American Division
Polls show USA not as divided as you may think
83% want tax credits for improving home energy efficiency. Two-thirds say it is unacceptable for a President to issue pardons to family members.
Guns
A targeted report about guns, gays, and confirmation bias
Not to pick on the Philadelphia Inquirer, but I will use a recent story to illustrate confirmation bias. The headline of the story read, “The LGBTQ people buying guns for self-defense,” and the top of the story makes its position clear when it quote a 23-year-old trans
Guns
Bump stock ban was a fool’s errand
Philadelphia never seems to tire of providing examples that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. This time, it was the city’s law banning “bump stock” devices that turn regular firearms into machine guns. They should be banned, in my opinion. But
Guns
Under threat, American Jews arm up
These are facts: The vast majority of American Jews are Left, with some 70% voting Democratic. And the vast majority of American Democrats are for gun control, the tighter the better. I am a moderate Democratic gun-owner and take a small measure of satisfaction in reports, such as this
Guns
Misfiring Kenney doesn’t learn from experience
Our pathetic excuse for a retired-in-place mayor was given some space on the Philadelphia Inquirer’s letters page to plead (again) for an abridgment of your Constitutional right to own firearms. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will hear oral arguments, says Jim Kenney, on Crawford v Commonwealth. “The court
Guns
What David Hogg learned about winning on guns
After avoiding action on guns for almost three decades, Congress has delivered a mouse. But it was better than nothing, a life lesson learned by David Hogg that should be shared by everyone. You might remember movie star-handsome Hogg as one of the survivors of the 2018 massacre at
Guns
Poll question on guns
I am generally opposed to banning “assault rifles” for two reasons. First, we had a 10-year ban starting in 1994, and the results were mixed, at best. That’s why the law was allowed to sunset. Second, “assault rifle” is not a legal term, like the media-popular “weapon
Guns
Guest essay: Gun laws rarely help
By Leah Libresco Before I started researching gun deaths, gun-control policy used to frustrate me. I wished the National Rifle Association would stop blocking common-sense gun-control reforms such as banning assault weapons, restricting silencers, shrinking magazine sizes and all the other measures that could make guns less
Culture
Solving the school shooting crisis
While the facts -- such as questionable police action -- continue to unspool, one fact jumped out at me: Mad Dog Ramos entered the building through an unlocked door. A door, that a journalist on the scene reported, was supposed to have been locked, with a self-locking mechanism. Even when I
Guns
Answering Joe Biden’s question about ”why”
In his Wednesday-night address to the nation following the school massacre in Texas, an anguished President Joe Biden asked some questions, after saying most Americans favor “common sense” gun laws. “I just got off my trip from Asia, meeting with Asian leaders, and I learned of this while I
Guns
Krasner posts alibis, not gun convictions
A picture is worth 1,000 words, they say. So is a graph. Look at this one: Radical reformer Larry Krasner took over the Philadelphia district attorney’s office in January 2018, promising sweeping changes and restorative justice, whatever that means. Change we got, and it's not good.
Guns
Adjust your gun sights, Pres. Biden
On the third anniversary of the Parkland school mass murder, President Joe Biden released a sweeping, pie-in-the-sky plan to overhaul gun sales, law, and control. It tries to do too much. It is a scattergun when a target rifle is required. Its 13 pages devolve into minutia.