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Opinion

Parents may hold the birth certificates, but U.S. kids belong to gun manufacturers

Taking a Gander
By Michael S. Robinson Sr.

FDA approves brain implants—that's bad news for Congress

Smart Bomb: The completely unnecessary news analysis
By Christopher Smart

When Clarence Thomas meets St. Peter at the Pearly Gates

Smart Bomb: The completely unnecessary news analysis
By Christopher Smart
Parents may hold the birth certificates, but U.S. kids belong to gun manufacturers
Parents may hold the birth certificates, but U.S. kids belong to gun manufacturers

Parents may hold the birth certificates, but U.S. kids belong to gun manufacturers

Taking a Gander
America has abdicated its responsibility in seeing that highly effective killing devices are no longer available for general sale to all kinds of people. I hate to be a harbinger of tragedy, but we elected these people and it’s high time that we made them respond to our cries.

By Michael S. Robinson Sr. May 31, 2023

Heber City should stick to its guns on light pollution and deny harmful upward-lighting of new LDS temple
Heber City should stick to its guns on light pollution and deny harmful upward-lighting of new LDS temple

Heber City should stick to its guns on light pollution and deny harmful upward-lighting of new LDS temple

Taking a Gander
As a child I dreamed of flying and, on a lark, I took my first lesson in 1978.

By Michael S. Robinson Sr. May 24, 2023

Thank Utah’s seagulls, again, for saving the state from catastrophe
Thank Utah’s seagulls, again, for saving the state from catastrophe

Thank Utah’s seagulls, again, for saving the state from catastrophe

Taking a Gander
Sadly, there’s truth in the adage, “Be careful what you pray for.” Record precipitation is presenting the possibility of a replay of SLC’s 1983 snowmelt, when rivers flowed on the city’s primary thoroughfares after record temperatures changed the snow to wild torrents. Should that happen, we should try to have the seagulls ready and waiting, using their buckets, once again, to save the day.

By Michael S. Robinson Sr. May 17, 2023

A 'Class of '63' alum on 60 years of life since leaving Salt Lake City's Highland High School
A 'Class of '63' alum on 60 years of life since leaving Salt Lake City's Highland High School

A 'Class of '63' alum on 60 years of life since leaving Salt Lake City's Highland High School

Opinion
Oh, well, a touch of grey/ Kind of suits you anyway. —Grateful Dead

By John Rasmuson May 17, 2023

Enough post-mortem prayers. Daily mass shootings should be a wake-up call for America
Enough post-mortem prayers. Daily mass shootings should be a wake-up call for America

Enough post-mortem prayers. Daily mass shootings should be a wake-up call for America

Taking a Gander
Frankly, it’s ridiculous to think that there’s any American who doesn’t understand why mass shootings plague our country, day after day after day.

By Michael S. Robinson Sr. May 10, 2023

Nature’s tragedies don’t compare with our man-made nightmares
Nature’s tragedies don’t compare with our man-made nightmares

Nature’s tragedies don’t compare with our man-made nightmares

Taking a Gander
Instead of leading, America has become a rogue nation, choosing to participate in torture and incarceration without charges, failing to support the existence of a world court for bringing real perpetrators to justice, demonstrating how its laws can be flaunted by the wealthy and unfairly used against the minorities and the poor and, in general, setting a very bad example for the world. Sadly, our country has become its own worst enemy. Now we’re being forced to the poignant, sudden understanding that, though sworn to sustain and uphold the principles of jurisprudence as our nation’s highest court, SCOTUS is an outlier from law and order. As citizens, we’re expected to “toe the line,” all while our Supreme Court justices have become a “law unto themselves.”

By Michael S. Robinson Sr. May 3, 2023

Top 10 ways to save the Great Salt Lake
Top 10 ways to save the Great Salt Lake

Top 10 ways to save the Great Salt Lake

Smart Bomb: The completely unnecessary news analysis
Spencer Cox a hard-guy? There is another side to our Boy-Scout-ish governor. Who knew? If you want to make up flippin' falsehoods about Spencer, you'd better not do it to his face—no siree, Bob. We got a peek at his mean mood at a recent Utah GOP confab when conspiracy expert Jason Preston accused Cox of planning a “smart city” on the site of the old state prison in Draper. Such “smart cities”—or “15-minute cities”—are really prisons for ordinary working people, according to folks like Preston. (Like everyday indentured workers need another self-imposed gulag.)

By Christopher Smart May 3, 2023

Sen. Mike Lee brings shame—and an unpleasant smell—to Utah
Sen. Mike Lee brings shame—and an unpleasant smell—to Utah

Sen. Mike Lee brings shame—and an unpleasant smell—to Utah

Taking a Gander
With all the credentials of a fine constitutional lawyer and the appearance of a decent family man, Lee has everything going for him—everything, that is, but the morality that a Utah senator should possess. It’s extremely disturbing that someone with his intelligence and education still chooses to align himself with the worst creatures of the D.C. swamp. That’s what tells us who he is—his only loyalty is to whomever and whatever he perceives as expeditious for his political career. Let’s face the facts: Lee’s been the ultimate GOP sycophant, trying to figure out which public figures are most likely to be going places and making sure that, no matter how outrageous, he’s there to beat his drum. Where there’s dirt in politics, he always seems to sniff it out and be a part of it.

By Michael S. Robinson Sr. April 26, 2023

Mickey Mouse, you woke rat!
Mickey Mouse, you woke rat!

Mickey Mouse, you woke rat!

