Guest Commentary |
In times of conflict, focus on faith, community, and daily life

The op-ed calls for continued prayer and support for national leaders, regardless of agreement or disagreement with their actions. Glenn Mollette stresses that leadership often needs encouragement most during moments of disagreement.

by Glenn Mollette, Guest Commentator

The best we can do right now is the best we can do.

We can be influencers and voices to those who help and serve us. However, we don’t control the government. We can vote and that is powerful. We can let our leadership know how we feel and that is never a waste of time. We can make our contributions to causes that bring about change. We can volunteer in places that make a difference. After that, it’s up to those we elected. After we do and have done all we can do, we have to sit back and wait and watch to see what is going to happen. Sometimes we approve. Sometimes we don’t and sometimes we are unsure.

Hard working Americans of faith have made this country and will keep this country going.

In the middle of conflict and uncertainty, we should never cease to pray for our President and leaders of government. They need our prayers. They also need our support. They need it when we feel they are right and they need it when we believe they are wrong. Just because we believe leadership may be wrong doesn’t mean we withdraw our support. Usually when we feel they are wrong they need our support more but in a different way. That’s when we say, “I support you but you need to go at this in a different way.” Sometimes those who lead us listen and it seems like often they don’t pay any attention to us.

Glenn Mollette

In the middle of all that is going on in America and the world we need to be busy going about our lives as much as possible. We need to work our jobs, take care of our families, pay our bills, plant and raise our gardens and do life as best as we can. Our country and houses of faith are made up of everyday, hard-working Americans. Hard working Americans of faith have made this country and will keep this country going.

Too often we have albatrosses that are hung around our neck. We’ve had Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. They were financially crippling and killed thousands of our people. We don’t want any more of that insanity but we are wondering if we are bound and determined for more?

What will Venezuela bring to America? What are we getting ourselves into? What kind of blowback is coming our way? Are we going to plunge head first into Iran and their problems? Here we go again placing ourselves where we don’t need to be. Next, there is Greenland, Cuba and Mexico. Where will all this take us and cost us?

Let’s pray for Venezuela that they can get their act together and elect their own leadership. If we can help them with their oil and benefit both countries then that would be a win-win.

In the meantime, let’s do the good things we know to do. Our communities and towns need us to carry on, even when it seems like the world is trying to fall apart.

About the author ~

Glen Mollett is the author of 13 books including Uncommom Sense, the Spiritual Chocolate series, Grandpa's Store, Minister's Guidebook insights from a fellow minister. His column is published weekly in over 600 publications in all 50 states.

The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily representative of any other group or organization. We welcome comments and views from our readers. Submit your letters to the editor or commentary on a current event 24/7 to editor@oursentinel.com.

Viewpoint |
The GOP’s break with its conservative past

Public funds are acceptable when they glorify power. Fiscal conservatism has not been compromised. It has been discarded.

by Van Abbott

Monuments say more about power than rhetoric ever can. They harden priorities into stone and steel. Donald Trump’s proposed triumphal boulevard arch, advanced under the banner of celebrating America’s 250th anniversary, is not merely an aesthetic project. It is a public declaration that the Republican Party has severed itself from the conservative identity it once claimed and replaced it with spectacle, excess, and personal glorification.

For most of the twentieth century, Republican branding rested on restraint. The party presented itself as the steward of limited government, fiscal discipline, institutional continuity, and skepticism toward executive indulgence. From Eisenhower through Reagan, Republicans spoke of balanced budgets, federalism, and respect for civic inheritance. Even when they expanded federal power, they framed it as reluctant and bounded. Conservatism was defined not by grandeur but by limits, not by monuments but by moderation.

That identity has been steadily hollowed out, but Trump’s arch makes the transformation unmistakable. Republicans once criticized Democrats for symbolic excess and taxpayer funded vanity projects. Now the party’s dominant figure promotes a massive public monument whose purpose is neither national defense nor civic necessity, but legacy narcissistic creation. It inverts conservative logic. Government is no longer something to restrain. It is a branding instrument.

In imperial Russia, lavish displays of power coexisted with mass deprivation and political paralysis.

The problem is not commemoration. Many Americans welcome recognition of the nation’s 250th anniversary. The problem is appropriateness. At a moment when millions of Americans struggle with access to health care, food security, and affordable housing, the allocation of millions or potentially hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to a monument that will almost certainly be named after Trump is not patriotic celebration. It is misaligned priority.

