By Chris Comisac Bureau Chief Capitolwire HARRISBURG (Dec. 14) – You wouldn’t have known it from the tone in which the news was delivered, but Pennsylvania’s state budget is going to be short by at least $600 million this year. This is the state budget that was supposed to be the responsible budget, approved by the […]
LETTER: How others see the USA
EDITOR’S NOTE: Below is an excerpt from a letter by a German and now Swedish physician to a member of his extended family in the USA. Comfortably compensated under the Swedish heath system, the writer has devoted himself to treating patients in distant, isolated locations… even north of the Arctic Circle. …Well, Trump. You know, […]
A Public Health and Safety Approach to Problematic Opioid Use and Overdose
DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE: BACKGROUND ON INCREASING RATES OF OPIOID USE DISORDER AND OVERDOSE AS WELL AS INADEQUACY OF CURRENT RESPONSES Rates of opioid use, dependence, and overdose in the United States are reaching epidemic-level proportions. Opioids are a class of drugs that include the illicit drug heroin as well as the legal prescription pain medications […]
Chechens in Syria
By Slava Tsukerman On December 8, Russian media reported that a joint detachment of Russian “Vostok” (“East”) and “Zapad” (“West”) elite special forces battalions from Chechnya are preparing to be sent to Syria. According to these reports the battalions will be transported to the Middle East by the end of the year, and their major […]
What happened to Bill Keisling’s columns?
By Robert Field, Publisher A couple of months ago we announced that Bill Keisling was putting together a list of state and local government corruptions or dubious dealings over the past couple of decades with intention of bringing home to Pennsylvanians why Pennsylvania has been named one of the five most corrupt states. Subsequently […]
LETTER: President Barack Obama’s legacy
Twenty million people have insurance now that didn’t have it before. That is a success. There are many aspects of Obamacare that [President Elect Donald Trump] wants to keep. All evidence points to the Iran deal being successful. You want to blame racism on Obama? Ha! The Republicans stopped his infrastructure proposals. You blame him? He […]
Trump already in command
By Dick Miller WE.CONNECT.DOTS: President-elect Donald Trump doesn’t get sworn in until January 20, but he already commands an important aspect of foreign affairs. Like improved relations, maybe even détente, with Russia. Questions of Trump’s business ties (and those of his associates) with Russia dogged the GOP nominee as much as his misogyny during the […]
The Next Five States That Could Legalize Marijuana
by Phil Smith ( smith ) This article as produced in collaboration with AlterNet and first appeared here. DRUG WAR CHRONICLE: Four states, including California, the nation’s most populous, voted to legalize marijuana on November 8. That doubles the number of legal states to eight (plus the District of Columbia), and more than quadruples the number of […]
Is Russia Preparing to Annex Belarus?
By Slava Tsukerman On November 30, a delegation of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus, headed by the Commander of special operations Forces Major-General Vadim Denisenko arrived in Moscow for a three-day visit. During the official meeting, Commander of the Russian Airborne Troops Colonel General Andrei Serdyukov and the head of Belarusian delegation […]
Kudos to LNP editorial board for speaking out against ‘alms for the rich’ (when it pertains to others)
LNP editorial “Tax breaks for Rock Lititz should be digested with a dose of skepticism” goes on to comment: “Reinforcing Lancaster County’s status as a live-industry hub is a good thing. Rock Lititz is a unique, state-of-the-art facility — a 52,000-square-foot, 100-foot tall production venue the size of a supermarket. And if the tax […]
The root of the populist movements in the USA and throughout Europe
By Robert Field For early risers (or for those who know how to record and watch later), the first hour of Morning Joe on MSNBC is an extraordinarilly informative discussion of the events of the past day and things yet to come. Responding to the populist overwhelming victory (60 to 40) in Italy which […]
Did Comey deny Hillary?
BY Dick Morris WE.CONNECT.DOTS: Did FBI Director James Comey cause Hillary Clinton to lose the presidency? Would she have lost regardless of his clumsy stabs at fulfilling his understanding of the voters’ right to know such sensitive information at an equally sensitive time? Depends on who you are reading. One issue that no one argues […]
Extremists Turn to a Leader to Protect Western Values: Vladimir Putin
NEW YORK TIMES: … “I’ve always seen Russia as the guardian at the gate, as the easternmost outpost of our people,” said Sam Dickson, a white supremacist and former Ku Klux Klan lawyer who frequently speaks at gatherings of the so-called alt-right, a far-right fringe movement that embraces white nationalism and a range of racist […]
FBI agent: Sting informant says he was told not to target Republicans
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: …In a new court filing by the last sting defendant still fighting charges, FBI Special Agent Robert J. Haag said that the operative, Tyron Ali, told him the state office seemed “more interested in targeting Democrats than Republicans.” And in an email Haag wrote in 2013, he said Ali told him he was […]