I’ve always felt what makes us civilized is respect for the law. And when the law doesn’t work well, it undermines our civilization. That’s why I support the Ohio Innocence Project at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Law (https://law.uc.edu/real-world-learning/centers/ohio-innocence-project-at-cincinnati-law.html), which has the simple goal of freeing innocent people who have been convicted of a
We hear a lot of talk about immigration, but it’s almost always from our viewpoint. Have you ever wondered how immigrating looks from the other side? Say, you want to come here from Somalia? Then you should listen to “Abdi and the Golden Ticket” about a young Somali who wanted to escape the turmoil of
How difficult is it to have a baby? For most people, it’s not all that complicated (and I’m sure I don’t have to explain it to you). But if you are two men from Israel, wanting to be a biological father (in their case a baby for each of them) required two wombs, four countries,
Today the test-of-patriotism spotlight is on professional football players, but in 1942 it was on Jehovah’s Witnesses. Specifically, two elementary school girls from Charleston, West Virginia. At that time, West Virginia required all students and teachers to salute the flag. Jehovah’s Witnesses objected because they believed this violated the Bible commandment against worshiping images. Gathie
When you read about the Endangered Species Act, it’s usually within two contexts — a specific species that’s recovering, or the economic costs of adhering to the law. So I was a bit surprised to see the headline “The Endangered Species Act Is Criticized for Its Costs. But It Generates More than $1 Trillion a
I’m a poor choice to write on the implications of free speech at colleges and universities. Both my undergraduate and graduate degrees were earned at military schools, and I didn’t get onto a “real” college campus until age 57, when I retrained for my teaching license. But I do know that colleges have become coveted
Keeping up with the news can be sobering, even depressing, especially when children are involved. But every once in a while, a story grabs your attention like a slap across the face. Like tonight. I don’t know how many watch PBS’s “News Hour” ( https://www.pbs.org/newshour/ ), but a story late in tonight’s broadcast really brought home
Today we tiptoe into the minefield of politics. Recently much has been made about presidential appointments to the Supreme Court, and with good reason. Our highest court has the final say on what the law of the land actually means. Within a year and a half of taking office, President Trump gets to appoint two
With all the heat about illegal immigration, it’s refreshing to find an occasional point of light. One such point (three points, actually) is the “Border Trilogy”, a series of three podcasts from National Public Radio’s Radiolab. It goes a long way toward explaining how we got to where we are today, including a court case
There’s been a lot of soul-searching among polling professionals since the 2016 election — why was President Trump’s win such a surprise? Since then, political pundits have been looking for better polling methods. They may have found one — social circle polling. Basically, instead of asking how someone plans to vote, people are asked how
