LETTERS/OPINIONS
The first responders we don’t see
To the Editor: Emergency dispatchers are often called the first responders, yet their role is frequently misunderstood and undervalued. I’ve been a police officer for 24 years and understand how important dispatchers are to an officer’s and the public’s safety and how their mental health struggles are often overlooked, or …
Immigration is shaking up political parties in Britain, Europe and the U.S.
As British Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces calls to resign for his appointment of Epstein-tied Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States, one is struck by the sudden instability of British governments. In the 28 years between 1979 and 2007, Britain had only three prime ministers, while in the …
Judge Richard J. Leon
My hero for the week is yet another federal district judge, who is holding the line on the worst of the Trump administration’s excesses. Richard Leon is a former President George W. Bush appointee to the District Court for the District of Columbia. On Thursday, he issued an order at …
Random Act of Kindness Day
To the Editor: Random Act of Kindness day is Feb. 17, and it is a day to celebrate kindness and the whole pay-it-forward mentality. The movement of Random Acts of Kindness inspires people every day.
The con consuming American politics
There is a growing sense of frustration coursing through American politics, and it is no longer confined to one party or ideology. That frustration has real roots. Major institutions badly damaged their credibility during the COVID-19 pandemic, the excesses of the Black Lives Matter movement, and years of breathless coverage …
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So much for the murderers and rapists ...
Remember back in the campaign when “immigration” meant deporting the rapists and murderers and gang members who were supposedly flooding across the border and wreaking havoc in our cities? That’s what mass deportation meant — not mass deportation of gardeners and day laborers from Home Depot.
Change the culture, save the officer
To the Editor: As we enter 2026, I want to speak directly to police officers, supervisors, and leaders, not from a position of theory, but from lived experience.
Lakeland Times: Our View
Suddenly, as if old Wile E. Coyote was speeding across the plains hot on the trail of a road-running Dr. Snake Oil, the medical establishment is sprinting wildly away from its previous position on “gender-affirming care” for minors, otherwise known as the gender mutilation of children.
Will falling birth rates mean a more conservative world?
George Orwell was on to it almost 80 years ago — the problem of below-replacement level birth rates. In a short book written for the Britain in Pictures series in 1947, written just as Britain was emerging from wartime rigors into an uncharted postwar future, Orwell noted that despite an …
This one speaks for itself, etc.
Why would the President of the United States post a video of former President Barack Obama and the former First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys?
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Warning signs for Republicans in 2026
Republicans are beginning to sound the alarm about the 2026 midterm elections, and not without reason. The concern was crystallized by a Texas state Senate race in a district President Donald Trump carried by 17 points in 2024 but which recently shifted 14 points toward Democrats — a staggering 31-point …
Don Lemon’s arrest
For once, something President Donald Trump and I can agree on. The arrest was “the best thing that could have happened” to Don Lemon, the president told reporters, after calling the former CNN anchor “washed up” and a “failed host.” In fact, Mr. Lemon hosts a daily two-hour YouTube news …
Let the groundhogs hibernate
To the Editor: Groundhogs are wild animals and true hibernators, yet every year they are pulled out of captivity — not their natural dens — for a tradition that has nothing to do with their well‑being. The practice began with German immigrants in the 1800s, who used hedgehogs or badgers …
ICE is coming, ready or not
To the Editor: Like it or not, it’s just a matter of time before US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) comes to Wisconsin, if they’re not already here. After witnessing the chaos that ensued in Minnesota, we have nothing to look forward to here except more of the same, unless …
The ATV safety argument comes full circle
To the Editor: Who now has safety concerns? The Jan. 27 issue of The Lakeland Times included an article discussing an Arbor Vitae town board letter of support for an ATV/UTV trail to run through the Northern Highland American Legion State Forest. The proposed trail would connect Arbor Vitae and …
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