That symbolism deepens when viewed alongside other indulgences. Plans for a $400 million gold accented White House ballroom, gold leaf ornamentation throughout Whitehouse executive spaces, the destruction of historic elements of the Rose Garden, and a broader pattern of aesthetic excess reflect the same governing philosophy. Public funds are acceptable when they glorify power. This occurs while Republicans preside over some of the largest annual federal budget deficits in American history. Fiscal conservatism has not been compromised. It has been discarded.

History offers sobering parallels. In late stage France, monumental court spending continued even as bread shortages worsened. In imperial Russia, lavish displays of power coexisted with mass deprivation and political paralysis. In both cases, monuments were not symbols of confidence. They were warnings of elite detachment. Revolutions rarely begin with ideology alone. They begin when citizens conclude that those in power no longer inhabit the same reality.

Long after the speeches fade, the stone may whisper what the slogans never admitted.

That conclusion is increasingly visible in American political conversation, including among conservatives themselves. There is growing discussion about whether the Republican Party can survive in its current form. A party that embraces executive personalization, rejects fiscal restraint, and treats government as a vehicle for self celebration has vacated the philosophical ground it once occupied. Political vacuums do not remain empty.

It is plausible that a new party could emerge within the next decade, formed from disaffected conservatives, institutionalists, and independents seeking restraint without cruelty and order without authoritarianism. American realignments unfold gradually. They move through donor shifts, primary challenges, and regional coalitions before they become visible nationally. The collapse of the Whig Party in mid-1850s was not widely predicted until it was unavoidable. Similar dynamics may already be in motion.

Whether such transformation requires a revolution depends on definition. The United States is unlikely to experience violent overthrow. But revolutions can be electoral and institutional. When trust erodes, legitimacy fades, and consent weakens, political systems change even if their outward forms remain intact. That process does not announce itself. It accumulates.

Looking ahead ten years, stability is the least likely outcome. Fragmentation is far more plausible. If the Republican Party continues to equate power with pageantry and governance with self display, it risks becoming a personal vehicle rather than a durable institution. In that environment, a reconstituted conservative movement or an entirely new party becomes not radical but necessary.

If that future arrives, Trump’s triumphal arch may stand as a monument of exquisite irony. Built to proclaim national greatness, it may instead serve as the gateway marking the Republican Party’s exit from restraint and its embrace of spectacle. Long after the speeches fade, the stone may whisper what the slogans never admitted: a movement that once warned against excess decided that a very large, very expensive monument to itself was somehow conservative after all.

About the author ~

Van Abbott is a long time resident of Alaska and California. He has held financial management positions in government and private organizations in California, Kansas, and Alaska. He is retired and writes Op-Eds as a hobby. He served in the Peace Corps in the late sixties. You can find more of his commentaries and comments on life in America on Substack.

TAGS:

Viewpoint |
Milwaukee judge faces prison time in a case of judicial humanity

Leaked ICE data shows that 73 percent of people booked into ICE detention this fiscal year have no criminal convictions. Honoring the dignity of immigrants, including those without legal status, is an act of resistance.

by Terry Hansen
Guest Commentary

Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan has been convicted by a federal jury of felony obstruction for directing Eduardo Flores‑Ruiz, an undocumented immigrant, toward a back exit when she learned Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were waiting in the building. If the conviction is upheld, Dugan faces up to five years in prison.

The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign issued a coalition statement asserting that the conviction sets "a dangerous precedent," and that "This case was never about one individual. It was about whether people can still walk into a courthouse without fear and trust the justice system to protect them."

Notably, leaked ICE data analyzed by the Cato Institute show that 73 percent of people booked into ICE detention this fiscal year have no criminal convictions, nearly half lack even pending charges, and only 5 percent have violent convictions—contradicting claims of targeting “the worst of the worst.”

Legal scholar Samera Esmeir coined the term "juridical humanity," meaning the way law defines who counts as human. Esmeir describes the history of juridical humanity as a "tale about loss," including "the loss of the human to modern law, when the law laid claim to a monopoly over the power to declare the presence of the human."

Applied to Trump-era immigration policy and cases like Judge Dugan’s, it captures how people are rendered “human” only to the extent that they fit a legal status the state recognizes and values.

Current immigration practices embody this concept: threats of denaturalization against “disloyal” citizens and mass deportations to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison—often ignoring due process or torture allegations—relegate migrants to a downgraded humanity.

Law doesn’t just close borders; it manufactures lesser humans.

Congress’ failure to pass immigration reform helps entrench juridical humanity by freezing an outdated legal system and forcing battles over humanity into executive and judicial discretion, instead of democratic lawmaking.

