Opinion
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Opinion: What was it all for? Looking back on military service in Afghanistan
I can still taste the sand, feel the heat on my skin. We were told to smell our water before…
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Opinion: If vigilante justice spreads, who will be the next target?
Let’s set aside our views on abortion. Instead, let’s consider one aspect of the new Texas abortion law that took…
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Opinion: In suspension of Reign Night Club’s liquor license, what is really going on?
The way I see it, if the Reign Night Club and its owner are being targeted and penalized, the baseball…
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Opinion: The great silence after 9/11 offers lessons for pandemic era
On the day before the 20-year observance of the Sept. 11 attacks, I want to tell you a story. Two…
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Opinion: A letter of encouragement, and some words of warning, to my fellow teachers
Nearly a month ago, I was asked to consider writing a letter of encouragement to teachers as they start another…
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Opinion: Is America experiencing a different kind of ‘civil war’?
Wars are not always fought by armed military forces with guns, bombs, stealth fighters, and sophisticated weaponry. And the enemy…
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Jaco: St. Louis’s newest COVID treatment is an expensive right-wing favorite
The choice seems simple: Prevent COVID with a cheap vaccine that’s being offered free, or wait until people catch COVID,…
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Opinion: Everything we know about work is wrong, and the pandemic proves it
So what can the plight of a little cafe tell you about the state of the American economy and the…
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Jaco: Missouri’s COVID Taliban wants your kids
Four things happened in the past few days. St. Louis-area kids returned to in-person school; new figures show hospital ICUs…
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Opinion: Refusing the COVID-19 vaccine isn’t just immoral – it’s ‘un-American’
Decades ago I helped organize a conference that brought together vaccine skeptics and public health officials. The debate centered on…
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Jaco: The racists who want to bring down Kim Gardner have an ally: Kim Gardner
Kim Gardner could be the most transformative circuit attorney in St. Louis history if she would get out of her…
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Opinion: In our mad, polarized, COVID surge summer, the only way out is through
It all kind of piled up this week: COVID hospitalizations and deaths are up. We’re still trying to convince the unvaccinated to get…
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Jaco: Political vendettas are more important than public health
In a sane world, you wouldn’t need mask mandates. People would think public health was important enough to mask up…
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Opinion: COVID brings front and center the tug between individual rights, the public good
It seems that getting control of the coronavirus has brought front and center the question: When should an individual’s right…
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Jaco: St. Louis is drowning while the lifeguards argue
You’re drowning. As you thrash in the water, you see a huge life preserver on the bank attached to a…
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Jaco: The worst is yet to come as St. Louis hospitals fill with COVID and stupidity
With the St. Louis region facing a new wave of COVID infections that will probably rival the worst of the…
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Fight for voting rights shows that weeds of aristocracy are alive and well in U.S.
America just recently commemorated its birthday, Independence Day, celebrating freedom from the oppressive monarchy and aristocracy from which its forefathers…
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Opinion: Medicaid’s financial history in Missouri
There is a fascinating history to Missouri’s recent special session to fix the legislature’s failure to continue one of the…
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Opinion: Vaccine hesitancy is more complicated than just party affiliation
No doubt, what is happening to sections of our state is absolutely heartbreaking. Currently, the Delta variant of COVID-19 is…
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Jaco: Make the anti-vaxers pay
Covid’s coming back to St. Louis in a big way thanks to selfish unvaxed sociopaths. They should pay. Employers should…
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Opinion: What the ‘Show Me State’ is showing its citizens and the nation
The state of Missouri, the “Show Me State,” is in the heart of America. In addition to the sass and…
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Jaco: Prison for spreading a virus? Only for HIV, not COVID
Missouri has become America’s very own Third World, with COVID spreading rapidly thanks to everyday people refusing vaccines and political…
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America’s founders believed civic education, historical knowledge would prevent tyranny – and foster democracy
The majority of Americans today are anxious; they believe their democracy is under threat. In fact, democracies deteriorate easily. As was…
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Jaco: Welcome to the death lottery; wanna play?
The St. Louis Urban League isn’t usually known for anti-gambling activism. But their “All In” campaign launched this week is…
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Opinion: Why does Missouri allow Ameren to operate above the law?
The Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act have saved millions of lives over the last 50 years. In Missouri,…
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Jaco: COVID selfishness, conspiracies endanger vulnerable Missourians, St. Louisans
We hadn’t seen my mother-in-law at her nursing home for a year because of the COVID lockdown. She’s vaccinated. We’re…
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Supreme Court created an existential crisis for the NCAA
The world of big-time college sports is about to change profoundly in ways not even experts yet comprehend because of…
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Jaco: Racist cops mean more crime, less effective law enforcement: The Isom dilemma
Interim Public Safety Director Dan Isom uses the same calm tone talking about racist officers in the St. Louis Metropolitan…
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Opinion: Don’t vote to legalize marijuana without including automatic expungement
Almost half of all individuals who are released from jail or prison in Missouri will be reincarcerated, according to the most…
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Jaco: Missouri Trumpworld’s idiot theater casts St. Louis as the villain
As we approach sort-of-normal, at least for sane St. Louisans who’ve been vaccinated, theater is back. The Muny. Shakespeare in…
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