Opinion

Dear Annie: My adult daughter, who lives in a southern state with a notoriously high incidence of the coronavirus cases, informed us she would be bringing her boyfriend to our home when she visits us at Christmas. I've never met this gentleman and do not know his personal or social habits. My wife and I have been quite cautious in our physical distancing during this pandemic. Is it discourteous to ask my daughter's friend to take a COVID-19 test before he visits? -- Playing It Safe

Someday, you may be going back to your office, factory, store or wherever you worked. Know this: Your dog will be OK. He or she will be OK even if you've just spent six months tied wrists to paws, in lockeddown intimacy.

Sixty-five years ago on Aug. 28, 14-year-old Emmett Till, while visiting his Mississippi relatives, was kidnapped, tortured, mutilated, murdered and dumped into the Tallahatchie River by white men after a complaint that the Black youngster had whistled in the proximity of a white woman. Till, who stuttered, had been taught by his mother to whistle softly before pronouncing certain problematic words, as a technique to alleviate his stutter. A witness to his murder heard the boy cry, "Mama, Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!"

Have My Hankie Dear Readers: A number of you wrote in with very touching stories about your loved ones and handkerchiefs. I’m printing a few so they bring you some comfort.

In his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, Joe Biden had this uninspiring assessment of America’s current predicament: “The president keeps telling us the virus is going to disappear. He keeps waiting for a miracle. Well, I have news for him: No miracle is coming.”

What do presidential candidates George H.W. Bush, Michael Dukakis, Bill Clinton, Bob Dole, Ross Perot, Al Gore, George W. Bush, John Kerry, Barack Obama, John McCain and Mitt Romney all have in common? On the biggest night each of their political careers, when they -- live and on national television without teleprompters or prepared texts -- were being scrutinized and judged by up to 80 million of their fellow citizens on their fitness to be president, all of these men agreed to accept and to trust journalist-anchor Jim Lehrer to moderate their presidential debate.

A man shall be satisfied with good fruit of his mouth: and the recompense of a man’s hands shall be rendered unto him. — Proverbs 12:14 I celebrated my 24th anniversary with The Ponca City News this week.

Democrats like to lecture America about its purported white privilege whilst ignoring their own liberal privilege on full display. Take House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who was busted this week getting her hair blown out at a San Francisco beauty salon despite California laws prohibiting hair salons from opening.

When U.S. cities erupted after the death of George Floyd, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser was in the vanguard of the protests, renaming a section of downtown Black Lives Matter Plaza, and painting the name in letters on the street so huge they could be seen from space.

While Democratic operatives and pundits are calling for Georgia to go for the Democratic nominee, President Donald Trump has greatly improved his lead. Let's start with a bit of history for those who are not as familiar as I am with Georgia, my home for more decades than I would like to mention.