Ever since Donald Trump was elected in 2016, I was wondering when the Republicans would have enough courage to stand up to him. Each time he did something more offensive, I wondered if this would be the act that spurred them onto courage.
Some advisors did stand up to him only to find thems…
Charles Dickins began A Tale of Two Cities with, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” This is a good way to describe our current political life in the United States. Democracy is alive and well in this ongoing experiment in self-government begun in 1776. Women are gathering in pr…
Pope Benedict XVI retired in 2013, the first time a pope did such in over 600 years. There are no guidelines for him to follow. But it seems to me that once he left the papal office, he should keep his mouth shut or make only general comments about issues in the Church. To do otherwise is disruptive…
Impeachment of President Trump
Impeachment is the formal accusation of “treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeaners”by a public official. At the federal level this is reserved to the House of Representatives. Geral Ford said that impeachavble offenses are whatever the House says they are. So P…
The United States Conference of Catholic bishops(USCCB) , has sold its moral authority and credibility to the right-wing politicians in this country. We are paying for that with a president who is the opposite of moral leadership. The situation is reminiscent of the Catholic Church and other Christi…
In Matthew 25, Jesus urges the people to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsy, shelter the homeless, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, take care of the sick, and visit those in prison. In Acts 2:44-45, the disciples “had all things in common”.
It is not a good idea to impose modern…
Many people complain or are concerned abut government intrusion into one’s personal lives, but private companies are doing the same thing without you even noticing it. they are able to capture information from your cell phone and use it at the time to send you an ad or save the data for later conta…
It is traditional to make some resolutions for a new year and it is also traditional to break them before thened of January. There is one resolution however that I urge you to make and keep. This is a very important election year.
President Donald Trump is running for reelection and the Republica…
George Orwell’s book, 1984 became public on June 8, 1949. It depicted a country run by Bib Brother and the Party. In the book this was a leftist organization and all readers thought that the threat of government control would be the product of the political left. Orwell described a country in whic…
With Christmas day now a memory, it is still important to reflect on the meaning of this day. Peace and harmony are at the heart of all the major religions, especially Christianity, whose source is called the Prince of Peace. . Unfortunately these sentiments are often lost in our everyday live…
In 2016, I wrote in an op-ed column in the Midland Daily News that Trump was unfit for office. My claim was not based on his policies but rather his mental state and character. He was unable to focus on anything longer than a few minutes, he seldom read anything, and he did not listen to advice from…
We have a president who is totally about himself, hates anyone who disagrees with him, demeans immigrants and others whom he dislikes, befriends our enemies at the expense of our allies, is morally corrupt, and is a consummate liar.
I cannot believe anything he says nor trust him about anything t…
An essential component of any business operation, whether manufacturing or service, whether private or public, is the employee, whether there is only one or thousands. Adam Smith in his Wealth of Nations, the often quoted authority on capitalism, envisioned the employee an integral part of the busi…
Students in nonpublic schools and those who are homeschooled are eligible to take non-core classes at the local public school. Originally these were subjects like art, music, foreign languages, and gym but the legislature has encouraged these programs as a way to offer choice and opportunities to m…
School safety in my youth were mundane concerns compared to the safety issue today. School shootings occur far more frequently in the United States than anywhere else in the world. When combined with other mass shootings, eleven of the worst 50 mass shootings were in the United States. We have only…
“Schools of choice” refers to an effort to give students a choice in the school they attend. One way, allowed in Michigan, is to let students choose a different public school than the neighborhood school. This program also allows students to go to another public school district if that other distric…
A nonpublic school is any school financed and supported by an entity other than the government, although they may receive some tax dollars for special programs.
48% of the nonpublic schools are Catholic with enrolment of 54,221 pupils. Others are Christian schools, 13 percent (14,385); Lutheran…
All fifty states allow parents to homeschool their children. Michigan is one of eleven states who does not require parents to register their children with the local school district or the state, so it is estimated that more than 50,000 children in Michigan are being homeschooled. [a]
The Michigan…
Traditionally local public schools were supported by local property taxes, with voter approval. This reliance onproperty taxes produced very different funding from district to district. In 1993 Proposal A allowed the state to collect property taxes on residential property and distribute them more ev…
In 1993 the Michigan legislature authorized the establishment of Public School Academies, commonly called Charter Schools. One Charter School was set up that year and the total mushroomed to 302 in 2016-2017. The number declined to 294 in 2017-2018. [a]
Public Authorizing bodies approve and overs…
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