Who deserves praise and criticism this week in Northern Utah?
WASHINGTON — The Republican Party now approaches its lowest ebb since the Watergate fiasco of the early 1970s, having been devastated in the midterm congressional elections by the Democrats, who will take over the U.S. House of Representatives on January 3.
A big thank you to all the “volunteers” who made the 39th annual Messiah Sing-In, a truly spectacular event for the Christmas season. The top of Utah can be very proud of the professionalism demonstrated by all involved from the director, Dr. Dennis Ahern, to the soloists, all graduates of W…
President Donald Trump-haters salivated over special counsel Robert Mueller’s recent filings on ex-Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and Trump former lawyer/”fixer” Michael Cohen. In both cases, Mueller recommends lengthy sentences, having accused them of committing crimes, including, in …
WASHINGTON — For people who support the humane treatment of animals, including those that end up on America’s dinner plates, passage this week of the farm bill would be a gift befitting the season — and a grand bipartisan gesture to close out the year.
“I am a Tariff Man,” Trump tweeted last week. “When people or countries come in to raid the great wealth of our Nation, I want them to pay for the privilege of doing so. ... We are right now taking in $billions in Tariffs. MAKE AMERICA RICH AGAIN.”
Struggling to find gifts to get for loved ones? How about a book?
As Weber State University nears its 130th birthday, Jan. 7, this is a good time to reflect on its history and its impact here at home and on the international scene.
Yes, it’s true that their party just won the House majority and more House seats, 40, than in any election since 1974 (and with the increasing likelihood of a new election in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District after confirmed reports of Republican election fraud there, maybe 41) and…
I’m writing to encourage Representative Rob Bishop and the rest of Congress to drop rider SEC 736 from the Farm Bill. This rider would force the USDA to issue new regulations on “clean meat” or “cell-based meat,” even though the USDA and FDA are already working together to oversee the safe p…
One of the most comforting talking points in politics is to claim that your political opponents are irrationally obsessed. I’m sure this is as old as time, but I first noticed it in the late 1990s. Many of Bill Clinton’s most ardent supporters responded to every new criticism by claiming the…
Utahans recent vote approved medical marijuana, however, it is now under scrutiny and compromise in order to "bow to" the LDS Church! It matters not that the people have spoken loud and clear.
Following a special legislative session called by Utah Gov. Gary Herbert Dec. 3, the Utah Legislature passed HB 3001, and the Utah Medical Cannabis Act was signed into law. The Act will allow the cultivation, harvest, and processing of Cannabis plants in Utah for Cannabis-based medicine. The…
So last week I wrote about a fight in the Davis County Jail. As I alluded to before, jail lacks some of the control by staff and even inmates in prison. There is a lot more fighting and a lot of other shenanigans in jail. The third fight I saw in a single week in Davis County started when on…
This letter is in response to an article that was published in the Standard-Examiner on Nov. 19, 2018. The piece is about an explosion that happened at a hazardous waste site in southwestern Idaho on Nov. 17, 2018. A spokesman for the company that runs the site stated that the cause of the e…
NBC’s Katy Tur, responding to an article in the New Yorker about climate, looked into the camera and asked, “How pointless is my life? And how pointless are the decisions that I make on a day-to-day basis when we are not focused on climate change every day, when it’s not leading every one of…
Our dear city government,
I wrote to you after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting where eleven people were killed, and seven were injured. My letter wasn’t published, but that week the editorial board felt the need to weigh in on the Ogden neighborhood dog shooting, which I agree is bad.
“Nice people can be found all over the world, But if you can’t find one then always be sure to be one,” said Saint Mother Theresa.
WASHINGTON — The warm and genuine public outpouring of appreciation for the 41st president in services here and in Texas reflected the authenticity and good will of the man. With these qualities, he brought honor not only to himself but also to the high office in which he served that is so l…
Who deserves praise and criticism this week in Northern Utah?
I read in the Standard-Examiner with great disappointment and dismay the decision by the South Ogden City Council to close the Senior Center and sell the property to a developer, presumably for high density housing.
WASHINGTON — A recent Bloomberg News headline came as no surprise: “Wall Street Rule for the #MeToo Era: Avoid Women at All Cost.”
