School shootings, Sen. Bob Dole's call for unity, Republican loyalty tests: 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. 'You're going to have a great life:' Michael J. Fox on what he wishes he had known when diagnosed

By Kristen DelGuzzi 

""Parkinson's patients can be incredibly lonely," he says. "Lonely in crowded room. Lonely in Madison Square Garden. It's because you're isolated in your experience and you can't relate it to anybody, and you have a million frustrations. Like someone says, 'Slow down,' and I say, 'If I could slow down, I'd friggin' slow down. I can't slow down again. I am like I am.'"

2. Why prosecutors charged Oxford school shooting suspect's parents

By Brian Dickerson

"McDonald said the mother-and-son posts are among several pieces of evidence that prompted her decision to charge Jennifer Crumbley and her husband, James, with involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of four students their son has been accused of shooting. The son was taken into custody at the high school Tuesday afternoon and is being held without bond on four counts of first-degree murder, multiple assault and weapons charges, and a single count of terrorism."

3. Sen. Bob Dole's final column: 'Too many of us have sacrificed too much'

By Sen. Bob Dole 

"Dwight Eisenhower said America is best described by the word "freedom." It’s an all-purpose sort of word, one that we salute like the flag on the Fourth of July, even if no two of us define it in exactly the same way. This gives rise to a perpetual tug of war between those on the left who look to an activist government to broker economic security and a level playing field without which democratic capitalism can degenerate into mere survival of the fittest, and those on the right who pursue freedom from – especially from heavy-handed dictation, stifling taxes or overregulation that can smother individual initiative and discourage social mobility."

4. The real disarray: Republicans imploding over Trump loyalty tests and outrageous behavior

By Jill Lawrence

"Republicans are headed for a knock-down drag-out primary May 24 in Georgia, where Gov. Brian Kemp – who last year resisted President Donald Trump’s pressure to overturn his state’s win for Democrat Joe Biden – has just learned he’ll be facing off against Trump ally David Perdue, who lost his Senate seat this year in part because Trump's lawyers said the election was rigged and urged Republicans not to vote. So it’s time for another round of “Democrats in disarray,” right?"

5. My daughter was murdered at her school: We need to elect leaders who support gun safety

By Fred Guttenberg

"Despite the plague of gun violence in schools and in our broader society, Republicans in Congress continue to speak in dangerous, irresponsible terms. The recent video released by Rep. Gosar depicting the murder of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, was intentional. Gosar’s video and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s dangerous behavior – including her use of imagery depicting an assault rifle aimed at three Democratic members of Congress – were clearly calculated. "

6. Gen Z only knows school shootings and the possibility of death at school

By Connie Schultz

"Gen Z kids know that, on any given day, at any school in America, a gunman can open fire and kill innocent children. Children like them. Who will my students be in 10 years, in 20? What will today’s schoolchildren believe about our world and their role in it when they are grown? Who will they be as parents? What will they demand of their leaders?"

7. Guns, abortion and COVID in America: Life, death and differences too stark to bridge

By Jill Lawrence

"If you’re “pro-life,” why not support reasonable gun restrictions? Why not support COVID vaccines to save lives, including your own? If you think the Constitution gives you the right to control your own body, why oppose vaccine mandates but require people to bear children? If you believe in the constitutional principle of religious freedom, why support repeal of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision establishing the right to abortion? Not all religions hold that life begins at conception, nor do all Americans. In fact, only 38% agree with that."

8. It's possible, but not likely, Alec Baldwin's gun fired without him pulling the trigger

By Stephen Gutowski

"Despite how often people will say a gun just "went off" on its own, it's an extremely uncommon phenomenon. Modern guns have internal safeties that make it impossible for the gun to fire without the trigger being pulled – even in cases where the gun is dropped while loaded. Even antique gun designs have features that prevent the gun from firing on its own."

9. Why are states putting child sex abuse victims back in the home of their abusive parents?

By Sarah A. Font and Naomi Schaefer Riley

"In fact, the reasons for the recommendations made by Turning Points (but ultimately signed off on by courts) are not difficult to discern. Federal and state policies prioritize family preservation and family reunification for nearly all children in the child welfare system, even in some cases of sexual abuse. Just like every other state in the country, Pennsylvania seeks to severely reduce the number of kids in foster care, apparently even regardless of the risks."

10. Longing for a return to 'simpler times'? Here's what the 1950s were like.

By Connie Schultz

"In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite, Elvis Presley bought Graceland and the Wham-O toy company started selling the Frisbee. In July of that same year, I was born. I’m little hurt this never shows up on those internet timelines of the 1950s, but I’m a woman in America. I’m used to being overlooked. Today, I am your resident, non-historian expert on the 1950s, and here’s why: The Public Religion Research Institute recently released a survey in which 70% of Republicans said our culture and way of life have changed for the worse since the 1950s." 

11. Repair legacy of racism: Explore reparations in housing, education, entrepreneurship

By The Editorial Board

"Finally, to help build generational wealth, Congress should designate funds specifically to help Black entrepreneurs launch and sustain businesses. The Biden administration and Congress took an important step in that direction in November when the president signed infrastructure legislation that included a provision making the Minority Business Development Agency permanent. But more dollars must follow to close the wide gap in business ownership rates among Black and white Americans."

Opposing view: Why America's journey toward racial justice shouldn't include reparations

By David Mastio

"Poor whites will see handouts and advantages for Blacks of all economic classes as an insult to their own struggles. Many will object to giving "reparations" to the 17% of Black Americans who are immigrants and their children. They have no history of suffering from slavery or Jim Crow. Many whites descended from those who fought and died to end slavery might justly object that their families have already paid for America's sins. Millions more Americans, like my grandparents, didn't immigrate to America until the 20th century, leaving them blameless for structural racism."