10th District may regain Lackawanna County flavor

Tom Marino, incumbent candidate for 10th Congressional District, speaks during an interview with the Times Tribune editorial board Wednesday. Michael J. Mullen / Staff Photographer With U.S. Rep. Tom Marino headed for the job of national drug czar - again, maybe - plenty of people want to replace him.

California Focus: Lefties want Feinstein out a ” classic age discrimination

None of the host of ultra-liberal Democrats who would love to succeed her makes the direct argument that at 84 - she'll be one year older by next November's election - fellow Democrat Dianne Feinstein is too aged to be one of California's two United States senators. But that's what they mean.

Our View: DMC has made Mayo a political pinata

Gov. Mark Dayton, with Mayo Clinic leaders, city officials and legislators, celebrates passage of the Destination Medical Center initiative in May 2013. Gov. Mark Dayton, with Mayo Clinic leaders, city officials and legislators, celebrates passage of the Destination Medical Center initiative in May 2013.

this Date in History, Sept. 8: Starship Enterprise begins its voyages Updated at

On September 8, 1892, an early version of “The Pledge of Allegiance,” written by Francis Bellamy, appeared in “The Youth's Companion.” It went: “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” In 1761, Britain's King George III married Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz a few hours after meeting her for the first time. In 1935, Sen. Huey P. Long, D-La., was shot inside the Louisiana State Capitol; he died two days later.

A Betrayal of America’s Soul

For the United States - a country of immigrants and their descendants - September 5, 2017, marked a betrayal of the nation's soul. The announcement by President Donald Trump's administration that it is ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which President Barack Obama established by executive order in 2012, threatens to upend the lives of an entire generation.

‘I’m not disgusted, but I am disappointed,’ by our politicians’ failure, ex-Pa. Congressman says

Last fall, amid the smoldering ruins of the 2016 presidential election, defeats in Congress, statehouses and governor's mansions across the land, Joe Hoeffel had one urge: To put his fellow Democrats on the couch, to diagnose their problems, and to help them find a way out of the wilderness. "I was so disappointed in so much of what's happened lately," said Hoeffel, who represented Montgomery County's 13th Congressional District in Washington for three terms between 1999 and 2004.

Dreamers: The best of this nation

In deciding to phase out the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protected the children of immigrants who came to the United States illegally, Trump built in a six-month grace period before deportations could begin. He has called on Congress to act on a replacement before that happens.

Where President Trump was right on Charlottesville: Gleb Tsipursky

Both Democratic and Republican leaders roundly denounced President Donald Trump's statement last month putting "blame on both sides" about the violence at the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. However, while I personally find reprehensible various forms of white nationalism, racism, and neo-Nazism, Trump's statements that both sides deserve a degree of blame have some validity.

Revive DREAM

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Tax Cuts Coming?

With Congress back in session, its GOP leadership and the Trump Administration clearly want to move the focus to tax reform after a tumultuous summer that yielded no action on health care. And, while Congress and the White House mull their strategies on how to cut the corporate and individual rates, Americans must pay attention to how the GOP might proffer to pay for these cuts.

Liberals Are In A Tizzy

Does the statue of Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman qualify for removal? He once explained his reluctance to enlist former slaves, writing, "I am honest in my belief that it is not fair to our men to count negroes as equals ... [but] is not a negro as good as a white man to stop a bullet?" Many blacks and their white liberal allies demand the removal of statues of Confederate generals and the Confederate battle flag, and they are working up steam to destroy the images of Gens.

Trump hurts his presidency by going it alone

President Donald Trump speaks as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan listen during a meeting with House and Senate leadership in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, June 6, 2017. Faced with a stalled agenda and weak poll numbers, President Donald Trump has resorted to a familiar presidential tactic: running against Congress.

National health care rare and ineffective

The Aug. 31 column by David Collins − "Why are Connecticut Democrats running from paid Medicare for all?" − along with the comments and the follow-up article on Saturday concerning a hearing held by Sen. Chris Murphy in New London , frighten me because of the astounding level of ignorance exhibited by so many people. The only country in the world that has national single payer is Great Britain and it is recognized as the worst government system in Europe.

How presidential disaster visits matter

President Donald Trump and Melania Trump pass out food and meet people impacted by Hurricane Harvey during a visit to the NRG Center in Houston Saturday. It was his second trip to Texas in a week, and this time his first order of business was to meet with those affected by the record-setting rainfall and flooding.

Trump’s strategic reset

At various times during our history, American troops abroad have been targeted with special ferocity by enemies aware that the more U.S. troops they killed, the more likely our government would be to accelerate already declared timetables for withdrawal. That ends now, President Donald Trump declared in his recent speech about policy toward the war in Afghanistan.