10 of our top columns 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 of the week's top USA TODAY Opinion pieces. As always, thanks for reading, and for your feedback.

— USA TODAY Opinion editors

1. Robinhood CEO: We're helping those left behind by Wall Street, not hedge funds

By Vlad Tenev

"Last week, we witnessed something the stock market has never quite experienced before. Short squeezes on a small number of stocks triggered wild gyrations in prices, massive volatility that prompted clearinghouses to take swift action to protect the plumbing that handles stock trading every day."

2.  Joe Biden can deliver USPS from Donald Trump by firing his joke of a board

By The Editorial Board

"The Postal Service has gone from bad to worse to awful under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, an acolyte of Donald Trump and a GOP megadonor. 'Americans are fed up,' said Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., in urging President Joe Biden to take action. 'It’s time to clean house, and top leadership should be replaced.'"

USPS Board of Governors: We're applying lessons from the election and the holiday season

By Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service

"One example of our vital mission and outstanding performance during the pandemic was delivering election mail to the American people, the largest and most successful election by mail in the history of our nation. Last November ... the men and women of the Postal Service delivered at least 135 million ballots to or from voters in the general election, with 99.7% of all election ballots arriving at their intended destination within five days."

3. The government can help people pay off student loans and be fair about it. Here's how.

By Scott MacDonald

"With so much debt and comparatively low increases in wages, more debt is in arrears. About 11% of student loans are delinquent or in default.With so much debt, graduates are unable to participate fully in the national economy. Homebuying, marriage and childbearing are often delayed and consumer purchases deferred. The U.S. economy is largely based on consumer buying, and with newer members of the workforce burdened by high levels of debt, national economic growth will suffer, leading to fewer jobs and business opportunities."

4. Biden's climate change orders take a sledgehammer to Western state economies: Barrasso

By John Barrasso

"So far, the Biden administration’s actions are nowhere near his unifying words on Inauguration Day. On Day One, the president signed executive orders to stop the Keystone XL pipeline and rejoin the Paris climate accord. The next week he halted new oil, gas and coal leases on federal lands. These orders will take a sledgehammer to the economies of Western states without putting a dent in climate change."

5. COVID-19 could devastate the homeless. How will America pick up the pieces?

By Suzette Hackney

"Over the next four years, fallout from the pandemic is expected to cause chronic homelessness to climb 49% nationwide, according to a new study by the Economic Roundtable, a California-based nonprofit urban research organization. The analysis predicts that the homelessness crisis will peak in 2023, with an additional 603,000 American adults without a permanent roof over their heads."

6. Christian nationalism is a threat, and not just from Capitol attackers invoking Jesus

By Rachel S. Mikva

"It is easy to protest when white Christian nationalism turns violent. Within the chorus of critics, however, are a substantial number of Christians who plan to take the country for Jesus another way. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., a leader of the misinformation campaign that led people to believe (falsely) that the presidential election was stolen, is among them."

7. Delays in Garland hearing, and in replacing U.S. attorneys, put justice reform in jeopardy

By Shay Bilchik and Miriam Krinsky

"While Biden has already indicated his intent to replace at least one U.S. attorney and some have resigned, it’s unclear when or whether others will be removed. Even more alarming is the apparent delay in considering Biden's nominee for attorney general. Congress had seemed poised to set a hearing date for Judge Merrick Garland last week. But his nomination has been stalled even as others have moved forward."

8. Donald Trump's impeachment filing fails to make a case for acquittal

By Chris Truax

"Former President Donald Trump filed a formal response to the article of impeachment currently awaiting trial in the Senate and it was about what you’d expect. Trump makes three main arguments. The first is that it isn’t constitutional to impeach a president after he has left office. The second is that this impeachment proceeding violates Donald Trump’s First Amendment right to free speech. The final argument claims that the single article of impeachment actually charges multiple instances of impeachable conduct and, therefore, isn’t in the proper legal form."

9. Mom got caught in the polio epidemic's last gasp, but she prevailed. So will we.

By Cathy O’Donnell

"In 1954, when I was four, we lived in Dallas. On hot summer nights, all five of us — Mom, Dad, my two little brothers and I — slept in the living room because it had an air conditioner. Outside in the morning, it was usually in the upper 80s already, so instantly we were hot as winter oatmeal and sticky as flypaper." 

10. Confront military's white supremacy and nationalism head-on, or it will get worse: Veteran

By Charlotte Clymer

"Military veterans account for 7% of the adult population of the United States, according to a report released by the U.S. Census Bureau last year. NPR looked into the backgrounds of those charged so far in the violent Capitol attack last month by supporters of then-President Donald Trump and found that nearly 20% are veterans — meaning those who have served in the military were nearly three times more likely than non-veterans to have been involved, despite having taken an oath to defend the Constitution."