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Sound and fury

Columnists

Donald Trump has mastered the art of the performative. Make a big splash, test the waters, and pray for a surge in public opinion. First it was “shock and awe,” then it was “liberation day,” or, for the more romantically inclined, “a golden age.” A lot of “sound and fury, signifying nothing,” to quote from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Now it seems to be going through another iteration. Instead of trying to fix inflation and “affordability,” he is busily trying to conquer Iran. At first, it appeared simple: the explosions happened earlier, and his poll numbers decreased. ...

Good ideas are vital, but so is execution

Columnists

There is no shortage of ideas out there. Read a book, attend a conference, or log onto LinkedIn, and we walk away with plenty of inspiration. Execution is where the struggle can be.  Why is that? If we know what we need to do (or at least what has worked for others), why do we have trouble, well, doing it? There are barriers, external and internal.  One of the biggest barriers is perfectionism. People don’t like to fall short or make mistakes. So it is not unusual to wait for the perfect plan, the perfect timing, or the perfect set of conditions. The problem is, perfect rarely ...

Vaccines

Editorials

The stability of the U.S. vaccine market rests on an obscure $4 billion fund known as the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., long a critic of the fund, now appears intent on dismantling it. Vaccine production can be a fickle business. Unlike other pharmaceutical products, which are designed for the sick, vaccines are meant for healthy people. To meet high safety standards, trials are large and development is costly. But whereas drugmakers typically can price their products to offset such expenses, vaccines are ...

Have a Plan

Editorials

One of our state’s biggest holidays for cultural appropriation (suddenly everyone is Irish) is just around the corner as many of us make our plans for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. The Governor’s Highway Safety Program has rightly chosen March 13-17 for a “Buzzed Driving Is Drunk Driving Campaign” to remind us to observe the holiday responsibly. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data showed between 2019 and 2023, nearly 38% of traffic fatalities on St. Patrick’s Day involved a drunk driver. Two hundred eighty-four people were killed. The excess of many ...

Gearing Up

Editorials

International partners have proved to be crucial to any momentum West Virginia’s economy has maintained over the past several decades, and among the most solid has been Toyota Motor North America. This month, the company announced the largest share of investment in its planned expansion of hybrid vehicle manufacturing in the United States will be right here in the Mountain State. Its Buffalo, W.Va., manufacturing facility is expected to receive a $453 million boost that should create approximately 80 jobs. Other investments in this round will go to Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee ...

Bailing Out

Editorials

Bailing out doesn’t help America. Neither does “running away” from issues or burying one’s head in the proverbial sand. The well-being of America is too important to resort to such “solutions” but apparently much of that is happening, and Americans should be deeply concerned. “In its 250th year, is America, land of immigration, becoming a country of emigration?” the Wall Street Journal asked in a Feb. 27 front-page article. “America’s own citizens are leaving in record numbers, replanting themselves and their families in lands they find more affordable and ...