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Commentary

Our Say: Lawmakers are ready to override Hogan’s vetoes. Now the governor faces a choice.
February 9, 2021 -

It’s veto override week in Annapolis. Some of these looming votes we applaud — a bill extending background checks to private sales of rifles and shotguns — some we lament. But the facts are clear. Democratic leaders in the General Assembly say they have counted the votes and are ready to begin moving legislation into law that passed last year with what proved to be veto-proof majorities. One piece of legislation, in particular, has dominated the conversation more any other proposal to come through Annapolis in recent years: the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future.

Read More: Capital Gazette
Andrea Chamblee: Gun violence continues, Maryland lawmakers should overturn Hogan’s veto of background check expansion
February 9, 2021 -

This responds to your story catching readers up on the gun violence in Maryland in “Anne Arundel has a plan for how to prevent gun violence. But COVID-19 takes priority as nonfatal shootings are up” (The Capital, Jan. 7). Thank you for keeping this story in the public eye. However, I have two issues with this update. First, the article reports that “There were 27 non-fatal shootings overall in 2019, including when no one was injured.” I can assure you that there is never a case of gun violence where no one is injured. When people are exposed to violence, directed at them or even at others, there is injury. The injuries aren’t limited to psychological ones: the hippocampus in the brain shrinks.

Read More: Capital Gazette
Legislation needed to protect Maryland well owners
February 9, 2021 -

If you’re one of roughly 2 million Marylanders whose drinking water comes from a private well, you or your property owner is responsible for maintaining the well and ensuring its water is safe — no exceptions. That’s because federal clean water laws don’t cover private wells or small water systems, and state-level protections vary dramatically. In Maryland, those protections are few and far between. In a recent Center for Progressive Reform (CPR) report on state-level efforts to protect private well owners, Maryland ranked among the five states with the fewest protections.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Mohler: The Gospel According to Blutarsky with a Dose of HR 1
February 7, 2021 -

Who doesn’t love classic cinema?  There’s Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Shawshank Redemption, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Schindler’s List, The Godfather (#2 of course), Sophie’s Choice, and without a doubt, Animal House (that groan you hear coming from the other room is my wife). Come on now, be honest. You know that as you channel surf, you can’t help but stop when the boys from Delta House show up. Where else will you learn important lessons of life like “fat, dumb, and stupid is no way to go through life, son?” And never has this great American classic been more relevant.

Read More: Don Mohler
Condoleezza Rice: George Shultz will be remembered as one of the most influential secretaries of state in our history
February 7, 2021 -

“It is the best job in government.” I had just called to tell George Shultz that I had been nominated to be secretary of state. I wanted to hear from my mentor, friend and soon to be predecessor. But then he quickly corrected himself. “Except for when I was a captain in the Marine Corps.” That was quintessentially George. He loved his country and loved serving it — whether on the battlefields of World War II or the gilded rooms of diplomacy in foreign capitals around the world.

Read More: Washington Post
Editorial: The cautious reopening of D.C. schools should be celebrated
February 7, 2021 -

“It’s not a school unless we have kids here.” That was the principal of a D.C. elementary school welcoming students back to school last week for the first time since March. “I’m just super excited. I could scream at the top of my lungs.” That was a mother dropping her children off at the school. The cautious start of the reopening of the city’s public school system — only a fraction of D.C. students returned to classrooms — is something that should be celebrated.

Read More: Washington Post
Steiner: Maryland police must stop playing ICE
February 7, 2021 -

Sara Medrano, a Latina grandmother and Frederick County resident, was driving her daughter and two grandchildren to pick up laundry detergent on her way to work when a Frederick County sheriff’s deputy pulled her over, purportedly for a “broken” taillight — that was working just fine — and detained her. In Medrano’s words: “I was so scared thinking that this stop would be the last moment I would have with my grandchildren and my daughter.” The only reason for this stop? The color of her skin.

Read More: Washington Post
Stacey Abrams: Our democracy faced a near-death experience. Here’s how to revive it.
February 7, 2021 -

The violent Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, coupled with ongoing threats to election officials, election workers and lawmakers at all levels, represent unprecedented attacks on the foundations of our democracy. Certainly, President Donald Trump and others in his party who inspired the attacks must be held accountable through all available means. But accountability alone will not be nearly enough. Only meaningful reforms can undo the damage done — and establish a government that is truly representative of the people. The next real test of our democracy comes now.

Read More: Washington Post
Rodricks: In the midst of the muck, Maryland’s Steny Hoyer stands up for decency
February 7, 2021 -

It was in a Senate hearing room in Washington in 1954 when the bow-tied Boston attorney Joseph Welch asserted “a sense of decency” as an American ideal. In the early 1950s, in the midst of the Cold War, Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin had almost single-handedly created a second red scare by claiming, with little evidence, that the federal government and Army had been infiltrated with communist sympathizers. His obsession was the “deep state” of the Eisenhower era.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Vaccinated Montgomery County teachers should be in the classroom
February 5, 2021 -

ABCs, 123s. Sitting in a circle and waiting your turn. Keeping your hands to yourself. Not taking your neighbor’s belongings and absolutely no cutting ahead in line. Beyond basic classroom rules, these are the life lessons that teachers impart to our kids each and every day in schools across the country. Some of these rules are about fairness and right and wrong, and others are about how a person’s actions can affect the good of the group. Teachers start these lessons early and recite them often because these are all critical concepts about being part of a community and they are the foundations upon which a school is run and society prospers.

Read More: Washington Post

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