US Opinion and Commentary

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Showing Archived Posts

The Terrorist’s iPhone

Posted February 19th, 2016 at 2:25 pm (UTC-4)
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This is just the first round in a fight that could reshape the way surveillance and crime-solving are carried out in the information age, a battle that serves as a useful reminder that technology is no magic cure for longstanding trade-offs.

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.”

It is Time for Muslims to Begin a Deep Self-examination

Posted December 31st, 2015 at 11:04 am (UTC-4)
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[Ghassan] Charbel called for shutting down platforms of hate and said the Middle East needs to undertake “a deep re-examination” of its society. … ‘What threatens the Arab and Islamic world today,” he said, “is no less dangerous than the threat that Nazism posed to Europe.’

Demagoguery or Democracy? Trump’s Take on Muslims

Posted December 9th, 2015 at 3:58 pm (UTC-4)
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“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” These famed words, written by American poet Emma Lazarus and inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, have greeted immigrants arriving on the shores of New York since 1903. They are the essence of these United States, the foundation of its democracy. So, when Republican hopeful Donald Trump proposed barring all Muslims from entering America in response to the San Bernadino terror attack is he practicing democratic principle of free speech? Or, are these the words of a demagogue?

America’s Angst Over Islam

Posted December 8th, 2015 at 3:55 pm (UTC-4)
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As we learn more details about the Muslim couple who carried out last week’s terror attack in San Bernardino, California, a tortured debate has erupted. Fear has unleashed unvarnished and sometimes ugly and inaccurate statements about Muslim-Americans. Emotions roiled further when Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until we figure out what is going on.” The response has been overwhelmingly negative. Bloggers took to their computers and social media to condemn “Islamaphobia.” Between the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, a passionate debate has exploded. Islam itself seems to have become yet another casualty of terrorism.

Obama’s Call for Muslims to Stand Up

Posted December 8th, 2015 at 11:11 am (UTC-4)
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Among the president’s anti-Islamic State tactics is an appeal to Muslim leaders to assert an Islam based on universal values such as dignity, respect, and tolerance. Yet the US and Europe also must embrace these values to defeat all types of terrorism.    

‘We Will Prevail’

Posted December 6th, 2015 at 8:52 pm (UTC-4)
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President Barack Obama gave a rare address from the Oval Office Sunday night on last week’s mass shootings in San Bernardino, California – deemed an act of terror – that killed 14 people at a work holiday party. While acknowledging that the U.S. is confronting a terror threat at home, he tried to reassure the country by vowing that “we will overcome” such acts of terror. He called for stricter laws on assault-style weapons, and reiterated his decision not to engage U.S. troops in a ground war against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

End the Gun Epidemic in America

Posted December 4th, 2015 at 10:41 pm (UTC-4)
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Certain kinds of weapons, like the slightly modified combat rifles used in California, and certain kinds of ammunition, must be outlawed for civilian ownership. It is possible to define those guns in a clear and effective way and, yes, it would require Americans who own those kinds of weapons to give them up…