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Back in time

As I peruse the numerous news networks, it feels as if October 1973 has miraculously reappeared. The President of the United States is trying to end a Middle East conflict, but must deal with the repercussions of an “enemies’ list.” Despite having a reasonably stable economy, the President manages to provoke a domestic and foreign policy crisis. No, that president is not Donald Trump. It is Richard Nixon. But the parallel problems are similar, though not exactly the same. Karl Marx once quipped, comparing Napoleon the Third with his uncle’s enterprise to seize power in France, ...

Regional instability

Donald Trump‘s quest to see a peace deal for Gaza seemingly met with success with a ceasefire agreement. But the joy may be premature, given that Benjamin Netanyahu is to run the agreement past his cabinet. As well, the terms of the understanding are to be implemented in stages. It is a framework, but the actions of all the participants must be tightly aligned. Surely, gaining some understanding is a significant accomplishment given the pitfalls of diplomacy. Trump placed a great deal of pressure on Netanyahu, which in turn strained their relations. But this strong-arming did not ...

Here’s to your health

Last week, I covered the final two days of permanent injunction hearings to block a June directive from the West Virginia Board of Education to county boards of education to continue to enforce the state’s compulsory vaccine law and not accept religious exemptions approved by the Department of Health and made possible by Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s January executive order. I’m not going to rehash all of the particulars. You can read my coverage of both days. But I wanted to use my column to focus on last Thursday morning’s testimony by Dr. Mark McDaniel, the acting state health ...

Culture wars, losing jobs

A recent local news headline read: “Manufacturing plant moving from West Virginia to Ohio, creating new jobs.” This is an unfortunate sign of the times for our state, which has lost the job-creating momentum created after business-friendly Republicans took control back in 2015. Unfortunately, a lot of Republican politicians seem more focused on fighting culture wars and creating new opportunities for lawsuits than growing our economy. Even though a majority of West Virginia voters want their leaders focused on economic growth, many legislators prioritize hot-button social ...

Strong public schools vital to WV future

Well-educated students who are prepared to meet the challenges of the 21st Century are vital to our success as a state. Today’s students will have unprecedented opportunity to succeed in life if they are properly educated and prepared. Earlier this month, West Virginia Board of Education President Paul Hardesty pointed to important facts regarding the West Virginia school-age population and regulations regarding school funding. Mr. Hardesty correctly points out that in order to improve public education, legislators must remove regulations put in place by their predecessors that ...

Decency on the ballot

In 2017, in a special Senate election in Alabama to replace Jeff Sessions, Alabama’s electorate sent Democrat Doug Jones to the U.S. Senate after a series of disturbing allegations about Republican candidate Roy Moore. In 2022, Georgia voters elected every statewide Republican candidate for office except Herschel Walker, after a series of disturbing accounts of his prior behavior circulated. Now, the question is if Virginia has the same moral integrity. In Virginia, statewide elections are in odd-numbered years. The state has not split tickets for statewide offices since 2005. This ...