Editorial

On the anniversary of the death of George Floyd, dozens of gunshots rang out in the middle of the day at George Floyd Square in Minneapolis, forcing reporters and bystanders to duck and cover. The symbolism was unmistakable — the yearlong bout of protest after Floyd’s killing has coincided with a surge of urban crime that has made gunplay dismayingly common. Indeed, the intersection where Floyd was killed, now a memorial blocked to vehicular traffic, has become a watchword for mayhem. The issue of public safety may be about to … [Read more...] about Yes, Democrats should fear the crime wave

Is the CDC’s guideline really all that confusing? The nation that put a man on the moon now struggles with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest guideline on mask wearing. Pardon the pun, but the advisory isn’t rocket science. Since the CDC recently loosened mask guidelines, the hand-wringing over when and where to wear a mask has escalated to farcical levels with late-night television comics, serious news reporters and commentators lamenting that we don’t know what to do. “Saturday Night Live” recently … [Read more...] about Mask guidance is clear. Why are we confusing it?

For more than a year, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has cited “science and data” as the basis for her dozens of executive orders in response to the COVID pandemic. Yet a recently settled lawsuit related to nursing homes highlights an appalling lack of state data on the tracking of virus deaths. Thanks to the efforts of Detroit journalist Charlie LeDuff, who was represented by the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, we now have a clearer picture of just how little the state of Michigan actually knows about who died of COVID-19 and where they … [Read more...] about Who died from COVID? State doesn’t really know

Republicans have had a brutal news cycle over the past month, between the ouster of Liz Cheney from leadership and the intraparty jousting over a Jan. 6 commission. The overwhelming sense of the coverage is that the party is descending into madness and civil war and is a husk of its former self. There’s no denying that much of the party has been too willing to indulge or look away from wild theories about the 2020 election and the Capitol riot, but this shouldn’t obscure the fact that the Republicans are well-positioned to take … [Read more...] about The GOP future is bright

Think of us as cicadas, the insects you’ve heard about ad nauseam, that live underground for 17 years and then surface to get it on. Well, we humans in the U.S. have sheltered in place for 17 months, give or take, tucked away from the ravages of COVID. And now we are about to find out how bawdy our bodies have become. Now millions of hibernating Americans will emerge, courtesy of the vaccine, to discover how the world has changed. The absence of masks — prima facie evidence of a return to “normal” — might reveal a metamorphosed … [Read more...] about Human cicadas

Joe Biden has a New Deal for America’s kids. He wants to spend more than $225 billion on child care for infants and toddlers, and $200 billion for free, universal preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds. This is being hailed as a social revolution that will finally bring the United States in line with other advanced democracies. In reality, it’s a program that shows a pronounced class bias. And since it is heedless of the experience of other such mass programs in the United States and around the world, the Biden approach is also … [Read more...] about Biden’s child care folly

It makes a difference whether it’s a politician or if it’s a TV personality who makes a “stupid mistake” and says something over an open mic. If a TV personality does it, it really is a “stupid mistake.” The politician claims it was unintentional, as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy did before he appeared on “Fox and Friends” recently. But you can bet he knew the microphone was live as he blurted: “I’ve had it with her. You know, I’ve lost confidence.” The “her” in Kevin McCarthy’s case was Liz Cheney, No. 3 in the House … [Read more...] about The GOP takeover

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently laid out some metrics that should lead to a gradual easing of statewide COVID restrictions. That’s certainly better than having no targets in place, yet many questions remain about how those benchmarks were set and what it will take to reach them. Just this week the state hit the first threshold — 55 percent of adults have gotten at least one dose of the COVID vaccine — so in two weeks the Whitmer administration says it will allow a return of in-person office work. The state had already been close to … [Read more...] about Transparency lacking on COVID goals

Reporters in any medium are charged with doing the tough work of holding up a mirror to their community. That mirror shows heart-warming stories that lift our faith in our neighbors and world; it reflects the less pleasant realities that corrupt our communities. It shows and tells the myriad, mundane things that impact our lives, the weather, traffic, new businesses, a gubernatorial visit. Last week Gov. Gretchen Whitmer stopped in Traverse City to sign a somewhat rote piece of legislation authorizing annual natural resources … [Read more...] about Don’t spit at the messenger

Once upon a time, Joe Biden’s spending proposals would have launched mass demonstrations in opposition. Little else would have been talked about in conservative media, and ambitious Republican politicians would have competed with one another to demonstrate the most intense resistance, up to and perhaps including chaining themselves to the U.S. Treasury building in protest. In 2009, President Barack Obama created a spontaneous, hugely influential conservative grassroots movement on the basis of an $800 billion stimulus bill and a … [Read more...] about Republicans no longer fazed by big spending