Smart Bomb: The completely unnecessary news analysis
That's right, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was in Salt Lake City to help the Utah Republican Party get its blood up for the crusade against all things woke. DeSantis, who is unofficially running for president, told the faithful reactionaries they are under attack and that he will fight tirelessly against evil wokeness. “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.” You're right, Wilson, it does sound a bit like Churchill, but great minds think alike, especially if one is a revered statesman and the other is preaching to an ultraconservative GOP convention that has an appetite for dead, burnt bodies. The Rapture was at hand.

By Christopher Smart April 26, 2023

Black LDS leader denounces the activism on which he stands
Black LDS leader denounces the activism on which he stands

Black LDS leader denounces the activism on which he stands

Opinion
During the April 2023 Latter-day Saint General Conference, Ahmad Corbitt was elevated to the status of general authority, becoming the second African American man in church history to receive that title. While we celebrate this milestone as a step toward greater racial diversity within the church, we can simultaneously evaluate the ways in which Corbitt's rhetoric helps or hinders efforts toward social justice and equality.

By Keith Burns April 26, 2023

Can America survive this era of lies?
Can America survive this era of lies?

Can America survive this era of lies?

Taking a Gander
Lies—sadly, they’re becoming an essential part of what America is today. We’ve gone from the “I cannot tell a lie” mindset, to seeing who can tell the most outrageous ones and get away with it. Now we’re even discovering that the more lies, the greater the campaign donations, and that honor is not so much about the lie, but the triumph of telling big lies and getting away with them. We’ve even subscribed to the idea that lies are an integral key to good negotiations, and that people in business and government cannot survive without them.

By Michael S. Robinson Sr. April 19, 2023

It’s TikTok, Stupid
It’s TikTok, Stupid

It’s TikTok, Stupid

Smart Bomb: The completely unnecessary news analysis
Even Congress is freaking out. It's a national threat, warned Congressman Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc. "It's not just exfiltrating data from an American phone,” he said, “it's what they're able to push to Americans through the algorithm—control our sense of reality, control the news, meddle in future elections." Ee gads! Brave New World! TikTok's data theft also poses peril to national security. For instance, through TikTok the Chinese knew long ago that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was accepting million-dollar vacations from billionaire Harlan Crow. And they knew Ginni Thomas planned Jan. 6. They knew Ivanka dyed her hair red and moved to Buenos Aires under the name Marla Maples. They even knew Kim K and Kanye West weren't really divorced. If that isn't a threat to national security, what is?

By Christopher Smart April 19, 2023

Utah’s mama Cox and his rebellious kids, an unrepentant Legislature
Utah’s mama Cox and his rebellious kids, an unrepentant Legislature

Utah’s mama Cox and his rebellious kids, an unrepentant Legislature

Taking a Gander
In a marked show of maturity and wisdom, Gov. Spencer Cox punctuated the finale of the 2022 Utah legislative session with words of advice and caution for the years ahead. Largely in response to the passage of a bill banning female transgender athletes from participating in school events, “Mama” Cox mothered his headstrong child-legislators with this cautionary advice: “Some of the worst decisions get made at the last minute.” He also called on the legislature to make sure that its decisions reflect the public voice, cautioning that a failure to welcome and solicit the views of the public would endanger the trust of the people.

By Michael S. Robinson Sr. April 12, 2023

Need an abortion? Better get a drink.
Need an abortion? Better get a drink.

Need an abortion? Better get a drink.

Smart Bomb: The completely unnecessary news analysis
Prohibition worked like a charm. After much damning-to-hell and praying, we ratified the 18th Amendment to stop the sale of alcohol. Voilà! Sobriety and holiness prevailed. Well, not exactly. It just made drinking more fun and the flappers at the speakeasies were the cherry on the Old Fashion. Later, another epidemic of high anxiety drove us to declare war on drugs. The drug culture was unmoved and getting stoned became cool for college professors and soon was in vogue for society's elites. Recently, legislating morality spread like wildfire again through red states and we made abortion illegal—again. Now we're racing back 100 years to when it was a crime to even talk about contraception, let alone abortion. The result was so devastating that people awakened to the fact that women need reproductive health care to survive.

By Christopher Smart April 12, 2023

After Trump’s indictment, it’s time to rejoice, not cower in fear
After Trump’s indictment, it’s time to rejoice, not cower in fear

After Trump’s indictment, it’s time to rejoice, not cower in fear

Taking a Gander
The man who turned the American presidency into a joke has finally been arrested and booked. As Americans, we should be rejoicing that the ex-criminal-in-chief is finally facing the music. Not everyone is. True to his ugly nature, Donald Trump’s response to the New York indictment has been exactly as expected—he’s launched attacks on the justice system, disparaged and insulted the judge and he’s cursed and maligned the prosecutors who had the courage to come after him. Now, his dangerous, inciteful rhetoric is putting more lives in danger and the militant wackos of the Trump base are already making threats much akin to Jan. 6th calls for lynching Mike Pence.

By Michael S. Robinson Sr. April 5, 2023

Where the hell is the Latter-day Saint's heavenly mother?
Where the hell is the Latter-day Saint's heavenly mother?

Where the hell is the Latter-day Saint's heavenly mother?

Smart Bomb: The completely unnecessary news analysis
Warning: Do not pray to Mother in Heaven. Mormon authorities also caution not to mention feminine authority—it could throw the Celestial Kingdom totally out of whack. True, Catholics have Mother Mary, but she never messes with God. What we're talkin' about here is the wife of Heavenly Father, aka Mrs. God—you married men know all too well what that means.

By Christopher Smart April 5, 2023

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