Tag: Opinion

Reader’s Voice: Republican budget could cost lives

June 25, 2025Dear editor; There are 16,600 additional, preventable deaths which could happen each year because of the Republican House budget proposal, according to an analysis by researchers in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The Senate version could make this even worse! Encouraged by Donald Trump, $1 trillion of SNAP

Lawless agency: ICE is the prototype for tyranny

By John & Nisha Whitehead While the U.S. wages war abroad—bombing Iran, escalating conflict, and staging a spectacle of power for political gain—a different kind of war is being waged here at home. This war at home is quieter but no less destructive. The casualties are not in distant deserts

Reader’s Commentary: Foreign money and antisemitism in U.S., colleges

By Bela “Bill” Suhayda Of the $29 billion dollars American Universities received from foreign governments these last four years, Harvard has been on the receiving end of over $100 million per year. Harvard is already awash with endowments to the tune of $52 billion dollars. So why is the world

Endless wars, failing infrastructure, and a dying republic

By John & Nisha Whitehead Seventy years after president Dwight D. Eisenhower warned about the cost of a military-industrial complex, America is still stealing from its own people to fund a global empire. In 2025 alone, the U.S. has launched airstrikes in Yemen, bombed Houthi-controlled ports and radar installations (killing

Reader’s Voice: America cannot forgive MAGA leaders

June 15, 2025Dear editor; Eventually, the current fascist tide will turn. President Donald Trump and his gang of would-be authoritarians will be out of power. When that day comes, there will undoubtedly be calls to turn the page on their lawlessness. We all require forgiveness. I certainly have in the

Call it what it is: A panopticon presidency

By John & Nisha Whitehead President Donald Trump’s plan to fuse government power with private surveillance tech to build a centralized, national citizen database is the final step in transforming America from a constitutional republic into a digital dictatorship armed with algorithms and powered by unaccountable, all-seeing artificial intelligence. This

Reader’s Voice: Response: Coddington, Jewish descendants

May 29, 2025Dear editor; In the May 22, 2025 issue of “The Voice,” Charles Coddington asserted, for what I believe is third time in his column, the largely discredited hypothesis that Ashkenazi Jews are not descended from Biblical Israelites, but rather from Khazars who converted to the religion of Judaism

Reader’s Voice: Unenlightened government stifling the brilliant

May 27, 2025Dear editor; I puzzle as to how in our society of presumably evolved individuals, we can allow the most ignorant and self-consumed among us to impose their will upon the most brilliant and inspirationally creative among us. Our dedicated scientific and medical researchers and our supremely-talented artists from

Reader’s Commentary: Antisemitism in college, government, writing

By Bela Suhayda Of the $29 billion American Universities have received from foreign governments these last four years, Harvard has been on the receiving end of over $100 million per year. Harvard is already awash with endowments to the tune of $52 billion. So why is the world, along with

Reader’s Voice: Services, Medicare, slashed for veterans

May 27, 2025Dear editor; This Memorial Day I want to thank all the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice. With the Donald Trump administration’s painful actions affecting most Americans, and especially our military veterans, the best way to express my thanks during Military Appreciation Month is to

A pathway to public safety, and fiscal responsibility

By Ahmadou Dramé The state of Illinois has a duty to deliver public safety to all residents in a manner that is fiscally responsible, equitable and effective. An analysis of current government spending, however, raises concerns whether policymakers and elected officials are meeting their responsibilities. State and local governments in

U.S. citizenship as spectacle, transaction, or privilege

By John & Nisha Whitehead Few modern political figures have done more to prompt spontaneous national discussions about the Bill of Rights and constitutional limits on government power than Donald Trump—if only because he tramples on them so frequently. Indeed, president Trump has become a walking civics lesson. Consider some

Fee Prohibition Act bad for small business

May 14, 2025Dear editor, As a small business owner in Illinois, I am deeply concerned about the impending implementation of the Interchange Fee Prohibition Act (IFPA), set to take effect July 1. While the intention to reduce costs for merchants is commendable, the practical implications of this legislation pose significant