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Local control, not statewide mandates should guide COVID management

Since March 2020, we have learned a lot about COVID-19 and what makes sense in combatting it, controlling its spread, and implementing public health strategies. One of the things that we know for a fact, does not make sense, is statewide public health mandates that combat a dynamic virus that has varied regional impacts. We are all acutely aware of the devastating impact this virus has had on the families and citizens of this commonwealth. However, it is our belief that a more surgical, locally-focused cooperative approach is necessary as we move forward. Even from the early days ...

The clock is ticking on fixing America’s election system

This column is not about relitigating the 2020 election. President Joe Biden is the duly certified U.S. president. Period. Now, let’s talk about the mess in which we find our election system. Let’s talk about voter fraud. It does exist; claims to the contrary are incorrect. And discussions about voting integrity matter because we have about one year to decide how to avoid the confusion and controversy surrounding the 2020 election. “Flagrant” election fraud has been “documented throughout this nation’s history,” according to the U.S. Supreme Court. And so it goes today. ...

In Afghanistan, worst is yet to come

Say what you will about President Joe Biden, he has stuck to his guns on ending America’s 20-year involvement in Afghanistan’s forever war. His decision not to delay our departure after Aug. 31 was fortified by hard intel that the terrorist ISIS-K was preparing attacks at Kabul airport. Thursday evening, the two bomb attacks occurred. It now seems inevitable that the withdrawal will be completed by Aug. 31, with all U.S. military forces following the last civilians out. Before yesterday’s attacks, the airlift had been going far better than in its chaotic first days. ...

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, ...