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Some factors make seeing way home much more difficult

If you’re a driver of a certain age, there is a good chance you’ve been “blinded by the light” at night, especially in recent years. The phenomenon has nothing to do with Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, which recorded the 1976 hit song of the same name. But over the last 20 years or so, more and more automobile manufacturers have gone to LED headlights, which are noticeably brighter than the headlights on your parents’ old Buick Regal. Combine those blinding lights on other vehicles with the fading eyesight of some drivers as they age, and it’s a recipe for disaster. But ...

Bondi shows loyalty only to 1

Let’s hear a word of praise for the ordinary citizens who have called for an end to the too-often reckless invasions of American cities by federal agents carrying out President Trump’s crusade against undocumented immigrants. I am moved by the courage and patriotism of those who have come out on the streets, sometimes in awesome numbers, to demand investigations into and accountability for recent allegations of misconduct by officers of the Department of Homeland Security in Minneapolis, Chicago and elsewhere. These events were spotlighted last week in hearings in the House ...

Poorly managed US government handouts promote fraud

Americans want to help people in need, but when government does that, about 500 billion taxpayer dollars get stolen. It’s how the system is designed, says the United Council on Welfare Fraud’s Andrew McClenahan in this new video. “You’re measuring success by the amount of money you put out.” Because of that, government agencies rarely check whether their handouts go to the right people. Minnesota is just the latest example. Government officials didn’t uncover that fraud — YouTuber Nick Shirley did. I say to McClenahan, “It’s weird that a kid did what ...

Survivors deserve full transparency in Epstein case

“The more Epstein documents get released, the more we see how he had so many powerful friends, and that’s ultimately what helped him,” commented U.S. lawyer Lisa Bloom in an interview with the Guardian. As Bloom, who represents 11 of Jeffrey Epstein’s dogged and brave victims, notes: “That’s not the way the justice system is supposed to work.” From the outset, the Epstein affair has offered a textbook example of the ability of the influential and well-connected to avoid scrutiny and intimidate those who would exert it. A ruthless pursuit of transparency, both ...

‘Misleading’ headline masks real challenge facing local democracy

The recent opinion piece characterizing the Trumbull County Democratic Party as being in “free fall” may make for a provocative headline, but it misrepresents what is happening in local and state politics, and why potential Democratic candidates and anyone who believes in fair competition and public service give pause. Headlines matter. Framing this moment as party collapse implies dysfunction or indifference. That is not the reality in Trumbull County. What has changed is the political environment itself. National right-wing PACs have inserted themselves into local legislative ...

Plant in your own life; we all reap the rewards

There’s a 36-year-old song that talks about the value of hard work. “I gotta get out of bed and get a hammer and a nail,” the chorus goes, “Learn how to use my hands, not just my head. I think myself into jail. Now, I know a refuge never grows from a chin in a hand in a thoughtful pose. Gotta tend the earth if you want a rose.” I’ve been thinking a lot about farming lately, which is weird because the last time I tried to do any gardening, I pulled a random muscle in my back and limped for a week. But work, real work, goes back in my family for generations. My ...