Maxwell verdict just the start in justice for sex trafficking victims
Happy New Year! I'm hopeful that this new year will be better than last year and the year before. Fingers crossed!
Maxwell verdict just the start in justice for sex trafficking victims
By Jonathan Turley
The conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell last week on five of six felony counts represented the first guilty verdict to come out of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal since his death. The question is whether it will be the last.
Maxwell was rightfully convicted as someone who was an enabler of sexual abuse, a craven figure convicted of enticing minors to travel and the transportation of a minor.
However, these girls were enticed and transported for a purpose and, quite possibly, for people other than Epstein.
Today's Editorial Cartoon
What if the Jan. 6 insurrection had succeeded?
By David Rothkopf
As we approach the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol, many questions remain. Among these, one of the most important is, “What if?”
What if the coup attempt had succeeded? What if the election results had been overturned? What if Donald Trump were illegally installed for a second term as president of the United States?
It could have happened several different ways. Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman might have been out sick last Jan. 6 and not in place to divert the mob away from fleeing and hiding members of Congress. The Trumpist horde could have found their way to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Vice President Mike Pence or other members of Congress and killed or injured them.
Conversations about racism don't have to tear us apart
By David Mastio
If 2021 was anything other than a plague year, it was a year of racial reckoning. The call for recognizing the need for diversity, equity and inclusion was everywhere from big business to local government to grade schools and universities.
And there has been a backlash. Concerns that critical race theory was being taught in public schools led to the election of Glenn Youngkin as governor in Virginia and a near Democratic disaster in New Jersey.
Amid a rise in killings in big cities across the country, Philadelphia has seen a particularly nasty debate between a white prosecutor trying to change what he sees as a racist justice system and a Black former mayor with a tough-on-crime reputation who blames the rise in murders on Black Lives Matter-inspired reforms.
Other columns to read today
- American Muslims must break taboo of confronting suicide
- NYPD's 1st Black female commissioner faces historic challenges
- I have COVID. Do I have to tell people?
- Honor those who defended the US Capitol by lowering flags on Jan. 6
Columns on qualified immunity
We are doing a series examining the issue of qualified immunity. For more on the series read here.
- Roadside assistance caught the cop who killed my cousin. Justice shouldn't be so rare.
- I was a victim of police brutality. It's why I became a cop.
- Calls to reform qualified immunity are coming from left and right. I'm still skeptical.
- Fix qualified immunity travesty that lets police off the hook after violating civil rights
This newsletter was compiled by Jaden Amos.