I remember the first time I wrote my name and shared it with someone else publicly.
“No justice, no peace!” they shout. Then they break windows.
History can be cruel. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., who was unquestionably America’s most prominent prophet and practitioner of nonviolence, was followed by riots, arson and looting in 168 American cities and towns. The numbers are staggering: 2,600 fires were set; 21,700 peop…
Please don’t cut education
Today, I am tired. It is not the “I worked late” or “I was busy thinking about a project” tired. It is not the tired of the mom of an almost 2-year-old or someone finishing a doctoral program. It is the tired of someone who is exhausted by the surprise of others that racism is still alive an…
Fifteen seconds can seem like 15 minutes in certain situations.
Twitter makes a lot of people stupid and angry, so it’s fitting that the current debate about Twitter should be so full of stupidity and anger.
A lifelong bird-watcher ventured into a section of New York’s Central Park, the “Ramble,” at 7:30 a.m., hoping to catch a glimpse of waterfowl. In previous days, he had spied scarlet tanagers, ovenbirds and mourning warblers. On Memorial Day, as he waited quietly, an unleashed spaniel scurri…
This has become too rare, I suddenly realized — this unscheduled gift of a moment.
Our society has been devastated by the novel coronavirus. Although some measures have succeeded in controlling the rate at which it spreads, nothing has succeeded in eliminating it. Although they are good practices that we should follow, social-distancing, masks, hand washing and disinfectin…
To Weber State University’s plans to resume in-person courses this fall.
WASHINGTON — It is rarely a good idea to make campaign promises that put you in a box or could go very wrong, as nearly every president can attest.
I watched my dad die when I was nine years old, so I’ve spent most of my life visiting him at the Bountiful Cemetery instead of at my parent’s house. Sometimes I go to talk to him, sometimes to think about what my life might have been like, but today I went to clean his headstone. I couldn’t…
While Utah is an amazing state, it’s disappointing how it treats its senior citizens concerning income taxes. In a recent rating of states, Utah was one of the “25 worst states to retire in.” The article mentioned the fact that Utah has an income tax on social security benefits and a relativ…
SOMEONE REALLY NEEDS TO BE ASHAMED!!!!!
We have a choice!
It is a common, if not especially honorable, practice in American politics for a candidate and her campaign to prefer to run not against their actual opponent on the ballot but rather against the most unpopular caricature of the opponent’s party. That explains why Democrats, for close to thr…
Every spring for the last nine years, I’ve emceed the graduation ceremony for my College of Engineering, Applied Science & Technology at Weber State University. We postponed the convocation this year, and I didn’t get the chance to talk to the graduates and their families, asking them wh…
In a sense, it’s pointless to debate whether the United States should have a more hawkish policy toward China, because we’ll have one regardless of how the 2020 elections go. There’s a broad consensus among both of the political parties and foreign policy experts across the ideological spect…
In 2012, Annie Glenn and I were doing what we so often did, which was to sit side-by-side in a quiet place offstage, waiting for our extroverted husbands to finish speaking to a crowd.
Among dozens of addled tweets from the commander in chief over the past few days, one in particular deserves pausing over because it demonstrates not just the weak-mindedness of our president but also the way his leadership is sabotaging conservatism.
Ogden City cut down our 40-year-old tree without notifying us or our neighbors and left a mess clogging up our storm drains. It’s been 3 months and they still have not cleaned it up or offered to plant a replacement. They continue to ignore phone calls, emails and pleas from all the neighbors.
THUMBS UP: To Kaysville residents for not backing down and standing up for their health. In the continuing saga of “Where in the World Will Utah Business Revival and Katie Witt Go to Host Their Constitutionally Protected Collin Raye Concert,” Kaysville residents and the city council answered…
Ogden City unresponsive to problems
The current pandemic has exposed many disparities in our society and provided lessons for the future. As we plan our recovery, we need to address them.
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump has a way of making easy things difficult and difficult matters impossible. That is a good way to explain what is going on behind the scenes right now at the Voice of America, or VOA.
