Commentary
Opinion: Extending the child tax credit will help families cope with life’s emergencies
I was planning to buy a toddler bed for my 18-month-old with my first child tax credit check. Then my car got a flat tire and that plan went out the window. Had I not received that check, I wouldn’t have had the money for that emergency. I was able to get the tire fixed […]
Vaccines for kids are coming but they can’t be rushed
For weeks, questions from concerned parents have poured in: Why isn’t the COVID-19 vaccine approved for children under age 12 yet? When will a vaccine for children be available? Can the vaccine be given off-label? These are all good questions, and the answers aren’t easy. After the SARS-CoV-2 virus was identified in late 2019, clinical […]
Bookman: Threats against nurses, school boards rage on as mainstream GOP stands by
In a press conference at the state Capitol this week, Georgia’s public health commissioner condemned a campaign of bullying, intimidation and threats directed at health care workers attempting to improve the state’s abysmal vaccination record against COVID- 19. “Many of our line workers are receiving threats, are receiving hostile emails, harassing emails,” Dr. Kathleen Toomey […]
Opinion: Don’t use shame to convince people to get vaccinated
In the fall of 2020, I was infuriated to see then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell rushing to seat Justice Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court just 35 days before the 2020 election. After all, he was the one who refused to even hold hearings on Merrick Garland, a moderate choice by any measure, because the […]
Opinion: Is America experiencing a different kind of ‘civil war’?
Wars are not always fought by armed military forces with guns, bombs, stealth fighters, and sophisticated weaponry. And the enemy is not always clearly defined. Even the reasons for war often lack clarity. But the divisiveness and fighting still rage, nonetheless. At first glance, you might think characterizing the divisiveness that America is experiencing today […]
DACA: Nine years later, many remain unfree in the land of the free
President Barack Obama stated that undocumented individuals “are American in their heart, in their minds, in every single way but one – on paper” as he announced the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program in June 2012. It hit home. I was six years old when my mother, a single mother of three and a […]
The difference between littering and pollution?
Saturday’s farm chores evolved into a civic-responsibility lesson for our 9-year-old grandson. We were scampering around, checking things off the list. One regular unpleasant task is cleaning up other people’s messes. But rather than fume about it, I decided Bayard could benefit from helping pick up the trash outside our fence, along the highway right-of-way. […]
Children are dying for Republican ‘freedom’
Apparently, the bodies of sick or dead children are not a motivator for today’s Republicans. Then again, when were they? When 20 children were gunned down at Sandy Hook elementary school in 2012, Republicans didn’t fight to end gun violence — they doubled down on unfettered gun access. When scientists warned decades ago that generations […]
Opinion: We’ve coddled ignorance for years. Now we’re all paying the price with COVID.
Sane America has had enough. After almost two years of a horrific pandemic that’s killed almost 620,000 Americans — with nearly 20,000 of them from Michigan — and deadly, faster-spreading variants emerging because selfish and ignorant people refuse to get vaccinated — those of us who have tried to do everything right have no more f–ks left […]
Is Georgia’s summer sizzle causing an icy market for solar power?
As the country discusses our future direction for energy, infrastructure and even automobiles, Georgia is having its own energy discourse. The Peach State is in a vital battle for rooftop solar and keeping the high-tech and blue-collar jobs this burgeoning industry has already created. Rooftop solar applications to Georgia Power have skyrocketed since 2019 – […]
Bookman: Top Trump DOJ official’s letter staked out Georgia as path to a coup
On Dec. 28, a top official in the Trump Department of Justice circulated an extraordinary, potentially history-altering letter to his colleagues, writing that “I see no valid downsides” to issuing the letter and proposing that they “get it out as soon as possible.” In that letter, reported this week by ABC News, Jeffrey Clark falsely […]
Opinion: Georgia’s congressional delegation should give healthy push for electric cars
As the summer proceeds in Georgia and we continue to tally an increasing number of days with air quality alerts, many Georgians are already familiar with the consequences of air pollution. In our state, 9% of children suffer from asthma – well above the national average. Annually, the total cost of asthma-related hospitalizations for Georgia’s children totals […]