Author: Carma Henry

   America’s constitutional system design attempted to prevent the concentration of power in any single branch of government. Yet critics argue that the nation is witnessing a troubling erosion of those safeguards.  Elected officials and institutions are increasingly placing partisan objectives above their constitutional responsibilities. The central question is, “why are elected officials  betraying their constitutional oath?

    Woody Guthrie proudly sang “This land is your land, this land is my land / From California to the New York island,” but, in fact, the conversion of vast public resources and wealth to private property is one of the defining dynamics of American history. The political economist Thorstein Veblen called this process “The American Plan:” the conversion of public resources into private hands as fast as possible.

     The kids in my neighborhood were surrounded by higher education. We just didn’t know the impact that it would have. We knew a lot about Black colleges at an early age. At that time, they weren’t called Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

    President Donald Trump hates to lose, but he is on a losing streak in the Middle East—not just in Iran, where his illegal, unprovoked war has been a strategic and diplomatic disaster, but also in Gaza, Lebanon, and the US Congress. Israel’s military is out of control in Gaza and Lebanon. Trump surely doesn’t mind that happening in Gaza, except that his prized Board of Peace is powerless to remake the strip into a showcase of peace and prosperity. In Lebanon, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu don’t see eye to eye on strategy, obstructing Trump’s desperate hope for an agreement with Iran that will take the war out of the public eye. And in the US Congress, Trump has just watched as Republican defectors have given the anti-Iran war members an unprecedented victory, putting further pressure on Trump to find an exit.

    This is Britain’s new prime minister, Winston Churchill, speaking in 1940, just as World War II has opened its jaws. In that context, yes, his words make sense, but the paradox hiding in those words – the speech titled “Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat” – is that with victory there may be no survival either. The Good War gave us, of course, the nuclear bomb. It gave us much of the military hell that’s happened in my lifetime. It also gave us, along with a multi-trillion-dollar annual global military budget, a sense of eternal necessity to be ready for the next evil monster who wants to get us.

The City of Lauderdale Lakes proudly honored internationally acclaimed reggae artist Tarrus Riley with an official proclamation recognizing his outstanding contributions to music, culture, and community service. The proclamation was presented during the 2026 Caribbean American Unity Fest, where Riley served as the event’s headlining performer.

        Four decades of service is a remarkable achievement in any profession. It represents commitment, perseverance, leadership, and a dedication to serving others that spans generations. Broward County is fortunate to have two outstanding public servants whose careers exemplify those qualities: Chief Deputy Mary Hall of the Broward County Supervisor of Elections Office and Conrad Strong, Assistant Director of Operations at Port Everglades.

       Members of the U.S. Armed Forces help safeguard the freedoms Americans enjoy every day. In return, programs such as Cell Phones For Soldiers provide meaningful support to veterans in need by ensuring they have access to reliable communication.

       For more than 50 years, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) has been an effective federal safeguard to ensure that Black, Latino, Native Americans and other economically marginalized people have fair access to safe and affordable credit. Enacted with bipartisan support in Congress and signed into law by President Gerald Ford in 1974, ECOA has been a legal backbone in the fight against financial discrimination for literally millions of qualified borrowers.

“If the President wants to improve the Black jobless rate, he needs to stop firing federal workers,” Gbenga Ajilore, chief economist at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, told TheGrio