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Mute button debate

After the first presidential debate took on the aspect of a tag team wrestling match where the referee gets knocked out, the non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates has discovered the mute button for this week’s second and final debate. To prevent some of the verbal clashes of the last debate, when President Donald Trump repeatedly interrupted Joe Biden, the two candidates will now be able to make their two-minute introductory remarks during each segment while the other candidate’s microphone is on mute. After the initial remarks, both mics will be live for the open ...

Prepare a plan now for vaccines

We Americans, collectively, were not ready for the coronavirus epidemic. We ought to be ready for the recovery. It will begin when a vaccine against COVID-19 becomes available. Though a timeline for that is uncertain, it appears safe, effective vaccines will be available early next year. Understandably, it will take longer than that for the protection to be accessible by most people. At first, vaccines will have to go to those most in need of them. The list includes health care workers, first responders — and nursing home residents. Federal health officials have begun developing ...

A trillion here, a trillion there…

It is doubtful the late Sen. Everett Dirksen, R-Ill., would have foreseen a time when a bit of sarcasm attributed to him would become obsolete. Sometime during the 1960s, it is said, Dirksen warned against apathy regarding the national debt by commenting, “A billion here and a billion there, and pretty soon, you’re talking real money.” But the B-word means nothing in Washington, these days. Now, it’s a trillion here, a trillion there … and still, no one seems to be worried. A few people are. They warn that the national debt is a millstone around the necks of our children ...

Voting by mail is secure

An in-depth report by CNHI News Service in the Free Press destroys several unfounded myths about absentee voting and makes the case that the voting is safe, secure and both Democrats and Republican candidates will benefit from it. Data collected for the report shows the enormous increase in absentee voting in battleground states that many experts believe will decide the presidential election. In Minnesota alone, some 1.5 million absentee ballots have been ordered and 635,000 have already been returned with 23 days to go before the election. Those figures far surpass any comparable ...

Short Takes

Roundabouts work THUMBS UP: It looks like Marshall motorists will be maneuvering through a roundabout intersection at some point in the future. The Minnesota Department of Transportation confirmed this week that it will be moving forward with a roundabout and other safety updates to four intersections along Highway 19/College Drive in Marshall. The three-way intersection where College Drive and Country Club Drive meet would be replaced with the roundabout. For some motorists, it will be a new experience. Some motorists may be intimidated by a new way to maneuver through an ...

Politics of pandemic come with trade-offs

The recent presidential and vice presidential debates have, rightly, put a focus on the COVID-19 pandemic. The issue has been politicized for some time now, and so the race for the presidency would not be expected to be immune. Last week’s vice presidential debate between Republican Mike Pence and Democrat Kamala Harris put a spotlight on COVID, with Pence defending what the Trump administration has done and Harris arguing that the administration has failed completely. It is difficult to be in a position to have to defend yourself when people are dying from a virus for which there ...