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Looking for monsters to slay

The debacle of the nearly 20-year American occupation of Afghanistan continues to unfold. This disaster began when President George W. Bush — stung deeply by the intelligence that he failed to heed, thus enabling the attacks of 9/11 to take place unimpeded — convinced the American people and Congress and most of our allies that the bad guys who ran Afghanistan in the early part of this century needed to be taught a lesson, whether they personally enabled or facilitated the 9/11 attacks or not. This moral monstrosity was executed in the name of retaliation, deterrence and ...

It’s time for national soul-searching

After the attacks on our nation on Sept. 11, 2001, President George W. Bush took to the airways to address the American people. Speaking to a nation in shock, he cast what had occurred in the framework of good and evil. “Today, our nation saw evil,” the president said. And he offered up solace in Psalm 23, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil for you are with me.” Several days later, a number of evangelical pastors, including Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell Sr., picked up on the theme of good and evil, reward and punishment, and ...

The fentanyl flood into the US: Why can’t we make it stop?

About 11 times every hour, about 250 times a day, an American citizen dies of a drug overdose. The most frequent culprit is fentanyl. The most popular mode of delivery is fentanyl-laced heroin, fentanyl mixed with cocaine or illegally produced OxyContin pain pills containing fentanyl. And it’s not just hardcore addicts who are dying. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports overdose deaths skyrocketed to a mind-boggling 93,000 last year, a 29% increase over the previous year. The death rate is now so frightening a bipartisan group, called Families Against Fentanyl, ...

Careful, thoughtful investigation is necessary to restore faith in elections

For nearly a year, our Commonwealth has been tied in knots by doubts surrounding recent elections. No matter whether you supported Donald Trump or Joe Biden in the 2020 election, everyone should have confidence in the results of that election. That is the only way our system works. Unfortunately, that is not the case in Pennsylvania. The underhanded actions of our disgraced, now-former secretary of state cast doubt upon the fairness of the process, and our new acting secretary has done everything in her power to shield that process from transparency. This includes undercutting the ...

Aftermath of Afghanistan debacle

In Afghanistan, the mission failure appears complete. The trillion-dollar project to plant Western democracy in a Muslim nation historically fabled for driving out imperial intruders has crashed and burned after 20 years, and the Taliban are suddenly back in power. After investing scores of billions in training and arming a force of 350,000 Afghani troops, the U.S. could not stand up an army and a government that could survive our departure. And the final U.S. departure from Hamid Karzai International Airport may become, like JFK’s Bay of Pigs, a synonym for American debacle. ...

COVID exposes ugly side of ‘single-payer’ health care

Democrats are busy trying to ensure a victory in the 2022 elections. If public opinion plays any part (and if the elections are honest), they’ll likely lose in even larger numbers than in 2020, which was bad for them, President Joe Biden’s “victory” notwithstanding. But the Democrats in power are very, very good at gaming the system; we can expect them to exploit “fear porn” associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. They will demand the continuation of practices that are rife with potential for fraud, such as ballot harvesting and mail-in ballots, and fight tooth and nail ...