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Closed primaries driving America crazy

Editorials

How could Donald Trump with bottom-scraping approval ratings decide who would represent the Republican Party in the upcoming Texas senatorial race? The primary system offers an explanation. A simple open primary system would have let the broader public choose — and, ironically, save Republicans from a very possible loss in November. Open primaries let registered voters cast a ballot without being members of the party. Closed primaries allow only party members to vote. About 15 states now run genuinely open primaries. There are mixed systems that still help small numbers of voters ...

Orchids & onions

Editorials

ORCHID: To teachers in the Boardman Education Association for taking one for the team last week by approving a three-year contract with the large suburban school district that contains zero base-pay raises for them. Their unconventional and selfless action will benefit their team — namely the administration of the school system and its taxpayers — during these tough inflationary times. At a time when the National Education Association reports average teacher salaries are rising 3.5% this year, the nearly 300 BEA members’ personal sacrifice not only will help avoid deficit spending ...

Why the Blanche nomination should be rejected

Editorials

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche is not qualified to be the attorney general of the United States because he has demonstrated a hopeless conflict between the rule of law — which he has taken an oath to support — and his sense of personal loyalty to President Donald Trump, whom he represented for several years in a notorious but frivolous criminal case in New York. What to do about a nominee as chief law enforcement officer in the land who has and will not disavow this conflict? Reject him. Here is the backstory. For America’s first 100 years, there was no Department of ...

The real stink of Musk

Editorials

Elon Musk will be spending $100 million to $120 million in at least eight states to help elect Republicans in November, according to The New York Times. Musk’s spending is set to begin next month, targeting Senate races in Alaska, Iowa, Maine, Michigan and Ohio, and potentially North Carolina, Georgia, and Texas. Musk will also spend in House races in states including California, Wisconsin, and Washington. The money won’t be spent only on TV advertising. Musk’s “America PAC” is lining up firms that focus on knocking on voters’ doors. Fake grassroots. But Musk’s money ...

The Iran war is eating Trump’s presidency

Editorials

An Iran war that was supposed to be brief, and then was supposed to be over, is imposing an increasing price on Donald Trump’s presidency. We’ve seen a second term of a Republican administration go this way before. There are distinct echoes of George W. Bush’s Iraq War — the conflict that Trump has long excoriated — in the president’s predicament. Now, the Iran war is different from Iraq. There is no ground invasion, no regime change, no occupation, no counterinsurgency. The casualties aren’t close to the same scale, and Donald Trump has been fighting Iran for ...

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Letters to the Editor

Why do we see endless outrage directed at immigrants from Haiti, Venezuela and Somalia, while Ukrainians get a free pass? Is it really that simple — they just happen to be white and Christian? Besides, who do they expect to rebuild and fix that country after the war when Ukraine is left as a deserted island? — Salem At the point when a million-dollar mistake was made and checks started to bounce, Ciccone should have been fired. It’s time for him to resign. Taxpayers deserve more than incompetence. — Niles I am absolutely appalled by the new ultimatum issued to residents at ...