Comprehensive reform has stalled for over two decades, leaving millions in precarious or “liminal” status—the undocumented, Dreamers (DACA), people with Temporary Protected Status, and long-term residents—whose basic life conditions depend on fragile, reversible policies rather than secure legal personhood.

In juridical humanity terms, Congress keeps in place a hierarchy where some people are fully recognized humans (citizens), while others are only partially recognized and can be detained, deported, or excluded with fewer protections because their legal status is unresolved or deliberately kept temporary.

Significantly, this past February, the White House posted a dehumanizing video on X of shackled and downcast detainees boarding airplanes, accompanied by the sounds of jangling chains and the revving of airplane engines. The post was titled "ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight."

ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) videos use visuals and sound to create a relaxing, tingling sensation that helps viewers de-stress. Elon Musk, then head of the Department of Government Efficiency, retweeted the post, writing “Haha wow,” along with emojis of a troll and a medal.

While the ideological façade of Trump's immigration policies is the protection of U.S. citizens, its goals clearly include humiliation and cruelty.

The Declaration of Independence is prominently displayed behind President Trump’s Oval Office desk. Its ideals proclaim that "all men are created equal” and “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,” and that governments are "instituted" only “to secure” these pre-existing rights—not to grant or revoke them.

Honoring the dignity of immigrants, including those without legal status, is an act of resistance, an attempt to reclaim humanity from a restrictive, legally imposed form.

If appellate courts overturn Dugan's conviction, they will keep open a small, vital space where the law can still be forced, by both judges and movements, to acknowledge a humanity it did not create and has no legitimate authority to erase.

Terry Hansen is a retired educator who writes frequently about climate change and on human rights. He lives in Grafton, WIsconsin.

TAGS: US immigration system is outdated, Milwaukee County judge convicted of felony obstruction, people are only human if they have legal status, the law dehumanizes people who don't belong

Viewpoint |
Women in authority roles exposes male mediocrity

Who keeps moving the finish line whenever a woman take over a leadership position in work or politics?

by Yumna Zahid Ali, Guest Commentator

Who told you leadership has a gender? Who decided authority sounds masculine and strength must wear a man’s face? Who keeps moving the finish line every time a woman reaches it? And why, in the 21st century, are we still pretending this debate isn’t already settled? Because, honestly, this argument itself is tired, dusty, and intellectually embarrassing. The idea that women are “born followers” is not an opinion. It is a confession. Yes! A confession of insecurity, nostalgia for unearned authority, and fear that their own mediocrity will be exposed.

So, let me be clear, once and for all: Women are leaders. Not potential leaders. Not emerging leaders. Not leaders “despite” being women. Leaders. Period. And anyone still arguing otherwise is not protecting tradition…they’re protecting their own comfortable delusion.

It’s unbelievable how men have been failing upward for centuries, but somehow, women are the risky choice? All of which exposes the double standard: a man forgets half the plan: he’s “visionary.” A woman delivers the entire plan: she’s “bossy.” A man yells: he’s passionate. A woman raises her voice: she needs to “calm down.” A man leads with ego: a strong leader. A woman leads with results: threatening.

Interesting math!

The world loves to say women are “too emotional” to lead, while history is basically a very long, very embarrassing highlight reel of male tantrums with catastrophic consequences. Wars started over bruised egos, chest-thumping pride, and leaders who mistook dominance for wisdom. Empires burned because someone could not handle being challenged, corrected, or told no. Borders were redrawn because a man felt entitled to land, power, or legacy. Millions died not because solutions were unavailable, but because compromise bruised male pride. Entire populations were sacrificed to prove strength, authority, and superiority.

Don't believe me? The evidence is written across the cities themselves: Warsaw, Berlin, Dresden, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Stalingrad, Leningrad, Grozny, Aleppo, Mariupol, Kyiv, Baghdad, Gaza City, and countless more.

The status quo consumes women’s labor but panics at women’s authority. It adores women as supporting characters, housekeepers, emotional sponges, therapists, sacrificial lambs, anything but decision-makers. Because a woman with power isn’t inspirational; she’s inconvenient.

Women who actually lead are called cold, unlikable, and arrogant. Interesting how male leaders with the same traits are called focused, commanding, and confident. Apparently, likability is a mandatory tax only if you are not supposed to have power.

Say it with me: Women are leaders. Not someday. Not maybe. Not if approved.

They always have been.

The only difference now? They’re done explaining it to people who were never even qualified to question it in the first place.

