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Opinion

January 14, 2021

The end of American exceptionalism

Sedition. Whatever you want to call the violent assault in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021 — a mob action, a siege, a coup attempt, a riot, domestic terrorism, an insurrection — the fault clearly lies with the president of the United States. Donald Trump called for it, and when it happened — “an act of violent sedition aided and abetted by a lawless, immoral and terrifying president” (New York Times columnist Bret Stephens, Jan. 6) — he praised it. Joe Biden was correct to use the same language, saying the assault “borders on sedition.”

January 7, 2021

OPINION: Gerrymandering a critical issue in 2021

A 2019 Center for American Progress report on the state of gerrymandering — the manipulation of electoral constituency boundaries in favor of one political party — across the United States found that unfair, partisan redistricting practices had resulted in the election of 59 Congressional representatives who would not have won their seats based on their area’s popular vote.

January 7, 2021

Trump’s disdain for democratic processes apparent in Georgia call

Donald Trump’s telephone conversation with Georgia’s secretary of state will go down in history as a classic case of election interference, totally in keeping with Trump’s disdain for democratic processes and perfect willingness to use any means, legal or otherwise, to get his way.

December 31, 2020

Benefits of vitamin D shine during COVID-19 pandemic, flu season

We are in the middle of a global pandemic, with over 231,000 COVID-19 cases in Washington state alone. Even with the days getting shorter and darker as we enter the cold winter months, there is light at the end of the tunnel, as Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines are distributed.

December 24, 2020

Wearing a cross but violating basic Christian values

Everything that comes out of the White House today — the lies, the false claims of election fraud, the absurd lawsuits — makes me retreat and recoil. But I feel a particular sense of dread whenever I am watching the TV news and press secretary Kayleigh McEnany steps up to the podium in the White House briefing room.

December 17, 2020

Vaccines are here, but we must remain vigilant

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Washington and Oregon residents are lucky to live in the Pacific Northwest, where state leaders have consistently taken the COVID-19 pandemic seriously, listened to public health experts, enacted early mask mandates and stay-at-home orders to help quell the virus and limited indoor activities shown to be at high risk of spreading the airborne coronavirus.

December 17, 2020

Don’t withhold hazard pay from essential workers

As with many issues raised by this pandemic, the problem of hazard pay is fraught with deep, multiple inequities. Like the compensation that traditionally remunerated particularly dangerous work in such fields as military service, mining, or construction, hazard pay was introduced early in the pandemic to recognize the risks and dangers that frontline essential workers face every day.