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Polly: He's a socialist but he doesn't like people.Brian: Nor do I, much.Polly: You're a conservative. You don't have to.- From "Getting On," by Alan BennettWASHINGTON >> This, one of the pleasures of being a conservative, is not for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 28.

The toxic level of divisiveness in American political life today is driving families and friends apart and hurting our country. The hatefulness and intolerance that fuel it must be called out wherever they appear. Let's stop looking for someone to blame and start looking in the mirror!

The division over the brewing immigration issue continues to haunt our nation even after having observed our nation's 242nd birthday as a free democratic society. Before we go any further try to remember that so-called "undocumented" immigrants are enjoying the entitlements of being American citizens are here illegally.

Immigration haunts the nation

One potato, two potato .... If there's one thing Americans love to eat on the Fourth of July weekend, it's potato salad. Just ask Vince and Joe Vitale. Back in 1996, only days before the holiday and before Vince and Joe's became Vince & Joe's Gourmet Market, the brothers ran out of everyone's favorite summer salad, throwing customers into a tizzy.

A recurring theme in the abortion debate has been that Republicans should be careful what they wish for.This line of argument holds that a Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, which made abortion a constitutional right in the U.S. 45 years ago, would be a disaster for the party. Anti-abortion politicians, no longer able simply to make rhetorical stands, would be pressed by their supporters to enact actual bans on abortion - and that prospect would awaken a pro-choice majority that has been complacent under Roe.

After months of feint, bluster and desultory attempts at compromise, the phony trade war between the U.S. and China has given way to the real thing. For the sake of both countries, these self-defeating hostilities need to cease - and the principal responsibility for this rests with the U.S., which has fired the first shot.

By EUGENE ROBINSONWASHINGTON >> Racism is a feature of the Trump administration, not a bug. Like demagogues before him, President Trump and his aides consistently single out one group for scapegoating and persecution: non-white Hispanic immigrants.Trump doesn't much seem to like non-white newcomers from anywhere, in truth - remember how he once expressed a fond wish for more immigrants from Norway? - but he displays an especially vicious antipathy toward men, women and even children from Latin America.

There's an old cliché that goes: "The more things change, the more they stay the same." America began having inherited the spirit of conquest when the first white men set foot on these shores. Central to that conquest was the assumption of superiority a disregard for the humanity of others. As a consequence of that disregard, in slavery children were ripped from the arms of their mothers.

Former Troy City Manager Brian Kischnick was charged with bribery Friday in federal court, accused of accepting more than $20,000 in cash and other items from a contractor for the city.Federal prosecutors say the 50-year-old Kischnick demanded the payments while serving as city manager of Oakland County's most-populated community.