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Labor fight in Pittsburgh exposes deep fissures within Democratic Party

PITTSBURGH — Last Monday, Philip Ameris, president of the Laborers’ District Council of Pennsylvania, was standing on Grant Street watching the members of his union march down the main thoroughfare of the annual Pittsburgh Labor Day Parade, the day’s largest such celebration anywhere in the country, when he said he saw Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey hop over the barriers and jump in to join his labor force. “So the union members march behind a truck that has a banner with our name on it, Mayor Gainey jumping in right behind our guys gives the impression that we support him and he ...

Paying too much in taxes in too convoluted of ways

We are literally taxed to death and it’s not just death taxes either. Consider the layers of taxation and the bureaucracy that goes along with it. We are taxed by the federal government on income and depending upon assets, we still have a death tax. There are import taxes, in spite of lopsided trade deals benefiting allies and enemies. Bill Clinton promised us peace and prosperity by letting China into the World Trade Organization, and all we ever see from that deal is a boat load of trouble along with cheap underwear. On the state level we have income taxes, sales taxes, inheritance ...

Big technology and little people

“Dad, what am I doing wrong?” My 16-year old daughter was flustered. She was trying to get the car the go uphill from a dead stop. She kept stalling the engine and embarrassing herself in front of other drivers. “Deep breath” is all I said. By the end of the week, she could make the car go without also making it chug and squeal. It may not appear logical. Should not the kids’ car have an automagical transmission? It would avoid lots of fuss. But that is not what my wife and I think. Kids should start on a manual transmission even as manufacturers make fewer and fewer of ...

Manmade climate change — from 97% sure to 99.9% certain

Chances are you did not hear this. Most folks still haven’t. But… MORE THAN 99.9% OF STUDIES DONE BY CLIMATE EXPERTS NOW AGREE: HUMANS ARE CAUSING CLIMATE CHANGE.” And yes,99.9% certainty is considered as close to a scientific fact as possible. This virtually universal agreement among climate scientists is based on wide-ranging research from various disciplines such as climatology, physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. Scientific climate specialists worldwide have gone from 97% to virtual unanimity that our current climate threats are caused by human beings and can be changed ...

A mockery of ‘emergency’ spending

Remember how, mere months ago, the debt-ceiling deal struck between Democrats and Republicans to avoid a government shutdown was touted as “an historic first step toward shifting government back toward common sense and conservatism?” The hope was that the spending caps in the deal would actually constrain spending. Well, it took less than two months for politicians to start evading the caps with an old trick: emergency spending. In theory, there’s nothing wrong with emergency spending. Rarely does a year pass without some unforeseen event requiring prompt access to federal funds. ...

Governor’s approach to grid reliability moves in the wrong direction

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has asked regional power grid operators to enhance the electricity system’s dependability—and he’s got ideas about how to do it. But his premises are flawed, and his suggestions misguided. Shapiro wants reliable power, yet he’s banking on unreliable sources to provide it. That approach isn’t just wrongheaded; it’s a recipe for failure. “Here in the Commonwealth, we are embracing the advantages that cheaper, lower carbon fuel sources offer,” Shapiro wrote in a letter to the management of PJM Interconnection, the non-profit which ...