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Why we need birthright citizenship

It’s part of who we are. The White House executive order theoretically ending birthright citizenship grandly proclaims its purpose as “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship.” As we’ve come to expect from this administration, the proposed change to American law would do the exact opposite. Also in keeping with the Trumpian model, the president’s comments accompanying the signing were false. “Birthright, that’s a big one,” Trump frowned. “It’s ridiculous. We are the only country in the world that does this with the birthright, as you know, and ...

Trump’s epic anti-DEI order

We’re only days into the Trump administration, and we can already identify one of his top five achievements. With one carefully crafted act, the president initiated the end of DEI in the federal government and perhaps in the private sector and educational system as well. It is a breathtakingly bold and wholly righteous move that could bring about a generational change. One way or the other, books will be written about the executive order, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” Trump’s directive repeals a series of executive orders promoting ...

A Dunning-Kruger plane crash

The Dunning-Kruger Effect is in full force these days. It posits that those with less knowledge of a subject have more certainty about the subject. For example, a layman is far more certain about the big bang than the astrophysicist. The armchair aviation expert is far more certain of the plane crash cause than the aviator. Tragedy struck on Wednesday night. An American Airlines flight from Kansas, landing at Washington Reagan National Airport, collided with a military Blackhawk helicopter. All passengers and crew died. Within minutes of the plane crash, some on the right began to ...

Mercy not part of Trump’s plan

The president has declared war on the nation, the nation as we have known it. — Anonymous If you ever go to Canterbury Cathedral in England, drops of blood from ages ago are still there on the altar floor. Legend has it that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, was brutally murdered by four knights serving King Henry II, whom Becket crossed. Henry had medieval knights; Donald Trump has legions of rioters, whom he pardoned and freed. In a sermon from the Canterbury Pulpit, the Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde of the Washington National Cathedral urged the new president to ...

What to do and not do when feeding birds in winter

Bird feeders can support Great Lakes birds when natural food sources may be scarce or buried beneath snow and during migration come spring, but it’s essential to follow safety tips to keep them healthy and prevent the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza and other diseases. Bird feeders can support Great Lakes birds when natural food sources may be scarce or buried beneath snow and during migration come spring, but it’s essential to follow safety tips to keep them healthy and prevent the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza and other diseases. TO FEED OR NOT TO ...

DEI order good for all US

An ongoing principle of America’s democratic republic is e pluribus unum. Out of many, one. We honor and respect the uniqueness of every citizen. But we also have a common turf, a common set of transcendent values, that brings us together and we become one nation. Sometimes, cracks appear. Sometimes, they grow and get larger and deeper. Things get dangerous when the cracks so severely deepen that they threaten to totally sever our common turf and our social cohesion. Generally, the cracks reflect erosion of agreement about the nature of the core principles that hold us ...