10 of our top columns this week: ICYMI

In today's fast-paced news environment, it can be hard to keep up. For your weekend reading, we've started in-case-you-missed-it compilations of some of the week's top Paste BN Opinion pieces. As always, thanks for reading, and for your feedback.

— Paste BN Opinion editors

1. Campaign 2020 road trip: Some Americans think politics is too hot to handle on camera

By Mike Thompson

"Earlier this month, I completed a three-day drive through the key presidential election battleground states of Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. Video camera in tow, my quest was simple: Ask average Midwesterners whether they were better off now than four years ago. I was impressed by the people who were willing to speak with me on camera as they defied the stereotype of Midwesterners being extremely polite but a little dumb."

2. At 24 years old, I thought youth protected me from COVID-19. That idea got knocked out of me.

By Ashley Andreou

"'I have coronavirus,' I said over and over, shaking my head. Doubled over, I tried to get tap water. Bracing myself with my hands on my knees, I finally made it. When I collapsed back into bed, my body and head throbbed. As an adult, there are very few moments in your life when you truly question if you can take care of yourself. I ordered NyQuil, strawberry Pedialyte, and a thermometer on a delivery app and pulled my laptop onto my bed. I just have to get through each day, I thought." 

3. Elect Joe Biden. Reject Donald Trump.

Paste BN Editorial Board 

"Recent polls show that more than 90% of voters have decided between Biden and Trump, and nothing at this point will change their minds. This editorial is for those of you who are still uncertain about which candidate to vote for, or whether to vote at all. It’s also for those who settled on Trump but might be having last-minute doubts."

4. The Backstory: The Editorial Board, independent from newsroom, endorsed Joe Biden. Here's why.

By Nicole Carroll

"In its 38 years of existence, the Paste BN Editorial Board has never endorsed a candidate for president. The nonpartisan board hasn’t recommended a nominee. Until now. Today, the Paste BN Editorial Board, which is separate from the news department, endorsed Joe Biden for president." 

5. Mike Pence: Reelect President Donald Trump to renew America’s promise

By Vice President Mike Pence

"Since taking office, President Trump has delivered record-breaking results for all Americans. For decades, president after president, Republican and Democrat alike, failed to execute the agenda that they promised voters. For the last four years, I have stood with President Trump as he kept his promises to the American people, even when facing unprecedented attacks from the permanent Washington political class and their allies in the mainstream media."

6. Prisoners are entitled to COVID-19 stimulus funds. It's time to help them get their money.

By Suzette Hackney

"For incarcerated people who rely on employment behind bars that pays a few cents an hour — high-risk jobs many of them have been forced to do during the pandemic — this money could serve as a lifeline. Incarcerated people are among those most endangered and harmed by COVID-19. They are eligible for stimulus money and it is rightfully theirs to have."

7. Former New Hampshire GOP chair: My fellow Republicans, Trump does not deserve your loyalty

By Jennifer Horn

"I write this in the hope that Americans who still call themselves Republicans, and plan on voting for Donald Trump, will consider carefully the cost of another Trump presidency to our nation and to our children. As a former Republican state party chair, I understand well how difficult it is to even imagine voting outside the party, and I understand the sense of loyalty to party that decades of activism engenders."

8. 'Kamala-mala-mala:' If her first name is supposedly so difficult to say, try 'Sen. Harris'

By Njeri Mathis Rutledge

"I have lived life with an unusual name, a name that is constantly mispronounced and butchered. When people take time to learn how to say my name (Nah-shu-ree) it shows respect for me, and even my very existence. My parents chose my less common name to highlight my African American heritage. My name is more common in West Africa, but there it is pronounced 'N-jerry.'"

9. Conservatives voting Joe Biden over Donald Trump are patriots. Thanks for the inspiration.

By Jill Lawrence 

"President Donald Trump likes to insist that he brings people together, and in at least one sense that is true. He gave me the unexpected gift of temporary political kinship with conservatives who are putting aside long held policy goals in the interest of a larger mission: rescuing American values, principles and democracy."

10. It's cowardly and self-indulgent for anti-Trump Republicans to do anything but vote Biden

By Chris Truax

"Maryland’s Republican governor, Larry Hogan, should be ashamed of himself. Don’t get me wrong, Ronald Reagan was a great guy, but voting for him in 2020 is just wrong. We all know people like this. Some of us are people like this. We know what a danger four more years of President Donald Trump would pose to America but we can’t bring ourselves to vote for a Democrat."