opinion

Opinion pieces from the left, right, and everyone in between.

Reason First: Delaware Woman Steals from Thieves
The idea of a government program run amok and the nefarious characters it engenders lies squarely with the Social Security Administration. Deborah Vaughn, from Smyrna, Delaware, defrauded the United States Government in the total of at least $200,000 after she failed to report the passing of her mother-in-law and collected the monthly deposits. According to Delaware Online, Vaughn received a sentence of a year and a half in prison. And for what? Did she figure that she wouldn’t get caught? The Social Security Administration can make monsters like Vaughn. But the whole program can be undone.
By Skyler Saunders6 years ago in The Swamp
Spike Lee’s Oscars Speech May Have Enraged Trump But Was He Really Being Racist?
We all know by now what Spike Lee said at the end of his speech during the 2019 Oscars. “The 2020 presidential election is around the corner. Let’s all mobilize. Let’s all be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love versus hate. Let’s do the right thing! You know I had to get that in there” - Spike Lee
By Tami McDonald6 years ago in The Swamp
The Burden of Words
I have been writing for as long as I can remember. I have daily journals that I have kept since I was four years old. As long as I was old enough to write anything that even remotely resembled words, I was writing. I was pouring out all the little thoughts that crossed my little mind. I still journal. I write in it daily, everything that matters to me goes in there. No editing, no purpose, other than to process all the things that my brain decides to torture me with at any given minute. But I have written novels and novels and novels. In my twenties I churned out roughly a book a year, and I could have done more.
By Paige Graffunder6 years ago in The Swamp
The Ambitious Government
I saw this pic and was reminded of Hitler. So I started thinking about the world today. We are living in a very dangerous world was the conclusion I was forced to. I compared items from papers and other writers from both times and found some pretty alarming similarities. The more I studied, the more similarities I found. All over the world today and back then, there was a rise in populist politics. Today and then, military force was being used to further various countries economic ambitions.
By Richard Rockell6 years ago in The Swamp
I Am Done with Debating
I am done with debating with people. Be it atheists, flat earth supporters, vegans, leftists, right wing nut jobs, other Christians, non-Christians, liberals, blind conservatives, gun control advocates, gun rights supporters, holocaust deniers, or anything about the American Civil War... anyone or anything, you name it. I am just going to live my life the best I can and not worry about the opinions of other people. No matter how foolish I find their ideas or outlook on life.
By Halden Mile6 years ago in The Swamp
The Thin Line Between 'Tolerance' and Respect for 'Individual Truth'
What is your truth? And, in what ways has society forced you to conform to submerging your individual truth for fear of social awkwardness that may arise from stepping on the toes of what may be generally perceived as being tolerant? Are we as a general society tolerant of the expression of our individual truths without being slighted or intimidated psychologically, socially, economically, and other ways feasible to the boundaries of our individual human rights? Does the fear of not being tolerant of others' individual truths expose the insecurities we feel about our own subjective individual truths?
By Cathy (Christine Acheini) Ben-Ameh.6 years ago in The Swamp
Is America Great?
Don’t send death threats. The title of this article is a question not a statement. Don’t accuse me of ‘hating’ America. Don’t tell me to go back to the country where I came from.
By Walter Rhein6 years ago in The Swamp
Boycotts Over Bigots?
So we all know the story of the two men arrested in Starbucks. If you don't know, there were two black guys who were waiting at Starbucks for their friends. They hadn't ordered their drinks yet because they wanted their friends to show up before they ordered. The trouble started when one of the men asked where the restroom was. The manager told the guy that since he didn't pay for anything he couldn't use the restroom. Somehow the cops got involved and the guys got arrested for trespassing. The manager that called the cops was fired. When part of the 911 tapes got released, the employee was heard saying that there were guys there that refused to leave or buy something. In my opinion, they could have waited out in the car.
By Lena Bailey6 years ago in The Swamp
Reason First: Did Delawarean Naithan Grzybowski Deserve to Die?
To be gunned down in Wilmington, Delaware ought to not be a regular occurrence. But it is. 18-year-old Naithan Grzybowski fell due to, as of this writing, an unknown assailant’s rounds. The city, which earned the grisly moniker “Murder Town USA” by Newsweek in 2014, continues to see acts of start of force, by way of the gun. The teenager received bullets in his blue car, and later died on the pavement adjacent to the road. Does this require tighter gun laws? Should there be a ban on firearms for citizens? Not even close.
By Skyler Saunders6 years ago in The Swamp
Reason First: High for Thought
It would be cute if it were not so pernicious. The tales in the news of cocaine washing ashore following Hurricane Dorian and New York state decriminalizing marijuana would be kind of funny. It’s adorable not to think that the two substances cannot be completely legalized. Whether it’s an ounce or a hundred kilograms of either substance, the fact should remain that individuals ought to have every right to produce and consume drugs.
By Skyler Saunders6 years ago in The Swamp
Reason First: Who's Right About Property Rights?
The usage of body cameras on police officers is like putting a bandage on top of a bandage of a bullet wound. It is in no way mending a major problem but it sounds nice on news clips and in print. One problem that exists with the body cam is that they do not address the root of the problem of the start of physical force. That would be property rights. High on the ladder among individual rights, the rights of the citizens should be protected by the police. No amount of body cameras will cease the amount of deaths by firearms. In Wilmington, Delaware, the police gunned down 35-year-old Ricardo Hylton for allegedly firing a weapon. The two officers who struck Hylton have been placed on administrative leave. Why? The story doesn’t need body cams. The story requires an objective view of the facts.
By Skyler Saunders6 years ago in The Swamp
China and Hip-Hop: Appropriate to Appropriate?
“You have freestyle?” Those three intimidating words step out from the pursed lips on an expressionless face, hidden behind dark shades that reflected the other’s face, frozen with anticipation, looking up at the tall, thin figure. Suspense climbs like a roller-coaster to the top of its tracks. The gears shifting, with a slight creak of unoiled desperation and scrambling, are almost audible from the contestant’s working mind. Draws in a deep breath. They open their mouth. And it comes out. Words flow with the rhythm of spontaneity—a stream of spoken word, poetry, lyricism. Rap.
By Yung Lo6 years ago in The Swamp