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Whenever there is mass shooting in the U.S., whether committed by a deranged lunatic with questionable motives or radical Islamic jihadists, the debate about gun violence inevitably ramps up. Gun control advocates demand more restrictions on gun sales and use while Second Amendment proponents argue that bearing arms is a constitutional right and regardless, more restrictions won't help because they don't affect criminals. Without getting into the data that is often cherry-picked by one side or

"This is not a day care. This is a university!" This was the reaction from the president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, Dr. Everett Piper, in response to a student's complaint about a sermon he had delivered on the topic of love. The student, Dr. Piper wrote, said he felt "victimized" by the sermon because he was made to feel guilty about not showing enough love toward others. "Our culture has actually taught our kids to be this self-absorbed and narcissistic," Piper says. "Any time their fe

Almost everyone has heard of different 'predictors' of the debates and presidential races--from Weekly Reader to the Washington Redskins' last home game. What many people may not know is there is one predictor that's worked with better than 90 percent accuracy since the Great Depression: the World Series. If the winner's home state is a red state, the Republicans win. If the winner's state is blue, the Democrats win. But if this is really the case, then the Republicans really have an uphill c

The governor of Arkansas aims to end the state's decade-long hiatus on executions in October. Gov. Asa Hutchinson has set dates for the executions of eight convicted murderers, according to Reuters. The first two men are sentenced two die in October. But this decision is already being challenged, according to Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. "The lawyers for the prisoners who are facing death warrants will be filing motions for an injunction to bar all

We all know that the Bill of Rights enshrined in the Constitution contains ten amendments. However, it is less well known that the Bill of Rights sent to the states for ratification originally contained 12 amendments. What we know today as the First Amendment – the one enumerating our basic freedoms of religion, speech, and so forth – actually appeared third on this list. The current Bill of Rights contains just ten amendments because the requisite number of states – three-fourths of those in t

The Huffington Post reported Monday that an effort by business leaders in a community improvement district in Columbia, Missouri, to impose a half-cent sales tax without local residents being able to vote on it may end up backfiring. Some quick background: * The Columbia City Council established the Business Loop 70 Community Improvement District (CID) in April to improve the area covered by the CID. * According to the Columbia Tribune, state law allows residents inside a CID to impose taxes

There was general consensus among the public that Carly Fiorina won the first GOP "happy hour" debate and the poll numbers showed it. Now, even with high poll numbers, Fiorina is at risk of being relegated to CNN's undercard debate in September. "Despite being solidly in the top 10 by every measure, the political establishment is still rigging the game to keep Carly off the main debate stage next month," Fiorina's deputy campaign manager, Sarah Isgur Flores writes. According to Fiorina campaig

In response to How State, Federal Courts Are Working to End Partisan Gerrymandering, published July 13, I received several emails and Facebook messages questioning the statistic that the United States is now over 80 percent urbanized by population. While this seems like a huge number, it came from the 2010 Census, which found that: The urban areas of the United States for the 2010 Census contain 249,253,271 people, representing 80.7% of the population, and rural areas contain 59,492,276 people

In 2013, Vice President Joe Biden stated as fact that Jewish industry leaders in Hollywood and social media had more to do with the normalization of America's perception of gay marriage than any other force. Shows like Will and Grace or the Queer Eye franchise gave American's a view of the LGBT lifestyle that was more than just that of an abnormal, sinful, or weird lifestyle. This is the very essence of what is known in sociology as the Normalization Process Theory, developed by Carl May. When

FairVote on June 12 released Government of the Few in the “Decided Dozen" -- Frozen Representation and the Distorted Demographics of Decisive Primary Elections. Report authors Andrew Douglas and Zack Avre zero in on the “Decided Dozen”—12 states where control over the state legislature and the outcome of the great majority of general election races is never in doubt, leaving the only meaningful choices and power to voters in low turnout, unrepresentative primary contests. Source: FairVote: The