathering of over 250 area people was a non-partisan protest of many actions taken by the current administration that will hurt us folks in southern Minnesota. Among these issues are broad, ricocheting tariffs that unsettle markets and will increase our cost of everything from groceries to cars, and cuts to services and programs that we depend on, like access to Social Security, threats to Medicare, VA services for veterans, education services for our kids, even our ...

Look at the numbers

Letters

To the editor: In a country of just over 340 million people, we live as the wealthiest nation in the world. And from our affluent society — yes, affluent, and not the hellscape or third-world country that 45/47 proclaims to agitate his base — we generate an enormous amount of tax revenue, which our country’s legislators have seen fit to help needy people around the globe. But the supporters of this administration’s “America First” agenda are diametrically opposed to helping anyone but the grifter in the White House, who isn’t really in need of their hard-earned dollars, ...