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‘Poverty is not a crime’ in WV

In April Governor Morrisey cut funding for several childcare programs from the budget proposed by the WV Legislature. Now the Governor plans to revisit childcare issues, and he promises to bring “transparency and accountability” to the Foster Care Crisis. It may be too little too late, but these are problems that impact many children in West Virginians, and they will cause lasting harm. The whole idea that poor children should be taken away from parents in poverty is baffling to me. The fact is that many families are separated because parents cannot pay their bills or keep ...

No restraint in politics

“Paris is well worth a mass” is a remark allegedly made by Henry IV of France, who renounced his Protestant faith for Catholicism. Although his motives were entirely political, his instincts were sound. After years of Civil War, he reasoned in 1593 that peace was a bonus and the Crown was the prize. It symbolized pragmatism, blending the pursuit of power with amity, Maybe American politics could benefit from such cynicism tempered with wisdom. Both parties are stuck trying to force the other to submit to a particular future vision. Perhaps they can come to an understanding based on ...

Senate seat chase

Attention is already turning to the midterm elections next year, which will determine whether Republicans can continue to hold the majorities in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. In West Virginia, that means that U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., is up for reelection to a possible third six-year term after winning election to the seat held by former senator Jay Rockefeller in 2014. I say “possible,” because she is beginning to get challengers to her right and no elections are sure things. The latest person to throw their hat in the ring is freshman ...

Democrats: Leadership discredited, party off kilter

How does a political party with overwhelming advantages, including increasing support from the growing bloc of highly educated and affluent voters, almost monopoly support from the press and broadcast media, and with burgeoning financial and high-tech sectors of the economy, manage to lose just about everything across the board? The Biden administration has been repudiated by voters over the inflation that resulted from its heedless spending and open border policy on immigration, and it has been discredited by recent disclosures of former President Joe Biden’s incapacity and by ...

Springsteen slams Trump as treasonous

When Donald Trump is president, it’s considered dangerously authoritarian if he accuses someone of treason — and it’s considered heroic “truth-telling” when you accuse Trump of being a treasonous authoritarian. The latest exhibit is leftist rock star/first-rate tax evader Bruce Springsteen. On a concert stage in Manchester, England, Bruce went full Dixie Chicks by attacking the president on a European stage. “In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, ...

Democrats need to change party rules

No doubt, Republicans have had a rough two months with the Trump administration, losing court cases regarding immigration. Also, some snafus regarding Cabinet members such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, and tariff policy. But Democrats have difficulties of their own, mostly those lingering from 2024. Former President Joe Biden’s decline continues to plague the party. As CNN’s Jake Tapper has chronicled, White House staffers and some party officials covered up Biden’s decline and continued to push his re-election ...