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Americans are free to be suckers

Many of today’s consumer loans are legal but abusive. Payday lenders and used car sellers often steer customers into costly contracts they barely understand. Low-income borrowers with jobs, and therefore, dependable cash flow to siphon off, are favored targets. Sure, there’s a sucker born every minute, as P.T. Barnum allegedly said. But now we have a federal government that’s gone backward in providing protection from predators just as they adopt sophisticated technology to ply their craft. Criminals now use AI to generate fake images and scrub their pitches of misspellings ...

What the latest wave of neo-Nazis says about us

On July 4, the nation’s 250th anniversary, a mysterious group of young men in khaki pants, navy blue shirts, logoed baseball caps and white face masks surfaced in the capital, marching out of a downtown Metro subway station and into the news. By now they look oddly familiar, part of the menagerie of uniformed street brawlers and torch-carriers that emerged in the tumultuous first term of President Donald Trump. And there are unsavory historical echoes as well. Though smaller in number, the neo-Nazis in the capital brought to mind the 1925 parade down Pennsylvania Avenue by ...

Can Trump sue himself?

The question recently asked by a federal judge in Miami — can the president sue an entity in the executive branch of the federal government and benefit from the resolution of that lawsuit? — seems to beg the question. How could anyone sue an entity he controls and derive a benefit from the amicable resolution of such a lawsuit at the expense of others who are not parties to the lawsuit? Here is the backstory. During President Donald Trump’s first term in office, an IRS employee unlawfully released the tax returns of hundreds of thousands of taxpayers, among which was ...

Is it possible to be loyal to Trump and preserve integrity?

There’s been a lot of discussion this past week about the meaning of integrity. You didn’t hear the word used directly; it was alluded to indirectly — in wondering whether Lindsey Graham was an immoral opportunist or clever pragmatist; in suspecting Todd Blanche of being more loyal to Trump than to the nation; in distrusting Erica Schwartz, Trump’s latest pick to lead the CDC, when she said she’ll never compromise on the science; in doubting that Jay Clayton, his pick for director of national intelligence, will tell Trump anything he doesn’t want to hear. The word ...

One boy overcame loneliness and brought a neighborhood together

Many people across the nation were touched by the heartwarming story of Roman Butzlaff, a 4-year-old boy in Concord, North Carolina, who befriended several of his elderly neighbors and became their adopted grandson. When the CBS Evening News aired its July 10 “On the Road” feature on Roman, I was amazed at his genuine desire to connect with individuals decades older. I’m sure others found this odd at first, as Roman was spending his mornings saying “hey” to everyone walking by his home instead of being immersed in a video game. Many children his age would have ignored the ...

Michael Ciccone needs to go now

It is beyond time for Mahoning County Clerk of Courts Michael Ciccone to read the room — or in this case the entirety of the local political scene — and resign. It should have happened last fall, when it became apparent in the wake of a scandal ignited after the firing of former deputy clerk of courts Jennifer Ciccone, that this man is not fit for office. Jennifer Ciccone was fired Oct. 17 after a falling out with her former boss and friend. Hours later, she took to Facebook and posted several incriminating and embarrassing text messages from and photos of Michael Ciccone. The ...