Legislating from the bench

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Two months ago, Judge Richard A. Frye of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas issued a decision that made a number of 17-year olds happy and caused him to be accused of “legislating from the bench.”  The decision is remarkable for both reasons.

First, let’s take a look at what was at stake. By statute, Secretary of State Jon Husted is obligated to promulgate instructions for how voting is to be conducted throughout the state. The 2015 Election Official ...

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26
MAY
8

Judges, Political Issues

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Presidential candidates comment on Vatican reform

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Financial regulation is not just for Wall Street. New rules are now in place at the Vatican for canonization, the process by which the Roman Catholic Church determines who should be declared a saint.  U.S presidential candidates have chimed in. More about their views in a minute.

U.S. News & World Report reported last week that Pope Francis imposed financial accountability regulations “on the Vatican’s multimillion-dollar saint-making machine.” The changes came after two books revealed abuses that were uncovered by ...

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13
MAR
4

Social Issues

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Are there two justice systems in America?

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Are there two justice systems in America, one for the executives of large corporations and another for the rest of us? Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., thinks so. She published a report on the subject last month, “Rigged Justice: How Weak Enforcement Lets Corporate Offenders Off Easy.”

Warrens maintains that “corporate criminals routinely escape meaningful prosecution for their misconduct.”  Rather than pursuing convictions of corporate executives, federal agencies agree to criminal and civil settlements that rarely require any admission of wrongdoing and ...

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21
FEB
5

Social Issues

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The growing income gap

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Senator Bernie Sanders has been campaigning that he wants to close the income gap in America. Is there an income gap? Why should we care?

Last October, financial news and opinion company, 24/7 Wall St., reported that the gap between rich and poor “jumped dramatically” in the 1980s and has continued to grow. Between 1979 and 2011, wages for the wealthiest one percent of Americans more than doubled, while wages for the median U.S. worker increased just six percent. Nationwide, ...

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7
FEB
10

Social Issues

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Gun policy challenges—messaging and politicians

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President Barack Obama’s recent executive orders concerning guns illustrate two important points: the difficulty with messaging gun policy, and the gap between what Americans favor and how politicians vote.

First, let’s look at the issue of messaging. If you watched the CNN town hall meeting two weeks ago, you heard the president talk about background checks, adding more agents to the FBI, and the benefits of “smart gun technology.”

One of Obama’s executive orders mandates that everyone engaged in the business ...

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17
JAN
7

Gun Policy

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Handling our fear

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27YIP-2015-SEPTEMBER-ADD1-jumboThis is Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler who drowned off the coast of Turkey last September. Some media sources chose not to publish the photo. I think everyone needs to see it. It’s emblematic of a world where things have gone badly wrong.

Aylan likely had no idea why his family was leaving home on what must have been a difficult trek with little planning. He probably could feel ...

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3
JAN
4

Political Issues, Social Issues

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