7 of our top opinion pieces 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 the week's top USA TODAY Opinion pieces. As always, thanks for reading, and for your feedback.
Roger Stone indictment isn't good news for those seeking Trump impeachment
By Jonathan Turley
"The raid on Stone’s home clearly made for great television, but the Roger Stone indictment hardly makes for a great collusion case. Let’s be honest. After more than a year of investigation, special counsel Robert Mueller nailed a gadfly on false statements, witness tampering and obstruction rather than illegal collusion with Russia. That's what has been happening all along. Mueller has almost exclusively charged non-Russian defendants with either false statements or other process crimes."
Democrats and Republicans flip all the time on border security. This was a fabricated shutdown.
By Nancy Jacobson
"Here's the reality: Both political parties believe in border security; no one seriously thinks people from other countries should be able to traipse into the United States unannounced. As recently as early 2018, Senate Democrats offered to give the Trump administration $25 billion, if the president would agree to provide the "Dreamers" with a pathway to citizenship. And neither side thinks the specific means of securing the border — whether it's a wall or a fence or drones, whatever — is worth a government shutdown."
Most Americans don't want a standing ovation for abortions until birth. But Democrats do.
By Ashley McGuire
"What happened in New York last week is somber and tragic. But it was a teaching moment for us all in that it made plain the left’s position on a deeply divisive issue. As the bishop of Albany wrote in a letter to his parishioner, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, pleading him not to sign the bill, 'Do not build this Death Star.' The reality is that the left has moved past building Death Stars to celebrating death itself."
I'm a plastic surgeon who won't perform Brazilian Butt Lifts. They're deadly.
By Arthur W. Perry
"Plastic surgery is the only medical specialty where new procedures debut on television shows, without the academic scrutiny required in fields like cardiac surgery. The high BBL death rate among properly trained surgeons is startling — these are the cream of the crop doctors who spend six years in residency and pass certifying exams. When rogue doctors perform BBLs, I shudder to think about what their real death rates are because they are not reported anywhere. Worse, lay practitioners who inject silicone caulk from hardware stores are killing unsuspecting women in garages and hotel rooms."
Howard Schultz: A third-party centrist candidate like me could win the presidency in 2020
By Howard Schultz
"Becoming better begins by repairing our broken two-party system, which is why I am seriously considering running for president of the United States as a centrist independent. I will spend the next few months deciding by traveling the country, and listening to my fellow Americans. I already believe that the idea of a third choice will resonate."
Here's why you should have faith in Robert Mueller and the Russia investigation
By Joyce Vance White
"Despite President Donald Trump’s efforts to denigrate this team of prosecutors, they aren’t 'Angry Democrats' or, for that matter, angry anything. They are hardworking people, and you would expect a president to be proud of them. Let me tell you why so many people like me, who served alongside some of these folks and worked in the Justice Department like they do, have faith in them."
Why an ex-FBI agent decided to break through the blue wall of silence
By Philip Hayden
"I still believe that it's important for officers to be loyal to one another; it's a dangerous profession. But our first loyalty is to the law. Bad officers make maintaining that loyalty unnecessarily tough for everyone."
You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 7 of our top opinion pieces this week: ICYMI
