I don’t know if Michael Brown presented a life-threatening situation to police officer Darren Wilson, and I don’t know if Wilson’s shooting of Brown was racially motivated. I don’t know if the grand jury in St. Louis got it right by not indicting Wilson, and I don’t know if St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch […]
Why black parents have “the talk” with their kids Read Post »
Let’s have a quiz. Who is the U.S. Surgeon General? (a) Vivek Murthy, (b) Boris D. Lushniak, (c) Everett Koop, or (d) none of these people. The answer is (d), though you should feel good if you selected Boris D. Lushniak, who is the “acting” Surgeon General. Vivek Murthy should be the Surgeon General, but the Senate won’t confirm
Who controls the U.S. Surgeon General’s office? Read Post »
Last week, President Barack Obama was in China, negotiating with the Chinese on how much the U.S. and China should decrease carbon emissions. The concern, of course, is how greenhouse gases are adding to global warming. I am always surprised at how people—generally, people who are not scientists—can down play global warming. Sen. Ted Cruz,
Denying climate change is silly Read Post »
Last week’s elections give me cause to revisit the matter of whether judges should be elected or appointed by a body that vets them for their qualifications. First, let’s review the comments from the judicial candidates who ran for appellate and trial court positions in Franklin County, Ohio. They were all asked, “Do you support
Do last names matter in judicial elections? You bet they do. Read Post »
Is there a connection between getting an annual physical and education? There is, but before I explain what it is, let me tell you how I made the connection. Some weeks back, I was talking with a good lawyer friend about the importance of having an annual physical. He’s 52 and never had a physical.
Education from a different perspective Read Post »
Columnist George Will believes that restoration of the Senate’s dignity rests on the reelection of Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, who Will views as “second only to Henry Clay as the state’s most consequential public servant.” Only through McConnell’s leadership, Will tells us, will the Senate “be restored as the creator of consensus.” If McConnell’s opponent, Alison
Mitch McConnell took the easy way out Read Post »
A letter to the editor in The Dispatch last Saturday from a retired Army major general caught my eye. He proposes that before sending troops into combat we should bring back the draft and enact a special war tax. The general wants to make “limited liability patriots and chicken hawks think twice before committing American
War no longer involves the nation as a whole Read Post »
I generally focus on issues and talk about people only to the extent they have some impact on those issues. I’m making an exception today for an exceptional person. She’s only 17 years old, and already she’s done more for the world than most adults. This rather petite and unassuming girl hasn’t created a cure
A world leader, and she’s just 17 Read Post »
A week or so ago, I read an op-ed piece about voting by columnist David Harsanyi. He was writing in response to the current dispute about whether states should make it easier for people to vote. Harsanyi believes that voting should be a difficult task. His point of view is based, at least in part,
They may not know who Joe Biden is, but they can vote for judges Read Post »
Ohio has found it harder and harder to execute its death row inmates, and so the answer has been to make the process secretive. The problem began when the pharmaceutical companies, whose drugs were being used for executions, decided they didn’t like their drugs being administered on death row, so they stopped the supply line.
Wasting more effort killing killers Read Post »
The news about a man jumping the fence and gaining access to the White House was alarming. How can this sort of thing happen? He had a knife. He could have had a bomb. That was scary, but it’s not what grabbed my attention. What followed is what bothers me. One would think the incident
Just over a week ago, I wrote about how the facts have been overshadowed by bad information in the Common Core debate. I knew something was wrong with this picture, but I couldn’t point to the exact problem. Sure, it had to do with politics, but what exactly was going on? I did a little
The politics behind common core Read Post »