It’s amazing to think that just yesterday, when the Chauvin jury began its deliberations, it was so easy to fear the worst: that, despite the infamous video and compelling witness testimony, there would be a hung jury, a split decision or even a finding of not guilty on all counts. We’ve seen this story too …
Category: Uncategorized
Biden to exit the “Graveyard of Empires.” What’s next?
The April 9, 2010 cover of Time Magazine still shocks. Eighteen-year-old Aisha, her nose cut off, was an all-too-common example of why we were told then that the United States should not leave Afghanistan. After Aisha had run away from home to escape an abusive husband and in-laws, they caught her, sliced off her ears …
Continue reading Biden to exit the “Graveyard of Empires.” What’s next?
Immigration, pt 2 – Addressing Root Causes
The pictures grip our hearts; the policies spin our heads. Curbing the current flow of migrants at our southern border requires massive coordination, especially with the Northern Triangle nations of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. This means thinking creatively and applying wisely a variety of carrot-and-stick incentives, both there and here. It won’t be easy, …
Immigration, pt 1 – Making Sense of the Scene at our Southern Border
The images from our southern border are disturbing. Watching hundreds of children and other would-be asylum seekers crowded into facilities meant to hold far fewer and only briefly is unsettling. It’s hard to shake the video clip of two men dropping a three-year-old and five-year-old over the barrier between Mexico and the United States, then running away from their callous act. Hearing dramatic anecdotes that …
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Time to De-fang the Filibuster
Getty Images Getting tired standing for hours in line waiting to vote in Georgia? Want someone to give you water or a snack? If you live in Georgia, that is now illegal. It's just one of many restrictions the Peach State Governor has just signed into law to discourage people from voting. If this omnibus …
Sunshine Week: Public Records Laws the Key to Accountability
The roadmap to robust democracy starts with access to information, even when public officials don’t want you to have it. Your right to know is enshrined in The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Both federal and state versions are a major tool for reporters, businesses, law firms and ordinary citizens seeking to understand how decisions …
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Valuing Localism in Politics and Media
Former House Speaker Tip O’Neill used to say, “All politics is local.” He might not recognize the world today, in which politics has become increasingly nationalized, and media coverage has gone the same way. Political dialogue for more than four years has been dominated by pro-Trump and anti-Trump fixations. So, too, has news media coverage …
Cuomo accusers: trust but verify
(Photo by Jeenah Moon/Getty Images) If we believe the headlines, it's time to run the hot shower to clean off the sleaze. It appears Andrew Cuomo has fallen from America’s covid-hero Governor to just another fanny-grabbing, sexually inappropriate power-stoked politician. Whether he’ll have to pay the price for it - along with his deceptively hiding …
Patience strained in all aspects of life
Never has our capacity for patience been so frighteningly tested as in the pursuit of vaccines. I have written about finally connecting and getting my first shot. (Fingers crossed for the second shot.) Examples abound of others still being thwarted, especially in Charlie Baker's Massachusetts. Consider my friend Tony. Having failed repeatedly to get an …
Ted Cruz and his flight to derision
photo Reuters Aiding and abetting an armed insurrection against the peaceful transition of government at the Capitol January 6 wasn't enough for the Covid rules-flouting, grandstanding hypocrite and perhaps most despised member of the U. S. Senate - Texas’ own Ted Cruz, a boot-licking aspirant for the Oval Office in 2024. It wasn't enough that, for …
