The economic boom hasn’t benefited everyone

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The Dow Jones has been on the rise, and the unemployment rate is 3.8 percent. The  economy is humming, but is everyone benefitting? It depends on where you stand on the economic ladder. Let’s take a look, starting at the top.

Wealth at the top is increasing. According to the Spectrum Group, the number of households with a net worth of $1 million to $5 million, not including primary residence, grew in 2016 to 10.8 million; households with a net worth ...

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5
MAY
2

Social Issues

God likes guns, and Trump is biblical–Really?

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Do you think at all about where to find God in your life? I do, and I struggle to find him, but some politicians make it look easy. A select number claim to know what God wants, based on what must be a direct line to the Heavens which the rest of us will likely never enjoy. Two examples were given to us within the last few weeks.

The first is from Ohio Representatives Ron Hood, R-Ashville, and Tom Brinkman, ...

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29
APR
9

Social Issues

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The lesson we can learn from the moral failures of others

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Last month’s vote on the national emergency resolution gave me pause to think about courage. We admire those who display it and criticize those who don’t. We like to give a pat on the back to those who show courage under fire, whether it be combat or the pressures of the business world.

Show me someone who has been scorned in the news for a moral failure in business or politics, and I’ll show you plenty of people eager to ...

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7
APR
5

Social Issues

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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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Decrease in health insurance enrollment costs lives

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Until recently, the nation was making headway in providing health insurance for more people. The Trump administration, however, is doing its best to reverse that trend, and it’s costing us lives.

At the end of 2017, 28.9 million Americans under the age of 65 were without health insurance, a big improvement over 2010, when 48.6 million were uninsured, but the number of uninsured Americans is about to increase. The Congressional Budget Office projects that by the end of this year, 32.9 ...

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5
MAR
8

Uncategorized

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Frank Robinson, one of the best ever

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Baseball season is about six weeks away, which gives guys like me something to look forward to. When it’s cold and dark out early in the morning, thinking about Opening Day brings a tiny bit of joy.

I was a late bloomer when it comes to baseball and didn’t start watching the game until about 20 years ago. Taking up baseball seemed like a good idea—something I could share with my ...

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20
FEB
5

People I Admire

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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The death penalty is ineffective and costs too much

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What message will Ohio send if it seeks the death penalty for the four members of the Wagner family accused of murdering eight members of the Rhoden family in Pike County in 2016? That the death penalty is the only way justice can be served for such brutal killings? That executing the Wagners is a necessary deterrent? That Ohio is tough on crime?

The answer is all of above, but Ohio will also be demonstrating it prefers the charade of capital ...

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6
JAN
6

Death Penalty

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