Four factors for assessing a judge

April 10, 2023

Can a judge be assessed using a negative stereotype seen in political ads? My belief in assessing this is that judging the performance of a judge means looking at four factors. The first is whether the decision is within the sentencing guidelines and a violation of established law. The sentencing, I believe, should be within prior precedent. Stereotypes do not tell you that. Secondly, judges need to see that the law is applied without consideration for gender, race, religion, sexual preference or economic means and status. These things seem to me to be ignored in the stereotypic ...

Backs Kelly for Wisconsin justice

March 31, 2023

Wisconsin residents, go out and vote! Go out and vote April 4. Vote for Dan Kelly for Wisconsin Supreme Court. It’s imperative a conservative is elected, to keep a majority on the court.There are so many reasons, from voters ID, carry permits, school choice, Act 10 — even unborn children would also be a grave risk. These things are all in danger. Why do you think the national Democratic party is getting involved in this Wisconsin race? Or former President Obama and Hillary Clinton, supporting “no-bail Janet” Protasiewicz. With an infiltration of money in the millions, she is ...

Music of ’60s, ’70s still relevant today

March 30, 2023

Someone said, “Life’s a song.” The chorus is the part that repeats itself. More than that, time has a way of digging up the past and making it shine like a brand-new diamond. I have always loved music for inspiration and enjoyment. Does anyone remember Quicksilver Messenger Service? Somehow their music is more relevant today than it ever was back in the late ’60s and early ’70s. Most strikingly, one of the verses in the song “What About Me?” says, “I feel like a stranger in the land where I was born.” Man, does that shoe fit. “You poisoned my sweet water”… ...

What does the evidence show?

March 21, 2023

Is the United States more violent? If you watch the news and political ads, you would likely answer yes, but what does the evidence say? My sources are FBI records, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics as part of the Census Bureau’s annual National Crime Victimization Survey. In these sources, the rate of violent victimization dropped from 79.8 per 1,000 in 1993 to 16.5 per 1,000 in 2021. The findings measure rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault and simple assault. Between 2012 and 2021, this rate fell 9.6 cases per 1,000. In ...

IM campus best if centralized

March 17, 2023

EDITOR: The Centralized Campus is the new and most effective model in education today nationally. As an educator for more than 30 years with experience as a classroom teacher, school counselor, track/swim coach, college instructor and most recently coordinator of the Dickinson-Iron Great Start Collaborative and the Imagination Factory Children’s Museum, I wholeheartedly believe in the Centralized Campus model for our community. The following rationale supports implementation of a future Iron Mountain Public School Centralized Campus for all students — — Cross-age mentoring ...

Sobering words on socialism

March 16, 2023

EDITOR: This was Russia’s Khruschev’s prediction about the U.S. in 1959. Sobering words. Where do YOU think we stand? “Your children’s children will live under Communism. You Americans are so gullible. No, you won’t accept it outright, but we’ll keep feeding you small doses of socialism until you finally wake up and find you’re ready, you already have Communism.” “We will not have to fight you. We will so weaken your economy until you will fall like overripe fruit into our hands. The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to ...