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March Massacre: Trump's Budget Plan Is Ruthless
ts often seem impenetrable, packed with a blizzard of numbers too big to comprehend. But budgets are value statements. They tell us what we value and what we discount. President Donald Trump's budget reveals who counts and who does not.
Our Democracy Depends On a Free and Fair Vote
In North Carolina, the State Board of Elections has thrown out the election results in its 9th congressional district for fraudulent activity -- probably the first time in U.S. history this has happened. The fraud was committed by a campaign, not by voters, and by a Republican, not a Democrat. For years, Republicans have campaigned for voting restrictions claiming, as Donald Trump has repeatedly, that voter fraud is widespread. In fact, it's not ineligible voters distorted election results, but rather the fraudulent efforts of an embattled Republican Party to rig the rules that has led to election irregularities.
Health Care Is a Human Right
Who is going to pay for this? For months that question was used as a weapon against supporters of Medicare for All. Now, it is on everyone's mind as they worry about the costs of the testing and treatment for the coronavirus. The virus is highly contagious. We need everyone with symptoms to get tested and all with the virus to get treatment. If anyone hesitates because they fear they can't afford the cost, they put the rest of us at risk. No one should be worried about the costs of treatment.
Now Is the Time When People of Conscience Must Stand Up
GuiYing Ma was assaulted as she swept up the sidewalk in front of her Queens home, her head beaten with a rock so that she ended up in a coma for weeks. Christina Yuna Lee was fatally stabbed more than 40 times by a stalker who followed her to her apartment in Chinatown. Michelle Alyssa Go was pushed to her death at a Times Square subway station. In Atlanta last March, eight people were killed at mass shootings at three Asian spas.
Blessed are the children
Blessed are the children – this is the teaching of every religion. The miracle of birth and the joy of new life are transcendent. In this rich country, however, too many babies and too many mothers are at risk – and far too many are dying. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that new mothers in America are dying at a higher rate than those in any other industrial country. A higher percentage of children die before their first birthday in the U.S. than in any other industrial country.
Will the Ron DeSantis Bubble Burst?
Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, has made himself into the leading rival to Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. He won a sweeping re-election victory as governor in 2022, even as Republicans generally were underperforming. Now, he’s used that position to pick purposeful fights on polarizing social issues, clearly seeking to cater to the fury of the MAGA Republican base. By assailing what he calls “wokeness,” including everything from vaccinations, Dr. Fauci, critical race theory, LGBTQ students, and how American history is taught, he apparently hopes to offer Republicans a new generation culture warrior who can rouse Trump’s base and have a broader appeal to suburban voters.
Trump Complicit in Whitmer Kidnap Plot
Political rhetoric can incite. Incendiary posturing can trigger those who carry matches. We've now seen this play out dramatically in Michigan. Last week, six men, members of a right-wing militia group calling themselves the Wolverine Watchmen, were arrested and charged with plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan before the November elections. Seven others were charged under Michigan's anti-terrorism law for allegedly seeking to recruit an army of 200 to storm the Michigan Capitol and ignite a "civil war."
Peace is a Process, Not a Single Act
July 27 marked the 66th anniversary of the signing of the Korean War armistice, which brought an end to hostilities that killed nearly 5 million people, including almost 40,000 U.S. service members. The war ended in a temporary cease-fire, which is why the United States still maintains 28,500 troops in South Korea. Nuclear missiles ring the region and threaten the people living there. North and South remain divided, separating thousands of families.
Should We Hold Parents Responsible for the Terrorist Acts of Their Children?
When Ethan Crumbley, a troubled 15-year-old, shot and killed four students at Oxford High School, in Oxford, Michigan, he was charged with terrorism and murder. In a virtually unprecedented step, the prosecutor, Karen McDonald, also indicted Crumbley's parents for involuntary manslaughter, arguing that they should have known their son was a danger to his school and should have revealed that he had access to a handgun that was an early Christmas gift from his parents, and stored in an unlocked locker in their bedroom.
