LETTERS OPINIONS
Americans are free to be suckers
Many of today’s consumer loans are legal but abusive. Payday lenders and used car sellers often steer customers into costly contracts they barely understand. Low-income borrowers with jobs, and therefore, dependable cash flow to siphon off, are favored targets.
Dark season: The oldest hatred deepens and spreads
Time-honored wisdom holds that if it looks like a duck, waddles like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. The explosion of venom, vitriol, vandalism and violence against Jews since Israel was attacked by genocidal killers on Oct. 7, 2023, begs the question: Is what certainly looks …
License to lie: In Trump’s America, you just say anything
“I cannot tell a lie,” young George Washington supposedly told his father when asked if he’d cut down a cherry tree. That there was no tree and George never said those words hasn’t impeded the myth that holds otherwise, popularized by one of Washington’s early biographers. Ever since, Americans have …
3 reasons not to visit Europe this summer
For some reason, many Americans seem convinced they have to tour Europe this summer — despite the heat, oppressive crowds and high prices all descending on the continent. And if anyone needs a fourth reason, it’s to recognize the growing resentment among many Europeans as the tourist hordes turn their …
‘Time to shut down Enbridge Line 5’
To the Editor: Since February, the pipeline corporation Enbridge has been wreaking havoc on some of Wisconsin’s most precious woods, streams, and wetlands. Why? So the oil industry can keep expanding the most destructive industrial project in human history: mining the Alberta tar sands.
728 X 90 AD
River News: Our View
On the fundamental question of whether the Oneida County Board of Supervisors should enact a one-year moratorium on data centers, the answer is a certain yes.
Graham Platner’s disqualifying behavior
The Washington Post put it this way: Platner, before the latest allegation, faced scrutiny for old social media posts dismissive of sexual assault, a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol that he has since covered up, sexually explicit text messages he sent to other women after he married in 2023, and …
Dropping candidates is getting to be a habit — and it’s not a sign of strength
It’s beginning to be a habit. It, in this case, is the messy business of center-left political jettisoning one leader suddenly deemed unelectable and, without resort to the usual rules or democratic procedure, designating a replacement. It’s the process that came fairly close to giving Americans President Kamala Harris in …
River News: Our View
There’s a lot of noise out there this week, and not all of it comes from celebratory fireworks. Some of it is downright negative. But amid all the noise, let’s take a moment on this Fourth of July week — our nation’s 250th birthday — to remember what this country …
Shoreland protection in Oneida County
To the Editor: There’s a gaping hole in the Oneida County Shoreland Protection Ordinance, which is designed to help preserve the quality of our water resources, wildlife habitat, Northwoods scenery, and the value of lakefront property, the taxation of which contributes so much to the county budget.
728 X 90 AD
Climate survey highlights candidate responses in the 7th Congressional District
To the Editor: In April the Chequamegon, Rib Mountain/Marshfield, and Birchwood Chapters of Citizens’ Climate Lobby sent a survey to 7th Congressional District Candidates Michael Alfonso, Chris Armstrong, Niina Baum, Fred Clark, Jessi Ebben, Kevin Hermening, and Ginger Murray with the following questions:
Do Democrats have the guts to let a toxic nominee lose?
One of the saddest posts this weekend featured Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a moderate, welcoming three Democratic Socialist of America candidates who had won primaries with a handful votes. They included Darializa Avila Chevalier, a nutcase who called for abolishing the borders, police and prisons in addition to accusing …
Minimum wage fail
Not long ago, new kinds of jobs appeared: app-based gig work. They include jobs like dog walking on Rover, Taskrabbit work, DoorDash food delivery, Uber and Lyft driving ... Lots of people like gig work. It’s flexible. You work when you want to work. But “workers’ rights” activists and governing …
Shambles: America surrenders, unconditionally
There was a time when lying all the time was frowned upon, and when easily demonstrable lying all the time could get a fellow into trouble. If President Donald Trump has succeeded at anything, it is in proving that those days are over. Pathological, even felonious, lying did not impede …
We should vote on ideas, not physical likeness
MS NOW commentator Ali Velshi was not alone in complaining that women are “underrepresented” in Congress. It is true that women account for 51 percent of the U.S. population but only 29 percent of the House members. To which I say, “So what.”
728 X 90 AD
