10 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. Strongmen and strife: before Trump, I thought America was exceptional, now I have doubts

By Dennis Jett

"As a foreign service officer, I spent 16 years abroad in six countries, all of which suffered from extreme poverty, violence or both. In that time I came to appreciate my own country more because of how greatly it differed from the one I was in. But now I wonder whether that is still true of the United States today." 

2. Trump handmaid Mike Pence faces off with an impressive Kamala Harris: Mastio and Lawrence

By David Mastio and Jill Lawrence 

"David: She completely failed to explain how completely abnormal the Trump administration has been. It was like she was having a debate with a regular Republican instead of the gray-haired handmaid for insanity. Jill: I don't think it was necessary to explain to America that Trump is abnormal. He demonstrated that to 70 million people for 90 minutes in the debate with Joe Biden."

3. How diversity training for health care workers can save patients' lives

By David J. Skorton

"For those of us in medicine, establishing trusting relationships with the communities we serve is one of our most fundamental obligations. But when it comes to communities of color, it is an obligation we have too often failed to fulfill."

4. From Trump on down, people of means have shaped our COVID-19 experience. That must change.

By Dr. Joshua Barocas and Dr. Stefan Baral

"The untold story of the White House cluster — the unseen ripples — are those individuals who were not photographed in the Rose Garden, but who keep the White House operational. They are more than 350 full-time White House employees. They are the 96 full-time and 250 part-time service staff who work in the Executive Residence, where the president and first lady live. They are butlers, maids, plumbers, florists, doormen and cooks." 

5. The only bright spot in Trump's Soviet-style COVID-19 strategy is that it's not working

By Tom Nichols

"This Washington version of the old Kremlin is the pathetic station to which the United States has been reduced in the waning days of Trump’s misrule. We have a paranoid leader who will do anything to hold on to power … The White House is now a bunker, administered by a cult of personality whose disciples treat the boss’ health as a secret, while the favored television networks of the state air cheery obfuscations about the president’s strength and selfless devotion to country."  

6. College student: I was in quarantine on campus. They gave me a bag lunch and little help.

By Brianna Hayes

"Optimistic about the fall semester, I was able to move in a couple days before classes started on Monday, Aug. 10. On the first day of classes, only one of mine was in-person. The 40-person class was held in a 200-person lecture hall and seats were blocked off, so everybody was spaced out appropriately. Later that day is when my symptoms started to develop." 

7. I can't feel compassion for Trump. His own arrogant negligence gave him COVID-19.

By Michael J. Stern

"Trump has had more opportunity to avoid contracting COVID-19 than probably any person on the face of the planet. His aides test virtually every stranger before they come into contact with him. He has unlimited access to personal testing. And Trump does not have to wait the eight days it took me to get my test results." 

8. Donald Trump would repeal and replace Obamacare with a nothingburger

By The Editorial Board

"Because the (health) law was never perfect, and because it has spent the past decade under siege from Republicans, Biden proposes a number of enhancements, including providing a government-run insurance plan as an option alongside private ones. Trump’s plan is to terminate the ACA and replace it with a blizzard of tweets about nonexistent alternatives, typically to be announced two weeks hence."

9. Americans, we can fight COVID-19 and save lives now. Wear a mask!

By Joseph Allen and Marc Lipsitch

"Protect yourself. Protect others. Prevent face touching. Public signaling. Some were unconvinced. In August, President Donald Trump said, 'Maybe they’re great, and maybe they’re just good. Maybe they’re not so good.' Even after Trump and many in his inner circle tested positive last week, masks are still optional at the White House."

10. Breonna Taylor recordings revelatory, but justice in case remains elusive

By Holly Harris

"The public is poring through hours of grand jury recordings in an attempt to reconcile the decision in this case with their concept of justice. ... About 15 hours of audio later, there's still no justice for Taylor, and we're no closer, as a society, to stopping another tragedy like this from happening. ... Peaceful protesters must continue to make their voices heard. But it’s time to move the protests from the streets to state houses, and channel all this passionate activism into passing reform legislation. Taylor’s own family, through their grief, led this call. Addressing the public after the announcement not to charge, they sought to honor Taylor's memory by urging lawmakers to enact comprehensive policing reforms. They refused to settle their civil case with the city of Louisville until certain reforms, including ones that change the search warrant process and expand transparency, were written into the agreement."