Imagine walking out of a grocery store into flashing police lights. Two suspects are kneeling with their hands up, visibly unarmed. Someone nearby says a drug sale may have taken place. Yet, despite the lack of threat, an officer suddenly shoots and kills one suspect, then shoots the second. When he sees that the second […]
Posted inLifestyle
A Family Confronts Mental Illness and Suicide
This year marks the fifth holiday season without my cousin’s son, Henry. He died of suicide at 27, after years battling bipolar disorder — replete with depression, manic events and psychosis. His father — Tripp Friedler — has written a book titled “The Tunnel” about that journey. Many families will enter the holidays carrying similar […]
Posted inPolitics
Watchdog Report: AFR’s Anti-Wealth Rhetoric Masks Partisan Donor Network
When the group Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) presented testimony to Congress last summer, it described itself as a “nonpartisan and nonprofit organization … working toward a stable and ethical financial system that can contribute to a just and sustainable economy.” According to its press statements, its mission is to fight for economic justice against […]
Posted inFinance
Why Eliminating Large-Denomination Cash Is Overdue
As the United States retires the penny, it should also reexamine larger cash denominations. The nickel is an obvious inefficiency costing 13.78 cents to produce, but the more consequential reform is retiring high-value paper notes. Phasing out the $100 and $50 bills would make tax evasion and many criminal enterprises harder to run, increase financial transparency, and impose […]
Posted inLifestyle
HOLY COW! HISTORY: A Teen’s Daring ‘Date’ With the King of Hollywood
A new word was entering America’s vocabulary 90 years ago: teenagers. True, adolescents had been around since the dawn of time. But surprisingly, they weren’t called “teenagers” until the 1930s, when researchers first noticed the demographic was emerging as a source of spending power. Tinseltown pounced on the prospect, targeting its movies — and the […]
Posted inTechnology
State Dept. Visa Misstep Will Aid Predators, Scammers, Traffickers
On the day Congress weighed 19 child-safety bills, the State Department told diplomats to deny visas to skilled workers in “content moderation, fact-checking, compliance and online safety,” Reuters reports. Defending free speech and a free internet are core values where U.S. diplomacy has an admirable track record. This new approach risks counterproductively making life easier […]
Posted inPolitics
New Federal Rulemaking Will Hurt Small Businesses
The biggest challenge facing American small-business owners today is not a lack of ideas or effort; it’s the layered burdens of excessive government regulation and unforeseen expenses. Policymakers should ease this load whenever they can, helping more small businesses overcome death by a thousand costs. A little-discussed federal agency is taking the opposite tack. The […]
Posted inPolitics
Point: Is Trump Derangement Syndrome Real?
For an alternate viewpoint, see “Counterpoint: It’s Real, and It’s Spectacular.” The term “Trump Derangement Syndrome” is often used by supporters of President Trump to discredit virtually any criticism of him. It is a convenient slur because it allows someone to sidestep the actual criticism of Trump by suggesting that the person making the criticism […]
Posted inPolitics
Counterpoint: TDS: It’s Real, and It’s Spectacular
For an alternate viewpoint, see “Point: Is Trump Derangement Syndrome Real?” So there’s a scene in one of the old “Star Trek” movies in which James Kirk is trying to persuade the bad guy to beam Spock onto his ship. When the bad guy refuses, Kirk asks why. “Because you wish it!” he replies. Message: Opposing something […]