About the author ~

Yumna Zahid Ali is a writer and educator who spends her free time reading, analyzing literature, and exploring cultural and intellectual debates. When she’s not writing for global audiences, she enjoys reflecting on societal issues and using her voice to challenge inequities, especially those affecting women. She also loves diving into history, believing that remembering the past is an act of defiance and a way to hold power accountable.

TAGS: women have always been leaders, why are men so afraid of women in leadership roles, why are women a risky choice for governing, Women born flollowers, male insecurity challenged

Guest Commentary |
A new year is coming, savor the moment

by Glenn Mollette, Guest Commentator

Seems like yesterday that we were making New Year’s resolutions. Time flies by!

Glenn Mollette

Since time goes by so quickly the first resolution we all might consider making is to savor the moment. Every day is a gift and a celebration. Savor your work, family, friends, entertainment, hobbies, church, meals, nature and every aspect of life. Don’t rush 2026 because it will be over in the blink of your eye.

Plan your holidays in advance for 2026. Let’s make the holidays count. Consider celebrating the holidays in 2026 on days other than the actual holiday dates. Families can only be one place at a time. Why not have your get togethers a week or even two before? Celebrate Thanksgiving or Christmas at different times so you can include more people and different places. Give it a thought for each holiday and I believe you will have more unrushed friend and family gatherings.

Schedule your doctor’s appointments and have your blood work done. None of us are excited about doctor’s appointments but blood work and checkups provide information we need to take care of these bodies.

Exercise this year. Exercise is moving your body. You can do this anywhere. Turn on your radio and dance in your house. Dance in your kitchen or garage. You don’t have to spend most of your day traveling to a gym and back. Turn on some music and in 20 to 30 minutes you can break into a sweat. Forty minutes is best but 20 to 30 minutes every day will rid your body of some sugar and toxins your liver and kidneys don’t need. Exercise is moving. Keep moving in 2026.

Cut back on red meat, fried foods and sugary desserts. Eating these items often will impact you negatively. Once or twice a month is far different than every day or two or three times a week.

Focus on teamwork in 2026. You can’t do everything. You can’t do everything for your children. You are only one person. You can be more successful with help. Good help is hard to find but families must work together. You can’t carry the financial burden for everyone else. Several people working together can accomplish most anything but if it all falls on one person then success will be more difficult if not impossible.

Plan to create good memories in 2026. Too often we spend our time reflecting on mistakes, sickness, death and unfortunate things that happened in the past. Determine to do something as often as you can that will create a good memory for you and others who might be impacted.

Think about what you want to accomplish in 2026 and try. What do you have to lose? If you don’t aim for a target then you hit nothing. Hitting something will be better than nothing. Think about it, even make a list.

Keep the fire burning. Don’t quit stirring the flame. Keep piling the wood on. Keep the fire hot. Too often we let the fire die. We get cold and feel empty. Don’t let your fire die. The fire keeps us warm. Warmth is energy and strength. It provides light.

Keep your faith strong. You can do a lot more with God than without Him. Let’s go 2026!

About the author ~

Viewpoint |
MAGA’s promise vs. reality: How MAGA weakens the institutions that make America strong

The nation becomes less educated, less healthy, less productive, and less governed by law. Global leadership fades not through defeat but through neglect. MAGA promises greatness, yet what it delivers is fragmentation.

by Van Abbott

Make America Great Again is presented as a promise of renewal, competence, and restored national confidence. In practice, the MAGA movement accelerates American decline across nearly every institutional pillar that sustains a modern democracy and a stable economy. The distance between the slogan and its real world consequences is no longer a matter of opinion. It is visible, measurable, and increasingly difficult to reverse.

Public education stands among the earliest and most damaging casualties. MAGA aligned policies divert public funds toward private and religious alternatives while weakening public schools through budget cuts, ideological interference, and culture war mandates. Educators are vilified, curriculum politicized, and academic standards subordinated to grievance driven narratives. The result is a less prepared workforce, diminished innovation, and a generation trained to distrust expertise rather than develop it.

Public health follows a similar trajectory. Institutions once trusted to protect Americans during crises are hollowed out or publicly discredited. Science is reframed as opinion. During emergencies, messaging shifts from evidence to spectacle, producing predictable outcomes in excess mortality, workforce attrition, and rising long term healthcare costs. A nation that weakens its public health system weakens its economic resilience.

Threats of default, attacks on the Federal Reserve, and disregard for institutional stability undermine perceptions of American reliability.

