Columns – Page 188

Yes It Is, It’s True: My confession of betrayal and bullying

September 22, 2016

“Bless me, Father, for I have sinned…” This might be one of the most difficult columns I’ve ever penned because it’s a confession about my role in abusing, bullying and humiliating another human being. I’ve finally mustered the courage to tell the tale. My family and I arrived in Wayland...

Ranger Rick: Is Hillary Clinton healthy enough to be president?

September 20, 2016

Presidential politics have certainly been unconventional this year, to put it mildly. The recent half hour presentation where both candidates answered questions about being commander in chief was most telling. Mrs. Clinton, going first, started with making excuses. She received a question from the audience, a retired naval officer stated;...

Basura: Torture issue enough to reject Trump’s candidacy

September 20, 2016

“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” — G.K. Chesterton The United States has long voiced support for international law and human rights. These espoused values foster peace, security and rule of law. Such concepts...

Democracy Tree: Sending it back to Trump — Postage paid

September 19, 2016

by Amy Kerr Hardin Wednesday’s mail revealed a large envelope with a stars and stripes stamp affixed in the upper right, addressed to me from none other than Donald J. Trump. He wants me to help him make American Great Again — a feat which apparently can only be achieved...

Columns

Army Bob: Hillary Clinton seeks to divide, not unite us

September 19, 2016

by Robert M. Traxler Let’s discuss a recent speech Secretary Hillary Clinton gave at fund-raiser in New York City to a group of rich donors headlined by Barbara Streisand. She said in the speech Sept. 9, “You can put half (more than 63,000,000) of Trump supporters in what I call...

Monday Moanin’: Winning and losing lawsuits and ballgames

September 18, 2016

Detroit students sue state, claiming constitutional right to literacy being violated DETROIT (WXYZ) - Is the opportunity to learn to read a constitutional right in the United States of America? A federal lawsuit filed today by students in Detroit says it is. The first of its kind suit accuses the...

Barry Hastings: Sea War! The Yanks vs. the Brits, 1812-1814

September 18, 2016

by Barry Hastings This war was a quarrel over seaman's rights and the right to free oceangoing trade. It occurred during a period when England's main adversary in a war to the knife, was first Revolutionary France, quickly followed by Napoleonic France. Bonaparte was at war with England and most...

Columns

Army Bob: Don’t buy guilt trip over Mexican-American War

September 15, 2016

by Robert M. Traxler The presidential election and the role of illegal immigrants, undocumented aliens, uninvited guests, felons — exactly how we refer to them makes little real difference except to the politically correct. The influx of Mexican citizens into the United States has reawakened the interest in the Mexican War,...

Yes It Is, It’s True: Tales of Hoffman, an actual Irish-American

September 15, 2016

I hired Nick Hoffman, a University of Michigan graduate, as staff writer and police beat and court reporter for the Hastings Banner and Reminder in the mid-1990s. Nick stuck it out under me for about two years, but in 1995 decided he would leave the United States because he already...

Ranger Rick: Oh, what a tangled web we weave when we deceive

September 13, 2016

What are the polite ways of saying someone lied? Something including one or more of the following or they are described as: mis-spoke, incorrectly remembered, mis-remembered, misinterpretation, misstatement, prevarication, fairy tale, falsity, fib, half-truth, jive, distorted, whopper, teller of untruths, fabrication, prevaricator, equivocator, white-lie, bullsheeter, bullcrapper, full of it, blowhard,...

Category: Columns