POTTSTOWN MERCURY OP-ED: Over the past four years, Pennsylvanians were able to witness the attempt by the Corbett administration and Republican-controlled legislature to cut their way to prosperity with a focus on social and political ideology versus sound governmental policy… They passed across the board business tax cuts, cut long range capital budget projects, and […]
Capitolwire: Pennsylvania has a ‘low self-esteem’ problem, Wolf says.
“I think Pennsylvania is one of those under achieving states that could do a lot better with the resources it has and I think one of the responsibilities of leadership in Pennsylvania is to address, head-on, not only the structural issues, education, transportation, all those things, but also the psychological issues that keep us and hold us back.
Wolf’s aggressive first month spurs list of GOP grievances
PHILLY.COM / AP: …”Next thing you know, there was Gov. Wolf standing there grinning,” said Bloom, a Cumberland County Republican. It was one of Tom Wolf’s surprise visits with lawmakers that are sowing good will among the Legislature’s huge Republican majorities, and the Democrat might need every drop of it after an aggressive and, at […]
Run for local office — Now
Municipal election years are odd numbered, like 2015. This year, in this state, we will elect thousands of council members, mayors, township supervisors, school board members, county administrators, tax collectors and judges at all levels.
President Obama Has, In Fact, Expressed Love for His Country
NEW YORK TIMES: …In 2008, when he was still a presidential candidate, Mr. Obama uttered the magic words in Berlin, during a speech to thousands… Mr. Obama used a similar construction, as president, in 2011, during a town hall meeting in Illinois, when he recalled “why I love this country so much.”… [O]ver hundreds of […]
Pennsylvania flush with cash for transportation projects
PENNLIVE / AP: hile other states struggle to pay the upkeep on their highway systems, Pennsylvania is implementing a multifaceted, multibillion-dollar blueprint designed to accelerate road and bridge projects, improve mass transit systems and increase subsidies to local governments. The higher taxes, fees and fines approved in 2013 are being phased in over five years […]
Deeper Ties to Corporate Cash for Doubtful Climate Researcher
NEW YORK TIMES: …“The whole doubt-mongering strategy relies on creating the impression of scientific debate,” said Naomi Oreskes, a historian of science at Harvard University and the co-author of “Merchants of Doubt,” a book about such campaigns. “Willie Soon is playing a role in a certain kind of political theater.” Environmentalists have long questioned Dr. […]
Big Pharma Is America’s New Mafia
In fact, the heavy influence of pharmaceutical dollars inspired the former editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Marcia Angell, to conclude, “It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines.”
Notes on Oscar: A Few Last Minute Observations
2014 was a lousy year for narrative features. Then, suddenly, at years’ end, it wasn’t. Starting around Thanksgiving distributors offered up a handful of quality features that were aimed at adults.
What ‘The Imitation Game’ didn’t tell you about Alan Turing’s greatest triumph
WASHINGTON POST: …In reality, Turing’s greatest breakthrough wasn’t mechanical, but theoretical — that 1936 paper that Dyson was talking about. “On Computable Numbers,” written in England, was published in the proceedings of the London Mathematical Society after Turing arrived at Princeton, where he would spend two academic years earning a Ph.D. Amid the paper’s thicket […]
Website launches to defend Kathleen Kane from ‘false accusations’
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE: …A new website, www.truthaboutkathleenkane.com, defends her position that investigations against her are personal attacks. “The purpose of the website,” Kane said in a statement, “is to challenge, finally, all the smears, false accusations and illegal leaks from the grand jury process that has investigated me for eight months on the utterly baseless and […]
Eurozone Officials Reach Accord With Greece to Extend Bailout
NEW YORK TIMES: …The deal is likely to give Greece breathing room. For one, it could help stem flights of deposits from the country’s banks, which have been bleeding money during the standoff between Greece and its creditors. But it will hardly move the country past the worst of its economic and financial troubles. The […]
Putin’s blueprint for kleptocracy
After winning election as president in 2000, Vladimir Putin’s staff put together his plan for the Presidential Administration to take control of the county which subsequently has been carried out in almost every detail.
New Rules Spur a Humbling Overhaul of Wall St. Banks
NEW YORK TIMES: Nearly seven years after the financial crisis, banks are still churning out profits and wrestling with regulators. Yet Wall Street, by many important measures, appears to be in the middle of a humbling transformation. Bonuses are shrinking. Revenue growth has stalled. Entire business lines are being cut. And some investors are even […]