12 of our top 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. Backstory: Why do people deny the seriousness of COVID-19? I asked them. Here's what they said.

By Nicole Carroll

"Many said they believe the virus is real but are worried about their jobs and their bills and how shutdowns have been handled inconsistently. Others are angry at politicians who plead for people to stay home but then get spotted at events. They don't deny the severity of the virus, they are frustrated with the country's response."

2.  Get ready to change the channel and stop giving Donald Trump the attention he craves

By Kurt Bardella

"For years, Trump has labeled the news media the “enemy of the people,” but what has been painfully transparent is that he desperately craves the attention and the acceptance of the very news outlets he routinely assails." 

3. Emotional support animals rule for airlines offers a reasonable, horse-sense compromise

By The Editorial Board

"Under a new rule issued last week by the Transportation Department, airlines will no longer be required to carry support animals in their cabins. It’s about time. The rule, which goes into effect early next year, is a hard-won compromise designed to solve a sensitive problem that has plagued the industry for years. It’s also one of the few sensible last-minute regulations among a gaggle the Trump administration has issued in its waning days."

4. New emotional support animal rule is unfair to Americans with disabilities

By Curt Decker

"Regulations issued last week by the Department of Transportation (DOT) will limit service animals to dogs, require advance notice and documentation to travel with a service animal, and open the door for airlines to ban emotional support animals. These changes will only make the experiences of travelers with disabilities worse. Considering the airlines’ abysmal record of mistreating people with disabilities — passengers filed nearly 31,000 disability-related complaints against U.S. carriers in 2018 — I have no faith that they will administer this new system fairly."

5. Barr finally met a Trump lie he couldn't swallow. It's a watershed in the 2020 election saga.

By William Weld, Norman Eisen and Joanna Lydgate

"Under normal circumstances, there would be nothing shocking about Attorney General William Barr's statement that the Department of Justice has found no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. Indeed, we just witnessed and participated in what’s been termed the most secure contest in modern American history."

6.  Mom voted Trump, son voted Biden. Their conversation is an inspiration for a divided nation.

By Kelsey Bloom

"So when Deborah Homeister, a Republican who voted for President Donald Trump's policies, contracted COVID-19 weeks before the election and had to recover at the home of her son, Ryan Spahn, a gay Democrat and Joe Biden voter, their relationship could have fallen apart."

7.  Georgia, if you’re listening, ignore conservatives peddling socialist Senate hallucinations

By Jill Lawrence

"It was a thrill for Democrats to carry Georgia in the presidential election for the first time since 1992, even though it didn’t change the outcome. But now Georgians have something most of us never get: an opportunity to determine the fate of a president and a nation."

8. The soft bigotry of anti-racist expectations is damaging to Black and white kids alike

By Ian Rowe

"Despite these facts, school districts across the country are adopting the narrative that racial disparities in academic outcomes pose today’s greatest educational challenge. Such tunnel vision towards problems is usually accompanied by an equally narrow vision towards causality. These educators are reinforcing the flawed belief that every racial disparity must be due to white supremacy and systemic racism, regardless of other factors like declines in stable families or lack of school choice, which may play a far more powerful role in impeding the development of children of all races. The resulting 'anti-racist' policies are becoming the unintended, modern day version of the soft bigotry of low expectations."

9. As Biden Defense secretary, Austin would shatter norms and inspire Black Americans like me

By Timothy Berry

"The United States Senate should confirm Lloyd James Austin III of Mobile, Alabama, to be the 28th United States Secretary of Defense. He is not only the best person to ensure our country is safe and secure, but he is a trailblazer who will inspire the next generation of Black Americans — like me." 

10. I helped put an 18-year-old Black teen on federal death row. I now think he should live.

By Angela Moore

"Brandon was convicted and sentenced to death in Waco, Texas, 20 years ago; I was the federal prosecutor who defended that death verdict on appeal. Brandon did not shoot either of the victims, but he was convicted on speculative evidence that he lit the victims’ car on fire while they were inside, contributing to one death by smoke inhalation. I wrote briefs arguing that Brandon had a fair trial according to the law and that his sentence was justified, even though he was only 18 at the time of the crime." 

11. What to do about that pardon Trump will grant himself

By Chris Truax

"Though some people insist that self-pardons are impossible, that’s more of a fervent hope than a legal certainty. While, not surprisingly, the issue has never really come up, the language of the Constitution seems to allow for it, probably because none of the founders ever imagined that any president might try such a thing. Certainly, philosophical concerns about being a judge in your own cause aren’t going to deter President Trump from giving it a try and he’s already mused about the possibility."

12. Pence's political future hinges on how he leads the White House Coronavirus Task Force

By Suzette Hackney

"As COVID-19 infections and deaths continue to surge nationally, I’ve been looking for Pence, the man tasked with guiding America through this public health crisis as head of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Sure, I’ve seen him honor our nation's fallen soldiers during a Veterans Day ceremony. He made a cameo at a campaign rally in Georgia, stumping to secure Republican seats in the Senate. I also watched him swear in Arizona’s newest U.S. senator on Wednesday. What I’ve been looking for is public-facing leadership from Pence as America grapples with an out-of-control pandemic. Just because President Donald Trump won't do it doesn't mean that Pence shouldn't. He must."