Biden’s Border Policy

Migrants who cross the border are immediately required to wear masks. Although they are not tested at Customs and Border Patrol unless they show symptoms, all are tested if they move into the system, and those who test positive for coronavirus are quarantined. Due to the pandemic, most are simply turned away. On humanitarian grounds, […]

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The Republican Party Platform

The Republican Party neglected to write a platform this year. Perhaps that’s because they didn’t really have a convention – it was only a stage show. Perhaps it’s because their Dear Leader doesn’t read long documents. Or, perhaps they couldn’t because it would show what they really are — what the party of Lincoln has […]

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A Snapshot of Our Days of Turmoil: June 4, 2020

by historian Heather Cox Richardson (see supporting notes at the end) The large picture today is of a president increasingly isolated as protests increase and establishment figures turn against him and the politics he represents. That large picture is made up of many individual moments. Protests continued for a tenth day today in the face […]

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Fear: The greatest Republican weapon

Republican Senator Sylvia Allen is ramping up her campaign for re-election by scaring parents about sex education. Other Republicans (in addition to Allen) rage about the terrors of socialism. Trump uses rhetoric to hype up several categories of visceral but remote threats, including MS-13 gang members and Islamic State jihadis. His favorite go-to, of course, […]

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A reminder about how schools used to be run

The recent news of the death of Sam Borozan, “Mr. NAU,” reminds this retired faculty member of a time when NAU was regarded (along with other state universities) as a place that was worthy of substantial public support. Both our state government and fellow citizens once valued as a public good that our public schools, […]

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It’s the Republicans Who Can’t Pass Healthcare and Tax Reform

Trump wrote on Twitter that the Senate should change its long-standing rules and ‘switch to 51’ votes to pass health-care changes and to vote on a tax bill instead of working to get 60 votes to end a potential filibuster. But the Senate is already trying to pass health-care and tax changes with just 51 […]

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