As with the passing of former President Ronald Reagan, the media are in full praise mode following the death of former President George Herbert Walker Bush. Where were they when the one-term President needed them? In Reagan’s case, even his haters grudgingly acknowledged the overall success …
Donald Trump’s “America first” economic nationalism is finally crashing into the reality of America’s shareholder-first global capitalism.
This morning Google told me that it would not allow my YouTube video “Socialism Leads to Violence” to be viewed by young people. It violates “community guidelines,” said the company in a computer-generated email.
One of my responsibilities at Weber State University this week was to facilitate a 2 1/2 hour discussion about diversity and inclusion. Some of you might think that sounds like a fate worse than death, but it was quite pleasant. With 14 people representing the colleges and divisions of the u…
In spite of continued attempts, either misguided or malevolent — or both — by national leaders to undermine public trust and confidence in the American free press and free elections, the United States’ model of political and individual freedom has inspired billions around the planet. Barely …
It’s common to see Christmas through tired eyes. A couple of days into the season and we feel behind. So much to do, and so little time to do it in. Our lists lengthen each year, we feed our own expectations, and we sometimes lose sight of the reason for the season.
The media, including magazines that purport to empower women, are behaving as “mean girls” when it comes to their deplorable treatment of first lady Melania Trump, who is a class act by any standards.
The Centers for Disease Control has delivered sober news — average life expectancy at birth in the United States has declined for a third straight year due to extremely high rates of death from drug overdoses and suicide. As The Washington Post reports, this is the longest sustained decline …
Well, it was just the sweetest thing.
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I think it’s safe to say you’re more likely to get in a fight in jail than prison. If the time spent in both places were equal, it’s not even close. I witnessed almost as many fights in the seven months I spent in jail as I did in the three and a half years I spent in prison. Jail is just a …
According to a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of children without vaccines is on the rise, and has been since at least 2001. The report finds that 1.3 percent of children born in 2015 were completely unvaccinated, compared to 0.9 percent of childr…
Mitch McConnell just did our constitutional order an enormous favor by burying the so-called Robert Mueller protection bill, hopefully never to rise again.
WASHINGTON — Because the newly elected Democratic majority in the House does not take office until January 4, the ousted Republican leadership has a lame-duck month in which get some political dirty work done.
Who deserves praise and criticism this week in Northern Utah?
WASHINGTON — As newly elected congresswomen are poised to color this city blue, one wonders what effect they’ll realistically have on the gridlock known as the House of Representatives.
If President Donald Trump were paid a dime every time critics call his anti-illegal immigration policy “racist,” he’d double his net worth. Never mind that at one time, President Bill Clinton, former Democratic Senate Leader Harry Reid, former Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Sen. Dianne Feins…
E-cigarettes let people get a hit of nicotine without burning tobacco.
The “rule of law” distinguishes democracies from dictatorships. It’s based on three fundamental principles. Trump is violating every one of them.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the release of “2001: A Space Odyssey,” the seminal work by auteur director Stanley Kubrick. On Dec. 7, Weber State University Honors Program will present a screening of the movie with some guest commentators — myself and history professor Eric Swedin.
For loyal Democrats, it must be painful to realize that so much of the criticism of your party turns out to be true. No better Democrat ever drew a breath than the late congressman from Arizona and presidential candidate Mo Udall, who candidly observed, “When Democrats organize a firing squa…
WASHINGTON — Strutting isn’t just for turkeys anymore.
Editor’s Note: Adriana Cohen is off. The following column is by Larry Elder.
Our Thanksgiving family tradition is to go around the table and express gratitude for our blessings. It’s such a simple exercise, and yet almost as satisfying as the feasting. Maybe we shouldn’t confine it to Thanksgiving? We have observant Jewish friends who’ve done something like this ever…
The wind is howling its way around our house, an invisible beast shaking all but the most stubborn autumn leaves to the ground, which has a slight dusting of snow.
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Last year after Thanksgiving and through December, I tried to pass on my positivity as much as possible. I made a concerted effort to compliment others, smile and do everything with enthusiasm. In the end, I benefited more than anyone from my experiment. It was easy to stand out as a positiv…
The New York Times revealed last week that Facebook executives withheld evidence of Russian activity on the Facebook platform far longer than previously disclosed. They also employed a political opposition research firm to discredit critics.
Joe Biden is a gaffe-prone 75-year-old Washington veteran — who is exactly what Democrats need.
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On this Thanksgiving weekend, it seems only fitting to take a moment to talk about the things for which we’re thankful.
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