Commentary
Missouri’s GOP Senate primary as a hand of Texas Hold ‘Em, part three: The turn
Back in September I asked: If each U.S. Senate primary candidate held a Texas Hold ‘Em starting hand, what would they be, and why? As a refresher, in Texas Hold ‘Em, two cards are dealt face down to each player, while five “community cards” are dealt face up in three stages — a group of […]
Midwest college grudge matches vanish during conference realignment
My wife’s stepdad, Mike, was notoriously slow to soften. This was especially true if you were me, the bouncy, naive kid dating his stepdaughter. One particular interaction between us lives in family lore. I came to visit Kansas City as a mop-haired photojournalism freshman at the University of Missouri. However, a baby shower swamped the […]
More justice, more safety
Nearly six years to the day after beloved St. Paul, Minn., school cafeteria worker Philando Castile was fatally shot by a police officer during an otherwise routine traffic stop, Jayland Walker died in a hail of bullets fired by police officers in Akron, Ohio. While the full picture of that shooting is still emerging as […]
States with strong antiabortion laws have high maternal and infant mortality rates
As someone who considers himself pro-life, I should be celebrating the recent Dobbs case that the Supreme Court used to overturn Roe v. Wade. But I’m very concerned today. I believe such a ruling will not only fail to reduce the abortion rate, but could very well lead to an increase in maternal death rates […]
Mark Meadows could come to regret acquiescence to Trump coup attempt
For two hours last week, former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson calmly, matter-of-factly testified to the commission of high crimes by the former president and by many of those around him. She told her fellow Americans that Trump had been informed on the morning of Jan. 6 that the mob assembled by his command […]
On Fourth of July, let’s pause and reflect on America’s well-being
As we pause to celebrate the birth of our nation, we need to seriously reflect on the state of its health and well-being. The greatest problems we face, while troubling, are not rising inflation, high gas prices, nor rampant gun violence. There is a deeper sickness growing in our land that threatens the very existence […]
Post-Roe, herding ourselves over politics will do nothing but further hurt us
The reaction to the Supreme Court stripping away a constitutional right to abortion has spurred many apocalyptic forecasts for the country. Most vivid, of course, is the fear that the United States will become a version of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” with a slave-class of women forced to bear children for a […]
The Biden administration said insurers must cover home COVID tests. It didn’t say how
I read the announcement in January with mixed emotions: The Biden administration would soon require health insurers to pay for eight at-home, rapid COVID-19 tests per person, per month, it said. What a helpful move to improve testing access for Americans whose jobs, schooling and daily lives expose them to the virus, I thought. Especially […]
Let’s fix our toxic politics
When Eric Greitens posted his April 25 tweet, I thought, “this is the craziest thing I have ever seen.” He was on a shooting range with Donald Trump, Jr., first firing what appeared to be an AR-15, next a handgun with the audio messages, “Striking fear in the hearts of liberals,” and, “Liberals beware.” May […]
COVID in Black and white
“When white folks catch a cold, Black folks get pneumonia.” We’ve known this old adage for years but never before did it strike so close to home as it did last month when COVID finally caught up with our interracial family. First, a little background. Since the global pandemic began in March of 2020, my […]
Will Juneteenth have broader, enduring meaning as a national holiday? | Opinion
In June 2021, Congress, with a unanimous vote in the Senate and support of all but 14 Republicans in the House of Representatives, passed legislation designating June 19th as Juneteenth National Independence Day, commemorating the end of slavery for Black Americans. But what does it really mean? In the years to come, will it be […]
Juneteenth celebrates just one of the United States’ 20 emancipation days | Opinion
The actual day was June 19, 1865, and it was the Black dockworkers in Galveston, Texas, who first heard the word that freedom for the enslaved had come. There were speeches, sermons and shared meals, mostly held at Black churches, the safest places to have such celebrations. The perils of unjust laws and racist social […]