How Mitch McConnell stole a Supreme Court seat

To the editor: Isn't it ironic that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell single handedly decided who should serve on the Supreme Court by blocking Merrick Garland from being considered after he was nominated in 2016 by President Obama and then invoking the nuclear option to confirm Neil Gorsuch , all in an effort to replace the strict constructionist Antonin Scalia with another strict constructionist, Gorsuch? One would think that a strict constructionist would find McConnell's actions questionable, as McConnell essentially dissolved the separation of power between the three branches of our government. Please fill in your full name, mailing address, city of residence, phone number and e-mail address below.

Editorial: Civil rights retreat

When the U.S. Senate was considering whether then-Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama should lead the Justice Department, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., was one of the most vocal members to stand in opposition to him. Booker's chief concern: Sessions' abysmal record concerning basic civil rights, and in particular where those rights concern minorities.

Commentary: Capitalizing on Syria attack

President Trump did the right thing, the necessary thing, in striking Syria's Shayrat Air Base in response to the Assad regime's gruesome gas attack on civilians. In so doing, the president sharply reversed his own past stance and positions his team took just days ago on Syria.

The President Is Allowed to Change His Mind

It looks like former President Obama's national security adviser Susan Rice will get a reprieve. With all the hullabaloo from President Donald Trump's military action last week in Syria's ... do we call it Syria's civil war or a massacre? ... it now appears that Rice's mishandling of surveillance is going to subside from the headlines temporarily.

Trump WINS on Obamacare

The world has now moved on, could Trump have planned it this way? Such prescience, such short public memory, could the president have done this deliberately? You remember - "GOP Concedes Defeat on Health Care Bill"! -USA Today; "Major Defeat" -NY Times; "Trump Tastes Failure" -Reuters; "acute embarrassment" -CNN; "Dems Win on Obamacare!" -Nobody. Or was it really Secret Plan A: Introduce a flawed complex bill on short notice, without adequate time for review, insist on rapid action, stir up frenzied opposition from your own team , on top of sound and fury from the usual suspects, watch the bill sink, just walk away, problem solved.

Want More Civility? Try Less Power.

Earlier this week, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and now-deceased Justice Antonin Scalia received the seventh annual Award for Civility in Public Life from Allegheny College. Every year since 2011, Allegheny College has recognized two individuals whose conduct -- often toward each other -- displays the kind of respect and courtesy that should be a hallmark of political discourse and public life in a civilized society.

Sean Spicer tries on humility: ‘I screwed up’

A contrite Sean Spicer ditched his usual defiance Wednesday and asked the public to forgive him for remarks a day earlier in which he credited Adolf Hitler with refraining from using chemical weapons during World War II. "I made a mistake," the White House press secretary said during an appearance at the Newseum in Washington, where he was interviewed by MSNBC's Greta Van Susteren.

Why the Kansas election matters

To understand why Tuesday's special election in Kansas matters in American politics, it's important to remember that incumbent politicians run two kinds of campaigns - unopposed and scared. After Republican state Treasurer Ron Estes won a narrow 7-point victory over Democratic candidate James Thompson in a congressional district that Donald Trump won by 27 points in November, there's little doubt that many congressional Republicans are going to start running scared.

Shippensburg woman charged with embezzlement froma

Shippensburg woman charged with embezzlement from state A Shippensburg woman is charged with embezzling money from the state system of higher education women's consortium. Check out this story on publicopiniononline.com: http://ponews.co/2oXO8n8 HARRISBURG - A Shippensburg woman was federally charged Tuesday, accused of embezzling around $40,000 from the Women's Consortium of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.

“Threading the Needle of a Global Security Debacle”

It continues to amaze me, perhaps not, how recalcitrant the media has been in not addressing the horrific global security situation that was bequeathed from the Obama administration to the Trump administration. The misguided vehemence in which the media has pursued a windmill called Russian intervention into our election is quite telling.

In 2018, it’s Hogan’s race to lose

Gov. Larry Hogan emerged from the 2017 General Assembly session upbeat about what he had just accomplished. And why not? He came into the year with the most ambitious legislative package of his term, touching on a wide variety of issues beyond the economic and taxation themes that animated his campaign, including proposals dealing with the environment, public health, education, ethics and even paid sick leave for workers.