This is how John Ward described killing his first wife. “I wanted her to give me my divorce and custody of my daughter,” he told Geraldo Rivera. “And she told me she’d see me in hell first. And I told her to save me a seat. And then I shot her.” “ … I shot […]
Leonard Pitts Jr.
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Strategy of disrespect comes back to haunt
“If he was for it, we had to be against it.” — Former U.S. Sen. George Voinovich quoted in “The New New Deal” by Michael Grunwald The “he” is President Obama. The “we” is the Republican Party. And it is not coincidental that as the former pushes toward the end of his second term, the […]
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In Hollywood, do people of color exist?
Chris Rock said everything that needed to be said. Almost. The burgeoning controversy over the blindingly white field of Oscar nominees made Sunday’s 88th Academy Awards a potential minefield. Rock, fearless, funny and, fortuitously, African American, was exactly the right host at precisely the right time. He contextualized the controversy, pointing out that this is […]
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Faith not an issue for many Trump backers
A few words about Donald Trump’s faith. It was, as you know, called into question last week by Pope Francis. Aboard the papal plane returning from a visit to Mexico, the pontiff was asked about the mercurial billionaire turned Republican presidential candidate who has vowed to build a wall along America’s border with Mexico and […]
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U.S. becomes a nation with no center
“Things fall apart. The centre cannot hold.” — William Butler Yeats And so this is the presidential campaign of 2016. If it were a movie, it would be pornography. If it were a sporting event, it would be a cockfight. If it were music, it would be the sound of cats on a hot blackboard. […]
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GOP’s obstructionism reflects its fears
This was three days before Antonin Scalia died. President Obama had just spoken before the Illinois General Assembly. Now, he and some old friends, all retired from that body, were being interviewed by the Los Angeles Times. Obama was talking about the legislative gridlock that has marked his terms and how he might have avoided […]
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A simple question, but not a simple answer
“Are you anti-abortion?” That question, from a colleague, caught me by surprise. After all, she knows I’ve written a number of pro-choice columns. “I know you’re pro-choice,” she added, reading my mind. “But I was wondering if you’re anti-abortion.” I knew where this was coming from. She had just finished reading the first draft of […]
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Police cannot be above the law they enforce
First he killed him. Now he’s suing him. I have no idea whether Robert Rialmo, the Chicago police officer who shot 19-year-old Quintonio LeGrier to death the day after Christmas, was justified in doing so. Certainly, the sequence of events Rialmo describes seems to suggest he was within bounds when he opened fire. According to […]
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Sitcoms influence how people think
So it turns out sitcoms can erase bigotry. That’s the bottom line of a study recently presented before a conference of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. And it doesn’t even have to be a particularly good sitcom. To judge, at least, from a screening of its first two episodes, the Canadian sitcom on […]
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Taking a step toward justice for all
Last week, a group of church friends held a town hall meeting in Brunswick, Ga. Their purpose is embodied in their name: Justice For Caroline Small. Chances are, you’ve never heard of her. She was a waitress, a mother of two girls, and a woman with mental health issues who was in and out of […]