The transgender debate and messaging

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The current transgender bathroom issue illustrates the importance of messaging. While the debate should focus on human rights and dignity, those who oppose transgender people using the bathroom that matches their sexual identity (versus the gender that appears on their birth certificates) have changed the debate into a moral crusade. Society’s relationship with God is now at issue.

Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest of North Carolina stated a few weeks back on talk radio, “We have a lack of moral compass ...

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14
JUN
12

Social 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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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 his ...

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3
JAN
4

Political Issues, Social Issues

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The fatal lure of texting while driving

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It’s so easy to do, and the need is so urgent. But it’s as dangerous as driving a car with your eyes closed. In fact, it’s nearly identical to driving with your eyes closed. Still, people do it. They text while driving. They don’t understand the danger.

Let me give you an example. My wife and I were at a social event last week. We were talking with a friend, who we’ll call Sarah. Sarah got to the event late and ...

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10
NOV
7

Social Issues

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Abortion fight is futile

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Few things in America consume as much time and energy and are as futile as the fight over abortion. The process is fatiguing and illustrates how two groups are willing to spend vast resources talking at each other, with apparent little regard for a practical solution.

I am not a proponent of abortion and believe it is wrong in most cases. Still, I have to recognize that many others do not share my point of view and hoping they will come ...

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22
SEP
9

Social Issues

Criticism of the Supreme Court is nothing new

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What’s the difference between athletes and politicians? When athletes lose a game, they generally don’t blame anyone besides themselves. When politicians lose, i.e., the Supreme Court doesn’t see things their way, they blame the court.

In an article published last month in The National Review, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Andrew C. McCarthy wrote that the Supreme Court is a political branch, not a judicial one. He sees a left leaning voting bloc, comprised of ...

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14
JUL
4

Political Issues, Social Issues

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Reflections on fatherhood–I almost missed the boat

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In light of last week’s Charleston massacre, people who know me probably expect me to write about gun policy. It’s tempting, but I’ll let other people deal with this latest instance of America’s gun problem. Instead, let’s talk about Father’s Day—and how I almost missed the boat about just how important fatherhood is.

I begin with my own father, who was always concerned for my welfare, even as I entered adult life and was married with two young children. When family ...

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23
JUN
8

Social Issues

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No gets us nowhere

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I’m starting to take stock of how often we hear the word “no” from legislators. Besides being used too frequently, “no” is seldom followed by an effort to find a better alternative. No gets us nowhere.

Congress has said no to raising the minimum wage. Congress is saying no to keeping Medicaid reimbursements at $70 per office visit, opting to let the rate fall back to $40, surely a disincentive to treating the 59 million people enrolled in Medicaid. ...

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13
APR
4

Social Issues

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