Policymakers, following economists and media in general, have traditionally focused on implementing policies to increase growth in GDP (Gross Domestic Product). However, beginning in the early 1970s, increasing income inequality shows that all Americans have not shared the prosperity generat…
The government has closed most schools.
Do you really think, as Donald Trump said several days ago, that “We’re back,” and the crisis is ending? You shouldn’t. We need to be smarter and do more. So I write in response to Mr. Bishop’s rejection of the $3 trillion in new aid for Americans suffering from COVID-19 last weekend. Like h…
Editor’s note: Mark Shields is off this week.
Last week, the College of Science at Weber State University celebrated its new class of science graduates.
Here’s a thought experiment for you. Would you rather have a Princeton education or do without the education but get the Princeton diploma?
Last week’s Mother’s Day was a true example of how we don’t realize how much we value something until we can’t have it. Like being able to hug your mom. My mom lives in an assisted living facility. Like similar facilities throughout the country, it houses residents who fill COVID’s “at risk”…
My annual order of wildflower seeds arrived in the mail, and I’ve never been so eager to start something new — something beautiful and immune to the virus taking so much away.
Over the course of our nation’s history, Native Americans have suffered a long string of injustices. Among the most egregious, however, was the federal government’s neglect during the Cold War years when hundreds of the Navajo developed severe forms of cancer and respiratory illness as a res…
Joe Biden has not been loudly beating up on President Donald Trump for his pathetic performance during the coronavirus crisis. The pandemic has already killed over 80,000 Americans and cratered the economy. And the United States has become an object of international pity.
THUMBS UP: To the Weber, Davis and Box Elder sheriff's offices for working to prevent COVID-19 in their jails. Civil liberties groups Wednesday dropped most Utah counties from a petition before the Utah Supreme Court that asked for accelerated inmate releases. The counties are complying with…
Child exploitation cases merit federal prosecution. My office files dozens of child exploitation cases every year. Each year, the ages of the children in the images get younger, and an increasing number of offenders use online platforms to target children.
WASHINGTON — Just as Romantics eventually learn that no amount of passion or staging can fully recapture love’s first blushes, political movements often suffer the ennui and self-parody of attempted recreations.
Having a long history of both hiking and biking the pathways above Ogden, I am familiar with the problems faced by trail enthusiasts. These tracks can be very narrow in some places with limited room for passing. I propose a compromise. Schedule hikers and bikers to use the trails on alternat…
Let’s stop criticizing those folks who drive without seat belts, speed, go boating without personal protection gear, smoke, use illegal drugs, ride a bike without a helmet, drive around railroad crossing gates, don’t secure guns so children can’t get to them, drive drunk, run red lights, don…
The document “Utah Leads Together” (Version 2) describes Governor Herbert’s plan to mitigate the economic consequences of COVID-19. The plan, available at https://coronavirus.utah.gov/, lists measures and targets for ranking COVID-19 risk as High, Moderate, or Low, and helps answer questions…
Last Sunday, Mother’s Day, made me think how my mom warned me, as a young teen: “Work hard! Or you’ll freeze in the dark!”
As if the coronavirus pandemic itself were not enough, governments of the world are now being challenged by protests about freedom of movement.
An American politician can help herself politically by being able to believably use self-deprecating humor, which sends a clear message: “I am not pompously self-important or thin-skinned; I do not take myself completely seriously.”
I am appalled at the response in the Associated Press article in the April 30, 2020, Standard-Examiner this date regarding "Utah halts crime-detection deal over company's past ties to KKK and drive-by shooting."
The vice president of the United States of America violated the rules of the Mayo Clinic, no less, even their Coronavirus Unit. He was informed of the clinic protocol before his arrival and refused to comply with such. Then, when confronted by the press he stated:
Here are some more numbers to think about. The 2018-19 influenza season killed approximately 1 in every 1,038 people who was infected in the US. A .0963% death rate. Covid-19 so far has killed 1 in every 17.5 infected people. A 5.621% death rate. If the flu and Covid-19 were comparable, 2,02…
The future is particularly murky these days. It’s anybody’s guess how the pandemic, the presidential election and the economy are going to play out. Just about the only thing that’s assured is that U.S. relations with China will never be the same.
