Two weeks ago, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a California law that blocked anyone younger than 21 from buying a semiautomatic rifle. In a 2-to-1 decision, two Trump-appointed judges waxed poetic about the importance of allowing 18-year-olds to buy AR-15s. The current uber-right U.S. Supreme Court is highly likely to uphold this …
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Controlling Rx drug prices
My dad was one of the first generation of type 1 diabetics to survive because insulin was available. We worried about him as over the years he developed one after another of the complications of this potentially deadly disease: blindness, amputations, heart disease and more. But we never worried about his not being able to …
Trump-packed Court poised to delete abortion rights
The handwriting has been on the wall. We shouldn't be surprised, but it's still enraging. A draft SCOTUS opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito and leaked to Politico, shows that the Supreme Court is poised to overturn the Roe v. Wade 1973 "egregiously wrong" decision and eliminate women's right to choose an abortion. Thank you, …
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Spring reading, pt. 2 – fiction
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles (author of A Gentleman in Moscow) follows Emmett Watson, an 18-year-old just released from a juvenile work farm for accidentally causing the death of a fellow who had been bullying him. Having survived his mother’s abandonment, he returns to the family farm, where his father has just died, and …
Spring reading – pt. 1, non-fiction
With spring, we're all getting out more. But even with yard cleanup and planting, and longer walks to enjoy, there's still time for the pleasures of reading. Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe is a full accounting of Purdue Pharma and its private owners (the Sackler family), the development of OxyContin and the fueling …
“The Greek Connection” publishes in Athens today
Some of you have read "The Greek Connection: The Life of Elias Demetracopoulos and the Untold Story of Watergate" by James H. Barron. Receiving critical acclaim internationally, my husband's book, the product of ten years of research and writing, was published in the summer of 2020. It was in the midst of the first wave …
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Will Smith assaulted more than Chris Rock
When was the last time that mainstream media paid this much attention to black-on-black violence? For much of the past week, the Academy Awards historic incident has been the top story in broadcast and print media. The picture is indelible: Oscar-winning Will Smith leaving his seat, marching onstage and slapping comedian emcee Chris Rock hard …
Biden’s nine-word unforced error
"Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?" King Henry II is said to have muttered out loud, grumbling about Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. Henry wasn't ordering anyone to whack the troublesome Becket, but four knights who overheard what they assumed to be the King's wish, rode off to Canterbury and killed …
Passing the Freedom to Vote legislation
The hypocrisy of Senate Republicans is breathtaking. They give standing ovations to Volodymyr Zelenskyy's heroic battle for democracy in Ukraine, they line up to take selfies with Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova in the Capitol, they're moved to tears by videos of courageous citizens fighting for their country, and they fight like hell to diminish democracy …
Biden State-of-the-Union speech a mixed bag
Joe Biden was elected President for many reasons, among them simply that he wasn't Donald Trump. Compared to his predecessor, Biden was a decent, honest, homespun guy with a strong background in foreign relations, a belief in America's global leadership in defense of democratic principles, and a commitment to international alliances among nations with largely …
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Marjorie Arons-Barron 