The buying and selling of stock by corporate insiders who have access to non-public information that could affect the stock price can be a criminal offense. Congressional lawmakers are not considered exempt from insider trading laws, as they have daily access to non-public information and plenty of opportunities to trade on it.

Hope is never a willful ignorance to the hardships and cruelties that so many suffer or the enormous challenges that we face in mounting progress in this imperfect world…. It’s a belief in goodness and human ingenuity and, maybe most of all, our ability to connect with each other and see each other in ourselves, and that if we summon our best selves, then maybe we can inspire others to do the same.