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Unions spend big on state politics

Pennsylvania’s judicial-retention election was the biggest in the commonwealth’s history. This seemingly innocuous off-year election drew at least $20 million—much of which came from outside the state—and garnered significant national attention, including statements by President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama. But of all the biggest influences in this election, few were as prominent as labor unions. Among the top spenders was Pennsylvanians for Judicial Fairness (PJF). This Super PAC reported the largest number of independent expenditures, raising about $5 ...

Reflections on solitude and a future ‘on my own’

Throughout his life, Austrian writer Arthur Schnitzler kept a journal. His first entry dates from March 19, 1879, when he was just two months shy of turning 18. He wrote his last entry on October 19, 1931, two days before he died. I own all of his 16,407 entries. That’s ten volumes of about 400 pages each and a font size so small you’ll need reading glasses. Like Schnitzler, I also keep a journal. In fact, my younger self was a most avid writer. While Schnitzler’s journal is a record of his daily encounters, meticulously listing the people he socialized with, my journal is the ...

Pennsylvania’s government standing in its own way on broadband

Pennsylvania is finally getting the hundreds of millions of dollars it needs to bring high-speed internet to rural communities. This is our chance to connect homes, schools, farms and small businesses that have been left behind. But unless we fix a problem rooted in Pennsylvania’s ...

Layoffs — late-cycle hangover or AI?

U.S. employers announced 153,074 job cuts in October – the worst October since 2003 – and headlines rushed to blame AI. Fair question: were the recent layoffs really caused by AI? Mostly, no. Cost-cutting was the top reason in October, with AI a distant second (roughly 20% of those layoffs). The sectors leading reductions – tech and warehousing – are also the ones that over-hired during the boom and are now normalizing. Meanwhile, the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model is tracking -4.0% real GDP growth again, keeping the “reacceleration” narrative alive. But a big slice of that ...

We cut God from governance to our peril

I would like to challenge Tim Mannello’s statement about the The Constitution, the Bible and Christian nationalism. Abraham Lincoln’s summary of this nation is a “government of the people, for the people, by the people “. And that comes from John Wycliffe, a Catholic and Christian reformer. Many of the world greatest historians (such as von Ranke, Taine, D’Augibne, and Bancroft) see John Calvin as the ideological “father of America”. It was his ideas that directed the American Revolution. The first pilgrims off of the Mayflower made a covenantal pact (thought of as ...

Bring back civility to colleges

Hundreds of thousands of college students returned to campus last month. Yet the protests and violence that plagued our universities in the spring have not disappeared. Instead, the fall semester has also started down a dark path: Leading conservative voice Charlie Kirk was murdered in ...