Commentary
The troubled border between consumption and conservation
Strange things happen in the borderland. This is true of borders between nations or empires — the root of Casablanca’s intrigue during World War II — but especially along the border between nature and human civilization. Bears fall limp on trampolines. Moose tangle in hammocks. Tourists lose themselves in the woods, their dying cellphones lighting […]
Amazon tops a list of companies to ditch in support of immigrants’ human rights | Opinion
Throughout the last year, the Amazon corporation has given American consumers plenty of reasons to question whether we should be using its products and services. The news is filled with horrible stories about Amazon’s treatment of their workers. The company has an astronomical carbon footprint. The billionaire CEO has so much superfluous income he was […]
Vaccine mandates have always faced resistance and saved lives | Opinion
Health care professionals had high hopes that rapid vaccination of our entire U.S. population would slow COVID-19 transmission and stem the disproportionately high death count in the United States. We also hoped to avoid more concerning mutations that are inevitable when viruses multiply unchecked. I lost my mother to COVID-19 in November of 2020, less […]
Kyrsten Sinema is gambling that her filibuster vote will help her win again in 2024 | Opinion
The furious Democrats who revile Kyrsten Sinema don’t know her very well. She may not have single-handedly derailed President Joe Biden’s presidency by ensuring that none of his ambitious legislative agenda ever reaches his desk, but Arizona’s senior senator certainly has become the face of the Democrats’ circular firing squad. And her highly choreographed speech […]
Reclaiming MLK Day | Opinion
In April of 1967, at the Riverside Church in New York City, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr spoke in profound grief about the way his position on the Vietnam War was interrogated even by some of his closest supporters. “I have called for radical departures from the destruction of Vietnam, many persons have […]
What would MLK think about America in 2022? | Opinion
It’s certainly no coincidence that debate over the most significant piece of voting rights legislation in more than a generation is coming to a head as we celebrate the holiday dedicated to the United States’ preeminent civil rights icon. While it’s a stretch to call the prevailing politically hued conjecture over the John Lewis Voting […]
Jan. 6 succeeded. Here’s what’s next. | Opinion
If the point of the Jan. 6 insurrection was to establish that a significant portion of the country is done with democracy, it succeeded. The attack on the U.S. Capitol one year ago by violent supporters of former President Donald Trump — whose lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him was the fuel […]
The Native American population increasing by 87% says more about whiteness than about demographics
The Native American population in the U.S. grew by a staggering 86.5% between 2010 and 2020, according to the latest U.S. Census – a rate demographers say is impossible to achieve without immigration. Birth rates among Native Americans don’t explain the massive rise in numbers. And there certainly is no evidence of an influx of […]
A Christmas letter to the undiscovered country | Essay
Phil, You’ve been away for a good long while so here’s a Christmas letter to catch you up on all the news you’ve missed. So much has changed. Time steals like a shadow over the living, rendering us all Henry Adams at history’s eclipse. There’s much I want to share, because you could have helped […]
First Black police chief in Minneapolis leaves much undone
Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo betrayed the Black citizens who greatly helped put him in that job.
Fight gun violence on many fronts | Opinion
The most pressing issue facing Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey as he begins his second term is the ever-increasing gun violence that has propelled what may be a record number of gun-related homicides in the city in 2021. To confront violence in the city, Frey announced in early December a new Community Safety Workgroup, tasked with […]
Rittenhouse was a ‘wannabe,’ not a hero | Opinion
The Kyle Rittenhouse trial and verdict is a bit like those ink blot tests psychologists sometimes have patients examine. A half-dozen folks can look at the same thing and see something different. I’ve heard Rittenhouse described as a “hero” by right wingers and as a “criminal” by those on the left. But when I look […]