These people can be divided into three groups: super-rich donors to Trump’s campaign who have bought their way into an official position; supreme loyalists whose chief qualification is subservience to Trump; and members of Trump’s extended family. So far as I can tell, none of these people puts devotion to the rule of law, the Constitution, and the public interest above personal gain and support of strongman rule.
Browsing: Opinions
We were in one of those finish-everything-before-the-holidays meetings, pussyfooting about an accusation someone had made. Suddenly a colleague confessed, “My hands are clenched. My shoulders are tense.” He paused. “If I listen to my body, clearly I feel like I’m being attacked.” As he described his feelings, I recognized them in myself. Judging by their faces, so did the others.
This is thanks to Joe Biden’s decision to grant clemency to Michel Conahan, one of two juvenile-court judges in Luzerne County. Pennsylvania, convicted of accepting cash from private detention centers – as much as $2.8 million over a period of about six years – in exchange for sending them children (my God, as young as 8-years-old) convicted of petty offenses, such as fighting, shoplifting, underage drinking, to serve prolonged sentences in prison.
Dictionaries have selected enshittification, brain-rot and polarization as their 2024 Words of the Year. Each are depressingly apt reflections of the past 12 months. Roméo Dallaire’s latest book The Peace includes the words Ubumwe (Kinyarwanda), Ubuntu (Zulu) and Niw_hk_m_kanak (Cree) – which all convey more uplifting ways of being that were much needed in 2024.
Those opposed to militarism regardless of who is espousing it were rightly appalled by Barack Obama’s routine use of drones over his two terms as president, including in many countries where no hostilities had been declared. Nonetheless, the numbers show that far from ending these often unproductive strikes that killed so many innocents, President Trump doubled down on them.
The recent shooting of UHC CEO Brian Thompson has left many communities in shock and mourning. While it is critical to acknowledge the deep-seated frustrations that exist within our healthcare system, it is equally important to condemn the violence that has no place in our discourse or our society.
SAN DIEGO VOICE AND VIEWPOINT — Our first order of business during this time must be a return to prayer rather than party politics. We must remember that it was collective prayer by those who came before us that brought us this far. We must learn to act collectively “in spite of” and not “because of” the obstacles in front of us. While this is easier said than done, each of us must start at our own personal level of interaction with those around us, many of whom we may not like.
The idiom that the “pendulum swings” has been around for centuries. Galileo was the first to observe and record the motion of a swinging pendulum suspended on a string. The Pendulum ‘swings’ primarily describes the back-and-forth motion of the pendulum as it moves from its state of equilibrium. Consequently, the words ‘pendulum swings’ commonly refer to shifting ideas, trends, or political positions, thus giving rise to this topic, ‘Democracy’s Pendulum Swings.’
Violence in Healthcare: Profit over Care
But proposals floated this year by House Republicans and by analysts working for the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 would severely underfund or cut these services entirely for many people. While the federal government currently provides 90 percent of matching federal-state funding to ensure that all eligible individuals are covered (according to a provision of the Affordable Care Act), the House Republican plan and the Project 2025 proposals would reduce the federal share significantly, transferring costs to the states and to individuals.