The earth shook beneath Afghanistan once again, and as rescue workers pulled bodies from the rubble, one devastating truth became clear: half our population remains invisible even in our darkest hour. As aftershocks continue to rattle the earthquake-stricken regions, the images and videos emerging from the disaster zone tell a familiar, heartbreaking story. Men dig [...]
On June 18, 2023, the Canadian government publicly accused the Indian government of killing Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen and a prominent leader in the Khalistan movement that advocates for an independent homeland in the Punjab region of India. This case illustrates an extraterritorial killing—a form of unlawful killing related to extrajudicial killings. Even [...]
President Donald Trump’s July 24 executive order on reducing “vagrancy” is exactly the wrong approach to the pervasive problem of houselessness. It encourages, and funds, cities and states to treat people living in poverty and lacking housing like criminals and to confine them in involuntary, often inhumane, institutions. Trump takes this approach as his administration has [...]
The ongoing humanitarian and political crises in Syria encapsulate decades of repression, violence, and civil unrest. After over fifty years of authoritarian rule, culminating in the brutal civil war, the call for justice has gained paramount significance among the Syrian populace. Justice is not a mere legalistic necessity; it is a foundation upon which lasting [...]
The United Nations has stood for nearly eight decades as a bastion of hope for international cooperation and peace. As we witness its gradual erosion, marked by a troubling drift towards irrelevance among major global powers, it becomes imperative for member states — particularly those in the Global South—to rally behind the UN’s core principles. [...]
The First Amendment is the crown jewel of the United States Constitution, which is in danger of being pulled out of the crown. The Amendment safeguards a range of liberties, including religious freedom, the right to assemble, and the right to petition the government. However, the words “Congress shall make no law … abridging the [...]
Human beings rarely participate in world politics directly, but they do get involved as individual members of separate sovereign states. Normally, the expected costs and benefits of such indirect participation remain tangible expressions of secular considerations. Though far less decipherable and recognizable, these expressions may also include implicit promises of personal immortality. There is meaningful [...]
Don’t it always seem to go That you don’t know what you’ve got Till it’s gone — Joni Mitchell, Big Yellow Taxi (1970) Decades of my professional life have been devoted to the topic of expertise and experts — their qualifications, basis of knowledge, standards by which we evaluate them in court, and their proper [...]
Congress has before it a unique opportunity: it can recalibrate the balance of power between the president and Congress through a bipartisan manner that places no burden on the national budget, and has the potential to save $500,000 To do so, Congress must simply reintroduce and pass the National Emergencies Act Reform Legislation that was [...]
On Friday, March 7, just ahead of the Jewish Sabbath, a South Carolina firing squad will shoot to death my longtime pen pal and friend Brad Sigmon. This will mark the first American firing squad execution to take place in 15 years. Accordingly, it will be the first since I co-founded the 3,800+-member-strong L’chaim! Jews [...]
