Amid the recent roiling seas of public murder and on-purpose mayhem came the news that film star Robert Redford had died at 89. As one among millions who enjoyed his movies — whether acting or directing — I have always been especially struck by Redford’s persona … his off-screen character.

Or, more to the point, struck by the contrast between his persona and what we see too much these days on multiple screens.

The best way to defeat a person’s ideology is to lay its defects bare before them – as well as to set out and arrange them in front of everyone else. The most well-functioning tool for exposing flaws is public debate; anything else will ultimately have the opposite effect.

LINCOLN — A voting advocacy group has sued to block Nebraska’s secretary of state from sharing voter registration data with the U.S. Department of Justice.