Commentary
Bon appetit, Trump’s zombies
It’s been nearly four years since I wrote that the “Republican Party may not be dead yet, but it’s probably time to put it out of our misery.” GOP acolytes probably thought I was being mean-spirited. Looking back, it seems I was being generous. As it turns out, the GOP isn’t just dead, it’s now […]
Women don’t need a ‘Bill of Rights’ to define gender. We need policies that improve our outcomes.
I don’t need our government to tell me that I’m a woman. And, I shouldn’t have to prove I am one either. Yet, our Republican lawmakers want to require just that through the so-called “Women’s Bill of Rights” that the governor signed into law last week. Supporters say the bill is necessary to bring “clarity, […]
Why the U.S. government is trying to break up Live Nation — a music industry scholar explains
The U.S. Justice Department, along with 29 states and the District of Columbia, have filed an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation Entertainment, the parent company of Ticketmaster. The lawsuit alleges that Live Nation “engaged in a variety of tactics to eliminate competition and monopolize markets,” which, according to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, has allowed the entertainment […]
The Voice is suing to view government records. Hopefully other Oklahomans one day won’t have to.
About a week ago, I sued someone for the first time. It’s still a little jarring to see my name listed as plaintiff in a lawsuit that potentially has high stakes for Oklahomans and their right to know why public employees are abruptly being paid with our funds to go away. It shouldn’t take litigation […]
Memorial Day is a time to honor those who died in service to our nation.
The last Monday in May has been established by Congress as Memorial Day, the day to remember, honor and mourn the Americans who have died in the country’s wars. We should all put aside our differences on May 27 to thank those who gave their last full measure to protect America’s “government of the people, […]
Oklahoma leaders can help solve the federal debt crisis
Our nation is experiencing debt fatigue, allowing debt to increase more rapidly than the economy for far too long. Total federal debt is now over 120% of the total size of the entire national economy, and the Congressional Budget Office projects that it will increase to at least 166% of the national economy by midcentury, […]
Oklahoma Republicans passed an immigration law for police to enforce, and some don’t want to
You would think that when a group of Oklahoma police chiefs condemn a law that will supposedly help that Republican lawmakers would listen. But you would be mistaken. Instead, Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a law that critics say will allow for blatant racial profiling and the targeting of marginalized communities in a rushed and […]
Leadership program’s end will rob Oklahoma women of critical resources, entry point into politics
The University of Oklahoma’s recent decision to shutter a longstanding program intended to encourage, empower, and educate female Oklahoma college students to pursue civic and political service careers has deeply unsettled me. I am upset by the abrupt end to this invaluable program, both as a 2007 alumna of the National Education for Women’s Leadership […]
Yet again, men are deciding to hurt women, This time, it’s how they engage in Oklahoma politics.
Oklahoma’s Legislature and political culture remains a boy’s club. Nothing illustrates that more clearly than the makeup of the people invited to participate in the governor’s historic “Budget Summit” last week. Of the roughly dozen participants permitted to sit at the “adult table” last week to decide how billions of dollars would be allocated, only […]
Gov. Kristi Noem’s dog killing was bad, but to really understand her, consider the goat
Since Gov. Kristi Noem’s disclosure of her farmyard killing spree, everybody’s been focused on Cricket. That’s understandable. Cricket was a 14-month-old dog. It’s easy to imagine her head jutting out of a pickup window, hair and tongue blowing in the wind. Like many dogs, Cricket probably had a personality and other human-like qualities that we […]
A fifth ‘Misfit’ is accused of murdering Kansas women. Last year, he declared extremist beliefs.
On the afternoon of July 6 last year, Paul Grice went to the county clerk’s office at the Cimarron County Courthouse at Boise City, Oklahoma, and paid $104 to file a peculiar document in an attempt, among other things, to renounce his U.S. citizenship. You may have heard of Grice, a member of an anti-government […]
Shortfalls continually plague Oklahoma’s budget. So why are we still insisting on income tax cuts?
If there’s one thing that has defined my nearly decade of political reporting experience in Oklahoma, it’s been budget turmoil and shortfalls. In 2014, I hadn’t even had time to unpack before drama exploded over a $171 million budget hole and angst from state agencies told to cut their already shoestring budgets by 5%. In […]