News & Articles

Clear and present danger!
 
As usual, I have drafted out 2-3 more letters since my last letter in early September but Biden’s gaffes, shouting speeches and “strange” behavior makes me start this new letter. I just saw video of Biden’s arrival in Detroit where he is holding hands with Governor Whitmer as he walks away from Air Force #1. (Remember the Tara Reade story?) Very “strange”!

 Next, Biden’s speech on 9/1/2022 calling 74+ million MAGA Republicans as “semi-fascists” was not only embarrassing on an international level but very, very “strange”! I  believe he has now increased the MAGA number to over 100+ million patriots!
Then, who would hold a party on the White House lawn to celebrate the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act on the very day the August inflation rates of 8.3% was released! This goes way beyond “strange” but I believe “idiotic” is a more appropriate term!
At this point, it is very obvious that Biden is a “clear and present danger” to Democracy and America. It is time to implement the 25th Amendment of the Constitution. However, the bad news is that the V. P. Kamala Harris would be President. Not a good prospect!
Breaking news! On September 18th the 60 Minutes program Biden announced that the pandemic is over! Time to rehire teachers, police, military staff, etc.
Chuck Bracken
Cannon Falls, Minnesota

Term limits are a bad idea

Rep. Mary Murphy’s opponent Natalie Zeleznikar says that Murphy has been legislator too long and therefore she supports term limits of 10 years. 
I believe term limits are undemocratic and probably unconstitutional since U.S. Congress does not have term limits. Minnesota House and U.S. Congressional members are elected and re-elected every two years. If they had term limits, citizens would be denied the right to elect their legislators.
Rep. Murphy lost a lot of money serving her constituents, because she had to take a leave of absence from teaching while on duties in St. Paul. I was a teacher when I got elected to Minnesota House and I lost half of my teaching salary, because our state had one of the lowest compensation for elected officials. 

Natalie Zeleznikar owns nursing and assisted living facilities, which are mostly funded by taxes, so she will not have to worry about losing financially if she got elected. But, she would have conflict of financial interest since the state welfare funds pay for her clients’ costs in her facilities.
Northeastern Minnesota has been fortunate to have so many dedicated legislators with seniorities to help our communities. We lost 76 years of seniority in St. Paul 2022 because Tom Bakk, Mike Sundeen, Jennifer Schultz are not returning and David Tomassoni died.
Mike Jaros,
Minnesota State Representative
1973-1981 and 1985-2009 

So not entitled

The Republican party has made no secret about not wanting to fund “entitlement” programs such as Social Security and Medicare or even Medicaid, The Republican line has always seemed to be “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.”
People who are working poor according to Republican doctrine are supposed to not receive any assistance whatsoever from federal or state government. All the tax cuts the Republican party advocates go to the 1or 2 percenters who really need no assistance like that or to big business (think Foxconn giveaways). Seems the Republican party platform is only to get Trump re-elected and that’s it!

They have nothing else to talk about or to offer. I remember the Gold Star family that Trump was disrespecting. The father of the fallen soldier was speaking at the Democratic convention and he said the truth: “You [Trump] have never served and have sacrificed nothing for this country.”
Why do people vote for politicians who hurt them and their families year after year? (Think the recent burn pit legislation for veteran’ health care which the Republicans had to be shamed into voting for.)
In Wisconsin it is long past time for a change to vote for people other than Ron Johnson (supported to deliver a false electoral college document to Trump) or Tom Tiffany (voted to object to the electoral college count) or Robin Vos (wasted millions of taxpayer dollars on an election investigation which turned up nothing, all this after the election was certified).

Their only concern seems to be clinging to power and gerrymandering rather than working for us or solving problems either on a state or national level. I wish these Republican guys would prove me wrong by funding schools, roads/bridges, Medicare/Social Security, Medicaid, food programs or paid family leave.

Pam Koepsel
Iron River, Wisconsin

GOP insanity

When contemplating today’s political landscape, every so often a dose of reality hits me, and I realize we’re missing the big picture, again. We obsess about the many terrible candidates put forth by the GOP, not just Herschel Walker but many who are already in Congress – Greene, Gosar, Jordan, Hawley, Boebert, Gaetz – far-right crazies all, to say nothing of some who were almost elected, the pedophile Roy Moore comes to mind. And then it suddenly dawns on me – this is the party of Donald Trump, conman extraordinairre, the man who BRAGGED on tape about sexually assaulting women, who on so many levels is worse than any of them! So why should any of this surprise us?

William L Scott
Soudan, Minnesota

News flash

It was a matter of time a pandemic food relief program was apparent. More than 100-plus people have scammed 300 million and rising funds. The scammers are using the “free money”for buying houses, to get section 8, cars, five free taxi rides per month, food trucks and food stamps. This explains why 70 percent of people are overweight. All over you see signs and banners “Now Hiring.” With all the bennies, no one wants to work. $15 an hour seems good to me. The poor get richer and the rich get poorer.

One exception is Trumpty Dumpty (tax evader and impeachee). Thanks John D. and other supporters for responding to my WLM article.
Lyn Breitung
Solon Springs, Wisconsin

Why are ‘progressives’ harmfully regressive?

Abortion is a pagan practice. Abortion in America has been called the American holocaust. Homosexuality is a pagan practice, as is the sexualization of young children. Nothing progressive there.
And now the “progressives” are regressing even further by supporting people who live outside in the elements. The city of Duluth and we Duluth taxpayers are taking on a large liability.
What might happen in these tent cities: physical assaults, sexual assaults, murders, drug overdoses, sex trafficking, child trafficking, harrasment of neighbors, aggressive panhandling, spreading diseases.
Our “progressive” city government has regressed several hundreds of years. How much more progressivism can our city take? Can our nation take? It is time to return to the way of the Lord; our ways, the ways of men and women apart from God, has made a mess of things.
Gregg Schweiger
Duluth, Minnesota