Author: Carma Henry

       Black Americans lived through Jim Crow and fought to make the ballot a right. Today, barriers can be harder to recognize: a polling place moves, a registration requirement changes, or a voter learns too late that the rules are different. Voting laws have changed in recent years, and polling locations can change between elections.

       In life, it can be easy to judge someone based on how they look, how they talk, where they come from, or the choices they make. But the truth is, we never truly know what someone else is going through. Judging people without knowing their story can be hurtful, unfair, and wrong.

Despite steady rain throughout the day, children and parents turned out to impressive numbers at the Carver Ranches Branch Library for a memorable community event hosted by West Park Commissioner Dr. Katrina Touchstone. For nearly four hours, families participated in reading activities, educational presentations, health and safety demonstrations, and community fellowship.

Eddie Duran, a former sheriff’s deputy from Fort Walton Beach, Florida, who shot and killed U.S. Airman Roger Fortson, a 23-year-old African American, is still headed for trial after a judge rejected his latest attempt to dismiss the manslaughter charge against him. The Sept. 11 ruling keeps the case on track for a Sept. 28 trial, although Duran’s attorneys plan to appeal and have also asked Judge William F. Stone to step aside.

Don’t Blame AI Without Blaming the People Behind it

       Donald Trump’s promise to send American adults a $5,000 “Trump Dividend” if Republicans retain control of Congress deserves more than ridicule from Democrats.

     When the United States military sets out to demonstrate its power, the language in Washington is often clinical and reassuring. Precision strikes and restored deterrence sound manageable. The bills tell a less comforting story. In a Sept. 15 assessment, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the war against Iran had cost the Pentagon about $38 billion through Aug. 1. Americans deserve to know what that enormous commitment is buying beyond the capacity to keep fighting.

     Yet inequalities persisted. Economic gaps remained between men and women and between white and Black Americans, while unequal access to personal liberties continued. Institutional segregation endured as well, reinforced by disparities in local school funding. Bias against LGBTQ Americans added another dimension to the unfinished struggle for equality.

     (Now the Full Satire Alert): In a move sending shockwaves through the Republican party, a top‑secret document recovered from a White House shredder reveals plans to rename the GOP the Trumpublican Party any day now. Plans call for a name‑change celebration on Hallowe’en, timed so the president can hand out gold‑foil chocolate coins bearing his profile to trick‑or-treaters on the South Lawn.

     After spending millions of dollars redecorating the White House and transforming D.C. monuments, President Trump approved, on September 15, 2026, an additional 2.8 billion dollar sale of heavy bombs to Israel, including 40,000 one-ton bombs, 20,000 of the 2,000 lb. bombs, and 20,000 bunker-busting penetrator warheads. Israel has used these bombs to destroy homes, families and crucial infrastructure in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.