Regarding Professor Steve Corbin’s March 31 column on democratic socialism, it should be obvious that precise use of words to describe our political choices is very important. For many decades, the word socialism has been used pejoratively to label almost any economic reform that challenges ...
There are people who do not matter much. That’s a painful truth, starkly at odds with our Jeffersonian creed and national mythology. But it is a truth, nevertheless, one frequently proven in actions if denied in words. In this country, by dint of race, gender, class or status, some people ...
Have you ever considered how available you are in any given moment? Perhaps some member of the family is needing your attention or you see work that needs some action. What about God? Are you near enough that he could call you to help? If you look at all the prophets that have been called to ...
In the 1920 presidential election, Warren Harding won in a landslide by promising a “Return to Normalcy.” Today’s Democrats would be wise to make that same pledge for 2020. They probably won’t, however, which is why President Trump might get re-elected. Harding’s concept of normalcy ...
I love Kaizen. Everyone loves Kaizen. That only leaves one question — what the heck is Kaizen? Is Kaizen that hot new word game where you have to see how many words you can make using only six letters of the Mongolian alphabet? Is it an ancient martial arts discipline in which you train ...
“Don’t worry. He’s fine,” my son’s kindergartener teacher said to me over the phone when I picked up her call at 11 a.m. “You just need to take him to the hospital for a broken ankle.” Clearly, his teacher’s version of “fine” and my version are quite different. After I ...
It was a Sunday morning and I was using my laptop computer and Android smartphone. All of a sudden the smartphone locked up and wouldn’t do a thing, like a cold mackerel. Hmmm. I tried to take the battery out of the phone. That’s what I used to do in the old days when the phone went ...
In 1776, Thomas Paine advocated independence from Great Britain by stating that in a free republic “the law is king.” Paine contended “for as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other.” However, President ...
This week, President Donald Trump threatened China with stiffer tariffs ahead of trade talks. On Friday, he raised tariffs from 10 to 25 percent on a $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. For U.S. consumers, this will mean higher prices on goods imported from China, items from toothbrushes and ...
National Police Week is May 12-18. May 15 is National Police Officer Memorial Day. This is an excellent time to reflect upon those law enforcement professionals who have given their lives in protection of communities across the United States. This is also an excellent time to thank local law ...
With the end of the Mueller probe and the news that the U.S. economy is performing far beyond expectations, President Donald Trump has reached an inflection point in his presidency. He has the chance to turn the political tides decisively in his favor, if he takes it. On Friday, we learned ...
A man who worked in a boxer’s corner in a 1962 match against Cassius Clay, as he still was known, explained why the referee stopped the fight in the fourth round: “Things just went sour gradually all at once.” It can be like that when government dabbles in protectionism. U.S. industrial ...
This week, the Met Gala took place in New York City. The event has always been a showpiece for celebrities seeking to make a splash, from Rihanna in her Pope costume to Katy Perry dressed as a chandelier. This year’s event was designed in homage to Susan Sontag’s 1964 essay, “Notes on ...
Check the Sunday opinion section each week to see how some residents answered the question of the week. Sound Off is compiled and written by Ashlyn Ruiz, a junior at MHS.
President Trump’s decision to claim executive privilege to shield himself from further investigation into his personal and business affairs assures a critical clash over the Constitution’s separation of powers among the three governing branches. He has directed present and former Trump ...
Recent news is riddled with proof that America’s soi-disant elites are the most venal, self-absorbed, sybaritic and utterly tone-deaf group since the French nobility of the 18th century. And the comparison is not idly made. We start with the Met Gala, for which movie stars, musicians, ...
Congress created the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program in 2007 in an attempt to attract people into professions like teaching, nursing and public-interest law. College graduates would be forgiven their student loans if they pursued a career in such professions. The Wall Street Journal ...
New York Times reporter Peter Baker offered new insights into how badly former President Barack Obama reacted to Hillary Clinton losing the 2016 election. It came in a new edition of his book “Obama: The Call to History.” But since Obama sounded whiny about how history unfolded, the news ...
There aren’t many advantages to being old — and at nearly 72, I qualify — but having actually lived through historic events gives one certain insights. From 1972 to 1974, I was a young staffer on the House Judiciary Committee. I was hired to the professional staff even though I did not ...
We’re in the last week of the semester here at Kent State, when graduating seniors have reached the zombie stage of stress, and everyone else, it seems, is somewhere else, even when they’re sitting right in front of you. As a teacher, it can be a challenge in these last days to find that ...