Category: op-ed

A year later, Afghan refugees still need U.S. help

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Aug. 16, Natalie Nanasi, assistant professor of law at the SMU Dallas Dedman School of Law and co-author Joo Yeun Paek, for an op-ed calling for Congress to resume consideration for, and pass, the Afghan Adjustment Act because a year after the fall of Kabul tens of thousands of Afghan refugees in the U.S. remain in limbo. Published in the San Antonio Express-News under the heading A year later, Afghan refugees still need U.S. help: https://bit.ly/3PsrqLJ

​This week marks the one-year anniversary of the fall of Kabul. The heart-wrenching images of Afghans hanging on airplane wings to escape the advancing Taliban have largely faded from our collective memories, crowded out by the more recent suffering of Ukrainian refugees and the ongoing debates over U.S. border security.

The daily challenges faced by Afghans who sought safety in the U.S. have similarly been largely ignored or forgotten.

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Uzbekistan, like Texas, is kind of a whole other country

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Aug. 5, Anthony Elia, director of Bridwell Library and associate dean for Special Collections and Academic Publishing at SMU Dallas, for a commentary highlighting similarities between Texas and Uzbekistan, where he recently traveled. Published in the Dallas Morning News under the heading Uzbekistan, like Texas, is kind of a whole other county: https://bit.ly/3SsNk4e

The first time I came to Dallas it reminded me of Beijing. It was a skyline brimming with distinct new architecture, a city full of tall buildings brightly lit at night, and a metropolis entangled with twisting overpasses and thoroughfares dense with traffic, very much like the Chinese capital. Now having lived here for several years, I have been struck by the intriguing similarities Dallas shares with another part of the world — Uzbekistan and its capital, Tashkent.

I spent most of May traveling more than 2,000 miles around the Central Asian nation, touring ancient sites, visiting unique museums, and exploring vibrant bazaars. I observed a culture that is both distinct and remarkable, and enjoyed the most delicious and fresh varieties of meats and produce I have ever tasted, everything from Texas-style cuts of beef on skewers to marble-shaped strawberries and fragrant white mulberries.

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Inflation surged in June and Americans should be furious at the Axis of Idiocy that created it

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July 13, Michael L. Davis, economics professor at the Cox School of Business at SMU Dallas, for an explanatory piece about the failures of our government economic advisors to tamp down inflation and avoid a likely recession. Published in Fox News Business under the heading Inflation surged in June and Americans should be furious at the Axis of Idiocy that created it: https://fxn.ws/3Ol9HFf

​By now you’ve seen the news that June inflation hit an annualized rate of 9.1%. And you know that’s bad—not just bad, epically bad, the highest in 41 years. What you may not know is that right now a small army of economists are trying to figure out how best to react. Should they talk about whom to blame or worry about whom to warn?

I say, why choose? Let’s warn about the people who are to blame.

Start with the Federal Reserve. They had one job—ONE JOB! They were supposed to keep inflation from ever getting started. Wednesday’s numbers are yet more evidence of how miserably they failed. And it’s not like they weren’t warned about the consequences of needlessly expansive monetary policy, they just thought they knew better.

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Tough times are ahead in Biden’s economy. Here’s your recession checklist

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July 11, Michael L. Davis, economics professor at the Cox School of Business at SMU Dallas, for an op-ed recommending a checklist of strategies to navigate a recession predicted later this year. Published in Fox News Business under the heading Tough times are ahead in Biden’s economy. Here’s your recession checklist: https://fxn.ws/3o7N9NT

​If you haven’t been paying much attention to the small army of economists droning on about the threat of a recession, that’s OK. It’s summer. It’s hot. Nobody, not even me, one of those economists, wants to dig through the mountain of boring economic data detailing things like consumer confidence and retail inventories. But the warning signs are there. Nobody can know for sure but it seems very likely that sometime before the end of the year the economy is going to get worse. Maybe much worse.

And of course, there’s nothing you can do to prevent a recession. Why worry about things you can’t change?

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A smarter path to firearm safety through property rights

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July 1, Eric Ruben, an assistant professor at the SMU Dallas Dedman School of Law, for an op-ed suggesting establishing property rights law and policy can help New Yorkers to safeguard their domains against an influx of concealed carry proponents following the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen ruling. Published in the New York Daily News under the heading A smarter path to firearm safety through property rights: https://bit.ly/3yfSEPg

New York State legislators were called back for a special session this week to consider a groundbreaking response to the Supreme Court’s far-reaching expansion of gun rights. Last week’s decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen will make it easier for people to obtain concealed-carry gun licenses in New York and across the country. But nothing in the Second Amendment — nor anywhere else in the Constitution — gives people a right to carry guns onto other people’s private property.

An astute group of policymakers is aware of this and crafted a commonsense legislative response to the Bruen decision. Alongside vital changes to the training requirements for gun permits and other reforms, the legislation requires gun owners to have express permission from property owners in order to carry their guns onto private property: homes, stores, restaurants, offices, nightclubs, movie theaters and the like.

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Make no mistake, this is the ‘McConnell Court’

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June 30, Joseph Kobylka, Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor and chair of the Department of Political Science at SMU Dallas, for a commentary summing up the work of the 2021 Supreme Court term and how influencer Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., shaped the membership and caused an abrupt turn in rulings toward the right. Published in The Hill under the heading Make no mistake, this is the ‘McConnell Court’: https://bit.ly/3uak07R

The Supreme Court’s just completed 2021 term marked a distinct turn toward the constitutional right and vision of the Federalist Society. There is no turning back, at least not in the near term. This is one of the youngest courts in over 100 years; its major constitutional decisions are likely to endure for a decade or more.

