Tribune News Service

It’s time to ask if patriotism has lost its way

By Solomon D. Stevens

Patriotism is love of country, and it can be a very positive force.

All countries benefit when their people feel a sense of belonging and believe in their country’s goodness.

But as our nation becomes more polarized and patriotism is used by some as a litmus test to judge and quickly condemn others, it makes sense to step back and ask ourselves: Has patriotism today lost its way?

Let’s start with the basics.

We learn from Socrates in the “Republic” (and it is confirmed by our experience) that no country is just, altogether good.

2 recent airline accidents show those preflight videos save lives when followed

If you’ve flown recently you’ve probably watched — wait, who am I kidding, failed to watch — an airline’s preflight safety video. And look, I get it. You didn’t watch because nothing ever happens. Until it does, as it did at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Jan. 2, when a Japan Airlines Airbus A350 struck a military aircraft upon landing, and five days later when a large piece of an Alaska Airlines 737 ripped away from the fuselage at 16,000 feet. The fact that all 379 passengers and crew safely escaped the burning JAL aircraft with just a few minor injuries, and that no one was sucked out of the 737...

In attempt to shield kids from sexual content, Florida school district bans dictionaries

By Heidi Stevens

A school district in Florida has made the bold and bewildering decision to ban dictionaries (dictionaries!) from its libraries on the grounds that allowing children to read them violates a law aimed at protecting children from sexual content.

Under HB 1069, signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis last May, Florida residents have the right to demand the removal of any library book that “depicts or describes sexual conduct.”

“As the world goes mad,” Gov. DeSantis said in a statement announcing the new law, “Florida represents a refuge of sanity and a citadel of normalcy.”

Mmmkay.

How to stop your kid from terrorizing the family pet

Dear Kid Whisperer, I am writing for my dog and my child. My 3-year-old abuses my cocker spaniel. I’m sad for my dog and worried for my kid. My dog doesn’t bite, but I think she might if pushed too far. My son’s specialty is hitting my dog with various objects. We have talked to him over and over and the behavior has not improved. What’s left? Answer: Talking to toddlers about behavior is like barking at dogs about geometry: not a good use of time, and it doesn’t make sense. Toddlers don’t listen to words. They do notice action. Repeatedly using words with toddlers in the form of lectures or w...

Challenges of a leader-lite world

By Martin Schram

The Donald and Bibi are two of a kind.

Among the things they have in common is that they are not up to coping with the challenges of today.

We are about to see why.

The world has been watching as these two men in their mid-70s, with courtroom trials pending, have appeared willing to do whatever it takes to regain or retain the power – and not end up in jail.

Even if it meant shattering their nation’s democracy.

They have seemed desperate to remain in control. Until things exploded out of control.

January 6. October 7.

Show-and-tell, Bibi and Joe

By Martin Schram

It happens occasionally, but only rarely.

All the good options suddenly seem to have failed at once.

The only thing left is to just spread your cards across the table – and play this hand face-up.

The truth is, this happens far more at a negotiation table than a card table.

Another truth is it has just happened to Israel – and Israel’s forever kibitzer and guarantor, the United States – in yet another cruel crisis in Gaza.

Israel and its staunchest ally must now show their most convincing visible proof to support their assertions that the devastation Israel inflicted on al-Shifa Hospital patients was justified because Hamas used Gaza’s largest hospital as an underground military command center.

Campaign to send holiday cards to LGBTQ folks shunned by their families is back for second

By Heidi Stevens

It grew out of something repellent and blossomed into something beautiful, like the flowers that burst through sludge or cracked pavement, so determined to grow and survive.

A gunman had just opened fire inside Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colorado, killing five people and injuring 19.

The club was a safe haven for LGBTQ folks, and the murders sent all-too familiar waves of horror and grief through the community and its allies.

Through a whole nation, really, fed up with gun violence — random, targeted, all of it.

That was Nov. 19, 2022.

