These kinds of disparities demean the criminal justice system

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Jeffrey Epstein, a Miami hedge fund manager, and Kevin Keith, an indigent Bucyrus resident, have been through the criminal justice system for serious crimes but with remarkably different experiences.

Epstein allegedly had sex with and trafficked over three dozen girls, most of them 13 to 16. He faced a life sentence in 2007, but his lawyers worked a deal. Epstein served just 13 months in a county jail and was allowed work at his Palm Beach office during the day. ...

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31
MAR
2

Social Issues

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It’s in the Bible! Really?

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I get concerned when people use the Bible to justify a position. The United Methodist Church recently justified its decision to exclude LGBTQ people from ministry leadership and marriage on the Bible. Oh, I’m sure if you look, you’ll find passages in the Bible that speak out in some way against homosexuality. And you’ll find passages to justify lots of other things, from concubines to slaves.

It’s all a matter of your perspective and what you’re trying to accomplish. And whether ...

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12
MAR
6

Social Issues

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Funding food assistance is good public policy

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The farm bill, which provides assistance to farmers and funds the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, was passed in December with bipartisan support in the House and Senate. Though controversial, SNAP funding was not fundamentally changed. However, after signing the bill, President Donald Trump announced he wants to tighten restrictions.

SNAP is controversial because it’s perceived as an entitlement conservatives want to cut. They overlook that SNAP helps promote good health by making up in part for ...

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30
JAN
3

Social Issues

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Intolerance for LGBTQ rights stops at church doors

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Last month, the U.S. Senate passed the Justice for Victims of Lynching Act of 2018, which makes it a federal crime to injure or murder a person “because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of any person.” The bill seems like a reasonable idea unless you belong to Liberty Counsel, an advocacy group whose message is based on conservative Christianity. Liberty Counsel is intolerant of the LGBTQ movement and views ...

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22
JAN
10

Social Issues

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Men are no more at risk now than before 

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President Donald Trump warns that the Senate confirmation hearing for Brett Kavanaugh indicates that “it’s a very scary time for young men in America.” Fox journalist Jeanine Pirro believes the left is setting a new standard—“You are guilty until proven innocent”—and that due process, probable cause and reasonable doubt no longer have any meaning.

Let’s drop the hyperbole and recognize that the Kavanaugh hearing, while ugly, was, in essence, a job interview on a national scale.

What should have been a dignified ...

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21
OCT
9

Social Issues

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U.S. wage gap is not likely to improve

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The Pew Research Center reports that income inequality is at its highest point since 1928. Will it ever substantially improve? Not without a dramatic paradigm shift.

From 1979 to 2015, annual wages increased for the bottom 90 percent of Americans by 21 percent, according to the Economic Policy Institute. For the top 1.0 percent, the increase was 105 percent. For the top 0.1 percent, it was 339 percent.

Our system is based on the paradigm, as Professor Scott R. Sanders of Indiana ...

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30
SEP
5

Political Issues, Social Issues

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Is choosing death with dignity a moral decision?

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After being terminally ill for months or perhaps years, should you have the right to say, “I’ve had enough. It’s time to die?” Not only a tough question, it’s one that makes us uneasy.

Seven states—California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Oregon, Vermont, Washington—and the District of Columbia permit what some call “death with dignity.” Except for Montana, the laws are similar: patients must be a resident of the state, capable of making and communicating health care decisions for themselves, at least 18 ...

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25
AUG
7

Social Issues

Enough with the bad grammar!

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[I thought it appropriate to follow my last blog, which dealt with the annoying overuse of the word, “guys,” to touch on a related subject, bad grammar. This post was published in the Columbus Bar Association Lawyers Quarterly magazine a few years back. Regrettably, what I wrote then is still relevant.]

In the words of a great American nautical hero, “I’ve had all I can stands. I can’t stands no more!” I’m talking about bad grammar. That’s right—bad grammar, a bad ...

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11
AUG
18

Social Issues

I’m done with you guys

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[This piece was published a few years back in the Columbus Bar Association Lawyers Quarterly magazine. Because the state of our language continues its spiral decline, I’m posting it here.]

It’s almost too much to bear.  It’s enough to make my head explode. Our English language is slowly degrading to a point where things that were once considered to be bad grammar and offensive slang are now slowly becoming the new standards.

Using the correct pronoun after a conjunction is a lost ...

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22
JUL
14

Social Issues

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