The odd Olympics

July 21, 2021

This week the Olympic Summer Games will begin in Tokyo, already a year late and one of the oddest ever to be held. Thanks to COVID-19, the International Olympics Committee and the Japanese government have banned foreign spectators. The athletes marching in for the opening ceremony will have no one to wave to. No chants or cheers from home nation fans as they compete. The streets of Tokyo will be empty, without the tourists that are usually expected to boost the local economy and provide a return for the massive investment in facilities that Japan has made. A vast percentage of a ...

Rep. Thompson should step down

July 20, 2021

State Rep. John Thompson, DFL-St. Paul, raised questions of racial profiling during a recent traffic stop, when police pulled him over for not having a front license plate. Since then, the questions have all been raised about him. First, why would a Minnesota state representative have a driver's license from Wisconsin? State law says you have to apply for a new Minnesota driver's license within 30 days. Thompson said he has never had a Minnesota driver's license, and has even renewed his Wisconsin license twice since moving to Minnesota. So, either he was lying to the state of ...

Hiding out is an old political ploy

July 19, 2021

The Democratic members of the Texas Legislature are on the lam in Washington D.C. this week, to prevent Republicans in the state from passing more restrictive voting regulations by denying them a quorum. It’s not the first time a legislative caucus has abandoned their session to stymie legislation they can’t defeat. Going AWOL to prevent a legislative quorum is an old concept that has been used from time to time by both Democrats and Republicans. There are even some instances dating back to the George Washington administration. But for sheer nerve, perhaps no legislative quorum ...

Et Cetera

July 17, 2021

Joe Brown Congratulations to Superintendent Joe Brown, who has made the decision to retire from Fairmont Area Schools. Brown has done a great job since he was hired in 2010. The school district is in great financial shape, he has passed multiple referendums in his tenure, and the facilities are well-kept and well-run, with a new vocational wing on the way. We agree with board member Rufus Rodriguez who stated that Brown has contributed tremendously to the district. We wish him well in his future endeavors. Housing Project Fairmont is currently looking at an affordable housing ...

From pets to pests

July 15, 2021

An interesting news item from Burnsville this week recounts the problem of lunker-sized goldfish taking over Keller Lake. Apparently people have been dumping their no-longer-wanted pets into the lake and the cute little finny friends are growing into football sized pests that tend to root up bottom vegetation, roil the bottom sediment, releasing phosphates that lead to algae growth and compete for food with native species of fish. It is against state law in Minnesota to release goldfish or any other fish into domestic waters; it’s called illegal stocking. We’ve seen what has ...

Another inglorious retreat for U.S.

July 14, 2021

The lessons of Vietnam were ignored during the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, and the result gives truth to the saying that those who ignore history are bound to repeat it. President Joe Biden is pulling U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, nearly 20 years after they first went in to dismantle the Taliban government that had harbored Al Qaida, the terrorist group responsible for the 9-11 attacks on the U.S. It’s hard to fault Biden’s decision. We have spent far too much blood and treasure in a futile attempt to stamp out an enemy that can slip away into remote areas or across ...