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Supreme Court Considers Seizure’s Reasonableness Under Fourth Amendment

Here’s a subject new to this column: The Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits “unreasonable searches and seizures.” Before the U.S. Supreme Court in Barnes v. Felix is the issue of how one determines whether a seizure is reasonable. No matter who is due to prevail, it way understates the point to say the facts of Barnes v. Felix are nothing short of tragic and should never have happened. The facts bring frustration to mind and tears to eyes. An all-to-brief version of the beginning of the story is that on April 28, 2016, Ashtian ...

A Staple For Meals

Rice is not only a whole grain but it is easily digested. I remember my grandmother who had stomach issues choosing rice to eat. It is not only inexpensive, but it is nutritious and tasty. For those of you who are watching your food budget, you can mix rice with many things to enhance the taste. When Dick and I were married he told me the only way to eat rice was as rice pudding or rice cooked with milk. We lived on a dairy farm so milk was plentiful. I often cooked rice with milk in a double boiler with a cinnamon stick and a little sugar. I also added some extra ground cinnamon. When ...

Bullying In The White House

I thought I had seen it all with Donald Trump, but his atrocious behavior in bullying the President of Ukraine in the White House went beyond the pale. Can you imagine George Washington or Abe Lincoln, or any other President we have had, ever doing anything like this? If it were done in school, the teacher would send the student involved to the principal’s office. Actually, it was more than bullying. President Zelensky was bushwhacked between the two hammering voices of President Trump and Vice-President Vance. This was no spontaneous, unplanned event. They were out to surprise and ...

A Heist On The Hill

If you’re reading this, you’re likely not a billionaire. If you are, congratulations: Trump and the Republican majority in Congress–including Rep. Nick Langworthy–have your back. Last week, Langworthy and company voted to advance Trump’s “big, beautiful” budget bill. It’s big, but not beautiful for the 99% reading this. We get nothing, while billionaires and corporations grow even richer off the backs of working families. Better understand which side of this cruel line you’re on. Langworthy and the Republicans are acting like anti-Robinhoods: stealing from the ...

True Patriots Will Clean Up Trump’s Mess

We’ve been reading a lot in these pages about a new scourge haunting the lunatic right, Marxo-Fascism. I’ve even been called a Marxo-Fascist myself, but I’m really more of a Groucho-Marxist. I’m not even sure what a Marxo-Fascist is. I googled it and didn’t find much. Even my AI app didn’t know what it was. This really surprised me since the term certainly sounds like it was made up by someone with artificial intelligence. What is at play here is a frequency illusion, a cognitive bias that makes a person who has just learned something, like a cool and sinister sounding ...

Is It An Apple Or A Banana?

First of all I voted for President Trump and I am proud of it. However, I believe in a woman’s right to choose. When I vote I look at the totality of a candidate and which person is going to be the best President for our country. I also watch the liberal channels. It’s a known fact that if a person is told the same thing over and over again they will soon believe what they are told. For example if someone is constantly told a banana is an apple and an apple is a banana they will eventually believe it. Just read some of these articles from writers who have CNN syndrome and you’ll ...