| "When I was 16 years old, I was awakened one night by two men with handcuffs. They asked if I wanted to go 'the easy way or the hard way' before carrying me from my home as I screamed for help. I had no idea why or where I was being taken against my will. I soon learned I was being sent to hell." That's the striking opening to our featured op-ed this morning, from Paris Hilton. The "parent-approved kidnapping" that Hilton describes was only the beginning of her nightmare trip through what is collectively known as the "troubled teen industry" — behavior modification programs, military-style boot camps, youth "wilderness programs" and other congregate-care facilities that house some 120,000 young Americans at any one time. At four separate institutions, Hilton says, she was subjected to physical and psychological abuse. "At one Utah facility," she writes, "I was locked in solitary confinement in a room where the walls were covered in scratch marks and blood stains." Although this $50 billion industry has for years been rife with reports of teen abuse, neglect and even death, "state inspections are typically minimal," Hilton notes, "and there is no federal or other organized data tracking placements, reporting critical incidents or monitoring quality of care." "Congress and President Biden need to enact a basic federal 'bill of rights' for youth in congregate care," Hilton concludes. "Ensuring that children, including at-risk children, are safe from institutional abuse, neglect and coercion isn't a Republican or Democratic issue — it's a basic human rights issue that requires immediate action."  (Chelsea Charles for The Washington Post) Some states spend several hundred dollars per child, per day, for "care" that is systemically abusive. By Paris Hilton ● Read more » | | | He didn't take his success for granted but believed that his life and all that he achieved were an affirmation of America's possibilities. By Condoleezza Rice ● Read more » | | | | He was one of the most likable Washington figures. It made his opponents both resent him and keep him close. By James Mann ● Read more » | | | | Parents ought to leave their child on a mountaintop and go about their lives. By Alexandra Petri ● Read more » | | | | American consumers might have been spoiled, but generations of them have also dealt with shortages of some kind. Now it's our turn to make adjustments. By Micheline Maynard ● Read more » | | | Some are still working, but most grandparents responsible for their grandchildren are no longer in the labor force. By Catherine Rampell ● Read more » | | | | Their wealth has exploded during the pandemic. By Paul Waldman and Greg Sargent ● Read more » | | | | Powell knew that he was always being judged in ways that a White man would not have to endure. By Eugene Robinson ● Read more » | | | | He knew how hard it was to rise in the world, and how easy to fall. By David Ignatius ● Read more » | | | | Independent voters are turning on him. His domestic spending package is a big reason for that. By Henry Olsen ● Read more » | | | | The discipline of history teaches us to engage with discomforting, distressing ideas without fearing them. By Michael Gerson ● Read more » | | | | More than five years later, the former British intelligence agent is waiting for corroboration. By Erik Wemple ● Read more » | | | |
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