Can the American president kill?

July 5, 2021

Last weekend, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. ordered the U.S. military to bomb targets in Syria and Iraq in an effort “to send a clear and unambiguous deterrent message” to Iran. It is apparently the belief of the Biden administration — as it has been with Biden’s three immediate presidential predecessors — that the U.S. has the moral and legal authority to destroy any target outside the U.S. with financial or political or military ties to Iran. Morally, the U.S. can only use force defensively or to repel an imminent attack. When asked for the legal authority for an offensive ...

Joe Biden’s unconstitutional workplace indoctrination scheme

July 3, 2021

If you’re white and work for the federal government, get ready to be labelled a racist, regardless of how fair and open-minded you are. On Friday, President Joe Biden ordered all federal agencies to ramp up workplace training on “systemic and institutional racism” and “implicit and unconscious bias.” Those are buzzwords for critical race theory, which holds that all whites are biased against people of color, even if unconsciously. Under this theory, throughout American history and continuing now, whites oppress Blacks and need to acknowledge their guilt. Assume you work in ...

Pa. budget secures state’s fiscal future

July 2, 2021

Pennsylvania just wrapped up completing the state budget for the coming fiscal year and I am proud to that the budget kept spending growth down in the current year and did not include any new taxes. Doing the right and responsible thing, state government finally budgeted like Pennsylvania families: Using limited resources wisely to meet today’s needs, while planning for future uncertainty. For years elected officials have talked at length about the need to boost Pennsylvania’s Rainy Day Fund—money specially set aside to ensure balanced state budgets in the case of an economic ...

School choice is only option in divided nation

July 1, 2021

The issue of critical race theory is raising a more fundamental question about our nation: education. Education is about more than teaching children to read and write. It is about transmitting values, transmitting a worldview, that will define how our youth think and how they will live. Per the Department of Education, in 2020, 56.4 million children were enrolled in K-12 education. Of these, 50.7 million were in public schools, and 5.7 million were in private schools. So, government plays a substantial role in the education of our children. Per the Department of Education, ...

The return of ‘Law and Order’

June 29, 2021

On Tuesday, Brooklyn Borough President and former police captain Eric Adams took the lead in the New York mayoral race with 32% of the Democratic primary vote, 10 points more than progressive Maya Wiley, who had the endorsement of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. How did Adams beat the elite? Said The New York Times: Adams built “an old-school political coalition that united Black and Latino voters,” and was “able to persuade working-class people, largely outside Manhattan, that he was the best candidate to make the city safe from crime.” Adams’ anti-crime and pro-cop ...

Lemonade and fudge – seems like a sour combination, right?

June 26, 2021

I have had the privilege of hosting Anne Fisher-Henson as a Chamber Administrative Intern over the last year. She is a student a Dickenson College, but due to COVID-19 and remote learning, was able to devote some time to the Chamber. I have invited her to take over the column today to share with you her experience working with the Chamber. — Rhonda Kelley, executive director of Juniata River Valley Chamber of Commerce ¯¯¯ Lemonade and fudge. A sour combination, right? Growing up in the Juniata River Valley, there was one summer day that my sister and I tirelessly anticipated ...