It was March 24, 2010, and I was at Bangkok’s new international airport, the fifth busiest in Asia. Along with my travel companions, I boarded Air Vietnam flight 830 to Hanoi. Forty years ago, Americans flying this direction would have…
UI Athletics is $1 Million in the Red; BSU’s Enrollment Boost Fizzles
Reader Columnist In 1982 I circulated a petition on the University of Idaho campus asking that state appropriated funds not be used for athletics. My main argument was that these funds should be used solely for academics. The Vandals Win…
Some French break the law to help refugees
Reader Columnist “I felt like if I didn’t do anything, I would regret it all my life, and I would feel like a coward.” —French journalist Raphaël Krafft Over treacherous mountain trails that Jews fleeing Nazi-occupied Italy once used, hundreds…
Obama, Trump or Putin: Will the real Antichrist please stand up?
“We just can’t work with him because our base thinks he’s the Antichrist.” —Barack Obama paraphrasing GOP leaders (8/25/16) President Putin is the Antichrist, and Russia is the 10-horned beast of the Book of Revelation. —Psychic T. Chase (1999) Former…
Refugees and Immigrants are People, Too: Let’s Welcome These New Americans
Nick GierLeave a Comment on Refugees and Immigrants are People, Too: Let’s Welcome These New AmericansTruly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. —Jesus, Matthew 25:40 Ultimately, we fear this executive order may become a self-inflicted wound in the fight…
Donald Trump’s Right-Wing European Allies: Brits, French, Dutch, Germans, and Danes Turn against Immigrants
Nick GierLeave a Comment on Donald Trump’s Right-Wing European Allies: Brits, French, Dutch, Germans, and Danes Turn against ImmigrantsMany countries are shifting from a universal civil nationalism towards the blood-and-soil, ethnic sort. —The Economist (11/19/6) In 1992 Francis Fukuyama published a book with a very strange title: The End of History and the Last Man. Fukuyama’s thesis…
Obama and Reagan: Assessing their legacies
RR is totally lost, out of his depth, and uncomfortable. He has not enough knowledge or decisiveness to cut through the contradictory advice that is being offered to him. —Richard Pipes, at a 1981 National Security Council meeting The general…
Betsy DeVos: the worst possible choice for Education Secretary
Largely as a result of the DeVos’ lobbying, Michigan tolerates more low-performing charter schools than just about any other state. —Stephen Henderson, Detroit Free Press Billionaire Betsy DeVos, Trump’s pick for Secretary of Education, and her brother Erik Prince are…
Green California Makes Progress while Petro State Texas Falters:
From 2015 to 2016, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, California’s Gross Domestic Product rose 4.1 percent while Texas dropped 1.4 percent—right at the edge of recession. Once again conservative economists have been proved wrong: high taxes in the…
Idaho’s religious shield law and tragic child deaths
Editor’s note: this version of Mr. Gier’s column is an expanded version from the one currently in print. An adult’s religious freedom crosses the line when it causes death to a child. –Child Activist Linda Martin These children…