Breaking News

Columns/Opinion

Identity politics didn’t work for Warren, either

Was being a woman Elizabeth Warren’s problem? That’s the wrong question. Here’s a better question: Was playing the protector of all damsels from that infamous rake, Mike Bloomberg, her problem? It was one of them, for certain. Look what’s happening in the world. Warren was a candidate of ideas with a strong understanding of the financial system. Her candidacy could have thrived in today’s chaos. But she threw her advantages away to work the inquisitional end of the #MeToo movement. We saw it unfold. In early February, the former New York City mayor was surging in the polls, ...

Mick Mulvaney’s ousting no loss

Might as well be blunt about it: Mick Mulvaney, who was ousted Friday evening, was probably the worst White House chief of staff ever. And there’s no reason to believe his replacement, Mark Meadows, will be any better. If anything, he looks like an even worse fit for the job than Mulvaney. Mulvaney’s main accomplishment seems to be that he was able to hang on to the job, on an acting basis, for more than 14 months. He apparently didn’t aspire to anything else. Unlike his predecessor, John Kelly, Mulvaney didn’t even try to make the White House run in a professional manner. He ...

The shame of Chuck Schumer’s remarks to SCOTUS

Just when you may have thought that the low quality of political rhetoric in Washington could not get any worse, along comes Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to prove otherwise. At a pro-choice demonstration outside the Supreme Court, which is considering a Louisiana law requiring doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, Schumer delivered what sounded to many ears like a physical threat to two of the court’s conservative justices: “I want to tell you, (Neil) Gorsuch, I want to tell you, (Brett) Kavanaugh, you have released the ...

Support canceling student loan debt

A major consequence of the ending of Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign is the loss — at least for now — of a voice so adept at explaining how progressive policies work to the benefit of all Americans, regardless of their station in life. The best example of this may have come in January, when Warren responded to a voter outraged that, after he had paid student loans, she was proposing that those in the same situation get relief. Warren’s questioner stalked away before she could fully answer his complaint, but she finished her explanation a few days later on CBS. “Look, ...

Perception of socialism shifting

“Let me be very clear,” Sen. Bernie Sanders often shouts in what for him is his inside voice. Frankly, I wish he were more clear. And I wish that the Democratic Party were more clear, too. Why is a socialist now a leading contender to be the Democratic Party’s candidate to challenge the incumbent president in the fall? If anything is evident in this wacky world of national politics, it is that party identities can be fluid. The Republicans of today are largely the old Dixiecrat Democrats of yore — the ones President Lyndon Johnson predicted would be lost for at least a ...

Trevor Donovan brings anti-bullying message to Pa.

The anti-bullying message that Hollywood actor Trevor Donovan delivered at Deer Lakes Middle School in a rural industrial patch of Western Pennsylvania resonated with the 2,400-plus students who attended the program. It had earlier caught the attention of Hallmark, where Donovan has enjoyed a robust and loyal fan base for his appearances in several of the Hallmark Channel’s popular seasonal movie productions. Recognizing the powerful impact of Donovan’s candid retelling of his experiences and the empathy he projected to the children, Hallmark put its brand behind his effort and ...