Browsing: Opinions

        We are living in a time of heightened self-awareness and social reckoning. Across the country, and especially in Black communities, people are reexamining their place, their purpose, and their power. There’s a growing call to move beyond survival into systems-building, healing, and legacy work. But first, we must be honest with ourselves: In this moment, are we the Spider, the Web, the Fly, or the Exterminator?

       A mediator friend described a case in which a tenant lost her job, got behind on rent, and started using drugs. Happily, she had an epiphany, turned her life around, and got a new job – but still owed a lot of rent. In the mediation, she apologized and took responsibility for the situation but wasn’t sure how quickly she could repay what she owed. She was afraid eviction could push her off her healthy trajectory.

      What Mr. Trump does not understand about his juvenile social messaging spewing of taunts followed by ordering US nuclear submarines closer to Russia (Russia may only have 3-4 minutes to decide if US subs have attacked)—is his ignorance of how Russia thinks. He should read President Reagan’s memoir, in which he wrote:

      As you read the title, anyone with a sharp eye for spelling or a love of language is probably scratching their head and asking, “What the devil is ‘Orteganization’?” No need to Google it or dust off your old Webster’s, if you still have one. It’s a term I coined to describe the creeping autocratic tint the United States seems to be adopting, one day, one law, one norm at a time, echoing the playbook of Nicaraguan strongman Daniel Ortega.

     As Donald Trump tries to dodge accountability again—this time for his ties to Jeffrey Epstein—let’s not forget what’s really going on: powerful men shielding one another from the consequences of their predatory, often criminal, behavior.

     The indications, then and since, that the development of nuclear weapons did not bode well for human survival, were clear enough. The two small atomic bombs dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed between 110,000 and 210,000 people and wounded many others, almost all of them civilians. In subsequent years, hundreds of thousands more people around the world lost their lives thanks to the radioactive fallout from nuclear weapons testing, while substantial numbers also died from the mining of uranium for the building of nuclear weapons.

    Many scholars and progressives are reluctant to call Israel’s actions in Gaza genocide. They will agree that Israel’s behavior is abominable and atrocious but nevertheless falls below the threshold of a genocide. Their reasoning may step from partiality toward Israel no matter what it does, from the belief that Hamas’ brutal October 2023 attack must also count as genocide, or from a conception of genocide that must match the numbers of dead in the Holocaust gas chambers. But while the 1948 Geneva Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide resulted directly from the Holocaust, genocide in international law is defined by several other acts besides the extinction of an entire population. Here is how Article II of the Convention defines “genocide”:

   This title is meant to awaken Americans to a sinister, well-orchestrated effort to dismantle Democracy—an effort driven not by divinity, but by greed, racism, and lust for power. The word immaculate suggests that the plotters think they have devised the perfect plan to take advantage of a divided nation.

        For decades, I’ve returned to Truro, Massachusetts, drawn by some of the most breathtaking vistas on Cape Cod. I never tire of biking through the dunes, hiking the sandy bluffs of the National Seashore, or watching the sun rise over the tidal flats.

       As the sun sets on another vibrant summer in Fort Lauderdale, the shimmering waters of our pools and beaches begin to quiet. But for student athletes across the city, the end of summer should not mean the end of swimming. In fact, it’s the perfect time to dive in with renewed purpose. Cross-training in swimming isn’t just a smart move for athletic performance, it’s a life-saving decision that directly impacts the health, confidence, and survival of our youth.