In most of US, police can legally deceive during an interrogation

October 27, 2021

How many times have you seen these scenarios play out on TV crime dramas? The savvy detective tells a scared kid in the interrogation room that if he will just confess, then the cops can promise leniency. Or the investigator tells the juvenile that his buddy in the other room has spilled his guts. To save himself, the suspect is told, he needs to start talking and confess to his crime. Except the kid in the other room hasn’t actually said anything yet. Now, two states — Illinois and Oregon — have passed laws forbidding police from using deception when dealing with suspects under ...

It’s time to repair our past

October 26, 2021

What started as a simple conversation in the offices of the chamber of commerce and the visitors bureau about beautifying a patch of ground has turned into an amazing community project revolving around the locally known AME Cemetery. Rhonda Kelley and Jenny Landis called together a diverse group of people who they thought would take on this three-phase project. Along with physical improvements to the gravestones and property, an expanded history was also on the agenda. That’s where I came in. As a history major in college, I’ve used the skills I have learned to research my ...

Biden caves to unions again, sabotaging US customers

October 23, 2021

From Christmas toys to clothing and auto parts, shortages of imported products are forcing factories to idle, store shelves to sit empty and consumers to panic. What else is in short supply? The truth about what’s causing this economic crisis. President Joe Biden, who brags about running “the most pro-union administration in history,” won’t admit that longshoremen’s unions are holding the nation hostage, refusing to allow the use of automated equipment to unload container ships and get the goods onto trucks faster. The U.S. is the world’s largest importer, but its major ...

When are secrets not secret?

October 22, 2021

“Three people can keep a secret if two of them are dead.” — Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Earlier this month, President George W. Bush’s torture regime reared its head in an unusual argument before the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2002, Abu Zubaydah was captured by a militia in Pakistan and handed over to the CIA, which brought him to Poland where, under the supervision of CIA agents and American psychologists, he was brutally tortured until his removal to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba in 2006. The Bush administration argued that Zubaydah was a high-ranking member of ...

Progressives vs. independent contractors

October 21, 2021

Despite being a politician all his life, and never having worked in a blue-collar job, President Joe Biden declared, “I’m a union man,” when he announced his presidential campaign at a Teamsters union hall in Pittsburgh in April 2019. What our president really loves is big government and political power, and there is no more reliable money trough for Democrats than unions. According to OpenSecrets, which tracks political spending, Biden’s campaign received $27.5 million in contributions from unions, compared with $360,000 from unions that went to former President Donald ...

Those who ignore crime are just as culpable

October 20, 2021

“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” — Albert Einstein Dr. Stanley Weber worked for the Indian Health Service as a pediatrician for more than two decades. He was assigned to reservation facilities in both Montana and South Dakota. He also worked in New Mexico for a time. In 1995, three years into his Montana service, a supervisor suspected that the unmarried doctor, who hoarded children’s toys in his basement, was a pedophile, and dismissed Weber from his position at a ...