Dear Senator Cruz, 

While millions of people across the world were marching to demand the end of the Gaza genocide, you were shaking hands with Crime Minister Netanyahu and busy criticizing a kid rapper at a foreign festival that we have never heard of in a country which is on the other side of the ocean since they dared to criticize a third country (Israel) that is thousands of miles away!

While your home state of Texas was going through a catastrophic flood where over 100 people were dead, injured, and missing, you were busy criticizing a rapper in the U.K. who dared to criticize a third country (Israel) for killing women and children every day during the last 20 months. How does that benefit the people of Texas?

How can an American Senator condone and defend Israel's genocide killing Palestinian civilians including children, babies and starve the rest... where are your American values gone?

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The holiday weekend’s smoke has cleared from the summer sky, but a different kind of haze lingers over cities like Columbus. It is the acrid aftermath of a celebration scarred by gunfire, a pall that hangs over communities trying to reconcile the promise of America’s birthday with the reality of its violence.

On the South Side at a house party that should have been filled with the sounds of summer, the life of 17-year-old Cameron Moore was extinguished. His death was one of at least six youth fatalities in a five-day span that saw 25 other young people wounded in shootings across America.

One of Ohio’s most common stigmas is that our drivers are amongst the worst in the nation.

And while data shows that the state’s motor vehicle deaths per capita are relatively low compared to the rest of the country, the empirical issue stems from a gradual increase in vehicular violence since 2013.

As an infant in Côte d'Ivoire (Currently known as Ivory Coast), Pierre Dupont knew nothing of the world except the arms of one woman who embraced him with tenderness and warmth: his nanny Aisha. She was more than just a maid. She was like a second mother, feeding him, rocking him, and holding him whenever he cried, showering him with unforgettable love. 

But fate separated them for 38 years. Pierre's family left for France, and all news of Aisha ceased. Years passed, Pierre grew up, studied, and moved on with his life, but something inside him remained there... in the arms of that kind woman with her tender smile and eyes filled with love. He didn't know where she was or if she was still alive but longing and gratitude drove him to begin a long and painful search.