The independence of the Justice Department, a critical safeguard against authoritarian abuse, is also undermined. MAGA governance recasts the rule of law as an instrument of personal loyalty. Prosecutors, inspectors general, and career civil servants are attacked when facts conflict with political narratives. Pardons become tools of favor, and accountability is reframed as persecution.

Agricultural trade, long a strength of the American economy, suffers under impulsive tariff wars marketed as toughness. Farmers are caught in retaliatory crossfire as export markets collapse. Emergency subsidies replace stable trade relationships, effectively socializing losses created by self inflicted policy failures. Decades of trust with trading partners are disrupted, while competitors move quickly to fill the vacuum.

Manufacturing is promised a renaissance, yet supply chains are destabilized without credible replacement strategies. While rhetoric celebrates factory jobs, automation accelerates and investment shifts elsewhere due to uncertainty and retaliatory trade measures. Growth that does occur is often driven by global market forces rather than MAGA policy.

Perhaps most damaging is the erosion of confidence in the United States dollar and American financial stewardship. Exploding deficits paired with performative fiscal outrage signal incoherence rather than discipline. Threats of default, attacks on the Federal Reserve, and disregard for institutional stability undermine perceptions of American reliability. Currency dominance depends on trust, not bravado, and trust once lost is costly to regain.

Internationally, the United States suffers reputational damage that will linger for decades. Allies are treated as adversaries, treaties as inconveniences, and democratic norms as optional. Autocrats are praised while democratic partners are disparaged. America’s moral authority, once a strategic asset, is exchanged for domestic spectacle and rally applause.

Recent developments suggest the MAGA movement itself is weakening.

The central contradiction of MAGA lies in its claim to strength while systematically weakening the systems that generate national strength. It promises efficiency while producing chaos, sovereignty while increasing dependence, and patriotism while corroding democratic norms. It brands itself as anti elite while delivering extraordinary influence to the ultra wealthy through tax policy, deregulation, and judicial capture.

Responsibility does not rest with a single individual. Media corporations monetize outrage. Billionaires who benefit financially underwrite its spread. A Supreme Court that abandons institutional restraint in favor of ideological outcomes accelerates public cynicism toward the law. Political cowardice allows spectacle to replace governance.

If current trends continue, the future is not marked by sudden collapse but by steady corrosion. The nation becomes less educated, less healthy, less productive, and less governed by law. Global leadership fades not through defeat but through neglect. MAGA promises greatness, yet what it delivers is fragmentation: institutions hollowed out and turned against one another, citizens sorted into rival identities, loyalty elevated above competence, and reality displaced by performance. This is not renewal. It is the slow dismantling of a great nation.

Recent developments suggest the MAGA movement itself is weakening. Infighting is intensifying. Conservatives are reassessing. Politicians are departing. The political stage will likely reset in 2026, setting conditions for a broader reckoning in 2028. Whether that moment produces recovery or deeper decay will depend on whether Americans finally reject grievance politics and recommit to competence, institutional integrity, and democratic self government.

About the author ~

TAGS: the erosion of confidence in the United States dollar, American competitors are moving to fill trade vacuum, MAGA governance recasts the rule of law, MAGA aligned policies divert public funds toward private and religious alternatives, MAGA movement accelerates American decline

Viewpoint |
A Baby, a Blanket, and a Global Moral Failure

Centered on the death of a two-week-old baby in Gaza, this commentary condemns global indifference to civilian suffering.

by Yumna Zahid Ali, Guest Commentator

How can we have heated streets for cars, but not heated homes for babies? How can we build heated bus shelters for people waiting fifteen minutes, but not for families waiting a lifetime for housing? In Gaza today, life has become a battle against the elements, against hunger, and against despair. Among the ruins of bombed-out homes and flooded streets, a two-week-old baby named Muhammad Khalil Abu al Khair froze to death. Yes… You heard that right. FROZE TO DEATH.

Is there any excuse, any justification, that can explain a baby dying of a cold in a world with central heating, charity drives, and holiday fundraisers?

We have the technology to alert a phone when a package is left in the rain, but no alarm bell rings when a child’s core temperature plummets in a city of millions. We deliver hot food to our doorsteps in minutes. Why is delivering basic warmth to a doorstep a logistical impossibility? We have weather satellites that can track a storm forming over an ocean. Do we not have the moral foresight to track the storm of deprivation gathering over a human being? We build submarines that can explore the crushing depths of the Mariana Trench and rovers that photograph the dust of Mars. But we claim it is a “complex challenge” to deliver a solar-powered heater and a tarp to a family sleeping in a rain-soaked tent.

Our priorities are not flawed; they are corrupt.

