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  • Yet in times like these, when tensions run high, people must search the depths of their hearts for the power to hold high the flag of peace. Never before has it been so important to recall the words of the Lord: “Peace be with you.”
  • Antonin Scalia
    Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Antonin Scalia
    Stony Brook University’s Center for Italian studies, directed by professor Mario Mignone, organized a conference to remember Justice Antonin G. Scalia, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1986-2016). Presenters discussed both their experiences with the Supreme Court Justice and the influences he has had on the Italian-American community and the American Judicial System.
  • As the daily outpouring showing the extent of corruption shows, “It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good.” In the case of Italy, that ill wind is the troubled economy. Without the lingering recession that began in 2008, much that is unacceptable might have remained under the carpet. If so, we can be grateful. But now what?
  • He was surely expecting it, but when the latest judiciary act involving former Premier Silvio Berlusconi arrived on Oct. 23, by all accounts it nevertheless came as una tegola in testa--a roof tile dropped on his head. This latest incrimination, which will bring Berlusconi to trial before a penal court on Feb. 11, is for vote-buying and is no less serious than the others--on the contrary. Berlusconi, already convicted of tax fraud, obviously fears time in prison, however unlikely. Coincidentally, the Italian supreme Cassations court has just cleared Sophia Loren, who did spend time in prison, for alleged tax dodging.
  • At 8:04 pm Silvio Berlusconi, 77-year-old former premier, learned from the TV set in his huge apartment within Palazzo Grazioli, just steps away from Palazzo Venezia in Rome, that the Italian high court, the Cassations, had come down on him, but softly enough that he can breathe a deep sigh of relief. And so can today's left-leaning premier, Enrico Letta, who heads a government in tandem with Berlusconi's Partito della Liberta' (PdL). Convicted to a four-year sentence which is unlikely to be served, he will be retried, however, on the question of his possible interdiction from public office.
  • Over half the country is rejoicing this week because a nationwide referendum drew a stunning turnout of over 57% of those eligible to vote, and four pieces of center-right legislation dear to Premier Silvio Berlusconi were overturned. The referendum result made three essential points: first, that democracy is alive and well in Italy; secondly, that the media do not tell the whole story; and, thirdly, that it is time for the nation’s leaders to roll up their sleeves and get to work.