US Opinion and Commentary

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After Orlando, Drive Out Hate With Light and Love

Posted June 14th, 2016 at 10:50 am (UTC-4)
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The human reaction is to want to strike back…Dr. Martin Luther King taught us a different lesson…. “Darkness,” he wrote, “cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.”

Her Name Was Janese Talton-Jackson and She Was Killed Because She Said No

Posted February 3rd, 2016 at 2:03 pm (UTC-4)
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Janese Talton-Jackson is dead because a man was interested in her. And then killed her when that interest wasn’t reciprocated. But she could have been any woman he happened to be interested in that night. The only thing separating her from the women who made it home alive Friday is chance. Sheer luck.

Presidential Tears, Executive Actions and a Townhall

Posted January 8th, 2016 at 4:02 pm (UTC-4)
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President Obama’s mission to address gun violence in America began on Friday, December 31st, New Year’s Eve. Obama released his regular recorded Saturday address earlier than usual. In it was a clear message that he would forge ahead and do something – anything – to make it harder for potential killers to buy firearms. He had tried – and failed – to tighten gun laws after the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school.This week, frustrated by inaction and just a few weeks after the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, Obama made his move. He invoked executive power, bypassing Congress, to address loopholes in background checks for gun sales. That was followed by a press conference to officially unveil his executive actions in which the president, uncharacteristically emotional, shed tears. Two days later, he was live on television at a town hall on gun control hosted by CNN. He capped the week by writing an opinion column, “Barack Obama: Guns Are Our Shared Responsibility,” published in the New York Times.

Barack Obama: ‘Guns Are Our Shared Responsibility’

Posted January 8th, 2016 at 7:21 am (UTC-4)
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“All of us need to demand leaders brave enough to stand up to the gun lobby’s lies. All of us need to stand up and protect our fellow citizens. All of us need to demand that governors, mayors and our representatives in Congress do their part.”

An Emotion Obama Announces New Measures to Tighten Gun Laws

Posted January 6th, 2016 at 6:13 am (UTC-4)
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Wiping tears, the president spoke of the young school children during the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn. “Every time I think about those kids, it gets me mad,”

Here is How Obama’s Most Controversial New Action on Guns Really Works. It’s Fairly Modest.

Posted January 5th, 2016 at 1:08 pm (UTC-4)
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It clarifies which gun-sellers are supposed to obtain a federal firearms license. Since guns sold by licensed dealers are subject to federal background checks, and guns sold by private sellers are not, this change, by extension, would also clarify which additional gun sales are subject to background checks.

New Year Starts With Fight Over Gun Control

Posted January 4th, 2016 at 3:27 pm (UTC-4)
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President Barack Obama got right back to work after his holiday break with gun control on his mind. At a meeting Monday with Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI Director James Comey and other top law enforcement officials, the president was briefed on proposals designed to crack down on unregulated gun sales. Later in the week, CNN will host Obama for a live town hall meeting on the issue, which was brought home vividly just last month when 14 people were massacred by a heavily armed young Muslim-American couple during mass shooting in California. Republican presidential hopefuls immediately hammered Obama’s move to invoke executive power – that is, to enact the laws without Congressional approval. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie called the president a “petulant child,” while frontrunner Donald Trump vowed to use HIS future executive power to overturn Obama’s.

Obama’s Second Term Could Be The Most Consequential In Recent Memory

Posted January 4th, 2016 at 9:59 am (UTC-4)
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…The question today is not whether Obama has made real progress since 2012. The question is how much of that progress will last beyond 2017, when somebody else is in the White House.

Obama Appears Ready for Another Attempt to Tighten Gun Laws

Posted January 1st, 2016 at 10:45 am (UTC-4)
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“I get too many letters from parents, and teachers, and kids, to sit around and do nothing.”

Our World in 2016

Posted December 31st, 2015 at 10:09 am (UTC-4)
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Predicting what the future holds is nearly always a risky pursuit. We can examine and dissect events past, trends and patterns, but do we ever really know what is to come? We do in one case: America will elect a new president in 2016, ending President Barack Obama’s second term. And experts agree overwhelmingly that the world will continue to be plagued by the threat of terrorism. But what about the global economy? Gun violence? The Iran nuke deal? Europe’s migrant crisis? Some of the world’s most pressing issues will be stubbornly familiar and hard to remedy; others are likely to emerge as new challenges in a new year.

2015 in Review

Posted December 30th, 2015 at 2:12 pm (UTC-4)
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As 2015’s final minutes tick away, it’s gives us a chance to look into the mirror to see what we are leaving behind. Many philosophers have noted that history tends to repeat itself. Terrorism. Gun violence. Racial tensions. Religious differences. Politics. The environment. So we reflect on the events and trends of 2015 in hopes of identifying patterns, learning from the mistakes of the past and building on its successes to take on many of the same challenges in 2016.

Tamir Rice Protests Must Be Peaceful

Posted December 29th, 2015 at 10:30 am (UTC-4)
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We are not Baltimore. We are not Ferguson. We are Cleveland, and so far, we have shown the world how to protest without injury or harm to property. When those other cities burned, the violence achieved nothing. Innocent people were hurt and the schism widened between the police and the communities they serve.  

Gun Control: Americans Search Yet Again for Antidote to Gun Violence

Posted December 17th, 2015 at 4:15 pm (UTC-4)
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Two weeks to the day that a heavily armed radicalized Muslim couple killed 14 people at a work holiday party in San Bernardino, California, President Barack Obama tried to reassure Americans nervous about terrorism. Flanked by top officials at the National Counterterrorism Center, Obama said there are no “specific and credible” threats to the homeland. New polls indicate more Americans are concerned about a terrorist attack than gun violence, although one survey shows seven in 10 believe mass shootings have become a normal part of American life. The right to bear arms is among the most hotly debated constitutional issues. Demands for stricter gun control laws grow louder with each inexplicable act of violence: Sandy Hook, Columbine and, now, San Bernardino. The gun lobby and its supporters are no less pained by these tragedies, but say no law can stop a determined individual from buying a weapon. It is a familiar debate – one that continued on the week that first of the victims of San Bernardino were laid to rest.

Do Citizens (not police officers) With Guns Ever Stop Mass Shootings?

Posted December 6th, 2015 at 9:36 pm (UTC-4)
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…Always keep in mind that mass shootings in public places should not be the main focus in the gun debate, whether for gun control or gun decontrol: They on average account for much less than 1 percent of the U.S. homicide rate and are unusually hard to stop through gun control laws…

‘We Will Not Be Terrorized’

Posted December 6th, 2015 at 8:48 pm (UTC-4)
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In his usual Saturday address, President Barack Obama vowed to fight acts of terror following the deadly mass shooting at a holiday party in San Bernardino, California.

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