Yes! Little Khalil did not “die.” He was murdered by the policy of a blockade that values the security of a border more than the life of a child. He was murdered by a vote in a parliament that funded more weapons but choked off medicine. He was murdered by the cowardice of every world leader who calls for “restraint” while children freeze to death. His autopsy would list hypothermia, but the truth is murder by political decision.

We have air-conditioned dog kennels and data servers that never dip below 70°F. But we lack the basic humanity to guarantee that a human child does not succumb to the elements. Explain that hierarchy of compassion. Name one justification. Go ahead. Try to explain why a box of donated blankets sat undistributed while a newborn froze.

There is none. Only evil.

About the author ~

TAGS: opinion on baby freezing to death in Gaza, Gaza humanitarian crisis civilian suffering, moral responsibility of world leaders Gaza, political decisions and civilian deaths opinion, war displacement and infant mortality Gaza

Commentary |
Waiting rooms of a nation: Inside Assam’s competitive exam culture

Reforms in examination security, stronger digital safeguards, transparent score disclosures, and third-party audits are necessary.

by Dhritee S. Goswami, Guest Commentator

In Guwahati, long after public libraries close for the night, the lights remain on inside private coaching centres along GS Road. Rows of young men and women, many holding postgraduate degrees, sit preparing for examinations that promise not ambition, but stability. In Assam, competitive recruitment exams have become less a ladder of opportunity and more a prolonged waiting room.

As of February 2025, over 21 lakh educated individuals were registered with Assam’s employment exchanges. The figure understates the reality, excluding thousands who never formally register. Against this backdrop, recent departmental recruitment notifications offering a few hundred posts illustrate the stark arithmetic candidates face. Competitive examinations, under such conditions, become exercises conducted under extreme scarcity.

It is within this landscape that the long-running Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) recruitment scandal must be understood. Investigations into the 2013 and 2014 Combined Competitive Examinations uncovered manipulated marks, duplicate answer scripts, and the selection of non-meritorious candidates. The Justice B.K. Sharma inquiry commission documented “widespread anomalies” and recommended scrapping selections from that period to restore institutional integrity.

Former APSC chairman Rakesh Paul, arrested in 2016, was convicted in July 2024 for fraudulent recruitment of Agricultural Development Officers and sentenced to fourteen years’ imprisonment. Other commission members were also convicted, while dozens of selected candidates, including ACS and APS officers, were arrested, suspended, or dismissed. Yet the case has not reached a clean conclusion.

In June 2025, the Gauhati High Court ordered the reinstatement of 52 dismissed officers, citing procedural violations under Article 311 of the Constitution. The Assam government has challenged the ruling in the Supreme Court, arguing that it undermines confidence in merit-based recruitment. The episode reflects an unresolved tension between procedural safeguards and institutional credibility, a tension experienced not only in courtrooms but by aspirants preparing for current examinations.

For candidates, these developments generate uncertainty beyond syllabus and strategy. When past selections remain legally contested years later, trust in the examination system becomes fragile.

This fragility exists alongside a constrained employment environment. Assam recorded 7.94 per cent GDP growth in 2024–25, among the fastest in the country. The state’s GSDP reached ₹6.43 lakh crore, with rising per capita income and increased infrastructure spending. Yet macroeconomic growth has not translated into proportionate formal employment for graduates.

Private-sector opportunities remain limited, largely concentrated in retail, banking, telecommunications, and services. Manufacturing capacity is modest, while traditional sectors such as tea, petroleum, and agriculture offer limited expansion in white-collar roles. For graduates in humanities, commerce, and increasingly even sciences, government employment emerges not as one option among many, but as the primary route to middle-class security.

The cost of waiting accumulates quietly. A typical aspirant may spend six or more years cycling through prelims, mains, interviews, and age limits, often underemployed or financially dependent. Families invest heavily in education with delayed returns. Multiplied across thousands, the social cost becomes evident: human capital remains locked in preparation rather than productive deployment.

According to official data, over 33 lakh people in Assam are registered as unemployed, including 7.29 lakh graduates and more than one lakh postgraduates. While labour surveys indicate declining unemployment rates, these figures largely reflect informal and self-employment. They do not resolve the structural mismatch between higher education output and formal sector absorption.

The persistence of this mismatch explains the continued expansion of the coaching industry, even as vacancies decline. Coaching centres thrive not on optimism, but on scarcity. Preparation itself becomes a parallel economy, sustained by families investing in increasingly uncertain outcomes. Reforms in examination security, stronger digital safeguards, transparent score disclosures, and third-party audits are necessary. The Public Examinations Act of 2024 proposes national standards that may reduce vulnerabilities. Yet safeguards alone address symptoms rather than the underlying pressure.