What LeBron James Understands About the Presidency and Trump Doesn't
The run-up to the 2018 congressional elections has begun. With 40 Republican representatives deciding not to run again, the party's majority in the House is at risk. President Donald Trump has announced he plans to stump for Republicans across the country, seeking to make the election a referendum on him. Characteristically, a centerpiece of his approach is to use race as a weapon to divide and distract us.
Those Who Do Nothing On Gun Control Fail Our Children
The United States is failing in what surely is the first duty of government -- protecting our children from threats that they cannot deal with themselves. Voters and politicians are failing our children.
The Mark of History Scars Tulsa
Memorial Day marks one year since the murder of George Floyd by the hands of the Minneapolis police. This week also marks the 100-year anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre - a brutal government-aided leveling of a prosperous African American community for which there still has been no accounting and no justice. Few even know about the massacre. It hasn't even been taught in the Tulsa public schools until this year. Although 100 years old, the massacre poses questions of justice and of decency that America cannot avoid.
Dr. King Called On Us to Express the Better Angels of Our Souls
Schools across the country celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Day today. At every level, students learn about King, the movement he helped lead and the teachings and legacy he left behind. There are dramatic readings of his words. Many schools show his historic "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial, a speech given before hundreds of thousands.
Putin's War Crimes Must Be Exposed
The mass graves of civilians murdered and mutilated in Bucha, Ukraine, are stark evidence of the horrors of war - and of war crimes. Putin's invasion of Ukraine - itself a violation of international law - raises a profound challenge to the world. How can a dictator armed with nuclear weapons be held accountable for the crimes of war?
Can America Break Its Gun Addiction?
Can America break its gun addiction? After mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, Southaven, Mississippi, Dayton, Ohio and Midland and Odessa, Texas, public demand for sensible gun reform once more soared. And once more, Republican politicians, led by Donald Trump, were intimidated into inaction by the gun lobby, led by the National Rifle Association. Remarkably, it was America's largest retailer -- Walmart -- that exhibited the courage politicians lacked.
Risking Lives In Endless Wars Is a Moral Violation and Strategic Failure
We just celebrated Veterans Day, paying tribute to the young men and women who have served our country. Across the country, families gathered at the gravesites of those who gave their lives. Veterans drank toasts to their fellow soldiers. In football and basketball stadiums, crowds offered a moment of silence for the fallen. The rituals are heartfelt, but far from complete. Too often ignored is the far greater number of lives that are lost not on the battlefield but at home, not from the enemy's guns but from our veterans' own hands.
President Biden’s State of the Union
Joe Biden’s State of the Union will feature good news. He has much to report – record job growth, record low unemployment, inflation down, and new efforts underway to rebuild our infrastructure, move to renewable energy and start to bring jobs back home.
Jesse Jackson: First Concern in College Sports Should Be the Lives, Health of Athletes
Covid-19 isn't "disappearing," as President Donald Trump suggests; it is surging, setting new records in daily cases. The states that rushed to "reopen" the economy now are reversing course. Yet the NCAA still assumes that the college football season will begin at the end of August, and that mandatory practices will begin this month.
'Equal Pay, Equal Pay, Equal Pay'
As the exhausted and thrilled U.S. women's soccer team celebrated its victory in the finals of the 2019 Women's World Cup, the cheers of the crowd in the Stade of Lyon soon turned into a chant: "Equal Pay, Equal Pay, Equal Pay." Even as they fought their way to the fourth U.S. Women World Cup championship, the U.S. team were waging a battle -- in the court of public opinion and the courts of law -- for equal treatment in wages, working conditions and investment in the women's game. And if there is any justice or common sense in their employer, U.S. Soccer, they will be as victorious in the quest for equal pay as they were in their quest for the World Cup.
True Scandal In Puerto Rican Recovery Effort Is Trump's Dereliction
The scandals around in Puerto Rico's agonies are far greater than the bizarre contract to pay Whitefish Energy, a tiny Montana company from U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's hometown, $300 million to restore electric lines.

