Columnists

20 months before the 2016 presidential election, the Republican Party is floundering. Unlike the Democrats, where Hillary Clinton is the clear presidential favorite, there’s no frontrunner for the GOP nomination. More important, it’s unclear what Republicans stand for – other than hatred of President Obama. -more-

In the past twenty-five years, programs to help high functioning mentally ill persons have evaporated. A lot of this is attributable to funding cuts. Yet when funding is restored, helping those who do a bit better hasn't been a priority. -more-

Last year, my wife and I visited for the first time the sights in Philadelphia, which included an informative exhibit "Distant Echoes: Black Farmers in America" at the African American Museum there. The exhibit featured the poignant, award-winning photographs of John Francis Ficara. The photographs depict what Ficara considers the last decade of black agriculture in the United States. Ficara spent several years documenting the experience of black farmers, which for many years has been in crisis after decades of prejudice and discrimination. According to the exhibit, Black farmers are losing their property at approximately 1,000 acres a day. -more-