This is largely attributable to three most recent appointees: Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. In tandem with Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, the court has a stable five-person majority — six when Chief Justice John Roberts joins them — steering it on politically salient issues of constitutional law. Many will attribute this result to President Trump, but that would be wrong. This isn’t “Donald Trump’s Court”; it is a court largely made by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). And, for better or worse, it has brought the jurisprudential style of nearly 70 years to a hard stop.

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50 Years Ago, a SCOTUS Decision Placed a Moratorium on Executions. It’s Time to Revive it, Permanently

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June 28, Rick Halperin, director of the SMD Dallas Human Rights Program, for a piece recalling a brief period 50 years ago when the U.S. was without the death penalty. Published in History News Network under the heading 50 Years Ago, a SCOTUS Decision Placed a Moratorium on Executions. It’s Time to Revive it, Permanently: https://bit.ly/3OOlj4A

Fifty years ago in 1972, as spring faded and summer arrived in late June, America (and the world) was a vastly different place.

The United States was still entangled in the quagmire of the Vietnam War, and tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of individuals still marched on city streets and on university campuses demanding an end to the bloodshed that would ultimately claim the lives of over 58,000 American soldiers and 3 million Vietnamese.

On May 15, Alabama Governor and presidential candidate George Wallace was shot (and paralyzed) by Arthur Bremer in a parking lot in Laurel, Maryland. Within 2 weeks, there would be two failed break-ins at the Watergate complex in Virginia, a crime that led to the downfall and resignation of President Richard Nixon in August 1974.

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Happy 25th Anniversary to the Supreme Court Decision That Shaped the Internet We Have Today

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June 26, Jared Schroeder, associate professor of journalism at SMU Dallas and a specialist in Frist Amendment issues and co-author Jeff Kosseff, for an op-ed underscoring the impact 25 years ago when a Supreme Court ruling, Reno vs. ACLU, helped shape the Internet as we now know it. Published in Slate under the heading Happy 25th Anniversary to the Supreme Court Decision That Shaped the Internet We Have Today: https://bit.ly/3bzLiyb

Twenty-five years ago, the Supreme Court told the government to keep its hands off the internet. Today, the internet is vastly different—and far more central to everyday life—than it was on June 26, 1997, but the court’s reasoning in Reno v. ACLU is more important than ever.

At the heart of the case was a massive overhaul of U.S. telecommunications laws that President Bill Clinton signed on Feb. 8, 1996. While much of the law involved local telephone competition, broadcast ownership, and cable television, one section—the Communications Decency Act—tried to prevent minors from accessing obscene and indecent material on the nascent internet.

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‘Boyfriend loophole’ stalls bipartisan Senate gun deal. It’s time to close it.

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June 21, Natalie Nanasi, assistant professor of law at the SMU Dallas Dedman School of Law and co-author Jeana Foxman, for an op-ed calling immediate passage of gun legislation that closes the “boyfriend loophole.” Published in the Orange County Register under the heading ‘Boyfriend loophole’ stalls bipartisan Senate gun deal. It’s time to close it: https://bit.ly/3HExizg

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When 19 children were gunned down last month in their fourth-grade classroom in Uvalde, Texas, the worst nightmare of each victim’s family became a horrible reality. Since that fateful day, families across the country wake up with vacillating feelings of guilt-ridden gratitude and utter fear.

Silver linings seem callous in this instance, but the unspeakable tragedy has finally compelled our elected officials to take action to reform our nation’s gun laws. The “bipartisan framework” announced this week is the most promising action on gun control we have seen in a generation.

Progress is being derailed, however, by some lawmakers’ objections to closing the so-called “boyfriend loophole.” Federal law prohibits those who have committed domestic violence against a spouse or former spouse —  or a person they currently live, previously lived, or share a child with — from possessing a gun. Adolescents and teenagers — who are less likely  to be married, have children, or be living with anyone other than their parents — are left unprotected from an abuser with a gun. Such as a boyfriend.

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We need a global government of land, air and water

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May 20, Jo Guldi, data scientist, historian, and Associate Professor at SMU Dallas, for a piece advocating for world-wide equity in land ownership as one means to combat global warming. Published in Foreign Policy News under the heading We need a global government of land, air and water: https://bit.ly/3MyYlxv 

Polls show that two-thirds of Americans believe that the government should do more to combat climate change.  Over the past decade, the People’s Climate March (2014 and 2017), Extinction Rebellion (2018-21) and the March for Science (2017) have come and gone without achieving systemic reforms or creating political mechanisms . That’s because Americans have only been thinking about America. To fight the unprecedented, planetary challenge of climate change, we need politicians willing to run on a platform of international solidarity that claims Earth as a space for human life.

Parochialism is entirely understandable. Climate change in the abstract is made real at home, literally.  All Americans, particularly indigenous, ethnic, and working-class Americans are near the brunt of climate change: they inhabit landscapes made toxic by corporate dumping or easily flooded by increasingly violent storms. Yet Americans’ experience is not unique. The same issues elsewhere articulate a global emergency. 

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