More durable solutions lie in diversifying pathways to stability: industry-linked apprenticeships, skill certification with market value, district-level startup ecosystems, and limited lateral entry into public service. Assam has made some progress, with over 1,400 DPIIT-recognised startups and the creation of a ₹200-crore venture capital fund. Scale and regional reach, however, remain limited.

The waiting rooms remain full because alternatives remain uncertain. Until government employment becomes one respectable option rather than the singular marker of success, the pressure that distorts institutions will persist. Competitive examinations will continue to carry not just aspiration, but the weight of an entire generation’s expectations.

Perhaps the question is not how to make the queue move faster, but whether the queue itself represents the right model.

About the author ~

Dhritee has tried other cities and cuisines, but nothing beats her mom's home cooking — a hill she's willing to die on. Armed with her parents' advice to never lose her financial footing and a belief that education is basically prescription lenses for reality, she spends her time connecting dots other people don't see. She's convinced that learning isn't just about getting ahead, it's about learning to actually look around.

TAGS: government employment is one option, fragility exists alongside a constrained employment environment, six-plus years are wasted satisfying government requirements, unresolved tension between procedural safeguards, exams are not a ladder of opportunity

Guest Commentary |
This Christmas reach out and love others

Since we aren’t sure how many more Christmases we will enjoy, let’s make this a good one. This Christmas, don’t be sad, mad or bad but be joyful and celebrate this good day.

by Glenn Mollette, Guest Commentator

Glenn Mollette

How many more Christmases will you have?

Will you have fifty more? Will you have a dozen more? Maybe you will have just one more, maybe. There are no guarantees of a certain number of more Christmases.

My grandpa Hinkle suffered with heart issues. I remember him suffering an episode where his heart was bothering him and he put nitroglycerin pills under his tongue to calm the effects of his heart issues. “I may never see another Christmas” he stated as his pain eased off and he became more relaxed. Seems like he did celebrate a couple more Christmases and before he died at the age of 83.

Since we aren’t sure how many more Christmases we will enjoy, let’s make this a good one.

Focus your eyes and mind on the person of Christmas – Jesus. The Shepherds came to see him and left rejoicing at what they saw, heard and experienced. Jesus gave them something to talk about, something to do and their story was compelling. The Wise Men, traveled from a long distance to worship Jesus. They did so because Jesus was worth it. Jesus is worth it. He is worthy of our focus. Our eyes and minds are in so many places today. There is so much to hear and see even if you never leave your house. The television, social media and more are constantly showing us lots of stuff that gets our attention but sometimes makes life fuzzy and mentally chaotic. Focusing our attention on Jesus clears our minds and sharpens our perspectives.

Don’t max out. Maxing out is not fun or healthy. This means don’t overspend. Don’t spend money you don’t have. Don’t try to do stuff that pushes you to the brink of exhaustion. What good does this do you or anyone if you go in the hole financially and mentally over the holiday? Step back, be reasonable and use common sense in all that you want to do.

Reach out and love others. If this is your last Christmas then you want to let those significant people in your life know that you love them and care about them. They will remember next Christmas that they were loved by you on the previous Christmas.

You may want to do something creative or different for Christmas. Maybe there is someplace special you want to be on Christmas. This is not always possible. Many soldiers will be in distant lands on Christmas. Many relatives will be in distant towns for Christmas. Be where you want to be if you can on Christmas. If you can’t, then try to make as many phone calls as possible to those people.

This Christmas, don’t be sad, mad or bad but be joyful and celebrate this good day. If we are here, then rejoice. If there is an empty chair at the table, remember that to be absent from the body is to be present with God, if we love and accept him. This is our hope that those who are no longer with us are in a better place than we are and someday we will be with them in that beautiful place.

Regardless of how many Christmases you have left, be filled with joy for this one.

About the author ~

Viewpoint |
The world’s most feared woman has always been the intelligent woman

Why has society has historically feared intelligent women. Through rhetorical questions, the piece critiques gendered expectations placed on women and declares a new era of unapologetic intelligence.

by Yumna Zahid Ali, Guest Commentator

There is one type of woman society has always feared the most: the intelligent woman. Not the silent woman. Not the “pretty but obedient” woman. Not the woman trained to smile and comply. No! The woman who thinks, questions, challenges, and refuses to be mentally tamed. That woman is dangerous. And that is exactly why society tries so hard to break her.

