A strict lock-’em-up, law-and-order approach has its place, but so does the helping-hand, summer jobs approach that tackles the root causes of crime and aimlessness among young people most likely to slip over the edge into crime.

Republicans at the national level, right now, are scared. You can hear it in their silence on the issue of abortion after a district judge in Texas struck down the FDA approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. That decision also came immediately after Republicans lost a key race for a Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin to a progressive jurist who ran, to a large extent, on abortion.

Remember how conservatives used to decry “judicial activism?”? As I recall, that was before they began to see an advantage in some judicial activism of their own.

When a train goes off the tracks between Jackman and Rockwood, it harms the fish and the rest of the environment. In East Palestine, Ohio, it harms all the people, too.

Assuming reasonably good health, who wouldn’t find contentment living in a gilded mansion and flying around in private jets? Imagine being able to just plunk down a platinum card anytime some glittering luxury winks your way. Envision being cushioned from the indignities of waiting on lines. But imagine also how this exclusivity can separate one from interaction with other human beings.