When are secrets not secret?

October 22, 2021

“Three people can keep a secret if two of them are dead.” — Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Earlier this month, President George W. Bush’s torture regime reared its head in an unusual argument before the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2002, Abu Zubaydah was captured by a militia in Pakistan and handed over to the CIA, which brought him to Poland where, under the supervision of CIA agents and American psychologists, he was brutally tortured until his removal to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba in 2006. The Bush administration argued that Zubaydah was a high-ranking member of ...

Progressives vs. independent contractors

October 21, 2021

Despite being a politician all his life, and never having worked in a blue-collar job, President Joe Biden declared, “I’m a union man,” when he announced his presidential campaign at a Teamsters union hall in Pittsburgh in April 2019. What our president really loves is big government and political power, and there is no more reliable money trough for Democrats than unions. According to OpenSecrets, which tracks political spending, Biden’s campaign received $27.5 million in contributions from unions, compared with $360,000 from unions that went to former President Donald ...

Those who ignore crime are just as culpable

October 20, 2021

“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” — Albert Einstein Dr. Stanley Weber worked for the Indian Health Service as a pediatrician for more than two decades. He was assigned to reservation facilities in both Montana and South Dakota. He also worked in New Mexico for a time. In 1995, three years into his Montana service, a supervisor suspected that the unmarried doctor, who hoarded children’s toys in his basement, was a pedophile, and dismissed Weber from his position at a ...

Biden work policies not working

October 19, 2021

Earlier this month, the Biden administration received just the latest slap in the face from cruel reality: An economic report showing just 194,000 jobs added in the month of September, short of the 500,000 jobs forecast by most economists. The unemployment rate dived to 4.8% from 5.2% — not as a result of job gains, but as a result of more and more Americans dumping out of the work force. Meanwhile, inflation continued to pick up steam, with domestic labor shortages exacerbating supply-chain bottlenecks. How should we explain the bizarre spectacle of a nation that should be booming ...

Preserving our past is making an investment in our future

October 16, 2021

As you may have noticed, The Juniata River Valley Chamber of Commerce, The Juniata River Valley Visitors Bureau, The Mifflin County Historical Society, the Lewistown Borough, and a dedicated committee of community volunteers, have been working the last few months to preserve the local history found in our cemeteries. We have specifically focused on the restoration and improvement of the African American Memorial Cemetery located near the entrance to Victory Park in Lewistown. I just wanted to talk a few moments today about the “why” of this project. Why are we spending countless ...

Biden’s weak leadership creating crises both at home and abroad

October 15, 2021

Editor’s note: This op-ed was originally published in the Washington Examiner and is reprinted here with permission. Fewer than nine months into his term, President Joe Biden has created economic, border and national security crises that have undermined America’s strength at home and abroad. First, there is the economic crisis. Inflation is rising across the board, forcing people to pay more for everything from gas to groceries. This problem is driven by staffing shortages worsened by Democratic policies that incentivize eligible workers to stay out of the workforce. Today, ...