From the classroom debate to the presidential debate, intelligent women are constantly asked to “tone it down.” Why? Because her brain threatens the very structure that once survived on her silence. Her intelligence demolishes the fraudulent power of those who required her to kneel. And nothing is more terrifying to a fragile system than a woman who refuses to play dumb, stay quiet, or act sorry for her brilliance. It’s the old reprimand: “Your clarity is ruining our comfortable ignorance.”

This is society’s job posting for “Woman”: Must possess advanced degrees but a beginner’s mindset in debates with men. Must demonstrate leadership potential but excel in a supporting role. Must pursue goals that should appear under “hobbies and interests,” not “primary purpose.”

But why does a powerful woman make the system freeze? Because she’s the upgrade, they can’t force-quit. She doesn’t run on their outdated software of shame and smallness. Her operating system is “So What?” and it has no receptors for their imposition, conditioning and coercion. And why does her clarity feel like a violation? Because she reads the fine print they hoped she’d ignore. She doesn’t fall for the friendly font. She sees the trap in the terms and conditions and tears up the contract.

Intelligent women ask: Who decided my life’s résumé needs a “Mrs.” degree? When in history has a man asked for a blessing to become CEO? Since when does my potential have a “Seek Approval” button? When was the last time a man was told to “smile more” in a boardroom negotiation? These questions shake the walls of a centuries-old system that expected women to thank their jailers for the privilege of a larger cell.

They are done seeking validation from a world that benefits from their insecurity. This is the era of the unapologetically brilliant woman.

And the world will adjust to her.

About the author ~

TAGS: intelligent women empowerment essay analysis, social commentary on gender expectations and power, why society fears outspoken and brilliant women, psychology of suppressing women’s intelligence historically, rise of unapologetically smart women in modern culture

Guest Commentary |
It's December, give love and hope to others

Let’s focus on the one who really brings light to our lives and is the light of the world and that’s the baby Jesus.

by Glenn Mollette, Guest Commentator

Glenn Mollette

We can’t think about December without thinking about Christmas. December is saturated with Christmas. Christmas shopping, Christmas baking, Christmas Carols, Christmas television programs, Christmas religious services and the Christmas spirit.

Christmas has an accelerated pace of hustle and bustle but it also has an eerie haunting side. I was going through my cell phone contact list this morning and was appalled at how many contacts I have in my phone who are now deceased. Every time I turn around I discover an acquaintance has passed. For so many of us, we can’t really arise to the crescendo side of Christmas celebrations without wading through the mire of grief. We think about parents, spouses, children and friends whom we loved so much who are not here to celebrate Christmas with us. We remember old times that were good times. Those times aren’t as possible as they once were. So, this presents a major hurdle for many of us to overcome and it’s not easy.

Christmas presents a yearly challenge for us to create a new and special time. What was, will not be again. Thus, we have to recreate our holidays which means they will be different. They can’t be the same, because what was no longer exists. Therefore, what was, cannot happen again.

The baby Jesus was born in Bethlehem. He was God in the flesh. He came with a divine purpose to bring joy and life. He brought joy to Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and the wisemen who traveled from afar to worship him. Unfortunately, Jesus was troubling to some who did not understand his mission and purpose.

This month of December we will not forget those who were so special to us. They helped make Christmas bright. Let’s focus on the one who really brings light to our lives and is the light of the world and that’s the baby Jesus, who said, “I am the light of the world.” We need his light to navigate the darkness. Yes, the world has a dark side. Death and grief are difficult to navigate. We need the Christ child who came to help and save us to lead us through this month and the rest of our lives.

This December let’s focus on loving those we know and those who are here. Let’s draw close to each other. Jesus will help us. He said, “If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me.” He will make our journey lighter and brighter. Reach out to others. Don’t wait for your phone to ring. You make the call. Send the text and reach out. Spread God’s love and spread well wishes and goodness to all you know.

When we give love and hope to others, it comes back to us. If we invest in others, the invest in some way will be returned. Jesus is our example. He came to earth. He lived, loved and walked among us. We are the benefactors of his life. As we look to Him this season, may others be the beneficiaries of the Christmas spirit that dwells in you.

About the author ~

Sentinel Editorial Page

The Sentinel’s Opinion–Editorial page is a forum for voices across our community and beyond. These columns reflect the perspectives of their individual authors and offer insight, argument, and lived experience. We welcome a broad range of viewpoints that contribute to a deeper understanding of the issues shaping our region. Do you have a viewpoint you would like share? Here are our submission guidelines.

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