Jim Moret

Chief Correspondent, 'Inside Edition'; attorney; author, 'The Last Day of My Life'

Let's stop this madness. Take away the cameras and microphones and put her away for good. Jodi Arias may still long for her close-up, but this mistrial is a wake-up call to silence her voice.

Carl Takei

Staff Attorney at the National Prison Project, ACLU

Our overincarceration epidemic has a massive and disproportionate impact on people of color. While communities of color suffer, the for-profit prison companies benefit.

Martha Burk

Money Editor, Ms. magazine; director, Corporate Accountability Project, National Council of Women's Organizations

Let's hope when the next Memorial Day rolls around, the good news will be that changes have been made. Our military women deserve to be safe from attack by their own ranks. Those who assault their peers and dishonor the country in the bargain deserve to be punished, not protected.

Anthony Papa

Manager, Media Relations, Drug Policy Alliance

The war on drugs has created convenient vehicles for looking tough on crime while hiding being the shield of public safety. But that shield gets worn down when our basic rights are curtailed through its use.

Daniel Robelo

Research associate in the Drug Policy Alliance’s Office of Legal Affairs in Berkeley, California

This report is the first time that any multilateral institution anywhere in the world has critically analyzed the war on drugs and considered new approaches for the future -- giving equal weight to options like decriminalization and legalization in the process.

Shannon Bradley-Colleary

Aging vaintress, wife dominatrix, mom butler and humble author who is slightly mustachioed

We need to make it clear to our mothers, sisters, daughters, friends that we are prey and must behave as such; aware, alert and prepared to take measures to have our own backs.

Vanessa Erazo

Film programmer; Writer for LatinoBuzz

"To see the 86 year old Ríos Montt looking at his 30-year-younger self projected in the courtroom was stunning. Now he looks old and weak, but in the film footage he looks strong, vital, arrogant. It was a good reminder of the absolute power he wielded as a ruthless General in 1982."

Rev. G. Jude Geiger

Unitarian Universalist minister

I finally saw a map depicting the last six instances of gay-targeting hate crimes in Manhattan since April 1. Young men beaten into unconsciousness. Killed. All in places that I've considered part of my home, or my neighborhood, or where I've met friends time and time again.

Rep. Adam Smith

Congressman Representing Washington's 9th District

The detention facility at Guantanamo Bay was never a good idea. It is an even worse idea now. Let's start the process to close GTMO now.

Chuck Gomez

Playwright and former Emmy Award-winning television news journalist

Could it be that with all this gay visibility, anti-gay sentiments are being stirred? Is homophobia a troubling sign of our times? Will it pass? Should gay leaders be scared, or will threats of violence only strengthen our community's resolve? If so, such resolve could be our rallying cry.

Geoffrey R. Stone

Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor of Law, University of Chicago

Striking the right balance between the government's legitimate need for confidentiality, the press's legitimate need to obtain information about government action, and the public's "right to know" what its representatives are up to, is a difficult and delicate task.

Josh Horwitz

Executive Director, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence

The NRA didn't just throw down the gauntlet to our government in Houston. It also articulated a vision of America and its ideals that is the antithesis of what our Founders intended, and which would mean the absolution of our Constitution.

Diane Dimond

Television journalist, author, syndicated columnist

On the heels of news about the "House of Horrors" in Cleveland where three young women were held as sex slaves, Danielle is pushing for heightened awareness about how pervasive human sex trafficking is -- nationwide. For Danielle words matter.

Jesse Lava

Campaign Director at Brave New Foundation

Policymakers hoping to find meaningful offsets to fund disaster aid will have look at: 1) Where there's a lot of money, 2) where the spending is unjustifiable, and 3) where the politics and public opinion are conducive to allowing cuts, since there are very few areas in which that's true.

Adam Banner

Criminal Defense Attorney

I was born and bred in Oklahoma. I make my living as an Oklahoma criminal defense attorney. Tornadoes have been a part of my entire life. Hell, my high school mascot was a "red tornado."

Aundaray Guess

Performing artist, producer, writer, and actor; program manager, Project Wipeout

It should be an alarm that alerts us to the complacency that has enveloped us and force us to refocus on anti-LGBT hate crimes. It should generate a renewed dialogue about why a gay man can be shot dead in plain sight in the street simply because of who he is.

Allison Hope

PR specialist and journalist

I believe that we're seeing the tortured last battle of an anti-gay subset of our society that knows that it's losing the culture war. what do angry, ignorant people do when they feel that they no longer have control? They use their angry words, their fists, their guns and their knives.