Opinions

opinion Brian Tome Opinion contributor Published 11:10 AM EDT Sep 29, 2018 Why do we have so many guys from the college campus to the corporate C-Suite to the Hollywood and political elite dishonoring and devaluing women? As stories of boys behaving badly continue, we can no longer only ask what is wrong with them. This isn’t just a story about an individual. It’s about a sizable segment of the male population in America. Our culture is scarred with the need for males to leave boyhood and become real men. It’s not only the truth behind the anecdotal stories of the Me Too movement. It is also the empirical statistics like males being 3.5 times more likely to die of suicide. And look at the gender of every mass shooting suspect. Males in our culture are in crisis about a life that mainstream civilization conditions us to mindlessly follow after. Consider these cultural touchpoints that help explain why so many men devalue and dishonor so many women. Our … [Read more...] about Opinion: It’s time to rethink how we are raising our boys

The U.S. has been at war in the Middle East for the larger part of at least two decades. Our involvement in the region goes back even further, in true American fashion. The U.S. has had various motivations throughout the 70-odd years we have had true relations. The U.S. government did not see the economic value of bullying the Middle East until after World War II, when thwarting communist governments meant more oil and money for the U.S.  One of our first real involvements began in 1953. It resulted in deposing the democratically elected leader in Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh, because he wanted to nationalize the oil industry in Iran. The Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was famous for spying on citizens and forcing westernization on citizens, was reinstalled into power. Ever since the 1979 revolution in Iran that overthrew the oppressive shah, the U.S. has made sure to turn Iran into the evil, freedom-hating nation, despite the well-known fact their originally elected leader was … [Read more...] about OPINION: So is the U.S. the human-rights crusader in the Middle East?

opinion Rachel E. VanLandingham Opinion contributor Published 4:16 PM EDT Sep 28, 2018 “He said, she said.” I heard that characterization more than once from military commanders when I brought them allegations of sexual assault to consider for prosecution. I also heard that phrase when, as a young officer, I sat on a jury during a court-martial of a senior non-commissioned officer whom we then convicted of substantial sexual harassment, a crime in the military. I heard it numerous times later, from fellow attorneys, when assessing the numerous reports of sexual assault that crossed our desks as military prosecutors and command legal advisers. And I have heard it used pervasively to diminish the gravity of the accusation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. This term was often used dismissively. But some senior-ranking commanders employed it out of frustration. Frustration as they struggled to explain to their lawyer why they questioned my … [Read more...] about Opinion: America should move beyond ‘he said, she said’