Politics, Moderate
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The Homeless Crisis Needs to Be Addressed in the Upcoming Vice Presidential Debate
It appears that another debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will likely not take place, but since the VP candidates - Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio Sen. JD Vance -- are scheduled to face off on Oct. 1, how they present their platforms will definitely impact the November election. Most political ...Read more
Recent Overdose Trends Underline the Folly of the War on Drugs: Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris Support Supply-Side Tactics That Are Worse Than Ineffective
The annual U.S. death toll from illegal drugs, which has risen nearly every year since the turn of the century, is expected to fall substantially this year. The timing of that turnaround poses a problem for politicians who aim to prevent substance abuse by disrupting the drug supply.
Those politicians include Republican presidential nominee ...Read more
What America Truly Represents
The fabricated claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating pets and ducks is one of the most bizarre untruths of this election season. This false allegation has further stoked the flames of arguments regarding immigration after former President Donald Trump debated Vice President Kamala Harris. Although Springfield officials...Read more
A Movie Mirrors the Stranger-Than-Fiction Reality of Civil Asset Forfeiture: The Outrageous Seizure at the Center of 'Rebel Ridge' Resembles Real-Life Cash Grabs
"I need to report a crime," Terry Richmond, the protagonist of the currently popular Netflix movie "Rebel Ridge," tells Jessica Sims, a police officer in a small Louisiana town. That crime was highway robbery: the theft of $36,000 in cash. But the perpetrators were two of Sims' own colleagues, and the cash grab was perfectly legal.
While the ...Read more
Redistricting Reform Can Restore Black Voting Power in Ohio
It is a well-known fact that Ohio is a heavily gerrymandered state, and recent research by the Brennan Center for Justice reveals that approximately 77% of Ohioans, or more than 9 million people, live in Ohio House districts that will have no meaningful competition in legislative races this November.
Ohioans are facing this watered-down ...Read more
More Grief and Gun Violence Heartbreak
When the story broke about the Apalachee High School shooting in Barrow County, Georgia, this tragedy hit home for me since Barrow County is only half an hour away from Clarke County, where I attended high school. Teachers and students from my high school alma mater, Clarke Central, were recently featured on "Good Morning America" to discuss ...Read more
Bowing to Public Opinion, Trump and Harris Agree That Marijuana Should Be Legal: It Remains Unclear Whether Either Would Do Anything About That as President
After former President Donald Trump endorsed a Florida ballot initiative that would legalize recreational marijuana in that state, Vice President Kamala Harris accused her Republican opponent of flip-flopping on the issue. Yet Harris herself did not publicly support marijuana legalization until 2018, when two-thirds of Americans already ...Read more
The Bible Proves Women Can Lead in the Church
A study of 5,459 U.S. adults released earlier this year by the Survey Center on American Life reveals an upward trend of young women leaving the church. This has caught the attention of researchers since more men than women have abandoned their childhood faith over the past 20 years. Now Gen Z women, particularly those ages 18 to 24, are walking...Read more
A Federal Judge Highlights the Hazards of Reckless Drug War Tactics: The Ruling Notes That Breonna Taylor's Death Resulted From the 'Late-Night, Surprise Manner of Entry'
A judge recently dismissed a couple of the federal charges against two former Louisville, Kentucky, police officers who instigated the 2020 drug raid that killed Breonna Taylor. The ruling was by no means a vindication of the defendants, who still face several misdemeanor and felony charges, and it was an implicit indictment of the reckless ...Read more
Looking Back on History After a History-Making Night
As Vice President Kamala Harris made history at the Democratic National Convention to become the first Black and Asian American woman to be nominated for president, many people have also been reflecting on another African American female activist who challenged the racism among DNC Mississippi delegates 60 years ago: Fannie Lou Hamer. Hamer is...Read more
Kamala Harris' 'Price Gouging' Ban Is a New Idea That Has Failed for Thousands of Years: The Vice President Is Counting on Voters Who Like What She Says but Do Not Consider the Predictable Consequences
In her first economic policy speech as the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris rightly criticized former President Donald Trump for favoring steep tariffs, saying her Republican opponent "wants to impose what is, in effect, a national sales tax on everyday products and basic necessities that we import from other ...Read more
On a Fitness Journey for Physical and Spiritual Health
When my summer vacation began at the end of May, I decided to start a new journey of health and wellness. My exercise routine had been very inconsistent even after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 was no longer a public health emergency last year. Like many people, I was consistently going to the gym before the pandemic and was at...Read more
Two Contradictory Decisions on AR-15 Bans Reflect Clashing Views of Supreme Court Precedents: Does the Second Amendment Allow the Government to Ban Guns in Common Use for Lawful Purposes?
Last month, a federal judge ruled that New Jersey's ban on AR-15 rifles is unconstitutional. A week later, a federal appeals court deemed a similar ban in Maryland perfectly consistent with the Second Amendment.
These dueling decisions reflect a basic disagreement about whether the Second Amendment allows the government to ban guns that are ...Read more
Getting Inspiration from the Paris Games
I always look forward to the U.S. women's gymnastics team competing during the Olympics, and I must say that the ladies representing our nation this summer did not disappoint. Of course, there were a few personal disappointments with Simone Biles and Suni Lee falling during the balance beam finals, but the overall medal count was still ...Read more
'Too Much Law' Gives Prosecutors Enormous Power to Ruin People's Lives: In a New Book, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch Details the 'Human Toll' of Proliferating Criminal Penalties
"Criminal laws have grown so exuberantly and come to cover so much previously innocent conduct that almost anyone can be arrested for something," Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch observed in 2019. Gorsuch elaborates on that theme in a new book, showing how the proliferation of criminal penalties has given prosecutors enormous power to ruin ...Read more
Trump's Remarks on Harris' Race Highlight the Need to Praise Diversity
As the 2024 campaign for the White House between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris continues to rev up with traded barbs and personal attacks, one particular jab that Trump took at Harris during a panel interview at the National Association for Black Journalists Convention in Chicago will certainly be readdressed ...Read more
Trump Values Judicial Independence Only When It Benefits Him: His Criticism of President Joe Biden's Proposed Supreme Court Reform Is Hard to Take Seriously
Two weeks before President Joe Biden officially proposed terms limits for Supreme Court justices, Donald Trump preemptively condemned the idea. "The Radical Left Democrats are desperately trying to 'Play the Ref' by calling for an illegal and unConstitutional attack on our SACRED United States Supreme Court," the former president wrote on ...Read more
Wishing Biden Peace in Life After Presidency
As my mother and I watched President Joe Biden speak to the nation after announcing that he would not be running for reelection, my mother brought up one of my funny childhood moments when Gerald Ford was president. It was during Ford's 1975 address to the nation on energy policy, and she remembered my tantrum of dissatisfaction that Ford's ...Read more
Promising to Restore 'Law and Order,' Trump Falsely Claims Crime Is Rising: The Most Notable Recent Increase Happened on His Watch, When Homicides Spiked
"Our crime rate is going up," former President Donald Trump claimed during the Republican National Convention last week, when he vowed to "Make America Safe Once Again." Yet the most notable recent increase in the homicide rate happened on Trump's watch, and violent crime has been falling since then.
That gap between Republican rhetoric and ...Read more
Longing for the Days of Civil Politics
While I was watching the ongoing news reports on the assassination attempt of former President Donald J. Trump last weekend, I was simultaneously scrolling through social media posts on X. The repulsive vitriol was and continues to be ever present, and although President Joe Biden had the best intentions in his plea for unity during his address ...Read more