“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….” Republicans and Democrats had very different views when it came to answering an ancient ethical question: Which matters most in a leader, conduct or character? Republicans could once be depended upon to stress the issue of character. Is the candidate trustworthy? Does she have integrity? […]
Commentary
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Cutting costs
It’s easy to hate our regional electricity mammoth OG&E. There are bland lines we repeat to one another just like talking about the weather or Saturday’s score: OG&E is expensive, the power goes out too often, they chopped down a beloved tree… Even reading that is boring because we’re always saying these things. OG&E is […]
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Heartless
Four years ago, Adam Serwer wrote an article for The Atlantic entitled, “The Cruelty Is the Point.” It made the disturbing claim that Trump and his supporters find community by rejoicing in the suffering of those they hate and fear. In the fall of 2018, the administration began what Serwer called the ethnic cleansing of […]
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Student loan forgiveness and hypocrisy
No sooner had President Biden announced his plan to forgive a portion of student loans, especially for middle class and poor families, than Republicans started lecturing all of us on the importance of paying back what we owe. Never mind that this was a campaign promise, or that the cost of higher education has made […]
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Crying wolf: why lying destroys everything
America is an endangered country. Our democracy is on the verge of collapsing, our freedoms are being revoked by people who believe in rights but not responsibilities. Our sacred belief that tomorrow can be better than today is fading in a haze of despair and mental illness that we lament but do not treat. The […]
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Dear Oklahoma weathercasters: Please tell us the truth.
Most of us watch the local news for the weather, so to say that meteorology has come a long way would be an understatement. We have corporately-sponsored helicopters whose pilots are heroes, storm chasers with household names and gazillion-watt radar systems dueling with other stations to be the most precise, powerful and fantastic. In Oklahoma, […]
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Can we start a new conversation?
For more than a decade I wrote a regular column for Oklahoma Gazette. It was a progressive second opinion for those who needed something other than the suffocating orthodoxy of a straight, white, Baptist, Republican Jesus. Based on the letters to the editor that always followed those columns, I was often accused of Oklahoma-bashing. If […]
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Welcome to the Wild West
This is how we were warned it would be — the Second Amendment as a blanket right to carry guns anywhere with few exceptions. Clarence Thomas, writing for the super-conservative majority that is the enduring gift of former President Trump, finally found his voice in defense of the indefensible: The Second Amendment, he wrote, guarantees […]
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Growing up
Oklahoma’s legislative session saw nearly a hundred proposed cannabis bills, but after winding their way through the process, only a dozen were ultimately signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt. A two-year moratorium and tiered licensing stirred some angst within the industry with others making fewer waves, but Oklahoma will be seeing some major shifts in current […]
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Beyond willpower
[editor’s note: Brandi Bramlett, a board-certified behavior analyst, is a clinical director who helps people on the autism spectrum develop functional behaviors. In her personal life, she applies behavioral science to her passion for health and fitness. Her expertise in human behavior and her passion for a healthy lifestyle uniquely qualify her for sharing evidence-based […]