Posted inCity Council Downtown

Parking meters could be coming to downtown Salem

For at least ten years, maybe more, parking meters in downtown Salem has been a contentious issue. Back in July 2013, Carole Smith, a downtown resident, property owner, and activist, collected more than 8,000 signatures, many more than were needed to put a Stop Parking Meters in Downtown Salem initiative on the May 2014 ballot. This celebratory poster appeared on many downtown businesses. Because when confronted with the widespread opposition to parking meters in Salem's core, the conservative-leaning City Council at first did away with all time limits on downtown parking, then reversed itself in the fall of 2014, instituting…
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Posted inUncategorized

I demolish more myths about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Today is the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The United Nations General Assembly marked the occasion by overwhelmingly backing a resolution condemning Russia's invasion and calling for the withdrawal of troops from Ukraine and an end to the fighting. There were 141 nations on the side of freedom and democracy; 32 countries abstained; 7, including Russia, voted against the resolution.  I'm commemorating Ukraine's incredible brave fight against the Russian aggression, and war crimes, by once again demolishing myths about the war that keep being sent to me by someone who clearly has bought into lies being spread about…
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Posted inCity of Salem Police reform

City officials still keeping secret why deputy police chief got $53,500 on way out

The City of Salem slogan, At Your Service, deserves to be changed to At Your Secret Service, given the lengths city officials have gone to preserve a veil of secrecy over Deputy Police Chief Steve Bellshaw's highly unusual $53,500 taxpayer payment as he was leaving his position under suspicious circumstances. The Salem Reporter has been doggedly trying to pry what should be public information out of the closed fist of city officials. Here's how their newest story on this subject starts out. The city of Salem was prepared in the fall to release key documents about the unusual departure of…
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Posted inNational politics

John Fetterman’s depression deserves deep compassion

Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Fetterman, the bald, goateed, year-round shorts and hoodie-wearing guy who beat Mehmet Oz in last year's midterm election after suffering a stroke, is severely depressed. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who suffered a near-fatal stroke in the midst of his campaign last year, checked himself into the hospital on Wednesday evening to receive treatment for clinical depression, a remarkable disclosure from a politician about mental health. The senator voluntarily admitted himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington at the recommendation of the attending physician of Congress, Brian P. Monahan, who on Monday evaluated the…
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Posted inNational politics

I debunk conspiracy theories about the Ukraine war

Recently I heard from someone opposed to the war in Ukraine. Their reasons sounded screwy to me, so I decided to fact-check what they said. It just took me a few minutes of Googling to debunk virtually all of their objections to the Ukraine war, which in my opinion, is totally justified -- since it was Putin, the autocratic leader of Russia, who invaded Ukraine about a year ago for no good reason. The United States, the European Union, and other allies are strong backers of the democratically-elected government of Ukraine against Putin's attempt to rekindle the bad old days…
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Posted inJoe Biden National politics

Marjorie Taylor Greene gives Joe Biden a gigantic gift

Watching last night's State of the Union address was highly pleasurable for me in several ways. One, Biden gave a great speech with energy belying his 80 years. Two, ultra-MAGA-crazy Marjorie Taylor Greene gave Biden a great gift when she yelled "you lie" and other things at him while doing her best angry baboon imitation. (To those who think it's insulting to baboons to pair them with Greene, the image popped up in my Twitter feed today, so complain to whoever came up with this inspired comparison -- which admittedly puts baboons in a bad light that they don't deserve.)…
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Posted inNational politics

Elon Musk falsely claims thousands of NATO soldiers killed in Ukraine

For supposedly being one of the world's smartest people, Elon Musk sure can be amazingly dumb at times.  I follow Musk on Twitter so I get to see both his interesting tweets about Space X, Tesla, and such, and his crazy tweets about things Musk obviously knows nothing about. Or does know about, and lies about them anyway. Like, the war in Ukraine. Today I was astounded to see that Musk had replied to an obviously false tweet by Russian Market where it was claimed that thousands of NATO troops had died in Ukraine. Yeah, Elon, it would indeed be…
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