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What other newspapers are saying: Court ruling a reminder about limits

Editorials

Judges occasionally declare federal laws unconstitutional. But usually when a law passed by Congress has been on the books for more than 150 years, it’s in the clear. Not so for the federal ban on homemade whiskey, vodka and gin. Recently, an appeals court invalidated a federal law dating to 1868 that criminalizes at-home distilleries. The spirited ruling is a boon to small-time liquor hobbyists and entrepreneurs — but also an important statement on the limits of the federal government’s taxing power. Congress imposed the ban as a companion to legislation taxing alcohol and ...

Welding glasses

Letters

Another letter to the editor recently bringing up God, Satan, Trump, and Socialism. Do these people ever wonder if they are worshiping the RIGHT God? They really think a just God would be on the side of Trump. And just what do they know about Socialism? Let me give them an example: Years ago in Vietnam, along the road to China Beach near Da Nang there were many welding shops. These shops were Capitalist American shops where welding was done by street kids for very little pay. These 10-year-old boys did NOT get welding glasses because those glasses cost MONEY! When a kid lost his ...

Retail sales, housing suggest consumers resilient

Other Commentaries

This week, the focus shifts to the consumer, with March retail sales and the National Association of Realtors’ pending home sales report. Both reports are likely to point to a modest pickup from February. For retail sales, part of the gain may reflect firmer prices and support from tax refunds. But the bigger question is whether real, inflation-adjusted spending is holding up. The consumer still looks resilient, though more selective and cautious than a year ago. On housing, there is less need to wait for the NAR report because Zillow already provides a timelier read on contract ...

Inflation will be factor in election

Editorials

Eye-opening at the top of the Wall Street Journal’s April 11-12 edition was the headline “Inflation hits two-year high.” Reporting that consumer prices jumped 3.3% in March from a year earlier, the largest increase in two years, the Journal said the April 10 inflation report from the U.S. Labor Department “was in line with the expectations of economists surveyed” by the newspaper “but the March reading was much hotter than February’s gain of 2.4%” The Journal continued: “The report is the first to capture the impact of the Iran war on inflation.” The Journal ...

Two thumbs down

Letters

Not falling for all the hype to rush to see to see One Battle After Another, I picked it up in DVD form at the local library. It received 6 Oscars. That’s rarefied air. Only a dozen or so movies over the past century have gotten that many Oscars. I’m glad I didn’t pay to see it. I have to scratch my head in wonder at how this movie ever garnered so much hardware, or any at all. My only conclusion is that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization that hands out the golden statues, is dominated by left wingers who seek to support movies that follow the ...

Candidate right to call out aversion to transparency

Editorials

Stacy Garrity, state treasurer and presumptive Republican nominee for governor, recently held a campaign stop in Harrisburg focused on one specific incident from the Shapiro administration: The use of non-disclosure agreements and a settlement to cover up a staffer’s sexual harassment of a co-worker. Garrity and her Republican supporters are right to turn the public’s attention to, as she put it, “the lack of accountability Josh Shapiro has delivered, the lack of transparency Josh Shapiro has offered, and the trust that Josh Shapiro has eroded.” As the Sun-Gazette noted in an ...