The majority of Americans want their country back

While I was familiarizing myself with Mike Johnson of Louisiana, our new speaker of the House, news arrived of a uniquely American event, another mass shooting, this time in a bowling alley and bar in Lewiston, Maine. The details are characteristic: Kids were having a good time at youth night in the bowling alley when a white male opened fire with an assault-style, semiautomatic rifle with a high-capacity magazine. Despite Maine’s permissive gun laws—concealed carry is allowed without a permit—no good guy with a gun stepped up. At least 18 are reported killed and many more wounded. Which made ...

Americans only appear to be getting richer. We owe it back.

A much-welcomed ray of sunshine descended on the news recently by way of a new report from the Federal Reserve Board.

It seems that important measures of the net worth of U.S. households — our total assets minus total liabilities — rose markedly following the 2019 COVID pandemic.

But before popping corks and celebrating, we should look a bit closer and recognize that the source of some of those gains may come back to haunt us. First, let’s look at the good news.

Framers would likely agree with disqualifying Trump under the 14th Amendment

At least four eminent legal scholars have recently stirred controversy by arguing that Donald Trump — indicted, among other things, on federal and state charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and attempted soft coup to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 election and remain in power — could be disqualified from the presidential office again under Section 3 of the post-Civil War 14th Amendment to the Constitution.

Heidi Stevens: In the wake of yet another school shooting, I fear young people will give up on our willingness to protect them

The Aug. 30 edition of the Daily Tar Heel, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s student newspaper, was supposed to be devoted to the upcoming football season. The first game would be days away. They would play South Carolina at home in prime time. Hard to imagine a bigger story.

Then an armed suspect walked up to associate professor Zijie Yan on Aug. 28 and shot him dead. The campus was sent into lockdown and thousands upon thousands of students, faculty and staff—and the people who love them—were sent reeling toward an all-too-familiar cycle of dread and fear.

Guilty verdicts will not alter the views of extreme Trumpers

There are 28 million smokers in the United States. This, despite at least six decades of medical evidence supporting the ghastly damage from this habit. About 15% of Americans failed to receive any COVID vaccinations, while more than 1 million died during our recent pandemic. The list can go on and on. Statistics and data don’t necessarily persuade people to change their behavior. The most devoted of Donald Trump’s followers fit the same pattern. Facts and data are ineffective in influencing their beliefs and decisions. When beliefs are deeply entrenched, facts become irrelevant. Changing deep...

When these passengers scam airlines, other travelers pay the price. It’s not nice

In late August, American Airlines announced that it was suing an airfare website that sells seats using a sneaky money-saving trick — one that is forbidden in almost all airlines’ contracts of carriage. It works like this: If the airfare from, say, Boston to Houston is $400 on a nonstop flight, but on the same day the fare from Boston to San Antonio with a connection in Houston is $300, some people buy the connecting flight instead of the more expensive nonstop and get off in Houston. Their seat to San Antonio remains empty. So why is this, arguably, immoral? First, the airline loses money on ...

Form of food we eat may have more impact than we think

Bill W. asks, “Is drinking many of our fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds in a smoothie as healthy and nutritious as eating them?” Surprisingly, even though the whole food we pop into the blender may have the same nutrients as the liquid smoothie, how those nutrients are absorbed can be affected by their form and structure. A 2019 paper published in the journal Food & Function describes how researchers tested the digestibility of three different forms of foods (solid, semisolid and liquid) that were identical in nutrient content. Then they measured how the varied forms of food affected appetit...

On Nutrition: Facts about fiber

Beta glucan, guar gum, hydroxypropylmethylcellulose. What would you do if saw these listed on a food ingredient label? If you are of the mind not to buy any food with ingredients you cannot pronounce, you may be surprised that these ingredients are included in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration definition of dietary fiber. What is dietary fiber exactly? That’s not an easy question apparently. According to the International Food Information Council (IFIC), scientists around the world have not landed on a singular definition. They do agree on a few things, however. Dietary fiber is only found...