8 of our top opinion columns this week: ICYMI

In today's fast-paced news environment, it can be hard to keep up. For your weekend reading, we've started in-case-you-missed-it compilations of some of the week's top Paste BN Opinion pieces. As always, thanks for reading, and for your feedback.

— Paste BN Opinion editors

1. Kamala Harris is a living, breathing rebuke to the Trump presidency: Mastio & Lawrence

By David Mastio and Jill Lawrence

"Jill: ...The boxes she checks are many. It is especially wonderful that after enduring Trump’s anti-immigrant, anti-Black, xenophobic attitudes, this vice presidential pick is the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants. ....

"David: You’re right. Harris is a living, breathing rebuke of everything about the sickening Trump presidency. If she comes up with better answers on her record as a government prosecutor than she did during the Democratic primary, she’ll only bolster Biden."

2. Why Joe Biden and Kamala Harris would be a disastrous duo in the year of George Floyd

By Ruben Navarrette Jr.

"Biden-Harris 2020? That’s not the ticket. As anyone who has been paying attention already knows, the theme of this rotten year is racial justice. America needs a fix to our criminal justice system, not another glaring reminder of just how broken it really is."

3. Joe Biden's VP choice of Kamala Harris signals return to American values and competence

By The Editorial Board

"Her presence on the ticket says loud and clear that a President Biden would not expect his vice president and Cabinet to publicly praise him at every turn. The outspoken Biden did not play that role for President Barack Obama and clearly does not want a rubber-stamp sycophant of his own. "

4. Defeat COVID-19 with universal vaccination. It's not un-American, it's patriotic

By Dr. Michael Lederman, Maxwell J. Mehlman and Dr. Stuart Youngner

"When an effective vaccine is available for COVID-19, it will only defeat the pandemic if it is widely used, creating “herd immunity.” It is important to note that during an epidemic, there is no threshold above which the protection conferred by herd immunity cannot be improved. Thus, the more people who are immunized, the lower the risk for all of us, including those who are not vaccinated."

5. 2020 election: Vote by mail works, despite what Donald Trump says

By The Editorial Board

"Voters need to be patient come Election Day. They may not know the presidential winner for a matter of days. The voting process this time will almost certainly be messy — long lines, lost ballots and lawsuits aplenty (in addition to dozens already filed). But there's no question it can work."

6. Public defender: I worked with Kamala Harris. She was the most progressive DA in California.

By Niki Solis

"There has been much talk about the time Sen. Kamala Harris spent as a prosecutor. As a public defender for 24 years, I examined, critiqued and battled Harris when she was the San Francisco district attorney. And more often than not, Harris and I were on opposite sides. ... Simply put, Harris was the most progressive prosecutor in the state. This is not an anecdotal opinion. It is based on facts."

7. U.S. Postal Service remains committed to fulfilling our role in the electoral process

By David Williams and Thomas Marshall

"The only concerns we have about the upcoming election is that many states have designed their election systems without considering the ordinary time frames required by the Postal Service to process and deliver mail."

8. Ohio Republicans against Trump: He no longer deserves the consent of the governed

By Phil Heimlich

"In 2016, many of us who wanted change in the White House took a chance on Donald Trump. We thought he’d lead as a conservative Republican. Instead, he has imperiled our republic. ... In 2016, many Ohio voters put their faith in Donald Trump, us included. That was an error of judgment, not intent. For these reasons, we’re joining with other Republicans in this state to vote against President Trump this November."