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Letters To The Editor

Enough is enough

To the Journal editor: It is time to act. Enough is enough. When the tragedy at Michigan State University happened, I was overseas in New Zealand and Australia. As a graduate of Michigan State University College of Law and as a father of a college student, I was especially concerned and upset. Local New Zealanders and Australians expressed shock and disbelief that such gun violence still happens in the United States. They shared with me how their governments successfully eliminated mass gun deaths by passing sensible gun reform. It was 4 years ago in March 2019 in Christ ...

Fewer is better

To the Journal editor: On Jan. 27, John Stossel wrote an op-ed attempting to present the positive side of overpopulation. In the article, he claims that innovation prevents our growing population from destroying nature. He tries to argue that our 8 billion people consume sustainably and that women having fewer babies hurts the world. As a younger man, I had the wonderful opportunity to live and work in the Netherlands. The country of the Netherlands is about the same geographic size as the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The U.P., however, has just over 301,000 people, while the ...

Help our democracy heal

To the Journal editor: I picked up the book “Endurance” about Shackleton’s 1915 ill-fated Antarctica expedition. Facing the dire consequences of their ship being crushed, the Endurance’s crew perspective changed from self-serving to seeing the humanity in each other. Their only chance for survival was to combine each of their unique skills in order to be successful. They jettison ego and petty differences, and began to salvage what they could before the Endurance finally succumbed to the violent stresses of polarizing ice sheets. The crew relied on each other to navigate ...

Real reason given

To the Journal editor: Marching in local parades with “Yoopers for Ukraine,” I was profoundly struck by large spontaneous outbursts of applause at the Chassell Strawberry Festival, the many eager takers of the Ukrainian flags we passed out at the Parade of Nations, and most recently the proud sight of the Ukrainian flag carried alongside the American flag by the color guard leading Hancock’s Heikinpaiva parade. Yet, every week as we protest Putin’s invasion of Ukraine at the Portage Lift Bridge, there will always be two or three people passing by who will shout out “Go ...

Loss of unions impacts all

To the Journal editor: Recently read a couple of editorials from The Detroit News. Also noticed the Mackinac Group is heavily flogging the same thing. Incidentally, “Right-to-Work” is, in my opinion, the worst misnomer since the Red Delicious apple. Here are some facts to keep in mind when you read that former Gov. Snyder saved us from the evil of mandatory union membership when he made us a “Right-to-Work” state 10 years ago. 1. A “closed shop” is one in which a worker must join a union in order to work in that shop. It has been illegal in all 50 states since ...

Knowledge is power

To the Journal editor: What we count as newsworthy, like what we count as historically significant, is a matter of opinion. These days, many avid news seekers ferret out “news sources” that only reinforce their present biases. About 1.4 million Americans tune into Fox News each day, about 1.3 million view MSNBC and/or CNN. Together, that’s less than 1% of the U.S. population. If you’re reading this, you probably believe most other people read the paper, as well. Pew Research says about 25 million Americans routinely or occasionally a physical or online newspaper; or about ...