Responses to recent police killings of Black men show just how deep the racial divide is in this country. There is an “us” versus “them” mentality at play. The “enemy,” according to some, are the Black Lives Matter protestors who are challenging the continued assault on the lives of Black people by the police. The police are being undermined by criticisms of their behavior and unable to do their job of protecting the public. If we accept what Donald Trump is shouting and tweeting at us, we live in a country overwhelmed by crime and violence, and we need to return to the good old days when America was great and safe. Well, Donald Trump and I share a common birth year and skin color but very little else – even the America that we both grew up in.

Reliable, verifiable medical records from presidential candidates – what’s so hard about that?

n May 2008, presidential candidate Barack Obama released a summary letter of his general health signed by Dr. David Scheiner, who had been Obama’s primary care physician for 21 years. Providing limited detail, the doctor found Obama to be in “excellent health” and “in overall good physical and mental health needed to maintain the resiliency required in the Office of the President.” The Obama campaign indicated at the time that it was not planning to release any further medical records, and it didn’t.

Chicago is one of America’s greatest cities. Yet many of its residents live in terror in what is virtually a war zone. When a demented killer slayed 49 in a gun rampage in Orlando, Fla., there was national attention. Presidential candidates called for escalating the fight against the Islamic State in the Middle East, even though the killer seems to be a homegrown terrorist.

But in Chicago, 404 have died in gun violence this year. According to the Congressional Research Service, the murder rate averaged 16.0 per 100,000 a year from 2010-2014. That is nearly four times the national average of 4.6 per 100,000 and nearly three times the Illinois state average (5.8).

These killings are not randomly distributed. African Americans constitute about one-third of Chicago’s residents, but they account for 80 percent of its murder victims.

The killings are concentrated in endangered communities, communities burdened with abject poverty and deplorable conditions. Desperation and murder are segregated in Chicago.

Horny hotdog questions the meaning of life

Is Sausage Party the Donald Trump of animated films?

Stylistically, they have more in common than you might think, being both foul-mouthed and self-consciously outrageous.

Politically and philosophically, on the other hand, they couldn’t be more different. While Trump panders to his supporters by appealing to their fears and frustrations, Sausage Party dares viewers to question the assumptions on which most of us base our very existence.

Set in a huge grocery store, the R-rated comedy stars Seth Rogen as Frank, a hotdog in love with a bun named Brenda (Kristen Wiig). Like other food products in the store, they look forward to the day when they’ll be liberated by a “god”—that is, a shopper—who will take them to the “promised land.” Only then will Frank and Brenda finally be able to satisfy the carnal needs that have been denied them by their moral scruples, not to mention the plastic packages that separate them.