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Trump whacks Canada again

You have to think that President Trump must have had a bad trip or unpleasant vacation in Canada, as I can’t think of any other legitimate reason for why he keeps attacking the country. This past week, he announced two major policy decisions/complaints relative to Canada: - he announced a new 50% tariff on many of the goods Canada sells to the United States; and - he blamed the Canadian government for the smoke-filled skies coming from forest and brush fires in that country. It is always interesting to me that our President never seems to accept responsibility for much of ...

What made America strong didn’t come from Washington

As Americans celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary, it’s worth remembering that what made America strong didn’t come from Washington. It came from Americans. Long before Washington debated the size and scope of government, citizens were building churches, charities, civic organizations, schools, hospitals and philanthropic institutions that strengthened communities from the ground up. They saw needs, organized their neighbors, raised private support and built institutions that often outlasted governments. That tradition didn’t simply complement government; it became one of ...

Northeastern states roll back unaffordable green energy policies

For decades, some states have aggressively prioritized green energy mandates over reliability and affordability. Today, many are grappling with energy crises that are entirely self-inflicted. While legislators blame the Trump administration, data centers and energy producers for rising costs, the data show that blame falls squarely on state-level clean energy mandates. Over the last five years, New England energy costs rose 29 percent. New York’s electricity rates are 70 percent higher than the national average. New England electricity rates (29.42 cents/kWh) are 59 percent higher ...

How to End the Iran War

The History Channel’s recounting of World War II, narrated by Tom Hanks, includes the history of Operation Overlord, the massive D-Day invasion of occupied France. This invasion was a magnificent coalition of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, the French Resistance, and many other nations. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s masterful management of this coalition enabled the success of history’s greatest amphibious invasion. Why this recent history was not carefully studied before America and Israel launched the Iran War is a mystery. An even greater mystery is why it ...

Conservatives, liberals see human nature differently

CHAUTAUQUA—A law professor has articulated a principle infrequently heard from higher-education faculty. Why infrequently? Because many colleges and universities hire few non-liberals. The law professor is George Washington University’s Jonathan Turley, a frequent contributor to broadcast-television and cable-television news programs. Speaking to Advocates for Balance at Chautauqua, or ABC, on July 13, Turley said rights came not from government but from God. That’s framed differently than, yet on the same side of the philosophical spectrum as, what you, faithful reader of ...

Dealing with the heat of summer

One day, a week or so ago, when it was 91 degrees, I drove by the electric power plant run by the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) in Jamestown. I thought, and it turned out to be true, that the natural gas turbine there was running at full bore—pumping electricity into a statewide grid that needed it badly. Jamestown, itself, didn’t need the power—it gets most of what it needs from the Niagara Power Project at Niagara Falls. But, the statewide grid needed every available resource online to ensure that the air conditioner load in New York City and the metropolitan area didn’t ...